A Healthfull and Unique Dessert

Last night my wife made all of dinner; Pork curry (Goan style), steamed Basmati rice with saffron and a garden salad. So, I made dessert. We had fresh sliced strawberries so I knew that had to be one ingredient.

What I made looked quite pretty, but we were not sure how it would taste so we gobbled it up before thinking to take a picture.

I took a graham cracker and spread it generously with Nutella. Then I topped this with the lightly sweetened strawberries and added a dollop of whipped cream.

It was really quite good and easy to make. Eat it with a fork and a glass of fresh milk (hot or cold) or tea.

Double Daylight Savings!

I don't want to re-hash all the good reasons for having daylight savings. I like it and think it is great because there is more daytime after work.

Here is the thing though: We start DLST this year on March 9th and sunrise thus goes from 6:12 AM to 7:11 AM. All is well, but by April 24th sunrise is back to 6:12AM. At this point why not advance the clock another hour? The days keep getting longer for a couple of months and then shorten back to a sunrise of 6:12 on August 11th. At that point we could go back to single daylight savings and then proceed as normal until the next April.

Whatever the benefit of daylight savings, wouldn't there be just as much additional benefit for the almost 4 months of DDLS? You could get up around dawn, work all day, come home and then still have like 5 hours more daylight. You can mow the lawn, have an outdoor cook-out, go for a swim or play some tennis. What is not to like about that? Note: The Sunrise times are for the Los Angeles area and come from Griffith Observatory, Location: W118° 17'54.0", N34° 07'06.0"

Odd little connections...

In the previous post I noticed a parallel between the Movies, Prince Caspian and Godspell. Actually, I noted the absence of a scene that they should have had in common: The book version of Prince Caspian had the scene, but the movie didn't. Any way it is not a huge surprise that there would be connections between these two movies given their well-known Christian roots.

What I noticed in looking at the IMDB link is that Victor Garber played Jesus in Godspell. My wife and I saw him just last Summer in Noel Coward's Present Laughter at the Huntington Theatre in Boston.

Victor Garbor was great in the lead role, but the character who totally stole the show was crazed fan and playwright Roland Maule played by Brooks Ashmanskas. This role may be made for the whole stealing the show as Nathen Lane had his Broadway debut as the crazy young playwright Roland Maule, back in 1982. George C. Scott played the lead in that version, so I don't think Nathen Lane could have stolen the show, but he must have done well, since he is pretty famous now.

Memorial Day Movie: Prince Caspian

The children had been begging to go see this, so we went yesterday. I don't want to do a whole movie review; partly because lots of people already have and partly because it would be tedious. I will give some impressions though.

We all liked it.

The plot strayed from the original story. Some of this made a lot of sense from the standpoint of telling a story through film. I would not have made some of the same choices though. For instance, I think more time should have been spent on Prince Caspian getting to know the Narnians and becoming one of them through knowing their ways. This would have involved slowing down the pacing, which is fine: These stories have a lot of action, but they are not all action.

I found myself strangely moved in parts. I think it is because I read the books 35 years ago and it has a strong effect--seeing things which had been gestating in my mind all this time.

I don't know how they could have filmed it, but I was disappointed that they didn't really do the awakening scene toward the end: The animals regain their awareness, good-hearted people join Aslan and the girls and wicked people run off or are turned to trees...all of this happening in a singing, dancing parade. It is actually much like the opening scene in Godspell in terms of tone.

Still, good enough. Hope they make the rest of the series. Maybe even someday the Lloyd Alexander books someday too: I like those even more!

Nobody around here gets my jokes...

Jemma was all dressed-up in some kind of princess outfit and coloring pictures in the kitchen. She has been telling each passer-by that "I am not a good drawer", I replied as I walked-by, "you are a good dresser through".

Okay not the greatest joke, but come-on! Give me at least a groan people.

Home--DIY...

I just blew all of Sunday replacing a hot water heater that I installed only 3 years ago. One consolation is that it had a 9-year warranty so the new heater was free and has a 9-year warranty too. At the Home Depot they offered me a lifetime warranty for an extra hundred bucks. My bet is that the only difference between the 6-year, 9-year and 12-year models is the price. They just charge for the longer life ones because it is less likely that the unit will survive that long and they will have to replace it. What you get are identical models, but with different lengths of extended warranties.

If they keep breaking every three years, I will never have to pay for a hot water heater again! Of course, I would rather pay $400 every 9 years and only have to install one every 9 years than pay nothing and have to install one every three years.

If I had to install one tomorrow it would only take a couple of hours instead of all day: I spend about two thirds of my time re-learning how to solder copper pipe and the other third being productive. So right now I am pretty good at it, but in three years or so I will have lost the touch again.

Well, that is that. The day is done. Tomorrow will be just for fun--no work!