Christmas Tree 2012

Finally got some ornaments on the tree. The lights have been on for weeks. I've been so busy baking and organizing that I haven't had time to decorate the tree. That and I wasn't sure what I wanted to put on it.  I've got the Woodland tree on the front porch, the Candy tree in the dining room. Last year I did glass balls. I've been taking advantage of the nice weather to get up in my attic and sort and organize and convert all the cardboard boxes to plastic bins. I realized that I have three boxes of Hallmark ornaments. I've been collecting them since the 1980's starting with yarn dolls of Raggedy Ann and Andy. Some things I have complete sets. Others I'm missing a piece or two. About 5 years ago, I only bought pieces that I really absolutely loved like the Nutcracker Barbie. And Snoopy. I like to buy first in series also. I have some sports figures thinking that they'd be worth money someday. I checked Ebay. They're not worth more than I'd paid for them. So I decided that it was ridiculous to keep them in boxes in the attic and I decided to put them to use this year.

This year is not my best tree but I'm not all that broken up about it.

This was a basic Biscuit mix cinnamon roll recipe and this person changed the recipe and said "These are great. I changed the recipe a little, and the dough was extremely moist after baking. You may think it's still sticky when trying to roll it out, but it'll be perfect. When baking these, you'll want a slight golden brown on top." 
My comments and adjustments are in blue. 

DOUGH ADJUSTMENTS
2-3 Tbsp of Butter
1 cup of Milk (instead of 3/4 a cup)
3 & 1/4 cups of Bisquick (instead of 3 cups)
1/4 cup of sugar
1 egg

Roll out onto liberally floured (baking mix) surface, hands and rolling pin
Cut the rolls using string. Slide string underneath the rolled up dough, circle around the dough, and pull.

Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes (These will expand!)

FILLING

4 TBS - MELT butter, dough is so soft it will rip otherwise

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar
4 tsp of cinnamon

Drizzle melted butter onto dough

GLAZE ADJUSTMENTS

1 1/3 cups confectioners sugar

2 TBS milk
3/4 Tbsp of vanilla

The dough was so sticky I was sure that this recipe was a joke. I just threw a handful of baking mix onto the board ( I also used a silpat) and the dough was fine. I also rubbed  baking mix all over my hands. I kneaded the dough a little bit to incorporate baking mix from floured surface. 

I used a knife to slice rolls and that was difficult. Use string next time. 

Pressing on, I put the concoction in the oven and watched in horror as the rolls expanded past the edges of the large cookie sheet with butter and cinnamon sugar oozing out all over. 

However.... The result was  the lightest heavenly cloud of a cinnamon bun ever. The glaze was literally the icing on the cake. And I usually hate glazey things. 

Whoever made these adjustments is a baking alchemist. Kudos!

Star studded SNL Christmas Special

Carrie Brownstein and Pat Smear. hearts.

There are just no words today......

 I really don't think there's any way to make sense of the senseless. I wish that I had an answer. My heart goes out to the families and the community.



Hug your children.

EYE OF TIME clock

http://www.vat19.com/dvds/eye-of-time-clock.cfm

Jewellery by BeautySpot in Kiev, Ukraine.

Jewellery by BeautySpot in Kiev, Ukraine.

Snowy winter lane

Things that make you go hmm...

Sans Soleil - Chris Marker - 1983

skeleton spine shirt

Ooh. this is cool. my niece would love this.

Stormy winter sky trees

Winter sky trees

Pomegranate salad

What to do with all those leftover pomegranates?
Peel pomegranates and lay seeds on a baking sheet. Place in freezer. Put in plastic bag. They are great in salads. They hold up well after freezing.

Christmas Tree Salad. Pomegranate. Pecans. Raw Chard…RECIPE

Baked avocado

 baked egg in avocado seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin, chipotle powder. From this super simple recipe.   http://foodbeast.com/content/2012/01/13/idea-baked-avocado-and-egg/

• preheat oven to 425, have cast iron pan in there
• Slice avocado in half, take out pit
• take pan out, put avocado half on, crack egg om
• put whatever you want on top
• place in oven and cook till your eggs desire

 I've had avocado tempura that is so deliciously decadent when it's done right. Fried on the outside and the avocado is creamy on the inside. I request it when we go to our local sushi place because it's not on the menu. I can make it at home but it always tastes better when someone else makes it. 

Winter Wonderland

Snowy Birch

I want to see SpongeBob's claymation Christmas special

Squidward’s version of holiday spirit

Sick Puppy

So it started with the dog being sick the day after Thanksgiving. We have no idea what's was wrong with him. But he's on 3 different antibiotics and now prednisone. BTW and FYI, the vet says that the dog can get the flu AND meningitis and that we can catch those things from him.  Then my husband got sick. That lasted 4 days. Then JW got sick. He went to the doctor. Note to self. Make an appointment with the grown up doctor for him. He's 18. He probably shouldn't be going to the pediatricians office anymore. She gave him Tamiflu. Did you know that Tamiflu is a PIA to get out of the package. Here you are all sick and now you have to wrestle with the Tamiflu packaging resulting in crushed capsules. Then I started to feel like crap today. Late in the afternoon. I have been drinking OJ with powdered vitamin C from Trader Joe's. That always does the trick. Not so much this time. Must be a strong bug. I stopped at the market and got 2 chickens to make soup. $1.49 a lb. I also stopped at Aldi's and the chickens there are .89 a lb.

Got the chickens home. Put them in  pots. Used Andrea Watman's (Zabar's) recipe. Jewish penicillin. and yum. What sucks about being the mom is that I have to make my own chicken soup (although really as the mom I'm technically not supposed to get sick) and then I have to clean everything up afterwards.

My hands are raw from washing them so much. I am slathering calendula cream all over them and wearing white gloves everywhere. One thing that's nice is now having my own computer. Now that JW graduated high school in June he has his own. The keyboard is a germ infested petri dish but now the germs are mine all mine.

I should go to sleep. Early day tmw. It's Christmas time. I can't be sick.

Rafflecopter contest

I just entered  a contest on iambaker.net for a Motorola Droid Razr HD.

CHRISTMAS 2012 BAKING LIST

• Chocolate dipped biscotti- possibly pistachio?

• Oreo cookie truffles
• Cake batter truffles? Good way to use up all that cake mix in the freezer- yellow cake, red velvet cake....
• Traditional Truffles- Zabar's recipe?

COOKIES

• Lemon cookies
• Double chocolate chip cookies
• Split Seconds -jelly cookies- http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/split-seconds/66726dd9-0eca-4e52-9c83-d9f8b6b29a95

• Accordion cookies-  http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/accordion-treats/c23792ad-a412-4578-880b-e302138b4b40

• Peanut butter cup cookies
• Snickerdoodles

And when I get through looking at the three new cookie cookbooks that I recently bought, I'll probably add 3-4 more to the list.

QUICK BREADS:

• Christina Tosi's Gruyere and bacon quick bread as seen in Oprah mag- http://www.oprah.com/food/Bacon-and-Cheese-Quick-Bread-Recipe but then I also found this recipe:  http://theenglishkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/03/bacon-gruyere-bread.html 

I will do the Tosi recipe (it got good reviews on oprah's website) it'll be more appropriate for gifting but the english kitchen recipe looks good to do if you're in a hurry.

• Zabar's German Marble Cake  http://zabars.typepad.com/recipes/desserts/
• Eggnog Bread

Oh Lordy! 

NYC LIGHTS UP

I've actually seen this happen from the top of the Empire State Building. Magical.

Shonen Knife 'Sweet Christmas'

Shonen Knife "Space Christmas"

MxPx Christmas Night of Zombies

I couldn't find an official video for this so this (someone's-not mine) homemade version will have to do.

Mr.Snow Miser/Mr.Heat Miser Song.

I will never not love claymation. I still find it fascinating.

2010 - August Burns Red - Carol Of The Bells

The Killers - Don't Shoot Me Santa

Relient K - Sleigh Ride(Official Music Video)

Don't Be a Jerk It's Christmas

There are Spongebob Lego's?

I Hate Christmas - LEGO

Actually, I rather like Christmas - and this song

Krispy Kreme - Christmas

Note to self- Put Illmatic on my iTunes wishlist

The Pogues Featuring Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale Of New York (Official V...

 It's Officially Christmas Season!

Wendt and Kuhn Angel Music Box

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Well. A little bit anyway. It's a start. I'm actually hitting the ground running this year. It's not even December 1st and I've already gotten everything down from the attic today. I actually think this is a first for me. I'm trying to take advantage of the warm weather while my attic is not so freezing. I'm also trying to convert all my cardboard storage boxes to plastic bins.  I'm doing it little by little. I started back at Easter so by now Halloween and Thanksgiving are done also  as well as the boxes of keepsakes from my childhood. Converting Christmas will be a huge a project. I have so many boxes of "stuff." Which reminds me some of that stuff needs to go to Goodwill tomorrow. Nobody is looking to buy my snowman candy dish on Ebay. I must stop kidding myself and let it go. I am a hoarder by nature. But it's time. I did buy 2 more dedicated ornament boxes. Great investment. I bought one last year and it was awesome. It came with cardboard separators so I didn't have to painstakingly wrap each glass ball in tissue paper. They're made by Sterilite and hold 54 ornaments. I got them at Target for under $15. I got the bins that are clear-ish plastic so I can see what all is inside too. Making my life easier. One bin at a time. 

Honorable Mention- Diane Lane

Kelly Monaco has the all time best hair in my book.

Unfortunately, my hair would never hold that volume all day

I like this cut but it's a wee bit short for me

Keira Knightley

This is what I love about the bob. It can also do this.

Olivia Munn is so cute.

Yes. Jen has major sprigs too.

The "Lob"

Gwyneth Paltrow

Vivian Maier

Vivian Maier

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

If it's the Birches

Snowy Path

The Blue Pond

THE BLUE POND Hokkaido, Japan , by Kent Shiraish

Rustic Cabin of Lake O'Hara Lodge in Snow

zoom

- Lee Rentz

I want to go to there.

Rihanna - Diamonds

It's been a while...

Wow. I've been really bad about keeping up with this blog. I'm going to try to do better.
We got a new puppy in August. His name is Jet because he's totally black. My husband named him. This was before we'd decided that we'd keep him for sure.  I'm not great at picking out names so it's just as well. My husband named our (black also) cat Midnight but I always called him Kitty. Jet is a Pit Bull. I was nervous about it at first but he's actually really sweet. Everybody says it's how you train them. Back in June my son's friend told me that his neighbors had a bunch of puppies that they wanted to give away and would I like one. No. No, I would not like a puppy. Fast forward to August and my son calls me one day and says "Oh, here's a heads up. I'm bringing home a puppy today but I'm going to sell it on Craigslist and make $100 bucks." Mkay. If one could make $100 by selling that puppy why don't the present owners sell it?  I had a feeling that this spelled T-R-O-U-B-L-E.  I told him, "You have a week and by a week I mean three days to make the dog disappear." I walked in the door, took one look at the pup and my heart melted. He was soooo cute! Yeah, we were keeping him. Oh. Then I also found out that you can't sell puppies on Craigslist anyway which my son probably knew already.

Dogs are expensive. There are the vet check-ups, vaccinations, food and toys. Dog toys are fun but they sure don't last. I got him a ball (specifically for dogs) and he had it for 5 minutes before he ripped a giant hole in it. He also ate through a leash. He's sick right now with a mystery illness. He's on his second anti-biotic and hopefully we'll see some improvement by tomorrow. Poor baby.

Yeah Bitch! Magnets! OH! Jesse Pinkman Breaking Bad Season 5 Premiere

Breaking Bad Bitch

BREAKING BAD

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG. New Season of Breaking Bad tonight! I just watched all four seasons in the span of about two weeks. My TiVo is so backed up with all my other neglected shows it's not even funny. Well, it is kinda funny - and weird. I love being able to watch the episodes back to back. As soon as one episode ends and there's an exciting cliffhanger, I know that I can go right to  the next one immediately. I started out watching Breaking Bad when the series began but then alot of the stations started pulling that crap with oh, we'll put the show on for two weeks and then go on hiatus for three weeks. Keep up, yo. I saw the first season and then there was the writer's strike. At some point I just got annoyed with the constant interruptions in programming and stopped watching. That and the show just gave me a creepy, uneasy feeling. I don't  know why. I just read that Bryan Cranston's wife doesn't like to watch the show because it creeps her out too. But through the magic of TiVo (and generosity and wisdom of AMC) I was able to record all four seasons. I gave the show another shot and I'm glad I did. The show is just genius. I can't wait to see what happens in season 5. I just don't know how I'm going to bear having to wait a whole week to see the subsequent episodes. 

You Say Tomato I say Tomahto aka The first tomato sandwich of the summer

I just made a Vegan tomato sandwich and the results were scrummy! My favorite part of summer is fresh, delicious tomatoes and if they're from my garden so much the better. They don't even compare to regular store bought tomatoes in my book. For a righteous tomato sandwich you gotta start with fresh white bread. If I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it right. I reach down in the bread bag and pull out the fourth and fifth slices down so that they're extra fresh. Save that first couple of slices for toast. I usually slather the bread with mayo that's gotta be Duke's or Hellman's (light!), add several thinly sliced tomatoes and then the piece de resistance, freshly ground white salt. Slap on the top slice of bread and it's heaven on a plate. This year, because I'm following a vegan diet, I tried it with Vegenaise. Wasn't sure how it would taste and I really didn't want to ruin the experience but I figured if it was awful I could just start over. I have 2 five gallon buckets filled with tomatoes after all. I always thought it was the flavor of the mayonnaise that set it off but the Vegnaise was very good. I couldn't really tell the difference. 


The eating of the tomato sandwich can be tricky. The tomato sandwich should be eaten ASAP for best results otherwise the juicy tomatoes will soak the bread and your sandwich will be all wet and gross. I don't think it's the kind of sandwich that you want to to pack for lunch but then I've never tried it. Tomato sandwiches can be a little messy. If you don't bite through the tomato skin completely, the rest of the tomato may follow your bite out of the sandwich. Some advice: Don't wear white. I learned that the hard way.  But Yummmm.

Tight Pants / Body Rolls

This  definitely deserves a WTF???     yeah.

Avett Brothers - Go to Sleep/Man in Me - Pittsburgh, May 2012

JOE KWON!!!

The Avett Brothers: Laundry Room

The Avett Brothers- "Signs" Pittsburgh, PA

M.I.A. PAPER PLANES official video

No one on the corner has swagger like us

Tongue Tied - GROUPLOVE [official video]

Everyday I'm shuffling

I  usually listen to my iPod on shuffle and the Avett brothers come up quite alot. Which is cool because I love the Avett Brothers.  Today for the first time ever,  "Signs" came up back-to-back. First was a bonus track, acoustic version and then the studio version played right after. So cool, as I was having a rather shitty day. Being all trapped inside my head with all the bad and depressing thoughts. What are the chances? So, that made me smile.  

Wilfred and Louie are back and I figured that I would give the Russell Brand show "Brand X" a shot. I like Russell Brand. I've seen him on The View, various awards shows and he was pretty funny in Get Him to the Greek but his new show is just painfully bad. I watched about 15 minutes of it and just couldn't take any more. It wasn't edgy. It wasn't provocative or even insightful. It was just kinda dull. And what's with the suit in the corner? Sorry Russell. Pass.

wut?

I love a rainy night....

After a hellacious heatwave, the sun finally took a break. I was beginning to think that I was gonna go broke watering my garden. So, it's been raining on and off the past few days and today it finally righteously poured. Yay! Sometimes, late at night, I like to go and sit out on my porch with a glass of wine and listen to the crickets and the tree frogs. How can such tiny creatures be so loud? It's 12:30am and I opened my front door to see if was raining at all but it's not. It is so foggy out there that my yard looks like an episode of True Blood. Think I'll stay inside tonight. Too creepy even for me. 

Shiva Kamini Soma Kandarkram!

The League. I love this show. It's so funny. When I first heard about The League, I thought - guys, sports. eh... Not for me.  But then a few months ago, I was channel surfing and happened to catch the Kegel The Elf episode and the Sacko Bowl episode. They were hilarious. I'm thinking, what the hell did I just see? I set TiVo to record all episodes of The League. I watched all of season three. Bobbum Man, Yobogoya and Carmenjello are some of my faves. How do they think of this stuff? It's like if Always Sunny and Curb Your Enthusiasm had a baby, the result would be The League.

Graduation...dare I say it yet?

My youngest son graduates from High School next week and I know we will both be glad to have that phase of his life in the rear view mirror. Yay!!! Now get a job.

Google is amazing

Google is amazing. I was clearing through some unread emails from artspace tonight and I started surfing for art and artists and I was like hmmm, who is that Mann lady photographer that I like? What is her first name?I can't remember. I google Mann photographer and BOOM! SALLY Mann. cool cool cool. That led me to Cindy Sherman, Diane Arbus and Berenice Abbott. All of whom I am familiar with but organizer that I am, I created a file and bookmarked everything in a nice, neat, centralized place. My head can only hold so much stuff after all. Then I was like, who was that photographer with the sprinkle lips? Marilyn...... something. I google photographer Marilyn with the big lips and BOOM! Marilyn Minter! Then the piece de resistance. I started thinking about that art exhibit that was at the Guggenheim a while back. The one where the cacophony of stuff was hung from the ceiling so I google giant art piece that was hung from the ceiling of the Guggenheim. And BOOM! Maurizio Cattelan! Amazing.

RIP MCA

Just heard that Adam Yauch passed away. Sobering and sad news. When I was in High School I remember hearing about these guys from across the bridge. They called themselves the Beastie Boys. They don't play any instruments and they RAP??? White, Jewish guys that did rap!? Mkay... One of my friends got a hold of a copy of Cookie Puss and we were like what is this?  That's just wack! Before long, I was rockin' out to (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party) in 1987. Fast forward 20 years and that song comes on in the car and my two sons, ages 15 and 13, are shouting out the chorus and fist pumping and I'm like wait, what?  That's MY song! Whaddya doin? The Beastie Boys changed the face of music. Rest in Peace Homeboy. Viva MCA!

There's a first time for everything

This is my first post. I have resisted blogging because I feel like my opinions are my own  and I don't need random strangers on the internet giving me aggro about them. I like to post reviews of things that interest me or annoy me or that I think will help other people make purchasing decisions. I wanted to have a centralized spot to be able to do that instead of having random reviews on amazon or Best Buy or wherever. So I may post about makeup one day or a coffee maker the next or a new local restaurant or a movie that I saw. That's why I named this blog thisnthat. So. Here goes.....

Right now, I have a million things to do today and I must get up off the sofa to do them.