interesting

A bit of revolution with your tea.

What is fascinating about these young people who are keen for change in Persia is that they are about my age and have always lived under this particular regime and find that they don't really care for it. They are interested in something new. It seems they are finding a way within their culture and parameters to work toward that. It kind of shows a different way to handle things. So much for theocracy?

education

My day had a bit of everything. The good, the bad, the slightly alarming and of course the down right hilarious. We had no public urination but we had something else of note but we will get to that later.

I was up bright and early and put books away and made things cheerful and tidy in that special Gennie Gibson way. (a touch of snark and goofy sincerity) I tried the new cinnamon roll at work. It was less than thrilling. It is too dry and the icing isn't that good. Save your money folks. There are better pastries to be had elsewhere. You will thank me. On my break I went and purchased a wedding present for the next up-coming wedding. We won't be able to attend this one but people still like a present on occasion. I think I picked out something nice. It has a nice mix of pretty and useful. It is heavy too. Oy vey...lugging that thing home on the bus was entertaining. It did provide me with an excuse not to share a spot with anyone. (I need to talk to the bride about getting her the gift)

Plenty of irritating customers and people suddenly remembering Father's Day is tomorrow so that meant a lot of books on history, the CIA, and golf. What is not to like?

So...to get to the subject of something of note there was a report of a guy looking at a Playboy magazine in the men's room. Security went in there to confront the person and to ask them to leave. (the person didn't pay for them which is the bigger issue and once they have been opened we really can't sell them) We saw security escort him out and I thought he looked young from afar and when he got up close I saw he looked to be about 13 or 14 years old. He is very red in the face and looks quite upset. From what I understand they were probably going to call his parents. Poor kid was probably mortified as all hell but I kept thinking, "Do you not have the internet at home?" or better yet the classic tradition of the friend with an older brother who provides you with your first exposure to any pornography, or if you are desperate.... Michael Jackson and some Jesus juice but that is only if you have cancer. Nope, this kids has to be caught reading Penthouse and Playboy in a public restroom. A co-worker said, "That will probably mess him up for good."
So folks? Don't block the porn or your kids will troll for it in Barnes and Noble. Leave your copy of Delta of Venus lying around or maybe Diane di Prima for an esoteric touch. Why not Rita Mae Brown? Heck an illustrated copy of the Kama Sutra should do the trick. Kids are going to be curious and look for it. Might as well be quality stuff.

Now I am home and I am making this really fun strawberry cake (recipe later) and for dinner we are having lamb burgers and maybe some salad.

Delicious

God bless Martha "I got a shiv" Stewart and her magazine. Oh how I heart it. I heart it with the best of them. *gets emotional for a moment*
Anyways I was perusing through it and found a super simple cake-ish (well it is cake but you bake it in a pie plate) recipe that uses fresh strawberries and it being the month of June it is the perfect time to put this together.

Strawberry Cake

6 Tbs unsalted butter softened, plus an additional Tbs or so for the pie plate (essentially bust out an entire stick of butter)
1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tso salt
1 Cup (plus 2 Tbs) sugar
1 large egg
1/2 Cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Lb strawberries, cleaned, hulled, and halved.

Preheat oven to 350F, butter pie plate, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. Brush off the flour you managed to get on yourself because you aren't Martha. Combine butter and sugar in a larg bowl using a mixer at medium speed, beat until fluffy. Fluffy fluffy fluffy. It should be a pale color and you are tempted to try some. You do because you are weak like me. Reduce the speed of the mixer and add the egg, milk and vanilla. It will be beautifully creamy and then you slowly add the flour about a 1/4 of the flour at a time at low speed until well combined. Transfer the batter into the buttered pie plate. Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible. There doesn't need to be a tidy pattern so it is an ideal baking project to do with small children. You can hand them the task of placing strawberries all over the top of the batter. Then sprinkle the 2 Tbs of sugar all over the top of the batter/strawberries. Bake cake for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 325F and bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch which should take about an hour or so. I found with my oven it took an hour and ten minutes. Remove from oven and let cool in pan. Cut into wedges and maybe serve with a bit of whipped cream. Take a nap.

I made this tonight and I absolutely loved the texture of the cake. It was quite light and the strawberries were truly ripe. This is wonderful for tea, for a casual dessert and even for breakfast. But then I think people should eat pie for breakfast on occasion. After all the Amish do.

The lamb burgers turned out so well. I was quite pleased. I mixed together some ground lamb, an egg, some cumin, salt and pepper, bread crumbs, some shredded mozzarella and some rosemary and thyme. Oh it worked out well. Juicy, flavorful and satisfying. I also sauteed some thinly sliced potatoes.