I know it’s kind of a 1990s thing to do, but I recently started collecting desktop wallpapers from Usenet. In a 21st-century twist, I started storing them on my Dropbox folder so they’re available on any computer I happen to use.
From time to time I’ll post some of the cooler ones here.
I’m re-posting this because it’s the time of year when a little comfort food can be appreciated, plus I whipped up one of these cakes for Lisa and Emma tonight. Here’s a link to the Hulu page for this episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show– the scene described below starts at 9:00.
In the episode “The Lady and the Babysitter” of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Rob whines about how Laura made a delicious “milk cake” yet there’s no milk in the Petrie house. He could have been referring to the cake I’m talking about here.
Yes, those are Hershey Bars laid across the top of the cake. Six of ‘em.
My mom made this cake many times when I was a kid. I used to refer to it as the “vinegar cake” because of the one tablespoon of vinegar that’s in the recipe, but don’t let that put you off– it’s all in the name of good baking chemistry.
Now, I admit I’m kind of a snob when it comes to chocolate bars, and Hershey’s is usually lower on the list than other brands. For the purposes of this recipe, though, the Hershey bars have the best shape, thickness, and melting point– plus, we’re talking about comfort food here, so let’s allow a little throwback to childhood, shall we?
The recipe is ridiculously simple and the result is simply amazing.
The cake lends itself to a tall, cool, glass of milk or even a nice cabernet sauvignon. It’s really moist, but you will want something to wash it down.
And now that I have your attention, check out the recipe:
Quick Cocoa Cake
(One layer, 8 inch square)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup cold water
6 Hershey bars– the original recipe called for two, but trust me on this
Sift and mix all the dry ingredients into an ungreased 8-inch square baking pan. Level dry ingredients and make 3 holes or wells in the mixture. Pour oil into one hole, and vinegar and vanilla into the others. Pour cold water over the top. Use a fork to stir the mixture until it’s smooth.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.
Unwrap all the Hershey bars, and when you remove the cake from the oven immediately lay the bars evenly over the top of the cake– break the pieces apart if necessary. (You can also make chocolate frosting, but why? 
Let the cake sit for about an hour before serving. Yum.
Note: if you decide to refrigerate the cake, be sure to let it warm to room temperature before attempting to cut into it. Those Hershey bars will revert to their original candy-bar-state when chilled, and make cutting the cake a challenge.
(This originally appeared on Crosswalks to Nowhere on November 4, 2008.)
…has been disconnected.
For the first time in my life, I do not have a home phone number.
Last week, we decided to drop our landline telephone service. We did an informal-yet-enlightening analysis of our home phone usage, and here’s what led to our decision:
Based on the first point alone, our decision was made. Once we looked at the cost, it made the choice that much easier: we were paying $85 per month for basic phone service and 8 Mbit internet. 15 Mbit internet-only service from our provider costs $52, which means we were paying $33 per month for the “convenience” of being hassled by people (and machines) we didn’t want to hear from.
I made the call Friday morning and by Monday afternoon the phone line was turned off. Oh, and this little bit of joy took only minutes to go into effect:
Before…
..and After:
We did not put a forwarding number on the account because the people who need to contact us know how to do so. So all you robo-dialing, political-office-running, lawn care-selling, survey-taking entities will have to find another tree to bark up. Or whatever it is that you do.
For the people and places with whom we wish to stay in contact but we’d rather they didn’t have our mobile numbers, we’re sharing our Google Voice number. This has the advantages of (a) not ringing a phone in our house (or pockets), and (b) providing a spiffy and occasionally accurate transcription of the voice mail that the caller can leave when they dial our number. And if, for some reason, we need to have the Google Voice forwarded to a “real” phone, it’s just a few keystrokes to make that happen.
Yes, we’ll have to keep our mobile phones charged and have a spare standing by in case one of them takes a dive into the Chicago River. We’ll also have to make sure the numbers for our local Police and Fire Departments are programmed into our mobiles. Done and done.
One more step at simplifying our lives is complete.
A couple shots of the legendary cheeseburger spot in Chicago, the Billy Goat Tavern on Lower Michigan Avenue.
Happy New Year!
This tree is standing in Arlington Heights’ Harmony Park as I write this.
On Christmas Eve, Lisa and I were leaving our Melancholy Tavern and we came across a mother-and-son team near the tree, and we offered to take their picture. It turns out they had donated the tree to the village– they planted it in their front yard twenty-something years ago, and now it was fulfilling the lady’s dream of being decorated for Christmas in a spot where everyone could see it.
We shared “Merry Christmases” and we were each on our way.
It was a very nice chance meeting for a Christmas Eve.
We spent a couple days in downtown Chicago, going “off the grid” and spending some quality holiday time together.
Here are some shots of State Street, Marina City, and the Wrigley Building that were taken late on Monday night. I especially like the Christmas lights on the balconies at Marina City.
Hope you’re all enjoying the holiday season!
Cool evenings, perfect for the holiday season…
This is another of my favorite Dennis the Menace Christmas panels. Seeing it today, I’m struck by how it captures a typical moment I would have had with my daughters when they were younger. I guess I really did learn my parenting skills from Rob Petrie and Henry Mitchell.
Click here to see several frames from the strip in larger format– it’ll give you context.
This came from a 1975 Pocket Full of Fun collection.
Here’s an early Christmas present for all of you: a pair of archive files that each contain 90 minutes of somewhat innocuous holiday music. The real bonus, though, is hidden in the recordings: between the usual bits of Nat King Cole, Kenny G, and 101 Strings are little snippets of Chicago media history.
These are recordings of two Chicago radio stations’ nonstop Christmas music programming, recorded on Christmas Eves in 1984 and 1988. In those days, some radio stations would put their normal programming on hold on December 24 and play holiday music through to the evening of the 25th. This way you’d have a nice musical background to whatever festivities you had going on. (This contrasts with the more recent approach of going all-holiday the week after Halloween.)
While digging around the house for holiday music, I found a cache of cassettes that contained all sorts of fun that I pulled from the air over the years. The two 90-minute programs attached below are from WLOO (FM100) recorded in 1984, and WNUA in 1988.
FM100 was the primary Beautiful Music station in Chicago (under its various ownerships) from the early 1950s through the late 1980s, and their format consisted of soft instrumental versions of pop songs with the occasional light vocal. The attached recording is very typical of what FM100 sounded like– just replace the Christmas tunes with non-holiday songs by the same artists. You’ll also hear a couple of weather forecasts, and learn how it was a very cold night that Christmas Eve.
WNUA was a Smooth Jazz station from the late 1980s through the late 2000s. It’s not coincidental that FM100′s demise came around the time of WNUA’s rise: they both served the purpose of providing background music. Beautiful Music formats were being dropped all over the country at that time, and WNUA’s brand of ”Smooth Rock, Smooth Jazz” was just a little more hip and rhythmic (and less sleep-inducing). The recording presented here isn’t quite representative of the typical WNUA broadcast day: they went a lot softer here, plus they interspersed audio snippets by on- and off-air staff and their families. They also included station jingles that sound like ringing bells, with a little “hourly chime” effect at the top of each hour. You still get Kenny G, though.
Just download each file, unzip, and load the resulting MP3s into your favorite music player. There are two MP3s in each archive.
Click on the WNUA logo to download the archive of the 12/24/1988 Christmas recording:
Click on the FM100 logo to download the archive of the 12/24/1984 WLOO Christmas recording:
Download and enjoy– and maybe you’ll blow the mind of someone who actually remembers these stations.
Happy Holidays!
As I’ve mentioned here before, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.
This is the time to be grateful for the good things in our lives– and while it’s easy to lose focus on the positive, it’s critical that we keep reminding ourselves of what’s– and who’s — really important to us.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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