Right Now

Remembering how to get this mobile blogging thing to work correctly.

Listening to the kids next door enjoy summer be yelling incoherent nonsense.

Wondering why the Food Network has so many "down arrow" and "leaky pipe" commercials.

Four Notes From the Last Month

Been experiencing difficulty making a decision. Make that SEVERE difficulty. Do I really want to go back to school? Or do I merely just want to do something else? Round and round I go with this commitment-phobic ridiculousness.

Found out that volunteering is difficult when you work full time. Why is it that volunteers are only welcome during normal working hours? Didn't President Obama tell everyone to get out there and get their service project on? Perhaps you need an ivy league degree to walk dogs or shelve books, which is why the president has no problem getting a volunteer position. I, on theother hand, only went to state school.

Figured out why we don't have more farmer's markets in central Massachusetts. I'm always reading blogs and articles about these magical places that people go on Saturdays called the Farmer's Market. Where they get to sample fruit and cheese and have nice chats with their local growers. They then buy a 100 pounds of food for approximately $.82 and come home to make a feast of organic beets and artisan bread with fresh goat cheese. I have even been to a few of these magical places while on vacation, but there are just really none to be had near our home. And I have been jealous of all those who get to have a weekly farmer's market experience. Sometimes, I just can't shake the feeling that I'm missing out on some sort of important part of the culinary experience. (Which perhaps I am- but not for this reason). I have found the answer: we have the actual FARMS. It occurred to me one day as I was driving past yet another old family farm, big white barn in the back, horses in the pasture across the street, fields of corn budding down the road, that "oh right, I live with the farms...DUH". Fortunaley I also live within 4 miles of a Target and an Old Navy as well.

My youngest brother has graduated high school. A proper way to describe this is "HOLY SHIT, that came up fast!" I must be getting older. I am 10 years older than my brother, and the fact that he has now graduated high school and attended his graduation party with his (pseudo-girlfriend and her very adorable chubby-cheeked BABY) drew attention to the fact that he is now entering adulthood and well...yikes! Really, I am just so happy that he got through the last four years and finished his program, and is still the awesome funny kid who looked at me when he was 4 and said "you know, I'm not a big boy yet, but I'm not a baby either". He still needs to find his people though. I have every confidence that he will (and probably before I do).

2nd Attempt - Vegan Peanut Buttter Banana Ice Cream

I swear I do not have a problem...yet.

Anyway, after browsing the internet for vegan ice cream recipes I stumbled upon a way to use the over ripe bananas that were lying in the fruit basket (and a way to utilize the new small appliance in our kitchen).

The recipe I used was found here at A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise. I decided not to heat the liquid as suggested, instead I just melted the peanut butter with the brown sugar in a small pot over medium heat and then threw that into the blender. This eliminated the need to chill the liquid for hours before churning.

And this stuff is good. It made an excellent creamy ice cream and seriously, it also made an immensely great milk shake. And yes, I did take a picture and yes, I will post it at the point where I can find the strength to take out the cord, open photoshop and resize the image, but that will have to wait until tomorrow when I have had a day at work to emerge from my sugar coma.

Making Frozen Deliciousness

About three weeks ago I was walking through Target, minding my own, determined to buy a new mop and a first communion card. While on my journey to the back of the store I walked by one of those end of isle displays where they stack the sale items. It's hard for me to describe how much I LOVE the end of isle sale items at Target. So many great things for my house have been purchased from those shelves, organic cotton hand towels, table lamps, candle holders for the mantel, the mirror in the living room, and so many more essential and cute things that make a house feel like a home. That day the sale display in the housewares section had Rival ice cream makers on sale for $24.99. I was intrigued but kept moving, onward to the back of the store, to buy a mop as my old mop had broken part way through cleaning my kitchen floor.

A few days later I was back at Target, undoubtedly buying something I did need like dish soap and a whole pile of stuff I did not need but could use, like 4 boxes of Kashi GoLean cereal. Again I walked by the ice cream makers. I stopped to inspect the boxes but kept moving. I tried to telll myself there was no need to buy it, but I kept think about how I could perfect sorbets of all kinds and make vegab cookie dough ice cream, and maybe not be jealous of small children who get to have soft serve with jimmies on top. Ah the longing.

I thought about the ice cream maker for a week. Then I started to talk about it to the Husband. A LOT. Eventually, he was either tired of hearing me talk about it, or just really wanted to taste one of these creations and said something to the effect of "Go buy it already!". And that was all I had to hear. I believe the silly thing was purchased within two hours of that conversation.

And so now I bring you my first try with said machine. I used my rampant knowledge of the google to narrow down a great chocolate sorbet recipe and after reading about 25 of them I found Smitten Kitchen's post which seemed delicious and ironic, since I read her blog daily and should have thought of it in the first place! Head over there to check out the recipe she posted from The Perfect Scoop.

I deviated from the recipe on little bit. The only chocolate I had was a dark bar with espresso beans in it, so I though it fitting to replace half the water with espresso in the recipe. The result is some serious chocolate goodness with a hint of coffee. And the bonus is that this recipe is vegan to begin with, so there was no mussing and fussing with conversions.

My slight adaptation is as follows:
Chocolate-Espresso Sorbet
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup Espresso
6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large saucepan,whisk together the water with the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Let it boil, continuing to whisk, for 45 seconds. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until it’s melted, then stir in the vanilla extract and the espresso. Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend for 15 seconds. Chill the mixture thoroughly (I left mine over night since it was too late to run the machine) then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. If the mixture has become too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin it out.

Bed Time Particulars/Neurosis

On more than one occasion I have gotten out of bed to actually make the bed so that the sheets are perfectly straight and not all bunched up around my feet. I am not opposed to doing this while Brian is in the bed. I just make it around him.

The other thing I can't handle is when the sheets get pulled way up and try to choke me out. So yes, I will also re-make the bed if the sheets are too high up.

I also hate light. One time I actually made Brian get out of the bed to help me move the whole thing over 3 feet because the moon light was too bright through the window. Of course, we moved the bed in the wrong direction and within 15 minutes, Brian was fast asleep and I had moon light across my face again.

Testing

Glowing Frog

Did you see this picture of the glowing frog?