This is my public blog which will chronicle all of my creative ons-goings and personal life fun.
Here you'll find pictures, How-To's, journals, reviews, and other such items concerning the activities I indulge in, of which include home-brewing of beer and meade, sewing, costuming, stained glass work, hair coloring, and much more.
Hopefully within these blog pages you'll find useful information to start your own hobbies, think about things a little differently yourself, or at the very least, be amused.
So, I got the random urge to make cookies and send them out as Christmas gifts to friends who aren't in town, and I had some really great success with the ones I made!
These is the recipes that were used:
Apple Spice Cookies - 1 egg - 1 tsp vanilla extract - 1 stick butter, softened - 1/2 tsp baking soda - 1/2 cup granulated sugar - 1/2 cup brown sugar - 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour - 1/2 cup yogurt-covered apple candies (from WalMart)
Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Cream butter in mixer until lightly fluffy. Add egg and vanilla extract to creamed butter. In separate bowl, whisk together the sugars, then slowly add sugars to mixture, then turn mixer to medium speed. In separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Turn mixer back to low and gradually stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture until they are almost fully mixed in. Add the apple candies and stir until everything is full blended.
Shape dough into golf ball size balls and place 2 inches apart on parchment-covered cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Let them cool for 1 minute on the baking sheet and then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Makes 24-30 cookies
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Strawberried Peanutbutter M&M Cookies - 1 egg - 1 tsp vanilla extract - 1 stick butter, softened - 1/2 tsp baking soda - 1/2 cup granulated sugar - 1/2 cup brown sugar - 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour - 1 bag of Strawberried Peanutbutter M&Ms
Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Cream butter in mixer until lightly fluffy. Add egg and vanilla extract to creamed butter. In separate bowl, whisk together the sugars, then slowly add sugars to mixture, then turn mixer to medium speed. In separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Turn mixer back to low and gradually stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture until they are almost fully mixed in. Add the M&Ms and stir until everything is full blended.
Shape dough into golf ball size balls and place 2 inches apart on parchment-covered cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Let them cool for 1 minute on the baking sheet and then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Makes 24-30 cookies
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Dark Chocolate Curry Cookies - 1 large egg - 1 tbsp milk - 1 tsp vanilla extract - 4 oz (1 stick) salted butter - 1/2 cup granulated sugar - 1/2 cup brown sugar - 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour - 1 cup chocolate chips - 2 tbsp dark chocolate powder - 1/2 tsp baking soda - 1 tbsp curry powder
Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Cream butter in mixer until lightly fluffy. Add egg and vanilla extract to creamed butter. In separate bowl, whisk together the sugars, then slowly add sugars to mixture, turning mixer to medium speed. In separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, and curry powder. Turn mixer back to low and gradually stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture until they are almost fully mixed in. Add the chocolate and stir until everything is full blended.
Shape dough into golf ball size balls and place 2 inches apart on parchment-covered cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Let them cool for 1 minute on the baking sheet and then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Rosewater to taste (be careful, that stuff is STRONG!)
Method: Preheat oven to 325F.
Mix the butter and sugar together (preferably with a wooden spoon) until it is pale and creamy. Sieve both the flour and the cornflour into the bowl and mix well. Put a small amount of flour on your working surface and place the dough on this. Shake a little flour on top and roll out about quarter inch thick.
Prick with a fork and cut into rounds with a cutter or, if you want one large shortbread round, pinch the edges with thumb and finger all round. Use a palette knife to lift the shortbread onto an oiled baking tray and bake for 25 minutes.
If the biscuits are ready, they will be pale brown and crisp; if not, return to the oven for 5 or 10 minutes. Shake a small amount of caster/granulated sugar on the top of the shortbread immediately after they have been removed from the oven. Use a palette knife to move them to a cooling rack and store in an airtight tin once they are cold.
I went to the Ga Reptile Expo today, and (even though this was my first reptile show) I thought it was pretty awesome! Smaller than I expected, but lots of beautiful animals there and very friendly people. I'm so excited for the show that is coming in mid-January '10!!!
I must say, there was something just plain awesome about being able to be about a foot away from a diamondback rattlesnake, or see a BEAUTIFUL albino python that was 200+lbs!
I also brought home a new baby! *squee* And it is a snake that I have dreamed of having since I was a little girl, checking out the same snake books from the public library over, and over, and over again.
She is a little Brazilian Rainbow Boa! Yes, that is just a picture I pulled off the internet, and not MY snake, but I promise I will have plenty of pics of my real baby girl as soon as she has chilled out in her new home for a few days, because she's had a long, stressful day. The seller was actually a local (to GA) breeder, and he gave me a guarantee on her that she was healthy and gave me his cell number in case I had any problems. He was very happy to answer all my questions about her, and trust me, I asked a BUNCH!
She has the most amazingly vibrant colors and a wondrous iridescent sheen. Her eyes are nice and bright, she's alert, and has a good muscle tone. I am quite happy with my new little girl. I've got a cypress/Repti-Bark mix substrate, under-tank heater, and a few places on both warm and cool sides for her to hide. The warm side is about 86* and the cool is right above 70*, with a current humidity of 80%. I went and got another thermometer/hydrometer w/probe from WalMart, but found that they had gone from $8.00 to $12.00 (but still a good deal).
And her name will be Ena-Danu Arcus.
* Ena = Bright and Shining * Danu = Earth Goddess * Arcus = Goddess of Rainbows
So, tonight I tried an experiment. Prompted by an article my roommate found about a layered cookie bar, I decided to try and make my own.
It was, from bottom up:
Base Layer: Ghirardelli Brownie
1st Layer: Chocolate chip cookie dough
2nd Layer: Reese's Peanut butter chips
3rd Layer: Peanut butter cookie dough
4th Layer: White chocolate chips
Top Layer: Sugar cookie dough w/brown sugar
I put the brownie layer in first and baked at 350* for 10 minutes. I then took it out and layered the rest on, cooking for an additional 40 minutes. It was still a little gooey in the middle, but a big hit with everyone! Next time I think I might bake each layer 10 minutes at a time to help it solidify a bit more.
It spilled over the pan whilst cooking, so my friends and I dubbed it a "cookie monster", because it just kept growing. But it was delicious!
As I am sure many of you may know, I am Wiccan in my faith. And last night, Samhain (or secular known as Halloween), is one of the biggest holidays of the year for us. Well, given the message that was given last night, I felt it appropriate to pass it on here, for whomever might benefit from it.
Samhain is a ritual/holiday that recognizes the half of the year as it turns dark. The weather grows cold. The sun doesn't shine quite so bright. Trees shed their leaves. All of nature goes into hibernation to endure the seasons of lean. It is the time when the earth dies. But, just as every fall and winter it dies, it is reborn anew in the spring, and so turns the wheel of time in a never-ending cycle of birth, growth, death, and re-birth.
Wiccans also believe that on this day, the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is at its thinnest. It is this time that we open a window, set a seat at the dinner table, and prepare a plate for our honored ancestors and passed loved ones and invite them to join us once again. It is this time that we remember and honor our loved ones that have passed on since the last Samhain. And it is here that we shed out last tears for them and bid them a fond farewell as they transition on to the next step for their soul.
The ritual that was performed was about love, honoring the beloved dead, and then letting go so that both the living and the dead can move on on their respective paths. Because with intense grief, the spirit of the beloved stays around, out of sympathy for the mourner, and cannot move forwards. So really, it is the living that holds them back and we should celebrate the passing on of people because it is simply a transformation of form, that all things have a beginning and an end. Celebrate that they lived, not cry because they died.
"This Feast I shall leave on my doorstep all night. In my window one candle shall burn bright, To help my loved ones find their way As they travel this eve, and this night, until day. Bless my offering, both Lady and Lord Of breads and fruits, greens and gourd."
"Every beginning has an ending, And every ending is a new beginning. In Life is Death, and in Death is Life. Watch over me, my loved ones, and all of my Brothers and Sisters, here and departed, Who, tonight are joined together again for Fellowship and celebration."
I know one of these days, when it is my time to leave this place, I want my wake to not be a depressing gathering of sobs and tears, dressed in black. I want all of those who loved me to come together, drink, eat, dance, and celebrate my life, not mourn my death. I want all of them to wear what they want, colorful, happy, comfortable clothing. Shed a tear if they must, but do not be overcome by grief. Tell me they love me and wish me well as I move on, and then move on and be happy with their own lives. Honor me by living their own lives to the absolute fullest, and if they are to take anything away as remembrance from my death, it is that each and every day is precious and nothing is guaranteed, so live each second as though you will never have another. Love fully, deeply, and without reservation. Laugh joyfully. Learn all you can, every day. And live to make those around you, and yourself, as happy as you possibly can. Those would be my last wishes.
“Braaaiiiiinnnsssss….” The ghoulish figures of the risen dead shambling towards you in a never-ending hunger for human flesh is a monster we all know well. This icon of modern horror has appeared in virtually all forms of entertainment- from books and comics, to movies and television, to video and board games. And the definition of what a zombie is has also evolved- from shambling corpses having been raised by unexplainable unholy powers, to racing violent humans infected by a viral agent. With the remote beginnings in small Voodoo tribes, tipping with the 1968 George Romero movie, Night of the Living Dead, and exploding to the unarguable popularity of zombies in modern-day popular culture, the zombie craze definitely fits Gladwell’s definition of an epidemic.
In his book The Tipping Point, Gladwell defines an epidemic as “A function of the people who transmit infectious agents, the infectious agent itself, and the environment in which the infectious agent is operating” (Gladwell 2002). As he continues his explanation, he also refers to a critical point present in every epidemic, called a “tipping point”. “When an epidemic tips, when it is jolted out of equilibrium, it tips because something has happened, some change has occurred in one (or two or three) of those areas.” (Gladwell 2002). The idea of zombies as it is known today in popular culture is an example of an epidemic of an epidemic. “Zombie-ism” itself is an epidemic, just as a plague would be, because it spreads from person to person exponentially through various methods, like being bitten or coming in contact with infected bodily fluids. Just the same, the popularity of zombie books, movies, and video games depicting this infectious spread has also swept the country.
“Zombie” comes from the Kongo word nzambi, which means “spirit of a dead person” (Wilson 2005). Haitian legends and folklore have countless reports of the “corpses” of recently deceased people coming back to life, controlled by a bokor, or Haitian voodoo sorcerer (Wilson 2005). The bokor would introduce certain substances to the bloodstream of the victim, inducing a death-like state, after which the zombie would be created (McAlister 1995). These zombies would be mindless bodies, slaves of the bokor to do physical work. Zombies, and the creation thereof, are taken very seriously in Haiti, where laws were even put in place in 1839 prohibiting the creation of zombies. Article 246 of the Haitian Penal Code
Classifies the administration of a substance that creates a prolonged period of lethargy without causing death as attempted murder. If the substance causes the appearance of death and results in the burial of the victim, the act is classified as murder. (Wilson 1995)
Extensive studies on the creation of Haitian zombies have been made by numerous people, including Dr. Wade Davis who wrote The Serpent and the Rainbow and The Passage of Darkness, chronicling his findings.
Stories and intrigue of the Haitian nzambi sparked the creative imaginations of western authors and directors, dating back to the turn of the 19th century, when in 1818, Mary Shelly published the literary classic Frankenstein, which while not exactly about the idea of the zombie we know today, presented the idea of reanimating dead flesh in a scientific way.Another influential book that furthered the intrigue of western society in zombies was The Magic Island, written by W.B. Seabrook in 1929 that told the tale of the narrator who encountered voodoo tribes in Haiti that performed zombie resurrections. According to Time Magazine in 1940, this book was what brought the word “zombi” into U.S. speech (Time 1940). Between the 1920’s and 1930’s, famous horror author H.P. Lovecraft also wrote numerous stories about the undead, the most definitive of which being Herbert West: Re-animator, which "helped define zombies in popular culture" (Underground n/d).
Zombie portrayals in motion pictures date back to 1919, however the real tipping point of zombie popularity in western culture happened with the release of George Romero’s 1968 black and white film Night of the Living Dead. Movie critic Pauline Kael, who wrote for The New Yorker from 1968 to 1991 was quoted saying, "[the film is] one of the most gruesomely terrifying movies ever made- and when you leave the theatre you may wish you could forget the whole horrible experience… The film's grainy, banal seriousness works for it- gives it a crude realism" (Kael 1991). The movie not only created the new “splatter film” sub-genre of horror movies, but became the predecessor to all the zombie movies we have known and loved since.
The “types” of zombie have also evolved as their popularity has grown. The original tales of Haitian zombies were broken-spirited bodies enslaved by a bokor. However, western zombies began as depictions of shambling, mindless monsters with an insatiable hunger for living human flesh. They seemed impervious to physical pain, showed no signs of base intelligence or natural instincts (other than to eat), and could only be stopped by severing the head or destroying the brain. They also could spread whatever created them on to living humans through bites or coming in contact with infected bodily fluids. Modern recent movies have taken the theory of zombies and have completely re-written it with productions such as 28 Days Later where zombies are actually living humans, but infected with the “Rage Virus” which makes them behave like rabid animals with the sole intent of killing but not eating other humans, and eventually starve themselves to death. Also, unlike the classic model of zombie, these zombies can run just as fast as a normal person and show basic intelligence, which creates a heightened sense of terror because they are more dangerous and difficult to escape from.
In addition to movies and books, zombies have also been the subject of video games and board games. The most arguably notable video game Resident Evil by Capcom came out in 1996 and has since released four sequels and sold over 40 million copies. Other first-person shooter games like House of the Dead and Left 4 Dead are very popular. There have even been board games created around a zombie theme, such as Last Night on Earth by Flying Frog Productions and Zombies!!! by Twilight Creations, Inc.
Zombies have also become a source for comedy, turning fear into laughter. Books such as The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z by Max Brooks take the reader through a ludicrous theoretical scenario of a zombie apocalypse and how to be prepared for it. Movies have also satirized zombies in comedies such as Shaun of the Dead, a remake of 1978 and 1994’s Dawn of the Dead and the most recent movie Zombieland.
With the Haitian voodoo folklore beginnings of nzambi, growing with books by H.P. Lovecraft and W.B. Seabrook, and tipping with the 1968 George Romero movie, Night of the Living Dead, the American “zombie craze” has definitely done well for itself and its popularity sees no end in sight in modern-day popular culture. With the small beginnings and exploding popularity after Night of the Living Dead, the zombie craze is an excellent example of Gladwell’s definition of an epidemic.
References
Gladwell, M. (2002). The tipping point: How little things can make a big difference. 18-19. New York:
Back Bay Books.
Gladwell, staff writer of The New Yorker since 1996, writes on his theory of social phenomena as being like epidemics, where an action or idea, much like a virus, starts in a few key people, then from there, multiplies exponentially. After hitting its peak, it then oftentimes reduces to nothing more than a thought of the past. The popularity of zombie and zombie theory has behaved in this exact same way and is still in its rising phase.
Kael, P. (1991) 5001 Nights at the Movies. Henry Holt and Company May 15, 1991.
Movie critic Pauline Kael, writer for The New Yorker from 1968 to 1991, reviews Night of the Living Dead, rating it one of the most important horror movies of all time.
McAlister, E. (1995). "A Sorcerer's Bottle: The Visual Art of Magic in Haiti" Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou
304-321.
Elizabeth McAlister, associate professor of Religion at Wesleyan University with a Ph.D. from Yale University, has written numerous books on Afro-Caribbean religions. In this book, she tries to help American society better understand the voodoo practices in Haiti and writes about her findings during case studies.
Time Magazine (1940). Books: Mumble Jumble. Time Magazine. Accessed 26 October 2009. Retrieved
Time Magazine, having run since 1923, writes about author W.B. Seabrook’s books on voodoo, zombies, and witchcraft. It states that Seabrook’s works are responsible for bringing the word “zombie” into U.S. speech.
Underground Online (n/d). Our Favorite Zombies. Accessed 24 October 2009. Retrieved from
HowStuffWorks.com, a branch of the Discovery Channel which has aired since June 1985, published an article on the development of zombies and their introduction to American culture. The author explains the origins of Haitian zombies, quotes research made by Dr. Wade Davis, and outlines the progression of zombie pop-culture.
This place is a-maz-ing. Seriously. I have not eaten anything here that I did not like, and they have a HUGE menu of both food and drinks. However, what I am going to rave about at the moment is my personal favorite combination:
Solstice Salad (as side, or $6.95 as entree)- Fresh greens, apple, strawberry, toasted walnuts, and Gorgonzola cheese tossed in balsamic vinaigrette
The Patty Melt ($9.95)- Apple and cilantro stuffed black Angus sirloin, topped with applewood smoked bacon, caramelized onions, and blue cheese, pressed in artisan bread (comes with the Solstice salad as a side)
And wash everything down with their house-made sangria ($4.95). With their unforgettable good food, nice atmosphere, and decent pricing, this would be a great place just for lunch, dinner, or even a special occasion without breaking the bank.
Solstice Cafe Location: 562 Boulevard SE. Atlanta, GA, 30312 Phone: 404-622-1976 Hours: Mon - Thurs: 11:00 am - 12:00 am, Fri: 11:00 am - 1:00 am, Sat: 9:00 am - 1:00 am, Sun: 9:00 am - 12:00 am
