Baking, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and Freud

The sweet aroma of muffins and cookies filled my house today as I baked and be-bopped to music. I plugged my mp3 player in the stereo, cranked it up, and proceeded to mix and stir to the beat. I have to say that Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and The Brian Setzer Orchestra go great with cooking. White Zombie and Brides of Destruction were good, but it is too hard to head bang while stirring. I am sure I looked like an idiot singing and dancing around while cracking eggs and mixing, but it was fun. The banana nut muffins came out pretty good and the chocolate chip cookies happened because I was in a groove and did not want to stop.

I did manage to take the dog for a nice walk today as everything was cooling off. The sun was out and the fall colors are spectacular right now. I did remember to bundle up this time with a hat and gloves so I wasn’t froze halfway into it; what I didn’t remember was to take my camera to capture those spectacular colors, maybe tomorrow.

A few weeks ago at a resale shop I picked up an old copy of Sigmund Freud’s, A General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis. The last few nights I have been reading the book and it is not as hard to read as I assumed it would be. Why would I read such a thing? Curiosity is my only answer. It is really a collection of lectures he did on the topic so most of it is in layman’s terms. A part in “Lecture 1” caught my attention and I wrote it down because it was lyrical in its description. I will end my blog with it today, hope you enjoy.

Words and magic were in the beginning one and the same thing, and even today words retain much of their magical power. By words one of us can give to another the greatest happiness or bring about utter despair; by words the teacher imparts his knowledge to the student; by words the orator sweeps his audience with him and determines its judgments and decisions. Words call forth emotions and are universally the means by which we influence our fellow-creatures.
- Sigmund Freud, A General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis

Digging for Muffins

I played in the dirt today. I was not making mud pies if that is what you guessed. I cleaned out my flower boxes and separated the overgrown bulbs, hopefully not killing them in the process. I planted some of the extra bulbs in a couple other spots and promised my mom the rest. I have never done this and neither of my thumbs is green, so I did my best and am leaving it up to nature. Speaking of nature, it did not snow today, yeah! It was cold out though; even with gloves the dirt I was digging through chilled my fingers.

I did not win the football pool as I hoped, but we did tie so we are both responsible for dinner next Sunday. Pizza is what we decided to make as we both love it and haven’t had any for awhile. I would prefer to just order in but it is cheaper to make and the one place around here has not been impressive. We will just have to combine our cooking skills, as small as they may be, and come up with something fabulous.

I have also decided to take up baking. (Please hold the laughter until the end of the blog.) I am not talking of baking everything, just a couple of things to start. I have baked before, cookies and cakes, but they are pretty easy. Muffins are going to be my first attempt as I love them so, and hubby needs to lose the donuts. I am playing around with some bread ideas but have not researched it yet. I figure flour, sugar, baking soda, and such are relatively cheap for how much food you can get out of them. Plus baking warms the house and fills it with lovely aromas.

So if any of you have any great baking recipes that I should try out, send them to my email. Otherwise wish me luck and I will let you know if I burn the kitchen down.