Things I did Today

Today has been a lovely and very interesting. Last night Rew and I didn't go to sleep until 2 am. We went stargazing up Spanish Fork Canyon; I slept in until 10:40am this morning. And since I was still tired at 2pm, I took a very short nap.

At 4:12pm you would have found me in the kitchen howling in laughter!

I have always enjoyed cooking. In fact, when Rew asked my father for my hand in marriage. (You must understand my father always says something to the new son-in-law to be... such as "She's cranky." Little things to torment the man asking to see if he can live with all of his daughter's quirks.) The first thing my dad said was, "She's a really good cook." Rew in all his excitement proclaimed, "YES! I know!"

I was going to make bread.

Two kinds: bread with Parmesan cheese baked into the crust AND cinnamon walnut swirled bread.

Since both start with the same bread recipe I was doubling the ingredients.

Off I went, combining flour, sugar, yeast, milk, water, shortening.

I set the timer for 9 minutes and started kneading the dough. It looked wonderful and was smelling great (like bread dough).

It wasn't until after the kneading that I realized my mistake.

I'd read the ingredients... but not the portions.

Horrified I pulled out the recipe again! I'm used to changing a few portions; adding an extra sprinkle of nutmeg, perhaps an extra tablespoon of vanilla.

but NEVER this bad....

Here's the original recipe (doubled):

1 T Yeast

1/4 cup Water

2 cups scalded milk

2 T Sugar

2 t Salt

1 T Shortening

6-6.5 cups Flour

NOW.... here's what I did... (what I did wrong is bolded)

2 T Yeast

1/4 cup Water

1 cup scalded milk

2 T Sugar

2 T Salt

2 cups Shortening

6 cups Flour

I can understand misreading yeast and salt. But the SHORTENING????

Alright you Home Economic Majors, what happens to the bread when you add THAT much.... Well! I'm curious, so I'm going to cook it and I'll let you know!

Until then.... I'm going back to sleep.

(several hours later: Looks like fluffy pie crust... very rock hard pie crust. Good for throwing away or knocking someone out.) *sigh* Now to try again...

Tagged

Holly tagged me; I'm supposed to share things in groups of 8. Enjoy:

8 TV shows

Hmm.... when Rew and I moved, I begged him to let me throw out the TV. In the end I won and I've LOVED not having a TV. We watch TV shows online (fewer commercials) If a BYU football game is on we go to Rew's parents house. For news we read newspapers and online articles. And It's really helped me to not waste hours on end sitting in front of a box... unless you count the computer. So here's a TV show I liked:

-Pushing Daisies (recently cancelled.... until further notice)

and here's what I do on my computer:

-Check e-mail

-Check Facebook

-Check Job Searches

-Check my blog

-Play Peggle with Rew

-Read webcomics. My favorites are: Schlock Mercenary, Sherman's Lagoon and The Order of the Stick.

8 things I did yesterday

-Made boiled eggs for breakfast

-Finished reading Artemis Fowl

-Went to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum with Rew

-Searched for jobs

-Watched the Holy War (BYU vs. Utah)

-Ate lemon pepper chicken and pineapple orange juice for dinner

-Cleaned and scrubbed my house

-Played the piano

8 places I love to eat

-Los Hermanos

-Olive Garden

-Bajio

-Magleby's Fresh

-At the Winchester Bay beach.

-Up in the High Uintas.

-In my Kitchen or while sitting on the couch

-At my Mom's house

8 things I am looking forward to

-Green Olive chip dip for Thanksgiving (you are forbidden to marry into my family if you don't like this. If you're born into the family...you will like it...)

-Snowflakes to hang in the house and snowflakes outside

-The T Family annual White Elephant Party

-Having a job

-The wedding of my tall, dark, dashingly handsome, plays the guitar/piano/sings tenor, airline pilot, BYU graduate, scuba diving, skiing, hiking, shy, loves to tease brother Matt. (fiance unknown at this time....)

-Being able to properly sight read piano music.

-Future children

-Eternity with my husband Andrew

8 things on my wish list

-A job!

-A trip to New Zealand

-Sand from the south western edges of the Indonesia

-Rainbow hued ammonites from east Canada

-Foreign coins from any country

-Crinoids from Europe

-A working car (camry) or truck (Jeep Grand Cherokee) :)

-A garden

8 people I tag

-you

-u

-ewe

-Uncle Sams needs ____.(please send sheep.)

-Only ____ can prevent forest fires.

-Be all that ____ can be.

-Jesus wants ____ for a Sunbeam!

-As I have loved ____, love one another.

Snow Leopards

My most favorite animal is the snow leopard. This mighty Unica unica lives in the mountainous regions of Nepal and the Himalayas (roams through twelve other countries in central Asia). Snow leopards are generally solitary animals but they have been found hunting in packs. Snow leopards have thick cream-white colored fur with black rosettes and spots. They have large paws and their tail is about the same length as their body; during long nights the snow leopard uses the tail like a scarf/blanket to cover their face. Because snow leopards lack the larynx they cannot roar. Their short teeth require them to strangle prey (similar to cheetahs). Snow leopards are endangered.

(Charcoal drawing snow leopard, 2004)

What is your favorite animal?

Books

You may entirely ignore this post if you like, I just wanted to remember the books I've read lately. (Ones highlighted were my favorites.)

Harry Potter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 by J.K Rowling

The Broker, The Client, Testament by John Grisham

Wyrd Sisters, Mort, Going Postal, Thief of Time, Monstrous Regiment, Hogfather, Sourcery, Making Money, Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett

Instead of Three Wishes by Mary Whalen Turner

Have you read any good books lately? Let me know if you find any good ones!

Oh... and I should explain that I DO NOT like the Vampire series. (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer(yes, I've read them.)) Sorry to burst your little bubbles of happiness. I admit that Meyers has a unique writing style and as an author I respect her for writing. But love-sick vampires (or soon to be vampire) feigning for each other... blah. You can read the books this way too: open a page, read a paragraph. Close the book. Repeat. Make sure you choose a different page. I will NOT be one of the people awaiting the movie.