You know what's really annoying? Making mistakes at work. It's a smashing great job, but it always seems like I'm doing one little thing wrong after another. It's annoying to me on so many levels. And then, because my memory is fleeing me at a rapid pace, I'm can't remember if I rightly deserve the critique/chastisement or not. Nonetheless, now I know something I didn't know before. And my bosses are always kind. But for a girl who really does not do well having to get corrected, I feel pretty lousy right now. I can't imagine what it would be like having to work with people for my job. Kudos to all my friends who suffer through!
My internet was out for a few days, but now seems to be consistently back, which is quite a relief. And go figure, during that time I had a whole bunch of stuff to say/write, but now that I can actually get around to writing it, I have nothing. My brain is slightly fried. I'm going to go make some chai - maybe that will get my brain juices flowing. ....That sounded gross.
Mmmm. Got my Elephant Vanilla Iced Chai in my Lady and the Tramp mug - already feeling better. I'm a total fan of the Tiger Spiced Chai, but I gotta say, the Elephant Vanilla is really smooth. Glad I branched out and bought both this time around.
The only time I ever feel like cleaning is when my rm is gone. So, last night I tidied up the living room table - it's definitely not the disastrous eye-sore it had been for the past few weeks. It's actually pleasant again to sit in here and do my work :) Now, if I could only find that important paper I need... I really hate this new-found ability to lose things. It doesn't matter if it's important or expensive, or a piece of junk - I can lose them all just as easily. I really would've loved to not inherit this trait, mom. Sigh. And why I can only ever seem to get 2 or 3 rooms looking nice at the same time is beyond me. It's not like this place is a large house or anything. Ah well. Patience. It's the little things...
The show is coming along quite well - lots of fun/creepy choreography. The show times, ticket info, and creative team bios are up - check out the website, and if you haven't already, there's still time to make a tax-deductible donation. I need to start trying out the makeup I want to do for my circus character. I was going to try some ideas out tonight, but I'm feeling pretty tired. I think it will be all I can do to make dinner then crawl into bed and watch Pushing Daisies.
Speaking of Pushing Daisies, I've never been interested in owning a Golden Retriever, but Digby is totally making me change my mind. I could see myself with one :) Though I'd still get my Doberman and Saluki first! But they are wonderfully sweet dogs. And I want to bake pies. I think I've ever only baked 2 different types of pies - Pumpkin Pie (my mom's recipe), and an amazingly delicious Sunday Apple Pie (which utilizes 3 different types of apples). I should definitely make more pies - mound them up with fruit, learn to do cool crusts, make cup pies with honey baked into the crust, etc. etc. etc. :)
I did bake two different kinds of cookies this past week: Oreo Drop and Pumpkin Snicker-doodle. I had a bit of a mishap with the Oreo Drops. When I pulled the second batch out to check, it was one of those weird, almost slow-motion experiences where I saw the pan going towards the edge of the rack, thinking it would stop, then realizing it wouldn't; wanting to grab it, but being smart enough not to just reach out and touch it with my bare hand, and then seeing it crash onto the kitchen floor. Thankfully, only half that pan was lost, and the recipe made at least 4 dozen from the get-go. They didn't turn out like I expected, taste-wise. I guess I thought they'd be more creamy, or have a slightly different consistency. Still, they're quite good, and everyone who tried them loved them (indeed, one of my friends called them "...delicious. Almost evilly delicious.") With the Pumpkin Snicker-doodles, the first batch came out perfectly, but the next two batches didn't seem to cook as well, even though I left them in a bit longer - the middles never quite made it. So, I'm not a fantastic baker, but there is hope for me yet!
My internet was out for a few days, but now seems to be consistently back, which is quite a relief. And go figure, during that time I had a whole bunch of stuff to say/write, but now that I can actually get around to writing it, I have nothing. My brain is slightly fried. I'm going to go make some chai - maybe that will get my brain juices flowing. ....That sounded gross.
Mmmm. Got my Elephant Vanilla Iced Chai in my Lady and the Tramp mug - already feeling better. I'm a total fan of the Tiger Spiced Chai, but I gotta say, the Elephant Vanilla is really smooth. Glad I branched out and bought both this time around.
The only time I ever feel like cleaning is when my rm is gone. So, last night I tidied up the living room table - it's definitely not the disastrous eye-sore it had been for the past few weeks. It's actually pleasant again to sit in here and do my work :) Now, if I could only find that important paper I need... I really hate this new-found ability to lose things. It doesn't matter if it's important or expensive, or a piece of junk - I can lose them all just as easily. I really would've loved to not inherit this trait, mom. Sigh. And why I can only ever seem to get 2 or 3 rooms looking nice at the same time is beyond me. It's not like this place is a large house or anything. Ah well. Patience. It's the little things...
The show is coming along quite well - lots of fun/creepy choreography. The show times, ticket info, and creative team bios are up - check out the website, and if you haven't already, there's still time to make a tax-deductible donation. I need to start trying out the makeup I want to do for my circus character. I was going to try some ideas out tonight, but I'm feeling pretty tired. I think it will be all I can do to make dinner then crawl into bed and watch Pushing Daisies.
Speaking of Pushing Daisies, I've never been interested in owning a Golden Retriever, but Digby is totally making me change my mind. I could see myself with one :) Though I'd still get my Doberman and Saluki first! But they are wonderfully sweet dogs. And I want to bake pies. I think I've ever only baked 2 different types of pies - Pumpkin Pie (my mom's recipe), and an amazingly delicious Sunday Apple Pie (which utilizes 3 different types of apples). I should definitely make more pies - mound them up with fruit, learn to do cool crusts, make cup pies with honey baked into the crust, etc. etc. etc. :)
I did bake two different kinds of cookies this past week: Oreo Drop and Pumpkin Snicker-doodle. I had a bit of a mishap with the Oreo Drops. When I pulled the second batch out to check, it was one of those weird, almost slow-motion experiences where I saw the pan going towards the edge of the rack, thinking it would stop, then realizing it wouldn't; wanting to grab it, but being smart enough not to just reach out and touch it with my bare hand, and then seeing it crash onto the kitchen floor. Thankfully, only half that pan was lost, and the recipe made at least 4 dozen from the get-go. They didn't turn out like I expected, taste-wise. I guess I thought they'd be more creamy, or have a slightly different consistency. Still, they're quite good, and everyone who tried them loved them (indeed, one of my friends called them "...delicious. Almost evilly delicious.") With the Pumpkin Snicker-doodles, the first batch came out perfectly, but the next two batches didn't seem to cook as well, even though I left them in a bit longer - the middles never quite made it. So, I'm not a fantastic baker, but there is hope for me yet!
Oreo Drop Cookies (Orig. recipe)
2 sticks butter, room temp.
1 brick cream cheese, room temp.
1 C white sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
1 C dark chocolate chips
Oreo Crumbles (I used about 1/2 a package)
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment/wax paper. In a large bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese.
2. Add sugar and vanilla, mix well.
3. Add flour 1 C at a time, and stir until just combined.
2 sticks butter, room temp.
1 brick cream cheese, room temp.
1 C white sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
1 C dark chocolate chips
Oreo Crumbles (I used about 1/2 a package)
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment/wax paper. In a large bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese.
2. Add sugar and vanilla, mix well.
3. Add flour 1 C at a time, and stir until just combined.
4. Mix in chocolate chips with a spatula.
5. Put Oreo crumbles in a bowl. Take a spoonful of dough, roll into a ball, and then roll in the crumbles. Repeat. Many times. This recipe makes 3-4 dozen depending on how big you make them. I used a large spoon and made about 4 dozen (before I threw some on the floor :P).
6. Cook 15 minutes. Remove and let cool at least 5 min before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely - otherwise they will break apart. As I also learned.
And yeah, that's my new Kitchen Aid Chopper - so much nicer and easier than thwacking them with a hammer in a plastic bag. Though, hitting things with a hammer can be quite cathartic.
5. Put Oreo crumbles in a bowl. Take a spoonful of dough, roll into a ball, and then roll in the crumbles. Repeat. Many times. This recipe makes 3-4 dozen depending on how big you make them. I used a large spoon and made about 4 dozen (before I threw some on the floor :P).
6. Cook 15 minutes. Remove and let cool at least 5 min before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely - otherwise they will break apart. As I also learned.
And yeah, that's my new Kitchen Aid Chopper - so much nicer and easier than thwacking them with a hammer in a plastic bag. Though, hitting things with a hammer can be quite cathartic.
Pumpkin Snicker-doodle Cookies (Orig. Recipe)
3 3/4 C flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2 sticks butter, room temp
1 C sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
1 C pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 3/4 C flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2 sticks butter, room temp
1 C sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
1 C pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
Coating
1/2 C sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
dash of Allspice
1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Next, blend in the pumpkin. Then add the egg and vanilla and mix until well combined. Lastly, add in the dry ingredient mixture.
3. Cover the dough and refrigerate 1 hour (you'll want to do this step - if you don't, it'll be super messy and really hard to roll the dough into balls. Just sayin'.)
4. Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheet with parchment/wax paper. In a small bowl, combine the coating ingredients.
5. Roll the dough into balls (again, I used a large spoon, and made about 30 cookies), and roll them in the coating. Put them on the pan, about 2 inches apart. Use a glass (I used the bottom of a shot glass), dipped in water and covered in the sugar coating, to flatten out the cookies.
6. Bake 10-12 minutes. Remove when the centers of the cookies have set. Let cool on the baking pan a few minutes before removing to a wire rack.
1/2 C sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
dash of Allspice
1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Next, blend in the pumpkin. Then add the egg and vanilla and mix until well combined. Lastly, add in the dry ingredient mixture.
3. Cover the dough and refrigerate 1 hour (you'll want to do this step - if you don't, it'll be super messy and really hard to roll the dough into balls. Just sayin'.)
4. Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheet with parchment/wax paper. In a small bowl, combine the coating ingredients.
5. Roll the dough into balls (again, I used a large spoon, and made about 30 cookies), and roll them in the coating. Put them on the pan, about 2 inches apart. Use a glass (I used the bottom of a shot glass), dipped in water and covered in the sugar coating, to flatten out the cookies.
6. Bake 10-12 minutes. Remove when the centers of the cookies have set. Let cool on the baking pan a few minutes before removing to a wire rack.
I know, I know - I really gotta start taking better pictures - but it's a struggle for me to remember to even take them, let alone pause long enough in my cooking/baking to make everything look pretty and aesthetically pleasing. Sigh. I should just get one of my photographer friends to take pictures while I'm in the kitchen, then I wouldn't have to worry about it.
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