Watermelon? Cake?

I wondered what to serve my health-conscious family for a birthday celebration.

Watermelon, I knew, would be safe bet.

But a "watermelon cake" turned out to be absolutely calorific!

A little hard to push candles in . . . but the birthday girl insisted on at least one.





The "cake" sliced nicely and was enjoyed immensely--all without a gram of guilt.

I wish I could say I invented the Watermelon Cake recipe, but there's actually several on the Internet. My only advice is that when frosting the shaved melon with whipped cream is to keep plopping  dollops of the cream "frosting" on top and ever-so-gently push it--or let it slide--down the sides.

Contrary to what some recipes say, the cake doesn't need to be served immediately.  I rearranged the shelves in the fridge to accommodate the tall cake plate, and it kept nicely until party time.

He? She? It?

We have a friend who had trouble naming his dog.  When asked what the dog's name was, he would answer truthfully:  "Don't Know." In truth, that was the dog's name.

So what to name our new little smart car?  It's no longer "Don't know. . ." —at least for me.  I've just elevated his status as an inanimate noun to a higher plane.  Now when I ask Tom "Should we bike to the store or take the car?" I think of "the car" as his proper name, as in "Should we bike?  Or take The Car? The little guy who spells his brand name in all lower-case letters appears to like the proper upper-case attention.

I realize that the article "the" in English, unlike its counterpart in French and Spanish, appears to be a gender-neutral pronoun.  But in the sentences above, I --without thinking about it-- gave our little car a masculine identity.

I confess that the previous use of "his" and "the little guy" were written without a pre-determined sexual decision on my part.  But now I can't say "Don't know" about his sexual orientation.  It was determined, albeit serendipitously--by me at least. Tom may have a different opinion.

I'll agree that some cars exude much more testosterone and masculinity.  Nevertheless, from my perspective, he is what s/he is.