I found this recipe from Taste of Home a little while ago, but by the time I finally got around to making it, I didn't have many cherries left (and didn't want to buy another big bag). So I decided to try cutting the recipe in half. Everything was easily divisible by two (i.e. I didn't have to attempt to cut an egg in half), so I gave it a go! But note that the recipe listed below is the full recipe.
Ingredients
3-1/2 cups fresh dark sweet cherries, pitted
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 1/2 cup sugar, divided
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup fat-free milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon almond extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Place cherries in an 8-in. square baking dish coated with cooking spray.
In a small bowl, mix flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Add milk and melted butter; stir in just until moistened. Spread over cherries.
In another bowl, mix cornstarch, cinnamon and remaining sugar; sprinkle over batter. Mix boiling water and almond extract; pour slowly over top. Bake, uncovered, 45-50 minutes or until top is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Serve warm.
I pretty much followed the directions except for cutting everything in half (and using vanilla extract instead of almond extract). And I might have used too much water, but that didn't seem to matter. This came out pretty well! The top was a little blonder than I expected, but the dessert held its shape and was very tasty. I had mine à la mode with vanilla ice cream. Delicious!
While I was visiting New Hampshire earlier this month, I had a facial with Mercedes, a woman my mom and I have been seeing for years for our pampering when we're up there. Mercedes and I were talking about what we were most excited to have return after 16 months of COVID, and we agreed that we can't wait to go to concerts again. She mentioned Meadowbrook (now Bank of NH Pavilion) in Gilford, NH, which is similar to Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland. I looked online to see which shows they had, and there just happened to be a country music concert I wanted to see while I was in the Granite State!
I had never seen Brantley Gilbert before in concert, and as the bad boy of country, I wanted to see what kind of show he performed. Plus, I wanted to check out this venue! Because of COVID precautions, you could only buy lawn seats in sets of four as a "pod." I didn't want to buy four seats when there were only two of us, but I was able to find a set of two on Craigslist. And that really worked out! The venue was clearly not open to full capacity, and even then the show wasn't even close to selling out (they did perform the night before, so perhaps Friday night was more popular). The pod set-up on the lawn was great because you were able to have a lawn chair without having to pay a rental fee (my first time NOT on a blanket or tarp at an outdoor concert), and everyone was so spread out that you didn't feel crowded at all, and no one blocked our view! And because the place wasn't packed, it is the only time I have ever gone to a concert and didn't have to wait in line at the ladies room!
Now time to write about the actual concert itself. Tyler Braden was the opener of the night. I wasn't sure who he was (I knew Tyler Farr, so then I thought maybe I was mixing them up?), but I think he's pretty new and hasn't quite hit the scene yet. But I really liked all of his songs! Unfortunately they have all been released as singles, so I can't buy a CD (yes, I'm an old lady and like to buy CDs). But you can hear them here:
I was so impressed by Tyler Braden. I hope he becomes more popular and does more shows! I would definitely see him again. He did a great job warming us up for Brantley Gilbert, our main act. I knew some of Brantley's songs, but most of them I had not heard before. I have to admit I was a little distracted by the videos playing in the background while Brantley was singing: they were like country's version of rap videos, with country girls dressed in white "shakin' that sugar sweet as Dixie crystal" (if you know what I mean). I guess when you're a star you're allowed to play videos of yourself, but it seemed like the ultimate display of narcissism. And his brass knuckle microphone knocks you over the head a little (no pun intended): we get it, you're a fighter, you're a tough guy, let's move on. Also, I think Brantley put on the COVID-fifteen just like most people... Even celebrities couldn't escape it.
Anyhoo, here are some of the songs Brantley performed:
This was such a fun concert, especially since it's my first one since everything shut down in 2020! I can't wait to see more live music. I have quite the line-up for this fall: Kane Brown, Brothers Osborne, Kip Moore, Celine Dion... Stay tuned for those posts!
One of my favorite summer seasonal treats is cherries. But you always have to buy them in such a large bag! I can only snack on so many cherries by themselves, so I thought I'd bake with them. I found this recipe on the Averie Cooks blog. It sounded yummy and easy, which are my two main criteria when baking!
Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
3/4 to 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup cherries (fresh or frozen)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8-by-8-inch pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray.
In a medium microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 60 seconds.
To the melted butter, add the brown sugar and stir to combine.
Add the egg, vanilla, and stir to combine. Add the flour, salt, and stir until just combined, taking care not to over mix or the blondies will be tough.
Fold in chocolate chips and fruit, and then pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing it lightly with a spatula if necessary.
Bake for 27-32 minutes, or until edges begin to slightly pull away from sides of pan and center is set.
Allow bars to cool for at least 1 hour before slicing and serving. Blondies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to one week.
Sorry for the terrible lighting. And I forgot to take a photo of the finished product before my sister and I served ourselves... We had already waited over an hour to dig in. We couldn't wait any longer!
Only after I started making the batter did I realize that I don't have an 8x8 inch pan. But I improvised with a trick I learned from the internet: take more aluminum foil than you need and fold over the extra bit to create an interior wall within the larger pan. Otherwise, I followed this recipe closely (choosing to forego the salt and go for a full cup of chocolate chips).
These do taste delicious, and the soft texture is divine, but I would tweak the recipe if I made them again. For one, the chocolate flavor is so strong that it overwhelms everything else. You can barely tell there are even cherries in there! So I would put fewer chocolate chips and add more cherries. I also would add only one teaspoon of vanilla. I was even surprised the recipe called for two, since almost everything else only needs one. And, while of course every oven is different, even at 37 minutes, the inside of my blondies was still very soft, to the point that I was hoping at least the egg got cooked. So don't be surprised if you need to bake yours a little longer.
So I'd definitely make these again, but with a few changes. Otherwise, I recommend!
I will actually be working in person this weekend, so I wanted to bring a treat for my other colleagues that they could take home with them. I tried Krispy Kreme donuts last weekend; that didn't work (barely anyone took any!). So I thought cookies might be better.
I knew I wanted to make something with peanut butter because I also had a lot of cashews I wanted to use. And everyone knows chocolate goes well with peanut butter, so I looked for recipes for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. And I found this recipe on the Crazy for Crust blog (I get the emails but rarely actually read them; I keep them all in a "Crazy for Crust" folder!).
INGREDIENTS
1/2cupunsalted buttermelted
1/2cupcreamy peanut butter
1/4cupgranulated sugar
2/3cuppacked brown sugar
1teaspoonvanilla extract
1large egg
1/2teaspoonbaking soda
1/2teaspoonsalt
1 1/4cupsall-purpose flour
1 1/2cupschocolate chips
INSTRUCTIONS
Mix or stir butter with peanut butter until smooth. Add brown sugar and granulated sugar and mix until creamy.
Beat in vanilla, egg, baking soda, and salt. Mix in flour slowly until cookie dough forms. Stir in chocolate chips.
Scoop 2 tablespoon sized cookie dough balls onto cookie sheets covered with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Chill 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Press cookie dough balls flat with the tines of a fork.
Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes, or until slightly brown on the bottom and the top just loses the wet cookie dough look.
I mostly followed this recipe, except I used a little less brown sugar, added the cashews, and didn't push the cookies down with a fork (I just left them as drop cookies). Typically I wouldn't bother putting the dough in the fridge before baking, but this dough was falling apart before it was even in the oven. I knew they'd never stay together once they started heating up! I had visions of a big, melty, peanut butter mess if I didn't follow the recipe*. In the end they didn't melt in the oven...but they didn't seem to bake either. I left them in for 10 minutes and they looked almost the same as when I put them in. They even felt kind of cool to the touch! I put them in for a few extra minutes, but it didn't seem to make a difference. I tried one cookie: it tasted good, but that's probably because it tastes like cookie dough; the inside clearly wasn't baked all the way. I wouldn't say these are a complete failure, but I might tell my friends to heat the cookies up in a microwave for a few seconds so they don't get salmonella...
Out of the blue, an old friend reached out to invite me to visit Glenstone with him. I had never heard of Glenstone, but after taking a look at the website, it's an indoor/outdoor museum of modern art. It's in Potomac, MD, so not far from me, and it looked really cool. Plus, it sounds like tickets are hard to come by: they sell out really fast months in advance. So I thought this might be my only opportunity to go! And we hadn't seen each other in a few years, so I thought it would be nice to catch up.
After a casual breakfast at Tally Ho, we made our way to the museum. While the day started out a bit cloudy and rainy, when we arrived it was bright and sunny, so we were ready to explore!
Glenstone sits on nearly 300 acres of land, and it was beautiful walking through the meadows and forests. The trees and flowers are nature's art, no? We saw the outdoor sculptures first, although there weren't as many of them as I expected (especially with so much space!). The first one we saw was Jeff Koons' Split-Rocker. We could tell it was the head of a rocking horse, but it wasn't until we got up close that we could see that it's covered in something like green felt with holes in it.
Perhaps we were too early in the spring to see this piece at its best. Because when you look it up online, there are times when it's in full bloom with lots of color! Like this:
Then we saw Tony Smith's Smug, which made both of us think of spiders:
We eventually made our way through the forest where we encountered Robert Gober's Two Partially Buried Sinks:
Needless to say, we were underwhelmed by this one. The hummingbird we saw flitting through the woods was much more interesting! Image found here.
While we were walking in the woods, we also saw two stone buildings that we didn't realize were pieces on exhibit, and there was a circle of stumps that counted as art, too. If I can't tell that it's art... it probably shouldn't be called art.
Charles Ray was very creative in naming this piece Horse and rider:
Before entering the buildings, there were two outdoor sculptures that were somewhat interesting. We could walk through Richard Serra's Sylvester (though both of us were hoping we'd come across something at its center), and Michael Heizer's Compression Line was pretty cool, slowing disappearing into the earth.
Michael Heizer's Compression Line. I took this picture looking down from a railing; the photo doesn't do a great job of showing the size of the piece, although there are the trees in the background for scale.
The Gallery building was dedicated to works solely of Faith Ringgold, an African-American artist who has been making art for decades. I really liked her work, and I think showcasing her pieces is very timely for what our country is going through regarding race relations (well, we've been going through that for a very long time, as her art portrays). My favorite pieces from her were the ones with overt political messaging, particularly with her use of the American flag. I appreciate art that has something to say!
Ringgold was against all of the money being spent on space exploration when so many African-Americans are suffering here on Earth. She included the message that she felt the U.S. government was sending in this piece: Die N*gger (a little hard to read in the photo). Image found here.
The Flag is Bleeding is one of two pieces in which she portrays the red of the flag bleeding the blood of Americans who have lost their lives seeking basic human rights. Image found here.
Ringgold also collaborated with her mother in creating quilt paintings. I really liked the one she did of Maya Angelou and her poems, including Phenomenal Woman, which is my sorority's house poem.
Maya's Quilt of Life was actually commissioned by Oprah Winfrey. Image found here.
Who's Afraid of Aunt Jemima? is an entire story quilt. I have never seen so many words on a piece of art! I didn't have time to read it all, but I thought it was interesting to mix multiple kinds of storytelling into one piece. Image found here.
This quilt featured a painting of Martin Luther King, Jr. with a quote from his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech. Ringgold created similar pieces featuring Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman. Image found here.
Outside of the Gallery was a patio looking over a beautiful lake. There were two Canada geese swimming in the water and a heron standing on the bank. So idyllic!
Then we made our way to the Pavilions, which are the main museum buildings. It almost seems like some sort of post-apocalyptic compound, these stone squares rising up in the middle of nowhere:
From the Pavilions we saw additional pieces from the artists who had outdoor sculptures:
Gober put sinks in the woods, and then painted interior walls to look like woods with running sinks and piles of newspapers from 1992 (when the exhibit was originally created). I wondered if this piece was supposed to represent our wastefulness of resources, just letting the water run and killing trees for newspapers to the point that we have to paint trees on our walls to see them...? Image found here.
Heizer's Collapse was enclosed in these exterior walls. A crane had to lift the steel beams and place them into the 16-foot-deep hole. Visitors have to view the piece with a docent so no one falls into the hole. I wasn't sure if this looked like anything other than a broken-down, abandoned construction site... Image found here.
Here were some of my favorites:
My friend and I loved these hanging sculptures from Ruth Asawa. How was she able to interlock those different chains together to create shapes within shapes? Screen shot from here.
I thought this map by Alighiero Boetti was really cool, since he represented each country with the colors of its own flag. I couldn't identify some of the countries, and of course the spacing is off (when you flatten a globe, you can't see just how close Alaska is to Russia). But I will say that when I was looking up his other work, he has made A LOT of similar pieces. I can understand wanting to show new countries that are created or borders that have changed, but he must have made at least a dozen of these. So now I'm less impressed... Image found here.
This photo doesn't do justice to this piece by Ives Klein. I liked it because of its tactile nature. The sea sponges and pebbles painted blue brought interest to a canvas painted one color (more on that later...). Image found here.
These neon lights are hard to read in a photograph (see this drawing instead), but Bruce Nauman's American Violence demonstrates the sexual violence of our culture all wrapped up in a swastika. In person the words would go in and out, and you could image mixing up the phrases together (e.g. "Rub it on" could go both with "my chest" or "my face"). American culture is hyper-sexualized, and as we've seen recently, Nazi sentiments/sympathizers still exist, and if anything the numbers are growing. Image found here.
I really liked this piece by Kazuo Shiraga. For me it was the fact that I wanted to touch it: the paint was so thick and the canvas was folded and scrunched in places in a way that made me want to run my fingers along the work and know what it feels like. Of course you can't do that in a museum! Image found here.
Some pieces we didn't get to see. Because of COVID restrictions, some rooms were closed, and only one party at a time could go into each of the smaller rooms. There was a group of teenagers who had zero respect for people's time, and they lingered in the rooms fully aware that there were people waiting to get in. For example, they sat in this room for who knows how many minutes:
So I just snuck in for a peak to see that one. There were other pieces that my friend and I had plenty of time to linger upon, but we didn't because they were the kind of pieces that give modern art a bad name. Here are some examples:
These paintings by On Kawara represent the dates of the moon landing. But how is this art...? Image found here
This piece by Brice Marden is called Moss Sutra with the Seasons. I understand how the different colors can represent the four seasons, but painting a square a single color is the cliché of modern art. Image found here.
These Jo Baer paintings only have color along their edges. WHY?! Image found here.
The museum's notes didn't say how old Jean-Michel Basquiat was when he painted Frogmen. I guessed 10; he was 23. Close enough. If this is fine art, then every child should be getting commissions. Image found here.
Marcel Duchamp's Fountain (i.e. a urinal). I will admit that I consider toilets art when I watch The Great Pottery Throw Down on HBO Max, but that's because they have painted them so beautifully or have created them in an interesting shape. This guy laid a urinal horizontally and painted someone else's name on it. I just...can't. Image found here.
Franz Kline... you're killing me. Why am I not famous?! Image found here.
Agnes Martin used graphite (i.e. a pencil) to draw who knows how many lines in her piece Pilgrimage. I told my friend that anyone with a ruler and a lot of patience could recreate this. Image found here.
The outdoor experience was definitely my favorite part. The Pavilions surround a water feature where we saw irises, tiny fish, and even a tadpole!
When we went the lily pads weren't in bloom yet. I wondered which plants were purposefully planted there and which ones were growing naturally. Image found here.
All in all, I really enjoyed my visit to Glenstone. Modern art isn't really my thing, but I appreciated the grounds especially, and some of the pieces were actually really cool. I would love to go back, but with the ticket situation, I'm not sure when that will be. I would be just as happy to just walk around the outside! I was telling my friend that Glenstone should take advantage of the beautiful land and provide private bird walks early in the morning before the museum opens. We saw two hawks along with the other birds I mentioned earlier. I'll take the beauty of nature over human-created art any day!
I attended the Bethesda Film Fest years ago, and I hadn't thought about it recently until I received a Bethesda Beat email containing a link to watch some selected films from the festival. All were short documentaries, which are actually some of my favorite to watch, since film festivals are usually the only time you get to see stuff like that (read my take on this year's DC Environmental Film Festival). There were seven in total, and I enjoyed all of them!
I am not sure if this year's festival had a theme, but one thing that really occurred to me was how many of these short films highlighted the issues we have in the United States, a country that is supposed to be the Land of Dreams, a nation that other countries do (or at least used to) look up to as a democracy. Let's take a look at those first.
*Full film (~10 minutes)
West Virginia - COVID and Hunger Collide
In West Virginia, people were already struggling to make ends meet when the coal industry was no longer booming like it used to be. Add a pandemic to the mix, and an even greater number of people were losing jobs and going hungry. The film shows how hard working Americans are not able to feed themselves and their families because the jobs cannot pay well, even to those who are educated or skilled. The film goes into the the issue of the middle-class: if someone makes too much money (even with as little as a $.50/hour raise), that person would lose government benefits that they still depend on; by making more money, they're even less able to provide for themselves and their dependents. A representative from a local food pantry went into detail about how difficult it was to give enough food to those in need before the pandemic, and how COVID pushed even more people into desperation. It astonishes me that America, the Land of Plenty, cannot feed all of its people when grocery stores across the nation are full of food and so much ends up going to waste.
Squeegee
This film looked at the young men in Baltimore who wash car windshields when they're parked at red lights to make a living. Most (none?) of them are doing this as additional income: this is the main way they make money to take care of themselves. It was heartbreaking to hear the stories from men who got into trouble when they were young and now find it difficult to get hired from a job, or from the boys who are only 13 or 14 years old who do this because their parents cannot provide for them. These men do this when they cannot be hired for other work, and they wish to avoid selling drugs and panhandling to support themselves. The scenes showing worn-down buildings in Baltimore and graffitied walls don't look like something that should be in such an historic city just an hour away from our nation's capital, and yet Baltimore is a city that is riddled with poverty and violence. I wish that these men would have opportunities to education and work that could give them a brighter future, rather than depending on the random kindness of strangers just to be able to feed themselves.
You Think You Know Me
This film is mostly a montage of scenes of police violence against African Americans, the protests in response to such violence, and the photos and names of the men and women who have lost their lives at the hands of police. Some of the names most of us are familiar with, like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, but others have gone under the radar. All of these deaths are tragedies, and they were 100% preventable. The police are supposed to help protect people, but for the African American community, the police are NOT the people you turn to for help in fear of being arrested, or worse, killed. I don't know what the answer is, but I believe there needs to be immense police reform, particularly regarding bias training, and that our police force needs to be demilitarized. The police should not need tanks, tear gas, and machine guns to protect its people; those tools are specifically made to do damage and kill. This sort of systemic violence should NOT happen in a place like America, and yet it does, nearly every day, for hundreds of years.
The Good Candidate
Last year, Bob Good and Denver Riggleman were running against each other in Virginia's fifth district to be voted as the Republican candidate to move onto the next election. Riggleman was seen as a "purple" Republican, meaning he had more centrist ideas, which many felt did not represent this very red district. The main complaint again him was that he officiated a biracial, gay wedding; many of his constituencies felt he did not represent their values in supporting gay marriage. One of Bob Good's ardent supporters made a video in which he said that members of the LGBT community were trying to take away the rights of those with Judeo-Christian ethics. While Good doesn't blatantly agree with this man, the candidate doesn't condemn the man, either. In the end, Riggleman lost the race to bigotry. It's so disappointing to live in a country in which people believe that giving a group of people rights (the same rights that white, heterosexual Americans have) will impinge on the rights of others. Giving the LGBT community and non-white Americans rights doesn't mean anyone else would lose their rights: we would all be more free and equal under the law!
A Mirror of the Earth
This film was about Spain, not the United States, but the issue of water pollution and toxicity reaching local communities is definitely one that America can relate to. A corporation came in for mining, and when it left, toxic waste remained that polluted the drinking water; the mining itself created air pollution, too. Cancer rates in both children and adults are higher in that area. The issue of environmental justice is not new: the haves take from the have-nots, and leave the have-nots worse off than they were before. And what's terrible about environmental degradation is that it can happen so quickly yet have results that last decades, even centuries. This film mentions an ancient cave that was discovered due to the mining, and human bones were found there; humans had lived in the area for hundreds of years, and yet with the destruction of recent times, the place may be uninhabitable in the near future. We only have one Earth: why do we insist on destroying its future for our immediate gains?
To uplift the mood, there were two films that were more inspiring in a positive way:
*Full film (~6 minutes)
Shi Fu Paul
This film is about Paul Jakubowski, a
Lipstick and Leather
I never knew what
"alternative drag" was until watching this film. There is a drag
scene in Baltimore (and sometimes in DC) that allows men to dress in drag, but
in a alternative, grungier way. The film follows a few of the performers, and
we learn about how they got into drag, what their drag character is like, and
what the alternative drag scene means to them and their identities. I always
enjoy watching films about things I don't know about, and I'm glad that there
is a space like this for those who want to explore it. This was one of the more
hopeful films since it shows the kind of acceptance that I wish our society had
for all people.
I know friends who have used Hello Fresh to help with meal planning and to give them new ideas for cooking. My parents recently signed up for it, too, and I cooked one of the meals last night. I have to say it: I was not impressed.
First of all, the amount of overpackaging is staggering. All of this is just for one meal. Imagine how much trash you would have if you did Hello Fresh for all three meals, every day, for a month or longer! A lot of it is stupid stuff, like a packet that contains just a teaspoon of paprika, or those plastic tubes of mustard and mayonnaise like you would get from a fast food joint. I understand the idea of wanting to make sure the user has all of the ingredients, but don't most people have condiments in their homes? The recipe assumed that I had access to water, oil, and salt and pepper; what if I didn't? It doesn't make sense to assume a user would have some ingredients and not others.
Here's an idea: a Hello Fresh "start-up" kit. Included with you first order (not for free, but part of the total charge) would be large quantities of basic ingredients that would be used in many of the company's recipes. This would include condiments, spices, salad dressings, sour cream, etc. And they would come in recyclable packaging so when you're finished, you're not just dumping everything into the landfill!
Now onto the recipe itself. It's hard to read in the photo above, but the second step should be the first one. The potatoes take the longest amount of time to prepare, so they should go first! Also, I was given tiny potatoes for potato wedges...It's hard to make a wedge out of something that's already small! And frying the fish was a mess! Oil splattered everywhere while attempting not to burn myself. In the end it wasn't even enough oil, so the breading on the last piece of fish was completely burned off. I was also surprised that there's a explanation of how to make a salad. Like, really? (and can I add that some of the mixed greens were already going bad; gross!). Plus, this recipe called for putting shallots in the salad. No thank you! So I saved those for scrambled eggs in the morning. And only one of the quarters of lemon is actually used in the written recipe; why even bother and just save the fruit for something else? And while the recipe does say on the left what you'll need in terms of tools, it never states just how many plates/bowls/cutting boards you get dirty during this recipe. I feel like I could have filled up half the dishwasher just from making and eating this one meal!
In the end, the food was good, but not worth the trouble. I thought the idea of Hello Fresh was to make cooking easier, but I didn't find that to be the case. It took longer to make and made a bigger mess than anything I would just cook on my own. And when I make my own recipes, I don't create nearly as much waste. I'm glad I made this using my parents' Hello Fresh account instead of making my own account and spending my own money on this!
