Lonely planet

It creeps over you like a crashing winter wave edging the hard, frigid sand of the shore. The white saline foam seeps into the cracks of your soul and sterilizes you.

It draws you in with its repetitive roaring murmurs and breaks of light against a murky blue. Against all logic, you have to dip your toe into its bone-chilling waters. And if you linger long enough, you’re easily enticed into taking the plunge.

Loneliness can be as vast and encompassing as the ocean.

As easily as God created the Earth and the fullness thereof, mankind has created a world of television, telephones, and Internet—emptying our lives of inconvenience while bogging it down with disconnect. That Academy-award-winning movie got it right: Many of us so violently “crash” into each other just to get that human contact we long for, yet too often don’t know how to ask for.

PRACTICE Practice practice

Surprise! I am a perfectionist. I know I’m far from being perfect, but it seems I am forever striving for perfection. 

I write rough copies of letters before I send anything out. As I child, I refused to write in ink because I hated scratching and scribbling things out. Even now, I’ll start something completely over if I have to cross something out.

I have difficulty finishing any stories or screenplays I start because I’m forever changing things, reworking and reworking toward a perfection I never seem to conquer.

And sometimes my strive for perfection straddles the line of obsession. I’m no good at video games, and when I do play them, I struggle to pull myself away from them until I win.

My latest obsession? Apple cider doughnuts. Seriously. 

Growing up in South Jersey, there was this place that made the best apple cider doughnuts. For years, I have been trying to find a place that makes such good doughnuts, especially this time of year. Well, I finally decided that I would just attempt to make my own. How hard could it be really?

In my first attempt, I baked a batch that was more muffin like than anything. The flavor was good and my co-workers gobbled them up, but I wasn’t satisfied. In the second attempt I used a plain doughnut recipe that called for yeast. I think I killed the yeast because the dough never quite rose as the recipe indicated it would. What came out of the oven was tasty, but it was somewhere between half-baked bagels and biscuits.

Last attempt was grand. “They really do look like doughnuts and taste like them too, ” several of my co-workers commented. The only flaw was that I didn’t quite get the oil temperature right when I fried them. 

Oh well, practice makes perfect. They’ll most likely be doughnuts again next week!

(Check out my various attempts.)

 

First attempt

 

Second attempt ... seriously.

Almost perfect

 

Here’s the last recipe I used:

Apple cider doughnuts (adapted from Home mavens)
1 gallon of apple cider (for baking and drinking)
1 cup sugar
¼ cup solid vegetable shortening
2 large eggs
½ cup buttermilk
3 ½ cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. nutmeg
Vegetable oil or shortening for frying

 

Boil 1 cup of apple cider in a small saucepan for 8 to 10 minutes or until cider is reduced to 1/4 cup; let cool.
In a large bowl, beat sugar with solid shortening until smooth. Add eggs and mix well, then add buttermilk and cooled cider.
In a medium-sized bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Add to liquid ingredients; mix ingredients just enough to combine.
Transfer dough to the lightly floured board and pat to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with a 3-inch doughnut cutter; re-roll the excess donut holes and cut scraps back into the dough.
Refrigerate formed doughnuts on baking sheets for about 20 minutes to help firm the dough prior to frying.
Add enough oil or shortening to fill a deep (3-inch) pan; heat to approximately 375°F or until the oil is bubbling.
Fry several doughnuts at a time, turning once or twice until browned and cooked through, about 4 minutes.
Remove and place on paper towels for draining and cooling.
Once the doughnuts have drained and cooled a bit, shake them up in the bag of sugar and cinnamon.

 ** Check out recipes for lots of other great things at foodloveswriting.com.