Baking Experiment, Well Sort Of

Last week I was watching tv, it was a night I had time while I was waiting for a show or movie to start.  So I looked on on demand, for something to watch.  I mostly watch cooking shows and home improvement shows (when I'm not watching my regular shows that is).  So I was happy to find the Deen Brother's Thanksgiving special on Cooking Channel.  My mom and I enjoyed the show but one thing they made grabbed us, the sweet potato souffle.  Not only was it super easy to make but it sounded really good.  So we decided to make it.  In talking to my sister another day, we mentioned that we're going to make it, as a test this weekend and possibly make it for Thanksgiving. She said she made it before but it's not as sweet as the ones I make.

With that in mind, I decided to give the recipe a try.  I made a mental note of the ingredients but of course forgot something.  I happened to get the Paula Deen's Aunt Peggy's sweet potato souffle recipe in her newsletter last week.  I pinned both recipes when I first saw them and pulled them both up yesterday when I was getting ready to make the souffle.  I found there were slight differences between the two recipes, and I decided to split the difference between the two and give it a try.  Next time I make this, I'm going to add a 1/2 cup brown sugar in the souffle and maybe cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg.

Sweet Potato Souffle

2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, baked and still warm
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
1/4 light brown sugar
3 large eggs
pinch of salt

 TOPPING:
 3/4 cup light brown sugar
 1/2 cup chopped pecans
 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
sprinkling of cinnamon and allspice on top

Directions Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Peel the sweet potatoes and add the flesh to a bowl. Beat in the butter using a hand mixer or a stand mixer with the whisk attachment until well combined. Beat in the milk, brown sugar and eggs, adding one at a time. Taste and add salt as necessary. For the topping: Mix together the brown sugar, pecans, flour and  butter  in a separate bowl until it looks crumbly. Add the mixture to a deep-dish pie plate and bake until puffed and golden, 30 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving (the souffle will fall slightly).

Being 40 and Still Single...

In this day and age where the divorce rate among Christians is 50%, I'm one of those people that never got married.  It's not because I never wanted to, but because I was that girl that stayed home on Friday and Saturday nights, while everyone went out on dates with their latest boyfriend.  It wasn't until I was 18, that I finally went on my first date, and even then it was a blind date with a guy from a friend's high school, because she knew I didn't want my prom to be my first date.  The date wasn't bad but the guy was pining over a cheerleader at his school and so it was just that, a date.  My prom rolled around and not one guy asked me out.  Since I didn't want to go to prom alone, in an act of desperation, I asked a guy I worked with, to go with me.  It was a double date with my friend and her boyfriend and it was a nice night.  Still my date was just that, a date.  We "dated" for about a month but in reality, he was hitting on my best friend in high school, the entire time.  A fact that I found out after he dumped me, the day after she told us she broke up with her boyfriend.  I think I was more confused than anything else as to why he broke up with me out of the blue. 

In my 20s, there were a series of a handful of dates, here and there, all totalling five, before I met my ex when I was 26.  One of the reasons I looked to singles groups was for the friendships that I knew I wasn't going to get at a liberal arts college.  It's hard finding Christian friendships among people that talk about going over to their friends houses and getting stoned.  Or going to parties and drinking, not that I find anything wrong with drinking.  I'm one of those Christians that feels it's ok for Christians to drink, as long as they don't do it to get drunk.  I've never seen the appeal of getting buzzed, much less drunk, I've always been a social drinker myself, having one drink when I'd go out, when I drank that is. 

But I digress, this isn't about drinking or the reasons I was in Christian singles groups in the past, it's about being 40 and still single and my interactions with married people, or people that were married but are now single for whatever reason. 

I'm single, I am not a child.

Just because I'm single does not give people the right to treat me like I'm a child.  Especially if they have children my age.  That is the most condescending thing they can do to any single person!  Then there's the fact that, by treating a single person that way, it's also rude and disrespectful.  I want to be married, that is something I've wanted for many years, but for whatever reason that God alone knows, I'm still single.  Maybe he's working on me, maybe he's working on my future husband, regardless, I know one thing, I am meant to be married, not single.  I have a desire to be married and God knows this.  He would not plant this desire in me if it wasn't what He wanted for me.  I've often said being single sucks and it's lonely.  That doesn't mean I'm looking for marriage to rescue me, nor does it mean I'm looking for a husband to entertain me.  Every time I say something along the lines of how much I hate being single and/or it's lonely, I get bombarded by so called expert married people who clearly don't know a single thing about me.  They go on to tell me "you can be lonely in a marriage too".  Um if you are lonely or miserable in your marriage, then that is your problem, not mine!  It also means you need to work on your marriage to fix what's broken in it.  Oh look, the perpetual single person knows a thing or two about marriage.  Imagine that.

There's more to marriage than a piece of paper, and sex.  There's companionship, something you don't get being single.  Sure there are pets, but they can't hold your hand when you are out walking around when you're out and about, or wrap their arms around you when you are having a bad day and need a hug.  They can not give you a tender kiss on your forehead, or a romantic, or even a passionate kiss that reminds you how much they love you.  They can't give you presents for your birthday, the holidays, or just because. They can't send flowers to brighten your day, or because they are traveling for work and they know you miss them, or they miss you.  You can't even get those things in singles groups.  What you get in singles groups are people to hang out with.  Friends to go to movies with, have dinner with, do other social activities with.  However if you are part of a group that is an hour away from your house, you are only doing things in that area.  Which means you are not going to places you want to go to close to your house.  You can try to plan things closer to home, but the people in the singles group an hour away, won't drive up to hang out with you, because it's "too far".  But apparently it's not too far for you to drive down to them every weekend.  It's much like the selfishness of my ex boyfriend.  He lived an hour away yet I was the one that drove to his place every weekend.  I can literally count the number of times he came up to me, on one hand.  Bottom line is, you get things in a marriage that you can't get with a bunch of single friends.  And that is something that I, and other single people want and desire.  Our feelings should not be brushed off by married people. 

Being single you have more time to serve

I want to scream and at times, reach through my computer and smack people whenever they say that.  Talk about condescending.  If singles have more time to serve, then why is it, I have always served with married people at my church?  Where are all the single people?  Are they not following God's commandment to serve then?  Of course not!  However married people can and should serve too.  But you wouldn't know that because married people are quick to tell single people that they have more time to serve, yet those same married people most likely don't even serve themselves, at their churches (or anywhere else).  But they're the first people to tell single people that they have more time to serve.  Being single doesn't mean I don't have bills or a job.  I've been paying my own way since I was 16, even though I still live at home.  I still have a car loan that needs to be paid.  I still have a phone bill that needs to be paid.  Just like the gas for my car, car insurance and cable all need to be paid.  Those are coming out of my pocket, and my pocket alone.  And with gas prices on the rise, and my pay remaining low, that means I have to look to a second job to make extra money to help pay the bills and save money for the future.  Besides, I have a family too, I am not an only child, and my parents are still alive.  Which means I do have family obligations from time to time.  Then there's the fact that I need to rest from time to time.  Crazy as that may sound, it's true!  So how am I supposed to serve more if I have a life as a single person?

I want to be married

I have helped two people plan their weddings, I've made things for another one or two people, I've gone shopping with two brides for their wedding dresses.  I've gone to over 20 weddings, stood up in two and as I get older I can't help but wonder, when will it be my turn?  I watch the bridal shows on TLC on Friday nights, I don't know why really, other than to torture myself.  I watch Say Yes to the Dress and fantasize about going shopping for my wedding dress.  I wasn't one of those girls who grew up dreaming about getting married.  It was probably due to the unhealthy family that I grew up in.  I knew there was a lot of bad there, from an early age.  It's hard to miss that when your parents fight daily.  Or when you are being mentally abused and controlled.  It wasn't until I was in my 20s that I finally got in the right head space to want to get married.  I thought my ex was the one, but obviously he wasn't.  My ex was nothing more than a learning experience for me.  I was a rebound relationship for him which wasn't fair to me.  I haven't been on a date since my ex, not because I don't want to, but because I don't date married men. 

For years I didn't even know my church had a singles group, so I turned that side of my life off, the part of me that wanted to date and be married.  I had given up on the idea of it because I wasn't around any single men.  I was never a big fan of bars or clubs, and dating men that I met in bars or clubs never appealed to me.  So that left church.  Well when you are serving with married men, it makes it kind of hard to meet single men.  I never looked to work to meet single men, again I was surrounded by married men.  If there were single men there, they didn't look at me and think about dating me, they just saw me as a woman in the office, and that was it.  They never invited me out for drinks after work, or to hang out or anything.  They didn't even sit with me at lunch or talk to me.  I was just there, at work, and they had their own lives.  So again, where was I supposed to met single men?  At school?  I quit college when I was 26.  Through my family?  Yeah right.  My siblings and most of my cousins are all older than me.  None of them knew any single guys my age.  Not that I would have looked to my family to find someone to date anyway.  My neighborhood?  That's not even an option.  I live in the suburbs, in a family neighborhood.  I'm probably the only single adult in my subdivision.  So where is a single Christian women supposed to meet single adult Christian men?  At church.  Again, when you are surrounded by married people, that is impossible.  So what's the solution? 

I tried a dating site once, but being out of work I didn't have money for a paid account.  So I couldn't do anything really, other than set up a profile and read messages sent to me.  I quickly closed that account.  The fact that guys didn't approach me made the decision to close it a no brainer.  One day one of the few single friends that I had left, told me about a Christian dating site.  I looked into it, attended one of their events at my church (which was held at a different campus than the one I attend and serve at) and that was pretty much it.  I didn't do anything with the site because, at the time, I was out of work.  You see, over the span of four years, I only worked for a little over one year, at a few different places.  So paying for a dating site was not even an option, when I had more important things to spend my unemployment checks on, like bills. Then one day I was invited to try the site out for a free two week trial.  I did, and because I was working six days a week at the time, I had forgotten about it.  During the time I had the account on that site, I occasionally looked and only saw one guy that appealed to me on a small level.  The big red flags to me were two things, he had no problems with premarital sex, and he had a baby.  After two months of being a member of that site, I closed my account.  I honestly didn't see a point in having the account in the first place.  Just like the first dating site, I sat there with a very good picture of myself, a good write up, and....  nothing happened.  Not one guy approached me to talk to me.  Working six days a week left me with no time or energy to even think about looking through the site for another match. 

About a year after I closed my account, the site had another event at my church.  Once again I was out of work but this time I had been on unemployment for much longer and wasn't getting much money from unemployment.  My checks were reduced with each extension, which made it harder and harder to pay bills.  I talked to the gals that ran the site and I put my name on their volunteer list.  Since it was at my church (a different campus though) I ran tech for that event, and I ran it with a guy from my church (also from a different campus than that one, and mine).  I did the speed dating that night, but as usual, I left empty handed.  That is the story of my life.  A month later I went to my church's singles group's, fall kickoff.  I know this was all in God's timing, that I went to the singles group when I did.  However here I sit, nearly two years later.  I'm no longer a leader in the group nor am I a part of the group.  I had to step down from leadership and walk away from the group for my own mental health.  That group was the epitome of why church singles groups fail and are failing. 

I still haven't been on a date since my ex dumped me, but that part of me that wants to date and is optimistic about meeting someone and eventually getting married, has been turned back on, so to speak.  Still, being back on my own, being around married men and now, working with mostly women, and three married men, I once again have no options for dates.  Yet I sit there on Friday nights watching the bridal shows and feel an ache inside.  That desire to want to be engaged, to have a pretty engagement ring, to plan my wedding, to go shopping for my wedding dress.  To ask my friends to stand up in my wedding and to pick out their dresses and go shopping with them for their dresses, as they went shopping with me for mine.  Married people don't get it.  Even the single people that have been married, but for whatever reason, are no longer married.  They had all of that.  They know what it's like to have someone that loves them so much that they married.  They had their wedding, they had all the things I've never had.  It's a desire they will never understand, and ache they will never feel.  Only a select few of them will have a heart for singles, the kind of heart that finally understands what those of us that have never been married, feel.  But that understanding has come from God, and it came after their marriages ended.   

It's not that I feel like half of a person, or even part of a person.  It's that there is something that I have wanted for my life for years, but have never gotten.  To put it in terms that married people will understand, it's like the infertile couple.  They have struggled with infertility for years, yet they've always had a desire and ache at wanting children.  A desire that women have to take a pregnancy test and see a positive sign for the first time.  That is what being 40 and never married feels like. 

Internet Humor, Mammogram Jokes

At least one of these date back to the last 90s.  Some laughs about getting squished.

My First Mammogram

written by Leigh Anne Jasheway

After a lengthy battle with my nerves after hearing horror stories from my friends, I actually kept my mammogram appointment. I had never had one, and at 35 everyone was saying I just had to do it, so I went.
I was met with, "Hi! I'm Belinda!" This perky clipboard carrier smiled from ear to ear, tilted her head to one side and crooned, "All I need you to do is step into this room right here, strip to the waist, then slip on this gown. Everything clear?"

I'm thinking, "Belinda, try decaf. This ain't rocket science."
But before I could say a word, Belinda skipped away to prepare the torture chamber. With the right side finished, Belinda flipped me (literally) to the left and said, "Hmmmm. Can you stand on your tippy toes and lean in a tad so we can get everything?"
"Fine," I answered. I was freezing, bruised, and out of air, so why not use the remaining circulation in my legs and neck and finish me off? My body was in a holding pattern that defied gravity (with my other boob wedged between those two 4 inch pieces of square glass) when we heard, then felt, a zap! -- complete darkness and the power went off!
"Oh, maintenance is working. Bet they hit a snag." Belinda headed for the door.
"Excuse me! You're not leaving me in this vise alone are you?" I shouted.
Belinda kept going and said, "Oh, don't be silly," the perky bimbo practically sang. "The door's wide open so you'll have the emergency hall lights. I'll be right back."
Before I could shout "NOOOO!" she disappeared. And that's exactly how Bubba and Earl, maintenance men extraordinaire, found me, half-naked and part of me dangling from the Jaws of Life and the other part smashed between glass!
After exchanging polite "Hi, how's it going" type greetings, Bubba (or possibly Earl) asked, to my utter disbelief, if I knew the power was off.
Trying to disguise my hysteria, I replied with as much calm as possible "Uh, yes, yes I did thanks."
"You bet, take care" Bubba replied and waved goodbye as though I'd been standing in the line at the grocery store.
Two hours later, Belinda breezes in wearing a sheepish grin and, making no attempt to suppress her amusement, she said, "Oh I am sooo sorry!" The power came back on and I totally forgot about you! And silly me, I went to lunch. Are we upset?"
And that, Your Honor, is exactly how her head ended up between the clamps....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first mammogram is always the worst. Especially when the machine catches on fire. That's what happened to me. The technician, Gail, positioned me exactly as she wanted me (think a really complicated game of Twister -- right hand on the blue, left shoulder on the yellow, right breast as far away as humanly possible from the rest of your body). Then she clamped the machine down so tight, I think my breast actually turned inside out. I'm pretty sure Victoria's secret doesn't have a bra for that.
Suddenly, there was a loud popping noise. I looked down at my right breast to make sure it hadn't exploded. Nope, it was still flat as a pancake and still attached to my body. "Oh no!" Gail said loudly. These are, perhaps, the words you least want to hear from any health professional. Suddenly, she came flying past me, her lab coat whipping behind her, on her way out the door. She yelled over her shoulder, "The machine's on fire, I'm going to get help!"
Okay, I was wrong, "The machine's on fire," are the worst words you can hear from a health professional. Especially if you're all alone and semi-permanently attached to A MACHINE and don't know if it's THE MACHINE in question.
I struggled for a few seconds trying to get free, but even Houdini couldn't have escaped. I decided to go to plan B: yelling at the top of my lung (the one that was still working). I hadn't seen anything on fire, so my panic hadn't quite reached epic proportions. But then I started to smell smoke coming from behind the partition. This is ridiculous, I thought. I can't die like this. What would they put in my obituary? Cause of death: Breast entrapment? I may have inhaled some fumes because I started to hallucinate. An imaginary fireman rushed in with a fire hose and a hatchet.
"Howdy ma'am," he said. "What happened here?" he asked, averting his eyes. "My breasts were too hot for the machine," I quipped, as my imaginary fireman ran out of the room again. "This is gonna take the Jaws of Life!" In reality, Gail returned with a fire extinguisher and put out the fire. She gave me a big smile and released me from the machine, "Sorry! That's the first time that's ever happened. Why don't you take a few minutes to relax before we finish up?"
I think that's what she said. I was running across the parking lot in my backless paper gown at the time. After I relax for a few years, I figure I might go back. But I'm to bring my own firefighter.

The CW's new Beauty and the Beast, my thoughts...

Last night I wandered over to comcast to log into my email account just to check the spam folder.  I had a few emails out but had gotten far less responses than I had expected.  I didn't know if anything got trapped in the spam folder or not.  So I chekced my spam folder; while on comcast I glanced at their featured headlines.  The name Beauty and the Beast caught my eye.  I looked at it again to see what it was, and found it to be a new show staring Kristin Kreuk.  I clicked through the link and spent the next hour watching the show.

I'm sure people won't be happy to hear this but I find Kristin Kreuk a mediocre actress at best.  I don't buy her as a "tough as nails" cop.  Her fight scene on the subway platform was barely believable.  Not to mention her decision to meet on a subway platform to exchange and talk about evidence is beyond stupid!  Kristin Kreuk comes across as someone that's more of window dressing for the what looks to be the real star of the show, the Beast, Jay Ryan.  Before I got any further, I need to point something out (because I can hear the rabid fans yelling "why are you watching it then?"), I tuned it to see if it was a remake of the late '80s tv show staring the far more talented Linda Hamilton and Ron Pearlman. 

This update is a poor man's comic book for the small screen.  The "beast" is a result of a military experiment to create some sort of super soldier.  Where have I seen that before?  Oh yeah, Captain America, and last NCIS last season, the port to port killer storyline.  I'm sure there are others that have done that but those are the only two that come to mind right now. 

The pilot had so many plot stupidities that left me not just scratching my head but wondering what the writers were smoking when they thought them up.  Why in the world would the two women stand there in an empty parking lot letting two random strangers gun them down?  Then for Cat to make the same stupid move however many years later when she's supposedly this "tough as nails" NY detective.  Kristin Kreuk wouldn't last two seconds on Chicago's south side, much less on the streets of NY as a cop.  She's just not the cop type.  Mariska Hagrity is far better at playing a tough as nails cop, than Kristin Kreuk will ever be.  It's crap like this (CW as a whole) that make me glad there are actual good shows on tv, like NCIS, NCIS LA, Burn Notice, White Collar, Psych, Hawaii Five-0, Covert Affairs, and the old shows that I still love and watch like the A-Team. 

Everyone 50% off

Hurry in, time is running out for my 50% off sale.

 

Fun Popcorn

I know it's been ages since I updated, and probably will take me as long before I do it again.  shush!  ;-P

Anyway, a couple weeks ago my friends went out of town and asked me to watch their place, bring the mail in, etc.  I said yes (as always) and took care of things while they were gone.  Well they always give me something as a thank you for being such a good friend and watching their house.  This time it was popcorn on the cob, odd but cool.  It was so funny when they gave it to me too, because I went over there last Wednesday to have him look at my laptop, I couldn't get the top cover off to look inside to fix my monitor, so I asked if he'd take a look at it.  So while we were all sitting behind the table on their deck, she excitedly had me open my gift.  I knew there was a reason she was so eager to have me open it, so I went into the house and brought it out. 

It was a vacuum packed popcorn on the cob.  When she was telling me how cool it was and thought I'd like it, I said "Let me guess, you got one too".  She laughed and said yes.  Now I knew why she was so eager for me to make it first, she wanted me to be the guinea pig.  lol   Well I went home with a CRT and my laptop, after a couple hours, along with the popcorn on a cob, and showed it to my mom.  Of course miss addicted to popcorn wanted me to make it that night.  So I did.  I did it according to directions, but since we're still getting used to the new microwave, I made the mistake of taking it out at 2 minutes, which caused half of them to burn.  :(  Oh well, what didn't burn was still good.  I would definitely get that for a friend as a fun little gift. 

A few pictures, sorry about the quality, I couldn't find my digital camera so I had to use my cell phone.

Before

This bag came with the cob, I thought it was just instructions, until I opened it up.

Toss cob in bag

cob and all.  I know, mostly burnt but still a fun thing to do.  If I ever do this again, I might not use a bag, but instead a bowl, so I can watch them pop.  :) 

Can you help?

could you guys help my friend out? She's been entrusted to take care of a newborn and a little boy, brother and sister. She set up a fund raiser to help get her and her husband to NJ to pick up the kids and help them out with anything else that might come up in the short term. If you could spread the word about this too, that would be great. I'm going to blog about it later

www.gofundme.com/Help-Us-Help-2-Kids

Great Household Cleaning Tip

A few weeks ago I bought a dry erase board for the open house my friend and I had.  It's a great size and price and was perfect for what I used it for that day!  (as you can see in the picture)

Well as much as I erased the writing I noticed it didn't come off fully, there was still a slight ghost image left that you could see from an angle.  The first thing I thought when I noticed this was that I don't remember that happening with older dry erase boards.  I could simply be remembering wrong (which is very possible since we had chalk boards when I was in school through college #2 at least!).  So anyway, I just sat down with my lotto tickets and write the numbers up on the board to check (only got 1! number *sigh*) but I noticed that either I didn't press hard enough while erasing or something because there was a light black smear left on the board.  Well that reminded me that I wanted to look online for homemade cleaning solutions, figuring there had to be something out there to save me some money.  So a quick google came up with results, the first of which was an ehow write up.  There were a few ideas, two of which were a water/vinegar solution (which I don't have a spray bottle handy to make) and the other was hand sanitizer (both using a soft cloth). 

I tried the latter and it worked like a charm!  BUUUUUT I only have sanitizer with moisturizer at home so that left a film on the board.  No big deal, I simply grabbed another soft cloth (both of which were clean socks with holes in them that I had tossed in my bedroom's garbage can, but am going to keep to use for this) and dampened it then gave it a rub down.  That took care of it perfectly, I even tested it out with a marker and it was fine!  Since I'm using this for pictionary at a NYE party Saturday night, I gave that a sanitizer cleaning too to make sure it's all nice and clean before hand.

So there you go, a cheap and easy home remedy to cleaning dry erase boards. 

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree...

A little video of my Christmas tree, enjoy!

HELL EXPLAINED BY A CHEMISTRY STUDENT

Too funny, had to share. 


HELL EXPLAINED BY A CHEMISTRY STUDENT

The following is an actual question given on a University of
*Washington *chemistry
mid-term.

The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it
with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the
pleasure of enjoying it as well :

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs
heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas
cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need
to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which
they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets
to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how
many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that
exist in the world today.

Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their
religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these
religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can
project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are,
we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now,
we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law
states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the
same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter
Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all
Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in
Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year
that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take
into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two
must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already
frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen
over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore,
extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine
being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.'

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.

Support etsy sellers

It's Small Business Saturday, what better day to support etsy sellers.  Check out Amy's Treasures for some beautiful finds. 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/amystreasures?ref=si_shop

New Battlestar Galactica, Thoughts from an Old Fan

A couple weeks ago I took out the original Battlestar Galactica from the library, I hadn't seen it in a good 30+ years (not since it was on tv) and I wanted to see if it held up to my memories.  It did, I remembered loving it and I still do.  When I heard about the new series on sci-fi a few years ago, I was dead set against it.  I instantly hated it just for the fact that it was a remake of my beloved old show (especially when you think of all the bad remakes hollywood has shoved down our throats in recent years, it's not hard to believe I'd have an instant dislike to something I hadn't seen).  I didn't have sci-fi so it wasn't an issue, I could easily avoid it.  However last year I finally got sci-fi and now have access to new shows.  Although so far I haven't tuned into any of them.  The only science fiction I watch these days is Doctor Who, still enjoy that one and really hope we've seen the last of the adventures of Amy Pond guest starring the Doctor. 

Getting back to Battlestar Galactica though....  The other day while watching an episode of the original series I found myself curious about the new one.  So I decided to take it out from the library and see what it was all about.  After doing some research online, I found the new Battlestar Galactica started out as a mini-series then was made into a full blown series.  I was going to watch it online but couldn't find the mini-series online.  So I asked some folks on etsy and was told that the mini was packaged with season 1 of the new Galactica series.  Ok that's not how other shows have done it, so it's understandable that I couldn't find it.  Well I changed my mind about watching the new Battlestar Galactica online and decided to just take the dvds out from the library.  Today when I returned the original Battlestar Galactica to the library, I decided to see if the new series was in.  I picked up the discs and shuffled through them, found all of season one except the first disc.  After searching more I found it, it was mixed in with season two.  So I grabbed all of season one and checked out.

After I ate dinner I went into the basement (some time after 6) and popped the mini series into the dvd player.  I've watched most of it as of 9 PM tonight and so far it's interesting, for lack of a better word.  I found the pace to be a bit slow and was disappointed that the Cylons used nukes instead of simply flying down to shoot Caprica like they did in the classic series.  It was interesting seeing Jamie Bamber as Apollo but I could easily hear his American accent slip in places.  Of course as a fan of the original Battlestar Galactica and since I had just watched the final episode yesterday, I have to say it's a bit odd seeing how they cast the classic characters.  I'm having trouble seeing women cast in the roles of Starbuck and Boomer, I never did pick up/out who Jolly was.  I heard the name mentioned but I never actually saw the actor.  Then again I was cutting fabric while watching this so that might explain why I never spotted Jolly. 

What bothered me was the falling out between Adama and Apollo, it seemed like the writers went with the typical conflict between father and son route that is common with so many shows and movies these days.  Really?  Couldn't we have had the old relationship?  Also Starbuck dating Zack was a bit odd, not to mention seeing her smoke a cigar when they were playing Triangle (was it?) and Tigh being there playing with them.  The cigar felt forced to me, like they were trying to show it's a female Dirk Benedict instead of either casting a man for the part or just forgoing the stogie.  I can't help but wonder how this Starbuck will play out as the series pans out.  The original Starbuck was a some what womanizer, until he started dating Cassiopeia and then fell in love with her.  The new Starbuck is dealing with the death of her boyfriend, Zack who was Apollo's brother. 

Baltar is another one that's bothering me, he's this scientific genius but he's almost more of a sniveling coward instead of the man that stood against the colonies (like in the original series) and stood next to the Cylons as they attacked Caprica.  Speaking of the Cylons, Six was getting on my nerves during the scene on the bridge of the Galactica.  I know only Batar could see her but it was a bit much constantly seeing her there every time we saw Baltar.  Oh and the sex scenes in the beginning of the mini-series were a bit much as well.  I really don't need to see anyone having sex, but especially Baltar and a human form Cylon.  And that extreme closeup of the mouth as they kissed was too much also. 

I did like seeing things from the original series, like the old Vipers and the old Cylons but was disappointed that the only Cylons we heard talking were the two human ones.  We also only saw the two other Cylons once so far.  This is supposed to set up the story of how the colonies left their planets and went in search of Earth yet so far we've seen more sex and conversations than we've seen anything else.  There's hardly any Viper action so far, we certainly didn't see any guns blazing until later in the mini-series (I've only seen about 3 hours of it so far) where as the original series we saw all the action up front, and the personal life story lines were more sub plots.

I still have plenty to watch with the new Battlestar Galactica, so we'll see if I decide one way or the other about fully liking it.  As a stand alone sci-fi  it's good, but I'm having a hard time disconnecting myself from it as an original fan.  Kind of like the fans of classic Trek were with STTNG and the following series.

Because I'm bored...

I've been watching Battelstar Galactica (the original) the past few days.  Picked the entire series up from the library and reliving my old love for this show.  I don't remember it well but I do remember the episode with the angels, that one has stuck with me for years.  So since I've been enjoying this fun show, thought I'd share. 

Petite Nutella Pochettes

One day while on youtube I ran across this video and I just sat there, drooling at the thought of what those little pockets tasted like.  How could you go wrong with butter and nutella?  You can't!  So I thought about making them but needed to find a reason for it.  That way I wouldn't eat them in one sitting while watching tv, or at my desk at work.  Last weekend I served at church, running lights and camera for the team that's short handed.  So I decided to make then then.  They were so easy to make but I found one slight problem with the recipe as it was written, my hand mixer wasn't strong enough to mix the dough once all the flour was in it.  Then again I did make the mistake of missing one important bit of information in the recipe... Do not over-mix!  WOOPS!  Oh well I just left the dough in the fridge for a couple hours and all was fine. 

However before I even made the final decision to make them, I read the reviews knowing that some times food network recipes aren't correct on their website, as they were given in the shows.  Of course there is the problem where the recipe was the same but the end results were vastly different than what was said to be on the show.  This happened with a Giada recipe for granola bar type things.  So in reading the reviews I saw people said the dough was bland as given so they jazzed it up a bit, some added a little powder sugar, while others went so far as to add vanilla extract and some, orange zest in addition to the powder sugar.  Hate me if you want, but that's taking an excellent recipe for a French pastry to an American extreme.  Of course I did make a minor change to the recipe and it was the addition of a little powder sugar to tone down the cream cheese taste.  Never having had these before I didn't know if the end results were supposed to have a strong cream cheese taste (for the dough) so I added a little powder sugar just to tone it down.  I don't feel like that addition changed the taste as drastically as the other additions that people were making to the recipe.  But next time I make these I will be omitting the powder sugar and see how the dough tastes then.

I didn't have the same biscuit cutter so I just used a regular coffee cup and gave it a little decoration with the tines of a fork after I sealed the pochettes.  I tasted one when it was still a little warm and nearly died, it was so good!  Cold was good to but much better warm.  Next time I make these I'm going to just use my stand mixer, it will save me from having to take the hand mixer apart again to clean it out.  Also I'm going to split the dough in half before putting it in the fridge to chill.  One of the reviewers suggested only working with half the dough at a time because it will get too soft from the butter melting and make it harder to roll out and cut.  Yep that happened to me.

Petite Nutella Pochettes

Ingredients
    * 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
    * 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
    * 2 cups flour
    * 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons chocolate-hazelnut spread (recommended: Nutella)
    * Water, as needed
    * 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
    * Special equipment: 3-inch fluted biscuit cutter
Directions
In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese together until light and creamy. Add the flour slowly until the dough forms. Do not over-mix! Shape the dough into a ball and cover. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
On a lightly-floured surface, using a lightly-floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch fluted biscuit cutter, cut out as many circles as you can. Form the scraps into a ball and reroll to make more circles.
Fill each dough circle with a small spoonful of the chocolate-hazelnut spread. Dip your finger in tap water and spread on the edge of half the circle to help create a seal. Fold the dough over to create a crescent. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Cool, then sift the confectioners' sugar on top and serve.

An update of sorts....

I wanted to post an update before I got lost in a sea of organza for the next few weeks.  I'm gearing up to put my organza peonies in a shop across the street from my work, that's like a craft mall, the owner supports local artists.  When I went in there a few weeks ago and looked around, I started talking to her and as we talked I got excited about the prospect of having my things in there.  I didn't feel the same way about the place closer to my house, and knew this was where I needed to venture into the world of renting shop space.  In addition to that, my friend is planning on having an artist holiday open house at her place in last November/early December this year.  So I've been busy focusing on making peonies (well steps one and two of it) for over a week now.  I've gotten a lot done in terms of cutting my old stash of fabric, most of that is gone and phase two of the process is almost fully finished with that first stack of cut fabric.  I'm going to finish those up tomorrow (probably) and then start cutting more fabric, probably finish up the old fabric before I move onto the new one.  So that I can finally get all my old fabric finished. 

In addition to the peonies, I talked about putting my wine glass charms in there.  I might hold off on those for now though, I feel like I'm spending all of my paychecks before I get them.  Although I've only gotten one so far, but still; if I want to go to my cousin's wedding thanksgiving weekend I'm going to have to cut back on my spending.  So I'll probably pull the wine glass charms from my shop and put them in that store for starters. I'm looking forward to moving onto phase three of the peonies though, but for now, I'm trying not to feel impatient when cutting fabric so that I don't burn myself out before things really kick into high gear. 

In addition to all of this, I'm learning the updated software for our lighting console at church and because we're adding more LED lights every week or two, it's starting to take longer to do the programming.  Which means two weeks out of the month I have to go in to church on Thursday nights to get my base looks programmed (if not more) when worship team is rehearsing, and then make any tweaks on Saturday so that I can get back to doing more dynamic lighting. 

There are other, some what minor things, but they aren't as important.  What does all of this mean for my etsy shop you ask?  Well after I list the last two peonies from the six I made last week, I'm going to take a break from making and listing new things for there until close to Christmas.  If I even start listing anything new by then that is. 

With that I'm going to leave you with an email I got from my friend last night, Romance Novel 2011

He grasped me firmly, but gently, just above my elbow and guided me into a room, his room.  Then he quietly shut the door and we were alone. He approached me soundlessly, from behind, and spoke in a low, reassuring voice close to my ear. "Just relax." Without warning, he reached down, and I felt his strong, calloused hands start at my ankles, gently probing, and moving upward along my calves, slowly but steadily. My breath caught in my throat. I knew I should be afraid, but somehow I didn't care. His touch was so experienced, so sure. When his hands moved up onto my thighs, I gave a slight shudder, and partly closed my eyes. My pulse was pounding. I felt his knowing fingers caress my abdomen, my ribcage. And then, as he cupped my firm, full breasts in his hands, I inhaled sharply. Probing, searching, knowing what he wanted, he brought his hands to my shoulders, slid them down my tingling spine and into my panties. Although I knew nothing about this man, I felt oddly trusting and expectant. This is a man, I thought... a man used to taking charge. A man not used to taking 'No' for an answer. A man who would tell me what he wanted. A man who would look into my soul and say...     "Okay ma'am, you can board your flight now."

Cheaters Enchiladas chicken and cheese and onion

Ok I'm calling these cheaters enchiladas because I didn't use a traditional recipe.  When it comes to authentic Mexican food, I tend to refer to Rick Bayless and his vast knowledge.  I cheated by using a store bought rotisserie chicken although after looking at this recipe, I see Bayless did the same thing for the chicken, used store bought rotisserie. So maybe this isn't really cheating after all? 

Since I don't have exact measurements due to making two kinds at the same time, I'm going to write this up the way I made it.
1 28oz can enchilada mild sauce (I used Old Elpaso)
1 19oz can enchilada mild sauce
1 10oz  can enchilada medium sauce
4 large yellow onions (I prefer vidallia onions but the store didn't have any.  However these were about the same size)
3 (2 cup) packages shredded cheese (I typically use the taco blend, but since I didn't realize I'd use all of the cheese up, I only bought two taco blend and one regular mild cheddar)
2 packages medium sized flour tortillas
1 1 pound 13 oz store bought rotisserie chicken (traditional recipe), reserve drippings from bottom of rotisserie package
kosher salt
olive oil
chili powder and pepper flakes to taste (optional)

Slice the onions and set in a large bowl while you preheat the pan up on medium heat.  When pan is heated, coat with olive oil (I didn't measure this) then toss onions in, only as much as your pan can handle.  I used a smaller pan so I worked in four batches.  Let onions cook a bit and sprinkle with salt and let cook down (the salt brings out their sweetness).  If you can multi task without problems then move onto the chicken, and start removing the skin and fat and pulling the meat off the bones, shredding it as you toss into a bowl.  Keep an eye on the onions and stir processionally.  If you only want the onions to sweat more than caramelize then don't cook them too much.  I normally just cook them to remove the bite since they never cook in the oven when I'm making cheese and onion enchiladas.  I like raw onions so it's not a huge issue, but it's nice to have cooked onions when eating enchiladas. When onions are desired doneness toss in bowl and repeat with second batch (if you need to cook them in batches).

Keep going with the onions until all are cooked and set aside.  Continue shredding chicken when onions are done, give it a quick chop then add drippings from package to shredded chicken and stir together (you'll be surprised how much meat you get from that one bird!).  Take about half the cooked onions and mix in with the chicken (add more or less to your preference). If you like your food with a little kick, then mix in some chili powder and pepper flakes in with the chicken mixture.  Empty all three cans of enchilada sauce into a large (8 cup) measuring cup and give a quick stir to combine the mild and medium (it was about 6 cups of sauce all together).  Pour enough sauce into chicken and onion mixture to be good and wet once it's all stirred together.  You'll want to have more sauce in there than you'd think too keep everything from drying out during reheats (if this lasts that long). 

Preheat oven to 375F as you wrap and roll.  Spray pans (yes I said plural, I used 3, they were more or less 9x13 each, the big casserole one might have been a tad bigger) pam, or better yet, line them all with aluminum foil and then spray the foil to make clean up even easier!  I forgot to line them this time and that is the last time I'll forget that.  Pour a little enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pans to keep the bottom of the enchiladas moist.  Take one package of tortillas and fan them out to separate, set them on a plate or cutting board.  Add a good heaping portion of the chicken mixture to one end and sprinkle with cheese (again to your preference, I wound up using an entire 2 cup bag on all of the chicken enchiladas), tightly roll the enchiladas and place seam side down in pan.  Repeat until all the chicken enchiladas are done.

Mix one 2 cup package of cheese with the onions and stir in enchilada sauce.  Again don't worry about being skimpy with the sauce, as long as you have plenty for the tops of the enchiladas you'll be fine.  There's more than enough sauce with the 3 cans to be generous with the fillings. Take the other package of tortillas and fan them out to separate, set them on a plate or cutting board.  Just as with the chicken filling, scoop a generous amount of the onion filling onto one end of the tortilla and tightly roll up, placing seam side down in the pan.  It's best to keep these separated from the others so that people that don't want/like chicken know which ones these are.  It's easiest if you have different kinds of pans to remember which one is which.  Repeat with all the onion filling.  When the last one is in the pan, evenly pour the sauce over the enchiladas in all three pans.  Split the last package of cheese between all three pans, cover with foil and place in oven.  Cook for a half hour covered (if not longer), until sauce begins to bubble.  Remove foil and rotate the pans around (move the one from the top rack to the bottom and put the two that were on the bottom, on top) and continue to bake until the cheese is cooked. 

Let stand a few minutes to cool and serve with sour cream.

RIP Cuppa Joseph Coffee

We regret to announce the passing of Cuppa Joseph Coffee, known to his friends simply as "Cuppa Joe".

Although many of his detractors considered him a drip, he was a regular early morning fixture in diners all over the city. The latte Mr. Coffee was known for his perky attitude, nervous twitch, and was always ready to shake your hands.

In recent years he became brewed-y as he grew weary of the daily grind. He had bean on the decline spending much of his time in the sack.

All of his friends filterable about his death. One said, "He has passed much too soon and too often."

According to family tradition his full body will be decaffeinated, cream-mated, and placed into the grounds.

He is survived by his family members, Mrs. Olson, Juan Valdez, and the Hills Brothers who wish to express Sankas for your sympathy.

What Were They Thinking?

I love Kraft Foods Food and Family magazine, I miss getting it in the mail.  You see I was one of those thousands of people that had a free subscription to it but didn't have the money to keep it when they switched to paid memeberships a few years later.  It was the same thing with my sister, but she buys the magazines off the rack usually the holiday issues.  Which brings me to my post.  I was over at her house last week to pick up the purse she bought for me from the Smokies and hung out for a couple hours just chatting.  She was still trying to reclaim her house from the floor reno that went on while she was out of town.  My mom and I had cleaned her countertop and cabinets a bit the day before they came back but we were going to my brother's block party so we couldn't do much.  Plus despite my offer to clean after the floors were redone, my sister turned me down, saying she'd take care of it when they got back. 

So while I was there and we were chatting, I helped her move her dinning room table back and forth while she vacuumed and put it back in place.  Then she pulled out her cookbooks and magazines and went through the magazines, purging them.  She gave me all of those particular magazines, which were mostly Paula Deen magazines, one Taste of Home and the one Food and Family magazine (holiday '09).  While flipping through the Food and Family magazine just now I noticed a recipe Catalina Cranberry Chicken.

Now I'll admit, I don't eat chicken, nor have I ever had Catalina dressing, but I do know what onion soup mix and cranberry sauce taste like.  Which is why when I saw this recipe I couldn't help but wonder if this would taste good.  I mean it seems lke it's about six flavor profiles too many going on here.  How can something like that taste good?  Maybe one day I'll make this for someone and taste the sauce before I put it on the chicken.  Still I can't get past the thought of cranberry sauce mixed with onion soup mix.  Just doesn't sound appealing to me.  

Sitting outside while I soak up the heat and surf the net...

Wait, what?

My sister and her brood are out of town, on vacation and for whatever reason, decided to schedule their floor redo for this week.  So I've been house sitting since Monday, only sleeping in my own bed and driving here to let the guys in and check up on them from time to time while I hang out on the bed in the master suite, watching tv and surfing the web. 

So today is the last day of construction, they're finishing up the powder room and then will be sanding and staining and hopfully putting the first seal coat on.  I decided to sit outside instead of inside, even though it's hot and I have my laptop.  I know the air quality is only going to get worse in there once they start sanding.  As it is, when the guy does a batch cut job of the hardwood planks, I can smell and almost taste it when standing at the top of the stairs.  So I figured I'd save myself al the trouble of that today and stay outside.  It's not so bad now since the temps are relativly low still but it's supposed to hit 94 degrees today, I'm not looking forward to that.  If it does get bad I'll just go hang out in the laundry room with my laptop.  Although that will still be in the house where they are working.  *sigh*  I guess I just need to sufer today if it means not breathing in anymore sawdust.

At least I have a quickly warming can of pop and Queen to keep me company.  :)

Christmas in July

Christmas in July sale, enter coupon code ATCIJ15 to save 15% off all items. Sale ends July 24, 2011

Amy's Treasures