Year: 2007

Cookie Lesson Learned

My department at work held its annual Thanksgiving potluck lunch. I decided I’d make some of my chocolate chip cookies for this event and set to work.

I’ve been tailoring this recipe for years now. When I found I was going to be a little light on the flour I rationalized that the original recipe had actually only called for exactly as much flour as I had available so I would just go with what I had.

Unfortunately, it seems some of the other “tweaks” I’ve made to the recipe over the years depend on the right proportion of flour and the dough melted rapidly and spread out on the cookie sheets. There it browned rather nicely and became somewhat crispy such that, when I tried to pull up the cookies with a spatula, the outer, crisped edges broke away. Leaving me with a bunch of soft “cookie hearts” that, while still tasting great, looked absolutely wretched.

I *was* able to salvage some cookies (they turned out OK due, presumably, to temperature differences between the upper and lower oven racks) but the vast majority I didn’t think looked very appealing (they’re in the foreground below)…

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So I ended up buying some pastries and will next time go out and get the flour when I’m low!

Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial

Mich and I just finished watching Nova’s “Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial” on PBS.

I was very pleased to see that the ID proponents got their butts handed to them in their outrageous attempt to further dilute what is already considered to be a shaky science curriculum. We very much need to grow up, put away the fairy tales and begin to accept what life has to offer us without hiding behind our mother’s skirts.

What was very clear to me from the statements of the ID proponents was that the point of the judgment against their actions was completely lost on them. I too believe, as George W. Bush was stated to have said, that ID needs to be discussed and presented to students so that they understand these issues. But the proper forum for ID is NOT a science class. *Social Science* perhaps, for it’s relevance in society today, or mythology, for it’s quaint point of view for folks unable to grasp epochal aeons of time (check out my opinion in the 7th paragraph of this blog entry) .

I have to say that the scariest part of the show was the discussion about “The Wedge” strategy whose primary instigator seeks nothing less than a complete regression of folks’ literacy and life outlook to a more religious perspective. Let’s see… can we think of a time when that was the case?  Hmmm.. Yes, indeed, it was called “the dark ages”.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

I’ve been tailoring a bunch of recipes for years. This is my always-tasty recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies. I originally pulled it off of a “Chipits” package nearly two decades ago and have been tweaking it ever since.

Try it, you’ll like it!

Marc’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 c    shortening
3/4 c    brown sugar, firmly packed
1    egg
1 tsp    vanilla
1-1/4 c    all purpose flour
1/2 tsp    baking soda
1/2 tsp    salt
1/2 c    chipits semi-sweet chips
1/2 c    Milk chocolate Chips

Cream together shortening and brown sugar.
Beat in egg and vanilla.
Combine flour, baking soda and salt.
Add flour mixture gradually to creamed mixture, mixing well.
Stir in Chipits and nuts.
Drop by teaspoonfuls (generous in size) onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F
for 10 minutes (final cookies should about 2 inches in diameter).
Bake for 2 more minutes for crispy cookies (maybe less).

Notes:
– It’s *much* easier to make 2 single batches than to make a double batch.
– It’s critical to have a uniform consistency after both the first creaming step and after beating in the egg and vanilla. This makes or breaks the recipe.

Hollow Point Through Gelatin

Again with the slow motion. As I’ve mentioned before I’m a sucker for time lapse and accelerated photography.

The world is such a product of our perception and, as amazing and full as the world as we know it is, step yourself down or up in time rate and it becomes a completely new realm.

There is so much that we don’t understand until we can look at it from a different time perspective. The growth of plants, the movement of animals, the explosion of a balloon. All of these are revealed to us as exciting dynamics so completely different from our initial conception when explored in an alternate time sense…

Yeah, but it’s a dry cold…

There are a lot of differences that I find living in the Southeast vs. in the Great White North.

For instance, this morning I awoke to two severe weather alerts, the first being a red flag warning (critical fire conditions) and the second being a freeze warning. Of course this is perfectly reasonable once you think about it for a little bit, but fire and ice are always referenced as diametrically opposed conditions.

…FREEZE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 AM EST THIS MORNING…
…FREEZE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 3 AM TO 9 AM EST THURSDAY…

A FREEZE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 AM EST THIS MORNING
FOR AREAS NORTH OF A LA GRANGE TO LOUISVILLE LINE.

…RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM TO 6 PM EST THIS
AFTERNOON DUE TO LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITIES AND DRY FUEL MOISTURES…
…FIRE WEATHER WATCH IN EFFECT THURSDAY AFTERNOON DUE TO LOW RELATIVE
HUMIDITIES AND DRY FUEL MOISTURES…

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PEACHTREE CITY HAS ISSUED A FIRE
WEATHER WATCH…WHICH IS IN EFFECT THURSDAY AFTERNOON. A RED FLAG
WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM TO 6 PM EST THIS AFTERNOON.

THE WATCH AND WARNING INCLUDES THE CHATTAHOOCHEE AND OCONEE
NATIONAL FORESTS.

Confessions of a Waitress: I Hate Your Damn Kids

Yep, this pretty much says it all from the waitress’ (waiter’s) point of view.

As one of the patrons who has these little terrors all around no matter what restaurant I end up in I side squarely with the author on this one. With much more money (or extended credit, I’m really not sure) than courtesy or common sense, folks are increasingly taking their kids with them to under the impression that it will “teach them social graces” or that they can continue to live life in exactly the same manner as before their children were on the scene.

If I want to avoid screaming sports fans (sometimes I might like it) I don’t go to sports bars, if I want to avoid naked women (actually this has never been a concern..) I don’t go to strip clubs, if I want to avoid cigar smoke, I don’t go to humidors. But there is NO PLACE that I can go to avoid someone inflicting their progeny on others. There doesn’t appear to be any price strata or any social environment that folks won’t bring them to.

C’mon parents! These kids have the attention span of a gadfly and the social graces of Godzilla. What makes you think that they can endure an hour-long meal that you feel that you’ve earned for yourseves? The parents are the cause, but the kids are the symptom. If you want a pleasant, classy meal out. Leave the kids behind. If you can’t, well… sorry, you really should’ve kept it in your pants…. your life has changed.

Hallowe’en Party 2007

Yesterday Mich’s office had it’s annual Hallowe’en party. These are always a lot of fun and folks come with great costumes. This year was no exception.

For our theme, Mich and I elected to go as Marie Antionette

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(before her macabre demise) and Louis the 16th (after).

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Check out all the pictures in the photo gallery (click picture below) these are great costumes!

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Kevin Smith Protests Dogma

How can you NOT like Kevin Smith? The man’s an absolute genius. Dogma is one of the most (simultaneously) funny and thought provoking film poking fun at the dogma that surrounds the Catholic church.

It’s just too funny that he insinuated himself into the sorry crowd of protesters in his own home town of New Jersey. Hmmm.. do you suppose they might have recognized him had any of them actually… I dunno… *seen* the film? 🙂

And I’m a big fan of Alan Rickman’s work, especially when he’s playing a humorous character. He is GREAT in this film as he was great in “Robin Hood” as the evil Sherrif of Nottingham.