I am a CNN fan boy.
A few years ago, I’d catch the occasional minute or two of Wolf or Brianna or Anderson. On Blitzer… On Keilar… On Cooper…
It was passerby TV viewing. Ho hum… take in a moment of toothy-grinned Obama speaking to the camera and merrily continue on with MY day.
ROUTINE World. Happy World.
Sadly today, I’m a full-fledged CNN addict.
They handcuffed my inner liberal bias and are holding me hostage. I’m in their grip and I can’t let go. HELP!!
I feel dirty.
Thanks Donald.
NON-ROUTINE World. Sad World.
In the old world, it used to be that “polite” Canadians genially crossed paths and discussed the changing weather patterns. Gonna be a hot one today eh Ginger Snap?…
Today, the passing eye-rolls of interchange revolve more and more around what shovelful (dump truck!) of nonsense hit Twitter overnight. OMG, Can you believe that sh*t?…
500+ days back, when the U.S. election results were shockingly finalized, I predicted we’d do a throwback to the Dark Ages for a few years.
But it’s become even darker than I could have pie-in-the-sky imagined.
It’s like the 50 Shades phenomenon a couple of years back. A huge portion of the population was swept into a surreal madness of worship of a man who merrily abuses and proudly dominates women.
My understanding sense was senseless. I didn’t/don’t get it.
And now there’s this insanity sweeping a whole nation, a nation that has been a world power, the beacon of hope and possibility for a peaceful and tolerantly accepting world for 100 years.
Sure, every story has its dark sides and America has held a few snotty handkerchiefs in its back pocket, thanks in part to slavery and misogyny and treachery. Nobody’s perfect…
…oh yeah… cake. Don’t forget the cake.
I always buy too many bananas at my local Superstore.
It began as an accidental overbuy when I’d purchase a 6 banana bunch (… daylight come and me wanna go home…) and then always find myself with 2 or 3 extras at the end of the week when we’d head off again and buy 6 more bananas.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat… Buy. Blacken. Buy Again.
Maybe it’s an OCD thing. Maybe it’s a “don’t carry out the same action and expect different results” scenario.
Where was I going? oh yeah… cake.
I love banana chocolate chip cake (I love lots of cakes… almost any cake in fact).
The deliciously smooth moistness and combination of banana and chocolate builds a delectable ambrosia effect that piggybacks on my love of peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
It’s a relatively healthy addiction, unlike my desire to smoke one Cuban cigar per week during the gorgeously sunny summer months.
And it doesn’t involve me spying through my neighbour’s window while they’re having sex…. EWwwwwwww! See? Healthy!
Building a banana chocolate chip cake is my sugar-drenched passport, my freedom to exclude the gluten free, superfood, and paleo folks who buffet me with their winds from all sides almost every day.
Take this!… eggs… and this!... white flour…. and THAT! chocolate…
So almost once weekly, I turn up the volume to CNN and gorge on the fetid faeces that emanate from the cake-hole of the TRUMPster whilst mixing flour and eggs and brown-black bananas and sugar … baking a yummy sweet cake for MY cake-hole.
Soothing with food.
My mind wanders in loop-de-loo circles and twists… why would Butch and Sundance think they could ever shoot their way out of that little Bolivian town?… I miss watching my young kidlets at their end-of-the-year ballet concerts… will the fear be greater in my head or my stomach when I dive out of an airplane in the next couple of weeks? I hope the spy couple who escaped back to Russia in the TV show The Americans, will get to see their children again in their lifetime.
Weird random thoughts.
But anything to escape the CNN-Trump vortex for a few blessed minutes.
It’s a perplexing thing where I hate the impulse to watch Trump as he clumsily – spitefully – maliciously – twists and batters our 3rd rock world towards an unhappy ending.
Baking a cake is an antibody vest I can wear (and eat!) to protect myself against the nastiness and darkness coming from the south-of-Canada kingdom. It makes the world feel normal again somehow.
As written in DESIDERATA, I have to accept that there are some things I can’t change in the world.
It’s OK for me to be narcissistic in my own space, show up and focus on getting better in my own world today and not fret about the future.
We can’t always magically succeed. But we can get better.
My banana chocolate chip cake can always be better too, but it does take continuous practice. Weekly, in fact!
Oh… and here’s the simple recipe I use to anti-Trumpify myself while watching CNN … You’re Welcome!
LARRY’S BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP CAKE
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream (low fat works fine)
3/4 cup chocolate chips
2 ripe, medium bananas, sliced or mushed.
PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9×5 inch loaf or 8 inch cake pan.
In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well.
Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the butter mixture until smooth. Finally, fold in the sour cream, chocolate chips and bananas. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean. Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Man On The Fringe 