Chocolate Cherry Rum Cake

As I continue playing with various rum cake recipes, I find variation after variation each time I look at ingredients in my pantry. I like to keep an eclectic mix of items around to foster my creativity.

The chocolate cherry mix is nothing new, but the rum soak ads a nice kick each time one comes across a chewy cherry in the cake.

The recipe:

 

Cake:

1 box chocolate cake mix

1 box (4 serving) vanilla instant pudding

½ cup water

½ cup rum

½ cup oil (I use olive)

4 eggs

1 cup dried tart cherries soaked in rum

 

Glaze

¼ cup butter

½ cup sugar

¼ cup water

¼ cup rum

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp chocolate extract

 

Preheat oven to 325°.  Pour the rum off the soaked cherries, reserve to use in the cake and in the glaze (if there is enough). In a large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, water, oil, eggs, rum, and soaked cherries. Beat until combined. Grease and flour a bundt pan. Spread nuts around the bottom then pour in the batter. Bake for 50-60 minutes.

 

When the cake comes out of the oven, leave in pan. Boil butter, sugar, water, and allspice glaze ingredients for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in rum, almond extract, and chocolate extract.

 

With the cake still in the pan, poke holes in the cake – I use a chopstick. Pour hot glaze over the cake. Allow the glaze to soak into the cake before turning it out onto a plate (about 5 minutes).

 

Another Month of Writing

         For several years, I have participated in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) in November. Though there are now themes for every month of the year since BlogHer has taken over the coordination, my hectic schedule does not allow me to write something post-worthy every day in multiple months of the year (some could argue I never write anything post-worthy). I look forward to the challenge and in the months leading up to November, begin to map out themes I can use for each day of the week and then map out my writing strategy for the month.

         The daily themes give me a writing boost when I have my composition book, or my computer before me with a blank page, they do not bind me. I write based on whatever inspiration strikes me and frequently that has nothing to do with the daily topic. Freedom to write whatever I want to write makes the process much more fun and this month has been particularly fun for me as I discovered topics I truly enjoyed. Some posts took days to write, and some took minutes, but all were fun.

         Probably the aspect of NaBloPoMo I enjoy most is that if forces me to get in a writing mode and demands that I pay attention to at least one of my three blogs. There were a few days that I actually had three or more posts go up. Taking a month dedicated to writing helps strengthen my writing habits and refine my daily habit to include writing creatively.

         I do write on a daily basis, but most of my regular writing focuses on professional topics and does not lend itself to blog posts. I do have a professional blog for some of my other writing and while the blog format is appropriate for increasing communication (for those willing to comment and read the comments), not all the writing fits the blog format.

The daily themes I plan for the month do sometime take precedence, which is why I am posting my reflection on the month a day before the month is over – Fridays have had a food theme and the recipe coming tomorrow deserves its proper place. As NaBloPoMo wraps up for me, on this blog, for this yea, Advent has just begun, so yet another of my blogs now demands daily care through Epiphany.

Lottery Bonanza

         In order to avoid as much holiday traffic as possible, I took the country-road route, as much as possible, back to Austin. The lack of traffic let my mind wander as I drove through pastoral landscapes. While taking in the beauty of undeveloped land, I merged fantasies of that landscape with the news that no one won the previous Powerball Lottery drawing. What would I do if I won $425+ million dollars?

         All my thoughts of luxurious, hedonistic living kept returning to trucks, tractors, and cows. If I won the lottery I would buy a ranch and spend the rest of my life working on it. As much as my mind could imagine, all I wanted was land, and cows, and big motorized toys. The more I thought about it, the nicer it sounded.

         I could work in the pasture all day letting my mind wander as it would, then come home in the evening and write. My best writing always comes following physical labor. Phrases and sentences simmer in the thought soup that bubbles away while my body labors at tasks that do not require much mental attention. Particularly good ones I jot down as they occur; others, I let refine.

         Of course, I love my career in education, so it would be hard for me to leave the students behind. With the lottery money, I would not really have to work for pay. I could just go into the local school and teach writing workshops. I enjoyed teaching writing much more than literature anyway. Experiencing the creativity of others is as rewarding as coming across my own perfect phrase to end the paragraph being composed.

         On my trip to see my family I listened to a series of stories based on Americans in the artist colony of Paris in the early parts of the twentieth century. Thoughts of those stories expanded my ranch vision. Beyond baling hay and raising cattle, I would host parties. With $425 million I could afford some guest quarters. They always had room for passers-by on Bonanza: I surely could too. The question I could not resolve was, “extra rooms in the big house, or separate guest houses?”

         I like my privacy. I will probably go with separate guest houses.

         And if my ranch is in Texas, I will need a Cadillac for driving to the big city so I can leave my truck out on the ranch.

         The more I considered the implications, the more I realized that winning the lottery is expensive. I do not know if I want to spend $2 on a ticket or not.

Remembering Spring

Late enough in fall that the tree had lost all its leaves, I noticed the bird's nest still perched securely in the limbs.

Where there was nothing spectacular about the nest in and of itself, it reminded me of spring and the energy that comes with the season. Though it was cool at the time of the photo, I looked around to see if there was any chance the fledglings that came from the nest were in the area. Of course they were not, but given our climate, I doubted they had gone too far - unless the cat that was trailing me had his way with them long ago.

Sanitizing the Game

         During the time the NFL officials (they are not all referees – there is only one referee in each game – every official has a specific assignment) were locked out due to a contract dispute, I grew increasingly worried each week due to the increasingly blatant major violations going uncalled in the games. The safety of every player on the field was at risk with each call that was not made.

         Scientific discoveries in the last decade, spurred more by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan than professional football, have cast light on the permanent damage head injuries such as concussions have on those who experience them. Historically the “minor” head injuries, such as concussions have been considered healed as soon as the symptoms disappeared. We now know that is not true.

Football (though hardly the only sport) has long been known as a sport whose participants frequently experienced concussions. Big men traveling at high speeds colliding with one another tended to have that effect on the anatomy. As new information has been discovered, the NFL has been responsive by creating rules and equipment designed to protect the safety of the players. They have attempted to sanitize the game as much as a notoriously violent game can be sanitized.

         What frustrates me are the people seeking to hold the NFL responsible for injuries that occurred prior to the knowledge we have now. They are like the people suing companies for using asbestos in the 1950’s. Knowledge of the harm of the product did not exist at that time. Since the 1970’s, with the widespread use of computers and the exponential growth of knowledge, we find it easy to forget that all we know now has not always been known. In many cases, the means to know did even not exist.

         I am a football fan and applaud the efforts of the NFL to make the game safer for the players. Rules the NFL implements trickle down to college, high school, and pee-wee leagues. However, I do not want new rules to be seen as an admission to prior knowledge. While ample internal documents exist that confirm the cigarette industry knew the harm smoking did to smokers while they continued to market smoking as healthy, to date, no internal documents indicate that the NFL knew the lifetime impact a head injury could have on a player.

         I am proud to live in a world that is making such amazing progress regarding human health. I cannot, however, support any of the litigants who sue over the “should have known” argument. As an educator, it would take me minutes to construct a test anyone would fail, but should have passed because the knowledge society has gained since they left school changed what they were taught.

         We live in extraordinary times (compared to other eras in history) regarding the acquisition of knowledge. There have been bursts of knowledge in historical periods, but nothing that remotely compares to the exponential growth we see today. We need as much common sense in the application of knowledge as we see acquisition of knowledge. Knowledge and understanding are worthless without a viable application of that knowledge. If we cannot use it, archive it. Do not litigate it.

         One reason I am a fan of professional (and college) football is the hand-to-hand combat between the warriors on the field. I enjoy the strategy in the game and variance in performance between players from week to week. No one can have their “best game ever” every week. Even the underdog sometimes wins; that is why we play the games. We have replaced gladiator-style battles with rule-bound sports: it meets a societal need. All of humanity has a degree of competition even as our talents fall in different areas.

         I applaud leading football organizations for adapting the rules to protect the players and the integrity of the game as new knowledge has become available. As much as we want everything to be made right in the world, we cannot retroactively correct historical wrongs; with new knowledge we can, and should, prevent future wrongs. Unfortunately knowledge is fluid and justice based on that knowledge is equally fluid. Instead of attacking organizations/institutions that adapt to the knowledge available to them, celebrate them for the responsive work they are doing. Justice and fairness are not the same and only the most naïve pretend they are.

Adventing Advent

         I grew up in a Southern Baptist church that never taught the liturgical seasons practiced by many Christian denominations around the world. As an adult, when I first worshipped with churches that followed the liturgical calendar I became fascinated with Advent and Lent in particular. Both seasons carry such weight in the mission of the church. Both seasons have so much meaning and symbolism that shapes the world – even the secular world.

         Advent, as the start of the liturgical year, focuses on hope and so has been my favorite season of the year. With the Advent calendars and the daily focus on something to do in the anticipation of the coming Christ, I have always had something to focus on in the month before Christmas that is not commercially centered.

         Last year I started a separate blog to daily post my reflection on the Advent calendar. It turned into a weekly Bible study blog that connected me with a new dear friend and helped me find a focus for my spirituality. In anticipation of the daily blog posts that would require, I started adventing Advent in August this year.

         Yes – Advent means so much to me in my spiritual journey that I began planning for it in August.

         Advent starts this week and I am ready. Scriptures have been gathered, notes have been taken and drafts of scripture reflections have been made. Now it is time to finalize them and prepare myself, not only for Advent, but for Christmas and all it means to us.

Gone to the Dogs

         The National Dog Show came on as I was sitting in my recliner in near turkey-coma. My dog sat looking up at me wondering why he could not have the things I had eaten (too many jalapenos in the dressing). With all the treats the dogs were getting from their handlers, he was probably wondering why I was not slipping him a treat every time he moved.

         Nothing about the dog show interested me. The extreme to which dogs have been bred to specific purposes has created some genuinely ugly dogs. The announcers kept pointing out that the viewer needed to “imagine the dog doing what it was bred to do when judging from home.” I could not imagine some of the dogs, especially some of the terriers, being bred to do anything but scare rats and tasteful tourists out of the village.

         Seeing these coiffed canines made me happy with my mutt. A bath now and then, a few toys from the discount store and we are set. You will find no special products or handlers around here.

         As much as I was not interested, I could not turn away. Much like NASCAR, which is most fun when wrecks disrupt the race, I kept waiting for the Rottweilers, Dobermans, and German Shepherds to get into it - or for the Great Dane to snap up that ugly toy breed winner for a snack. I could not turn away. Alas, these dogs are too well trained and the choke chains the handlers use keep them under control. No fights. No inappropriate sniffing. Nothing exciting.

         Just calm voices talking about how wonderful each breed is for what it does.  And there were many commercials for pet food and pet toys. One feature even advocated taking dogs to work. My energetic dog would cause chaos. There were no ads for animal tranquilizers.

         Instead of calm, knowledgeable voices, I want Fred Willard, in character from Best in Show, to analyze the proceedings. That hilariously inappropriate chatter coupled with the behind-the-scenes antics of the various dog owners/handlers fills the imagination with what might actually be happening in the parts of the show edited out so that the show ends just in time to cut to the football game.

         I must confess, this is at least the third year in a row I have watched the show. As much as I wish NBC would take a cue from the movie and broaden the antics of the show, I doubt they will. However, I will likely keep watching from year to year – hoping sometime life will imitate art.

Thanksgiving Menu 2012

         For the last few years, I have spent the week of Thanksgiving preparing food to cover 30 people. I seriously do not know how to cook for one. I simply cannot imagine food on that miniscule scale. This year, though I consciously scaled back the menu: I only planned to feed myself and my roommate. Still, few traditional Thanksgiving dishes can be prepared for only one or two people – and I do traditional (at least according to my family) each year.

         This year’s menu included a smallish turkey (under 20 lbs), cornbread dressing, cranberry salad, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole (tradition with my roommate’s family),and sun-dried tomato corn muffins. Desert included pumpkin cheesecake and a double layer pumpkin pie.

         Since I learned how to brine a turkey a few years ago, it has become my standard practice to load the turkey into several garbage bags (NEW, not used) then covered with a salt/citrus brine. I stuff fresh citrus fruits and an onion into the turkey to flavor it during cooking. The other dishes are pulled together with my supernatural nose – I know when the dish smells right (particularly the dressing). It makes it almost impossible to ever share a recipe.

         Now that Thanksgiving is done, it is time to start planning for the New Year’s feast – good luck foods from around the world.

 

What's Right in My World

         I am easily amused by the humor I find in human foible (resulting in “warning” labels on packaging because of lawsuits stemming from a lack of common sense). Those labels and other silliness bring a bit of happiness to me and to my friends. Focusing on such triviality comes easily in most of our lives. On Thanksgiving, though, we take the time to reflect on what we value in our lives, what means more than a quick chuckle.

         I am blessed that my life is filled with joy sustained by the important people and things in my life.

         I am blessed by a small group of valued friends. We do not talk to each other or see each other nearly as much as I would like to, but I know they are there when I need them.

         I am blessed to have a career that truly matters to me. Waking up every day knowing I get to do something I love and interact with co-workers who are equally passionate about their work keeps me energized.

         I am blessed by family, near and far, who love me and who have made me the person I am today.

         I am blessed by an internalized faith that keeps me grounded no matter how frazzled I get by the chaotic world around me. Having a spiritual retreat against stress of the world allows me peace.

         I am wishing everyone who stumbles up my simple reflection a Happy Thanksgiving, and I send you off with a prayer: May your life be filled with every blessing you need.

Holiday Minimalism

         As Thanksgiving approaches, whether to decorate for Christmas or not has reentered my internal discussion. I have a miniature tree I decorated a few years ago that I stick in the closet each year on Epiphany and pull out sometime after Thanksgiving. I used to decorate each room (including each bathroom) with a theme/color for that room. Lately, I have considered such effort a waste of time and resources.

         One miniature fake tree.

         One stocking.

         That has been all. I went from excess to extreme minimalism.

         I do not throw a huge holiday party (since someone squeezed my toothpaste – totally another story). Not many people come through my house during the holiday season, so little reason exists for me to go to the effort of decorating to any extreme. I do not enjoy the decorations personally; they are just too energetic for my personality.

         I am that bland.

         This year, though, I have a roommate and maybe I should do something more festive to make him feel better about his first year away from his family at the holidays. After all, I have boxes of goodies for decoration in storage in my garage.

         Unfortunately, I would have to take it down later.

         Even though the work involved takes time I do not have, something about this holiday season has me looking forward to it. In years past I truly enjoyed getting into all the decorations and that spark in the back of my mind flickers now and then.

         I just hope that the giant snake that sometimes crawls around my garage has not bedded up in any of the decoration boxes for the winter.