Cardamom Streusel Coffee Cake

About 2 weeks ago I paid $8 for a jar of cardamom - needed it for Broccoli Spinach Soup (from The New Basics cookbook).  The soup was okay, but not something I'd make again.  So then I had to look for another way to use cardamom.  This coffee cake was also okay, but not anything exceptional.  Guess I'm still on the hunt for a tasty way to use an expensive spice.  Any suggestions?

Book: "The Lacuna"

Harrison Shepherd by chance becomes plaster mixer, cook, and later secretary to Diego Rivera.  This leads to relationships with Frida Kahlo and Trotsky.  After Trotsky's assassination, he settles in Asheville, South Carolina to a life writing novels about ancient Mexican cultures.  But then comes the Communist witch hunts in America and he becomes a victim.  The McCarthy era section of the book was less satisfying than the earlier sections.

My rating:  ****

Finished Objects: Felted Slippers

Patterns:  Fiber Trends Felt Clogs AC-33
              Fiber Trends Crocheted Felt Slippers

Yarns:  Cascade 220 (Blue and Purple)
             Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherds Wool (Greens)

These were lots of fun to make and I'm very satisfied with the result.  I got extensive felting assistance from Tina.

Channeling My Inner Martha - The Spice Drawer

Up until today, my spices have been stored in a pull-out cupboard shelf below eye level and another shelf above eye level.  This meant that every time I had to find a particular spice, I had to look at a number of containers individually.  Well, no more!  Today I bought an organizer that fits into a drawer.  I arranged as many spices as would fit in a roughly alphabetical order.   It doesn't hold all the spices, but the rest of them went into the pull-out shelf.  By putting labels on those spices, I should be able to find what I'm looking for quickly and without getting annoyed.

DVD: "Anvil! The Story of Anvil"

I have close to zero interest in heavy metal music, but this documentary was very watchable.  Canadian metal band Anvil has been playing together for 30 years, and although they influenced many other more successful bands, they have not achieved much success themselves.  The movie shows the determination to keep doing the work that you love, regardless of what the rest of the world thinks about you.

My rating:  *** (out of 5)

Book: "The Museum of Innocence"

Turkish author Orhan Pamuk follows the decade long obsession of Kemal with his beautiful distant relative Fusun.  It reminds me a little bit of Gabriel Garcia Marquez' Love in the Time of Cholera because of the subject matter.  In the usual post modernist way, Pamuk himself becomes a character in the novel near the end of the book.

My rating:  ***** (out of 5)

DVD: Coraline

I had missed this movie in theaters, so caught it on DVD.  Probably way too scary for young viewers, it is about childrens wish for different "better" parents while at the same time being  fearful of separation from their real parents.  Beautiful and scary images.

My rating:  **** (out of 5)