Well, I guess it's been a while since one of these posts. I should have seen it coming. It's been a while since the icing sugar cookies, or these cookies.....or these.....ahem.Anyway, tomorrow we're going sailing!! So I thought it would be nice to make something at home to take with us. So....something easy....what's easy?
Well, duh....there are three ingredients and a stove involved.
So I started melting the butter....no problem. Measured the marshmallows in there, good, good.
Then I noticed that the marshmallows were starting to melt but for the most part weren't turning into a "sauce", more like a solid ball that stuck to anything that got within an inch of it. Yup notice in the recipe how it says "melt butter over low heat?"
Uh...huh.....didn't do that. So I thought maybe if I kept it on the heat for a little while and stirred it lots that it would gradually go and do what it was supposed to. Yeah, no.
Then I knew I had to get it out of the pot or it would start to get hard. So I started to scoop the massive glob.....onto a plate. Why I didn't scoop it straight into the garbage I don't know....and why that extra spoon? It was like a sticky black hole sucking everything in.
This crap stuck to EVERYTHING. I finally had to just cringe and get my fingers in there and scoop the whole thing into the garbage and quickly get my pot into the dishwasher and hope for the best.
Time for another book review! Here is a link to the first review, cause I know you're interested.
Everybody Loves Somebody - Joanna Scott
I wasn't aware that this was a collection of short stories. It wasn't too bad, a super quick read but it didn't hit me, you know? Judging by the few words I have to say about this one, I think you get the picture.
The Friday Night Knitting Club - Kate Jacobs
This was just what I was looking for in a light summer read. I'm a knitter too, so it was nice to relate to that aspect of the book. The story was interesting, the book had a bit of a surprise ending and I was satisfied with it overall. The knitting side of the story apparently worked on me because I made this apple toque for my nephew in the middle of reading it.
The Gathering - Anne Enright
I was really looking forward to this book. Alas..... On the other hand, if for some reason you want to think of sex as a vulgar act, read this book. Example from the book: "...but I lay there with one leg on either side of his dancing, country boy hips and I did not feel alive. I felt like a chicken when it is quartered." Or how about "I was talking about the meaty flower of my c^^t, under his hand."
Now, I'm no prude, but damn - she threw lines like that in when you least expected it.
Where the Heart Is - Billie Letts
This was an interesting read. A friend read it and didn't like it because of the references to Wal-Mart and McDonald's. I didn't mind it because those places played large roles in the lives of the characters. Another light read, with some great characters.
I'm taking a break from my book sale pile and picked up a Maeve Binchy - guaranteed good light summer reading. After this I'm heading to the library for inspiration, then I'll get back to the book sale pile.For my challenge, I'm reading my 9th book of 23 for the year, and my year ends May 26, 2011. Judging by the weather and our plans this weekend (beach, picnic in the park) there is lots of reading time ahead for me.
Behold.
Seattle!! Holy crap, what an awesome city. We took the Clipper over. (That's a boat for those of you who aren't aware.) Here is a picture of it docked in Victoria.
I don't know why, but I was assuming it would be like the BC Ferries - room to move about and walk around during the trip. I was pretty surprised when we walked on and it was cramped like an airplane. But they made room for a duty free shop! Yay!
So we bought two one litre bottles of rum for $9.00 each. No, I'm serious*.
Once we got settled into our seats, I glanced around at the ocean spray on the windows and heard a friend's voice in my head telling me "the boat is a high speed catamaran so you can't go outside during the trip." It was then that I realized this could turn into a bad situation. See, Brad and I get seasick easy.
Then they made the announcement:
"We're expecting a bumpy ride into Seattle, we're recommending you take motion sickness tablets which are available at the duty free shop for twenty five cents a dose."
Bring on the tablets.
Uh huh...yeah...the ride was perfectly smooth.
We arrive in Seattle and head towards our hotel. On the way we stopped at our first very important destination: a coffee shop that was recommended by Mike.
Stella Cafe. I had the best coffee ever. A Roman Cappuccino. A cappuccino with cocoa. As. If.
That night we went to the ball game. It was the best sporting event I've ever been to. Score was 1-0 for the Yankees and I was starting to suspect it would be a low scoring game. But in the bottom of the 8th, the Mariners had the bases loaded and hit a grand slam making it 4-1 and they won the game. It. Was. So. Fun.
Before the game, we checked the Weather Network to decide what to wear to the game.....but we're in the States so everything is in Fahrenheit so we were lost. I called my parents.
"Guys, it's going to be 59F here tonight, what is that in Celsius?"
"Um....we don't know Celsius. But we think it might be around 10C?!"
I wore jeans to the game. And almost died from the heat.
It was 23C (73F) that night. 59F was the low, and 59F is actually 15C. I was sweating until the sun went behind the stadium which luckily wasn't long from where we were sitting.
The next day we headed out to the Experience Music Project. The museum actually starts out with science fiction!! They had tons of cool stuff from 1950's science fiction movies (which I love) and lots of paraphernalia like this - check out the sweet Starfleet Communicator.....
Then on our way to the music portion of the museum we sat in this room that had good music playing, crazy lighting and tons of places where you could lie around - which was perfect because at that point that's what I felt like I needed. For some reason I fell in love with this space.
The rest of the museum was great, worth visiting for sure.
That night we went out for dinner at Queen City Grill - fantastic. Martinis, wine, seafood and coffee after. Oh. Yes.
Monday we did the Underground Tour - which was well worth it, then hit the last two coffee shops on our list from Mike (Trabant for breakfast and Seattle Coffee Works after the tour) and caught the Clipper home.
I was drinking coffee until the last moment in Seattle.
*We normally pay $26 for a 750ml bottle in Canada.
I'm doing a special book review post tonight for Possession because Claire and I have read it at the same time and agreed to post about how we liked it afterwards. You know for fun - cause we're proud nerds.
The first sentence of this book intrigued me beyond reason. "The book was thick and black and covered with dust." Seriously - this has my name written all over it. I love old books, intrigue, good writing and classic novels. Possession is about two literary scholars who discover a possible secret history between two (fictional) famous poets. While they are on the trail to discover the real history they fall in love.
The first thing I noticed was how much more interesting the long-dead poets were than the living people who were searching through their histories. But I muddled through.
The way the history of the poets was presented was actually pretty great - mainly old letters and journals. Some written by the poets themselves, some written by others who knew them. It was interesting how Byatt made the poets come alive through these mediums. I was totally on board with that.
There is a lot of poetry in this book - a lot. I have a huge respect for poetry, similar to my respect for quantum mechanics, heart surgery and economics. The problem is that I just don't get it.
As I got further into the book I was getting nervous because I was wondering how much of the story I was missing out on by skipping over all of the poetry so I turned to my trusty workmate and poem-lover DS. I randomly chose a poem out of the book and asked her "What the hell does this mean?"
She skimmed it and said "Oh, well....yeah. He's talking about how beautiful her skin is, and how it looks on her neck between her ear and her shoulder...."
"Really?!" I blurt out as I snap the book from her hands frantically scanning the page for the missing clues.
Once I got to the end, I felt like I had missed out on a big part of the book due to my lack of poetry-detective-skills. But then again, I got enough out of it that I wasn't completely defeated. Although the boring main characters, long random inserts about how much the poet liked sea anemones and middle-of-the-book-flash-back-spoilers didn't do much for me overall.
Remember this post? I posted it last fall, but referred to a Day in Photos that I did in Vancouver when I was living there and before this blog.
Yesterday I decided to do another Day in Photos now that I'm living in Victoria. Coincidentally it's almost two years to the day from the one I did in Vancouver.
I know you guys have been dying to know, so here we go, my Day in Photos for Wednesday July 7, 2010:
Breakfast. For almost a year it used to be oatmeal every single morning because I wasn't eating wheat or dairy. Now the thought of oatmeal makes me gag, I'm so over it. Now it varies, I don't normally have toast, but I did today.
I walk to work every day. Yay!!
Of course I listen to my ipod on the way. Today it's the new Stars album which is amazing by the way. (I don't normally hold my ipod upside down, but the picture won't come in any other way!)
I walk past this house every day on my way to work. As if it isn't haunted.
When I get to work - first thing - make coffee. There is an "extra coffee maker" at work so a workmate and I claimed it and buy our own decaf.
We splurge and go around the corner and get it from Cafe Fantastico. Hell yeah!! It's so damn good, I usually think about it on my walk in.
Here is my desk, notice Chip, the Mac and Big Toe.
I worked through the morning, busy on a project I'm totally enjoying. Then I ate lunch and read my book on our balcony. I know - we have our own balcony at work. For. Real. 
Here is some of the stuff I'm working on today.
I decided to walk home from work along the sea wall. On nice days, it's a good way to wind down before I get home. Here are a couple shots. This is looking towards downtown. Can you see the float plane landing?
Another shot from the sea wall, those mountains in the distance are in Washington!
Here is the view from my building before I step inside. Past the boring cars and beyond those trees, yeah - that is a tiny little ISLAND....it's in the ocean....it's crazy. Everytime I walk out the front door I smile.
Since we now have sun (seriously we never thought it would come this year!) when I get home from work I change into comfy clothes and immediately make my way to the sunny balcony with my book.
Look how big my tomato plants are!!!
Then Brad and I usually make dinner together. Tonight we're having tacos!!
I always read a bit before I go to sleep.
I've been meaning to make a Treasury on Etsy for some time now. Last night after some additional urging from Rawbean (thanks lady!) I made my first one. Here is a shot, but if you want to see the real thing click here.
Of course I posted my Treasury after I realized I had accidentally lost an item in the bottom right corner. I frantically tried to find it, but Etsy is just too massive. It's gone forever. Awh!
A Treasury is a group of items that anyone can put together. The items should fit well together (like similar colours or subjects). If you visit etsy.com the items on the front page are a Treasury that someone has created. It's kinda like decorating your own store window.
They are super fun to make and the best part is that Etsy might choose what you have put together to be on their front page. Earlier this week one of my bags was chosen to be in this Treasury below, I was really honoured because the Treasury was beautiful. Click here if you want to see the real thing.
See? There's my little bag in the bottom left corner.
So I started melting the butter....no problem. Measured the marshmallows in there, good, good.
This crap stuck to EVERYTHING. I finally had to just cringe and get my fingers in there and scoop the whole thing into the garbage and quickly get my pot into the dishwasher and hope for the best.
