Homemade Cinnamon Sticky Buns

This morning I made homemade cinnamon buns. I was thinking this was going to be a lot of trouble as yeast breads usually are. I was surprised. I got the recipe from a cookbook from the Chico Lodge in Pray, Montana. They must be 1,000 calories a piece. But awesome. You mix 2 1/2 cups plus 2 T. of flour with 1/2 tsp. cinamon, 6 T. sugar, 1 T. instant yeast, 3/4 tsp. salt together in a large mixing bowl. In a pan you heat 3/4 cup of water with 1 1/2 T. unsalted butter and 2 T. plus1/4 tsp. of shortening (crisco) until it is melted and about 120-130 degrees (not to hot or it will kill the yeast). In a small bowl beat one egg and pour the hot water mixture in while whisking. Then you put the dough hook on the mixer and pour the egg/water mixture in to the dry ingredients. You may need to add a little more flour. It will form a dough ball. Put it in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm spot for about 40 minutes. While it is rising you mix the cinnamon middle for the rolls - it is 2 sticks of butter (1 lb.) plus 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. It forms a paste. Set that aside. Then for the gooey stuff. You beat 1 cup of heavy whipping cream with 1 cup of firmly packed brown sugar until its like the consistency of sour cream. Pour that mixture and spread in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Now get the dough and roll it out to about 1/8 thick oblong. Spread the butter, sugar, cinnamon mixture all over it. Roll it tight long ways. Then cut it in to inch thick slices and put them the pan almost touching. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise for 30 minutes. While it is rising preheat the over to 350 degrees. After it has risen put the rolls in the over and back for 30 minutes. As soon as they are done turn the upside down on to a plate or dish and serve.

I wish I had a picture to show you. They were awesome.

Do you have to do something big to be living?

I was struck by a few lines in the book I am reading, A Parchment of Leaves. "He talked about going out west and being a railroad engineer and getting rich. Always something like that. He thought you all the time had to be doing something big to be living. Never could set down on the front porch and take a deep breath and feel satisfied that his day had been well spent."

I think I often suffer from this same ailment. Never able to sit still and just enjoy the moment. Enjoy doing nothing or doing something as simple as just sitting. Why is it that some people have a more general sense of contentment than others? Is it something a person can develop over time or will I always be restless? Always thinking I have to be doing something big to be living. I know its not true. Life is in the little moments, the little things - a sigh, a sunrise, a raindrop, a smile, a tear. None of those things are big except a sunrise.

Lord help me find some patience, peace and appreciation for the little things that are THE LIVING in my life.

Why so many people all at once?

These past two weeks in the news there have been several high profile people who's cancers have returned with a vengeance. Tony Snow, the White House Press Secretary and Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential candidate John Edwards to name two. Both of their cancers have spread to other organs in their bodies and the prospects do not look so promising. Taken alone this seems just like something that could happen any time. It seems odd to be because I also know several other instances in the last 30 days or so of people with cancer showing up or returning with a vengeance. My mother's good friend had ovarian cancer. She had been doing really well. I found out last week that it was back and she's in intensive care on a feeding tube and not likely to make it. Another friend told me her good friend's child wasn't feeling well, went to the doctor, found out she had Leukemia and died the next week. A friend from work's Dad's cancer spread to his brain recently and his prospects are not good. Another friend's mother was diagnosed with cancer in several organs and is undergoing rigorous chemo treatments. Maybe this isn't out of the ordinary, it just seems odd to me that I go for long periods of time without anyone I know mentioning cancer and then all these people at once. It just seems odd. Maybe its just my age and the fact that as you get older you have the possibility of knowing more people with the possibility of getting cancer because they are older. Anyway, it sure seems like a bad streak for all these people. I wonder if they have anything in common.

Jumping out of my skin!

Last night at 2am the alarm system went off in our house. Talk about making you jump out of your skin. We got up and turned off the alarm and turned on all the lights. We were looking around and trying to figure out what triggered it. When you are sound asleep and something like that wakes you up it really gets your adrenaline pumping. The alarm company called and stayed on the phone while we looked around. John looked up the alarm zones and figured out that it was a window alarm that set it off. We've been doing basement work so we were thinking maybe something got left ajar or who knows. We were afraid to go in the basement though so we had the alarm company dispatch the Sheriff. He came out and looked in the basement and all around the perimeter of the house. Nothing. So we went back to bed. Needless to say its hard to go back to sleep after that. Then the alarm company called at 7am to make sure everything was okay and trouble shoot. While that was thoughtfull we were still asleep trying to recover from the middle of the night wake up.

Where have all the Honey Bees gone?

I was listening to NPR today to a story about declining honey bee populations and the possible implications on the food supply. There may not be enough bees to pollinate the crops this year. About 30% of the food consumed by US consumers requires bees for pollination. This was an interesting story. But it is a story I recall hearing every spring for at least the past several years. Each time it seems that concerned groups of farmers and bee keepers are speaking to some panel in Washington about the problem. Each time the story is pretty much the same. They don't know why. It could be this new pesticide that causes insects to become disoriented - thus bees would not be able to find and return to their hives. This seems plausible since the hives are being abandoned rather than filled with dead bees. So the bees aren't dying in the hives. So what happens if we don't figure out what is happening to the bees and eventually there are not enough? Here is a link a to a National Geographic article. It says it could be due to diseases passed on by mites. It also says there are normal ebbs and flows in the bee population but this one appears more pronounced.

I don't know about you but when I was a kid I was really afraid of bees. My kids are scared to death of them. Funny for something to be so essential, so tiny, so vulnerable to external influences and yet SO SCARY. I for one hope the bees come back. I like my flowers, a good tomato and all the other goodies of the garden that require these little critters to produce. Let's hear it for the Bees! And maybe next year when this story comes out in the news there will be a story about being closer to a solution to the decline.


http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1005_041005_honeybees.html

This is an interesting article about the honey bee and it talks about the life cycle of the bee.
It also has some interesting pictures of a bee pollinating a flower.

http://www.cirrusimage.com/bees_honey.htm

See I was right. I've been seeing this for years. Below one from '99 and one from '00. In the last century the bee population has declined by more than 50%.

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/05/05/pollinators.peril/

See here's a story from 1999 about the decline. There was hope that a solution to kill the mites would help the bee decline. I guess it didn't work. So maybe it is the pesticide.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/09/990930071452.htm

Here are the words to The Bee Song - written in 1938 by Kenneth Blain

http://ingeb.org/songs/owhatagl.html

And if you really want to get carried away......

Muddy Waters has a song called Honey Bee. You can get it from http://www.itunes.com/ or http://www.amazon.com/ . If you aren't familiar with Muddy Waters, well, he's a famous Blues singer. "Sail on Honey Bee".

Spring Cleaning

Clutter drives me nuts. If you came to my house you would not realize it. There is clutter everywhere. Piles of old mail waiting for something - I'm not sure what. Piles of the kids things on the stairs, waiting in vane to be carried up the stairs and put away. Piles of cookbooks I've had out and can't find room for in the cookbook self. Piles of old school papers, clothes in the closet, magazines that must be years old. Why do we hang on to all these things? Does it really only bother me? Nobody else seems to notice or care. I go to the neighbors and they don't have these piles. I go to friends houses and they don't have this clutter. So why us?

How can we solve this problem? I am looking for some help. From the experts, from my family, from anybody. I joined the freecycle yahoo group in my town. You can list things there that you want to give away. The kids are thinking about having a garage sale but they never do. So this week while I have a few days off I think I will try to work on just one room and remove some of the clutter. I started in the bathroom this afternoon and emptied out two drawers and the cabinet. I threw out old vitamins, prescriptions, lotions, broken hair clips and makeup samples that must be at least two years old. Why am I compelled to take these samples at the stores? I NEVER use them.

I bought a book on cleaning up the clutter. It is now cluttering up the floor of my bathroom. It says you should go one room at a time. This month's Real Simple has an article about lightening up. It says to start by throwing out the physical stuff. Go through drawers, wallet, purse, etc and toss anything that depresses or dimishes you. What does that mean? How can stuff in your purse diminish you? I am afraid I am not going to be able to figure that one out. I got on this purse kick last summer and now instead of one purse I have about 10. They are now adding to the clutter. I guess if I have to go through them all I can probably find some stuff to throw out. Oh yeah, and you are supposed to make a list of the things you are throwing away. That seems like extra work. Its hard enough to do the throwing out part without having to make a list.

Anyway, I am going to get up early tomorrow and unclutter something in my house. I am not sure what yet but something. I think it will make me feel better - at least temporarily. Until.........well you know. The clutter builds up again.

Grocery Shopping, Strawberries, Peaches and My favorite Pasta Recipe

I haven't been to the grocery in a couple of weeks. This is a ritual I really miss. Today I am sort of on vacation - doing a little work from home and a few phone calls - but otherwise on vacation. I can't wait to plan out the meals for the next few days and go shopping. I just love wandering through the produce department looking at all the fruits and vegetables and imaging what they will taste like in my meal. I know it sounds goofy but I love fresh food. After 4 days in a car in Yellowstone eating food out of packages and restaurant meals I am ready for some home cooking and some fresh fruit. Its been a rough spring so far for the fresh fruit! Strawberries in California and Florida suffered from a late freeze and there haven't been any really good strawberries this season. They are my favorite when they are sweet and juicy. I could eat bowls and bowls of them. But this year they have no flavor. Just bland. My next favorite are the west slope Peaches from Colorado. If you've never had them you must! They are the sweetest, juiciest peaches I've ever had. They won't be ready until late July and early August. We each peaches almost three meals a day during that season. I buy them by the box from the road side vendors or at the farmer's market.

Tonight I think I will make my favorite pasta. Its light and easy and delicious. Even the little kids like it. Cook your spaghetti or capellini. While it is cooking you finely dice fresh roma tomatoes (about 1 lb. to 1 1/2 lbs.), fresh basil (2-3T), fresh marjoram (2 tsp.), fresh oregano (2 tsp.) fresh thyme (2 tsp), and cubes of fresh mozzarella. Put all those ingredients in the bottom of a large bowl. Then heat about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a pan with one minced garlic clove. Heat until the garlic sizzles then set aside. When the pasta is cooked drain and put in the bowl with the diced ingredients and pour the warm oil over it and toss. Its delicious! And very light.

Why Does the Cycle Keep Repeating?

Throughout my life my mother and I could never spend more than a day or two together without getting on each others nerves and starting to snap at each other. I always felt like my mother was telling me what to do and I didn't like and frankly I was mean to her in response. All she wanted to do was know more about my life and I withheld information out of spite. Our relationship would get better from time to time but anytime we were together for very long we would be at each others throats so to speak. I loved her so much but never really showed her all that well that I did. I would never give her a hug when she wanted one. I always wished it were different but I never had the willpower to change it. I think we both had trouble changing the way we talked to each other and reacted to each other. In the end when she was dying and I spent the last two weeks with her this was not the case. I am not really sure why. Perhaps because I knew I was losing her. Perhaps because she was so helpless and I finally realized how much she really needed my love and support. I was glad for those last two weeks.

So why is it that my daughter and I are repeating this same cycle. We can't seem to be together for more than a few hours without being at each others throats. She takes everything I say the wrong way and witholds information in the same way I used to with my mother. She says things that hurt me the way I did with my mother. And I am sure everything I say seems like I am trying to tell her what to do. I wished for something more but maybe we are doomed to have the same relationship. Never getting a hug when with either of us want or need one and always at each others throats. How sad to love someone so much and only cause them grief.

I guess time will tell and we'll keep trying.

Life at the Speed of Dial Up

I don't know if you are familiar with the commercial for Comcast with the two turtles but the Internet speed here at the Best Western in Gardiner, Montana would make those two turtles happy. Actually most of this little town in Montana moves at a much slower speed. I wonder how many little towns in America are like this. We went to the grocery store yesterday morning before heading to the Park. Mary Mac loved it! She said it was the best little tiny grocery store she had ever seen. Why didn't we have one in our town? There are a few motels, a few cabins, three or four bars, a couple of gas stations and only 2 restaurants open this time of year. I think you can get food at one of the bars but not with kids. The speed limit in town is 25 and the few cars going through town probably don't even drive that fast. You wouldn't want to go much faster or you might hit a deer. I almost did night before last.

We are leaving tomorrow afternoon. I think we'll just relax and do nothing in the morning before driving back to Bozeman. Maybe we can stop in one of the other little towns along the way on the way back - we saw a sign for Emigrant, Pray and Livingston. Livingston is actually pretty large in comparison to where we are. So the Internet isn't fast, my wireless card and my cell phone don't work. Well maybe if they did I would have never slowed down. It was nice for a change.

Both sides of town

John and I decided to grab a bite to eat in town while the kids stayed in the room and ate leftover pizza. We stopped at the Two Bit Saloon but it was already 2:30 and the grill was closed until 4:00. We decided to have a beer instead. We were the only people in there and we started talking to the bartender. He lives up in Jardine which is about 5 miles out of Gardiner and pretty rustic. He was watching a hunting show so we talked a little and listened a lot about hunting. He told us some tales about hunting deer and showed us some photos and then told us about being tracked by a mountain lion once while he was elk hunting. We told him we had been out watching the wolves that morning and that got him going. He says the wolves never were extinct in the area and didn't need to be brought back. The elk herd in the park used to be 19,000 and now it is 9,000 because of the wolves. He didn't really say how many elk the park could sustain. He did say that it could only sustain 2,000 buffalo and the herd is 4,500 but the wolves can't do much damage in the way of thinning the buffalo. So now they have a buffalo hunting season for the ones that leave the park. It was clear that the wolves weren't too popular. John bought so flies by a local fisherman that they were selling behind the bar and then we headed to the other side of town for a sandwich. We went to the Tumbleweed Cafe and Bookstore - like something out of Boulder, Colorado..... organic food, teas, used books,etc. They had a card right by the cash register with all the information about the various wolf packs in the park and where they each roam. Clearly they had a different opinion of the wolves that the bartender at the Two Bit. I guess it takes all kinds.

Druid Pack

We got up early this morning and drove in to the park before dawn. The kids slept. We found a group of people with spotting scopes on a ridge in the Lamar Valley. We climbed up the ridge with our borrowed scope and set up. They were all watching a pack of wolves called the Druid Pack. There were ten in the pack and they were playing. Sliding on the snow and playing chase with each other while the mother and father watched. The mother's belly was extra large so she must be expecting soon. John when down and got the kids and they watched for a while too. That was most of the morning. Then we headed back to the Mammoth area and hiked the upper loop while John napped in the car. Most of the features along the road are no longer active. On the way back we stopped at a place called Boiling River which flows in to the Gardiner River. There is a hot spring in the river where you can bath if you want to. John, Jack and I walked up to the spring while the girls stayed in the car.

Day 2 Yellowstone

Driving the park looking for wildlife and scenery to photograph. It was a long day any way you look at it. We left around 9:30 in the morning and did not get back until 6:30. A long day in the car. We saw lots of animals including a wolf eating its kill high up on a ridge. There was lots to photograph. But it was actually a very sad day for me. I was glad to go to bed at the end of the day.