Hiatus

What an awesome kick off to my husbands unemployment... erm, I mean new job! We had lots of friends show up this weekend and had lots of stuff to do. Total change from the usual. We went to the tattoo show too.

I met a new friend:

Saw on old friend:

and set stuff on fire.

YAY!

So tomorrow we are off to VEGAS. Wish us luck.. and see you soon.

Cranky

Hahahaha. I am so 2 years ago.

Anyways I have gotten a really good response to my cupcakes, thanks for all the emails! But like I confessed to my Mummy In Law.. (cut and pasted from an email)

I feel like such a FRAUD. They are criminally easy to make, but they do take a little while. I used CANNED frosting (fluffy vanilla) and just melted chocolate chips for the choccy tops.

http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2008/05/cupcake-bites-made-easy.html

I used this recipe, but instead of all that fiddling around I got little cups from Walmart (weirdly by the cake pans!) and put a glop of melted chocolate (chips. bakers. DARK! melted in the microwave) into the little cup and then pushed the little cupcake ball into the melted choc. For frosting I just glopped some choc on the top of half and used a Ziploc to pipe it on and make the white look all spiffy. The little shiny balls were Chris' idea. :) Pop them into the fridge until its time to go.. and you too can be the superstar I was made out to be. FUN!! Since we have another party to go this Friday, I may make some more..

And actually.. I am making more. Spice cake ones in fact. Gods I am a sad bastard yes? Now if my uterus would just please stop trying to kill me, all would be well.

On one of my favourite boards on Ravelry there is a thread that keeps popping (at first I wrote pooping!) up called Unpopular Opinions. I have some of those!

Unpopular (therefore my) opinions!

1. The third act of Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog SUCKED. Sucked enough in fact that it ruined the stellar parts one and two in my opinion. There. I said it. Throw the first stone.

2. There are people out there who shouldn't have pets. Or kids. Ick. Why do you have to get a license to fish but any idiot can have a baby? WHY?

3. The movie The Mist by Frank Darabont (based on the Stephen King novella) was maybe one of the scariest movies ever*. BUT THE ENDING RUINS IT. WHY Mr Darabont? WHY?

4. People who claim they are on a diet then blog about eating mass amounts of crap are idiots. Why would say anything in the first place? Of course there are people that blog about the minutiae of their lives so I guess why not? WHY MR DARABONT WHY?

5. I love Starbucks.

This weekend holds promise of being most awesome. Old friends coming into town.. cool weather and oh yeah.. 4 MORE SLEEPS.

Happy 12th Birthday Maximilian J Scrufflesworth the 3rd ESQ.com. We LOVE YOU.

*Chris hated this movie because SCIENCE got blamed. Ok and the crazy religous lady bugged the shit outta him too.

jealous?

Any reason to make 70+ cuppa cakes? Do you need one?

HOW CUTE ARE THESE?*

But I won't get to eat them all.. we took them to a party where they were loved by all.

*I look unreasonably pleased with how these turned out don't I? Well... I SHOULD BE. THEY WERE FANTASGREAT.

The cow, she laughs.

So before I forget, Chris INSISTS I write this out. I was watching the food channel and saw a show called French Cooking at Home. Mmm.. crepes! Anyhoo the adorable hostess talked about making a simple soup. How they do this with children in kindergarten to show them how easy and delicious cooking is (in France) and it really kickstarts their tiny palates. All I really go from this is how much more awesome the French were about pretty much everything in the kitchen (and I agree) and make your own food dammit. So I did. You are prolly gonna wanna read through the whole recipe as I am gonna be listing stuff you need as you need it. Nothing worse than running out of the house with boiling soup to find say, an immersion blender or cheese yes?

Franch Soup (said like a Westerner eh?) from French Cooking at Home with the cute blonde lady who I can't remembers name. My version.

3 big ol zucchini. She said she has used broccoli and I really think any veggie would work. In fact I'm dying to try CARROTS. mm. I dunno, use whatcha got I reckon. Roughly chopped. Leave the skins on, they add a lovely colour. Just wash it good ok?

I big ol onion, roughly chopped too.

1-2 l of stock. I used chicken cause I like meat. I bet veggie would be just as good. And then your soup would be vegetarian. NOT VEGAN MIND YOU. There is cheese involved. Just wait.


Now you are gonna take your roughly chopped veggies and toss 'em in a big ol pot with your stock. Season it. For the love if all things delicious, use SALT. Stop worrying about the SILENT KILLER. You know if you didn't eat Doritos, your arguments might hold water. Oh.. I digress. Ok salt and pepper for sure. Add any herbs/seasonings you want.

Boil the hell out of everything in a covered pot. At least a good 15-20 min rolling boil til everything is soft. SOFT I SAID. See.. we are gonnna puree this bad boy. Got an immersion blender? Get it now. I love my crappy old Braun one. Man that thing has been around forever! Ok got it? Now you need to get the secret ingredient. See the cow at the top of the page? Yeah, she is laughing. At you or with you, whatever, she laughs. Get some of that yummy triangulated cheesy goodness. 3 triangles/l of stock you used seems to work for me.


Take it off the heat, add the cheese and BLEND. BLEND BLEND BLEND. Seriously, this cheese adds the most incredible velvety texture to the soup. In fact I who normally shies away from cream soups (calorie heavy) am crazy mad mental insane for this soup. Use the light version (OH YEAH!) and you're golden calorie watchers!


>My husband who usually turns up his nose at anything that has a whiff of good for you about it, pigged down 3 huge bowls of this the first time I made it and whined for more. Its a wonderful colour, has awesome flavour and is seriously calorie light. Go forth. Make soup.


Even better the next day! If it lasts that long. :)


*I add cayenne hot sauce. Gives a kick.

Good mail days, dog days of summer, are they the same?

Look at these silly dogs. Max never used to sit outside and soak up the sun, but Pickles showed him the way.




They are not enamoured of the kids next door (KND) as they take every opportunity to shout HI!!! at them. They'll get used to it. I hope.

So my good mail days include amazing soft yumminess from the ranches angoras. I ordered these last week and they were here in a flash. I am gobsmacked at the soft. Super wash merino with a hint of sparkle in the pink ones. And spinning? OMG LIKE CLOUDS. Nice!

These I dyed back in July. Rambouillet from Crystal Creek Fibres. The red went to my HHHHHHHHH* swap pal and the others stayed with me. Having never spun rambouillet, it was an absolute treat! I see more of this fibre in my future.

Since the cat is finally out of the bag, Chris can finally relax about his new job. He starts Sept 15th which gives him a nice 2 week break between jobs. One of which is in VEGAS. HELLO PLANET HOLLYWOOD. Mm.. ya know, I NEVER thought I'd be the Vegas type, but it really is the perfect place for the non travelling traveller. And these lucky pups even have their own travelling entourage coming to stay with them.


Max is alarmed

But ready for his profile

Pickles? Sleepy.

*Can never remember how many damn h's there are.

Seriously

There are some things you need to be able to leave behind. Like your love for the vomitron* mixed with McDonalds. Niiiiiiice huh? Note Jake's (lack of) concern.

In other news: Guess who is going back to Vegas Sept 1? YEAH. OH YEAH. Its just that easy.

PS Welcome back LAPTOP. OMG I MISSED YOU.

*any ride that spins you around in a circle. endlessly. while people laugh at you.

Time she flies

Oh my stars and garters all.. this summer (ha! summer my arse) is flying by yes? We had our trip up to see Jake boy and amongst the rides, dogs, puking (video to follow as soon as the laptop is back. That is another story for another day) and family we had an awesome time. Why do I find it so hard to type on my lap? Thankfully the PS3 is running linux like a pro so at least I can have some internets.

I knit some socks for the boy which I shipped off yesterday without nary a picture to be taken. I am starting another pair for myself out of some supersocke 100 fun colour. Hee hee fun colour. Really though. this is the first time I have knit with self patterning sock yarn (!) and it is a kick. I have been spinning lots and lots though. In fact I sent of my HHHHHHHHH swap last week and am eagerly tracking its progress via Canada Post to see it get to its destination. EXCITING. I had a beef going with an online vendor but hurray for paypal and their quick resolutions! Now I need to order some more fibre (but not until I finish the BFL I started a few months ago I've promised myself) to replace the stuff that never did show up. I'm thinking cormo or finn maybe. I really think a trip to Cochrane's Legacy gallery is in order. Don't you?

Sheriff Pickles and Deputy Max were superstars on the trip up North I have to say. Friendly, quiet and cute all around. Such good dogs yes?