No one knows how they taste yet

Baking Cookies in Space Takes Surprisingly Long Time: First space food baked from raw ingredients took 2 hours

It amazes me

how good that bread turned out, considering I was two teaspoons shy in the yeast department, having mistaken teaspoons for tablespoons, even though I spelled it out because I thought the abbreviations might be confusing. Sigh. Oh, well, it has been very tasty. I had my salmon, salad, and bread for lunch at work today, and they all said it looked really good. The salmon's funny, as it's bright purple, because of the blackberries. But it was a fun experience, and I still have one more meal of it all to go. I should boil some eggs and make a new loaf tonight, so I have breakfast, lunch, and dinner covered tomorrow. Wednesday I may make the eggplant pasta, and then I'll have some for both it and Thursday, at least.

Right now, though, I'm going to take it easy and listen to some music (softly, as I have a headache). I probably won't write again tonight, so I hope you have a good night.

It is now 2:42 in the morning and I am just getting home

after being up since a little before 7 am and going into work early due to my schedule being adjusted so I could go get an allergy shot after work, which I did. I then picked up some toilet paper from my apartment and ran it over to my friends' as they were out, ate some Morningstar Farms tomato basil pizza burgers and macaroni and cheese, watched a few things with YKWIA, and took A on a very long and grueling run to the grocery store (it was a two-cart run). I fixed YKWIA some dinner, and we watched some 'Grace and Frankie' and the beginning of the second season of 'House of Anubis'. Then YKWIA and I made four (count them, four) traditional derby-style pies for A's picnic tomorrow. We just finished a short while ago. They're in the pantry cooling on racks.

So now I'm home, and very, very tired. I am also very poor at the moment, and just raided a coin-collecting book that had about $5 worth of state quarters in it so that I could pay for parking tomorrow, as I need to go visit my mom, who's in a hospital here in Lexington. My stepfather called me earlier to let me know. I'm worried about her; this is the second hospitalisation in two months. Hopefully everything will be alright.

Okay, I have a little spinach-artichoke hummus and pita in me now. I'm heading to bed, after one more short post. Good night.

Well

I had a decent day at work today, although it was a little hard to go back after having five days off, and I can’t say I was fully into it, although I was productive and such. It wasn’t horribly busy in scheduling, and everyone who isn’t on maternity leave was there, so we didn’t really get behind like a couple of weeks ago. I managed to get my charges in, but I still have some work to do on the referrals and reconciliation of surgery charges to catch up on from being off Friday, but I should be able to do that tomorrow. I checked my personal time off and once Christmas Eve, Christmas, the 26th, and New Year’s are accounted for, I should still have about two-and-a-half days left, and I’ll get about 10 hours on this next cheque in addition, so almost four days. I’m tempted to take January 2nd off, but I really should try to keep building up time and do something other than using it for doctors’ appointments.

I also tried to figure out exactly what was going on with that cheque I sent the other day through overnight (excuse me, it’s now called priority express) mail. Turns out it made it to New York but they just left a notice on Saturday because no one was there to receive it, even though I’d asked the postal clerk who waited on me if they would leave it since I hadn’t requested a signature and he said they would. It hadn’t been re-delivered as of 4 pm. I checked with the post office, and the recipient has to request re-delivery, it looks like, so it’s possible that the letter I spent $20 to get there as soon as possible might be delayed further. It has to be there by sometime on the 31st. So I called the company I was sending it to and spent 35 minutes on hold between two extensions to be told that if for some reason the letter does not reach them by the 31st, the loan I’m trying to pay on will not automatically default as of January 1st, most likely, anyway, and she noted on my account that I had sent it Friday by priority express mail. I feel a little better, but I’m pretty darn frustrated. While tracking is a wonderful thing, it seems to mess up any of my dealings with the post office. For example, if I order an item from Amazon or somewhere like that and they send it with tracking—even with something on the outside saying the carrier should leave the package if no answer—I simply cannot get it at my apartment, even though we have four postal containers for packages. Instead, I have to have it sent to work, and I don’t know exactly what to do when I no longer have a job there, as the main mail stores around here aren’t open late, such as after normal business hours, and if I have to go over to someplace near the post office, well, I might as well get a PO box at the actual post office, the nearest of which is a quarter of the way around town.

I tried to get some medication for some friends and myself today, but unfortunately wasn’t able to get to their house and then over to the pharmacy before they closed, so I’ll be going directly from work tomorrow in the hopes of getting it. YKWIA and I are also going to make a promised cake for someone whose birthday was back in October, but we had some issues (I was sick, for example) during that time and we weren’t able to make it. The goal is to get it done before the end of the year, so tomorrow I’m going to the grocery and get a few dairy items so we can do that. Tonight I fixed some fish and rice for a friend and we watched another episode of ‘Hart of Dixie’ on Netflix. I must admit, the show is really growing on me.

Now I’m home, the Christmas lights are on, and I’m trying to catch up on writing on this blog. I also need to finish a book review and work on the game notes in the next few days.

YKWIA found a video earlier that was just hilarious, by ‘Saturday Night Live’. Trust them to take the whole torture report and make things actually funny. I especially like the jab at Time Warner Cable:



I laughed myself silly. Okay, I should probably sign off for the night. Hope you have a great new year!

One last post for the night

As I share the final picture with caramel and pecans on the cheesecake. I've hammered some gingersnaps into pieces in a bag and will include that with directions to add to top of cake as desired when ready to serve. All in all, I'm four gingersnaps short of using an entire pound in this cheesecake (so of course I ate those four), along with four packages of cream cheese and most of a stick of butter. I hate to see what the calorie and fat content of this is. Oh, and let's not forget a half a jar of caramel. This looks and smells absolutely decadent. Now to wrap it up, put it in the refrigerator overnight, do some cleanup, and then you know what, I'm pooped. I hope it is well received. Is it time for bed yet? (I'm so tired I forgot to attach the picture the first time I posted this...good night!)

Out of the oven

My whole apartment smells like this - - pumpkin cheesecake with a ginger snap crust. It's right out of the oven here. In 30 minutes I get to drizzle caramel all over the top, sprinkle on some pecans, and refrigerate for tomorrow's dessert contest at work. If it tastes anything like it smells, it will be worth it.

Well, it's in the oven

I apparently only have one springform pan after all. I seem to recall thinking of getting two but only getting one. I did find the chopping blade of my food processor to chop up the gingersnaps with. It was inside my crockpot. Apparently I thought it was a safe place, given my penchant for klutziness and trouble with sharp objects. I also got to use a small stepstool I'd acquired that, despite being only a rugged plastic, is supposed to hold my weight. It did so, yay! (I had to look for my hand mixer, which had been placed in the cabinet above my refrigerator.) Obviously, I don't use kitchen tools very often. But it worked out pretty well. I got the crust together, put it in the pan, and put it in the fridge to cool for 20 minutes. Then I mixed together the ingredients for the filling, putting the oven on to preheat to the right temperature about halfway through that, and both crust and oven were ready when I finished the filling. So it should come out about 10:15 (yes, I started at 8 pm instead of watching BBT, but I recorded it). It went into the oven at 9. It calls for caramel to be put on the top after it cools a bit and then refrigerated at least four hours, then putting some more crushed gingersnaps on the top right before serving. But I'm going to take it to work in the morning and dietary is going to refrigerate it, and I don't want the gingersnaps getting soggy, so I'll forego that, maybe put some pecans, which are in the crust and inside the bottom as well already. That will also clue anyone with nut allergies to avoid the cheesecake. This has been fun. Still, I haven't started the cleanup yet. :) In case this sounds good to you, you can find the recipe at Ree Drummond's website. Funny, I'm not a 'foodie', and didn't know of her existence till a food show came here to Lexington just a few weeks ago. When I looked for a pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust, this one came up and sounded intriguing. I'll let you know how it goes. Since I've never made this recipe before AND it's for a dessert contest, I skipped the step at her recommendation where you drizzle caramel on top of the crust before baking. Some people report doing so leads to a rock-hard crust, and she says she thinks it has to do with variations in different gingersnap and caramel formulations. I used the same brand of cookies and ice cream topping she did, but didn't want to take a chance of botching this. (I did break down and use Kroger cream cheese instead of Philadelphia....the recipe calls for four packages of cream cheese per cheesecake and I thought I'd be making two, so I didn't want to totally blow my budget on this.)

I had a really great time today

dressed up for our trick-or-treating at work. The kids were absolutely cute, everything from dinosaurs to Disney princesses, to Thomas the Tank Engine. One of our departments went as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, with disposable turkey roasters on their backs painted green with the appropriate initial, etc. Another did a farmer and his animals. There were super-heroes and super-heroines in abundance. And one lady had a great shirt that said, 'If the broom fits, ride it.' Few of my co-workers really knew anything about the subject of my costume, but I got many compliments, including people who thought I'd do well as a redhead. I realised the wig could be used for Ariel or maybe even Merida from Disney, although the latter has very curly hair. The wig worked pretty well, although like all wigs it was a little itchy and hot. Here is what I looked like:



I got caught up on other things at work that had taken a back burner to the scheduling training. I'm going to go back up there tomorrow for a couple of hours and spend some time up there next week, as well. Since work, I have:

1. Hunted down the ingredients necessary for pumpkin gingersnap caramel cheesecake for the dessert contest tomorrow, as well as a fruit bowl for the birthday baby shower we're having.
2. Brought home a small pumpkin to carve for the contest tomorrow.
3. Gotten all the groceries in, although of course the one bag I dropped had eggs in it. Only one broke, though, and I was able to salvage it for cheesecake.
4. Put the cold groceries away.
5. Taken the itchy, hot wig off.
6. Returned my hair to something resembling it's normal appearance, so it isn't sticking up in all directions.
7. Gotten into shorts and a tank top.
8. Taken my dentures and contacts out, and set them both to soaking in cleansers of the appropriate type.
9. Scrubbed all the makeup off my face.
10. Put all the makeup I had strewn around the bathroom back where it belongs.
11. Eaten some Kroger Tuscany bean salad, cheese, and crusty bread.
12. Sat down and gone, 'whew!'

So now it's 7 pm. I need a little decompression time before beginning to carve and bake. I must remember that 'The Big Bang Theory' is on tonight, back in its regular slot. But in the meantime, I'm going to chill for a bit. If I start things about 8:30 it should work out.

Listening to Loreena McKennitt

which is appropriate for this time of year, as the album has both 'The Lady of Shalott', which I am dressing up as tomorrow for our trick-or-treat at work, and 'All Soul's Night', which is almost upon us. Right now, I'm listening to 'The Stolen Child', which I find to be quite haunting. I have my skirt and blouse all ready for tomorrow, and a wig that is a bit darker than Loreena McKennitt's but in the same style, with bangs and long waves, so in a way I'll be dressing up as both her and the doomed Fae.

Tonight I took a friend to an appointment and helped him with something. Tomorrow there's the dress-up and trick-or-treat, and I need to wish another friend a happy birthday, as he catches up with me in age. Tomorrow night I will be carving or decorating a pumpkin for a contest on Friday, fixing some cut fruit for a breakfast baby shower in my new department, and baking a gingersnap pecan caramel pumpkin cheesecake for another contest at work. Then Friday night is not just Halloween, but Samhain, a religious holiday for me. I never seem to get kids coming for candy to the door--I live in an apartment, and I guess people just aren't comfortable with that. But I'll get a little candy just in case. But I will also put together a libation and spend some time remembering the dead.

Okay, time to add a couple of touches to the costume--I'm going to print out the Tennyson poem for my cubicle and take a magnifier that doubles as an ornate necklace and copy some knights out of one of my books on the Middle Ages and use that as my 'mirror' tomorrow, hopefully without cracking it from side to side. :) [Image: John William Waterhouse]

My new haircut

I've spent thirteen hours over at my friends' house, watching 'Haven', 'Hart of Dixie', and 'Fringe', watching UK football with A, watching their cat play with the koi on my phone's live wallpaper and make the water move, and then helping YKWIA make a cake and frost it--chocolate with a bit of espresso powder in both. The cleanup is done. I am now home. I should be working on the game notes now, but I'm tired, so I'm heading on to bed with the idea of getting up very early to take care of the rest of the notes (of which I've gotten only about 1/3 finished), get gas for the car, go to the store for string cheese, crackers, and soda, and then get there by 9 am. Which is in 8 hours. Oh, and I need to remember to bring a blank CD-ROM for tomorrow.

Good night.

Piscis mortus est. Vivat piscis.

So the betta did, indeed, die. So this morning I fished him out (no pun intended), put him in a baggie, and disposed of him in the trash (you shouldn't flush fish), and did a partial water change. This afternoon I stopped by Incredipet and got another betta and five common goldfish. The goldfish are currently exploring their new home. They're about an inch smaller than the three I had, but big enough the others won't try to eat them. One is white, a couple are a lighter, golden orange than my others, which are a kind of deep orange or orange and white, and then a couple are that same gold with white. The betta will hopefully do alright. I did a bad thing. I bought a betta mini-heater since yes, they are tropical fish. Now my other did okay with just ambient temperature, but I sometimes let it get a bit cold in here, and I run a fan while I sleep year round. So I set that up and got it going. Theoretically I should (okay, I just should) have let the water temperature stabilise over the next few hours before putting the betta in, but, he was in a very small plastic box without benefit of the oxygen they were putting into his water. So I gave it a bit, got him used to the water as is, and left it to gradually warm (or that's the plan). I also got a couple of plants made from a softer material that are supposed to be better for bettas, and I rinsed them and put them in. I took the plastic plants that were in there, rinsed them really well, and then put them in the big aquarium (again, I probably shouldn't have done that, just in case there was something in the betta tank that caused his death. Still, he didn't look diseased at all.)

So my upcoming agenda is as follows:

Today:
1. Do game notes.
2. Watch 'Grimm'.

Tomorrow:
1. Watch 'Haven' with a friend.
2. Help said friend bake something (and since we did the store run yesterday, that is over and we don't have to tomorrow!)
3. Watch 'Doctor Who', or at least catch up on some I already have recorded.

Sunday:
1. Help get the house ready for the game.
2. Play the game.

But right now I'm going to stretch out and relax for a little while before starting the notes. It's been a very challenging week with lots of new stuff to learn, and I'm so glad it's Friday.

It was so muggy last night that I broke down and turned on the air conditioning

and as a result, slept really well, despite getting about 5 hours of sleep. It was very nice to wake up in a clean and fairly organised house. I made the bed, took a shower, got dressed, and now I'm munching on herb bread for breakfast, which is yummy. I was out of parsley flakes, so I used the mystery herbal mix instead entirely. I gave some of the bread as an offering along with some mead last night. Granted, I usually use red wine, but I had it on hand, wasn't probably going to drink it (I won't drive if I've had one drink--I don't handle wine well, and there's always a chance of an emergency coming up, so now that I'm driving again, I'm even less likely to drink), and didn't think She'd mind, as I gave her the whole bottle.

Okay, I'm going to eyeball the house and see if I missed anything, and then head on over to the game master's house. I'll be a little early, but since there's prep and a grocery run to do, plus I'm assuming he wants to come see, a little extra time won't be amiss.

I was in a lot of pain earlier

So I took some medicine and fell asleep, not starting the notes till around 11 pm. I just finished them and put them into Dropbox so I can retrieve them tomorrow. Yay. I also baked some bread. Now I am very tired, and ready to sleep. I'm really looking forward to playing again. I had totally forgotten that my character was cooked from the inside out by a spell when last we saw our intrepid crew, back in the Roman Empire. :( But hopefully she'll get better. Good night!

Which sounds better for a pie contest at work?

Transparent Pie with Brown Sugar Meringue, which is basically a form of Chess Pie with Meringue, or Bourbon Custard Pie, which is basically what it sounds like, with a tablespoon of Kentucky Bourbon in it? I'm not really a cook, but I'm a reasonably good baker, or at least have done well in the past. They're having a pie contest to have a bit of fun at work on the 19th, and I'm considering entering. What do you think? Do either of them seem nummy? I'm not a big bourbon fan (at least in bourbon balls), but it's a nice nod to our region. I love chess pie, but in an age of salmonella in eggs, I'm not sure about meringues these days, so I'm leaning towards the custard, although 1) I'm very good at meringues and 2) it could be left off. I'm going to ask the dietitian at work what she thinks about food safety and meringues. And yes, I know, diabetes and pies don't mix. I'm not actually planning to eat the pies anyway, just let others enjoy. And yes, I found a recipe for what looks to be an excellent pie crust as well.

I am covered in flour

I just spent about two hours baking cookies. A few things I found out:

1. Splenda doesn't really work for sugar cookies very well. The dough is crumbly and difficult to roll. It breaks apart very, very easily. It's easier to form flattened little balls of dough rather than try to roll it and cut shapes.
   
2. Those little confetti balls probably work very well on frosting but do not work on straight cookie dough. Ditto for chocolate or confetti sprinkles. You just amuse your friends by trying to make them work. Stick with coloured sugar.
   
3. I forgot how relaxing I find baking (although the Splenda dough balls were a challenge and I didn't relax quite so well). It was nice and I had a friend to talk to, so it was a pleasant evening, which was good after spending seven hours doing various tasks for one friend and shuttling the other around town. I'm really tired, but I still have to do notes. I think I'm going to rest for about an hour and then start. Right now I'm eating peas and potatoes (I didn't feel like a heavy dinner, as I had fish and fries earlier.)
   

I know during the holidays I've blogged about personal stuff and a little news. I plan to put more about libraries/librarians/books on here, for those of you following due to me being a librarian. In the meantime, bear with me.