UnEggSpected

Easter used to be an important holiday in my family. I think it was my dad’s favorite holiday; I believe he liked Easter even more than Christmas. I don’t know if it was because his birthday was toward the end of March so sometimes Easter would be close to or fall on his birthday, if it was because of the traditional Polish food, or a combination. It could very well have been something else entirely. Whatever the reason, my dad loved it.

The traditional Polish Easter breakfast at my house included fresh kielbasa (with marjoram; HAD to have marjoram or it wasn’t holiday kielbasa), seeded rye bread, a butter lamb, the Placek my grandmother used to make, then later we bought from one of the many Polish bakeries that used to be all across town, Krakus ham, colored Easter eggs, potato salad, Niagara chocolate, and a cake my sister would make when she and her family would come to Buffalo for Easter.

Most years when her kids were younger, the whole family would come to Buffalo for Easter. We had some normal traditions, like the food, but one tradition was so odd that I’m sure it’s got to be unique to my family. As many traditions do, this started quite accidentally.

Way back in the 1900’s, Niagara chocolate would box their dimensional chocolate. It would be in a bed of shredded plastic or paper (aka EastroTurf) and boxed unlike today where it’s only wrapped in a plastic bag. One year, my mom miscounted the easter baskets, and instead of a cute pastel basket, the Easter Bunny hid my candy in a box. Not quite the “I got a rock” experience of Charlie Brown, but sure, I felt forgotten.

When I pulled out my Easter box, my niece and nephews thought that it was the coolest thing ever. They asked all year if this coming Easter would be the one where the Easter bunny hid a box instead of a basket. One by one, it turned into a rite of passage that the Easter bunny brought them a box instead of a basket.

Today is Easter. My kids are hundreds of miles away and I don’t feel the need to continue Easter traditions without them. I slept late. I made carrot cookies. I talked to my kids. That’s as traditional as today was.

*cake I made circa 2019

I hope you enjoyed your day, whether it was a holiday, a regular day, a rainy day, or a sunny day.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you did!

 

 

 

curses, it's the Blinking Cursor

The dreaded blinking cursor. Daring you to fill a page with words that make sense, words that are interesting, and words that say something. The last category for me would translate to something that people want to read.

That is a constant battle for me, the battle of who cares. Who wants to read my mundane anecdotes? Who wants to read about my musings? Who am I writing for? Then, when I get to that last question, I realize the answer is me. I am writing for myself. If someone else wants to accompany me on the journey, that’s fantastic! But, I will still keep writing.

On the days where it’s a struggle, I might describe the process to myself. I will try to be more mindful of what inspires me. I will try to establish a working title or a descriptive sentence. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I recently mentioned that when I was writing more regularly, everything was inspiration for a blog post.

I wasn’t as concerned with anything close to perfection- I was more concerned with sharing content. I also think a major part of my consistent posting was because I had so much turmoil in my life that I needed a safe outlet.

My life is calmer now, which is great, but it also means that I don’t have ideas served to me on a platter. I need to forage for them, mine them from my daily life. Because my life is calmer, I struggle with believing that anyone will want to read about my unexceptional experiences. Why do I believe chaos equals creativity? Or at least fuels it? Why do I believe chaos equals interesting? This fuels the battle of who cares. There I am, staring at the white page, blank except for that (sometimes) intimidating blinking cursor. Mocking me, daring me to put something (anything) on the page.

I must confess, the cursor wins the battle most of the time, which is why my posting is sporadic. The blinking is almost audibly saying who cares. I’ve thought about joining a writing group, and I haven’t decided against it, but I haven’t done it, either. I’m not sure how I would do with deadlines. What if I got a prompt about a subject I wasn’t interested in, or knew absolutely nothing about? Knowing me, I would spend so much time researching the topic, I would miss the deadline.

Here I am speculating, almost talking myself out of trying something that might actually help me. Is it fear? What if I really put in an earnest effort? What if I finished one of my stories or the novel I’ve started so many times? What if I pushed my fledgling story out of the proverbial nest and it fell instead of soared? My hope, my fantasy of being an author would likely splat as well.

And there it is. In black and white.

To quote Stephen King, time to get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’. I think I’ll look for a writing group.

 

 

 

Galentine's Brunch and Experimenting with AI

I’m determined to get back to writing on a more regular basis. That means you’re going to be along for this experimental ride with me.

When I was writing more regularly, I would find inspiration in the most mundane places; that is to say, almost everywhere. Every minute of every day was blog post inspiration. These days, inspiration takes come coaxing to show itself. I sit and let my mind wander until something like an idea pops in. Sort of like a wheel spinning (a la Wheel of Fortune) round and round until it lands on a section I can work with.

Today, the subject wheel landed on baking, cooking, and recipes because I am making cupcakes for a Galentine brunch tomorrow. I’m (mumble) years old and have never been to a Galentine party. I mean, I don’t celebrate Valentine’s day but Galentine is different.

• Origin: Coined in 2010 by the character Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation, defined as "ladies celebrating ladies".
• Date: Takes place on February 13th, the day before Valentine's Day.
• Purpose: To celebrate the special bond of female friendships, focusing on appreciation, support, and joy.
• Activities: Common celebrations include brunch, cocktail nights, gift exchanges, potlucks, or viewing movies.
• Significance: It serves as a positive, non-romantic alternative or addition to Valentine's Day, emphasizing friendship, empowerment, and mutual support among women. 

Since I enjoy cooking and baking, I volunteered to make cupcakes for tomorrow. I was going to make my tried-and-true chocolate cake recipe. That’s the first cake I ever made from scratch and that recipe has never failed me. But, I love to find a recipe and use it as inspiration. The problem with that- not using a recipe as written- is that I can almost never duplicate it. I’ve found a solution that is really easy.

My new trick is to let AI sprinkle in my tweaks. The fun part is you get immediate feedback of how your recipe will change. AI tells you how your changes will affect the taste, the texture, even the color. AI tells you if your cooking or baking time will change. If you ask, it will even compare the original recipe to the recipe with your changes and give you a review of the flavor changes.

I also used AI to tell me how much frosting to make. My biggest problem making frosting is that I always have some leftover. It’s usually too much to just pitch, too much to just eat, but not quite enough to save. Today, I told AI how many cupcakes I was making, what the size of the cupcakes were, and it told me precisely how much frosting to make. I am eager to find out if AI was correct and I will post an update.

Oh, by the way, here’s a link to my unadulterated, fail-safe chocolate cake recipe: 

Fail Safe Chocolate Cake Recipe

Maybe this isn’t my best post, but at least it’s something. The best way to get back to doing something is to actually do it. Geez, how profound hahaha. Seriously though, I need to stop being intimidated by the blank white page and blinking cursor. So stick with me, this should get better.

Addendum:

The AI cake was dry as heck. The flavor was okay.

The AI frosting recipe made too much.

I’ll stick to my intuition when it comes to tweaking recipes and only use AI to track the changes.