Strawberry Pie

Not the prettiest, but tasted good.

With the leftover pie crust I decided to make a pie - a full pie this time.  After searching the internet I found the recipe for Old Boy's Strawberry Pie.

Ready to go in the oven.

I don't own a pie dish, but in this case the dish I have worked well because this was a lot of filling - it would have bubbled over even more in a traditional pan.

Right after pulling it out of the oven.

More thickener needed, but tasted so good.

A la mode

This recipe has been added to my collection. :)  Summer is wonderful.

Rhubarb Cup Pies

We've been watching Pushing Daisies lately and Chuck's 'cup pies' made me crave some.  Having some more rhubarb I decided to give them a try.  The only issue being that I couldn't find a pie crust recipe with honey baked into it. 

So I made some alterations.  These are based off of Martha Stewart's rhubarb pie recipe.  I cut the amounts in half and used a muffin tin for the 'cup' size.  Some of the pies had honey brushed on the inside of the crust before the rhubarb filling was added and it definitely made a difference - a yummy, sweet difference! :) 

Before topped with the crumble and baking.

After baking for 30 minutes (a few more minutes wouldn't have hurt).

Tasty, tasty cup pies.

 The cup version is a bit more finicky, but it is nice to have a small version of pie.

Love Notes

"Essaim: Ma Lune et L'eau (Started 6-23-13, Finished 7-1-13)"
by Nate Reid for his Swarmy

Her eyes are my moon and water
they calm me
silver waves sigh into the nighttime shore
till every worry is but mist.

Soft roaring tongues make harmonicas of the beach
bending sweet tones over castles
under piers
funneling into the dreams of seashells.

Her lips are beams of hallowed light
they calm me
before them, I had worn the dense night
had roped the ocean around my neck

till the first crescent arrived

burned a hole into the darkness
white columns breaking the black sky
searching
landing upon my face
ending the collapse of gravity
with her eyes
my moon and water.

She calms me.

Rhubarb Crunch

 Rhubarb reminds me of home.

The fact that this rhubarb came from my childhood front yard and the recipe is one of my dad's favorites made this treat taste that much better.  Big city meet country rhubarb. :) Yum!

Rhubarb Crunch

1 cup flour                                    

1 cup brown sugar                       

½ cup butter, melted                        

¾ cup oatmeal                        

1 tsp cinnamon                        

5 cups rhubarb, diced

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp vanilla

Combine flour, brown sugar, butter, oatmeal and cinnamon.  Grease 9 x 13 inch pan.  Press half of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of the pan and then add rhubarb.  Top with remaining oatmeal mixture.  Cook sugar, water, cornstarch and vanilla until thick and clear.  Pour this mixture over the mix in the pan.  Bake at 350° for about 45 minutes.

The tasty finished product with all the oatmeal on the bottom (oops).

Eat warm and topped with cool whip or vanilla ice cream. :)

Gaiman, Pratchett, and Adams - Oh My!

My to-read pile of books has been growing rapidly over the past few months.  Everywhere I turn there is a new book that I need to read - it's heaven.  Add a huge bathtub to read in and I'd be golden. :)

How I've managed to get this far in life without reading any works by Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, or Douglas Adams is beyond me.  Where were Gaiman's books when I was a teen?  They existed, but I never heard of them...I needed a science fiction guide like I have now. :) I believe I will be able to make and break my reading goal of 50 books this year.

New Eyes

My eyes have needed new contacts for a long time - longer than I've lived in this town, longer than I've held these jobs, much longer than I should have let them go.  One plus to this need is the wonder of seeing the crisp edges of the world again.  The trees have so many branches (no leaves or greenery in this neck of the woods yet), people have facial expressions and I can recognize individuals from a fair distance, street signs are readable.  Just walking to my car after work can make me grin - I probably look like a tourist gawking at my surroundings, but the details of the historic buildings on my walk are beautiful, the lines of distinct cars down the street are beautiful, the construction of a new apartment building a few streets away is beautiful, that bird flying by that I can identify is beautiful, all because I can see it.

In addition to these benefits I can spend more time geeking out in the Whoniverse because the vision/computer induced headaches have vanished.

A fellow Whovian and I have been digging up all sorts of Doctor Who related material and been lobbing it back and forth across the internet to our mutual delight.  This Whovian was a former coworker from years back that I kept stumbling over on facebook because of their writings and nerdy nature.  Eventually we decided we needed to hang out because not doing so just seemed silly.

Now I have a fellow Whovian to pester in person, one I can actually share this nerdiness with.  In getting to know them my world has expanded, my outlook shifted, and it seems to happen every time we're together.

So not only did my vision physically change and the world sharpen, but now I have more to see. :)

How Sweet

My weekend selection: "Holy Guacamole!", "Bacon Bliss", "Dark Chocolate Pomegranate", and the day's Baker's Choice, which I believe is a Cinnamon Roll cupcake.

My coworker discovered the perfect cupcake place and we've been taking turns trekking to it during the work week for treats.  Madison Sweets is my new favorite place in town - their cupcakes are delicious and if you're ever wandering down State Street try them out.  Pictured above is my weekend haul...I deserved treats for getting myself out of my apartment. :)

Eventually I hope to try all of the varieties, but so far my favorite is the "Lemon Drop" cupcake. Maybe once I've had all four of the ones pictured above I will change my mind.

May the sweets be ever in your favor!

Potter Convert

I started "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" on January 9th and finished the series January 27th.  Admittedly I now wish I hadn't waited to read them, but to all you Potter fans that waited so long between books - you're amazing.  After finishing "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" I wallowed in the ending for about half a day - then the next morning I snatched up "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" because I didn't want to wait.  I had to know.

This was my reward for waiting so long - the ability to consume all of the Harry Potter world in less than a month.  The drawback is that I missed out on an opportunity of community geekery where everyone is sharing mutual character love or hatred, excited for plot lines to come, discussing Patronus charms, together.  A friend told me that the day the last book came out he bought a copy and settled into read it at his coffee shop - he wasn't alone.  I love the mental picture of an entire coffee shop of people with their noses in books, all going on the same journey together.  The day that book came out I was working in a University lab - there were fewer people at work that day, and no one could find one of the Chemistry professors because he'd hidden himself (and a copy of the last Harry Potter book) in the bowels of the science buildings.  No one saw him until he'd finished it.

My life is, without a doubt, better for the Harry Potter books - I've already started rereading the first book throughout the day - and I'm glad to have finally let go of whatever had been holding me back.

Harry Potter - Always.

Let's Go, Harry Potter.

Okay, I'm going to do it.  I've put it off this long mostly out of sheer stubbornness.  Yes, that's right.  I'm going to read the Harry Potter books.

 I have a feeling I may lose the next few weeks...

Elementary

Dear CBS,

I really want a chance to get to know your show "Elementary", but you've removed the pilot episode.  I know, I'm late to the show (pun intended), but don't you want my viewership too?  You don't even work with Hulu to get viewers hooked...I mean, come on - more and more people are forgoing cable - how will you reach them and entice them to buy the tv series later down the road? Oh, but of course I could buy them on Amazon. :-P  I don't know your show well enough to warrant me shelling out money for it.
---

The few episodes I've seen of Elementary have gotten me interested in this take of Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson, but as indicated above I'm irritated that I can't fill in the episode gaps.  She's a surgeon that messed up, badly, on a patient and has essentially become a rehab-buddy.  Sherlock has gotten out of a rehab facility, used to work for Scotland Yard, and now works with the NYPD.  Dr. Watson was hired by Sherlock's father to be with him nearly 24/7 to prevent any relapses.  I saw 'Rat Race' over the holidays - interesting dynamic between Holmes and Watson...no romantic clutter (thank you).  This version of Holmes seems a little more human - he sends a bottle of the best wine to a man who had saved money to propose to his girlfriend in an upscale restaurant (granted he did it with someone else's money, but still).

If I can ever figure out a legal way to watch this show without emptying my pockets I'll do it.  For now I'll scrape together what little scraps CBS gives on their website, being peeved about it all the while. :)

Bûche de Noël

A small selection of baked goods.

As per my usual behavior during the holiday season I baked too much.  There are still gluten free goodies overflowing in my parents' house, but there was one dessert that didn't last long at all...a gluten free Bûche de Noël.  It was my first time trying such a cake (hence the flatness of the 'log'), but it is now a new staple in the Christmas baked goods. :)

A bit flat but just as tasty. :)

Hope everyone had a great holiday season and happy new year!