Tres Leches

On New Years Eve this year, my daughter Sky and I made a Tres Leches Cake, which I discovered to be a popular dessert in Ecuador (where I grew up). Surprisingly, I hadn't ever heard of it, and so we decided to try it. Wow! It was really rich and it was really good! And it was so easy to make!


Ingredients for the Cake:

• 6 eggs, separated
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 cup flour

Ingredients for the Syrup:

• 1 can (410 g) evaporated milk
• 1 can (400 g) condensed milk
• 1 cup heavy cream or whole milk

Ingredients for the Topping:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 tbs. sugar

Procedure for the Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
2. Grease and flour a 9x13 in. pan.
3. Beat the egg whites in a clean metal bowl until stiff peaks form. For best results, use cold egg whites directly from the refrigerator.
4. Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a separate bowl until it forms a creamy yellow mixture.
5. Stir the flour and sugar together in another bowl.
6. Add the egg yolk mixture to the dry ingredients and blend thoroughly by hand.
7. Fold the whipped egg whites into the creamed mixture with large, gentle strokes.
8. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.
9. Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 20 to 30 minutes or until light brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
10. Once the cake is ready, take it out of the oven and put it into a deep dish. Let cool slightly before adding the syrup.

Procedure for the Syrup:

• Blend the evaporated milk, condensed milk, and cream.
• Pour over the cake, making sure to cover it entirely. R
• Refrigerate and cool completely.

Procedure for the Topping:

• Beat the cream with the 3 tbs. of sugar until stiff peaks form.
• Spread over the cake.
• Refrigerate - or eat immediately.

Options and Variations:

• Some recipes in the region add a cup of rum to the milk mixture.
• The recipe itself is neutral enough in taste to handle a touch of flamboyance. It can be lightly dusted with ground cinnamon or instant coffee.
• Berries or bananas can be layered beneath the cake mixture and placed atop the meringue.
• Toasted coconut or chocolate shavings can be sprinkled on top.
• Caramel sauce can also be drizzled over the topping.

My Fortune Cookie

My Fortune Cookie told me: Pensioners are plotting to steal your lawnmower. Get a cookie from Miss Fortune

Questions for God

Spawned by the (now defunct) Question of the Day, I now have a gagillion questions for God. It's quite a list.

1. What is my purpose in life?
2. Am I doing what I'm supposed to be doing?
3. Am I supposed to be doing anything in particular?
4. Is the concept of "supposed to be" even a valid one?
5. Do you love me?
6. Am I acceptable?
7. Am I a miserable failure?
8. Who are you anyway...

I am so sorry, but this post has been moved to my new website, Hey It's Me, and can be found in all of its glorious absurdity here: Questions For God

Quote for today

I like flaws and feel more comfortable around people who have them. I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions.

~Augusten Burroughs

Toothpaste For Dinner?

I found this wonderful silliness at toothpastefordinner.com, and now I'm sharing. Isn't that special?

-oOo-



-oOo-



-oOo-



-oOo-



-oOo-

More fun stuff can be found at my new website: Hey It's Me

My Christmas Wish For You!

• May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts.
• May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills.
• May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!
• May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires and may happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.
• May the problems you had forget your home address!

Oh, and by the way our contract of friendship has been renewed for the New Year 2008! It was a very hard decision to make. So try not to screw it up!!!

What crappy christmas gift are you?

You Are Ugly Underwear!

Comfortable and soft, more people like you than let on. But it's very difficult for you to show yourself in public.

OMG!

I can't believe I just posted what has (up until now) been super secret confidential TOP SECRET information about me!

LOL
Ok, now it's your turn!

What Crappy Christmas Gift Are You?

Sweet Talk

Sweet talk - that's my astro.com horoscope for today.

This is a very agreeable influence that makes you feel quite positive and friendly toward everyone you meet. Also you are in tune with your feelings, and you speak with considerable sensitivity.

This is a good time to meet new people, because you can project the most agreeable side of your personality. If you like to make sweet talk, that is this is the time for it. Of course this is an excellent time to talk with someone about your feelings of love and friendship, for it will be easier than usual to talk about these feelings. Often embarrassment or shyness prevents you from doing this, but that should not be a problem now.



In general, your approach to life today will be lighthearted, and you should enjoy the day very much. You may find it difficult to adopt a serious attitude about anything, however.

The Winter Solstice Planetary Alignment

On Dec 22 at 12:09 AM Central Standard Time there will be a rare planetary alignment. This particular line up of planets hasn't happened in 26,000 years. Because I am now consciously working to create a connection to the rhythms of the earth, I thought it might be beneficial and helpful to take a look at how the alignment falls on my natal chart.

And, WOW, the alignment is right on right on my ascendant. What that means exactly, I'm not entirely sure, but it certainly looks really interesting. My chart makes a kind of a bowl shape with the alignment shooting right into it. Here's a picture of it, the transits are shown around the outside of the circle.



The best site for astrology, charts, and horoscopes is Astro Dienst. Check it out! For the most accurate horoscope and natal chart, you will need to know the place and time of your birth. If you don't know what that is, and cannot find out, the chart created will still be useful and, for the most part, right on target.

Interestingly, I will be Christmas Shopping at that exact moment. I thought about putting it off, but we have an ice storm moving in on Saturday, and this is my very LAST day to get it done before Christmas. So.... I wonder what will happen! I'm open and I'm willing and I'm wading right in!

What DO I want?

Today, I actually took the time to write down what it is that I really do want. I expected the list would look a little bit different than it does. I fully expected my list would say that I want money, and I want to be healthy, and I want a Vardo Van, and I want my dog to live as long as I do, and I want to be enlightened, and I want everything to be OK.

And while those things are certainly embedded, the list itself came out somewhat different, here it is...

... well actually, this post has been moved to my new website, Hey It's Me, hosted at shirleytwofeathers.com, and if you are interested, you can find it here: What DO I want?

Eight Principles and Fun

So, I was thinking about the Osho Playfulness card, and found myself on a small journey. First, I stumbled into a cute little flash movie about fun.

You can find it at Eight Principles. I watched the little presentation, found it enjoyable and next thing you know I'm answering questions like this one: Like a little more fun in your life? And signing up for this: A free 5 part e-course: The Five Questions for a Life of Fun, Inspiration and Action. It's short. It's practical. And it's free.

So, starting tomorrow, it looks like I'll be investigating how to have a life of Fun, Inspiration, and Action. I'll let you know how it goes, and if it's interesting, I'll post it here or on The Prosperity Project. In the mean time, I really like the principles - especially that first one - Stop Following the Rules. I think I'm going to do a series of posts on them. Look for it sometime after Christmas. I'm going to see if I can find some fun pictures to illustrate each one.

They also have another flash movie: The 5.75 Questions You've Been Avoiding! Interestingly, I avoided watching it. LOL. If you happen to check it out, let me know if it's worth a look see.

Playfulness

When I was at Osho.com the other day, I played his online Tarot, and pulled this card two times in a row, I decided that maybe I should take it seriously, so here is the commentary:

Life is rarely as serious as we believe it to be, and when we recognize this fact, it responds by giving us more and more opportunities to play.

The woman in this card is celebrating the joy of being alive, like a butterfly that has emerged from its chrysalis into the promise of the light. She reminds us of the time when we were children, discovering seashells on the beach or building castles in the sand without any concern that the waves might come and wash them away in the next moment. She knows that life is a game, and she's playing the part of a clown right now with no sense of embarrassment or pretense....

... I am so sorry but this post has been moved to my new website, Hey It's Me, hosted at shirleytwofeathers.com, it can be found in its entirety here: Playfulness

Got the blues?

I found this nifty widget! And since the blog loads so slow already, I didn't want to bog it down with yet another sidebar widget. So here it is as a blog post! I wish I didn't have crappy dial up.... It won't play properly for me... so this is just for you guys... my gift to you! And if you don't like blues music... well... too bad. Here ya go anyway!

Why can't I stop eating?

Here's what Osho says in answer to that question:

Food is always a substitute for love. People who don’t love, who somehow miss a life of love, start eating more; it is a love-substitute.

When a child is born, his first love and his first food are the same thing — the mother. So there is a deep association between food and love; in fact food comes first and then love follows. First the child eats the mother, then by and by he becomes aware that the mother is not just food; she loves him too. But of course for that a certain Growth is necessary. The first day the child cannot understand love. He understands the language of food, the natural primitive language of all animals. The child is born with hunger; food is needed immediately. Love will not be needed until long after; it is not so much of an emergency. One can live without love one’s whole life, but one cannot live without food — that’s the trouble....

... I am so sorry, but this post has been moved to my new website, Hey It's Me, hosted on shirleytwofeathers.com, it can also be found on Eating To Live, which is another one of my new websites all about food.

My Osho Horoscope

August 23 - September 22

Pain is a function of your mind’s holding. Fear is an opportunity to open doors too long left closed. Nothing to change, only to watch. In meditation fear is the guide to be loved. "If you move deep in meditation it will happen. Fear will disappear, because you know yourself endlessly. You go on spreading endlessly – back into the past, forward into the future, and this very moment, this present moment, in the depth of it you are there. You simply are – you never begin, you are never going to end."

What does your Osho Horoscope say?

The Four Forces

I found this today:
It's the Daily Message byPublished by Paulo Coelho on December 14, 2007

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Paulo Coelho, he wrote a book called "The Alchemist" that I really love. Apparantly, he's also a blogger. How cool is that?

So this is what he said in his message titled: The Four Forces

Father Alan Jones says that in order to build our soul we need the Four Invisible Forces: love, death, power and time.

We must love because we are loved by God. We must have an awareness of death in order to understand life fully.

We must struggle in order to grow, but without becoming entrapped by the power that is gained through that struggle, because we know that power is worthless.

Finally, we must accept that our soul, although eternal, is at this moment caught in the web of time, with all its opportunities and limitations. We must therefore behave as if time existed and do everything we can to value each second.

These Four Forces cannot be treated as problems to be solved because they are beyond our control. We must accept them and let them teach us what we need to learn.

-oOo-

So what do you think? Agree? Disagree?

I was especially struck by that last sentence about "the four forces cannot be treated as problems to be solved." And I have been wondering in what way do I see love, death, power, and time as problems to be solved? And beyond that, how do I allow them teach me what I need to learn? I will be mulling this one over for days.

If anyone has any insights... please share them!

I should have been a doctor! Who knew?

You Should Be a Doctor

You are practical, sharp, and very intuitive. Optimistic and energetic, you are a problem solver who doesn't get discouraged easily. You are also quite compassionate and caring. You make people feel hopeful. You're highly adaptable and capable. You do well with almost any curve ball life throws at you. You do best when you: - Are always learning new subjects - Use your knowledge to solve problems You would also be a good therapist or detective.

What Should You Be When You Grow Up?

Go Get The Money!

I got this letter via email today, and now I'm sharing.

Hi guys,

You all know that I am a sweepstakes lover! Good Housekeeping magazine is sponsoring a sweepstakes random drawing to give away $250,000 - go to mortgage.goodhousekeeping.com to enter. One entry per person. Deadline is Dec. 31st. Be sure to click on the link that says you don't want to purchase the magazine, you just want to enter the sweepstakes. If I don't win, I would love it if someone I know wins! :) Good luck!

Melissa
Make your travel plans with us!
http://www.johnsonadventures.com/

PS. Be sure to LOOK for the link that says you don't want to purchase the magazine. It's hidden in the box ABOVE the submit info. There are also places to click UNDER the submission info if you don't want special offers etc. Silly me, I saw the down below ones and clicked there but totally missed the "I don't want to subscribe" link. So, now I'm subscribed. At least until my first magazine comes, at which point I'll just send it back with a "cancel my subscription" note. Unless, of course, I happen to WIN the money in which case, what the heck... I'll give the magazines to my daughter.

In 1989 I did this:

Protection Training 6
Uploaded by Shirley Two Feathers

Here I am, with my arm in a sleeve successfully inducing an aggressive little Rottweiler to bite me.

What you don't see in this picture is how my knees are like water, my stomach is churning, my heart is pounding, and I am terrified.

By the time I had finished dog training school, I was no longer terrified of large aggressive dogs - and I never did protection training again.

This morning I uploaded a collection of my dog training school pictures at Flickr, go check them out. The quality of the photos isn't that great, but I think they are pretty interesting. I added explanatory captions and everything.

I am now amazingly inspired by ... me! Wow! How cool is that?

Dear Shirley

The other day, I found an interesting post at Writing from the Inside Out. Here's how it starts out:

Dawn tagged me with a meme called "The Letter" The idea is to write a letter to your 13 year old self. I almost passed on this one because that was a life-changing year for me, but not in a positive way. The adolescent and teen years can be painful for many of us. I would be interested to know how many people can look back at their youth and say "I had a good childhood" and how many would look back and feel like crying.

I thought today might be a good day to write just such a letter, and I also wanted to post a picture of myself at age 13. So, I went scrambling through scrapbooks and photo albums, and while I was flipping through pictures, I was thinking of what I might say to that 13 year old me. And I was also wondering when exactly it was that I "lost" the "real" me, the "special" and "wonderful" me, the "all that I can be" me and became this "other" me that I don't take very good care of. Was it before or after boarding school? Have I lost "me" and found "me" and lost "me" again? Am I lost at all? Have I ever been found? What happened? and when did it happen?

Interestingly, every time I found a picture of a time that seemed to signal the "beginning of the end" of "me being me" - it would be closely followed by a time of me stepping out of established boundaries and doing something interesting, or inspiring, or foolhardy, or brave. All the way up until the situation I find myself in RIGHT NOW, my life has consistently been a series of me taking leap after leap in the dark!

So, while I am going to write that letter to the 13 year old me, I am also going to write a letter to the right now me. It goes something like this:

Dear Shirley,

All your life you have done an admirable job of making sure that you maintain your integrity and your individuality. I am so proud of you. Yes, you get scared, and yes you often find yourself in dark places, but you persevere. You are awesome. All the astounding things you have accomplished in your life are just the beginning of what is yet to come. I know for a fact that you can do whatever it is that you set out to do. Right now you are in a nice safe little box, and it feels way too much like a box. So you have challenged yourself with debt, and you have challenged yourself with other interior obstacles because you will never be happy or comfortable in a safe little box. Go ahead and climb out of that box. Whatever you do, it won't be as terrifying as dog training school, it won't be as heartbreaking as boarding school, and it won't be as horrendous as that one year... you know the one...

So, get busy. Sell your stuff, liquidate your assets, go get your Vardo Van. Start now on a program of regaining your physical fitness, begin now to eat right and to exercise - you are going to need to be healthy and fit when you start this next new thing. You know this is true because your intuition is telling you this, and your intuition is always right on. Remember, you don't have to do a goddamn thing unless you want to. So, pick what you want to do and do it full throttle. I support you 100%. If it comes down to us living in a cardboard box under a bridge - so be it! I still support you 100% and we'll have a hell of a time there and a lot to talk about if and when we ever get old.

I love you,
Your Best Friend Forever,
Shirley