For Cat Who Likes Llamas (Wordless Wednesday), Words for Wednesday, and The Cookie Recipe Exchange

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.) 

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     

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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts that encourages us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    

This month, the prompts are being provided by River at Drifting Through Life.

This week's words are:

1. noose

2. moose

3. soon

4. omen

5. shoe

6. onion

and/or:

1. hourglass

2. fireplace

3. fragment

4. paradise

5. discussing

6. wondering

"Why do I put this around my neck like a NOOSE?  I would almost rather be a MOOSE!  And why do I feel like channeling Dr. Seuss?"  He stood before the mirror, retying the tie he loathed more than any other article of clothing he owned, which explained why he owned only one.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, coming into the bathroom carrying one SHOE.  "Have you seen the mate to this?"

"Just DISCUSSING with the mirror how much I love wearing a necktie," he said with a bit of a smirk.  "And I was WONDERING why there was a shoe on the shelf with the towels," he continued, handing her the one she wanted.

"Oh, I must have set it there when you yelled for me to come help with the FIREPLACE.  I don't know what's happening with me, I keep getting so distracted.  Yesterday it was an ONION set on the computer table, today I'm putting shoes on the towel rack.  Does pregnancy do this to women's brains? Is this an OMEN of what's to come?  I mean, I'm willing to have my HOURGLASS figure replaced with baby stretch marks, but do I have to lose my brains, too?"

"Just part of the PARADISE that is parenthood, I guess," he said, giving her a hug.  "I think it will get better, right now you are still morning sick and we're new to the whole thing and that's enough to distract anyone."

"I hope so, I hate it when a FRAGMENT of a thought goes through my brain so fast I can't even catch it.  I'm dropping the ball a bit too often these days, and SOON I won't be in any shape to bend over and pick it up!"

"We'll pick it up together, don't worry," he said.  "Right now, though, we need to get going or we'll be late."

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One of the things you will find if you read below is that today is Swap a Christmas Cookie Recipe Day.  My friend Jz is doing just that, hosting a cookie recipe exchange.

Please note if you visit her, she sometimes posts content that is higher than a PG rating, and so do some of her other friends whose recipes will be linked.  Please know i am endorsing only those posts which contain a recipe.  After all, who doesn't like getting new recipes for delights at this time of year!

My recipe is for what we call Fudgie Buddies. They are very similar to the flourless cakes that were the rage several years ago.  They should look dry and crackly like brownies, but be soft and fudgy on the inside.

While i've never tried making them gluten free, it might be possible with a very bland wheat flour substitute.  The chocolate flavor would probably cover it.

1 bag semisweet chocolate chips (12 ounces)

2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate (2 ounces)

2 tablespoons salted butter

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

dash salt

2 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

optional: 1 cup chopped nuts, or raisins, or both if you like (or neither if someone is allergic to nuts and raisins aren't your thing)

Melt the butter over low heat, then add one cup of the semisweet chips and both squares of baking chocolate.  Stir constantly until it's all melted together, then scrape into a mixing bowl and let it cool a little. (Or leave it in the pot to cool a bit and mix the rest in the pot the way i do, it dirties up fewer things.) 

Stir together the flour, baking powder, and just a dash of salt and set aside (i always put it in a little plastic leftovers container and shake it to mix).

Add the eggs, sugar and vanilla to the chocolate mixture and stir well.  Add the flour mixture and stir well again.

Stir in the other cup of chocolate chips from the bag and nuts or raisins if you want.

Drop by the spoonful onto a lightly greased baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees until the edges are firm and on the outside they look dull and cracked, like brownies.  How long it takes to bake depends on the size, if you use small spoonfuls, it will be about 8-10 minutes and you will get about 36 cookies.  If you use huge spoonfuls like i do, it will take about 10-12 minutes and you will only get 18 cookies.

Once done, let them sit on the cookie sheet for a moment, then remove them and let them cool (if you don't have your family hovering to take them while they are still warm).

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Today is:

AFL-CIO Day (date of merger in 1955)

Bathtub Party Day -- celebrate how much fun it is to take a nice, long, hot bath in these days when showers prevail; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Boycott Day -- commemoration of the city bus boycott begun this day in 1959 in Birmingham, AL, US in response to the arrest of Rosa Parks

Constitution Day -- Sudan

Day of the Ninja -- sponsored by Ninja Burger! with its own website    

Dingle-Fritter, Gooseberry Humple, Tiger-Get-By, LoneFolding, and Zimbor-Quattor's (Multiple Squishing of) Celebration -- Fairy Calendar

Discovery Day -- Haiti

International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development -- UN

King's Birthday -- Thailand, also National Day and Father's Day (for His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s birth anniversary, the founder and "father" of the nation)

National Sacher Torte Day

Nones of December -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also observed

    Faunalia -- rural festival of Faunus

Repeal Day -- US (celebrating the repeal of Prohibition)

Special Kids Day -- a day to make sure special needs kids get to visit Santa with whatever accomodations they require    

St. Bassus of Nice's Day (Patron of Nice, France)

St. Nicholas' Eve  -- Belgium; Czech Republic; Hungary; Netherlands; Romania; Slovakia; parts of the UK; special observances include

     Avond -- Leewvarden, West Friesland (St. Nicholas visits and, if you are good, promises to return with trinkets and candies, which are left in waiting shoes)

     Bonhomme Noel -- France (Celebration of "Goodman Christmas")

     Klausjagen -- Arth and Kussnacht, Switzerland (with a procession of mitre-wearing figures by the Lake of Four Cantons)

     Krampuslauf -- Austria (St. Nicholas celebration, which begins the evening before the Saint's day, involving chasing and throwing snowballs at the Krampus, the imp who travels with St. Nick to punish the bad children)

     Zwarte Piet -- "Black Peter", the companion of St. Nicholas who keeps track of the good and bad children, arrives in many areas tonight

Swap a Christmas Cookie Recipe Day -- because it's fun to try new ones

World Soil Day -- International Union of Soil Sciences     

Birthdays Today:

Frankie Muniz, 1985

Margaret Cho, 1968

Gary Allan, 1967

John Rzeznik, 1965

Art Monk, 1957

Morgan Brittany, 1950

Jim Messina, 1947

Jose Carreras, 1946

Jeroen Krabbe, 1944

J.J. Cale, 1938

Chad Mitchell, 1936

Calvin Trillin, 1935

Joan Didion, 1934

Little Richard, 1932

Otto Preminger, 1906

Strom Thurmond, 1902

Walt Disney, 1901

Bill Picket, 1870

George Armstrong Custer, 1839

Christina Rossetti, 1830

Martin Van Buren, 1782

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Catskills on Broadway"(Revue), 1991

"I Do! I Do!"(Musical), 1966

"Band on the Run"(Album), 1973 (US release date)

"The Dark at the Top of the Stairs"(Inge play), 1957

"The Abbot and Costello Show"(TV), 1952

"Dragnet"(TV), 1951

"Kejser og Gililaer/Emperor and Galilean"(Ibsen play), 1896

"Symphonie Fantastique"(Berlioz symphony), 1830

Today in History:

Cicero reads the last of his Catiline Orations, BC63

An earthquake in Naples leave about 35,000 dead, 1465

All Jews are expelled from Portugal by order of King Manuel I, 1496

London auctioneers Christie's hold their first sale, 1766

Henry Knox begins the transport of Fort Ticonderoga artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts, a key to later forcing the British Fleet out of Boston Harbor, 1775

C F Schoenbein obtains patent for cellulose nitrate explosive, 1846

President Polk confirms that gold has been discovered in California, triggering the next year's "Gold Rush", 1848

Daniel Stillson of Massachusetts patents the first practical pipe wrench, 1876

The first automated telephone switching system is patented, 1879

The first electric car makes its debut; it could go 15 miles between charges, 1893

University of Pittsburg makes the first use of numbers on football jerseys, 1908

The American League for Physical Culture is founded in NYC, the first US nudist organization, 1929

The 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, is ratified, 1933

Sister Elizabeth Kenny's new treatment for infantile paralysis receives approval, 1941 

A cold fog descends upon London, combining with air pollution and killing at least 12,000 in the weeks and months that follow, 1952

The United Nations General Assembly adopts Pakistan's resolution on security of non-Nuclear States, 1976

Shuttle Atlantis launches world's 1st nuclear-war-fighting satellite. 1988

The Civil Partnership Act comes into effect in the United Kingdom, and the first civil partnership is registered there, 2005

Human remains previously found in 1991 are finally identified by Russian and American scientists as those of Tsar Nicholas II, 2008

Malta becomes the first country in Europe to outlaw conversion therapy, 2015

Russia is banned from the next Winter Olympics in South Korea over state-sponsored doping, 2017