MissMeliss: Escribition

I baked a cake today.
I didn’t bake it entirely from scratch – the cake part was a Duncan Hines devil’s food cake – but I made the butter cream frosting from scratch, using the vanilla I brought home from Mexico. Mexican vanilla is darker, more syrup-y, and not as sweet as the vanilla extract [...]

“Are you alright? I haven’t seen any blog updates recently,” a friend said to me at church the other morning. I assured her that I was, just busy, and not feeling bloggish.
In truth, I’ve been cutting way back on computer time lately. My eyes and brain need the break, I’m still very tired, and [...]

I turned into a prune in my lovely bubble bath tonight, reading Jennifer Weiner’s latest book (Certain Girls – see my review in the May 1 edition of All Things Girl), and half listening to Willie Nelson’s program about Hidden Kitchens of Texas, or some such thing. There was mention of Chili Queens, and they [...]

I stayed up late last night doing all the work I had for Monday ahead of time, so I could sleep late if I wanted to.
Instead, I found myself awake an hour before our alarms. I turned on a soft light and cuddled under the covers reading and texting friends, but then I’d had [...]

A 2008 Best of Holidailies Selection. Thanks, Holidailies Reviewers!
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My mother posted earlier today about the tradition of drinking hot chocolate on the 12th Day of Christmas (aka Three Kings Day / Epiphany), which she has adopted since retiring to Mexico several years ago. I still live here, but I’m all about [...]

In January it’s so nice
While slipping on the sliding ice
To sip hot chicken soup with rice
Sipping once, sipping twice
Sipping chicken soup with rice
~ Maurice Sendak/Carole King,
“Chicken Soup with Rice”
Really Rosie

I was seven years old when I was first introduced to the Carole King/Maurice Sendak musical Really Rosie, not by [...]

I had an entire post written, then scrapped it because it was disgustingly whiny, and there’s enough whining on the web without me adding to it.
I was supposed to have a Day of Writeyness, but instead I had a Day of Sleepy Grouchiness. I feel like I can’t connect to any of the projects [...]

In the novel Little Men, one of Louisa May Alcott’s sequels to Little Women there is a scene where Jo takes her niece Daisy into a special “toy” kitchen, albeit with a real working stove, so that she can “make messes” and learn to cook. I always wanted to be Jo, never Daisy, but I always wanted that kitchen.

Because I’m part of the Positivity Experiment this week, I refrained from my usual scathing-but-affectionate remarks about the level of sophistication his palate may or may not have, and said, pushing a smile into my voice, “I know this, but we need something heartier to go with soup, so go to the bakery in the front of the store, where the wood-fired ovens are, and pick something that looks interesting.”

I originally posted this on 22 November 2006, but when I went looking for my hard copy last night, could NOT find it. Thank goodness for saved archives and cached pages. I present this again, in case anyone needs it, and because I need to save it again anyway.
Turkey Stuffing and Gravy Recipe,by Edward F. [...]