All Hallow's

Happy Halloween!

Sconehead

Yum. Chocolate chip scones. One of my favorite things to make. The dough itself isn't terribly sweet, so the chocolate chips add just enough sweetness.

Three's a Party

I'm going to a party tonight (which I am nervous as hell about. I'm not all that rad at social situations), so I decided to make some cupcakes, just because I'm old-fashioned and I think you should always do something nice for someone if they're having you over to their house. Because this is Olympia, you can bet that there'll be a couple vegans wherever you go, and that gave me a reason to try vegan cupcakes Martha-style. (In case you didn't pick up on this, I'm sort of secretly obsessed with Martha Stewart. I should hate her guts but at the same time, I adore her. It's kind of how Katie and I feel about Giada "Tits 'n' Teeth" de Laurentis. Should hate her but don't.)

The recipe only makes 12 but I doubled it.
3 c. cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder (once Kara or Amy tried to make vegan nutella with unsweetened cocoa powder & peanut butter and it was gross. So don't do that.)
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. + 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. distilled white vinegar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees & prepare muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Mix together dry ingredients.
3. Mix together wet ingredients.
Oil & water separate! This is science, people!
4. Mix wet & dry ingredients together. The resulting mixture will be very thin! Chocolate soup!
5. Fill the cups up 3/4 of the way, then pop those suckas in the oven for about 20 minutes, rotating halfway through.
6. Go mess around with the self-timer on your camera!
Two things I do a lot: give a thumbs-up & fiddle with my bangs. One thing I am not good at: self-timer pictures. And yes, I am wearing an apron.
Then go watch some Golden Girls.
7. Take 'em out o' the oven. Admire your handiwork. I made an icing out of powdered sugar and water then dusted them with cocoa powder but you could do whateva you want.

You'll get it right some time, you will, I tell myself that every day

You may or may not know this, but October is depression awareness month. It's overshadowed by breast cancer awareness (which is also really important), but I think more attention needs to be paid to this illness.

Here are some signs of depression from the National Institute of Mental Health:

• Persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" mood
• Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism
• Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness
• Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities that were once enjoyed

According to the Uplift Program, 9.5% of adults suffer from depression. I've been struggling with it since I was a young teenager, and was officially diagnosed at age 15. I've been to rock bottom but I'm doing okay now. Too many people dismiss depression as "teenage angst" or "a phase" but ask anyone who has it, and they'll tell you that it's a serious condition. The simplest things become tasks of Herculean proportions when you're depressed. Sometimes it's all I can do just to get out of bed in the mornings. I've missed out on a lot of things because of my depression. I know that this will effect me for the rest of my life, and I'm doing the best I can to manage it.

I'm not alone in this. Many people I love also suffer from depression or another mental illness. I wish that mental illness wasn't so stigmatized, and it was easier for people to understand. I'm lucky in that I have people who love me and care about me (even if they're far away from me), but not everyone is. If someone you love is depressed, the Uplift Program offers 9 rules to follow:
1. Understand the disorder.
So many popular misunderstandings about the illness and so much denial about its origins exist.
2. Keep in mind that he/she can't "snap out of it."
Remember that the other person has a real illness. Like someone with cancer, they can't simply "get over it."
3. Ask about his/her feelings and his/her childhood programming.
4. Admit your own powerlessness against the disorder.
Many people believe they can cure someone they love just by the sheer force of their love.
5. Do not try to rescue.
6. Don't make excuses for him/her.
7. Encourage him to seek help.
8. Discover your own programming.
His/her behavior may seem to give you an excuse to vent angry feelings, or an opportunity for you to play the knight in shining armor or perhaps a reason to excuse your own real or imagined shortcomings.
9. Tell him/her what you need.
If you aren't honest about what you're getting from the relationship, or what you want to get, you will make the other person feel even worse about himself.

Here's a couple songs I like to listen to when I'm feeling down.

Save Your Generation - Jawbreaker


Keep on Livin' - Le Tigre

Bork

There's Never a Reason Not to Party - Latterman

You Sound Like You're Sick

I'm sick! I've been chugging Emergen-C like a fiend and washing my hands every 5 minutes, but my weak-ass immune system doesn't care. I used to never get sick and now I get sick all the time. I'm glad I don't have class today. I hate missing class. However, because other people do have class (or go home for the weekend), no one is around to watch Time Bandits with me.

Anyways, on Tuesday (another day off, hooray!) I made some coffe cake muffins. These muffins were so good that Katie proposed marriage. We're getting married in Vegas by an Elvis impersonator. I'm so glad we share common wedding dreams. (I'm serious, the only way I will agree to marriage is if it can be in Vegas, by an Elvis impersonator. Or at Voodoo Doughnuts. I'm a little bit flexible.) They're really, really good.They're not the most gorgeous things I've ever made but I'm not a decorator. Plus they're delicious.

P.S. You know you go to Evergreen when you go down to the corner store to get some yoghurt or sour cream for your muffins and all you can find is Tofutti dairy-free sour cream.
People keep inviting me to shows and stuff and it's really weird because it's not like we're really friends or anything. I'm always suspicious when people invite me to stuff. I'm afraid they just want to humiliate me and dump pig blood on me and then I'll have to unleash my telekinetic powers and wreak havoc on the prom and I really hope you've seen Carrie or else this sounds crazy. Maybe I should just get over it and go. Maybe people do actually want to be my friend.

Keepin' it real.

Thank you, Razorcake.

C is for Cookie

So I'm back at college, (almost) all moved into the on-campus apartment I share with 3 of my friends. (One of whom loves to cook--even more than I do! Last night we made a fabulous egg drop soup. So easy. Easy as pie, which is the dumbest expression ever because pie is super time consuming, so not that easy. Easy as egg drop soup. And one of whom loves hair metal as much as me.)

Classes start on Monday. (Eep! I'm not ready! Not all my textbooks have gotten here yet!)

Anyways, on to the foodstuffs. Last night I was watching Glee (which I am mad about--if you haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for?) when the cooking roommate (Katie) popped out & asked if I'd like a beer. Please, is that even a question? 2 1/2 Newcastles later, I was pretty tipsy (I'm such a lightweight. I don't drink very often, and I'm not a particularly large girl. Height-wise, I'm kind of a beast, but I don't weigh all that much.) We wanted cake, but we didn't have the ingredients for it, or a cheater-cheater-pumpkin-eater cake mix, so we decided on chocolate chip cookies, which we didn't have the ingredients for either. A quick Google search later, I'd found this recipe. They turned out great. However, a warning--they don't give you a baking time! The timing is very vague & it varies. Ours were slightly burned on the bottom (but we were slightly intoxicated so it's okay). But they're still delicious!

Check out that perfectly round shape. These are some gaaaw-geous cookies.

And our stove, which is way nicer than my stove at home.

Cupcakes!

Today I was gifted with my greatest baking wish--a Wilton cupcake pan! And, as an added bonus, a cookie sheet! The reason these are superior to all other pans are that they feature an extended handle-type thing, which is perfect as I am always putting my big sausage fingers into everything. (Note: I do not actually have big sausage fingers. My fingers are very delicate.) I'm in looooooove. If these pans were a boy I would propose a speedy elopement.

Perhaps I could bake some dancing cupcakes?



P.S. It has come to my attention (via Facebook updates of all things) that Mr. Patrick Swayze has died. I am saddened to hear this, as I adore Dirty Dancing. Nobody puts Baby in the corner.

Obsessed With You

Obviously, I really really really really like food (or else why would I carve out a place on the internet just to talk about it?) and these are some of the foods I really really really really like.

1. Trader Joe's Yellow Curry Sauce.



















I want to drink this stuff straight out of the bottle. It's so delicious. I like to fry a little tofu, cook some rice, and smother everything in curry sauce. So easy & soooooo yummy.

2. Nutritional Yeast/Brewer's Yeast/"Nootch"











I had never even heard of this stuff until I moved to Olympia. I'm a volunteer concessionaire at the Capitol Theatre, and instead of putting butter on the popcorn, customers are presented with an array of things to put on their popcorn. At first, I balked at brewer's yeast, but I quickly grew to love it/be obsessed with it. I'm kind of a yeast evangelist at this point--if someone isn't sure what to put on their popcorn, I push for tamari & yeast! Oh God, I miss that popcorn soooo much.

3. PIE (a.k.a. "pah")



















'Nuff said. I like all kinds except savory pies, apple pie, coconut pie (I just hate coconut on all fronts), and rhubarb pie.

4. Cupcakes.
I often wax poetic on the subject of cupcakes--cuter than a regular cake. You get to be greedy & have one all to yourself! They are little islands of cakedom!

5. Cheese










I love cheese in all its forms--macaroni & cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, cheesecake (YUM), but most of all I just like to eat it straight up. Not even with crackers.

Honorable mentions go to:
Natural peanut butter (I can't stand Skippy!)
French fries
Tacos
Coffee
Iced tea
Ice cream

Mugmugmug

I finally got it together & made something today! Just a quick coffee cake from the Bisquick cookbook. (Yes, I know Bisquick is technically cheating & using a mix but my first forays into baking were Bisquick cheese biscuits. Sentimental, yo.)

I mixed & baked this cake entirely one handed. You see, a seal wearing a bow tie bit off one hand. Actually, I was on the phone with Amy, discussing deep fried food. For an hour. I really, really, really like fried stuff. I will probably die young, but I will die with a full & happy belly.

I didn't think to take a picture of the cake, so here's a picture of an adorable latte I got when in Vancouver, BC last summer.

How cute is that? I'd love to be able to do coffee art.


As far as my actual life goes, I've been dealing with an emotional vampire & it's driving me batty (har har har). I wish my hair would grow faster. I wish I was back in Olympia! I miss my far-away friends.

It's Not the Heat, It's the Humanity

It's been way too hot & I've been way too lazy to cook anything that requires it. I've been spending my days reading comic books in my room with the fan on high power. I've been wearing the exact same clothes for like, the past 4 days--cutoffs, black t-shirt, moccasins. I'm slowly becoming a crusty. Maybe I should stop showering & start listening to like, Aus-Rotten or Leftover Crack.

Sidebar: I was actually kind of into Leftover Crack in high school but I just kind of got burned out on them & moved on. Then this dude I was sorta-kinda-not really friends with gave me some music by Star Fucking Hipsters which involves members of LoC & then I started listening to them again.

I always rag on crusties but I secretly love them. I'm just really into hygiene & dairy products & knowing you always have a place to sleep.

I think when I have my own house, I want to raise chickens & bees. And live with like 20 other people. I dig the idea of collectives & communes. Which is weird because I can be super reclusive. I think I secretly think that if I live with a shit ton of rad folks, I'll all of a sudden get social.

Uh, let's see, I've been growing my hair for 3 months & it's getting pretty long. I look older, by which I mean I look the age I actually am.

Dog Days

Remember the ugly pug painting I was talking about? I went back to Marshall's yesterday afternoon with my aunt & bought it. I've been staring at it ever since. It really is quite hideous in the best way possible.



Look at those sad eyes! Now imagine them staring at you while you sit in my living room.

I know that my decorating sense (a shrine to all things kitschy & tacky--I adore black velvet paintings) may not appeal to some or all people, but I can't help it. I'm also going back to Ross for tiki face cups. Because I am totally 70 years old. And batshit crazy. Come over & we'll have tea out on the lanai.

I'm so excited to have a whole apartment to decorate (well, co-decorate--I have 3 roommates) in the fall! Because it's still campus housing, it's ugly as sin, so I will have to jazz it up a little bit. I'll have to hit up the Goodwill when I get there to find more eyesores. And by "eyesores" I mean "beauties."

By the way, if anyone dares to say anything derogatory about my darling pug, I'm going to say that I painted it.

Strawberry Cupcakes

I made these a couple days ago. They're also from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. That book rocks. I want to rip out all the cupcake pictures & frame them. Especially because I passed on a hideous painting of a sad-eyed pug wearing a jacket at Marshall's today. I might go back & get it, it was only $9.99 & would provide me hours of amusement. Almost as much amusement as the anatomically correct pug statuette Emily & I bought for Kara from Goodwill.

Anyways, the cake part of these is awesome, despite the fact that I almost lost a finger chopping strawberries into tiny pieces. I was so fed up with it that I only put in half what the recipe called for. My sister ate like 3 before I even made the frosting.

The frosting...eh. It's not totally disgusting, but it's definitely not how I wanted it to turn out, but I'm not quite sure what's off about it.

I guess I'll have to buy ugly dog paintings to make myself feel better.
The good part.

Fresh strawberries from the farmers' market! I also bought olive oil, parsley, blackberries (which I ate all by myself), & a block of cheese (which I also ate all by myself because I have a dairy problem).

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

I am learning to drive a standard transmission car, which is not the easiest thing in the world. Last weekend, I unnecessarily yelled at my poor father, so I promised him I'd bake him a treat to make up for it. He flipped through my copy of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes and selected, of course, a difficult and time-consuming one--Boston Cream Pie. (I was assuming he would pick the Guinness Stout cupcakes).

The cupcakes themselves baked up easily enough, but I ran into trouble with the pastry cream filling. Due to the distraction of my sister dancing through the kitchen, I dumped the cornstarch into the egg yolks. So I had to dump out those egg yolks & do that all over again. I went through 8 eggs on the stupid pastry cream! And I'm not happy with the texture of it, either. It's a little lumpier than I would have liked, but it was my first custard so I can't really complain. It tasted fine, which is really what matters in the end.


Troublesome custard.Cupcake friends! Avec ganache glaze.

Song about Boston: