There may be something cogent in this entry. Or perhaps not.
Dec 19, 2007
Yesterday was extremely rainy. Today, the wind has picked up. I’ve seen the power twitch twice. I’ve got batteries, candles are out, my mini-flashlight is close at hand, and I’m prepared for the lights to go out. Oh, wait...I need to go start up a big pot of coffee to fill up the thermos — just in case. (Does anyone know of any battery-powered heating/cooking things? I don’t want a generator or any gas-powered anything in the apartment.)
There’s another great big meeting today: three hours. I’m not entirely sure what I’ll get out of the meeting, but I was invited. Maybe there will be a pop quiz later or something?
I need a bagel. And a coffee. And a coherent train of thought.
Keywords: | work | weather | Holidailies |
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The sky is so happy that it's drooling. A lot.
Dec 18, 2007
The temperature is going to be in the low 40s every day this week, and there will be precipitation. Every day this week. The yard-area out back is now distinctly swampy, and I am beginning to worry about flooding later in the season because yard-area does not appear to have any drainage.
Welcome to the coastal rainforest.
I'm grumpy because I'm feeling overwhelmed. The rain isn't causing the grumpy — it's just a convenient excuse to bitch and gripe and feel, for half a second, like I'm doing something proactive (because whingeing is so very proactive. Pfaugh.) Normally when I'm grumpy I go out and walk, or sit and read for a while. Problem being: a) it's pissing rain, and likely will be for the next week; and b) I've got too much to do to be able to calmly sit and read.
Dammit.
Here's a partial list of things I've got to do:
- read up on business taxes for this state (do I need to charge sales tax on services? Or only on physical goods? And if so, how much? Yadata-yadata-ya...)
- open a business bank account
- update my online payment processors
- balance my checkbook/bank statement
- activate my new ATM card
- organize my office papers
- shred the stuff that's been accumulating (appropriately enough, in the shredder) since I moved in nearly two months ago
- pay my water bill
- go pick up the cat food that I special-ordered two weeks ago...which finally came in...three days ago
- create the site for the new "umbrella" business
- return the damaged box-shelf set I received late last week
- install the ioncube loaders on my primary server
- create a "test" list for evaulating some billing software (to replace the one that never, ever, fucking ever seems to be feature-complete)
- download, install, and start evaluating said software (hurrah for trial versions...but it's a 15-day free trial, so I want to go about this intelligently. I don't care to put down another coupla-hundred dollars on yet another piece of software that won't do the job)
- change the bedding
- do the laundry
- do the dishes
- figure out why the vacuum cleaner's having a snitfit (and pray that it's easily repairable)
...and I'm absolutely sure I'm forgetting a few (dozen) things. Many of these things, when taken in isolation, are actually quite small and manageable. But a few of them are pretty daunting.
Dammit, I need a drink.
Or, you know, to just get cracking already. Hell, it's mid-morning and despite being “at work” for the past two hours, I'm still in my 'jamas.
Now would be the perfect time for that bumper sticker that reads “I'm awake and I'm at the keyboard, what more do you want?”...but getting one of those would be yet another item to add to The List.
Keywords: | work | whingeing | home | Holidailies |
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.
Dec 17, 2007
My friend — the one who helped so very much when I was moving in (thanks, Monkeybard!!) — is having a get-together. Another friend, who lives three hours away, is coming down. It’s going to be cool to get together with friends! I haven’t been able to do this in years. Living where I used to live had its advantages, but also its drawbacks. (“Friends who don’t live close” was near the top of the drawback list.)
Another friend and former co-worker (one of my fellow survivors from the Job from Hell) passed my name along as She Who Wrangles Framemaker Into Submission, and about two weeks ago I was contacted by someone about a freelance gig. I sent in my paperwork, didn’t expect to hear anything until after the holidays, and got an email today: “Just wanted to let you know, your paperwork’s in process but there’s more procedural hoops through which to jump. Oh, and by the way, I’ve been passing your resume around to other groups in this company.” So not only did I get a courtesy-notice (which is kind of hit-or-miss from corporations, I’ve learned), I’m getting more exposure, which could lead to more freelance work.
I received my new bank-account goodies today: ATM, checks, the whole works. One more item to mark as ‘completed’.
I may be flying back to Ye Olde Place to spend time with the family, but also to catch Blade Runner on the big screen. It was re-released (very limited engagements) as part of its 25-year anniversary. There’s a new DVD edition available; but I think I’ll wait and see if I can find any reviews/comparisons online before purchasing.
I have yet to receive a gas/electric bill, but I did get my water bill for the first 45 days. Thirteen dollars. That’s it. (I was a bit worried about that one, since most apartment complexes where I used to live just included water in the rental cost; but I guess I didn’t have quite so much to worry about.)
And the eggnog cookies came out well!
Not bad for a Monday…
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Inflicted upon everyone
Dec 17, 2007
Quick and Easy Boiled Cookies
These cookies don't look very pretty...but they taste amazing, and they're relatively simple to prepare.
- 2 cups sugar
- ½ cup milk
- ½ stick butter
- 3 tsp dry cocoa
- Bring to a full rolling boil and boil for one minute. Remove from heat.
- Immediately add:
- ½ cup peanut butter
- 3 cups oatmeal
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ cup nuts
- Mix together
- Drop by teaspoonfuls on wax paper which has been placed on top of newspaper. Let set up and cool for 2 hours.
Yield: 3 – 4 dozen
Drop Sugar Cookies
- 6 eggs
- 2 cups oil
- 2 ¼ cups sugar
- 2 tbsp vanilla
- 6 cups flour
- 2 tbsp Baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- Mix together ingredients.
- Chill dough for 1 hour.
- Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
- Flatten the top with a glass greased with butter that has then been dipped in color sugar (or just sprinkle the tops with colored sugar and skip the "flatten" bit)
- Bake at 400 degrees for 8 – 10 minutes.
Soft Date Cookies
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup shortening (or butter)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 ½ cup flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ cup milk
- 1 cup raisins or chopped dates (optional)
- Combine sugars and shortening.
- Add eggs & vanilla.
- Add dry ingredients.
- Add milk.
- Drop by rounded teaspoons on lightly greased cookie sheets.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 15 -18 minutes until browned a little.
Eggnog Snickerdoodles
I originally found this recipe last year, over on Leanne's site.
- 1 cup butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ tsp nutmeg/cinnamon (or ¼ tsp each)
- 1 cup eggnog
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 4 cups flour
- Beat butter & sugar until creamy.
- Add spices, eggnog & baking soda to butter & sugar, blend well.
- Add flour 2 cups at a time, mix (with mixer) until combined.
- Spoon onto nonstick cookie sheet, dip a cup in sugar (holiday colored sugar, sugar/cinnamon, sugar/nutmeg, your call), flatten the balled dough a little - but don’t flatten them completely.
- Bake at 375 for right around 11 minutes, when you can see the bottom edges are golden brown.
Cut-out Cookies
These take more work, but they're excellent for decorating...especially for kids or groups of friends who have odd senses of humour. You can buy frosting, or use the frosting recipe below.
- ½ Cup Crisco
- ½ cup butter
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp orange peel
- 1 tsp allspice
- 3 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 cups flour
- 1 tbsp milk
- Cream shortening, butter and sugar until blended. (Don’t over-beat or it will melt the butter.)
- Add vanilla & egg & beat well.
- Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and add to above mixture, a bit at a time and blend well.
- Add milk. (Dough will be stiff.)
- Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour
- Get out a pastry cloth and rolling pin stocking. Put about 2 tbsp. flour on it and roll pin over cloth to get flour on stocking and pastry cloth. Roll out about 1/3 of dough at a time to about ¼ inch thick. You may have to add more flour to board between each roll out.
- Cut out shapes & put on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 – 15 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet about 5 minutes.
Frosting
- 3 cups sifted powdered sugar
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp mace
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 4 tbsp milk
- food coloring (any color(s) you choose)
Mix all ingredients, then separate the frosting into smaller cups or bowls. Add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl to create different colors of frosting...then frost the cookies above and decorate. The cookie recipe is a double recipe; but only need the regular frosting recipe.
Keywords: | recipes | Holidailies |
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I didn't have a perfectly good day...
Dec 16, 2007
I got up in the morning, ready to spend the day baking (and the next several weeks slowly enjoying what I made.) I had looked over all the recipes, made sure I had things like orange peel, allspice, mace, Crisco, real butter (always use real butter when baking! anything else...and trust me, its lack will be noticed), a new carton of eggnog specifically for the eggnog snickerdoodles, and nearly three dozen eggs. I had also bought stacking cooling racks
, to save counter space1. Mom-thing had sent me a rolling pin, pastry cloth, and some cookie cutters. I printed out the recipes, put them in plastic protectors, and planned out which I was going to prepare first. I’d run out that morning and gotten some more decorating goodies
(including edible ball bearings), a large stainless steel mixing bowl, and a small electric mixer (usually I just use a wire whisk and that works just fine without taking up additional counter space; but with the sheer amount of mixing I planned on doing, I decided to break down, spend the money, and avoid the muscle aches and mixing nightmares). I cleaned the kitchen, made my coffee (it was already 11 and I hadn’t had so much as one cup of coffee! I was seriously focussed2) set out all the baking supplies
, and started mixing the first batch of dough: drop sugar cookies. I cracked six eggs into a bowl, added the vanilla, and started to add the cooking oil...and ran out. I was half a cup short.
Thank you, gods of zonal planning, that the grocery store was just under a block away.
I put the eggs and vanilla in the refrigerator, knowing that a) I could be there and back in under 20 minutes; and b) this particular cookie dough needs to chill at least 1 hour before baking anyway - so the stint in the fridge was going to happen, anyway. No worries, right? At the grocery store, I chatted briefly with the clerk about cooking-prep whoopsies (he had once started making white chocolate macadamia nut cookies only to find that he had no macadamia nuts), and headed home. I added the cooking oil, blended the wet ingredients, and began mixing the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
It was then that I discovered that I had no flour in the house. None. Not any.
Well, shit.
Back on went the sandals, back out went me, tromp tromp tromp to the grocery store. For the second time in 30 minutes. I got a big bag of flour and headed up to the express lane (same one I used before.) The clerk looked at me, looked at the flour, nodded in commiseration, and said, “Yeah, that’s kind of key, hm?”
I got home, mixed all the dry ingredients, and slowly blended the dry and wet stuff. However...the results looked a little bit off. While I had never made sugar cookies before, I was fairly sure that the dough wasn’t supposed to stick together in largeish crumbly clumps. I’m familiar with cookie dough that is a bit smoother. I tried kneading the stuff by hand, just in case the power mixer wasn’t doing its proper job; and the dough felt awfully grainy. Well, I reasoned, it’s sugar cookie dough. Maybe it’s supposed to feel a bit like this? I transferred the dough to a smaller bowl, set it into the fridge to chill the requisite one hour, and started on a second batch. This time I had all the ingredients, and wouldn’t have to leave in the middle of the mixing. If it came out the same, then...well, I’d have the answer to that question.
The second batch of dough looked quite a bit more like I expected...but I wasn’t willing to just pitch the first batch. After all, it contained edible ingredients. It might all bake up okay. (I remained impressively optimistic...a sure sign of a novice baker.) I transferred the second batch to a different container, set it in the fridge with its cousin Lumpy, and left them to chill 
while I prepped the spice cookie dough. That also would need to chill for at least an hour, so I had some downtime baked into my schedule.
(The management wishes to apologize for the preceding pun, which — besides being a pun — is a particularly lifeless example of the species. It wasn’t unavoidable; but after yesterday, the blogger is a bit punchy and little outbursts are bound to occur.)
My friend Monkeybard came over and we sat and chatted for a while. I had originally hoped to have some cookies ready for her to take to the cast for that evening’s performance; but this was just not happening. She brought over some of her own baking in the containers I’d used to transport the brownies to last week’s play, and I promised her that I’d have cookies for her tomorrow. If nothing else, I’d have the drop sugar cookies, right?
Once she headed out to finish her own bajillion errands, I tackled the actual “baking” portion of the day’s event. I had difficulty getting the first-batch cookies into nice rounded drops, but dutifully slid the half-sheet into the oven for ten minutes. What came out...well, it wasn’t pretty
. Then again, I justifiedreasoned, if they don’t look like you expect, they might taste okay. I left this sheet to cool while I prepped another sheet — from the second batch of dough, the batch of dough that looked reassuringly normal for something that wasn’t supposed to be rolled out and cut — for baking. The second batch was easier to work with, and looked nicer. A whole hell of a lot nicer
. Still, I was a tiny bit worried about being too picky. Cookies are cookies are cookies...and the boiled-cookes recipe I’m planning on making later produces cookies that look a bit like hunks of semi-dried mud; but when not constrained by something like other people or someone taking the cookies away or nausea from overeating, I can and have gleefully chowed down two dozen of those things in one sitting.3 So prettiness, or lack thereof, does not spell doom for a cookie.
As I waited for the cookies to cool enough for a proper taste test and prepped more sheets from the second batch of dough, I made an executive decision: after spending this much time in the kitchen, I was eating out. I’d bought some chicken breasts on my first trip that morning, thinking that I’d just marinate one and give it a quick fry-up for dinner. Nope, nope, and nope. I had just enough money to have salmon stir-fry, a pint of rice, and some potstickers delivered from the Chinese place a few blocks up. I cleaned up the kitchen, called in my dinner order, put in the final sheet of cookies from the “good” batch into the oven, and sat down to watch a rebroadcast of Torchwood on BBCA.
Once the second commercial break hit, I was wondering why I hadn’t heard the timer yet. I was sure that I’d set it...right? (This is never, ever a good thought to have anywhere near a kitchen, much in the same way “I turned the oven off, didn’t I?” is never, ever a good thought to have when you’re two hours’ drive away from home.) I went into the kitchen and didn’t smell burning. I opened the oven door and smoke didn’t come billowing out. The cookies were there, but a bit darker than their predecessors. Not burnt, precisely; but not the way I was used to seeing them. Well, they didn’t look burnt, they didn’t smell burnt, there was a chance they’d be edible. Right?4 Maybe if I frost them, they won’t be as visually unappealing...or I’ll just keep these dozen for myself. Yeah. That will work. Why waste the cookies? (Ten minutes later I tried to get one off the cookie sheet. They were extremely hard, and broke into pieces rather than coming off cleanly. Considering that this recipe usually yields cake-like cookies, this was Most Definitely Wrong. Not even frosting could save these kids.)
After dinner and a second episode of Torchwood, I tried one of the cookies from the first batch of dough. Upon cooling, they didn’t look all that bad. Unfortunately, the ingredients didn’t get mixed very well. The taste wasn’t hideous, but it was definitely a botch job. I would give these to someone who was starving, but not to my friends (or to people whom I wanted to have neutral-to-good opinions of me.) They weren’t quite at the level of “eat this before I give it to an animal”, but they were close.
I ended up making about half the dough into cookies, and chucking the rest. I plan to give them to the folks in the front office. I’ve been up there, I’ve seen the plates of munchies they have. They (probably) won’t eat any of them, they’ll just pass them out to anyone who comes to the office. Maybe the extras will be given to a church group or homeless shelter.
(Oh — and apparently, if you make cookies bigger than a half-dollar, the drop-sugar cookie recipe yields about seven dozen cookies, not twelve.)
Tomorrow: the other cookies!5
Footnotes:
1: If you bake large quantities of things, or have limited counterspace, think about getting yourself a set of these. Just about any good baking supply store should carry stacking cooling racks. I used mine to maximize cooling-space on top of the refrigerator...the only place reliably out of the cats’ range. [
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2: ...not that it helped much. Duh duh duh. Get the allspice and orange peel — and an electric hand mixer — but completely forget flour? Oh geez louise… [
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3: There will now be a pause for disgusted faces, exclaimations of “gawd, what a pig!”, and general noises-of-condemnation. All of which will be more convincing if you wipe the crumbs off of your face. [
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4: There goes that novice-baker optimism again. Isn’t it stupidly endearing? No? I didn’t think so, either...but I had to give it a go. [
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5: This feels like the first proper Holidailies entry I’ve done all month. That could mean that I just needed something interesting about which to write. Or that I work better when fuelled by embarrasment and a sugar high. Or nothing at all. Take your pick, really.
Keywords: | home | Holidailies | futility |
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Apparently, I'm unable to learn through others' mistakes. I have to make my own.
Dec 15, 2007
I spent today baking. Well, let me restate that. I spent today teaching myself what not to do while baking. Forgetting ingredients is a big one, followed up by partially chilling sugar cookie dough before mixing in all the ingredients.
Thank goodness the grocery store is as close as it is.
More of the story later...or tomorrow. (Including photos. When documenting your own stumbling ascent up the learning curve, always include photos.) I have the “correct” batch of cookie dough baking, and I want to see if they come out as expected or if they’re merely another intriguing experiment.
Related entry: Kitchen which? part two
Keywords: | Holidailies |
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