Pennermag.com

Well this week turned out to be much better book wise. Last week, I was sure the librarians were conspiring against me.

This week is much better so far. The second book I read, Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray. It was about baking (and love, finding yourself, etc.), but the part I enjoyed most was the baking. Now with a new (and functioning) kitchen, I was off . . . .

Inspired, today, I made a Sweet Potato Bundt Cake with Spiked Sugar Glaze. I don’t get to taste it, because I’d be as big as a house — but it looks good.

Here’s a peek:

I’ll let you know if the folks (who don’t yet know they’re getting a cake), enjoy it!

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On Tuesday voters in Inglewood, California voted to reject Wal-Mart’s proposal to build a super store on the north side of Hollywood Park.

So-called, left wing politicos see this as a victory? Jesse Jackson — who I see as a man without a cause — was hailing the vote. I even received an e-mail from my father-in-law touting the victory as good for Inglewood and good for unions?

Are they all kidding? Is Wal-Mart going to be the death of mom and pop businesses? Have these people been to the ‘inner-city’ or ghetto as it was called when I lived there?

Wal-Mart wasn’t exactly going to bulldoze dozens of family owned businesses to build yet another colossal center. It was going to build it’s super center on a vacant lot. Oh, we have lot’s of those in the black and Latino areas of Los Angeles County — garbage filled, crime filled, gang filled, and graffiti filled.

But somehow Wal-Mart is the bad guy. And about those ‘mom and pop’ businesses. Recently during a neighborhood meeting in my mid-city Los Angeles neighborhood, the LAPD officer discussed that many of the ‘mom and pop’ businesses on our main thoroughfare were no more than covers for drug and crime activity.

Wal-Mart’s stealing union jobs — a horrible denizen of low-wage labor? Inglewood’s jobless rate is over 10% — about twice the national average. The unemployment rate for African-Americans, Latinos? Higher still. Those union jobs in the black and Latino areas of Los Angeles County — virtually non-existent. Providing jobs where people don’t have them doesn’t seem to be the worst thing that could ever happen.

And it’s not as if those ‘mom and pop’ businesses are providing superior goods and services at low prices. We all know a gallon of gas or a gallon of milk usually have a huge mark up in majority minority areas. You don’t exactly see folks from Hancock Park, Beverly Hills, or Santa Monica, running down to Inglewood to get those great deals. In another time and place, the same left-wing, politicians denounce those businesses which prey upon the poor and captive audience they purport to serve.

Is Wal-Mart good for Inglewood, or for Los Angeles county. Honestly, who knows. I don’t shop at Wal-Mart and don’t really see any reason to patronize the discount leader. Would I like people who don’t have available jobs in their neighborhood to have them, yes. Would I like people to have access to low-priced goods and services — in their neighborhoods — yes. Do I think people should be able to earn more than minimum wage, yes, but probably not for low wage, no skill jobs. In a capitalist society, people have to start somewhere.

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Yesterday, I was tripping over several pairs of shoes in order to get to the one I wanted to wear. For a moment I stopped and really looked at my shoe rack.

Adam believes I have too many pairs of shoes, but I think most men can get along with just three (black, brown, and casual).

Women on the other hand understand every occasion requires a different shoe. But, I think there are no occasions in my future that require a sturdy black, leather penny loafer.

About 16 years ago, I invested $80 in my first and only pair of penny loafers. After reading The Official Preppy Handbook, I knew I had to have them — because in the 1980s who wasn’t trying to be a good preppy.

Somewhere in the book, Lisa Birnbach suggested that a good pair of loafers would get you through college, graduate school, and through your first child.

A pair of sturdy shoes that lasted that long appealed to me. And so there I was, horning my feet into stiff leather black shoes. They are older than any other shoes in my closet. And truly it got me through college, and graduate school. I haven’t had that first child — so I can’t vouch for that — but I’m eight years out of graduate school and they’re still going strong.

The ‘California’ lifestyle, however, doesn’t really cater to loafers. California, by far, is more of a ‘flip-flops’ lifestyle. In Connecticut, Massachusetts, or New York, where you’d wear loafers — in California — insert thongs.

At work, play, weddings, funerals — it’s all like a scene from The Big Lebowski.

As I plan to permanently settle in this big city without a center — I think my loafers my just have to go.

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Ah, dinner tonight . . .

Fresh spaetzle, baked with chopped ham and grueyere.

The key lime cheesecake looks good. It has a little surprise: the graham cracker crust — spiked with a little tequila.

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The idea of daylight saving time is to save energy and make the best use of light. Why sleep, when we can be making use of all of these hours of daylight?

Although Benjamin Franklin is credited with the creation of this concept, it is more properly credited to a London man, William Willett, who advanced the idea in the early 1900s.

He was supposedly inspired when riding (his horse) early in the morning, and noticing that everyone was asleep even though the sun had risen.

The idea was first adopted in 1916 in the United Kingdom and Germany. There was fierce opposition. Farmers said chickens didn’t adjust laying schedules so easily and were frustrated. But with extended evenings outdoors — the idea caught on. It was especially popular (and legislated), during World War II, where definite energy saving benefits could be recognized. For much of the war, Europe was on Double Summer Time — that is they were two hours ahead in summer.

While all this is very interesting . . . I’m still not adjusting well. I’m used to waking up at about six in the morning. Sometimes I sleep in, and get up at six-oh-five or so . . . .

But these last two days, I wake up at seven and feel I’ve missed half the morning. Oh, sure, I’ll gradually adjust, but who needs this jolt to the circadian rhythm?

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