H Is For Hotcakes, Happening Here Now

April 9, 2016May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 51 Comments

Selling like hotcakes

… refers to brisk sales of a specific item. It’s one of those charmingly innocent idioms that I use from time-to-time when the situation demands that I be charmingly innocent.

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I cannot make hotcakes, or griddlecakes, or flapjacks, or pancakes as we call them.

It turns out that I lack the patience, coordination, and mathematical aptitude needed to create a flat pancake. My pancakes get all scrunched up, don’t flip over properly, and then cook unevenly.

{Image Source }

It’s tragic.

Zen-Den, however, has a gift for making hotcakes, which, by default, puts him in charge of all pancake projects. It’s a burden he’s happy to bear, because– pancakes. Yum.

Why am I telling you this?

Here’s why.

I have a theory that every person who likes to cook has one food that he or she just. can. not. make. It’s one food that everyone else throws together as if it’s nothing.

It’s a food that has the power to aggravate with the mere mention of the word. And for me that food is hotcakes.

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So, my gentle readers, what food can you absolutely not make no matter how much you try to do so?

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E Is For Egg, Exactly What We Need

April 6, 2016January 28, 2021 / Ally Bean / 41 Comments

“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

This proverb tells us to not make everything dependent on one other thing. It reminds you that if you drop that basket and break any eggs, then *kablooey* you’ve lost everything.

Yep, you’ve got nothing then. Kind of like me now.

You see, my gentle readers, I have nothing more to say on the topic of eggs.

Well, that’s almost true.

Sure, I could tell you about my latest experience with eggs [pickled them], but do you really need me to do that?

Instead, I suggest that we all agree that I showed up here, posted something as per the challenge guidelines, and then babbled enough to make it seem like I had something to say.

This works for me. I hereby declare that I have written about the letter “E.”

And the A To Z Challenge continues tomorrow…

D Is For Doughnuts, Darn It

April 5, 2016May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 46 Comments

I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts

… is a saying dating from 1904. It means you are so confident about what you know that you’re willing to bet on it. That is, a dollar has more value than a doughnut, so you are willing to give long odds, knowing that you’re going to win.

On the surface this saying has nothing to do with doughnuts, per se. In fact, some 1880s versions of this saying were “dollars to buttons” or “dollars to dumplings.”

There was even a “dollars to cobwebs” version of this saying. Shocking that it didn’t catch on, eh?

But being of a contrary mind, I have to wonder if the fact that doughnuts look like little zeros contributed to the popularity, and subsequent staying power, of this particular version of the saying.

I mean think about it, once in a while who doesn’t like to talk about doughnuts [or donuts, if you lean toward the more modern spelling]?

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{ SOMETHING TO WATCH FOR FUN }

“Time to make the donuts.”

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A Is For Artichoke, A Good Place To Begin

April 1, 2016May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 25 Comments

Okie-dokie, artichokie

… is a slang phrase that I’m guessing everyone has heard, read, or said. It’s one of those goofy ways to communicate agreement without committing to too much interest.

I use the phrase from time-to-time because there are moments when it is appropriate.

For instance, when your husband is telling you a detailed analysis of his current sock situation, and you would prefer that he get to the bottom line of this sock soliloquy, because if he wants you to buy him some more socks, just say so.

But there he is staring into his sock drawer, reflecting upon his hole-y, muddled mess-o-socks, while you stand by patiently, not caring at all about the finer nuances of his sock preferences, but pretending that it matters to you.

That’s when a wise woman says “okie-dokie, artichokie,” then goes to Kohl’s and buys him whatever socks are on sale that day.

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{ SOMETHING TO DO FOR FUN }

Take the Can You Identify These Vegetables? Quiz. Helpful hint: the first answer is artichoke.

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