Posted by missjunebug on January 30, 2011
Wordsworth's fav flower! Photo by mjb2011
missjunebug saw an early glimpse of Spring on her walk with Spoonbug recently and she could not help but think of that lovely poem by Mr. Wordsworth. Enjoy a glimpse of it here:
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
There are more lovely lines that follow, but missjunebug will leave it to you to explore those on your own…
Posted by missjunebug on January 20, 2011
Here's the Vital Contact Info for Kringles Sent Straight to Your Home! Photo by mjb2011
If missjunebug hadn’t gone shopping for TinyJB in her last visit to the Midwest, she would still be blithely unaware of one of the most delicious breakfasts treats on the planet! Thank goodness TinyJB needed a few grocery items in his kitchen (except beer, of course! Plenty of that in the frig!).
She enjoyed her very first Kringle sitting around TinyJB’s breakfast table last fall, enjoying the company of TinyJB, his cute as a button friend Leslie from Michigan, and Mr.JB. What a great impromptu breakfast! Cherry Kringle: A flaky, flat oval with fab cherry filling topped with the most delicious icing. It’s like a squashed filled donut sans frying! Brilliant!!!! Those Midwesterners know what’s good to eat and drink. (For another post, another time missjunebug will delve into the wonders of the Milkwaukee Lakeside Brewery Beers! Skol!).
missjunebug needed more!! (Kringle, not Brewski)!!! But sadly the JBs had a plane to catch and a re-supply for take-home was not meant to be.
Enter the Awesome Ricks!!! For Christmas the JBboys and missjunebug and Mr.JB received Kringles for the holidays and beyond. missjunebug is now a member of the Kringle of the Month Club as mentioned in her post-Christmas post!!! (Thanks again, Awesome Ricks!!) What a lasting reminder of the holiday festivities that she can bust out on her breakfast table whatever morning she wishes! Deliciousness x 10!! And, yes, she tracks the calories (1/12 of the oval = 250) on My Daily Plate at www.livestrong.com and believe her when she ways it’s worth every single one of those pesky calories to enjoy the oval icing-slathered, fruit-filled or other-filled wonder Kringle!!!
Decidedly NOT Ashram approved, but missjunebug cannot live by steel-cut oats alone!
Here's the Cinnamon Kringle Close-up! Photo by mjb2011
Posted by missjunebug on January 10, 2011
French Toast! So easy! So delicious! Photo by mjb2011
missjunebug is doing her mitzvah for the week: Making breakfast for her church’s winter shelter. Okay, she may be mixing religious metaphors here since she’s Lutheran, but she loves the Judaic idea of the good deed. According to adherents.com “When Mitzvah is considered to be an act of human kindness, it transcends all religions. While historically, Mitzvah is considered to be a term related to Judaism, anyone in any religion can perform a Mitzvah. While they may not refer to it by that name, they can still perform an act of kindness for another person.”
So there.
missjunebug really likes this idea! And she really likes her super simple Semi-Healthy Mega-Delicious recipe for missjunebug’s French Toast Perfection. She has her dear mother to thank for this recipe. missjunebug has made it for her boys since they were tiny bugs. She’s tweaked it a little, adding a little sugar, the tiniest bit of salt, and her secret ingredient, vanilla extract, but it remains inspired by her JBMom.
Consider cooking up this very forgiving recipe on a Saturday or Sunday morning and you, too, can enjoy missjunebug’s French Toast Perfection!
missjunebug’s French Toast Perfection
Ingredients
Orowheat Buttermilk Bread–14 slices
6 0r 7 eggs
1/2 cup or so of milk
1-2 tsps. of vanilla
1-2 T. sugar
Pinch of salt
Butter for the skillet or griddle
Powdered sugar for presentation
Real maple syrup for eating!
Directions
Wisk the eggs in a big bowl. Â Add the milk, sugar, vanilla, and salt. The “batter” should be a soft creamy yellow color with a smooth consistency. Slice the bread on the diagonal to form triangles. Heat a good chunk of butter in a big skillet and when it barely sizzles, dip the bread triangles into the batter, shake off excess batter, and place in the skillet. Cook on both sides until crisp around the edges and golden brown. Yum!
Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar and slather with real maple syrup!
Double Yum!
Feel free to freeze and eat at another time. To reheat, just set your oven to 375 degrees, place the french toast in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet sprayed with Pam, and pop in the oven for 10 quick minutes! Â What could be easier? Well, eating it, missjunebug guesses!
Lots of French Toast Ready for the Freezer! Photo by mjb2011
Posted by missjunebug on January 7, 2011
Saving a space just for you, TinyJB!! Photo by mjb2010
missjunebug is sure this is not news to most of  you: There’s a high probability adult children will boomerang back home sometime during their twenties or thirties. Blame it on these uncertain economic times and the current job market. Blame it on the willingness of Boomer parents to continue to provide extended refuge from the real world for their children. Blame it on what ElderJB calls a generation “Slow to grow up.”
Or maybe there’s another way to look at it: Celebrate the second chance to bond with adult children who bring with them their indefatigable exuberance and outrageous opinions and recently lived life experience! That’s the way missjunebug plans to look at it!
Having just had both ElderJB and TinyJB home for a good chunk of time during the holidays, she has fresh appreciation for all they bring to her sometime circumscribed world. These bugboys are smart! insightful! cynical! hilarious! loving! and always surprising! Chances are pretty good ElderJB won’t be calling the Hacienda home again anytime soon since his semi-permanent digs are in Rwanda(!), but TinyJB may be joining the junebugs as he plans for his next steps. missjunebug admonished him to do all he could not to end up back home and he assured her he only ever wanted to be a guest here, not a resident, but missjunebug wants TinyJB to take comfort in the little mat outside the kitchen door that says “Welcome!”
missjunebug remembers her own fleeing from home and never looking back, but she lived in chaotic-question-authority-never-trust-anyone-over-thirty times! She’s pretty sure that things are different today and parents and adult children share iTunes playlists, facebook pages, twitter tweets, emails, Skype time, and Kindle recommendations! Maybe it’s technology that’s provided an even playing field and means of connection that missjunebug’s parents’ generation could not even begin to dream of. Or maybe economic realities necessitate pulling out Plan B: Move back in with the peeps!
The best of all possible worlds will provide a seamless transition from university graduation to interesting and challenging work for the Boomers’ adult children. But in case Real Life 101 requires some recalibration, know that despite what Mr. Wolfe said, you can go home again.
Posted by missjunebug on January 1, 2011
missjunebug has a new plan for a new year: Over Resolutions.
Here are hers for 2011:
Experiences over Things
Face Time over Facebook
Kindle over Paper
Clean Foods over Crap Foods
Walking hills over just walking
Water over Coca Cola (That’s a tough one!)
Travel over the Travel Channel
Cruise Vacays over just about any other kind
Coffee Break French over Rosetta Stone French
Clutter Free over Clutter Challenged (Sure to take all of 2011!)
Breakfast Out over Dinner Out (Pete’s Breakfast House here missjunebug comes!!)
Angry Birds over Twitter
Words with Friends over just about any other app missjunebug has on her iPhone
Retail therapy over Real therapy
Cancer Survivor over Cancer Patient
A better 2011 over 2010!!
Have a happy, healthy New Year from missjunebug!
