Random (but not really)

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Tasty Tuesday: Homemade Oreos

Yeah, how many times am I going to feature oreos?

Lots apparently.

This time oreos were for my first official UCF visitor, neurondoc and her family. Needed something good, but relatively easy, and this hits the spot perfectly.

Homemade Oreos (via Smitten Kitchen)
For cookies:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (150 g)
1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa (47 g)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar (200 g)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 egg

For filling:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 F. Cover 4 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together dry ingredients until well-incorporated.

oreos_0001

Slice butter into pieces, and mix until mixture is dark and crumbly.

oreos_0002

Add egg and mix until dough pulls together.

oreos_0003

Scoop out tablespoon sized balls, roll, and then smoosh the balls flat. A cookie scoop is precisely what you want here to get the cookies a relatively uniform size.

oreos_0004

Bake cookies two sheets at a time, for 9 minutes (4 1/2 minutes then rotate the sheets.)

Allow cookies to cool on the trays for a minute or two, or they’ll become deformed when you remove them.

oreos_0007

Cool the cookies, and then match for relative size and shape.

Beat together the butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla. (I think Mexican vanilla is perfect for this.)

oreos_0005

Put filling into a zipper freezer bag, and seal. Cut one corner off the bag, and then squirt frosting onto one cookie in each pair.

oreos_0006

Close cookies.

oreos_0008

Eat.

Written by Michelle at 8:00 am    

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Categories: Food,Photos  

Monday, June 22, 2009

UCF Visitor

I got company on Sunday! Specifically, neurondoc, her spouse and offspring!

I made pizza, and received assistance in decorating the pizza; then we had oreos for dessert. Mmmm! (Yes, you should be jealous.)

Also, neurondoc’s daughter is apparently part bumblebee, and is very fond of pollen.

neurondoc_0001

My assistant and I made pizza.

neurondoc_0003

Me and neurondoc.

AND I even got LOOT! Yummy chocolate LOOT!

Loot for ME!

And just for Nathan…

Loot for ME!

Yup. She got me bacon chocolate! Now I shan’t be eating this as bacon isn’t in my dietary repertoire, but I am very tempted to save it just for Nathan!

Written by Michelle at 8:00 am    

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Categories: Politics,UCF  

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Sunday Flower Pr0n (with More Hot Bee on Flower Action!)

All the rain we’ve had has been great for the flowers.

Coreopsis

Coreopsis

Astilbie

Astilbie

20_June_0015

Day Lily

Day Lily

Day Lily

Day Lily

Day Lily

Day Lilies

Coreopsis

Coreopsis

Coreopsis

Coreopsis (with hawt bee on flower action!)

Written by Michelle at 8:00 am    

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Categories: Flowers,House & Garden,Photos  

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Ah… Saturday

I can’t believe the weekend took this long to get here, but it’s finally Saturday. Went to the Farmer’s Market even though it was raining, and since we got out of the house early this morning, I’ve actually cleaned the house–or at least the living room and kitchen.

Unfortunately the humidity and the temperature are the same, so it’s miserable outside.

Other than that, I’ve got some baking to do this evening for tomorrow’s quick visit by UCF member neurondoc and her family.

Mmmm…. baking.

Written by Michelle at 11:53 am    

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Categories: House & Garden,Non-Sequiturs  

Friday, June 19, 2009

Friday Cat Blogging

Kit

What? This is Grandmom’s pillow? Why I have no idea how it could have ended up on the floor!

Kit

But since it’s here…

Written by Michelle at 8:00 am    

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Categories: Cats,Photos  

Get Out There and Saunter!

That’s right!

Today is World Sauntering Day!

So get out there and saunter!

Written by Michelle at 6:00 am    

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Categories: Holidays  

Thursday, June 18, 2009

What You Should Be Reading: Night Watch

Night Watch Sergei Lukyanenko, translated by Andrew Bromfield

Stumbling across the fourth book in the series gave me the excuse I was looking to reread the Night Watch series.

Anton Gorodetsky is a Light Other who works for the Moscow Night Watch. Although they usually have human parents, Others consider themselves a separate species. Their ability to enter the Twilight gives them magical powers, as well as the ability to live a life far longer than that of normal humans. However, the Light Others are in constant opposition to the Dark Others (and vice versa) so the job of the Night Watch and the Day Watch to enforce the treaty, and make sure that neither the Light Others or the Dark Others gain an advantage and change the course of the world.

This balance is kept by the Inquisition, a group comprised of both Light and Dark Others who believe that a balance between Light and Dark must be kept, or the world will be destroyed.

Although there are Watches throughout the world, and in later books Anton travels to some of those Watches, the books are primarily set in Moscow. They follow Anton Gorodetsky as he becomes a stronger magician, and matures in the process. He initially works as a computer programmer for the Night Watch, but Gesar, the head of the Night Watch, pushes him out into the field, an area where Anton feels incompetent, but where Gesar wants to see him never the less.

The more time Anton spends in the Night Watch, the more he learns that the Night Watch and the Day Watch scheme for power, and because they can see future probabilities, will use the Others under their command to achieve their ends. Yes, of course the Day Watch has nastier schemes and cares less about who gets hurt in the interim, but the Night Watch is not above scheming, and it leads you to wonder where Gesar (the head of the Moscow Night Watch) and and Zabulon (the head of the Moscow Day Watch) are heading with their schemes.

In addition to these mysteries, we also get a look at post Soviet Russia, and can actually see how it changes over the course of the series.

To be honest, I thought the series was even better the second time through. The first time I read the first three books I wanted to know what happened, so I read quickly. The second time I caught details that seemed insignificant at first, but had importance later on. It also made the second book easier to read, since I understood where the series was going.

Excluding Day Watch, the second book in the series, the books are told from the point of view of Anton. Because the second book is about the Day Watch, if follows the lives of several Dark Others, which was initially off-putting when I first read the series, because I wanted to read about Anton, not these Dark Others. But the Day Watch is even more complex than the Night Watch, and the plans of Zabulon even more convoluted, and seeing how Zabulon’s plan unfolded throughout the course of the book was fascinating.

Each book is divided into three complete but related stories. Night Watch tells of Anton’s move though the Night Watch. Day Watch looks at the Dark Others from their own point of view. The last two books continue Anton’s story and complete the threads started in the other two books.

I love this series. I love the characters and the complexity of the story, and the setting that is so unfamiliar to me. If you are at all interested in urban fantasy, then I highly recommend Sergei Lukyanenko’s Night Watch series.

Night Watch (2006), Day Watch (2006), Twilight Watch (2007), Last Watch (2009)

Written by Michelle at 8:00 am    

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Categories: Books & Reading  

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Go Obama!

President Obama Extends Federal Benefits
Executive memo gives partners, including same-sex partners, of federal employees access to some benefits.

Written by Michelle at 6:54 pm    

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Categories: Politics  

Craft Fair at Ripley

Just a reminder, the Craft Fair at Ripley is fast approaching! July 2nd through 4th this year.

If you have the opportunity, and have any interest in Crafts, I highly recommend checking it out. I also recommend getting there early in the day, as the fairgrounds can get hot if it’s hot weather.

But then there’s always homemade ice cream to cool you down…

Written by Michelle at 6:11 pm    

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Categories: West Virginia  

Wednesday? Let’s Free Associate! With Words!

At some point life is going to slow down and I’ll be able to do more than write posts for the entire freaking week on Sunday night.

But I have no idea when that time is going to be. So until then, it’s time for word association!

Today’s word:
purple

Written by Michelle at 8:00 am    

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Categories: Non-Sequiturs  

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Hurm

So it dawned on my today that one of the reasons I’m feeling not so hot is that I’m almost certainly having side effects from the anti-depressant. Specifically, muscle aches.

For the past month–despite the fact I stretch for 10 to 15 minutes after I exercise (I highly recommend it–it’s the wind down portion of my day), my muscles have tight and tense and sore. Not an in-your-face kinda sore, more like a general uncomfortableness, especially in my legs and back.

Essentially, my muscles feel like they won’t relax at all.

So, when I go back to the happy doctor, I think I’m going to request yet another medication switch. Because I have a feeling my exhaustion may be tied into this, since I’m probably not sleeping as well as I could be.

So humph. But it could always be worse.

Written by Michelle at 8:21 pm    

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Categories: Depression  

Tasty Tuesday: Pizza

Today is pizza–primarily the process of making the dough. I really like this recipe, and even though it takes quite awhile, it makes dough for three pizzas, so I can freeze two for a much faster result on other days.

But everyone here thinks it’s worth the extra effort.

Pizza
Homemade pizza
Dough:
1 3/4 cups warm water
2 tsp yeast
1/4 cup potato flour
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 to 4 cups bread flour
corn meal

Pizza:
Pizza sauce
Shredded Parmesan cheese
Sliced provolone cheese
Shredded Mozzarella cheese
olives
mushrooms organic turkey sausage
red peppers
onion

(more…)

Written by Michelle at 8:00 am    

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Categories: Food,Photos  

Monday, June 15, 2009

Morose Mondays

I don’t actually know if today is going to be rough and miserable, but chances are I’m going to have hard day.

As I mentioned in passing Saturday, I am having a difficult time gauging my depression. Work is incredibly busy, so I’m exhausted by the end of the day. But I love what I’m doing, so it’s a good kind of exhaustion. On the other hand, I have been having issues with my OCD, probably because of the stress I’m under at work.

I feel kinda bad, because most of my posts are being written Sunday night, and I’m relying heavily on following patterns and posts that follow a regular weekly schedule. Mostly because my brain is fried and I feel incapable of being creative right now–at least in writing. I have to admit that I’m still pleased with the flower pr0n I took over the weekend. I think it’s because it uses a different part of my brain.

And there are plenty of things that are making me smile. My flowers are doing very well, and I’m able to sit back and enjoy them (which is good, because the idea of doing actual gardening right now is overwhelming).

I also re-read a fantasy series that I love (Thursday’s post will be all about that) and although Anne tormented me by suggesting making oreos, which I’m too tired to do right now, I did make a very delicious pizza (Tuesday’s post)

But what do I really want right now? A vacation. I’d love to be able to get away for a week and do nothing but relax. I’ll just have to see what happens though, since July is the only time Michael can get away from work.

So, enough about me, how have you been?

Written by Michelle at 8:00 am    

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Categories: Depression,Non-Sequiturs  

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Sunday Flower Pr0n

The light must have been just right yesterday, because I was pleased with almost all the pictures I took of my flowers.

Plus, I got some good hot bee on lavender action!

Evening primrose

Evening Primrose
(more…)

Written by Michelle at 8:00 am    

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Categories: Flowers,House & Garden,Photos  
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