After a Couple of Stone IPAs

Why are people around me at the bar drinking Miller Lite? Water beer, not really beer, no flavor, low alcohol, blah. Why don't they drink real beer? Is it because they don't know what real beer is? Is it a challenge to their taste buds? All their friends drink water beer and they want to fit in? Is it the only beer they have had since they were 15? Makes no sense to me. But I suspect if you looked at the rest of their lives,  there are no challenges and everything they think and do and eat and drink is as blah as their beer.

Caught Me!

Sharon commented the other day that I had not blogged in a while. My reply, "Yep, not since October 6th." I am past due.

Random thoughts. This summer has been the best for my pond. The water lillies have bloomed more than in the past and have produced more leave. Also, the balance in the water between nutrients and waster, and bacteria, and plants, and fish must have been just right. I have not had to clean the filter as much as usual and have had little or no algae. Everything just kind of came together. Next spring I will learn if and baby goldfish survived their parents appetites.

The house and yard are another matter. I was on top of the yard through the spring and early summer but slowly let it get the best of me. I suppose I just do not enjoy yard work as I once did. (Did I ever?) There are also house projects that have languished. I am back to doing laminate right now and hope to finish the laundry room in a couple of weeks. Perhaps then I can take on the front room. In the meantime, there are winter preparations to do - putting down the storm windows, checking gutters, pondering the state of the chimney, firing up the snow blower and moving everything around in the garage.

I've been practicing the ukulele quite a bit but, I have not been good at practicing my singing. Shame on me. I do better singing in the car, perhaps I should drive more so that I can sing more. I got my old clarinet refurbed. My mother bought it for me in 1960. We went to a music store in downtown Houston to pick it out. I can still play - but it will take me a while to get up to speed and beyond just scales. A Benny Goodman I am not.

On the neuropathy front, I had been improving quite a bit but for the last few days. My fingers are really bothering me and my feet are not far behind. My new symptoms of soreness in my arms is bothersome also. The soreness is in the muscles and tendons above and bellow my elbows. Melody, my Naturopath recommended castor oil wraps and heat. Have I done it? No. I do have the castor oil so I am part way there, and I did get out the heating pad this evening.

Sharon's Best Ever Carrot Cake

Another recipe from the archives of ColbyJ.com

For the Cake
1 tbsp unsalted butter , softened
1 ½ cups plus 2 tbsp flour
1 cup sugar
1 ½ tsp  baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp grated nutmeg
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 ½ lb carrots, peeled, trimmed, and grated (about 4 cups)

For the Frosting
12 oz cream cheese
7 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners sugar


For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease two 8" round cake pans with butter, dust each with 1 tbsp of the flour, tapping out the excess, and set aside. Combine the remaining 1½ cups flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and salt in a large bowl. Add oil and eggs and stir until smooth. Add carrots and mix well. Divide batter between pans. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Set aside to cool on a rack, then remove cakes from pans.

For the frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until smooth. Reduce speed to low and beat in sugar.
Put 1 cake round on a cake plate and spread on third of the frosting on top. Set the remaining cake round on top and ice cake with the remaining frosting.

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