"Medium" Rant

I must be some sort of masochist, because in spite of what I'm about to write, I continue to watch the TV show "Medium."

Haven't seen the show? The premise is that a woman, Allison, has psychic dreams that lead her to solving crimes. She works for the DA doing just that - using her gift to help solve crimes. She is married to a man, Joe, who is an engineer (real smart guy) and they have three daughters.

I started watching the show because of my odd sleep schedule. It was on Lifetime after midnight - two episodes per night. I guess I got hooked. I believe I've seen every episode now, and I'm watching the new episodes as they air on CBS on Fridays. I think I'm now qualified to point out a few annoyances I've developed about the show.

First, Allison has to be just a tad dumb. Untrainable is a better word, I think. The show has been going on for five years, now, and the time frame has kept up. That is, it has been five years on the show as well as five years in real life. Yet, in five years of having her psychic dreams she hasn't yet fathomed that there are some dreams she can do nothing about. Let me explain by way of example. In last night's episode her first dream involved an unknown young woman trapped by fire in an unknown building at an unknown location. And yet, the first thing she did when she woke up was grab her cell phone so she could call someone about the tragedy. Even I, the casual observer, know enough to check her dreams carefully for clues. She hasn't caught onto this yet. She still needs Joe, her husband, to talk her through the logic.

Along the same lines, how many times has Allison told the DA, Devalos, about something like this - something neither of them can do anything about? Too many. It's easy enough for me to figure out. Why is it so difficult for someone to whom it actually happens? And who is psychic, no less!

Next, another item that Allison hasn't learned in five years: She is still quite inconsiderate about waking up her husband. Show fans already know that Joe has had sleep issues many times, and has complained about lack of an uninterrupted night's sleep an equal number of times. And yet Allison will still wake him up in the middle of the night to tell him something that clearly could have waited until later that morning. Is she clueless, or just one of the most inconsiderate characters on TV?

Third, Joe is very aware of what "inconveniences" come with Allison's psychic gift, and yet he still whines a lot. Why is he still whining? Why hasn't he learned to deal with it, understand it, and support his spouse? These are two people who seem to love each other and who have a strong relationship. If this were my malebashing website, I'd call Joe a "typical male." But I really don't think he is. I think he is an extraordinary husband and his whining is just out of place. Is he untrainable, as well? I think so.

Finally, we know that Allison's dreams always end up meaning something. (At least, the ones we've seen always do.) But Joe continues to convince her that the early dream(s) is (are) meaningless. What he really needs to say is, "Honey, this is most likely just the first in a series of dreams in which the meaning will become clear as the dreams progress. So go back to sleep and dream some more." But he never says that. And she never thinks that.

I know. I know. You're going to say that it all happens in order to move the plot along, or to make the show more interesting. Maybe. Probably. But it still makes the characters seem a little clueless, no? Maybe the writers want the viewers to feel smarter than the characters. It worked for me.

There's undoubtedly more about the show that annoys me (I haven't even mentioned the daughters), but these are the things I wrote down while watching last night's episode.  Perhaps I'll blog about them in the future.

I hate it when I do stupid things.

I bought the spicy chicken patties again.

I frequently buy the ingredients for a quick, microwave version of chicken parmesan. The main ingredient is, of course, chicken. I have, for many years, used Tyson frozen, breaded chicken patties for this recipe. Recently Tyson introduced a spicy version of their chicken patties and decided to market them in a package that looks nearly the same as the non-spicy patties. I found out about this about a month ago when I took a bite of my chicken parmesan and noticed a quite unexpected flavor. Only then did I check the package and find out that my chicken patties were "spicy."

Spicy chicken patties just don't taste right when used for chicken parmesan.

I improvised. I used the spicy patties for chicken sandwiches, and used the marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese for baked spaghetti. Problem solved.

About a week ago I again went shopping for the ingredients for my chicken parmesan, noting to myself that I needed to check carefully to ensure that I didn't buy the spicy chicken patties. And I did. I checked. So what went wrong? I have no idea, but last night when I went to make my chicken parmesan, I noticed that I'd indeed bought the spicy patties yet again.

More chicken sandwiches and baked spaghetti. You can bet that I won't make that mistake a third time.

Why I'm Happy Summer is Over...

...or Why I like the cold weather.

 Cold weather in central Texas never really gets very cold. On the rare occasion that it might, it doesn't last very long. But hot weather in central Texas is quite hot and humid. When I left the military I thought I wanted to retire someplace warm, but once I started going through menopause I realized that might not have been the smartest choice. In the many years that I have spent in Texas, I have developed a new appreciation for cold weather.

I recently sat down and made a list of the things I like about cold ("central Texas cold") weather. I'm sure there are some I've forgotten, but here is my short list:

• Winter clothes cover my fat.
• I can put the blankets/covers back on the bed and pull them up around my neck while I sleep.
• Hot coffee tastes even better on a cold morning.
• Bugs go away.
• When it's really, really cold, bugs die.
• The heater costs less to run than the air conditioner.
• No humidity.
• No lawn mowing.
• The dogs are happier - not panting all the time.
• I can open the windows.
• I don't have to put my hair up to cool down.
• When I get in the car I can actually touch the steering wheel.

I Baked A Cake

Sometime back I was sitting here thinking, and for some reason the idea popped into my head to bake a cake that was the same "flavor" as my favorite ice creams. (I have several favorite ice creams.) After giving it just a little thought, I decided that I would try to bake a "mint chocolate chip" cake. It would be a cinch, I was sure. The thing that took the most thought was the frosting. Should I make mint frosting? Should I add something resembling chocolate chips? I finally decided to make a mint chocolate (chip) cake, but that flavoring the frosting would make it too minty. I also decided to skip the chips in the frosting, although it's not because I thought it was a bad idea. I just couldn't find chips as tiny as I'd have liked, and I didn't really feel like grating a chocolate bar. (Is that what it's called? That's what you call it when it's cheese.) I also didn't want frosting as sickeningly sweet as most frostings are, so I searched for an alternative.

So I bought a box of chocolate cake mix, and a bag of Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Chips. I also found a "reduced sugar" vanilla frosting made by Pillsbury and decided to give that a try.

I made the cake mix according to the instructions on the box, and stirred in the baking chips - about 2/3 of the bag - before pouring the batter into the pan. While baking, the cake actually rose above the edges of the cake pans (two nine-inch round pans), which caused the cake to have a crispy crust around the edges. This didn't affect the taste, but it definitely affected the texture.

Once the cake was done, I let it cool, even putting it in the refrigerator for a little while. Then I got the frosting ready.

Thinking how most mint chocolate chip ice creams are mint green, I decided to add some green food coloring to my frosting. I emptied the "ready to spread" frosting into a bowl and mixed in the food coloring. I don't know if this changed the consistency of the frosting, but when I put it on the cake it had the consistency of marshmallow cream. You know, that stuff you buy in the jar? I don't think the food coloring did anything, but maybe the mixing did.

So I baked the cake and sort of poured the frosting on and spread it around. It didn't suck. The mint ratio was just about right. Maybe I could have added more of the baking chips, but all would have been too much. And I think it was a good call not adding mint to the frosting. It didn't look like a food magazine cake, but that's okay. It tasted good. And since I'm not sharing it with anyone, who cares?! (Yes, I'm eating the whole thing myself, either until it's gone or until I'm sick of it.)

Cutting the cake didn't go smoothly because the frosting was sticky and wanted to follow the knife down through the cake. Again, that didn't affect the taste.

So, I label the experiment a success, although I doubt that I will ever make mint chocolate chip cake again. Maybe someone out there will try their own version and have a better result. If so, please let me know what you did differently.

The frosting is actually a little more green than it looks.

I would have used a paper plate if I wasn't taking a picture.