Blueberry muffins and clouds. And also boys.
I woke up way too early for a Saturday. I gave in to the un-Sandman (is there such a thing? I should write about that) and got up. It's cloudy. So far, I've turned on most of the lights, had coffee, invented a new blueberry muffin recipe, and accepted a dinner invitation from another guy from The Online Dating Site of Doom and/or Optimism.
Coffee: Lately I've been adding a lovely spice mix to the french press. It's about 4 parts cinnamon, 2 parts cardamom, and one part nutmeg. I think the original was another part Chinese 5 spice, but I'm out of that. I think cardamom is a natural antidepressant because I seem happier when I add it to my coffee. Totally unscientific, of course. Or I just like saying cardamom. Cardamom. Mmmm.
Muffins: I've been using the same standard blueberry muffin recipe since Home Ec because it's good and basic and nice. I usually don't even measure because I've gotten pretty adept at knowing how much a cup or a teaspoon looks like (cooking by feel, like my mother and grandmother did). I experiment, of course. Today I added blue corn meal (left out about 1/4 cup of flour and added 1/4 cup cornmeal instead) and yogurt. I've made yogurt cake before, so it's a nice swap for milk and oil, or maybe it was milk and egg, or egg and oil. I couldn't remember, so I played it safe and used an egg, a dash of oil and milk (almond milk), and about 1/4 cup of yogurt. And I added the coffee spice mixture (on a roll, I guess) and fresh blueberries. It was yummy. Okay, next post will be a proper recipe. Maybe I'll upgrade my LJ account so I can start including pictures. Sure I will.
Boys: I've mentally shelved #21, the English Teacher Guy. After the weird emails, he did invite me over for dinner, which we cooked together. It was a very nice, pleasant evening. But he's also said he's got a lot going on now, which is true and also guy speak for "don't expect a lot of contact / push / talk to me just now." I get it. He's clearly overwhelmed by his fresh divorce (custody not even worked out), missing his kids, and all the usual parts of life. I have a spreadsheet to document that a sudden or dramatic change in the intensity of communication is tied pretty clearly to interest and/or ability to deal with a relationship thing. Also, I can see from the magic online dating site that he's been on it about four times a day, so he's still looking, comparing, trying to see what's out there, trying to make sure he's not missing something better. Besides, I'm still looking, just not as often as he does. And my ego is okay, especially since four men have messaged me lately.
One is an adorable artist from Big City to the North. After a pleasant exchange, he asked me to dinner. Sure. He's vegetarian (yay!), creative, from the Midwest where my mom's family comes from (so I'm assuming all sorts of traits I like), and he's read Tolstoy. And he has a sweet smile.
Why am I thinking of Dylan Thomas? "Do not go gently into that good night / Rage, Rage against the dying of the light!" Who knew he was talking about the single life?
Coffee: Lately I've been adding a lovely spice mix to the french press. It's about 4 parts cinnamon, 2 parts cardamom, and one part nutmeg. I think the original was another part Chinese 5 spice, but I'm out of that. I think cardamom is a natural antidepressant because I seem happier when I add it to my coffee. Totally unscientific, of course. Or I just like saying cardamom. Cardamom. Mmmm.
Muffins: I've been using the same standard blueberry muffin recipe since Home Ec because it's good and basic and nice. I usually don't even measure because I've gotten pretty adept at knowing how much a cup or a teaspoon looks like (cooking by feel, like my mother and grandmother did). I experiment, of course. Today I added blue corn meal (left out about 1/4 cup of flour and added 1/4 cup cornmeal instead) and yogurt. I've made yogurt cake before, so it's a nice swap for milk and oil, or maybe it was milk and egg, or egg and oil. I couldn't remember, so I played it safe and used an egg, a dash of oil and milk (almond milk), and about 1/4 cup of yogurt. And I added the coffee spice mixture (on a roll, I guess) and fresh blueberries. It was yummy. Okay, next post will be a proper recipe. Maybe I'll upgrade my LJ account so I can start including pictures. Sure I will.
Boys: I've mentally shelved #21, the English Teacher Guy. After the weird emails, he did invite me over for dinner, which we cooked together. It was a very nice, pleasant evening. But he's also said he's got a lot going on now, which is true and also guy speak for "don't expect a lot of contact / push / talk to me just now." I get it. He's clearly overwhelmed by his fresh divorce (custody not even worked out), missing his kids, and all the usual parts of life. I have a spreadsheet to document that a sudden or dramatic change in the intensity of communication is tied pretty clearly to interest and/or ability to deal with a relationship thing. Also, I can see from the magic online dating site that he's been on it about four times a day, so he's still looking, comparing, trying to see what's out there, trying to make sure he's not missing something better. Besides, I'm still looking, just not as often as he does. And my ego is okay, especially since four men have messaged me lately.
One is an adorable artist from Big City to the North. After a pleasant exchange, he asked me to dinner. Sure. He's vegetarian (yay!), creative, from the Midwest where my mom's family comes from (so I'm assuming all sorts of traits I like), and he's read Tolstoy. And he has a sweet smile.
Why am I thinking of Dylan Thomas? "Do not go gently into that good night / Rage, Rage against the dying of the light!" Who knew he was talking about the single life?