Random Weird Stuff - "Coffee and Cake"

Here’s a couple o’things you may or may not enjoy. Don’t really care. I like ‘em…

The first is my love song to coffee. I REALLY love coffee. All flavors, all kinds of sugar and/or creamers added. Whipped cream and sprinkles, if you have ‘em. The tune is mainly in my head, which is where it should stay, believe me. Use your own little tune to sing the song…

My Coffee and Me

My coffee and me, we got a thing going on

My coffee and me, it’s sweet and it’s strong

My coffee and me, don’t tell me it’s wrong

My coffee and me, my coffee and me

My coffee and me, we’re doin’ it right

My coffee and me, a constant delight

My coffee and me, awake every night

My coffee and me, my coffee and me

My coffee and me, the love has just grown

My coffee and me, the limit’s unknown

My coffee and me, it’s makin’ me moan

My coffee and me, my coffee and me

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The second offering is my opinion of Emergency Birthday Cake. In the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich, Stephanie almost always has an emergency birthday cake in her freezer. For the stressful times, you know. And Stephanie has a LOT of stress in her life. If things were fair, Stephanie would be 300 pounds by now, but noooooo…she can still wear slinky dresses. Even if she has to stop breathing to do so. But I digress…

As far as cake goes, I will eat just about any cake. Birthday cake is almost always wonderful. If someone puts a plate in front of me with a piece of cake on it, I will not reject it. BUT…I am pretty picky about my icing. If I were to actually BUY a cake to put in the freezer it MUST have real, thick, lard-based icing. The kind that makes your teeth cringe. I can nurse a piece of cake with the right icing for a half hour at least. Just savoring it. The cool whip icing is fine, but I will eat that fairly quickly. So…instead of cake, I propose Emergency Candy Bars. Nothing is so good as a frozen candy bar that you can’t gobble down without breaking your teeth. You are forced to linger over that baby. By the time it’s thawed enough and you’re at the end of the bar, the stress has lessened somewhat. Even better is Emergency Box of Chocolates. You can get away with less chocolate that way. At least I can. One or two chocolates usually do the trick. Once you open a bar, however, you are obligated to eat the entire bar.

And while you’re at it, have a cup of coffee too….

Ruth Rendell

Ruth Rendell passed away at the beginning of this month. She was one of my favorite authors when I was younger. I read a LOT of her books, until I started getting creeped out by some of the darker psychological thrillers. She could really get inside a sick mind. In one of my Book Report blogs, I talked about Heartstones, a novella she wrote that I had read in my high school days. When I read it again a few years ago, I was creeped out even more than when I first read it.

The books I enjoyed the most were the Inspector Wexford mysteries. They were gruesome, but they didn’t make my soul hurt. They were very realistic, though.

The ones she wrote under the name Barbara Vine were the darkest books. I didn’t read many of them. Sarah was a big fan of those, and had several. I borrowed The Brimstone Wedding and was surprised at how much I enjoyed that one. It had a certain creep factor, but all in all, it actually had a happy ending, which was unusual.

My reading tastes have changed a lot over the years. I prefer lighter subjects. But Ms. Rendell’s books were outstanding, and I did enjoy them for a time.

May 2015 Book Report

The Passion and the Flower (1978) by Barbara Cartland

Innocent dancer Lokita catches the eye of the Russian Prince Ivan. He pursues her, even though he thinks she is a penniless girl. Neither he nor Lokita is aware of the secret her faithful nanny guards: Lokita is of royal Russian heritage as well!

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Killing Patton (2014) by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard

Like the other “killing” books, O’Reilly and Dugard’s bio of General Patton is very well researched and well written. I’m not big on war history, but I enjoyed this book just as much as the others in this series.

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Love, Lords, and Lady-Birds (1978) by Barbara Cartland

Petrina runs away from the odious boarding school her hated guardian has left her in. She seeks to make her way to London to demand her inheritance from her guardian face-to-face. Little does she know that the handsome Earl of Staverton, who gives her a ride, is in fact that same guardian!

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Rolande (1978) by Clare Darcy

Low on cash, Jasper hires a young actress, Rolande, to impersonate the lost heir to the family fortune. Little does he know that he himself is the lost heir.

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The World We Live In (1944) by Louis Bromfield

This is a book of short stories written during WWII. They are well written, but I found most of them to be pretty depressing.