I am a closet bowl licker....

Not a TOILET bowl licker, but cake mix bowl licker. You know, when you're done scraping the bowl, pouring the batter into the cake pan? Any adult knows that you should put the dirty pan into the sink. Nope, nope, nope. Not me. I start salivating. I make sure I leave a fair amount of batter on the spatula so I can take long licks off of it. I try not to moan out loud with pleasure so my husband, Jim, can't hear me and wonder what the heck I'm up to all by myself in the kitchen. I wrap my tongue around those individual beaters (unplugged and unhooked, of course). I'm waiting for my tongue to get stuck inside one of them, and then have to sheepishly wag my tongue in front of Jim to untangle. What a nightmare THAT would be.

When I've finished licking off all of the attachments/spatulas, I leave the bowl for last. I run my index finger along the side of the bowl and scoop up sizable amounts of batter. Yum! I try, I mean I REALLY try, to scrape the majority of the batter into the pan, but sometimes I just can't get all of it out. So what else can a person do? That batter is just BEGGING to be eaten!

My biggest worry now is, when my grandchildren come over and want to bake with me, how can I turn over the bowl to them for licking? Can I really hand over those deliciously dipped beaters? Will I be adult enough to let go?

My only solution? I'll have to buy enough to make another cake, mix it up, then eat the batter when the grandchildren leave. Because I have a feeling I'll be a bowl licker till I'm old and gray.

Chihuly

A large group of my friends, Jim, and I visited the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden to see the exhibit, "Chihuly - the Nature of Glass." It was the perfect day to go - the weather was in the 70's and it was partly cloudy.



Dale Chihuly is a world renown glass sculptor who was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington. His work is recognized for its vibrant colors and grand scale and are found in more than 200 museums worldwide. This is Chihuly's first exhibition in a desert garden environment.



We walked around the garden and viewed the various structures amid the different kinds of cacti, bushes, trees and plants. The vibrant colors of the glass sculptures really stood out amongst the green and beige colors of the desert.



When the sun set, we walked through most of the garden again to view the glass sculptures lit up. The best ones were those that were lit from within. The most amazing one was a huge yellow neon tower that turned the whole area aglow in yellow. It could be seen from quite a distance.



If you have a chance to visit this traveling exhibit, I would highly recommend it.