YOU are my long, lost daughter...

Fifty questions in fifty different categories. Fifteen seconds per question. No opportunity to check your answers at the end of the quiz.

Tonight I took the online quiz to become a Jeopardy contestant. Trent and I have long annoyed friends and family members with our Jeopardy prowess, shouting out answers before they finish reading the question. Like my grandma, we don't answer the phone 7:30-8 on weeknights. I joke that if there were a Couples Tournament, we would trounce the competition as we each fill in the other's weak areas.

One of my library regulars shared with me that I reminded him of Alex Trebek. "There's something there", he replied when I told him that I wanted to be on the show. He presented me with a picture later that week with a smiling Alex Trebek and the words "You are my long lost daughter!!!"

A couple of years ago my brother turned to me and said seriously, "I want you to promise me something".

"Depends on what it is".

"You know I'd never ask you to do something against your interests, just promise me".

"Okay, if that's true, then yes, I promise. What is it?"

"Promise me you'll try out for Jeopardy".

So back in January 2016, I registered to take the test. Unfortunately, the night before the day in question, I went to see a movie with friends and didn't return home until far past my bedtime. My recall after 4-5 hours of sleep was abysmal and I left questions blank that I knew I would normally answer in a heartbeat ("Who is Robert Oppenheimer?").

This time would not be a repeat of that day. I went to bed early last night with earplugs and a night mask to keep from being awakened prematurely. I ate plenty of fruits and vegetables. And as I waited for the Jeopardy timer to count down, I hummed, then whistled the Jeopardy theme song.

I was pleased by the number of literature questions ("Robert Frost", "Anne Bronte", "hobbit") and was reminded that to be truly successful on the show, I'll need to study up on geography, sports and presidents. Will anything actually come of this? I don't know, but I do know that my odds are much better if I throw my hat in the ring.

Summer Fun - Summer Starts Now!

With temperatures hitting the mid-80s this weekend, it truly felt like summer (at least until today, where the high is only supposed to reach 59). So with the Joy the Baker Summer Bucket List as my model, I felt inspired to make my own summer fun list.

1. Restart my blog - after the Recipe Challenge finished up, I no longer had a project to blog about regularly and haven't posted anything since October 2015. Hopefully, my summer fun list will inspire me.
2. Ride a century - I've signed up to ride in the Flying Wheels bike ride on June 10th. With the record-breaking rainfall this year, I have not prepared as much as I would have liked, so we'll see if I ride the full 100 miles that day or do one of the shorter routes. I've also signed up to do RSVP (Ride from Seattle to Vancouver (BC) & Party).
3. Send postcards to friends on our sailing adventure.
4. Make sangria (the first of many food & drink related items on the list)
5. Swim in Green Lake
6. Daily doodles/sketches - last year and the summer of 2014, I took some time to sketch regularly. I've never been the artistic one in the family, but when I actually take time out of my day to draw, I enjoy it - whether or not anyone will actually purchase my artwork.
7. Kayak in a new place
8. Pack a picnic lunch
9. Write a short story
10. Go crabbing
11. Donate blood (okay, maybe not "fun", but now that I've been away from a malaria zone long enough, I'd like to get into the habit of doing this regularly)
12. Grill oysters
13. Go camping, which leads in to...
14. Summit Mt. St. Helens for the second time
15. Grill corn
16. Pick berries
17. Make freezer jam with the berry bounty
18. Make pickles
19. Ride Seattle's Great Wheel
20. Squeeze my own lemonade
21. Make a summer playlist (and listen to it all summer long)
22. Make margaritas
23. Bake a pie
24. Swim in Coleman Pool
25. Make my own sushi rolls
26. Make my own poke bowl
27. See an outdoor movie
28. Go to a concert
29. Read Moby Dick
30. Sew a tote bag
31. Sew a dress
32. Knit a baby blanket
33. Go whale watching (cheating a little, since we did this on Saturday, before I compiled the list)

Numbering the list makes it feel overly ambitious, but even if I only do half of the items on the list, I'll feel like I've made the most of the season.

Thursday Thought

¨The moment you think of others, your mind widens.¨

the Dalai Lama, as quoted in A Force for Good: the Dalai Lama's Vision for Our World by Daniel Goleman

Man, talk about inspiring - I so enjoyed reading about the Dalai Lama. 

At times I get discouraged by how much room for positive change there is in the world. I lament that we will never become a truly ¨family-friendly¨ society, where we take care of the sick and the elderly and allow parents to actually spend time with their children when they come into the world, where no one works 60 hour work weeks. I do believe change is possible though - that by thinking of others and encouraging our communities to do the same, our minds and hearts will both widen.

The Final Recipe - Bobbie's Custard - #112

The note at the bottom of my recipe card for Bobbie's Custard said that ¨Bobbie [Trent's grandmother] made this custard for many ill friends.¨ While I was happy that my friends remained relatively healthy throughout the year of the challenge, I saved this one up until the end just in case I would be called upon to cheer up a sick friend. Fortunately, that didn't happen, so I made a half recipe in my custard cups (which had never before been used to bake custard). I don't think I stirred these up thoroughly enough, as one cup set 15 minutes before the other seemed ready. There is something magical and delightful about the change the egg and milk mixture undergoes in the oven. A simple recipe made from real food.

Bobbie's Custard

• 2 cups milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup sugar
• cinnamon for dusting top

Heat the milk to bubbling stage. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add sugar and vanilla. Add the hot milk to the egg mixture, slowly at first so hot milk does not begin to cook the eggs. Pour in casserole or custard cups and dust with cinnamon. Bake for 35 min. at 350 degrees in a bain marie.

Southern Cheese Biscuits - Recipe #111

It seems fitting that the last two recipes in the Loose Recipe Challenge are family recipes. This savory cookie has arrived at our doorstep countless times as part of a Christmas care package from Trent's mom, but this was the first time I had baked it on my own. The rolls were so crumbly, I was certain that I had not followed the recipe correctly, but by the time they chilled, I was able to cut them into the small slices necessary.

Just one more recipe to go...

Southern Cheese Biscuits

• 2-3 tsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. paprika

Mix together then add:

• 10 oz. grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 1/2 c. flour

Form into rolls and chill. Slice thinly, sprinkle with sugar, top with pecan half, and bake at 350 degrees for 10 min. or until edges just begin to brown. Sprinkle again with sugar.

From Modie, Trent's great-grandmother.

Crab Cakes - Recipe #110

We have a crab pot for Rock Lobster, so for the last few years, Trent has gotten his shellfish license, gone down to Shilshole, dropped the pot and returned with either Red Rock crabs or Dungeness or a combination. While normally we just enjoy a crab boil, on days where the yield is especially high, I'll save some crab meat for this Simply Recipes recipe. This year was a little busier than usual, so we never got the shellfish license. With as expensive as crab is, I typically don't purchase it from the grocery store - but the Challenge called, so off I headed to PCC for 1/2 lb. of crab (at $35.99 per pound, I decided not to make a full recipe, though there was a very sad sigh from Trent when he learned that there were no leftovers). On the up side, it was far less time-consuming to make these when the meat has already been extracted from the shells. Fresh bread crumbs add to the deliciousness of the recipe, though I'm always afraid that I'll wear out the food processor motor, as I did to my chopper-grinder the last time I ground gingersnaps for cabbage rolls.

Crab Cakes

• 1 lb. crab
• 1/2 stick butter (1 T & 3 T)
• 1/2 cup shallots
• 1 tsp. kosher salt (divided)
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. sweet paprika
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 2 T. tartar
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce
• 2 T. parsley
• 2 cups bread (crusts removed)
• 2/3 cup fresh breadcrumbs

Heat butter, shallots, 1/2 tsp. salt. Cook until translucent Whisk remaining ingredients. Fold in crab and bread. Make 12 patties 2 1/4¨ x 3/4¨. Place on rimmed tray with Silpat, sprinkled with half of the breadcrumbs. Place the other half on top. Cover loosely. Chill at least 1 hr. Heat 3 T. butter in a large non-stick pan on med. high heat. Cook in uncrowded pan, approx. 3 min. each side.

Cheese-Mushroom Fingers - Recipe 109

Another recipe from my mother-in-law. I've made this several times as an appetizer, but it had been languishing in my recipe for a while since the last time I made it. I had made a double (or was it a triple?) recipe for an event and there were leftovers upon leftovers to the point where I couldn't make myself get excited about eating any more. I came this close to recycling it, but I'm glad I didn't. While it still makes a great appetizer, its resemblance to quiche makes an even better breakfast heated up in the toaster oven or mid-morning snack. And I got wise this time and made just a half recipe in a 9x9 baking dish. My ¨green¨ peppers that I ordered from my CSA ended up purple (but no less delicious) and my cottage cheese from PCC ended up being all curds and no whey, which probably helped the texture.

Cheese-Mushroom Fingers

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 lb. mushrooms, sliced
• 1 lg. onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 lg. green pepper

Saute mushrooms, onion and garlic in butter until soft. Add pepper and cook a minute more. Set aside.

• 10 eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. dried basil
• 2 cups small curd cottage cheese
• 4 cups shredded Jack cheese
• 3/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 3/4 tsp. salt

Beat eggs. Then mix in the other ingredients until blended. Add the mushroom mixture.

Put into greased 10"x 15¨ jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 min. or until firm.

Cool at least 15 min. before cutting into 3/4¨ x 2¨ fingers. Serve warm or at room temperature. Refrigerate up to 2 days. Freezes well.