I started writing about the schizophrenic breaks my wardrobe has, and it got out of hand. So instead, I'm going to round up a few short and random bits and pieces, and put them up.
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First off, recipes - sweet 'n' easy. These are some of the most straightforward recipes I know, are popular whenever I make them, and I find myself giving out the recipes all the time. They're also both like heart attacks cut into squares, so be warned that I take no responsibility for your cholesterol levels should you make these recipes. I was given the Mars Bar slice recipe by a friend in first year engineering, and the fudge recipe is from a girl I went to high school with.
MARS BAR SLICE
This is one of my favourite things in the world to make, because it's easy, and can't be sabotaged by my wilful and demented oven. Next week, which is when my dad assures me it'll be possible to buy un-poisoned Mars Bars again, I intend to make this.
5 regular sized Mars Bars
1T butter
1C Rice Bubbles
1T honey
1/2 slab cooking chocolate (optional)
Melt Mars Bars over low heat - preferably a double boiler - until soft and easy to stir. Mix in the butter and honey while still hot. Fold in Rice Bubbles - carefully so they aren't crushed. Pour into foil-lined slab tin. Melt cooking chocolate over low heat and pour over top (can be full layer or drizzled, depending on taste). Place in fridge until firm. Cut into squares.
Note: I use very little cooking chocolate on top, and substitute Coco Pops for Rice Bubbles. Up to you.
CHOCOLATE FUDGE
This is even easier to make than Mars Bar slice, and is much admired. Apparently it tastes more complicated than it is, and I give out this recipe all the time.
3C cooking chocolate (dark, milk or white all OK)
1 400g can condensed milk
60g butter, chopped
Melt all ingredients together over low heat - preferably double boiler. Pour into foil-lined slab tin. Place in fridge until firm. Cut into squares.
Note: There are lots of good additions to this. I typically use 1C of unsalted peanuts, but I've also made it with hazelnuts, almonds, glace cherries, M&Ms, and once (unsuccessfully) dark chocolate bits. One bag of Cadbury Choc Melts (the 375g one) is near enough to three cups, and 60g is about a quarter of a normal block of butter.
Both these recipes can be made in the microwave (typically taking about 5 minutes to melt completely). I've made them both in a single saucepan over a low heat, but as with anything dairy-based, it's best to use a double boiler (dairy burns fast, and burnt chocolate is bitter as fuck). My electronics-touch-of-death accounted for my microwave several months ago, but I find it straightforward to improvise a double boiler from a brass fruit bowl (or a cake tin) and an appropriately sized saucepan. The fudge recipe in particular is completely customisable, and it's fun to experiment. Let me know what you find.
----
In other news, my best friend from high school is getting married in early January, and she told me the other day that her partner is pushing for a U2 song as their wedding waltz. I assume it's a misnomer; can you waltz to U2? Em's never been a U2 fan, at least not so far as I've known. This is the girl that introduced me to the Js back when we were kids, and helped me write a U2 ripoff song to go along with our ripoff synchronised swimming routine (remember that American exchange student I mentioned? We liked her to start with. Not so much towards the end). I choose to believe that the song they're considering is "Sunday, Bloody Sunday", or something else equally inappropriate, rather than something soppy, but I'm not holding my breath.
Honestly, though, I'm not sure what to hope for. One of my friends says he went to a wedding at which the wedding waltz was "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". Fucking hilarious, and I'd love to be able to say I went to a wedding at which that song was played. I imagine quite a few people mistake that song for a love song - it sort of sounds like it, after all. It'd be apt (it's a poorly kept secret that I'm not overfond of her partner), and it'd be very, very funny. But then, she is my best friend, and so I'm probably not allowed to hope for public humiliation like that ...
----
I got a pleasant surprise in the mail today. I bought a pair of fishnets about a month ago, wore 'em to work, and they split that day. I'd thrown away the receipt and box, but wrote a letter to the manufacturers about it on the off-chance something would come of it. Fishnets tend to be pretty fragile, and I've lost count of the number of pairs I've ruined (although not typically on the first wear). About three weeks later, I finally got a response from the company, basically asking me to send in my tights for quality control analysis, which suggested to me that I wouldn't be getting anything back unless they actually turned out to be faulty. So, I sent them in, expecting very little, and less than a week later, an envelope arrived in my mailbox with not one pair of replacement tights, but two. Thanks, Voodoo.
These guys make hot tights, and most of my tights and stockings come from them, dating way back to my first tights purchase, a pair of bright orange, thick opaques that I've been wearing for about five years, and some black lace ones that I've had nearly as long. More recently I've bought some of their printed ones (leopard print - whee!), and of course the fishnets, in three different colours - as well as coveting a few other things that I can't quite justify to myself (the fishnets were for work - or so I keep telling myself). Anyhow, with customer service like that, I'm absolutely going to keep buying from them.
Do they make stayups? I think hosiery is hot, and while I find stockings more comfortable than tights (plus, there's nothing quite so sexy as stockings and garter belts - think Rocky Horror), it's very hard to find stockings in fun patterns or textures. They tend to be plain black or tan, and the wildest they get is seams up the backs - which is great in its way, think Secretary - but stockings seem to be firmly positioned within the marketplace as either a) for staid, boring old ladies that never adjusted to pantyhose, or b) sexy young things that are only wearing them to indicate their willingness to take them off, a la my Unified Theory of G-strings. Anyhow, it seems that stayups come in more interesting flavours than stockings, and I'm wondering if they're as comfortable as stockings are. I'm planning an experiment at some point, and will keep you updated.
----
Uni-wise, I'm still supervisor-less, but am assured that it's in the works. My units of study are sorted out, and I already know which one I like best. And I already have more reading to do than I want to think about - particularly for my Modernism unit, which I'm not feeling any real love for. My sociology tutor seems like she's going to be very cool about letting me customise the unit to my needs, and I'm totally loving the term "This is a special case. This is an Honours student". I feel like a privileged species.
---
First off, recipes - sweet 'n' easy. These are some of the most straightforward recipes I know, are popular whenever I make them, and I find myself giving out the recipes all the time. They're also both like heart attacks cut into squares, so be warned that I take no responsibility for your cholesterol levels should you make these recipes. I was given the Mars Bar slice recipe by a friend in first year engineering, and the fudge recipe is from a girl I went to high school with.
MARS BAR SLICE
This is one of my favourite things in the world to make, because it's easy, and can't be sabotaged by my wilful and demented oven. Next week, which is when my dad assures me it'll be possible to buy un-poisoned Mars Bars again, I intend to make this.
5 regular sized Mars Bars
1T butter
1C Rice Bubbles
1T honey
1/2 slab cooking chocolate (optional)
Melt Mars Bars over low heat - preferably a double boiler - until soft and easy to stir. Mix in the butter and honey while still hot. Fold in Rice Bubbles - carefully so they aren't crushed. Pour into foil-lined slab tin. Melt cooking chocolate over low heat and pour over top (can be full layer or drizzled, depending on taste). Place in fridge until firm. Cut into squares.
Note: I use very little cooking chocolate on top, and substitute Coco Pops for Rice Bubbles. Up to you.
CHOCOLATE FUDGE
This is even easier to make than Mars Bar slice, and is much admired. Apparently it tastes more complicated than it is, and I give out this recipe all the time.
3C cooking chocolate (dark, milk or white all OK)
1 400g can condensed milk
60g butter, chopped
Melt all ingredients together over low heat - preferably double boiler. Pour into foil-lined slab tin. Place in fridge until firm. Cut into squares.
Note: There are lots of good additions to this. I typically use 1C of unsalted peanuts, but I've also made it with hazelnuts, almonds, glace cherries, M&Ms, and once (unsuccessfully) dark chocolate bits. One bag of Cadbury Choc Melts (the 375g one) is near enough to three cups, and 60g is about a quarter of a normal block of butter.
Both these recipes can be made in the microwave (typically taking about 5 minutes to melt completely). I've made them both in a single saucepan over a low heat, but as with anything dairy-based, it's best to use a double boiler (dairy burns fast, and burnt chocolate is bitter as fuck). My electronics-touch-of-death accounted for my microwave several months ago, but I find it straightforward to improvise a double boiler from a brass fruit bowl (or a cake tin) and an appropriately sized saucepan. The fudge recipe in particular is completely customisable, and it's fun to experiment. Let me know what you find.
----
In other news, my best friend from high school is getting married in early January, and she told me the other day that her partner is pushing for a U2 song as their wedding waltz. I assume it's a misnomer; can you waltz to U2? Em's never been a U2 fan, at least not so far as I've known. This is the girl that introduced me to the Js back when we were kids, and helped me write a U2 ripoff song to go along with our ripoff synchronised swimming routine (remember that American exchange student I mentioned? We liked her to start with. Not so much towards the end). I choose to believe that the song they're considering is "Sunday, Bloody Sunday", or something else equally inappropriate, rather than something soppy, but I'm not holding my breath.
Honestly, though, I'm not sure what to hope for. One of my friends says he went to a wedding at which the wedding waltz was "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". Fucking hilarious, and I'd love to be able to say I went to a wedding at which that song was played. I imagine quite a few people mistake that song for a love song - it sort of sounds like it, after all. It'd be apt (it's a poorly kept secret that I'm not overfond of her partner), and it'd be very, very funny. But then, she is my best friend, and so I'm probably not allowed to hope for public humiliation like that ...
----
I got a pleasant surprise in the mail today. I bought a pair of fishnets about a month ago, wore 'em to work, and they split that day. I'd thrown away the receipt and box, but wrote a letter to the manufacturers about it on the off-chance something would come of it. Fishnets tend to be pretty fragile, and I've lost count of the number of pairs I've ruined (although not typically on the first wear). About three weeks later, I finally got a response from the company, basically asking me to send in my tights for quality control analysis, which suggested to me that I wouldn't be getting anything back unless they actually turned out to be faulty. So, I sent them in, expecting very little, and less than a week later, an envelope arrived in my mailbox with not one pair of replacement tights, but two. Thanks, Voodoo.
These guys make hot tights, and most of my tights and stockings come from them, dating way back to my first tights purchase, a pair of bright orange, thick opaques that I've been wearing for about five years, and some black lace ones that I've had nearly as long. More recently I've bought some of their printed ones (leopard print - whee!), and of course the fishnets, in three different colours - as well as coveting a few other things that I can't quite justify to myself (the fishnets were for work - or so I keep telling myself). Anyhow, with customer service like that, I'm absolutely going to keep buying from them.
Do they make stayups? I think hosiery is hot, and while I find stockings more comfortable than tights (plus, there's nothing quite so sexy as stockings and garter belts - think Rocky Horror), it's very hard to find stockings in fun patterns or textures. They tend to be plain black or tan, and the wildest they get is seams up the backs - which is great in its way, think Secretary - but stockings seem to be firmly positioned within the marketplace as either a) for staid, boring old ladies that never adjusted to pantyhose, or b) sexy young things that are only wearing them to indicate their willingness to take them off, a la my Unified Theory of G-strings. Anyhow, it seems that stayups come in more interesting flavours than stockings, and I'm wondering if they're as comfortable as stockings are. I'm planning an experiment at some point, and will keep you updated.
----
Uni-wise, I'm still supervisor-less, but am assured that it's in the works. My units of study are sorted out, and I already know which one I like best. And I already have more reading to do than I want to think about - particularly for my Modernism unit, which I'm not feeling any real love for. My sociology tutor seems like she's going to be very cool about letting me customise the unit to my needs, and I'm totally loving the term "This is a special case. This is an Honours student". I feel like a privileged species.
posted by beck at 8:06 pm
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