Kitchen Adventures: Lunchtime Breakfasting

A friend on Facebook posted about having delicious pancakes at her mother’s today and I thought to myself, “Self, it’s been too long since you made pancakes. DOOOOOOOIIIIIIT.”

So dressed I got, which due to a seized neck was exciting and challenging (pants today, tomorrow the world!), and off I went to the corner store for some ingredients.

The only ingredients I actually required were the milk and the eggs. Everything else was already on hand.

The sugar and chocolate are for a delicious syrup substitute an internet friend gave me the recipe for years ago. Chocolate gravy! It is delicious and sweet*!

 

I also bought a candy bar to provide much needed fortitude to get through the cooking process.

 

**

 

And, for your amusement, the recipes:

That’s right. My pancake recipe is scribbled on an unopened Air Miles envelope. I have no idea what’s in there. Advertisements and an offer to get a card, probably. This is the recipe I’ve been using for SEVEN YEARS. You might think I’d have bothered to transfer it to something more practical.

YOU’D HAVE THOUGHT WRONG.

Cooking, in progress:

I also cooked up some bacon. This is a Big Deal™. I have bacon fears. I’ve been working on them. I didn’t have a single anxiety attack!

You don’t have to be proud of me, it’s all good***.

 

 

 

 

All of that turned into all of this, shortly thereafter:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I served myself, and lo, it was delish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In completely unrelated news, tonight the moon will be full (in Libra, if anyone cares), and it is near its perigee (the point in orbit nearest earth). The last time this happened while the moon was full, it was 1993. I’m hoping the sky is clear by moonrise (7:55pm according to the internets) so that I can get some fun photos. We’ll see how that works out.

*Sadly, it turns out that Mr. B is not a fan of chocolate gravy. But it’s good to know. Once cooled, it would probably be a delicious sauce for ice cream. Or maybe not. The main ingredient is sugar. That stuff is uber sweet.

** My blinds are crooked. I hadn’t realised. I’ma have to go fix them now.

*** As a teenager, I was witness to the terrifying powers of hot bacon grease. There was bubbled linoleum, peeled countertop laminate, and a very badly burned hand attached to an understandably upset parental unit. For more than ten years if I wanted bacon, I either went to a restaurant, or I coerced a friend to cook it for me. It hasn’t been until the last couple of years that I have been braving the cooking of bacon on my own again.

Crafting & Kitchening Adventures

With a nice sprinkling of travel, for good measure.

This might not look like much, but I love taking pictures out of airplane windows. This one pleased me particularly because of the way the clouds and earth bisected the sky to create a teeny wedge of blue.

 

I was in Saskatoon for 10 days, visiting with my most excellent of friends, Jacqueline (of Hearts on Fibre & Frippery Digits bloggy fame). It was maybe not the most ideal time for a vacation with all the frenzy in my personal life at home. But away I went, and I had a lovely time, and now I’m back with renewed spirits, feeling far more capable of tackling those things what need tackling.

We did weaving (the link at the top of Jacqueline’s Hearts on Fibre page is currently dedicated to the tapestry she completed while I was there), and we also went crazy making pendants and pins and stuff. Now they are all for sale at the shop where I work.

Don’t they look nice on the rack? I get my own side! All the pins are in a basket on the counter. I have more pendants to attach bails to, and I have to figure out more necklaces, since the place we got those ones from appears to not stock them anymore.

 

 

 

While there, the only bread I ate was homemade. I was in awe of how easy the recipe Jacqueline used is, so I copied it down, and brought it home with me. (It’s from the book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day by these lovely people who have a blog dedicated to the subject as well, if I find myself actually making bread from this recipe with any sort of regularity, I intend to buy the book myself and play with the other recipes as well.

I’ve been home for about 36 hours. I’ve bought the yeast and cornmeal I needed for the bread, and mixed up my first batch of dough last night. I didn’t take pictures. For shame, I know.

I neglected to buy a container or bowl large enough for me to make a full batch of dough in, so I had to half the recipe. Which wasn’t a problem, except for eye-balling what 3/4 of a tablespoon looks like.

My dough didn’t look very nice. I thought maybe my decision to use a soup spoon to stir (because we’ve had to get rid of all our wooden ones) affected how well I was able to incorporate the flour.

But today, I have two itty bitty loaves (more like buns, really), and they look lovely.

Now I just have to see if they taste any good.

*Toddles away to taste her adorable mini breads*

Yes, it’s good. No, the flour didn’t incorporate evenly, and there are bits of not-quite bread throughout, but for a first attempt, and considering I had to half the recipe and use the wrong tools, I’m calling this an overwhelming success.

I’m entering a super awesome giveaway!

 

So I’m entering this super amazing Konadlicious 1000 follower giveaway.

I’ve never posted about a giveaway before, but I’ve never come across one quite so FANTASTICULAR*. I nearly died of glee looking at all those polishes.

I found out about the giveaway from m’Jacqueline over at Frippery Digits. If’n you look looking at fancy manicures, you should check her out. (Of course, there exists the possibility that the only person that checks this blog is Jacqueline, and Jacqueline, I know I don’t be needin’ to tell you to look at your own blogspace).

 

*Fantasticular is not a good word, and I will endeavour never to use it again.

Highlander: Episode 1 The Gathering

Netflix is a thing of wonder*. While initially I was disappointed that the shows I really wanted to watch weren’t available (Netflix options are far more limited in Canada than the US), I’ve been pretty entertained since we got it.

Today, I bit the bullet and decided to start watching Highlander: The Series from season 1. I loved this show when I was a kid (I was 11 when it premiered – I don’t know if I was watching it as it aired, or reruns, or if I didn’t see it until later seasons, or what). I’ve been curious if it’ll be as awesome now that I’m an adult and used to modern day special effects.

4 minutes in, I had to pause it so I could start writing.

Here is my list of Tweets I Never Made. ****

1. I love Queen. Does Highlander have the best opening credits song of all time? It just might.
2. The show starts with a blurry, soft-lighted sex scene. I giggled. Way to capture the audience’s interest.
3. Richie made me giggle before he said or even did anything. He’s wearing a bandana and a leather jacket, so he’s CLEARLY some kind of rebellious kid. But he’s also clean shaven with cute hair, so you know he’s not really all bad. Hello TV tropes of the 80s and early 90s. I’ve missed you.
4. When Duncan goes to investigate the shop, all shirtless and shiny, it actually makes sense that he’s all shirtless and shiny, because he was just having Teh Secks.
5. The Immortal with the creepy metal mask really should have invested in some extra plates to cover his neck. Just seems logical to me.
6. I never realised that Connor MacLeod made any appearances in the show! RAD.
7. Eight minutes in. MANY broken windows*****. Sugar glass is the new door.
8. Just watched a cop put his glasses on as punctuation. He’s no Horatio Crane.
9. MORE BLURRY NUDITY
10. Can’t tell if Tess’ jacket is supposed to be haute couture or defense against arrows.
11. Love it when the antagonist stops what he’s doing in order to provide us with some exposition.
12. The bad guy puts on his creepy metal mask, proclaiming he’s protecting his most valuable asset. He should value his neck more. Just sayin’.

I was going to make some jokes about Duncan and how my mom thought he was dreamy, but I can’t actually remember if she ever has said anything that indicates that to me. She had a big thing for Kevin Sorbo, though.

 

 

She probably thought Adrian Paul was steamy too.

In other related stories, while looking for an appropriate Highlander picture I found this:

…which made me go HUH. And also this:

…which made me giggle. Not that I doubt Wesley could effectively wield a sword (well, efficiently ruthless Wesley of later Angel years, at any rate) but I very clearly searched “Highlander the series”. Maybe I’ll be surprised with an appearance by Alexis Denisof?

 

 

*It is also a thing of mass procrastination**, but we aren’t going to talk about that.

**So (obviously) is the internet in general, and this blog more specifically.***

***We aren’t going to talk about that, either.

**** Hashtag #Highlander or #RewatchingHighlander or maybe #OldSkoolTeeVeesAreAwesome

***** MANY MANY MANY MANY MANY MANY

Sign of Cygnus

It was only this winter that I realised we had swans in town. I was thrilled.

I’ve been trying for months to get photos of them. If I had my camera with me, they were either too far away for me to get a good shot of them or they just weren’t there at all. If I forgot my camera, without fail they’d be hanging around right close to the park where I could easily have gotten good pictures.

I was out shovelling the driveway this morning, and I spied a couple of swans flying towards the river. So I set out with my camera in the hopes that they would go for a swim.

I was not disappointed.

There were also many many ducks and many many many geese.

(Does “many” look wrong yet? Many many many. how ‘bout now?)*

Also! Can you find the chipmunk?

Me neither. That’s because the cute little bastard dodged every time I hit the capture button. I promise you, he was absolutely adorable.

 

 

 

* many many many many many many many

Year of the Rabbit: Day 3

I realise I’m a little late on the draw here, but Happy Chinese New Year.

I’d feel bad, except I know that I didn’t make a New Year post to welcome the year of the Tiger last year. My bad.

My Chinese astrology book (by Damian Sharp) tells me that the year of the rabbit is a calm time of rest and recovery. (I guess the year of the Tiger is all RAWR and exhausting. I could vouch for that….)

He goes on to explain that “people will be inclined to avoid any unpleasantness” and that “money can be made without strenuous effort.”

UNLESS YOU’RE A ROOSTER NATCH*

If you’re a Cock, this year of the Rabbit is all DON’T DO BAD MATHS YOU WILL LOSE MONIES and GET HELP SUCKER YO LEGS NO GOOD FOR STANDING and stuff. **

I don’t really know what the rest of the intertubes say about the year of the rabbit, because I was busy looking for pictures of bunnies and then I got bored.

 

ADORABUNNY!

 

 

*Not a quote from the book.

** To say I’m paraphrasing might be putting it a little too mildly.

Adorable bunny picture with Chinese character was found at bluebison.net.

Opinions Unsolicited: Fringe–Concentrate and Ask Again

I saw tonight’s episode, I understand why the shippers are all up in arms.

But please. Stop. Think.

Sam has intentionally misled Olivia in the past to get her to where she needed to be to heal. What’s to stop him from doing the same with Nina? Also, please note: he said the machine has the power to create as well as destroy. And then only talked about destruction. I’ve been watching this show long enough to know that things might not be as straightforward as we’re being led to believe they are. Also, there are no throw away lines. If it was said, it’s important.

But then, maybe I just want to believe that the fate of the universes don’t rest in the hands of a convoluted love-triangle.

As per the note: It is so vague as to be meaningless. Was he listening long enough to understand the complexity of what’s going on? How was he even able to distinguish between one Olivia and the other in such an abstract form? The “her” in the note could just as easily refer to our Olivia as Fauxlivia. And even if it is about Fauxlivia, of course he still has feelings! It would be ridiculous to think otherwise. What the note doesn’t do is specify what those feelings are, or how they are being intellectualised. Having a feeling is not the same as acting on a feeling. And then there’s also being in the position of having your feelings betrayed—in my experience, it doesn’t change those feelings, it simply adds a layer of pain on top of them.

There are a lot of issues for Peter and Olivia to work through here. They have to learn to reconcile with the truth of what happened, and that couldn’t possibly happen overnight. They have to also re-learn how to relate to one another from a place where the hurt Fauxlivia’s covert operation caused isn’t a driving factor.

And then there’s the episode title: Concentrate and Ask Again.

Sure, it could just be a reference to the magic 8-ball.

To me, it sounds like we’re being told to think harder.