But Does It Toast?

Last weekend I bought a $7, no-nonsense, not-oversized toaster. Mom asked if it toasted.

"Yes."

Note to self: after purchasing a new toaster, check to see what setting it's on before using it for the first time, especially if the bread isn't frozen. Try something lower than mega-char.

I think she actually wanted to know if it toasted both sides. After picking off the burned parts, here's the other side:

And the really toasted side, after:

It could be more symmetric, but it'll do.

(Note: the bread is "missing" parts because these are the slices where the paddle was, and the paddle was angled such that there really wasn't much left on the other side of the hole, so I ate those bits before toasting.)

PS: Also accomplished today, since the last post:
1. Laundry
2. Primed closet shelves and supports for ends.
3. Gave doggie another walk.

Doggie is funny... it's like he speaks sign language. At one point when I looked out the kitchen window, he spotted me. He looked directly at me, then went over to the gate and looked out. Then he came back to where he could see me, looked directly at me, and then back over to and looking out the gate. (Lather, rinse, repeat.) Yes, doggie, I'll give you another walk, but not right then. ;)

Cupcakes

Awww... aren't they adorable? (The "sprinkles" are candy-coated chocolate that I had bought previously to decorate a gingerbread house. They still tasted fine, so I figured I'd use them up.)

Odd... I thought mom's tupperware cake container was rather larger... oh well, the last seven *just* fit in a single layer in a Rubbermaid (shoe style) storage container, although it's rather taller than it needs to be. I guess it's okay that five cupcakes weren't "presentable". (I ate two this morning, and took the other three over to share for family dinner... and since mom can't have wheat, three was the right number for dessert.) I'm impressed that mom hasn't lost the handle for the cake container, given that it's from the 1970s.

All ready for work tomorrow:


I hope my coworkers like chocolate cupcakes with orange frosting!

"Smooth Move, Exlax"

That's what we'd say to each other in grade school when we screwed up. Yesterday I was batting 1000, it seemed.

1. Even after the neighbour recommended it before I started, I forgot to run the shelf boards through the joiner before cutting the biscuit slots. (Recutting the biscuit slots afterward, several slots ended up wider due to not being lined up the same.)

1b. (I forgot to include this the first time.) Also, for some reason, the joiner wasn't cutting right up against the guide. Instead of figuring out why, I decided to just hold the board upright away from the guide. Apparently I didn't hold it quite correctly, because there's a bit of a gap on one side of the shelf. (Oh well... it's my first biscuit-joining effort, and it'll be hidden in a closet. It's functional.)

2. I put on the glue, got the boards together, *then* went to look for the clamps... and found that only one was wide enough. (At a bare *minimum*, I needed at least two.) Luckily a neighbour came to the rescue. (I just got an e-mail from my uncle... there should have been 2-4 pipe clamps, but I guess I wasn't looking in the right places. That's what happens when you've already spread the glue on a hot day, and are paranoid it'll dry before you get things clamped.)

3. I'm sure I saw painter's pyramids at Home Depot the other weekend when I was there, but I didn't buy any because I assumed my uncle's workshop would have them. When I went to buy them last night, I couldn't find them, and the store employee didn't know about them. *sigh* (To make it worse, my mom was *at* Lee Valley on Friday, and asked me beforehand if there was anything I wanted! Lee Valley is closed on Sundays.)

4. I baked cupcakes last night. As I was assembling the ingredients (*after* going grocery shopping), it occurred to me to check the expiry date on the baking powder: two years out of date. I decided to continue anyway (the stores were closed, and I had already started)... thankfully they turned out fine anyway.

5. After the batter was ready, I went to get the cupcake tins out... and realized I hadn't checked for the cupcake liners before grocery shopping. Thankfully I *found* them... sadly I was five short. (Out of two dozen needed.) I took a gamble and put the batter directly in the non-stick tin for those five. So far, my two attempts at getting them out have resulted in the top coming off separately, and the bottom coming out in crumbs. (Yum... being forced to eat "damaged" cupcakes!) Thankfully 19 is still plenty to bring in to work on Monday. (There will be enough for everyone to have at least one.)

6. After putting the batter directly in the tin, it occurred to me I could have cut circles out of wax paper to put in the bottom.

7. When I woke up this morning, I realized I could have *made* liners by squishing circles of parchment paper into the tin.

I will console myself on my stupidity by eating three more crumbled cupcakes. (At least there's an upside to my stupidity, this time.)

House Update

Both closet doors are up! I was able to get the second one up one evening last week by adjusting the nut at the bottom. I have no idea how I was able to get it down but not back up.

Yesterday I was at a wedding shower for my step-sister-in-law-to-be, and then a friend came over for a visit-while-I-work. In the morning I made a list of things I could do while we visited. When I reached the bottom of the pad of paper, I decided I could stop adding things to the list, even if there were more things I could be doing. ;) The list I came up with:
• water plants
• make burritos (I assemble my own frozen burritos)
• weed
• wash walls
• tidy kitchen (I didn't have time on Friday to clean up after making a dish for a potluck Friday evening.)
• sort bathroom (dad still has stuff there)
• sort toyroom (brother's stuff)
• vacuum
• drawer corners (I bought replacements for the missing ones in the kitchen)
• caulk tub
• bedroom floor (I still need to use fantastic around three of the edges)
• office, sort (brother's stuff), take out carpet pieces
• alter pants
• tie up black raspberries
• put CFL bulbs in chandelier
Of course, what I *actually* did didn't quite match items on the list, but I at least got stuff done:
• water plants (yay, they won't die this week!)
• tidy kitchen (does it count if I then got it dirty again cooking dinner for the two of us?)
• swept and mopped kitchen floor (it *needed* doing... however, I didn't get the bit on the other side of the "bar", because I was also doing laundry, and that's where the laundry was piled)
• laundry
• installed toggle screws for towel bar in bathroom
• swept and mopped bedroom floor (but didn't fantastic the edges)
• swept and mopped bathroom floor
So, only two of those items were actually on the list, and one was immediately undone (I was waiting for the dishwasher to finish the previous day's dishes, I'll get to that this morning), but everything needed doing.

One day when mom was over cleaning, she said "with all the time I'm spending cleaning, you better *keep* this place clean!" Mom, I cleaned! I'm trying! ;)

My friend lives near a Home Depot, so I stopped by to pick up a few things when I dropped her off. However, it turns out it closes at 8 on Saturday, and it was 9:30 when I arrived. Dang!

The list for today is more manageable than yesterday's list, but I suspect I still won't get everything done:
• extract sewing machine (it's behind the mountain of boxes, although I have a goat trail mostly there)
• alter pants
• Home Depot
• sort bathroom (dad will be here tomorrow)
• move my stuff away from dad's stuff (dad has movers coming tomorrow to get some big items)
Wish me luck!

Misc.

1. Sour cheery tree:
• The cherries are starting to ripen. (A few are ripe, most are not.)
• I ate one. Feels like my cherry allergy is currently active. (Sometimes I can get away with it.)
• I'm not sure I'm all that motivated to find out what's damaging the cherries, if I can't eat them anyway, and I already have way too much to do around here.

2. Dinner:
I impressed myself by cooking a dinner that involved four things, all of which finished cooking at close enough times that it was all hot (but not overcooked) when I sat down to eat.

However, either a full cob of corn currently exceeds my tolerance, or there was too much butter in the meal (corn & mushrooms), or both. The smells from the two pans I have to hand wash (and didn't last night) are not helping my stomach feel any better.

3. Some house progress has been made. I have one out of two closet doors back up:

(The second door is being stubborn.) Three of four vertical seams have been recaulked in the tub:

(You'd think it would be logical to do all at once... it probably is. However, I keep getting distracted by other tasks around the house. Like sweeping the part of the porch entryway that isn't full of junk. Or cooking dinner. Or taking showers.)

4. Awesome mom does it again: she came over and scrubbed my bedroom floor with Fantastic.

Most of the ¡underlay! is gone! (I'm calling it "good enough".)

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down...

Disappointing:

Minute Maid has shrunk its packaging for one of my favourite juice concentrates. (I like its taste, and it doesn't contain apple juice, or anything else I'm allergic to.) I actually bought this a while back. I noticed the packaging was more squat, but I thought that they had realized that they can use less packaging that way (shorter and wider = less surface area for the volume, yay environment!). It was only after I got home that I realized the diameter was still the same, and so they had shrunk the packaging *and* volume without shrinking the prices. Boo! First off, I hate that sort of dirty marketing, where they subtly increase prices not by changing the price, but by including less product. Second, now I have to wash the pitcher more often, because I get fewer glasses of juice per pitcher. *BIG* thumb DOWN!

I haven't bought this product since I made this discovery, I'm so peeved.

Disappointing:

Turtles (real and fake) normally have 12 turtles per level. Sobeys brand has 10... so you end up four short of other packages. I feel this is another example of misleading packaging, making you think you're getting more than you are for the stated price. (Yes, there's a little number stating then umber of grams, but that's not as noticeable as the box size.) I will not be buying this brand of fake turtles again. Thumbs down!

Also disappointing: the package is now empty. (They were good while they lasted, though.)

Big thumbs UP:

Yum! So far I've just tried the chana masala, and it was great! No artificial colours, no preservatives, no MSG (MSG is a big NO THANKS for me), easy to prepare, and pretty healthy! I had it with rice, and so it ended up being a gluten-free meal too. (Mom wants me to try eating less gluten.) And, for those who look for such things, they're also vegetarian and Halal certified, and it looks like Kosher as well. :)

The package claims to have three servings, but I polished it off in one. Probably if I had other things besides it and rice, and wasn't quite so hungry, it would have been more than one serving. (Or maybe it was meant to serve one, but counts as three servings of protein? Those food guide servings are weird.)

Thumbs down: I bought a lovely mug at a craft sale yesterday, and managed to break it on the way home. I feel like a stupid clutz. It's only chipped and cracked, but still in one piece... so now I have another pencil holder. *sigh*

Garden

I took this photo of my garden on Saturday:

It's probably looking rather whiter and fluffier now.

The cardboard is where I stood while planting my garlic, so that I didn't sink (as much) into the mud. The area between the cardboard and railroad tie is planted with two rows of garlic and/or onions, plus one row of random perennials (next to the tie) from a neighbour. The part starting just past the cardboard still needs to be dug. Looks like that will be spring, now. ;)

Evaluating the Freezer Contents

I have some meat that's been in the freezer for probably way too long. (It's been in the fridge freezer for a really long time... probably more than a year.) Is it just garbage now? Can it be rescued by using it in a stew? Can stock be made from it? Any ideas? It's a shame to just throw it out... although my dad's dog would probably take care of it.

Gardening in Transylvania

Since I was behind on my sleep, I let myself sleep in this morning to catch up. Then I was slow getting moving... so it was rather late by the time I got moving to do some gardening.

This is the chunk of dad's old yard that I plan to devote to veggies:



A neighbour has been parking his truck in the back. Annoyingly, he parked such that I couldn't get the wheelbarrow through to the garden, and had to go around to the side gate. (There's a step at the side gate.)


Although this morning was dry, the clouds did open up shortly after I started. I decided that I didn't care, since I was going to get sweaty and dirty anyway.

Shortly before the sun set, I decided to take a progress photo:

I could tell that was going to be blurry from the low light, so I turned on the flash... and my camera decided it didn't have enough battery for that. (I had a spare, but didn't feel like digging it out, since it's one that has trouble holding a charge, and might have been flat anyway.)

Shortly after I took that photo, the rest of the light left. Then it started raining harder. With lightning. And there I was, planting onions and *garlic*, at night, in the rain and lightning. I felt like I was in Transylvania or something.

The motion-light didn't have it's sensor pointed in my direction, so I had to keep going over to turn the light back on. After I had some perennials in the ground (which will eventually be transplanted elsewhere), plus two rows that included three types of garlic and a winter onion, I decided that was enough. I got some of everything planted, so even if I don't get the rest in, I feel like I didn't waste what people gave me. (I had intended to do separate rows for the four varieties, but decided that the light and weather dictated otherwise.)

It was *really* pouring by the time I packed it up for the night. I was able to wash my hands by holding them in the drips from the eavestrough (where there shouldn't be drips). The garden tools were wet and muddy, but there wasn't much I could do about that. I put the box of weeds by the trash, took the tools back to my mom's, and then headed home.


Yeah, I'm glad I didn't bother having a shower before I headed out.

Looks like I brought some of the garden home with me:

I stripped on the entrance mat, then put everything I was wearing, plus the gardening gloves, in the shower for a pre-laundry rinse. Thankfully Red River gumbo comes out of clothes fairly easily. After doing laundry, there was still a green stain from some of the weeds, but all of the mud came out.

If I'm lucky, I'll get another chance to garden before winter hits, and can get the rest of the onions and garlic in. (I have more than I can possibly use... but it seems a shame to waste the baby bulbs.)

Chocolate Pudding Recipe

A friend asked me for my chocolate pudding recipe. I'm sure I got it off the web somewhere, but I didn't mark down the source. (Sorry. If someone finds this who knows the source, let me know and I'll put in an attribution.) I did make two small modifications (half the sugar, orange extract instead of vanilla). My version:

3 squares unsweetened chocolate (3 ounces)
3 cups milk
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp orange extract

In a saucepan, cook 2 2/3 cups of the milk with chocolate, stirring until chocolate is melted and milk is scalded. Mix cornstarch, sugar and salt; stir in remaining 1/3 cup milk. Add to scalded milk and chocolate mixture and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth. Continue cooking for about 5 minutes to thoroughly cook cornstarch. Cool slightly; stir in orange extract and pour into serving dishes. Chocolate pudding recipe serves 6. (Assuming the 6 have willpower.)

Note: if you're too impatient to let it cool, it's just like the thick hot chocolate they serve in Barcelona. :)

It's been a *long* time since I've made this... I need to remedy that!

*sigh*

Dear President's Choice Blue Menu,

I buy your fish for two reasons:

1. I like eating fish.

2. I would like to continue eating fish in the future, and your fish has the sustainability logo on it.

However, I am single. Thus, when I buy your package of two fillets, I intend to eat each fillet at a different time. Eating two fillets at once is both too much food, and dramatically raises the cost of the meal.

My mother taught me that re-freezing fish is not safe food handling practice. Thus, when you package your fillets together in such a way that the two are solidly fused together in a single block of ice... well... I regret having purchased your product.

I suspect you chose your packaging because it reduces freezer-burn. (Unless you didn't want to buy equipment to flash-freeze the individual fillets?) However, I would rather risk a little freezer burn, and be able to choose my portion size. Please consider changing your packaging methods.

Thank you.

Yay Bike Ride!

Bike rides, actually. These photos were from a bike ride three trips ago.

Me, looking well padded on top of the Chief Peguis Bridge:


Manitoba parfait:

(I had a scoop of chocolate brownie in a waffle cone.)

Weeding update:

The trash people actually *did* pick up all the weeds!

Today was brutally *hot* (by Winnipeg standards, and I am a wuss). Tomorrow is supposed to be better, but, instead of bike riding or gardening, I'm going to the art club with my mom. (Yeah, I'll have all afternoon, but I'll probably have a nap then. After all, I'm getting up at 8, and it's already 2 am!) Thursday is supposed to be *hot* again, but Friday I may get out and dig in the dirt. I guess that means Saturday is bike riding day! :D

WTF

I've had a string of annoyances today.

First: I have an appointment next week where I'm supposed to stop my vitamins a week before. My antidepressants aren't working as well without the help from the B Stress supplement. I tried eating a banana at my mom's yesterday, but that didn't help.

I suspect my headache today is because I stopped taking my magnesium supplement. (Frequent headaches is the reason I take that one.)

Then, when I synced my iPod, it decided to remove all of my podcasts from the iPod. Some fiddling got them back.

When I went to cook dinner after washing dishes, I accidentally turned on the wrong element... heating up an empty pot that was drying, rather than the pot full of water. (I don't think it did any real damage, but there is some discoloration.)

Then, when I was done listening to a podcast, the dock didn't want to switch back to the radio function. (Unplugging it cleared that, but meant I had to reset the clock... I need to get a 9V battery for it.)

Time to go to bed. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. At least my mood is a bit better at the moment, and my headache has stopped.

Kitchen Stuff

Not only do I buy whatever wine is cheapest, but apparently I don't pay attention to kind (beyond colour) too:

When the old bottle didn't have quite enough (the bump at the bottom fooled me), I mixed wines in my pasta dish. My fancy cooking only pretends to be pretentious. ;)

Speaking of my pasta dish, this is my garlic scapes and scallop pasta:

When it came time to cook the pasta, I realized I didn't know exactly how I was going to use the scapes. Do I put it in early, so the flavour infuses the sauce, or later, so that it stays bright green? After looking online for a bit, I decided on earlier. I think I should have gone for later. The scapes "mellowed" so much there was hardly any garlic taste. :( The pasta wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good as usual. (And I don't blame the wine.)

Yesterday I finally conquered my backlog of dishes, including the "tupperware". All clean:

Then I made lasagna. *sigh* (Thankfully before yet another set of veggies expired, but it does produce a lot of dirty dishes.) In addition to having a nice lasagna dinner last night, I have seven more single-servings in the freezer. :) I keep thinking I should do this with several dishes... but then I remember that my freezer is extremely limited in size. :P

It was late last night by the time I finished my lasagna, so I didn't do dishes then. I hope to get them done today (along with laundry, and maybe even grocery shopping), and then *really* be all caught up! :)

And That's The Kind Of Day It's Been

Today was oppressively hot and humid.

I started off the day with a dentist appointment. (Just a bi-yearly cleaning.)

Approaching the dentist's office, I realized that it was going to be a hot ride to the university, made more uncomfortable by the fact that I wouldn't be allowed to drink anything until a half hour after my fluoride treatment. (My dentist is the type that still gives them to adults. Some friends say their dentists say it's unnecessary and/or pointless, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.)

The cleaning went smoothly... well, as smoothly as it ever does. There's an occasional accidental poke with something sharp, and the x-ray thing hurt my gums as always, but my teeth are all holding up to the level of care I've been giving them.

Normally I just get a toothbrush to take home. At the end of this visit, I got a whole goody bag:

Toothbrush (a different brand than usual), plane-friendly-sized toothpaste (the kind I'm using!), and a tiny spool of floss. I flashed back to being a six-year-old coming home from a birthday party.

The party stopped when I got back to the front desk. When the receptionist tried to run my insurance, it said it had been cancelled. WTF!?!??!!!!! I *know* I'm not the only person who gets re-hired every four months... *why* can't the university remember to renew my insurance each time!?!??? Last summer it took something like two *months* after I discovered the problem to get my supplemental health reinstated (I don't *care* if everyone is going on vacations, make sure *someone* is doing the effing job!), and I had this same nonsense the last time I was at the dentist! I was just looking at my pay stubs yesterday, and I was being deducted for the health premiums. I was *peeved*.

I asked the receptionist if there was a phone I could use, so that I could talk to my benefits person, and have her talk to the receptionist so that she knew what to do. My phone call rang then went to voicemail. (Grrr.) It said to press zero if you wanted to be helped right away (gee, that's why I'm *calling*), and so I did. I got put on hold. (Grrr.) Finally she said that my benefits person would talk to me. (She's *there*?!?? Why didn't she pick up the phone?!?!?!!!) Apparently, even though my supplemental health was hooked up properly, the dental coverage was separate, and *wasn't* set up! (The term started at the beginning of May. They had *two* months to get me set up!)

I had the benefits lady talk to the receptionist, the receptionist is going to submit a paper form next week, and she'll contact me if there's still something I owe after that. (I'm only covered 50%, but then there's the supplemental, and it's all just confusing.) *sigh*

On the way from the dentist's office to the bus stop, I found a forgotten Blackberry. I stood there for a minute, wondering how best to get it back to it's owner. (The device was password protected, so my usual technique of looking for an entry labelled "home" or "mom" wasn't going to work.) Luckily, the owner realized she had left it behind, and came rushing back. (She didn't seem that interested in my suggestion that she put contact information on the back of the device. Whatever.)

The first bus to work was air conditioned. Ahhh! There was a longish wait downtown, where I tried to stand in the shade of the lamp post. (I could also have pulled out my umbrella for shade, but it was rather gusty.) The second bus wasn't air conditioned. Luckily by then I was allowed to drink my water. Unfortunately, I realized I had already drunk over half on the way to the dentist, and had very little left. (Plus it was warm by then... much less satisfying.)

I made it to the university by half way through what should have been knitting lunch... but there were no knitters. I guess something came up. (We're a pretty small group.)

Work was slow this afternoon. I remembered some other questions I had for the benefits lady, and so e-mailed her around 4:00. Looks like she stared her weekend early, because she didn't reply. (Did I mention I dislike my benefits lady?)

The first bus home was also air conditioned. Yay! (In fact, I decided to catch a different one than I intended simply because it was air conditioned.)

They hadn't yet closed Osborne for the Canada day preparations by the time we got there, so traffic was better than it might have been.

Reaching the Village, I saw that the farmer's market had started up again for the season. I hopped off the bus and bought some local honey (I've been hoping to run into that guy before my supply ran out again) and some garlic scapes. Mmmm!

When I was done shopping, a bus arrived quickly. However, it was most definitely *not* air conditioned. Although it would have taken me home, I decided to hop off and visit Wolseley Wool, which was having a customer appreciation night. (I had initially intended to go, but had been wavering due to the oppressive heat and humidity, which was worse than earlier. WW isn't very close to bus routes... it's not too far, but not as close as you'd like when Winnipeg gets to either end of its temperature extremes.)

WW had punch with ice! I drank some punch, ate a few nibblies, petted the yarn, and bought some yarn to make gifts. Then I went back out into the horrible heat.

In addition to not being air conditioned, the next (and final) bus was packed like sardines. By the time I was home, I was *drenched*. The cool blast of air that greeted me when I opened my apartment door was heavenly, as was the cool shower.

I love my AC! Looking at the weather website, today's temperature peaked at 34 C (humidex 43 C)... I could tell that it wasn't quite as bad as the worst days in NC, but it was still bleeping hot.

And that is the kind of day it's been.

Summer Treats

Oooo! "Freezies" made with fruit juice!

The ingredients don't look too scary.

First time I've been told to "shake before freezing"! (I take that as a good sign.)

I had a purple one tonight. Not bad!

Kind of pricey, though.

(Yeah, I know freezies are technically a brand name... but I think of all of these things as freezies.)

Does anyone know where you can get things for making your own freezies? (Not fat popsicles, but skinny things like freezies?)

Full, Lovely Day!

1. I slept in. I love sleeping in. Fridays off *rock*!

2. I finished the picture frame I was making for my dad. (For his birthday, which was *last* Monday. Also ignoring the fact that it was initially going to be a gift several years ago. Don't worry, those past events had alternate gifts.)

I created the frame from two larger frames.

I used the jig my dad bought used at a gun show. It claims to produce professional results. I have yet to achieve professional results. Green corner original, gold corner mine:

Gold corner original, green corner mine:

(Note to self: *always* cut from the top down, even if that means you can't see the pencil marks!)

However, the picture I was framing also wasn't perfect:

I did this many years ago (back in junior high, I think), and gave it to my grandma. I ran out of paper for the tail, and so glued on another piece. (Classy.) When my grandma passed away (or was it when they were cleaning out the stuff in storage?), the picture made it's way back to me. The frame it was in was too small, and so had a narrow, yellowing (due to not being acid-free) mat. It was also backed with *regular* cardboard. Definitely not professional framing, even though it had been done by a frame shop. (Corrugated cardboard? Really?!?) It looks *much* better now, even with my unprofessional corners. (I think the beat-up frame suits the subject, and the corners aren't that noticeable.)

My mom cut the mats for me. (Thanks, mom!) It's really handy having a mom who will cut mats for you. :)

3. I went to the bank, and got two more rolls of quarters. (I hate coin operated laundry!)

4. I stopped in at Dollarama while I was in the neighbourhood, but they didn't have what I needed. (Although it did emphasize that Thursday's thrift store purchase was a good deal. I'll blog that next.)

I love the lizard I saw on a(n unkempt) house on my way home:


5. I went over to dads (more on that in a bit), and, on the way, passed my neighbour's dog, Ashley. I decided to try a photoshoot.

Ashley wasn't interested, even when my neigbour tried to help. Oh well. (Send me your photos! ;) )

6. In addition to the framed drawing, my dad and I spend some father-daughter time in celebration of his birthday. We started off by digging cherry tree suckers out of the lawn, and potting them in yogurt pails so they could be transplanted to the new house. We did a dozen, because that number neatly packed in a recycling bin. There are still plenty more suckers in the lawn, should this first batch not make it.

7. Then we went to Tony Roma's for dinner. (After cleaning the dirt off and changing clothes, of course.) Mmmmm! My dinner was three fillet medallions, rare, each with a different topping. (Fries and baked beans as sides.) Dessert was cheesecake. Soooooo goooooood!!!

8. Finally we went shopping for supplies. For the newly-bare patch of yard (where the shed and dead car once were), we selected some weed-control:

I also brought home a dirt bag.

Do you think my mother will be disappointed? ;)

Beauty And Function

I'm not sure it ever occurred to me that measuring spoons could be beautiful. Then, when I was wandering around Etsy yesterday, I found these. I *love* the Japanese cherry blossom design!

Sadly, I can't justify $57 USD (including shipping) for a set of measuring spoons. The price probably isn't outrageous when you consider that they're handmade, but still, they're just measuring spoons.

That's probably why no one else makes beautiful measuring spoons... few people are willing to pay decent money for "just measuring spoons".

I admire that the artist made them. I will keep the link, on the chance that one day I'll feel that I have extra money. Hmmm... it's only three hours of tutoring, and it's nice to have something beautiful to make up for the tedium...

Take That, Fast Food Chain!

Now *that* is a hamburger. (Gluten free, to boot!)

Easter Bunny

Does anyone know what "polyglycerol esters of interesterified castoroil fatty acids" are? The fact that it contains cocoa butter and vanilla extract (as opposed to vanillin) implies that it's better than average Easter bunny chocolate, but the PEICFA is something I've never spotted on an ingredients label before.

Oh, wait... it's not an Easter bunny, it's a "Biggie Bunnie"... so it should be fine for that teacher who only allows "spring spheres" in her classroom. (The spelling is as good as the math.)

Update: Note to self: sometimes it's better not to google food additives.