buying high, selling low

Things have been hectic this week here at GFD. There was the snow, obviously, which kept me busy weeping and cursing god. And I've been diligently working to re-create the Dark & Stormy I had at the Bluebird on Saturday, which has also been time consuming. I went to a cooking class on Tuesday night, where I like to think I learned to make Chinese dumplings. Plus I've been swamped with proofreading. I do have a couple of spring-vegetable soup recipes I'm excited to share with you, perhaps the last soups of the season. But tonight I recommend a Dark & Stormy.

It Was a Dark & Stormy Night
Ice
Kraken rum


Ginger beer
Lime
Candied ginger

Place ice cubes in a tall glass. Pour some Kraken rum over ice, then add plenty of fresh lime juice* (I use the juice of one lime) and ginger beer. Garnish with a slice of lime and candied ginger. Or, garnish with a slice of lime and eat handfuls of candied ginger while you weep, sip your drink, and curse god.

*Thanks to Mojie & EBids for the research & tip!

twilight is coming between us

And also freelance work, laziness, and the fact that my camera is betraying me, much like a certain vampire betrayed his teen girlfriend in a certain novel whose name I dare not speak, and I hate to post recipes without photos. But I'm working on a post about Montreal and I should be done with the abstinent vampire books soon, at which point I'm hoping to become a normal human being again. Actually, I'm sort of hoping to become an undead teenager, but whatevs.

procrastination: it ain't just a river in egypt

A sure sign I have loads of work to do: two bl*g posts in one day.


The yellow one tastes like Pledge. I just ate an orange one that tasted exactly like mayonnaise, but a different orange one burned my throat. The red ones are a little bitter and root-y. And the red ones aren't red in the middle, they're orange.

These carrots may be pretty but they're not particularly good.

I'm gonna be proofreading all. weekend. long.

it's hammer time

Actually, it's pea time, but "Hammer Time" sounds much cooler. If you're stuck in 1990. Otherwise, it just sounds dated.

Anyway, it's pea time.

I have a new theory about peas, which is that they are so delicious fresh, a couple of wizards decided to freeze them and can them, thereby making them no longer delicious and giving them the bad rep they have today. Which is a shame, because fresh peas are like candy. Candy that's good for you! So let's not be stuck in 1952, when frozen peas were first marketed by nonwizard Clarence Birdseye. Or worse, when Donald Suckass invented canned peas, whenever that was.

I was so busy earlier today I didn't have time to both shell and cook them, so I snacked on them raw.


Tonight on the phone with Mojie I asked if she thought ever-so-slightly steamed fresh peas with a little butter sounded good. "Frankly, no," she said. But she was wrong. In the words of a great rapper/reverend/dancer/bankruptcy filer, "Can't touch this."

put these in your pipe and smoke them

It's cold and overcast in Vermont today; if I didn't have to spend the day working I would make a batch of the cookies Tonto sent me at the convent and get in the tub. These cookies were still delicious days after they'd been shipped across the country; straight out of the oven I bet they're like crack, and I would love to spend the day being a crack addict high on cookies. Alas, the Journal of College Science Teaching calls.

If you will not be spending the afternoon proofreading articles with titles like "Creating Hybrid Communities Using Inquiry as Professional Development for College Science Faculty," I recommend baking up a batch of Tonto's snickerdoodles and then bringing at least five, no make that ten, over to my house. Lucky for all of us, my crack dealer was willing to share her recipe.


Tonto's Crack Snickerdoodles

Ingredients

COOKIES
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

COATING
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons white sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. Combine white sugar, butter or margarine, vanilla, and eggs. Mix well.

3. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Blend well.

4. Shape dough into one-inch balls.

5. Mix together coating ingredients. Roll each ball in sugar and cinnamon mixture.

6. Place two inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

7. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until set. Immediately remove from cookie sheets.

Makes 4-5 dozen.

proofreading & potatoes

For dinner last night:

For lunch today:

In case it isn't obvious, I'm on the (Fuck You, Dr.) Atkins Diet.

lunch on a busy day with empty cupboards

Take a little bite of chip, take a little bite of cheese, chew, swallow, and repeat.