Random Friday stuff...

*I'm watching Tron on one of the movie channels (the new one, not the old one... I've still never seen the old Tron...). Lately I get sucked into this movie every time it's on (hmmm... not unlike how Sam gets sucked into the cyber realm at the beginning of the movie), and lately, that's about every two days or so. They've been airing this movie a lot... Rick watched it a couple weeks ago and pointed out the fact that Jeff Bridges has amazing hair -- seriously, have you seen this guy's hair?? There's a scene at the end of the movie in slow-motion, where the wind is blowing and Jeff Bridges' hair is waving around like a lush field of coconut-oil-conditioned wheat...

Marvel... marvel at my head of awesome hair... (That's what I imagine he's saying at this point...)

*Mom and dad head back to Austin today... and while I'm sad to see them go, it's probably good that I can return to eating lettuce leaves and celery sticks now. (Okay, I'll probably eat a little bit more than that... but I've eaten far too many cupcakes over the last few weeks... :))

*But speaking of eating cupcakes -- I have been striving to increase the distance and speed of my treadmill workouts for the last couple of months. I've been working out regularly for years and years, but I've NEVER been much of a "runner"... I've never even been close to a "jogger." Even in high school, I would struggle to finish a mile on the track in 12 or 13 minutes. I was always the LAST kid to cross the finish line, except for the handful of kids who were exempt from running due to asthma or just being overweight (seriously -- I remember some fat kid who never had to run... shouldn't the fat kids ESPECIALLY have to run??). Needless to say, running on the track was pretty much my LEAST favorite thing to do in gym class... well, except for volleyball... and baseketball... and softball... (I went to school to LEARN stuff, not to work out, okay???)

But I digress... my point is, I've been slowly increasing my speed and distance. A couple days ago, I did 5.87 miles in an hour... which averages to a 10.2 minute mile. Still not impressive by "runner" standards, but way better than anything I was ever able to achieve in high school. My next goal is to get to an even 6 miles in an hour... And this is all so I can keep eating cupcakes. Lots and lots of cupcakes. (That's a joke... sort of... :))

*That's about all I've got for today. But here's a cute picture of Connor just for fun:

Hope everyone has a good weekend...

Happy Earth Day??

About once a year, I get super-political for about five minutes. So here's this year's political diatribe: I really hate "Earth Day." That is all.

Oh, and I like this video. Sorry for the politics.

No, really, I am. :)

What I did today...

As I mentioned in my last post, I occasionally receive cooking/baking requests from friends or family. Actually, in Eric's case, he brings up the topic of chocolate chip cookies just about every time I see him... and lately, he has leverage in the form of Connor -- Connor is the one who really wants the cookies. (Seriously, how can I feel so guilty about not making cookies for a five-month-old with no teeth?? :))

Today's request was chocolate cupcakes -- I made some last week for my mom's birthday, and she liked them so much that she requested more for dessert tonight. And since I'll use any excuse to bake a dessert which includes either the word "chocolate" or "cake" (but preferably both), I made these cupcakes my afternoon project...

I can't take credit for the cake recipe -- it's actually from an old restaurant in Austin called Green Pastures. I've never been to the restaurant, but they published their chocolate cake recipe in the Austin American-Statesman about fifteen years ago, and it's been my go-to chocolate cake recipe ever since. The recipe makes enough for a two-layer cake, but I only wanted about a dozen cupcakes for tonight's dessert... so I decided to make a third of a recipe. And by the way, trying to figure out a third of a recipe already rife with fractions isn't as simple as you'd think. If these cupcakes end up tasting good, it will be a testament to my awesome math skills. I gotz mad math skillz, yo...

Mmmmm... butter...

After the addition of several mathematically rearranged ingredients: mmmmmmm... chocolate...

Which then magically transforms into: MMMMMMM... CUPCAKES... (Yes, in my head "CUPCAKES" is in all-caps...)

But my favorite part of any cake-baking enterprise is the final step -- the frosting. And this MAY be my favorite part because I don't use any particular recipe, I just mix things around until they start to taste right... which means I have to taste-test the frosting. A lot. It's a requirement. A while ago, I mentioned that I bought some ridiculously expensive vanilla beans at the grocery store -- but I just found vanilla beans for $2.99 at World Market. Score! (I could seriously spend three hours just in the food section of World Market... I love that store so much I want to dress up in a frilly gown and ask it to prom...)

Vanilla beans are cool -- you have to slice them open with a knife and scrape out the little vanilla seedlings inside (I have no idea if "seedlings" is the correct term, but I'm going with it).

See all the little seedlings? $2.99 is still a lot to pay for a couple vanilla beans that will only last for one or two recipes, but I LOVE the way vanilla bean tastes in this frosting... and I don't make it very often, so I don't mind the expense...

Uh, yeah... clearly my cupcake-decorating skills are right on par with my math skills...

Maybe some colored sprinkles will distract from the haphazard frosting placement...

They'll still TASTE good, regardless...

P.S. I may or may not have licked most of the leftover frosting out of the bowl when I was finished frosting the cupcakes. Don't judge me. I spent all afternoon baking -- that has to burn SOME calories, right?? :)

Even MORE weekend randomness...

1. I obviously need to update my blog more. I have been such a slacker lately.

2. It is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Rick and I actually just watched an episode of Supernatural a couple days ago in which an angel changes the timeline so the Titanic doesn't sink... mainly because he doesn't want to listen to "that horrible Celine Dion song" anymore. Ha! That made me laugh... :) I can still remember when the wreckage of the Titanic was discovered back in the 80s (which is weird, because I couldn't have been more than, like, oh, let's say, three years old) -- I thought it was so cool that someone had manged to find it after so long, and I pored over all the pictures and information I could find. I remember one particular picture of a ghostly, white, hollow-eyed doll head lying on the ocean floor... I found it immensely creepy... I don't think I slept for a week after that...

3. My mom's birthday is in a couple days, so we had a birthday dinner at mom and dad's condo last night. Mom always requests fajitas, which I'm happy to make, especially since for the most part, they're pretty simple to cook. Although a few years ago, I decided to try making my own homemade pico de gallo, and everyone loved it so much that I am now obligated to make it every time I make fajitas. And strangely, this is the most time-consuming part of the entire fajita process, just because of all the vegetable chopping. Yesterday's batch included thirteen tomatoes, two jalapenos, an onion, a few cloves of garlic, some lime juice and a sprinkling of cilantro. Plus a random habanero pepper just for the fun of it. After I made it, I had to take a shower... because I felt like I'd turned into a giant onion/jalapeno/garlic bulb... But it IS pretty tasty stuff. :)

4. It seems like Indiana Jones movies have been playing on TV constantly lately. I was just thinking yesterday, as I watched the Temple of Doom for the sixty-seventh time, how well these movies have stood up over the test of time. I mean, Raiders of the Lost Ark was made in 1981, but even 31 years later, it still looks good... and while digital special effects have pretty much taken over in movie-making, there's something to be said for the old-fashioned props and stop-motion effects of older movies. And you can NOT find a better movie-scorer than John Williams. (Don't get me wrong, there are some great movie-music guys out there -- Hans Zimmer and James Horner come to mind -- but John Williams is THE movie composer.) Thirty years from now, will we still watch something like Inception and think it's cool? Or Avatar? (Remember how cool it was to see the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park for the first time? But now it's like, "oh, yeah... CGI dinosaurs... yippee... can we move on to something else now?")

5. I broke down and, for some reason, joined Twitter the other day. Why did I do that?? If I ever actually use it, I'll have to put a link up on the blog...

6. I think that's it for now, since I need to go jump on the treadmill or toss around some kettlebells or do some other form of activity that will count as exercise... hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Weekend random stuff...

"It means," said Aslan, "that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of Time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards."

A great Easter allegory from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis... :) Happy Easter! 

So did everyone have a decent week? Mine was quiet, mostly because Rick traveled to Portland and Seattle this week for his new job. So I was on my own for a few days... but for some reason, I'm a strange person who actually enjoys solitude now and then. Maybe I should've been some kind of monk... taken a vow of silence (noooooo problem there -- I would OWN that vow of silence thing)... spent time reflecting on life (or whatever it is monks reflect on)... eaten lots of chocolate (what? Monks don't eat lots of chocolate?? Okay, never mind... forget THAT...).

We went to see 21 Jump Street Friday night with Faisal... who, incidentally, is acquainted with pretty much every television show that aired in the 80s... even weird, obscure ones like Killer Ice Cream Cones From Mars and My Friend the Helicopter. Okay, there's a possibility that I'm making up these titles. (Although I'm pretty sure I recall that he mentioned some 80s show about a helicopter once...)

Speaking of Faisal, I managed to convince him to supply me with some more songs to support my Indian music addiction (did I mention we just saw 21 Jump Street? I'm stuck on drug metaphors at the moment...). Several of them were immediately stuck in my head, but this one has been steadily growing on me over the last few days (plus, I really appreciate the addition of the lyrics in this video... I always look up the lyrics to these songs, even though I don't comprehend any of the words...)--

Now, can someone explain to me why this was going on at the Catholic church across the street from us this morning --

One boy is juggling, and the little group behind him is playing various instruments. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the unicycle (yes, there was a UNICYCLE), or the beginning of this little scene when the boy was juggling swords. Swords. He was juggling swords. ??????? Is there some sort of Easter Circus tradition that I'm unaware of?? I will say this: that kid could JUGGLE.

And finally, here's a picture of some of the spring color that has recently appeared in the courtyard of the building across the street:

Hope everyone has a good week...

Take five...

Is it weird that I feel guilty if I don't post often enough? It's been a busy week... and Riff will not stop bringing me hair bands (which he recently discovered in the bathroom), dropping them in front of me, and quite insistently meowing and pawing my arm until I toss them for him to fetch. Yes, my cat plays fetch. (That has nothing to do with anything, I just think it's funny...)

Must go throw myself into busyness again, but until I can write a more substantial post, here's a picture to tide you over: