Think they trained hard?

http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20247449,00.html

I made peppermint bark the other day. It's both fun and easy to do stuff with melted chocolate. It's also fun to smash up candy canes with a hammer, only if you do it on top of a cookie sheet while you husband is sleeping on the couch in the other room, he will wake up quite suddenly and wonder what the hell is going on. Because that is very noisy. If you move your candy cane smashing operation directly to the countertop, it's a lot quieter. (Please note, candy canes must be confined in a ziploc if you don't want a huge mess.)

My candy looks pretty much like this picture.

My whiskers, let me show you them

A shot of Tasha when she was our visitor, soaking up the sun

I made four batches of pumpkin bread yesterday, 2 at a time. In the end there are 6 small loaves and 2 bigger ones. And what nice loaves they are! Pretty brown on the outside, smell so tasty, crispy crust- (yesterday) and they taste good too. So don't disdain the recipes that come with your appliances. Our recipe came with the Sunbeam Mixmaster.

This house has pros and cons.

pro- Better wall insulation means it's warmer that the apartment was.
con- The windows are aluminum, and attract the cold like nobody's business. Thus, there is often moisture build up on the windows.

pro- Garage! Basement with washer and dryer! Driveway that isn't steep! Nice view from the patio door for kitty. Kitchen has dishwasher (but we paid for half of it.) Landlord is pretty accommodating.

con- Actually less living space than the apartment. House lacks style. Not saving any money on rent or bills. Crappy electricity leads to my monitor view shaking if the microwave is on.

Final verdict- Remains to be seen. At least we aren't getting screwed by the University any more.

It's a good thing they sell food. If not, I probably wouldn't have made it this long. Or I'd live off cereal. I'm a pretty crap cook. I managed to make soup the other day- but that mostly just means I cut some stuff up small, put it in broth, and waited for it to cook. It's a good thing it turned out okay too, because I made a lot!
My banana bread yesterday, while not a failure, also wasn't a success. I should have put in another banana, because it turned out kinda dry and not banana-y enough.
How did I make it 28 years and not pick up anything from my mother? She's a good cook. She doesn't always think the stuff she makes is the greatest, but it's always food and usually tastes pretty good. I can make a few things but not many. I usually suck at planning too. We'll start to feel hungry, then look around for something to eat. If I manage to eventually put ingredients together into food, then I'll leave some of the dishes around for a couple days before cleaning it all up. I need a chef.

Over the last 45 minutes, I watched a fellow build a log cabin on PBS. He cut windows and a door, then made wooden hinges and a wooden latch for the door. Then he made a wooden lock for the door. Then he built a fireplace and chimney, not to mention carved himself a wooden spoon. In Alaska! He hunted for sheep, caught fish, and everything else you do to live in the wilderness. He built a sled to haul things about in winter.

He started out seeing if he could live a year in the wilderness in 1968. He stayed there 30 years.
Oh, the voice over at the end said he moved out when he was 82.

Condensed video here.

Delicious!

I can't imagine not wanting to eat meat. I will now list some tasty meat items: Pulled pork, cheezburgers, steak, chicken nuggets, meatballs, fajitas, philly cheese steak, ham, and chicken "wings."

Can you tell I haven't had dinner? For lunch I had leftover pizza, which is a tasty thing even though there isn't a lot of meat included. I like it better this way, for pizza you need to have a lot more cheese and veggies than meat.
You still need that pepperoni, of course. But you also need the cheese (duh) onions, peppers, olives, mushrooms maybe, and pineapple if you're lucky.