Miscellany

• The first bit of miscellany is the pronunciation of the word miscellany. I've always thought it was pronounced with the accent on the CELL, but then, how often do I actually say it out loud? A few nights ago, I heard someone much smarter than me (with a PhD and everything) pronounce it with the accent on the MIS, just like miscellaneous, without the -ous. Dictionary.com says we're both right, although my pronunciation is the British way. That makes sense: central Illinois + Texas = British accent!

• The high today here in Iowa City was 88º, exactly what it was in San Antonio. I thought one of the advantages of moving back to the Midwest was autumn.....

• I am knitting, still working on the Red Balloon Scarf, for the Red Scarf Project (and, yes, I'm using red, because I love red, but the fine print says you can use any color suitable for either a young man or a young woman -- which really means suitable for men, because women aren't nearly as picky about colors as men). I took a picture, but it's too dark to see much. This is a fun knit, but I hate deadline knitting, and I've got to finish this by the middle of the week. It's currently four feet long. I was hoping I only needed another repeat after the current one, but it looks like I'll definitely need at least two more.

• This evening, I cooked up a batch of Dave Daniels' grandmother's sauteed mushrooms for dinner. I had planned on having a veggie burger along with it, but the kitchen was about 100º, since I was also baking a loaf of banana bread. The mushrooms were really yummy on their own, and had the advantage of using up a half an onion that was languishing in the fridge.

• The banana bread was a disaster, which is weird, since I make this recipe all the time. I could blame it on my oven, which is old and not very well calibrated, but I've made it in the oven several times since I moved. (I use the second Banana Bread recipe from Beard on Bread, if you're interested.) When I took the loaf out of the oven, it looked a little too well-done. I'd tested it with a toothpick a few minutes before, when it was still bit wet, but it definitely looked done when I removed it. So, I immediately flipped the loaf pan over onto the rack like I alway do -- and out of the crack on top (which looked just like it always does!) oozed about a fifth of the batter, unbaked. Yuck. And how do you clean up 350º batter from the counter? Well, you don't -- you let it cool off and hope you remember to clean it up before you go to bed!

• And finally....
  

Harley has over come her temporary fear of the lower levels of the condo
and would like to tell you all hello!