So, I recently discovered a website that puts anything you type into the prompt into song. Oh, the joys this brings me when I type in the most mundane things. For example, I'm getting ready to take a shower (yes, it's almost noon, so what?), so I typed in "I'm going to take a shower now." When I click play, it starts off with Chris Isaak's long drawn out "I" from the terribly cheesy "I Wanna Fall in Love With You" and continues, each subsequent word from a different song. And you know what? Now I'm excited to take a shower. It makes it seem so much more important than just the regular routine.

Also, I tried typing in a line from a play I was reading yesterday. There comes a point in reading anything in which you have a deadline where you don't feel like reading anymore. Suddenly, every single other things seems it needs to be done before you can continue reading. While this is a great way to get my place clean, it isn't very conducive to finishing school work. The same goes with grading. Anyway, I was reaching this point with the play, but since I had to finish it by six, I opened up this website, typed in a line, and was suddenly cheered by the silly ditty that it spit out. Yes, it's a waste of time, but it got my attention back on the text.

If interested, the website is: http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/Src/sing/sing.asp?key=undefined

I don't know why I find this so fascinating, but I do.



I think I actually count from right to left, rather than the left to right as shown as the typical American count, but maybe the direction doesn't matter as much as the actual method.

I discussed my reading list with two profs on my committee today. The first one, he said it looks good. No suggestions, that was it. The second one had lots of suggestions. And those suggestions made a lot of sense. He was happy with one or two of my lists, but the two lists that I'd struggled with, he gave me a lot to go on. It was really helpful, despite that I had been dreading going over the lists with this particular prof. Relevant suggestions and comments that help my list make more sense, it turns out, are much more helpful and productive than instant approval. That said, I will now be reading nonstop until February...

I went without internet yesterday. I thought something was wrong with my modem. Upon waking this morning, both my observational skills and my brain must have been working better, because I noticed that the cable to my modem had somehow been disconnected. Yeah, I'm smart.

This is a boring post, and I'm basically including it because I don't want to lose a recipe I recently found/used. I figure that posting it here is the easiest way to keep a record of it.

Anyway, I ate a lot of soup in October. Much of the month wasn't terribly cold. As a matter of fact, we ended the month in the high 60s/low 70s. That said, I still wanted lots and lots of soup. I made the usual pumpkin soup, a curried carrot and apple soup (which is the one that I need to keep ( a record of the recipe )), a beef stew, and a peanut butter vegetable chicken soup. The latter may sound odd, but it has quickly climbed the ladder of my all-time favorite soups. And I love soup. For the curious, here is ( the recipe, which includes all my changes ).

The only soup that I actually took a photo of was the beef stew. As I've stated before, I only started eating beef this last year, so making anything with beef is new to me. This was my first stew. I also made biscuits to go with them.



To give credit where credit is due, I found the original recipes for all the soups at the following websites:
Pumpkin Soup
(This is the only one I don't ever change, except for switching half & half for the cream; it's perfect as is.)
Beef Stew
(I didn't make any changes to this, as it was, as I stated, my very first time making stew.)
Peanut Butter Vegetable Chicken Soup
Curry Carrot and Apple Soup
(I hope this link works. I originally found the recipe from clicking on site upon site upon site and eventually found this one.)

I forgot to post yesterday. So much for everyday posting during NaBloPoMo!

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Since I don't know very much about macarons, I wasn't initially as wary of making the as other DB participants. When I read the recipe, it seemed easy enough. The most trying thing that I saw was purchasing almond flour, which is quite pricey. Ah, well, it does make lovely treats.

While making the macarons, I was also making oatmeal ice cream at the same time. I think this may have been my saving grace, because I whipped the egg whites until quite stiff. After folding in the flour and sugar, I started to worry because the whole process just seem way too easy despite the other participants' concerns. But I baked on. I forgot to time the first batch, so I went by color. As you will see below, this was a mistake. Although they were slightly changed in color, they weren't baked long enough, as I discovered when I compared them to the ones I baked a proper amount of time.

Below are the photos and recipe.

First, the failed batch. As you can see, they're very flat. They're also slightly undercooked. Still tasty, though. :)


The next batch, though, were snug in the oven for long enough and turned out much better.





After cooling, I spread chocolate ganache between two pieces, pressed them together, and tra la!-- macarons!

Last weekend, a friend of mine stopped by Reno on his way from Flagstaff to San Francisco. He's actually a friend of a friend who has, since I met him two years ago, become a friend. He couldn't believe, when we discussed it, that we'd only actually met in person once before. The joys of the web. Makes you feel more in touch with people than you actually are. Or something like that.

Anyway, we drove up to Tahoe the first full day he was here. We went on a short hike where there were some lovely views.


My main comment about the hike, though, is that I wish people were, in general and in everyday life, as friendly as they are when meeting others on a hike. There are always friendly faces, friendly greetings, and sometimes interesting (and yes, friendly!) short chats when meeting people along trails. Why doesn't this extend into "real" life? Maybe because people will think you a bit mad if you say hello and start random conversations out on the street. :D

After a looooong delay in traffic getting back to Reno from Tahoe, we had plans to go out with a couple of friends of mine. We quickly changed out of our dirty clothes and hit the town. As my friend is a big gambler, I knew we'd end up at the casinos. (He'd forgotten that the first time we met, which was in Vegas, he'd given me a hundred dollar bill, told me to put it in a slot machine and lose it. Okay, so he didn't say to lose it, but I knew that's what would happen. After losing $50 of it, I told him I thought we should stop, but he told me to continue, and within seconds, the entire $100 was gone. Ouch.) It was almost painful to sit next to him at a couple of poker tables, where he lost $100 at each table in less than 5 minutes at each table. I don't get the whole gambling thing... However, we did exit the casinos long enough to take the requisite photo under the Reno sign. :)


The next day, he took off for Monterey to visit a friend of ours who moved there this summer. We met up in San Francisco on Saturday. We drove to the Golden Gate Bridge, where I discovered that he wanted to walk to the other end and back. Um, okay. I didn't really see the point, but I didn't have any reason to want to talk him out of it. And it did allow for some rather cool photos along the way.

Did you know that there are signs along the bridge that tell dejected, yet possibly undecided bridge jumpers, that there is hope. Under these signs are phones that connect these people directly to a Hope Line. Craziness.


After the bridge, it was time for dinner. I'd chosen the place. Ever since leaving Japan, I crave really good bowls of ramen. I'd googled it and had found a couple of places that sounded promising. I should have taken a photo of my ramen, because it was just what I'd been looking for. It was perfect -- miso broth with corn topping. Yum!

After that, we were both beat and called it a night. The next day, we did the Alcatraz cruise. The recorded headphone tour isn't bad. Granted, I'd been hoping for a goofy tour guide ala Phil Hartman in So I Married An Axe Murderer, but alas, had to make do with the recording. :) There is a lot of interesting info on it. I especially like the story of the guy who tried to escape, managed to do so, but didn't know how to swim, so stayed in a cave under the prison. After a few days of crabs trying to munch on him and nothing to eat, he asked to be let back in. Priceless.

It's been awhile since last posting, so I have quite a bit to update on. Over the next couple of days, I'll be posting pics and whatnot about the various places I've been or the things I've done.

Boston was awesome. I got there a day before my mom and nephew, and although I was exhausted the night I got in and went straight to bed, I got up early the next day to walk the Freedom Trail. Along the way, I saw a number of historical places, including Granary Burying Ground, which holds Paul Revere's tomb.





Trailing on was the original site of the Boston Latin School, which was the first public school in America. Although the school was moved, students who attend it still need to learn Latin.



Sadly, though, modern life has destroyed some of our nation's history. The site of the Boston Massacre is now part of Boston traffic. In the center of the cement street divider is a circle of cobblestones, which represents the Massacre. The red paint, although strictly for road construction purposes, seems highly appropriate.



All this walking made me feel a bit peckish, so I stopped over at Faneuil Hall to see if I could find my old buddy Norm at Cheers. ("Norm!")



I finished the trail at the Old North Church, and then headed to the airport to meet my mom and nephew.

The next day was quite busy. We started at the New England Aquarium, which was also the place we'd catch the boat for our whale watching tour. The tour was amazing. At one point, there were humpback whales all around our boat. Every side we looked, there'd be a whale. Although it was almost unbearably cold on the ocean, the whales made it more than worth it.



The cold forced us into buying Boston sweatshirts after the tour, which is definitely a good thing, because the baseball game that night was chilly! The game was my nephew's favorite part of the trip. The seats in Fenway were so small, and there is NO arm space whatsoever. It was fun, though, and worth making my nephew so happy.

I'm going to Boston with my mom and nephew this week. I leave on Tuesday, and they leave on Wednesday, so I'll have a day to explore on my own. We have a full itinerary, which is exciting. We'll go to the New England Aquarium, whale watching, and to a baseball game on Thursday. Then on Friday, we're starting with a tour of the city, followed by a couple of museums. We're doing dinner at Nebo, my choice since it's my birthday. *

Apparently, the Ukraine has a show similar to America's Got Talent (which I've actually never seen, but that's irrelevant). This makes me wonder how many other countries have a version of this show (it started in the UK, right?), but again, that's irrelevant...

So recently on the Ukrainian show, a woman did a presentation using sand art and music. She depicts the German invasion and occupation of the Soviet Union during World War II. Now, for those of you who are aware of how much Susan Boyle shocked Britain and beyond with her powerful voice, I think Kseniya Simonova, the Ukrainian artist depicted below, goes above and beyond that. Not only is her presentation unique, it is moving and her talent definitely shines.

This was posted on youtube three months ago, so I may be a bit behind in posting this, but it's still well worth a watch.

When I have a lot to say, things suddenly get silent around here. I don't really want to post about the main thing that has been going on in my life. I don't like the idea of certain things floating around cyberspace. I will just say that I thank those of you who have been there to talk and to listen, and to laugh act as a distraction when I didn't want to do either of the former. I've thought things out, and if I haven't personally given you an update yet, I'm sorry -- I'll be in touch!

Anyway, in the past couple of weeks or so, I've gone to Apple Hill , the Rib Cook-off , and the Great Reno Balloon Race.

Apple Hill, which was a recommendation from my friend V, was fantastic. I picked some berries and apples, and I bought some already-picked peaches. So far, I've made a batch of apple butter, and I'll be making some apple sauce today.

The Rib Cook-off was, as always, a temptation in gluttony, but my friend and I resisted, due only to getting full after finishing only half, at most, of our orders. We went on a hot day, so after perusing the goods on sale, we decided to see a movie. We saw The Time Traveler's Wife (don't bother), which helped us escape the two hottest hours of the day so that we could enjoy traipsing through all the stalls of the vendors.

As for the Balloon Race, call me crazy for waking up at an ungodly hour. After my first year here, I'd sworn off going to this event because although it was a decently good time, I felt that the freezing cold that slowly turned to scorching heat and the early hour were more compelling a reason to stay away than the sight of the hot air balloons. Fortunately, though, a friend of mine convinced me to try it again this year. I woke up at 4:15 (which was already too late, since my friend had told me to meet up at 4:30 -- oops) and headed out the door in three layers of clothing. When I got there, my friend was eating breakfast with a couple of coworkers, and I saw the end of Glow Patrol. We headed out to the field of balloons in time for Dawn Patrol, where I took tons of pictures (very similar to those taken my first time there, but with my new camera -- hooray!). It perplexes me how many people trek out to the park so early every year for this event, but I'm glad I did, too. It actually wasn't too cold, and I didn't have to take off and carry all my layers because the weather stayed relatively mild instead of heating up to sauna temperature as it did the first time I went.

No more Reading Rainbow?! Growing up, I loved that show. I mean, what kid who loved to read didn't appreciate a show that they could relate to? I think that show began my lifelong habit of seeing a book, thinking, 'Oh my goodness, I need to read that!' This is why I have way too many books, including books that I fully intend to one day crack open.

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

Since the torte looked quite rich, I decided to half the recipe. I started with the cake layers:
( cake layer recipe here )

Although the directions state to bake the cake on round forms, I decided to bake mine on two jelly roll sheets, which resulted in very thin cake layers. Below are the directions and my changes.

( Directions for the sponge layers: )

After the layers are cooled, cut them into small rounds. I used the top of a class to shape the rounds, making about two dozen of them.

Then, it was time to prepare the buttercream.
( Chocolate Buttercream recipe and directions )
(As you'll see in the photos below, I failed to chill the buttercream long enough. It was too runny, which resulted in very funny looking mini tortes. :) )

Finally, the dreaded caramel topping. Many of the posts I read reported problems with this step, so I was a bit nervous. Not, however, nervous enough.

( Caramel topping recipe )

The caramel topping seemed like it would be easy enough. I cut two of the cake rounds into eight triangular pieces each. I boiled the ingredients together, occasionally swirling the pot. When the liquid started to change colors, though, I got preoccupied with something, and next thing you know, it was dark brown. It was only supposed to become amber in color, so I knew it was probably a bit burnt but decided it would be okay. I poured the liquid over the cut cake pieces. It hardened right away, and again, I made a mistake in not completely following the directions, which state to cut the pieces apart in less than a minute. Instead, I let the pieces stand for quite a few number of minutes, and when I returned to them, the caramel had set. I had to attempt to chip apart each triangle, only successfully doing so for about eight of them.

Anyway, to assemble the cakes, I started with a cake layer and then topped each layer with the buttercream. I continued, making about ten layers each. They were looking cute at this point.



However, as I stated above, I hadn't let the buttercream cool enough, so when it came to frosting the entire cakes, the buttercream was very gloopy. It was actually quite amusing. My friend and I had a laugh over it. We topped the cakes with the caramel triangles. The final result doesn't look very pretty, but it was tasty. The caramel triangles were definitely not a success. The caramel tasted burnt, and I picked mine off and threw them away, but the cake was good. :)

I'm a bit late with posting, but this month's challenge was fun. The thought of homemade marshmallows was a bit daunting, but they were much easier (and tastier) than I'd expected.

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

All bakers had the option between the two kinds of cookies (or both), and since I wanted to try something new, I opted for the Marshmallow Cookies.

It all started with the cookie dough, which was a basic cookie recipe. I doubled the amount of cinnamon, as I do in most recipes that calls for it. After chilling it for a couple of hours, I rolled it out and used a round cookie cutter before sliding them into the oven.



While the dough had been chilling, I made the marshmallow goo:



After the cookies had baked, I let them cool awhile and then piped the marshmallows on top of each one. I tried, sometimes unsuccessfully, to pipe them in the shape of a Hershey's Kiss.



I let them cool overnight. First thing in the morning, I made the chocolate sauce and then dipped each marshmallow-topped cookie in the small river of chocolate. They were quite cute.



I don't usually like marshmallows, but I liked this homemade version. The cookie itself was tasty. A friend of mine said the entire cookie was like eating a s'more. Unfortunately, if you remember from prior posts, my digital camera's screen is broken, so I cannot view the photos immediately after taking them. The final, inner cookie photo did not work, but I'll still post what little of it that I did happen to get.

I just got back from looking at a dog that I found on craigslist. It is the cutest thing ever. He looks almost exactly like the dog that I used to want, only I wanted an all white dog. I don't think I want that kind of dog anymore, at least, not an all white one.

This dog I looked at, he's black and white. His fur is very soft and curly. His "mom" is half chihuahua and half terrier. He looks like he is part poodle or maltese or shih tzu. I'm currently debating whether I should buy him or not. They are totally overcharging for him. They are charging $150, but I'm pretty sure I could get them to lower that, maybe by half. It doesn't have its shots or anything, after all.

The photo below is what they posted on CL, but it makes him look much, much larger (and much more sad!) than what he actually is. He fit easily in the palm of my hand. His legs were so short it was funny.

I'm definitely appreciating the rain, thunder, and lightning. It's exactly as a summer storm should be.

Fitting for the cool(er) weather, I made chicken tortilla soup today. It is yummy. I used the roasted corn from this weekend, some chicken that I boiled yesterday (and the broth from that), half a can of black beans, an onion, garlic, some cumin, fresh cilantro, cayenne pepper, chili powder, a can of diced tomatoes, and, of course, corn tortillas. It came out perfectly.

I didn't bother taking a very good photo because, frankly, chicken tortilla soup is never very pretty:


At work today, I had an oops moment with my students. On day one, one of my students introduced himself with stating that he's been with his girlfriend for ten months. She was one of the other students in the class. They have been a bit annoying, actually, giggling together, constantly whispering, marking each other with pens. Yuck. Since yesterday, though, they sat in different rows. I noticed this right away. I mean, it was obvious. So today I was putting students in groups of three for peer editing. Basically, I was just looking in my gradebook to see who would be best suited to help each other based upon their writing styles/abilities. I had gone through all the students and only had two left... Yep, the newly broken up couple. I paused, noticed I'd paused, knew everyone noticed and also knew they knew why I paused. I said their names. A friend of the guy cracked up. I quickly told the girl to switch with another student next to her. She and her ex both said, "Good." I felt so bad for accidentally putting them on the spot like that. How completely thoughtless. It happens, though, right?

Grilling, I have learned, is not just a guy thing. I've never tried before, yet just three days ago a friend of mine was talking about grilling and said that of course he could do it, he's a guy after all. Although it was said tongue-in-cheek, I realized that I tend to hold that view myself. Yes, I know, shame on me.

Anyway, since I had to grade most of the day yesterday, I decided to add a bit of excitement to my day by attempting to grill. I had some ears of corn that I needed to use before they went bad, so I prepped those. I started up the grille, and I must admit that it took a ridiculous amount of tries before the coals were anywhere near ready. When I finally got it down, I tossed on the corn and hot dogs. Hey, I had to start somewhere right? May as well start with something that I knew was at least somewhat impervious to my amateur status as grille-master.

The hot dogs were perfect, and the corn -- oh my goodness. It was SO good. I couldn't eat it all, so I saved it, cut off the kernels today, and made a rather sinful creamed corn. I didn't make much of it, so it's okay. I'll use the rest of the corn for a tortilla soup and maybe a corn salsa or corn salad.

And, ladies, grilling is not just for the guys.

I can't believe I haven't posted about this yet. The Concord NKOTB show was awesome. What may have been even more awesome, though, is the pre-concert chat with Joey McIntyre.

All of the Let's Get This volunteers gathered at the Will Call area hours before the show. When someone (Iowa, and woman with one of the best jobs ever) finally came to get us, she led us inside the venue and given lots of bottled water (definitely a requirement, as it was HOT) and were asked to refrain from texting or taking photos. She explained what we would be doing, and then left us to get Joe for us. We anxiously waited, sharing NKOTB stories and whatnot. We all agreed to not shriek, scream, or otherwise act all ga-ga when Joe arrived.

After what seemed like hours, Iowa rounded the corner and we all held our breath. Following her was Joe. Bright yellow trainers, blue, fitted, long-sleeved Boston Red Sox shirt, sunglasses and (somewhat) fitted jeans. Oh, and an air of utter gorgeousness. Must not forget that.

He greeted each of us with a hug, and I must say, we all behaved ourselves rather well. Yes, we obviously could not stop grinning from ear to ear with out eyes completely lit up and somewhat gushed over him (the various comments made to him were compliments about his hair, his shoes, maybe even his watch...), but women who had been fans for over fifteen years, it wasn't bad at all.

Joe stayed to chat for a bit and then posed for a group photo. He said goodbye, left, and I think it's safe to say that we all did our volunteer work with unending smiles.



All of us (minus Joe) have stayed in touch via e-mail, facebook, and/or twitter. It's nice to be in contact with people as big of fans as me. :)

I have tickets for tomorrow's midnight showing. Actually, it's for the 12:20 showing, but you get the point. It looks awesome. Counting down...