Sig Tag For My Son

OK, this totally rings my chimes!

My son mentioned in passing the other night that he has been given a snazzy sig tag for his email, from the Eco Car2 Team, since he is sending many "business" related emails for the project.

So I innocently ask him to send me an email, so I can see it and this turns up in my inbox.

Now, I obviously wiped off his name, which appears above the top line of the photo, but this is the rest of it.

Pretty cool, right? :-)

My boy is growing up and he begins year 5 next week.
God only knows how much more to go. I was hoping for less, but it looks like it will probably be 3 or more years from CSULA. Which will be 6 or 7 years in total.

For today, I will enjoy the positive. The experience he is getting from this Eco Car2 project, is worth a lot to him, in the way of making contacts for a possible job and career. I just wish it would move a little faster.
Sigh...

Pointy Things

This was taken from the bus stop outside my building.

I have noticed so many points in the architecture of the building, but this one escaped me, until recently. I think because of the way the angle of the sun is, at this time of year, it is showing up more then it normally does.

The side of the building actually is not straight, it has a turn in it and that makes the very top end form a point. You can see it as a much lighter piece, on the very far right.

I swear, sometime I would like to talk to the architect and ask him how he came up with all the little flourishes on the building.

The Pom Pom Duck

She is always accompanied by her faithful husband and both of them are quite fearless of the walkers around the pathways.

I call her the Pom Pom Duck, but according to wikipedia, she is a Crested Duck.

From what I read, the gene that makes the cute pom pom is recessive and so not only do 25 percent of their offspring have no crest, 25 percent will die in the egg, because the mutation that makes the crest, is actually a deformity in their brain area. If they make it past all that, 50 percent will be born with perfectly lovely pom pom crests on their heads.

This duck has been around for several years and always makes me smile, as I pass her by.

Now that I know all this, I will definitely keep a better eye on her next spring. :-)

Caramel Cake

Duncan Hines cakes were on sale again this week. I decided to get a white cake and frost it with chocolate this time.

Before I got the cake baked, I saw a recipe on America's Test Kitchen and it was for a Southern cake called a Caramel Cake. Well, I didn't have the time to bake the cake, but I decided to make the frosting, to go along with my Duncan Hines White Cake. I knew I would have a bit of trouble because the cake they made was a dense cake, so it could take the frosting well. I figured I would just be careful when I frosted it.

All went well and as you can see, I did eat some of it that first night. Oh my GOD that frosting was SWEET!

I immediately decided to bring 2/3rds of the cake to work on Tuesday, to keep our sugar levels on an almost even keel. :-)

I posted about the cake on the email at work and 2 hours later, every bite of it was gone! I had people wanting the recipe and everything. It was quite exciting...but I am glad to only have a tiny bit here at the house.

(Here is the recipe, courtesy of someone with a blog on the Internet, so the words that start this recipe are not mine. You need to subscribe to America's Test Kitchen, to get a copy of the recipe and I don't want to.)

Caramel Cake

You may want an ambulance standing by if you serve this cake. It's like having the delicious filling of a really good chocolate all over the top of a wonderful cake. Sigh. What is with our cake recipes lately? :)

I got this from America's Test Kitchen Best Recipes of 2010. They called it "Easy Caramel Cake," but I left the "easy" part out because I don't want anyone to confuse easy and fast. They explain in the cookbook that this is a Southern tradition and we're all about tradition around here. Tradition. TRADITION!! Enjoy.

Cake:

1/2 c. buttermilk, room temperature

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/4 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/2 c. granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

16 T. unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces and softened

Frosting:

12 T. unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened

2 c. packed dark brown sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/2 c. confectioners' sugar, sifted

1. FOR THE CAKE: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. Whisk the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla in a large measuring cup. In a large bowl, mix the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Beat in the butter, 1 piece at a time until only pea-size pieces remain in the bowl. pour in half of the buttermilk mixture and beat at medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Slowly add the remaining buttermilk mixture and beat until incorporated.

2. Scrape equal amounts of batter into the prepared pans and bake until golden, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool cakes completely before frosting.

3. FOR THE FROSTING: Heat 8 tablespoons of the butter, brown sugar, and salt in a large saucepan over medium heat until small bubbles appear around the perimeter of the pan, 4-8 minutes. Whisk in the cream and cook until a ring of bubbles reappears, about one minute. Off the heat, whisk in the vanilla.

4. Transfer the hot frosting mixture to a bowl and, with an electric mixer on low speed, gradually mix in the confectioners' sugar until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the frosting is pale brown and just warm, about 5 minutes. Add remaining 4 tablespoons butter, 1 piece at a times, and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

5. Frost quickly and serve.

9/11 Once Again

I visited New York City last September and my Husband and I managed to spend a bit of time down by the World Trade Center site.

We couldn't get onto the property, though if I have time, I may make a trip there in October.

This photo was taken from the Staten Island Ferry. You can see the Freedom Tower going up on the site.

We don't forget.

Mission Fountain At The Mall

My Water Post For Today.

I had to pay a bill at the Mall and so I took a quick walk around the first floor. The centerpiece of the old section is this lovely fountain that showcases (via the tiles on the walls) the many Missions in the State of California.

It is lovely and serene and my son spent many a day watching the water fall, when he was a baby.

I hope you enjoy.

Metrolink Riding The Rails

I was driving home the other day when a Metrolink train passed me by. Since I was at a traffic signal, I managed to quickly get a photo on my cell phone. Bad angel...

As you can see, we have these new technology no right turn lights at all our crossings, which I seriously appreciate. Though I heard that someone was struck by a train earlier this week, it has definitely cut down on the collisions between cars and trains.

The other thing that you can see is that we are riding with mixed cars on each train set. There are the new silver cars and several of the old cars, still doing duty. It makes for an unusual sight. I can't wait til they switch out the old with the new ones. They will be quite beautiful

My son will be soon riding the rails once again. He took the summer off, due to the late night class he had. There are no trains running after 9:20PM at night...so he has to drive home.
As a matter of fact, I am waiting for him to come home, as I write this post. The cat is waiting, too. She always worries about him, when he drives.

I know he prefers to take the train, but sometimes he just has to do what he has to do.

Fig Jam...Seriously?

Many years ago, in another location in Santa Clarita, I owned a huge fig tree.
27 years later, my boss at work gave me a bag of figs. What to do, what to do?

Well, I thought back to those long ago days and I remembered I made a huge batch of fig jam. It took upwards of a year to use it all, but it was delicious.

Well, I had exactly 11 figs and as I found out from this recipe, that amount was exactly a pound of figs. It felt like destiny and so I could cut the recipe you see HERE into thirds and I could make a small amount of jam.
It took just over an hour to cook and yes, I did use the immersion blender at the very end, to get most of the pieces broken up. It didn't seem to bother the seeds at all, as you can see in the photo. I was glad of that, because what is fig jam without seeds? :-)

The irony of the whole thing is I saw a tiny jar of fig jam at the supermarket last weekend and it was $6.99. Too much money I said!
Now I have a jar of my own, thanks to my boss.

The Pointe At Night: The Gym

I took this photo last Friday evening, as I was leaving work. The sun was setting and the lights had come on around my workplace. I love the many ways the building uses lighting to bring more beauty to the location. As if it needs any help.

Off in the distance, you can see the new gym that the owner put in a few months ago. I know KCET people use the facility and that is such a good thing. Even my boss takes out her frustration over there, upon occasion. :-)

I really love this place.

SLEUTHS Makes The Home Page Of CSUMB Website!

I don't know how long videos stay on the main page of a college website, but as of yesterday, my son's friend who graduated from Cal State University Monterey Bay back in June, is prominently featured in a recruitment video.

She belongs to a program called SLEUTHS and she is a trainer of sea lions. Mostly an unpaid position, but it brings her valuable resume experience and that's always a good thing.

If you would like to watch the video, here is the CSUMB Homepage.

You go Tee!

Coming Home From Deployment

Last time I mentioned my "Shoe Polish" Son, was HERE.

He went many places and took many photos of his time on The Mercy. A last minute earthquake in the Philippines almost turned the ship around on 9/1, but instead they continued to their last port of call, Hawaii. So once again I get to see him via Facebook uploads.

He looks real good and I don't think the deployment was hard on him...though he bitched when on duty. They all bitch when on duty. :-)

Who knows where he will be stationed next time he returns to mainland America, but no mater what, I am glad he is coming home.

This photo was taken at one of his ports of call...Vietnam. You want to bet that he took it just to razz my number 2 son. :-)

Things I Find On My Camera

It doesn't happen as often now days...but photos occasionally turn up on my camera.

I have mentioned this subject more then once, over the years. You can see a post HERE and another one, HERE.

I had left my camera out, after taking a photo of a cake I baked and when I left the room, my number 2 son must have decided it was too tempting to resist.

So I have photos documenting the fact that he brought along one of their friends, who just returned from deployment. I posted about it a few weeks ago, HERE.

We discussed the state of gas prices and how much they went up this past weekend and so I decided to invite them to dinner...if they had no other plans. They decided the price was right and the food was good enough and so we had dinner together.

It was really nice to break bread with people who we have watched grow up over the years.
Since they are now adults, it is rare that they do more then stop by to pick up my son.

--------------

Photo 1 is my real son
and his friend.

Photo 2 is of course,
a self portrait.

More On The Rain

For all who work...Happy Labor Day!
It's your day, enjoy kicking back a bit...but since it falls on a Monday, it's time for...

My Water Post For Today.

Tropical moisture rarely comes our way in Los Angeles, but when it does, it's there and gone. Many times thunder and lightning come along for the ride. Thankfully the rain last Thursday did not contain any of that. One minute it was just fine and the next, it was pouring out and I felt so sad for the bus driver, who was driving me to North Hollywood Station. He was not having an easy time of it.

We live in a desert and as soon as the rain falls, we have flooded streets and that was the case this day. Truly, there was not much rain, maybe 5 minutes or so, but look at all the water in the street. It was gone just as fast as it arrived and as you saw last Friday, a beautiful rainbow arrived. :-)

The Bourne Legacy

We went to a screening of The Bourne Legacy on Wednesday evening.

My family are big Bourne fans and so it was with a mix of anticipation and dread, that we went. Could the movie live up to what we would expect from the Bourne franchise? That was the question on everyone's mind.

My brother had seen it a week or so earlier and said that he liked it, though it was a bit on the slow side in the first half hour. As I sat there watching that first half hour, I found that not to be the case. I thought it was slower then the end was, but who can take a car chase for 2 plus hours? :-)

I thought Jeremy Renner, did a great job of being another agent, Aaron Cross. He is a super agent, from the wonderful people who gave you the Tredstone Project. Reference is made to the fact that Jason Bourne is still at large, somewhere in the world, but this movie's plot is mostly dealing with shutting everything and everyone down. Many agents are killed...but amazingly, Jason isn't killed (what a surprise) and neither is our new guy, Aaron Cross. Woot!

You can check out the trailer HERE. As with so many things, there is an ad at the beginning. Sorry.

If you are on the fence, please let me be the one to say, go. It is worth your money and time.

A Blue Moon Shows Up Again

The last time I mentioned a Blue Moon was in December of 2009.

You can read my post, HERE.

At the time, I said that the next one would be on August 31, 2012.

That seemed like it was so very far away. Who knew I would still be blogging here, on the next one.

Well I made it and here is my photo of the blue moon. Not good, of course...but what the heck. It's my shot, taken from the front of the house.

For any who care, the next one will be on July 31, 2015. Should we make a date? :-)