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According to Welsh researcher Dr. Cliff Arnall, this week was supposed to be the most depressing week of the year. (I guess we should all be glad it’s just about over!) Monday, January 21 was actually the saddest day of the year. Arnall devised a formula to calculate this which took into consideration things like the weather, debt loads carried by many of us post-Christmas, failure to keep our New Year’s resolutions, and motivational levels in January.
What made my week particularly depressing was that I spent an inordinate amount of time in my vehicle commuting to work in Missauga and to meetings in Toronto. Snow and cold weather, at times less-than-optimal road conditions, and traffic accidents that created chaos on the highways resulted in me wasting too much time behind the wheel of my car this week.
On the bright side, if this is as depressing a week as I’m going to have this year, other than some long commutes, the week really wasn’t that bad. And at least it’s almost over and done with!
Thankfully the commutes were made bearable by having something to listen to on my car’s radio. In the morning, I generally tune into CHYM FM for the music, traffic reports and entertaining banter between the hosts. For the drive home I like to find out what’s gone on in the world around me while I’ve spent the day concentrating on the world of eggs, so I dial up CBC’s Here and Now and As It Happens for news, interviews with interesting people doing interesting things, and current events.
During what stretched from an anticipated 1-1/2 hour drive to an over 3 hour commute from Kitchener to a meeting in downtown Toronto on Thursday morning, CHYM’s morning show hosts George and Tara talked about the development of a prototype for a transparent toaster. The toaster was applauded for its potential to end the trauma of toasting. The toaster’s transparency would allow you to see your bread while it was toasting. The toast could then be removed when it was done to your liking – eliminating burnt or under-done toast.
Before you rush out to look for the toaster, be advised that it is still in the concept stage. The idea for it was developed by the Innovations Concept Studio.
Here’s how the toaster would work.
Cheese Biscuits
Sorting through some Creative Cooking columns I wrote for The Record and Guelph Mercury, I happened across one from March ’06 which made me smile as Murray and I had just enjoyed a few meals of homemade Hamburger Soup (see post from Jan. 19) and made-from-scratch biscuits. (The biscuits in the photo are actually small cheese biscuits I made in a mini muffin/tart baking pan. They took about 9 minutes to bake.)
When the column was initially published, apparently Murray endured a little teasing from a few friends and colleagues who read it.
Read on to learn why. And for a good basic recipe (with variations) for biscuits.
I will admit it may have been a less than stellar supper that appeared on our kitchen table a few nights ago. But at that point in what had been a busy week and a particularly long day, I figured I had done well to produce something edible at all.
When my hungry husband sat down to a supper of hot biscuits and soup, and then spied the empty soup can on the kitchen counter (I had neglected to recycle it immediately after opening it), his response to that night’s menu was “at least we’re having biscuits.”
To be fair to canned soups everywhere, there are many good varieties that come in a can. This was a thick, stew-like soup to which I had added some frozen vegetables. But my husband is just not a big canned soup fan. Fair enough. That’s why I lovingly prepared some biscuits to serve with the soup. From a box of Bisquick, mind you.
