One pie in the oven, grilled tofu, tea parties

Y'all, I felt like Frances (the badger from the childrens' stories; if you are not familiar with these books, they are just terrific; I loved them as a child and I love them even more as a parent) this morning. My girlfriends came over for a tea party, and we used my tea set which is "real china with flowers in blue" (and red and yellow), just like Frances pines for and ultimately gets in A Bargain for Frances. What a delightful thing to do on a grim day. One pie is in the oven, and while it bakes, I'm eating a quick lunch of lemon carrots, burnt eggplant and grilled tofu. I love grilled tofu. I like char in general although I know it's carcinogenic and you shouldn't have too much. But I still like it and just don't eat much. Anyway, yum, yum. I found a miniature fleur-de-lis cookie cutter so I'm going to accent each pie with a fleur shaped piece of crust. Will take some photos as they come out for cooling. Send me stamina vibes today!

Hilarious quote of the day

Do y'all read Gail Collins? She's a freaking riot, such a smart woman. In seemingly every Op-Ed of hers I've read, she has managed to include mention of Mitt Romney driving to Canada with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car. Today's was no break from the routine. But that wasn't even in the top three funniest parts of her column pitting Mitt against Rick. In reviewing the fact that three of the Repubs at the recent debate blasted for Perry for supporting the inoculation of girls against cervical cancer, Gail writes: "This is a big deal for some social conservatives, but it's still interesting to think that we have presidential candidates who believe that they could score a stunning upset victory on an anti-cancer-prevention platform."  Har!

If you didn't read the article, here's a link.

On the flip side of the funny coin was this article about individual actions against global warming not even coming close to making a dent in the enormous problem it is. Written by the unfortunately first-named, Gernot Wagner, it's an excellent piece about what we'll really  need to do, how we'll really need to behave, to force the reparative policy changes that are necessary to mend our Earth. Depressing as hell for us eco-defenders but an honest call to action.

The bread was pretty good- austere in a whole-grainy kinda way but not dry and a great base for oozy jam.

Exploding bread, now pretty

Wow! When the boys and I got home, the bread I'd left rising on the stove had volcanoed over the sides of the loaf pan as if the dough were attempting to grip the burners. It was so ridiculous as to be hysterical. After cleaning up and punching it down, I baked it anyway, and it sure looks pretty. I'll let you know how it tastes! If you're wondering why there are about 4 oats on top of the bread, well, there were a lot more but they were on the part of the bread that exploded overboard.