I have no idea why because to me it’s the easiest thing in the world to measure ingredients into the bread pan, push a few buttons and walk away. Three hours later, fresh bread! With real ingredients and no high-fructose glop, MSG, or lead.

That old breadmaker met its maker (ha!) this spring. So I spent some of my bread on a new one.

For some “Little House on the Prairie” reason, I do the bread machine does my baking on Sundays. It just seems like a nice way to start the week. I’ve baked white bread, wheat bread, Easter Bread, pumpkin bread and now…

Cinnamon bread! This is the second loaf I’ve done using this recipe and it smells and tastes like a dream. I toast a slice of it for breakfast every morning.

So next time you see a barely used bread maker at a yard sale, snag it!

Yeah, it’s a real stereotype-a-rama. Featuring lines like:

…as if there was this voice whispering at me most of the time we were together saying, She’s 35—don’t stay with this girl unless you’re serious about settling down with her. I know that sounds crazy, but I assumed, given the biological facts of life, that she didn’t have time to waste on a casual relationship.

And maybe I’m hypersensitive about it (I’m 35, WM’s 29) but while I do want a child and feel sad that my window for that is closing sooner rather than later, my getting into this relationship did not hinge on whether WM wanted kids sooner, later, or at all.

The “How much does age matter when dating?” story actually talks about dating younger people when you’re over 50.

In less-vitriolic news, I bought a bunch of fresh basil today from Wegmans. I want to freeze it, but many of the freezing “recipes” feature chopping it with olive oil and freezing it in ice cube trays. I wonder if the olive oil will cause future uses to become too fatty.

I bought “Twilight” yesterday, primarily because a lot of the bloggers I read have been loving it. I tore through 295 pages in one sitting. I love vampire stories – used to adore Anne Rice’s stuff until it got religious and weird. The best part is I’m so late to this bandwagon that there are two (and soon to be three) books AFTER this one! And a movie coming out in December!

This afternoon I’m off to Michael’s with Mom to look at beads (I have a coupon!), then maybe look for a cute pair of black kitten heel slides.

Prior experiences with MSN:
June 6, 2008: Screw you (again) MSN
May 1, 2008: Writer, activist, Cougar
April 5, 2008: April 5, 2008 (creative post title, there)
February 13, 2008: Still loving my MSN homepage
October 14, 2007: Thanks MSN. Have some Cheetos.

(great, it’s about cooking. I don’t cook.)

1. If a traveling food show were to visit your neighborhood, what are some unique, regional foods it would spotlight, and where would it go to get them?
Well, I can see Philadelphia outside of my window, so I suppose they’d get the obligatory Philly area foods: cheesesteaks, scrapple, water ice and Tastykakes. And maybe Herr’s potato chips for extra flavor.

2. On an American cable show, a celebrity chef surprises people by challenging them to a contest featuring their own specialties (he usually loses). If he challenged you to your specialty, what dish would you prepare? If he challenged someone you know, what would that dish be, and how might the competition turn out?
Bobby Flay beat the Pop Shop back in May in a Griilled Cheese Battle. If he battled me, I think I could beat him when it comes to making Jell-o. He’d put some crazy ingredient in it – like jalepeno peppers – and I’d beat him by loading up lime jell-o with banana slices. Mmmm…

3. What are your feelings about cooking shows on television?
I miss the older style cooking shows, when the food was the star and the chef showcased the food. Starting with Emeril, the chefs became the personalities, and the more they buy into their own hype (Emeril, Rachael Ray, Sandra Lee, etc) the worse the shows become.

4. What kitchen gadgets have you purchased because you saw someone using them on television?
Back in my days of being addicted to QVC (last year) I purchased some kitchen knives, non-stick pots, and a waffle maker, all from watching “In the Kitchen With Bob.”

5. You get to (or have to, depending on how you feel about it) host your own food show on television. What will it be called and what’s it about?
Wheedling other people into cooking for you. Co-starring the Wandering Minstrel, since he is Top Chef here at the Dee-luxe apartment in the sky.

***
Have fun and be safe today, and if you’re in the US…yeah…it’s not optimal right now. But there are a lot of worse places to live. And we have the ability to change what we have. It takes thought, and it takes voting at EVERY LEVEL, not just for president. Change happens from your city council upward.

***
Happy Birthday, Odin!