This morning the answer was groats. I�ll cut to the chase because the next question was �What are groats?� Groats are whole oats. They are minimally processed--only the outer hull is removed. They're very nutritious, but they're chewy and need to be soaked and cooked a long time. Here�s what I do with them: I soak them overnight in water, drain the water and whiz them in the blender with fresh water, a banana and dates. Yum!
Answers in the past include plain yogurt with frozen (or fresh) blueberries or other fruit, almonds and a little granola.
This was asked by a sometime reader, right after she asked when the hell I was going to update it again. Ah, inspiration.
My diary is called cracklaugh only slightly unintentionally. When I was signing up at diaryland and it asked for a username I put in cracklaugh. I thought by username they only meant my username to get into my diary, not the actual name of it. I toyed around with starting another diary and canceling out of cracklaugh eventually but I haven�t (obviously).
I cannot take credit for the term cracklaugh. My famous brother-in-law Dani coined it. Once upon a time, he was heard to say in regards to something funny, "I was crack laughing..." We all got a big charge out of this.
Dani is from Lebanon and has been in the U.S. about 15 years or so. He speaks very very good English and once got the word majesty in a game of Boggle. Boggle on!
Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa
I did finish Bachelor Girl : The Secret History of Single Women in the Twentieth Century by Betty Israel. A very good read. Is it a secret history though? I'm not sure. I did learn what it was like to work the floor at Macy's or some other department store in the 1920s and 1930s. Sometimes, a floor elected one girl as queen for a day and she got to shirk off and even mess things up. The other workers would cover for her.
In the pile is a book about the Rosenbergs, Julius and Ethel. I just don't know enough about that whole scary thing. The book isn't exactly my cup of tea -- I mean just the way it looks. It has a black cover and the title is in white in a font like Clarendon Condensed. It's the kind of book that looks like the inside type will be about 8 points and there are no photos. I like photos. Isn't it great we can all talk about fonts and points in the open now?
Also in the pile is The Best American Essays 2002 edited by the late and great Stephen Jay Gould; The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe (yes Beaulah, I found it!) and Janet Flanner (Genet)'s Paris Journal, Volume Two, 1965-1971. I didn't read Volume One, don't know what that will mean.
I almost forgot The Chelsea Whistle by Michelle Tea, co-founder of Sister Spit, the "legendary all-girl road riot." Tea writes about growing up in Chelsea, "Boston's ugly, scrappy little sister." In the Acknowledgements, she thanks Rona Jaffe and her Foundation. Small world isn't it! Yay, Rona!
By my bed are some other little snacks. One is The Rescuers by Margery Sharp which is about mice, Miss Bianca in particular. Paws to Consider: Choosing the Right Dog for You and Your Family is not collecting dust either. Almost every night, Mitch and I get all chummy and flip through it and decide on a dog to get. Lately, we've liked the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
In response to several readers' emails and phone calls that contain the words "I don't get it" and "Who was that man who wrote about his shoes?" Cracklaugh is a mix of fiction and not-so-fiction, all by yours truly. If I do have any guest writers, I will make that clear, and no, I don't know where you can actually get paid jobs for grieving.
YES!