Yeah, I know, I said I'd write about the goings on in my kitchen, but the little kitchen is filthy and crowded and for some reason I stuck all the good baking stuff in places I can't reach... So I just haven't done much lately outside of the chocolate chip cookie bars from my favorite cookbook. Note to self: bake for this weekend...
Anyway, here's a snapshot of one of my mom's helpful hints. For preventing identity theft?
Scenario - in the car, on the highway, my mom might be driving
Me: What are you doing?
Mom: Protecting my identity. (She's tossing something out the window from a plastic bag in the cup holder.)
Me: What...?
Mom: Just getting rid of my old credit cards.
Me: Can't you just cut it into tiny pieces?
Mom: There are some things you flush down the toilet, some you burn, and some you cut into tiny pieces and throw out the window as you drive down the highway.
WOW. Mom. Taking some things a little too far?
Friday, September 12, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Instruments of Torture?
This morning in front of my bathroom mirror as I attempted to prettify (post new bottle of Olay SPF 15, thanks Costco) by sliding on some mascara, it happened again.
That's right, I think I'm developing another rogue eyelash.
What in the world is a rogue eyelash, you ask, and why is it such a big deal?
Well, the slightly gross answer is that sometimes my eyelashes curl downwards, like, at my eyeball, leading to uncomfortable situations. (And slightly unsightly ones too, as it starts to look like I've been crying one-eyed due to the excessive blinking and irritation caused by an eyelash POKING YOU IN THE EYEBALL!) This also results in midday trips to the eye doctor to "have my eyelash pulled out," apparently not a rare occurrence for eye doctors...
Anyway, I guess I need one of these:
And no, it's not really an instrument of torture, just an eyelash curler, but I think I need a girly girl to teach me how to use it and not accidentally tear out all of the eyelashes, although that would solve the rogue problem right quick.
That's right, I think I'm developing another rogue eyelash.
What in the world is a rogue eyelash, you ask, and why is it such a big deal?
Well, the slightly gross answer is that sometimes my eyelashes curl downwards, like, at my eyeball, leading to uncomfortable situations. (And slightly unsightly ones too, as it starts to look like I've been crying one-eyed due to the excessive blinking and irritation caused by an eyelash POKING YOU IN THE EYEBALL!) This also results in midday trips to the eye doctor to "have my eyelash pulled out," apparently not a rare occurrence for eye doctors...
Anyway, I guess I need one of these:
And no, it's not really an instrument of torture, just an eyelash curler, but I think I need a girly girl to teach me how to use it and not accidentally tear out all of the eyelashes, although that would solve the rogue problem right quick.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
This will never work here (or there...)
Starbucks is my frenemy. I think their coffee tastes like that nasty bitter stuff the dentist puts on your teeth when he's filling a cavity, but I heart their iced tea lemonades, and truthfully, I order a "Venti iced passion tea lemonade unsweetened." Yup, Starbucks snobbery right there folks.
But Starbucks is trying to change the whole idea that their coffee is roasted to burning in piss, by using the "Clover," which essentially grinds the beans, brews them, and then extracts them to make a perfect cup of coffee. Apparently this "brings coffee back into focus*" because:
Vacuum-press technology pulls the coffee through a 70-micron filter in which "every hole is like a hair's breadth," said David Latourell, formerly of Coffee Equipment Co. and now a Starbucks employee
Read it
Anyway, in addition to this new technology, if you want a better cup of coffee, you're going to have to pay up. I understand this, but also, I don't. Starbucks is about class and snob and coffee. Suddenly it's like, well you can have shitty coffee or you can have better coffee? People are still going to take the shitty one because (1) they don't understand what better coffee tastes like and (2) they're cheap bastards. If you want tasty coffee, you probably aren't visiting Starbucks anyway.
(And did you read Fast Food Nation? (Book, not movie.) There's this whole thing about taste & quality being mediocre because it's a fast food chain, and I guess I should find that part of the book to back up this post....)
But, honestly, I digress. What I meant to say is why this isn't working in BOSTON. Why the Starbucks/Dunkins competition is non-existent. Here's the thing: in Boston, you have 2 different breeds of coffee drinkers. Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. They don't really cross. The population of Dunkins drinkers (lahge regulah, I'm not saying they have sophisticated palates necessarily either) are not the type to seek out Starbucks, sit down & pay for internet & listen to music, etc...
My point? There's Dunkin Donuts and there's Starbucks. Boston is not the place for Starbucks to try to get converts to their "better" coffee because the clilentel of the two stores differs not based on taste preference (though, obviously, somewhat) but based on class/appearance/and the need to sit on a couch. People going for taste are the indepent store drinkers, and damn you Starbucks if you try to ruin little business (though Taylor Clark proves the opposite in Starbucked, I know I know).
*OK, but you're a coffee shop, coffee is supposed to be the focus.....
But Starbucks is trying to change the whole idea that their coffee is roasted to burning in piss, by using the "Clover," which essentially grinds the beans, brews them, and then extracts them to make a perfect cup of coffee. Apparently this "brings coffee back into focus*" because:
Vacuum-press technology pulls the coffee through a 70-micron filter in which "every hole is like a hair's breadth," said David Latourell, formerly of Coffee Equipment Co. and now a Starbucks employee
Read it
Anyway, in addition to this new technology, if you want a better cup of coffee, you're going to have to pay up. I understand this, but also, I don't. Starbucks is about class and snob and coffee. Suddenly it's like, well you can have shitty coffee or you can have better coffee? People are still going to take the shitty one because (1) they don't understand what better coffee tastes like and (2) they're cheap bastards. If you want tasty coffee, you probably aren't visiting Starbucks anyway.
(And did you read Fast Food Nation? (Book, not movie.) There's this whole thing about taste & quality being mediocre because it's a fast food chain, and I guess I should find that part of the book to back up this post....)
But, honestly, I digress. What I meant to say is why this isn't working in BOSTON. Why the Starbucks/Dunkins competition is non-existent. Here's the thing: in Boston, you have 2 different breeds of coffee drinkers. Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. They don't really cross. The population of Dunkins drinkers (lahge regulah, I'm not saying they have sophisticated palates necessarily either) are not the type to seek out Starbucks, sit down & pay for internet & listen to music, etc...
My point? There's Dunkin Donuts and there's Starbucks. Boston is not the place for Starbucks to try to get converts to their "better" coffee because the clilentel of the two stores differs not based on taste preference (though, obviously, somewhat) but based on class/appearance/and the need to sit on a couch. People going for taste are the indepent store drinkers, and damn you Starbucks if you try to ruin little business (though Taylor Clark proves the opposite in Starbucked, I know I know).
*OK, but you're a coffee shop, coffee is supposed to be the focus.....
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Photos /Updates
Update: My camera is being returned and was repaired under the warranty! YAY! So more baking & photos to come. Maybe I'll make something special for the occasion. Can you say birthday cake? (Does anyone have a birthday coming up?)
But I survived without a camera, and Ginny took some awesome photos of us at the Muddy Buddy.
Here are some links: Official Race Photos and Ginny's photos on my Picasa
And here are some highlights:
But I survived without a camera, and Ginny took some awesome photos of us at the Muddy Buddy.
Here are some links: Official Race Photos and Ginny's photos on my Picasa
And here are some highlights:
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Nothing's great in Bangladesh
It's all just plain decent.
The cake I made the other day was more than decent even though it was a little wobbly.
And the Muddy Buddy was sooo way more than decent. I'd said we raced decently, definitely need to practice that mountain biking.
And my camera being broken? So entirely INDECENT.
The cake I made the other day was more than decent even though it was a little wobbly.
And the Muddy Buddy was sooo way more than decent. I'd said we raced decently, definitely need to practice that mountain biking.
And my camera being broken? So entirely INDECENT.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Odds & Ends
Odds:
“Cooking is 80% confidence, a skill best acquired from when the apron strings wrap around you twice.” -Barbara Kingsolver from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle which I thought was a pretty awesome book
NY Times's chocolate chip cookie article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/09chip.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin
I still have frozen cookie bars in the freezer (duh), but now I think there are ways to make them even better. I'm now baking a cake this weekend for our office bake-off!
End: I broke my camera Tuesday night. ON MY BIRTHDAY. (And no I was not drunk... and the detail on my t-shirt that I couldn't photograph proves that.) I just hate to admit that I was clumsy enough to break it... Gah.
Oh well, on the way back to Canon to be fixed I hope.
(Back of the singlet.)
“Cooking is 80% confidence, a skill best acquired from when the apron strings wrap around you twice.” -Barbara Kingsolver from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle which I thought was a pretty awesome book
NY Times's chocolate chip cookie article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/09chip.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin
I still have frozen cookie bars in the freezer (duh), but now I think there are ways to make them even better. I'm now baking a cake this weekend for our office bake-off!
End: I broke my camera Tuesday night. ON MY BIRTHDAY. (And no I was not drunk... and the detail on my t-shirt that I couldn't photograph proves that.) I just hate to admit that I was clumsy enough to break it... Gah.
Oh well, on the way back to Canon to be fixed I hope.
(Back of the singlet.)
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)