Main
1. Cake
Unlike a certain Mr. Tyler Florence on a certain episode of Iron Chef America, MY Buche de Noel turned out swimmingly. My buche (a traditional French "yule log" cake) actually turned out really well and, I say, redeemed me from last week's baking disaster. I slaved away on this puppy (please note, the cake contains no fluffy animals) all day, and really was afraid that it would completely fall apart. I also had no faith in the meringue mushrooms but the way they came together was uberawesome. I am very proud of my yule log. Check it out:
2. Presents
Between one tissue paper, two wrapping papers, two bows, four tags, four gift bags, and five ribbons, I managed to not wrap any of my gifts exactly the same!
presents for friends
presents for family
1. My gingerbread house is still in one piece! I decided against decorating though. Why decorate a crappy house with candy when you can just eat the candy?
2. Over the last 2 weeks I have fallen asleep almost every night with the tv and lights on at a pretty early hour.
3. Work holiday parties are always fun. Free wine and food (who can resist eggnog cheesecake bites on a stick), gossiping with coworkers, finding out who else is obsessed with the Hills, finding out who's going to get the drunkest...
4. Oh. My. God.
I think I am in contention for the worst gingerbread house ever made.
See, I lack the two qualities necessary to succeed in the gingerbread world: patience and precision. My dough was too crumbly. I didn't bother to try to make even, straight pieces. I didn't bother trying to make a slanted roof. I burnt the gingerbread. The icing was too runny.
The melted Jolly Rancher windows came out surprisingly nicely.
Trying to put it together I just kind of held the pieces in place and dumped as much frosting as possible over it in hopes that something would stick.
I just spent my entire day on this damn thing because the weather is too crappy to go anywhere and someone cancelled the ski trip I was supposed to be on right now.
If it survives until tomorrow I might try to decorate. Might.
Stay tuned for gingerbread watch 2007...
Turkey: Brining
Homemade Apple Tart: Baked
Update - 12:30pm, Thanksgiving Day
Turkey: unbrined, stuffed, coated in herbed butter
Update - 5:00pm, Thanksgiving Day
Turkey: Beautiful
on laziness
1. Two years ago DePaul got new ID cards and required that every student go to ID services to get a new one. Today, I finally went.
2. I ordered some software today...but it will come on CD and my CD drive has been broken for six months.
3. I suppose I could delete that email draft I wrote and never sent in 2000...it never bothered me before but the new hotmail interface makes it glaringly obvious that it is there.
on baking
1. Any recipe that calls for seven chocolate bars has to be good, right?
2. Bad idea: keeping the candy bars and marshmallows on the stove while it was preheating.
3. Good idea: S'mores bars!
1. I was in desparate need of a floor-length dress that is very on the cheap, covers my tattoo at least kind of, and is understated but gorgeous.
My plan to go to the juniors section to find a cheap homecoming dress was thwarted when I discovered that teenagers apparently don't wear anything that covers the knees anymore.
I managed to find something on the clearance rack at David's Bridal. It's a little too long and doesn't really cover my tattoo, but was dirt cheap and will serve its purpose.
2. Yesterday I went with Alina to help her look at wedding dresses. She found some winners, and honestly it doesn't matter which one she chooses. She looked absolutely stunningly gorgeous in every one of them. Can't wait till February!
3. I went to Target and resisted the cute pink portable dvd player. I did pick up a cute pink Santoku knife though :)
4. I made cheesy corn bread!
"what's in the basket? Easter Eggs?"
"What's in the basket?"
"clothes."
"what's in the basket? Easter Eggs?"
"What's in the basket?"
"clothes."
"what's in the basket? Easter Eggs?"
"What's in the basket?"
"clothes."
This is stuck in my head. Seriously, that snippet of conversation is completely stuck in my head and just repeats and I will never get rid of it. Why? Because I watched "Basket Case" last night and I threw the DVD in while I was still working on something else. So, the opening screen, which played those snippets of dialogue over and over, was on for a good ten minutes in the background...
p.s. if you have never seen Basket Case (you may have, it was a horror night movie once upon a time) watch it. It is awesome.
More news:
- Jane Magazine has ceased publication. They are trying to shove Glamour down my throat. It stopped being good when Jane left anyways I guess. :(
- I cried at a car commercial yesterday. I mean actual sad weepy tears.
- The people who run the metra are morons sometimes.
- I bit off all my nails.
- I saw a woman at McDonalds complaining that all the iced coffee is just regular coffee poured into a glass of ice. (mind you, she wasn't even paying for this coffee, she had a free coupon). Seriously lady, it's McDonalds. What did you expect, a magic iced coffee cow???
- I just took four hours to make a batch of homemade twinkies...and probably spent about eight times what a box would have cost. But I have homemade twinkies :)
- I bought a DePaul sweatshirt today because it was pink...later I looked at the tag and it says it is red :(
Jenny: Adam tried to kill me.
Adam: That's right, I stabbed her.
Last night Nadia and I finally made it over to Jen and Adam's new house. It's a pretty sweet townhome overlooking a golf course (or so we're told, as it was night and we couldn't see much outside). It's a really nice place aside from the outdated light fixtures and the mirrors behind the bed (left over from the 60 year old couple who used to live there...ummm...gross.
We went to Bakers Square for some pie shop special and then played pool where we did Reegers versus non-reegers and then married women versus non-married women (Adam qualifies because he is not a married woman).
There was a sign in the pool hall for a new cherry beer by Sam Adams, and the bottle on the sign clearly said "Made with real cherries and cherry." Anyone know the difference??? (actually, I looked it up and it's supposed to say cherry flavoring, but that is not what it said.)
Anyways, Congratualations Jenny and Adam on your fabulous new house, and on a wonderful year of marriage! Happy Anniversary!
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1. Instead of showing file names, my computer keeps showing Chinese characters
2. I promised him that this would make the blog...I totally randomly ran into Brian C. on the street the other after not seeing him in forever and a year. Sometimes Chicago is the smallest city in the world.
3. I hate when you sit down to watch a movie you've never seen before and then realize that you've seen it before.
4. I made a massive apfelstrudel (seriosuly, I was afraid that my kitchen was going to explode).
5. You know you are insane when the one-hour photo place says they will call you when your order is done...and hey don't call for twenty-four hours...not because they forgot you, but because it seriously took them that long to complete your order.
1. Thursday I went for sushi with Josh and Nadia. We were supposed to go to this one really good place but they were packed and had a ridiculously long wait. So we ended up at another sushi place a few doors down. Now, I have a theory here...If you are in Lincoln Park and one sushi place is packed and another is completely empty there is probably a reason... (I probably also shouldn't take restaurant advice from a boy whose favorite restaurant is Tasty Gyro...) We did have an excellent appetizer of teriyaki beef rolls. And I had yummy plum wine. But the waiter was a meany who would not bring me the plaid 3-legged pony I ordered (he said they were all out of the other types of ponies) and who sat on my imaginary friend. Mean mean waiter :(
2. I baked pudding. OK, OK, so you don't really bake pudding. But it counts. I then ate my pudding all alone by myself watching a movie with a former Dawson having a lot of sex. It was an enjoyable movie. The pudding was too lumpy (I am too impatient some times).
3. A horoscope I enjoyed: CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): If you were to get very quiet and tune in to all that's going on around you, you may realize that you're the thought that turns someone's lips into a bemused smile.
4. Yesterday I got a tour of the Civic for the first time. I kind of forgot that there was this whole other part of my company that I've never seen.
1. skipped work.
2. raspberry lemon bars.
3. lunch with MattyK
I made sure to keep him off the topic of work, except when it came to making him promise to take me to vienna if he gets to go. He doesn't think his hair is as funny as I do. A knife is just as good as $50. Cutting chips with said knife is a bad idea, but I kind of already knew that.
4. victorias secret semi-annual sale.
I guess I shouldn't think of it as blowing $200, I should think of it as saving $150...right? Really though, it's the only time of the year I stock up on underwear. I won't share everything, but here is a pictoral of everything that has a butterfly on it :)
See that little black and pink lacy thing peaking out of the top?? Yeah, it's a kind of hot slip/nighty thing. Want to see more of it??? Come on boys, I know you do ;-)
5. Jazz with the Joffrey
Ravinia Festival really has to work on the signage to get to their parking...because I most definitely was right there but then got lost for an hour. Good thing I was hella early. So after totally missing the exit to the free park and ride I finally found a lot and was bussed over to the site. For those of you who don't know what Ravinia is, which apparently is all of my friends, it's a big outdoor stage complex that shows classical concerts and such throughout the summer. The actual tickets to the shows cost $50 or something, but lawn tix are $10. And the lawn, while you can't actually see the stage, is kind of awesome because you can bring wine and picnic while listening to the concert. It's really quite a site because it's a big lawn full of people with their little citronellas glowing.
Nad and I went to go see Jazz with the Joffrey which was live jazz with the Ramsey Lewis Trio with the Joffrey Ballet performing. Well, we think the Joffrey was performing, but we couldn't really see (although I did manage to scope out the one spot in the place where we could kind of see a corner of the stage, and were able to see a couple of dance moves). It was awesome though. And we had a good night of picnicing (pasta salad, carrot soup, lemon bars, cheese, jam, tomatoes, and whole wheat pitas...oh and wine).
I also discovered that all it really takes for me to be attracted to a guy is a really awesome camera.
I also discovered that I can find my way home from Highland Park without needing a map (because sometimes Gogole Maps lies).
So, remember last week when I said that everyone I know named Jen was has either gotten engaged or has/is getting married this year? Well, yeah, I forgot one...so, of course...
Congratulations Josh and Jennifer!
Now, officially, all FIVE of the Jens I know either have gotten engaged or married in the past year. Maybe I should change my name...
* * *
I am a horrible person because...
today at Cosi I ordered a $9 lobster salad sandwich and then told the counter lady it was a $6 tuna salad sandwich.
I am a crazy person because...
I am holding out on renewing my cell phone contract because I am waiting for this
Pink Krzr, currently available in the UK, to come to America. I very well might switch phone companies if another company has it and Verizon does not.
I am an awesome person because...
I went to SummerDance tonight and learned Brazillian Dance. Did you know Brazillian dance is the most boring easiest dance in the world? I'll show it to you some time. I'm still awesome though.
I am a tired person because...
It's one in the morning and I am baking lemon bars. I already had to go to Jewel an hour ago because I was out of flour. I also made some carrot soup, but I will finish that in the morning. I am so proud of myself, I sliced up a whole onion for the soup and didn't cry. Then I ruined the proud of me moment by packing a food processor so tight with flour, powdered sugar, and butter, that the blade did nothing. I think we can officially take "Baker" out of the running.
1. I made carrot cake.
2. Victoria's Secret sent my dad a $10 gift certificate for his birthday.
3. Between Plecki and Food Network Luau Beach BBQ I want to go to Hawaii. I need a man as good as Jen's. :) Anyone want to take me???
4. The photographers posted a few pics from Nad's wedding! (Under May 12, 2007)
Wow! I can't wait to see the rest... In fact, I can't wait to get married so I can steal her photographer! Anyone want to marry me???
On Ace of Cakes tonight they made a Bears Vs. Colts Super Bowl Cake. I could not find a pic online, so I took a picture of my TV.
Their cake:
My Cake:
I think we can all agree whose is better ;-)
After Nadia's shower on Saturday I was supposed to go to a party at Robert's, but the shower ran a little late and the three cups of champagne punch I had made me a wee bit drowsy.So I went home to nap. Sorry I couldn't make it!
Anyways, here are the brownies you would have had if I had gone:
After a nap, I heard from JoeJoe that since Helen was in town, Hood wanted to do something. So, I headed out to the Kerry Piper to meet some peeps. I didn't feel like drinking so I ordered a Coke, but the guy brought me a diet Coke (I don't like diet soda, and fake sugar makes me sick some times) so I didn't even drink it all (and when I did I think I made the same face I make when i try to drink beer). I suppose I could have complained, but eh. I am glad though that I didn't buy a drinkdrink becasue from the looks of the bill all of the drinks were mighty expensive.
Anyways, we got to talking about registries and now Joe is convinced that he should register for his wedding at Sam's Club. He wants dino nugguts and a gallon of ranch dressing. :)
So, at one point I start laughing like crazy and MK thinks it was because of a joke he told, as if he'd ever said anything funny in his life, but no, it was because of this:
:)
So, yeah. That was the first weekend that I had human contact in a month. JoeJoe needs to be in town more often because I think he is officially my only friend. Now to make him my only fiance too :)
Things I did this week in line with my 100 goals:
1. I looked at an apartment, but didn't like the location.
4. I dyed my hair blonde, but it didn't do anything.
36. I watched the first six episodes of the first season of Fraggle Rock (not technically a cartoon, but it counts as part of this goal)
51. I am halfway through Middlesex (2003 Pulitzer Prize winner). I also made a list of the 80 books that have won the Pulitzer and picked out the first 10 that I will read.
52. I bought a copy of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
54.-58. I've kept up with writing at least 300 words a day :) Worked a bit on the memoir, a random YA novel, an article, and some essays.
67. Started drafting a letter to a publishing house to ask for an editing test.
71. Started designing my first freelance website.
72. Uploaded 18 CDs onto my Ipod.
74. Started looking into localish places to go for snowboarding, unfortunately everything is closed right now because it is too warm.
85. Baked Oatmeal-Cherry Cookies
I love to bake!
Today I made homemade pumpkin raisin cookies with a pumpkin glaze.
Yummymcyumyum.
Oh, I also drove my dad's SUV this morning. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Although I could never find my speed gauge because my Saturn Ion has ruined me (my car has all the gauges in the middle of the dashboard).
Anyways, in the afternoon ScottyMcHotty and KennyK (MattyK's brother) had a bbq! Yayfoodandpeopleing.
Earlier in the day I asked JoeJoe if he was coming. He had no idea what I was talking about. I told him I saw his name on the email Scott sent. He still had no idea what I was talking about. I looked at the email and apparently Scott had sent it to his waywayway old aol account. JoeJoe laughed about this and I told him to come because technically he was invited :)
So JoeJoe came, and ScottyMcHotty, and KennyK, and Robert (pronounced as the French would say it) and Becca and later Karen and Tracy, Karyn, and Rich. Becca made a really good cheesy dip thing.mmm. People liked my cookies. Rich said I looked like Kirsten Dunst. We all spilled things all over the new table and carpet (I spilled soda, Joe spilled cheese and ice, Ken and Scott hit a cup of coffee and sent it all over the place playing table hockey with styrophome plates...). We are bad. I played Ken at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the Nintendo and he only slightly kicked my ass. It was a good game to play because my normal strategy of hitting all the buttons at once seemed to be the way to go.
On my way home I somehow accidentally got on a highway. I had to get off right away because I had no idea where to go. I had to pay a toll to get off of it. Sucks.
"I Want a Famous Face" is on MTV right now. This show hasn't been on in forever.
Last week Andy posted this link in his blog. Basically, the Germans did a study that said that redheads have more sex. Well, who am I to argue with an argument like that???
Yup, I'm a redhead! Well, kind of an orangyhead, but whatever. Now, I actually really liked the blonde but it was time for a change, plus I have goals to attain. Plus I now have a better chance at getting something. And, admittedly, I also kind of do like having more of the Mary Jane Spiderman color. :)
I also baked some of the most delicious chocolate chip cookies ever today:
mmmm. They were supersweet and had just the right amount of crispiness. don't you wish you had some??? Now, its kind of hard to bake cookies when you can only find a ½ cup and a tablespoon. But it did work out in my favor as I disovered the secrets to the perfect chocolate chip cookie:
1. Accidentally pour in about two tablespoons of vanilla extract when the recipe calls for a teaspoon.
2. Buy milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet (why wouldn't you want all sweet??)
3. Accidentally pour in about 9 ounces of chips when the recipe calls for 6.
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