First we decided to start off its something quick and easy:

It’s instant! It is almost identical to hot-water ramen, but it is not the same at all. Have you ever crunched up the ramen in the package and put the seasoning in and eaten it like that? Well, those are the directions for this. It comes in a few flavors, and today I tried sweet and sour. The ‘noodles’ were slightly different and were easier to break. My only complaint?  The flavor I tried was just a little spicy, and I am a big huge wimp. Here is a short educational video on the prep process:

Next, we broke into the cookies. We have had this kind before, but we thought we would share the love. They are coconut butter biscuits. They are lovely fluffy-crisp rectangles where the center is butter flakey under a thin veneer of wonderful sweet coconut.

Next, we tried something interesting. A mix of two good things. Pizza samosas. I’ve had samosas, they give me great joy. I’ve had pizza, I am not impressed with it. These taste just like samosa outsides with green pepper sausage pizza inside.

To drink: a favorite of mine, orange yogurt drink. It’s thick and sweet and delightful.

Bonus Video!  Special Guest Star, Guy Who Runs Sunrise!

For inquiring minds: the necklace I am wearing in this video is something I made.

Oh, and I guess the costume may be interesting to you as well: Pokeball themed pinup girl.

A fun thing:

Frango Mints
1 (12 ounce) package milk chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate chips
(= 2 cups)
1/4 lb butter, room temp (not margarine)
1 1/8 cups powdered sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons imitation vanilla
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract or rum extract

Melt the chocolate over hot water, then cool.
Cream butter.
Add powdered sugar.
Mix.
Add eggs; beat well.
Add cooled chocolate, vanilla and flavoring.
Mix well and drip on waxed paper.

Things we do:
Use dark chocolate chips. So tasty, sets a little firmer as well.
Play with flavorings – orange is great.
Use a pastry gun. Makes cute little shapes possible.

why she needs supervision

works better when attached to mixer

Creaming butter, the easier way

adding powdered sugar. May want to stop after this step, it's yummy.

eggs from our lovely ladies

add flavoring & vanilla

Yum.

oooooh, pretty.

lock & load.

weapon at the ready

finished product

Not having any good, fresh ginger around, I got a recipe from a cousin for chocolate gingerbread. I figured the chocolate would make up for the stale ginger powder, right?

Ah, if only that had been the worst of my problems.

I made a few changes to the recipe. I used special dark chocolate chips, demerara sugar, dark molasses. Otherwise I left it alone.

Let me say that the world can breathe a sigh of relief that I am not involved in any kind of medical care. The carnage is pretty ugly.

The results…the cookie cutters are great. The recipe was pretty good, with my adjustments.
The baker…could really use some work.

I have been craving butterscotch ice cream topping for a couple of weeks, but I wince every time I see the price at the grocery store. Suddenly, it occurred to me that it should be possible to make at home, right? So I googled.

I found several different recipes, and settled on one that looked simplest. And then modified it.
It started like this:

1/4 cup (4 tablespoons, 2 ounces or 1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (about 109 grams) packed dark or light brown sugar (I used dark)
1/2 cup (118 ml) heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) flaky sea salt (or 1/4 teaspoon regular salt), plus more to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons (8 ml) vanilla extract, plus more to taste

It ended like this:

1/2 cup butter (salted, it’s all I had handy)
1 cup demerara sugar (why use sugar that has had molasses added back in, when you can use sugar that never had it taken out?
1 cup half-n-half (again, it’s what I had handy. Left over from the amazing potatoes the roommate made for dinner)
couple healthy pinches of course sea salt
a splash of imitation vanilla (because I’m usually pretty cheap)

I did follow the cooking part – throw all ingredients into a heavy saucepan, stir to a simmer, let bubble for 5 minutes or so.
Like this.

It’s now sitting in a mason jar, cooling off a bit. Initial taste-testing gave positive results.
For the video-lovers out there, here’s my taste-tester with her take on it.

and then

Glad you survived, I’d have to listen to everyone say, “That Riko, I knew he’d get burned up in a drunken housefire” every family gathering.

The brownies were from scratch – first time I’ve ever done that. I am generally lazy and use a mix – not realizing all this time that brownies are so incredibly simple. I found a recipe online (it hurt me to use this site, but it was a great recipe), and used the brownie pan Mom got me for my birthday (self-serving gift if ever there was one).

They turned out fantastic. Really. I hate looking at That Woman and her Ever-Smiling Face, but it was worth it. I may add chips or something to it next time…or…

So I’m having an Oreo, realizing that the best part is the filling. Why can’t we just buy Oreo filling? Or make it ourselves? And, I dunno, use it to fill brownies? We should do that.

And we can.

And I will. Soon. As soon as we wake up from the sugar-coma brought on by the cookies and brownies tonight. Stay tuned!

let it be known, my mother makes the BEST fried egg sandwich. with my winter hibernation diet in full swing, i need to eat twice as often. so today’s before dinner snack was a half-sandwich.

bread, mayo, salt, pepper, heinz spicy katsup and a fresh from the coop egg fried over easy.

by over easy i mean “with the yolk runny and delicious” and if you are not careful you get very messy. keep a napkin handy, and be ready for drippings.

delicious.

i want to thank mom for frying it up for me and the chickens for the brilliant eggs. i mean, look at this color

anyhow, thanks again for reading, and may the metaphor be with you.

We will keep you updated with new episodes as they occur.

so, today we get the overview of school food. every school has its own type. my middle school had terrible food. soggy pizza, crunchy rolls, and broccoli cheese that threatened mankind. as an experiment, a friend took one of the salad crunchy and dipped it in the mac and cheese sauce, then tossed it at the wall. it stuck, rather successfully. about a year later it was finally gone. it was depressing. but the day we all were excited and terrified of the most was chicken burger day. i have always had a thing against bland food, so i always added all the sauces. all of them. barbecue, salsa, sour cream, ketchup, relish, and sometimes fruit. this was terrifing for the people near me, as it was a rather messy creation, and they were curious, but usually not enough to try some. untill my lovely best friend at the time asked what it tasted like.

“sexy”

“really?” so she tried it. “oh, yeah. you are right.”

duh, i would not have made it, eaten it and told you that if i had not ment it.

anyway, now i am in high school, and the second one at that. the first one had good, if bland and quantity lacking food. but the new one is very health conscious and understands that we wont eat it if it is not tasty. daily we have 4 choices. a sandwich place like a fake subway, a pizza station, fake Mexican food, and  a place with a different daily choice. the daily choice is generally delicious. burger mondays, pasta wednesday and the occasional turkey gravy day. but on calzone days, and a few others, that is not my thing, so i seek refuge elsewhere. i made the mistake of trying the pizza, and the crust was gooey. not like, slightly doughy in that way most people don’t like but i find makes my heart flutter, more like, they did not cook it entirely and the sauce seeped in and ruined the structural integrity. it was a pizza to mourn for.

i also eat breakfast at school on mornings i am not late. bagels, cereal, yogurt and frozen fruit “parfait”, a daily hot choice (usually pancakes or waffles or somesuch) and milk or orange juice. after a spazzy morning last year when i ended up with cereal and juice and no milk, i found that rice crispy in orange juice are actually delicious.

also, i love the lunch ladies. two of them recognize me and say hi daily. they ask if i am sleeping better and how i feel and comment on my outfits and hair colors. they are so sweet.

one last thing. school does try to keep me alive, but recently i ended up with bonus metabolism. i know, people hate me; but i have to eat so much to keep a steady weight and more if i want to gain and i am trying right now. so not just school food.

first food is before i leave the house. generally a frozen burrito or toast or something fast like that.

then school breakfast

in my bag, grainola bars, onigiri, bags of snacks, little single serving packages of things, hard boiled eggs. anything i can pack.

then school lunch. i load my plate off the salad bar also, in an attempt to blot out the hunger.

more snacks to follow.

then home, another snack

and eventually dinner.

p.s., a lovely friend of mine introduced me to moon pies. not the marshmallow kind. the ones with the bright yellow thing in the middle. delicious Asian food. except the yellow part. none of us liked that. the rest was good, but that one part was unfortunately unpalatable by all of us.

anyway, much love and promises of our backed material asap.