There's a Bathroom on the Right

The moon was unusually bright tonight so I went out into the cold and took some pictures. I love how in this one the moon through the trees looks like an ominous, glowing eye looking down. Bad moon on the rise.

Muffin Man

"I am thankful for muffins, because their acceptance has made it permissible for us to eat cake for breakfast." -- Alan Richman

At the end of last year I volunteered, after hearing a desperate plea, to be on the Employee Fun Committee at work. Yes, that really is its name. The committee as far as I know has not met yet this year but I was assigned to come up with some way to celebrate employee birthdays in January. So I made muffins. Two kinds. Well, one kind with two different fruits. Blueberry and raspberry. I made one dozen of each but I used my JUMBO muffin tins so in effect I quadrupled the recipe. Some muffins are drier and have a stiff crumb. Some are light and spongy like cake. I like the ones like cake.
The best blueberry muffins I ever had were for a time served at a local Caribou Coffee shop. They were like cake. A soft golden genoise body with plump sweet berries and diamond-sized melted crystals of sugar on top. I ate one every morning with my café latte and the morning was always good. Then one day I when the barista handed me my bag of muffin I could immediately tell something was amiss. The bag was heavier than usual. On the walk back to work I opened it to confirm my fears. I pinched off a chuck of muffin top and tasted. The texture was like a fat free corn muffin. The flavor was like a sugar free, fat free corn muffin. I sighed. When I asked the next day about the new muffins I was told they had problems with the old baker. She wasn't able to fill their orders for all stores so they had to switch to someone who could. I sighed.
Life lesson: everything is temporary. Enjoy it while it lasts. Good muffin.

Quote of the Week

"I am an idolator of perfect workmanship." -- Alfred Stieglitz

Foods I Don't Like

I was trying to come up with a list of foods I don't like and came up with really just three. Of course any food can be bad, badly kept, badly treated, badly cooked and I won't like it then. But out of the box, trying many different preparations of these food I can generally say I don't like them.

1) Melon.
Cantaloupe, honey dew, casaba, musk melon

Favorite Movies of 2004

I compiled my list of my favorite movies of 2004. The list comprises only films that were shown in my town this year. Several movies that came out this year (Hotel Rwanda, Million Dollar Baby, Vera Drake) but I haven't seen yet did not make the list though they most likely would have. If I like them as much as I anticipate they will be on next year's list.
So here we go:

1. Before Sunset
2. Sideways
3. The Aviator
4. Kill Bill vol. 2
5. The Incredibles
6. Spider-Man 2
7. Ray
8. Hellboy
9. Friday Night Lights
10.Collateral

Honorable Mention:
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Napoleon Dynamite
Touching the Void
Man on Fire
Closer