This evening I was consumed by a craving for cake, but I was by myself and didn't want to drive out and buy a piece of cake, so I thought - why don't I make cake in a cup? Because I saw it on youtube one time, and was taken aback by the brilliance of it. Cake for one person! In a little mug! In the microwave! Amazing!
So I copied down the recipe and set about mixing everything together, super excited for how awesome my cake was going to be. I would make icing, and use those rainbow sprinkles, and it would be the best cake ever made in a little mug. I only became mildly concerned when it started rising out of the mug after only 30 seconds, so just in case it was going to explode the microwave and send microwave parts flying at my face, I hid behind the dining room wall and watched it from a safe distance.
When the three magical microwave minutes were up, I removed the mug and was a little bit puzzled by how it had shrunk down - the recipe said it should rise above the mug. And it had risen, but then shriveled up again. But maybe that's just what happens? Perhaps a tiny taste before I go to all the trouble of making icing.
As I'm sure you predicted, my tiny taste was less than satisfactory. Not DISGUSTING, which is a relief, but it had the consistency of pancakes. Which are fine when you are expecting pancakes, but super disappointing when you are expecting cake. (I think this stems back to not having a 1/8 tsp measuring spoon, so I guessed, and also I don't know how much a dash of vanilla is.) Still, I figured probably it would taste okay with a ton of icing. Only, it turns out I can't really make icing. The sprinkles were good, though.
Lesson learned: don't use the first recipe you find on the internet. Also, just buy a cake from the store.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Playing Under the Table and Dreaming
I love love love to read, but unfortunately I am super picky about the books I read, so I am often disappointed and don't even make it past the first chapter. I can't really explain what my requirements are, except that I need the writing to be inventive and smooth, and it can't be sad, and I like it best when it's a little bit creepy and there's a tiny bit of romance. Often I find myself enjoying books that were written for kids, which is kind of embarrassing because I am a grown-up. I do like grown-up books, but for some reason it's hard to find books that meet my specific criteria in the grown-up section of the library. So many kids books are really creepy in ways that only kids books can be, like with evil family members and a tiny bit of magic and weird stuff that doesn't exactly make sense. Here is a list of my favourite books that I am way too old to enjoy.
1. "The Phantom Tollbooth" - Norton Juster. About a bored kid who receives a mysterious package, which turns out to be a little tollbooth that transports him into this place called Beyond Expectations. There's a king of words and a king of numbers who hate each other, and lots of creepy stuff that comes from plays on words, like a Senses Taker who takes away your senses and a guy who has no face! Now whenever I get a package I am hoping it is a little tollbooth, but of course it never is.
2. "Jellybeans" - Sylvia van Ommen. About a cat and a rabbit (I think it's a cat, the drawings aren't very detailed) who talk about what happens after you die, and jellybeans.
3. "Everything on a Waffle" - Polly Horvath. About a girl whose dad goes missing at sea, so her mom goes after him, and everyone but her thinks that they're dead. So her crazy uncle comes to take care of her, but there's this social worker who keeps trying to get her taken away and sent in to foster care. Plus, she accidentally chops off a finger, and there's this restaurant that literally serves everything on a waffle.
4. "The Willoughbys" - Lois Lowry. About these four kids who think that their lives should be like the lives of kids in stories, so they try to kill their parents so they can become orphans (because kids in stories are always orphans). At the same time, their parents are too busy to deal with having four kids, so throughout the book they try to murder their children, or sell the house with the kids still in it, and stuff like that. It's super creepy and awesome.
5. "Midnight for Charlie Bone" - Jenny Nimmo. About this kid named Charlie who turns out has magical powers, just like his two aunts and his uncle, so he gets sent away to magic school. Only, it's EVIL MAGIC SCHOOL and he almost dies a million times, plus when he comes home his aunts try to kill him also. But he makes friends with a lady who owns a used bookstore, and maybe she can save him.
6. "Sorcery and Cecelia; or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot" - Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. About two cousins, one of whom gets sent to London with an evil aunt and one of whom has to stay home because of some incident with a goat. Somehow they both get embroiled in this scheme that two wizards developed to take over the world, plus there is a bit of romance that I totally did not see coming. I was really excited to read the sequel, but the sequel is a bunch of crap. I hate it when that happens.
Maybe later I will create a list of grown-up books. But right now I am going to try skipping! I bought a skipping rope from Wal-Mart because I remember skipping being fun and I think it is good exercise. Plus, my hair is shorter than it was the last time I skipped, which is good because the last time my ponytail kept whipping me in the face or getting tangled up in the rope and it was the most annoying thing to ever happen in the history of time.
(Discovery: I need some grown-up hobbies. Ideas?)
1. "The Phantom Tollbooth" - Norton Juster. About a bored kid who receives a mysterious package, which turns out to be a little tollbooth that transports him into this place called Beyond Expectations. There's a king of words and a king of numbers who hate each other, and lots of creepy stuff that comes from plays on words, like a Senses Taker who takes away your senses and a guy who has no face! Now whenever I get a package I am hoping it is a little tollbooth, but of course it never is.
2. "Jellybeans" - Sylvia van Ommen. About a cat and a rabbit (I think it's a cat, the drawings aren't very detailed) who talk about what happens after you die, and jellybeans.
3. "Everything on a Waffle" - Polly Horvath. About a girl whose dad goes missing at sea, so her mom goes after him, and everyone but her thinks that they're dead. So her crazy uncle comes to take care of her, but there's this social worker who keeps trying to get her taken away and sent in to foster care. Plus, she accidentally chops off a finger, and there's this restaurant that literally serves everything on a waffle.
4. "The Willoughbys" - Lois Lowry. About these four kids who think that their lives should be like the lives of kids in stories, so they try to kill their parents so they can become orphans (because kids in stories are always orphans). At the same time, their parents are too busy to deal with having four kids, so throughout the book they try to murder their children, or sell the house with the kids still in it, and stuff like that. It's super creepy and awesome.
5. "Midnight for Charlie Bone" - Jenny Nimmo. About this kid named Charlie who turns out has magical powers, just like his two aunts and his uncle, so he gets sent away to magic school. Only, it's EVIL MAGIC SCHOOL and he almost dies a million times, plus when he comes home his aunts try to kill him also. But he makes friends with a lady who owns a used bookstore, and maybe she can save him.
6. "Sorcery and Cecelia; or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot" - Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. About two cousins, one of whom gets sent to London with an evil aunt and one of whom has to stay home because of some incident with a goat. Somehow they both get embroiled in this scheme that two wizards developed to take over the world, plus there is a bit of romance that I totally did not see coming. I was really excited to read the sequel, but the sequel is a bunch of crap. I hate it when that happens.
Maybe later I will create a list of grown-up books. But right now I am going to try skipping! I bought a skipping rope from Wal-Mart because I remember skipping being fun and I think it is good exercise. Plus, my hair is shorter than it was the last time I skipped, which is good because the last time my ponytail kept whipping me in the face or getting tangled up in the rope and it was the most annoying thing to ever happen in the history of time.
(Discovery: I need some grown-up hobbies. Ideas?)
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Standing at the Beginning With You (Inaugural Post!)
I love that word, 'inaugural.' I so rarely get to use it. In fact, I had to google it to make sure I was spelling it correctly, that is how rarely I use it. But now I have used it twice, and I am happy.
Today marks my return to the beach with my puppy, after a brief hiatus that resulted from me not being able to drag myself out of bed at the early hour at which I set my alarm clock. Each day I would press snooze probably three times, and then just turn the thing off. Because I have no reason to be up that early, you see - it was just part of my plan to get exercise in the morning and start the day right. Plus, I love the beach. But today, I dragged myself out of bed (after only two snoozes) and drove myself and my ecstatic puppy back to the beach. The sky was filled with ominous clouds for the whole drive, until I crossed the railroad tracks into Crescent Beach, and then I was greeted with marvelous blue skies. I think the beach missed me, too.
However, I did notice that the other people at the beach were not as cheerful as I. Downcast eyes and no jaunty "Hello!", as I felt the morning deserved. Although, I just thought of this now - I have always been really bad at knowing when to make eye contact with a stranger you are passing. Like, I don't want to have a creepy staring contest with you for ten minutes as you approach... so I look elsewhere until we are almost passing and then I make eye contact and offer a greeting. Maybe I am waiting too long, and the strangers passing me today were trying to greet me at a distance and I was the one with downcast eyes, so they thought I was being a jerk! Now I feel terrible. You know how they had those cheesy etiquette books in the 40s and 50s? I wish I could find one for now that could once and for all deal with my eye contact issue. At what point is it polite, and not creepy or rude, to meet eyes with a stranger? Or maybe everyone already knows, and I'm the only one in the dark.
Anyway. There's my story for today and my first ever blog post. I don't really know if this is going to work out, but I'll give it a try! Let me know what you think.
Today marks my return to the beach with my puppy, after a brief hiatus that resulted from me not being able to drag myself out of bed at the early hour at which I set my alarm clock. Each day I would press snooze probably three times, and then just turn the thing off. Because I have no reason to be up that early, you see - it was just part of my plan to get exercise in the morning and start the day right. Plus, I love the beach. But today, I dragged myself out of bed (after only two snoozes) and drove myself and my ecstatic puppy back to the beach. The sky was filled with ominous clouds for the whole drive, until I crossed the railroad tracks into Crescent Beach, and then I was greeted with marvelous blue skies. I think the beach missed me, too.
However, I did notice that the other people at the beach were not as cheerful as I. Downcast eyes and no jaunty "Hello!", as I felt the morning deserved. Although, I just thought of this now - I have always been really bad at knowing when to make eye contact with a stranger you are passing. Like, I don't want to have a creepy staring contest with you for ten minutes as you approach... so I look elsewhere until we are almost passing and then I make eye contact and offer a greeting. Maybe I am waiting too long, and the strangers passing me today were trying to greet me at a distance and I was the one with downcast eyes, so they thought I was being a jerk! Now I feel terrible. You know how they had those cheesy etiquette books in the 40s and 50s? I wish I could find one for now that could once and for all deal with my eye contact issue. At what point is it polite, and not creepy or rude, to meet eyes with a stranger? Or maybe everyone already knows, and I'm the only one in the dark.
Anyway. There's my story for today and my first ever blog post. I don't really know if this is going to work out, but I'll give it a try! Let me know what you think.
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