...Carmen bought me the best little happy for Christmas. Check it out right here. Is it because I'm stealthy in the kitchen? That I can bake cookies before they know what hit them? Because I look good in black? Maybe because I'm just a kid at heart and think baking should be fun - that would explain the flip-flop and longhorn cookie cutters that I own.
However, I suspect that she has ulterior motives. She has a boy. And Little Monkey doesn't want no stinkin' flowers or hearts for birthday parties. He wants ninjas in all stages of attack. He does like to throw his food...good thing she didn't get me any Chinese throwing stars or we'd all be in trouble.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Unrelated Posts Part II
Today I experienced on of the most girly pursuits on the planet. I had a facial. I was apprehensive about such an adventure. The apprehension wasn't due to the girly factor. It has way more to do with the idea of microderm abrasion and what my face may do in retaliation.
2 Things To Know Prior to Getting a Facial
1.) Extractions on your nose may lead you to believe that the technician is attempting to pierce it as part of an underground nose piercing group of punks. Seriously considered bodily harm at that point.
2.) When receiving a facial, it is likely that the technician will run her amply lotioned hands into your hair multiple times. Into your hair multiple times. I braced myself prior to looking into the mirror once the facial was finished.
I had been transformed into a homeless woman with a glowing face who had been through a tornado.
Jen Lancaster, will I never learn from your life experiences?
2 Things To Know Prior to Getting a Facial
1.) Extractions on your nose may lead you to believe that the technician is attempting to pierce it as part of an underground nose piercing group of punks. Seriously considered bodily harm at that point.
2.) When receiving a facial, it is likely that the technician will run her amply lotioned hands into your hair multiple times. Into your hair multiple times. I braced myself prior to looking into the mirror once the facial was finished.
I had been transformed into a homeless woman with a glowing face who had been through a tornado.
Jen Lancaster, will I never learn from your life experiences?
Unrelated Posts Part I
The baking urge has taken over recently. Oh wait, it never left since it showed up while I was in high school.
Last weekend it was Sweet Reagan's 2nd birthday. The cookies were simple, except for the royal icing that went awry. Because I wasn't making a full batch of cookies, I tried to halve the recipe. I don't know exactly what went wrong, but the icing never finished setting up. It was still kinda sticky two days later. Luckily Sweet Reagan's mama is a fantastic photographer, and in her pictures you can't even see the splotchy bits.
Forgive the shaky out of focusness....I need a camera way better than the one I have.
Then this week is Christmas cookies. The Mother of Us All came through and I am now the proud owner of Christmas cookie cutters, including a horse, a cat and an entire bridge set. I don't know about y'all, but we sit around eating animal shaped cookies and playing poker on Christmas Eve.
Luckily, this batch of icing set up and did what it was supposed to.
Love the way icing can change a naked cookie
I think they're sweet
Those stars are actually shimmery thanks to some luster dust.
Last weekend it was Sweet Reagan's 2nd birthday. The cookies were simple, except for the royal icing that went awry. Because I wasn't making a full batch of cookies, I tried to halve the recipe. I don't know exactly what went wrong, but the icing never finished setting up. It was still kinda sticky two days later. Luckily Sweet Reagan's mama is a fantastic photographer, and in her pictures you can't even see the splotchy bits.
Then this week is Christmas cookies. The Mother of Us All came through and I am now the proud owner of Christmas cookie cutters, including a horse, a cat and an entire bridge set. I don't know about y'all, but we sit around eating animal shaped cookies and playing poker on Christmas Eve.
Luckily, this batch of icing set up and did what it was supposed to.
Lost and Found
Otherwise known as my new purse. Today while searching for the receipt for my parents Christmas gift I happened upon an unopened and forgotten bottle of AmeriColor Leaf Green gel food coloring. Who forgets about food coloring in her purse? Apparently me.
Friday, December 3, 2010
A Ragbag Hodgepodge Jumble of Things
So there is no theme to this post, beyond there is no theme. Surely the title gave that away, right?
I plan on sitting on my couch sniffling bittersweetly into my coffee on Christmas morning. Why? Because this will be the first time in my life that I will not be spending the holiday at my parents house. It's all part of the growing up, and I have plenty of good friends to visit this year within a couple miles. But it will still be a little heart achingly lonely at first. I really wanted a tree this year, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to strap one to the top of my car, haul it home, unlatch it, drag it up the stairs, find a tree stand, water it and vacuum needles all for the feel of Christmas. Having seen the prices for fake trees, there was no way I could afford a plastic tree. Enter PT Girl and a yen for all things Christmas. She found a sweet tree and decorated it.
Kitchen cabinets are swathed in twinkle lights. A door wreath was used as a blank canvas.
Extra ornaments adorn the patio railing via superfluous ribbon. In short, it looks like Christmas (tastefully) exploded in our apartment and I.Love.It. Every last thing about it. It even smells Christmasy in here!
This really helps me get into the spirit, since it's still quite warm here in the Deep South.
Speaking of it being warm still...the birds have not migrated on yet. I'm sure they think that they're as far South as needed considering the mid to upper 60's temps we've been coasting on. I don't want to be the first to tell them that winter will set in and they will have to keep winging it toward the Equator. Until they do though, I will enjoy watching them every morning and evening to and from work. They have a quiet beauty and a little pomp that accompanies them. One of my favorite parts of the morning is sitting at a red light observing the blackbird -well, they're black and definitely birds - sentinels patrolling the intersection. You can see them strutting back and forth atop the lights and bar, like they're keeping watch. Occasionally there is a coup and the colonel is usurped by a private who is a bit of a renegade. Or maybe it's a democracy and no one is in charge? In the evening it's a completely different picture. There is a wide expanse of field that borders a highway and some frontage roads and here is where the grandeur takes place. As migration season waxes and wanes, the number of birds does as well. For the last month the sheer sum of birds has grown. The field is more black than green. It undulates slightly until by some silent signal there is a wheeling motion and the sky is filled with a beauty that is hard to match. There is a symmetry and understanding between the birds that is breath-taking. I cannot conceive how they all know where they should be in space and in relation to each other. This is the actual place I am talking about! I guess you really can find anything on YouTube.
Lil B went and got himself engaged to Library Gal. This means wedding bells, toasts, pretty purple dresses (without big honkin' bows) and I Do's will ensue in a short number of months. I'm looking forward to having a sister in law! Library Girl is a lovely, funny, beautiful, smart woman and she can bake like nobody's business.
I'm back in the dating game. I'm keeping it all under wraps for now. I've met some wonderful men and hopefully one may end up proving to be wonderfuler. We'll see. The only hint I'll give you is that it is not thejerk gentleman who stated he was interested in finding a woman who was "hot". Anyway, I'm keeping myself in check through lots of prayer and accountability. I know now that I can become immersed in a relationship to an extent that is not ok - because I start to rank the man in my life as higher than my Father. That's a recipe for disaster if ever I saw one! Well, ok, I don't know that I've ever seen a recipe for disaster although I have baked my fair share (Necie, remember the hockey puck brownies? Or when we made cut-out cookies and baked them before cutting them out? Or melting a hole in your mom's tupperware? I still don't understand keeping that stuff in the oven!).
We're planning a cookie exchange at work. I'm making sugar cookies - surprised? That's all contingent upon The Mother of All of Us remembering to put the cookie cutters in the mail. This will be the first Christmas that I've made sugar cookies on my own (see the first paragraph) and I own not a single blessed cookie cutter that is made for this season! I'm predicting a santa, a star, an angel, a reindeer and maybe a gingerbread man. If memory serves me correctly, these are the cutters she has double of. I'm going to attempt to keep it simple for the exchange and do only one or two shapes. I was planning on three shapes, but since we're planning on a half dozen of each cookie per person, that would mean only two of each shape. I believe I'll do one or two and really try and make them gorgeous. Like trees with bulbs! And luster dust! And some sort of edible lights...maybe yellow jimmies? See...the last thing I need to make are three different cookies. But please look at these cookies. I aspire to such ideas!
Tomorrow is another cat adoption day! And to make it even more entertaining, there will be a photo op with Santa. You can even rent a little costume for your pet! Check out Classy Cats for the deets.
I plan on sitting on my couch sniffling bittersweetly into my coffee on Christmas morning. Why? Because this will be the first time in my life that I will not be spending the holiday at my parents house. It's all part of the growing up, and I have plenty of good friends to visit this year within a couple miles. But it will still be a little heart achingly lonely at first. I really wanted a tree this year, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to strap one to the top of my car, haul it home, unlatch it, drag it up the stairs, find a tree stand, water it and vacuum needles all for the feel of Christmas. Having seen the prices for fake trees, there was no way I could afford a plastic tree. Enter PT Girl and a yen for all things Christmas. She found a sweet tree and decorated it.
Kitchen cabinets are swathed in twinkle lights. A door wreath was used as a blank canvas.
Extra ornaments adorn the patio railing via superfluous ribbon. In short, it looks like Christmas (tastefully) exploded in our apartment and I.Love.It. Every last thing about it. It even smells Christmasy in here!
This really helps me get into the spirit, since it's still quite warm here in the Deep South.
Speaking of it being warm still...the birds have not migrated on yet. I'm sure they think that they're as far South as needed considering the mid to upper 60's temps we've been coasting on. I don't want to be the first to tell them that winter will set in and they will have to keep winging it toward the Equator. Until they do though, I will enjoy watching them every morning and evening to and from work. They have a quiet beauty and a little pomp that accompanies them. One of my favorite parts of the morning is sitting at a red light observing the blackbird -well, they're black and definitely birds - sentinels patrolling the intersection. You can see them strutting back and forth atop the lights and bar, like they're keeping watch. Occasionally there is a coup and the colonel is usurped by a private who is a bit of a renegade. Or maybe it's a democracy and no one is in charge? In the evening it's a completely different picture. There is a wide expanse of field that borders a highway and some frontage roads and here is where the grandeur takes place. As migration season waxes and wanes, the number of birds does as well. For the last month the sheer sum of birds has grown. The field is more black than green. It undulates slightly until by some silent signal there is a wheeling motion and the sky is filled with a beauty that is hard to match. There is a symmetry and understanding between the birds that is breath-taking. I cannot conceive how they all know where they should be in space and in relation to each other. This is the actual place I am talking about! I guess you really can find anything on YouTube.
Lil B went and got himself engaged to Library Gal. This means wedding bells, toasts, pretty purple dresses (without big honkin' bows) and I Do's will ensue in a short number of months. I'm looking forward to having a sister in law! Library Girl is a lovely, funny, beautiful, smart woman and she can bake like nobody's business.
I'm back in the dating game. I'm keeping it all under wraps for now. I've met some wonderful men and hopefully one may end up proving to be wonderfuler. We'll see. The only hint I'll give you is that it is not the
We're planning a cookie exchange at work. I'm making sugar cookies - surprised? That's all contingent upon The Mother of All of Us remembering to put the cookie cutters in the mail. This will be the first Christmas that I've made sugar cookies on my own (see the first paragraph) and I own not a single blessed cookie cutter that is made for this season! I'm predicting a santa, a star, an angel, a reindeer and maybe a gingerbread man. If memory serves me correctly, these are the cutters she has double of. I'm going to attempt to keep it simple for the exchange and do only one or two shapes. I was planning on three shapes, but since we're planning on a half dozen of each cookie per person, that would mean only two of each shape. I believe I'll do one or two and really try and make them gorgeous. Like trees with bulbs! And luster dust! And some sort of edible lights...maybe yellow jimmies? See...the last thing I need to make are three different cookies. But please look at these cookies. I aspire to such ideas!
Tomorrow is another cat adoption day! And to make it even more entertaining, there will be a photo op with Santa. You can even rent a little costume for your pet! Check out Classy Cats for the deets.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Yankee Visitors
Bicycle Boy graced me with this presence over Vetern's Day weekend. He flew through choppy skies to come to Cowtown. The big plans for the weekend? Lots of food with some culture and laughs thrown in.
We started off the weekend by attempting to eat at the best place to get chili...or so we're told. The screaming loud Eagles cover band and hour wait at 9pm on a Friday convinced us that chili wasn't that important. Instead we headed across the historic street to a bar where we were the youngest patrons. Yes, we were the youngest patrons. Not sure what it says about us when we were also the first to leave. Maybe that we're old? Nah, more like we both worked a really long day and it was late.
Saturday morning brought early risers and a fantastic breakfast at the Ol' South Pancake House. I had never experienced anything quite like a skillet full of biscuits and white gravy.
I am certain that one breakfast took years off my life. It might have been worth it. Because we were up so early we missed the late morning college students, stumbling in bleary eyed and hung over hoping their team would win that afternoon. We did not miss the other world that exists prior to 10 am. Whole families are up and about! Old couples who still walk hand in hand! Slightly clueless teenagers who look confused about why the sun is so low in the sky! It was nice to not have to wait for an hour for a table, in any case.
We decided to stroll off breakfast by walking around downtown. As we passed the performance venue downtown, we were offered a free tour. Perfect timing for a theater nerd and a music geek who didn't have anything planned! Bass Performance Hall is a stately building, to say the least, from the outside. Inside it has some beautiful touches while encompassing all of the staid hallmarks of performance halls.
My past history with all things theater related make me a bit of a critic, and most of my criticism is completely unfounded. I admit it. I know what I like and what I don't and I don't really care to defend myself on either count. There were some beautiful art deco touches that I appreciated and would like to see a show there at some point.
But it didn't remind me of the Benedum or Heinz Hall in any respect. More along the lines of a high brow Pittsburgh Public Theater. It seats a mere 2000. It has none of the history, pomp, circumstance or lovely couches in the ladies loo that history has taught me is important. It smacks of carpetbagging, in a way. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against new theaters - despite the impression I'm currently giving here. But I have a much greater appreciation for the huge behemoths that reside in Yankeeland's arts district.
(Picture courtesy of http://www.pgharts.org)
Call me uneducated or stuck in the past, it's ok, I can handle it.
Bicycle Boy and I's food tour continued to The Flying Saucer where we indulged in pretzels and beer, an enjoyable afternoon chatting over good food. He was much impressed with the selection, both of the beers and the locals. We had planned on Joe T's for dinner, which is pretty much a given if you come visit. But by the time evening rolled around we were both still full from lunch and would not have been able to appreciate Joe T's the way it deserves. Some Wii playing and catching up and then it was time to dream of Joe T's.
Joe T's is a landmark. If I knew how to do fancy things like link to a previous post, I could take you right there when Little Sis and I went. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to do that. Take my Yankee word for it, it's pretty fantastic. Maybe I'll take a bunch back when I go home in June? How's that for wedding food, Lil B? We hit it up right as they opened for brunch which translates to no wait instead of the very long line that is present an hour to two later. The food didn't disappoint, and Biker Boy was in heaven. I finally had migas and they made me want to be Mexican.
It was a great weekend, full of food and food.
We started off the weekend by attempting to eat at the best place to get chili...or so we're told. The screaming loud Eagles cover band and hour wait at 9pm on a Friday convinced us that chili wasn't that important. Instead we headed across the historic street to a bar where we were the youngest patrons. Yes, we were the youngest patrons. Not sure what it says about us when we were also the first to leave. Maybe that we're old? Nah, more like we both worked a really long day and it was late.
Saturday morning brought early risers and a fantastic breakfast at the Ol' South Pancake House. I had never experienced anything quite like a skillet full of biscuits and white gravy.
I am certain that one breakfast took years off my life. It might have been worth it. Because we were up so early we missed the late morning college students, stumbling in bleary eyed and hung over hoping their team would win that afternoon. We did not miss the other world that exists prior to 10 am. Whole families are up and about! Old couples who still walk hand in hand! Slightly clueless teenagers who look confused about why the sun is so low in the sky! It was nice to not have to wait for an hour for a table, in any case.
We decided to stroll off breakfast by walking around downtown. As we passed the performance venue downtown, we were offered a free tour. Perfect timing for a theater nerd and a music geek who didn't have anything planned! Bass Performance Hall is a stately building, to say the least, from the outside. Inside it has some beautiful touches while encompassing all of the staid hallmarks of performance halls.
My past history with all things theater related make me a bit of a critic, and most of my criticism is completely unfounded. I admit it. I know what I like and what I don't and I don't really care to defend myself on either count. There were some beautiful art deco touches that I appreciated and would like to see a show there at some point.
But it didn't remind me of the Benedum or Heinz Hall in any respect. More along the lines of a high brow Pittsburgh Public Theater. It seats a mere 2000. It has none of the history, pomp, circumstance or lovely couches in the ladies loo that history has taught me is important. It smacks of carpetbagging, in a way. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against new theaters - despite the impression I'm currently giving here. But I have a much greater appreciation for the huge behemoths that reside in Yankeeland's arts district.
Call me uneducated or stuck in the past, it's ok, I can handle it.
Bicycle Boy and I's food tour continued to The Flying Saucer where we indulged in pretzels and beer, an enjoyable afternoon chatting over good food. He was much impressed with the selection, both of the beers and the locals. We had planned on Joe T's for dinner, which is pretty much a given if you come visit. But by the time evening rolled around we were both still full from lunch and would not have been able to appreciate Joe T's the way it deserves. Some Wii playing and catching up and then it was time to dream of Joe T's.
Joe T's is a landmark. If I knew how to do fancy things like link to a previous post, I could take you right there when Little Sis and I went. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to do that. Take my Yankee word for it, it's pretty fantastic. Maybe I'll take a bunch back when I go home in June? How's that for wedding food, Lil B? We hit it up right as they opened for brunch which translates to no wait instead of the very long line that is present an hour to two later. The food didn't disappoint, and Biker Boy was in heaven. I finally had migas and they made me want to be Mexican.
It was a great weekend, full of food and food.
Friday, November 26, 2010
I Don't "Black Friday"...
...because it makes me break into a cold sweat to think of that many really focused people in one place.
And I'd rather save myself the panic attack than save the money. Plus, most of my Christmas shopping this year is etsy related or not anything that would be a great bargain any one day versus another.
This Thanksgiving was my second away from home. On the flip side, it was the second Thanksgiving with friends! This time there was no 9 hour drive, just good homemade food and a 30 second walk. This year also marked the first time I had a piece of pecan pie that made me wonder what I've been missing all these years! It was divine and surprising, since I thought it was chocolate chess pie, and far surpassed any pecan pie I have ever tried. Maybe it's being in the Deep South that is the difference.
I even went into Wal-Mart and bought Christmas cards today. Thought I'd make the most of the break from work. On the negative side of things, I backed into a tree today. Still finding those blind spots 19 months later.
And I'd rather save myself the panic attack than save the money. Plus, most of my Christmas shopping this year is etsy related or not anything that would be a great bargain any one day versus another.
This Thanksgiving was my second away from home. On the flip side, it was the second Thanksgiving with friends! This time there was no 9 hour drive, just good homemade food and a 30 second walk. This year also marked the first time I had a piece of pecan pie that made me wonder what I've been missing all these years! It was divine and surprising, since I thought it was chocolate chess pie, and far surpassed any pecan pie I have ever tried. Maybe it's being in the Deep South that is the difference.
I even went into Wal-Mart and bought Christmas cards today. Thought I'd make the most of the break from work. On the negative side of things, I backed into a tree today. Still finding those blind spots 19 months later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
