Maybe it is a girl thing. It probably is, something to do with nesting. Although in the car, I wish I had a tape recorder, because HE said he wanted to really pull the house together, to not have anything in boxes, because we've come to far to live like kids in their first apartment. Or at least something like that, I'm paraphrasing.
We still have no furniture, it's on a truck somewhere, and yet, there is already things hanging on the wall. I bought a few plants and pots for the patio and we've discussed furniture placement. Oh, and the spongebob bathroom is mostly set. That came together first.
I have 652 other ideas for what to do here, with immediate finances being my major limiting factor. (Hello! Idiot! It is not cheap to move across country! Put down the awesome stone patio accessories!) Some of those ideas I know to be, well, a little quirky. This time, though, I'm giving myself permission to try them. They may not be things that most people would do in their houses (and some may be failures that I hate) but I'm going to try them anyway, because even though once again we find ourselves renting a space with beige carpet, white walls, and blinds, it's still supposed to be our home.
So maybe its time to live that way.
Showing posts with label power tools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label power tools. Show all posts
Monday, July 21, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Does my desire to celebrate a mathematical constant make me a nerd?
So tomorrow is pi day (March 14th, get it? celebrate at 1:59?), and, not being the imaginative sort, I like to celebrate pi day with pie. Last year I made pie for every meal, but I am just not feeling that ambitious this year, so I settled on making two pies and bringing them into work. I decided on an old school mixed berry pie (read: I couldn't pick between cherry and blueberry, so I just threw both in there, and some blackberries to make it seem intentional), cornstarch thickened, and crust from scratch (of course, adoxograph would never forgive me if I did otherwise. For that matter, I would never forgive myself if I did otherwise, so it kind of works out).
That pie happened like this:
First came crust assembly, following a recipe adoxograph gave me about a gazillion months ago. I always have trouble with pie crusts because I have hot hands, and the butter wants to go all melty. It probably doesn't help that I am impatient.
While I was letting the dough rest (have to give the starches time to hydrate, man!), I prepped the filling, which was just frozen fruit, a little butter, a little salt, about a quarter cup of sugar, almond extract, and that corn starch I mentioned earlier.
Oh yeah. And there's a graham cracker crust back there. Ignore that for now.
Once the filling was prepped, I rolled out and blind baked the bottom crust. While the blind baking happened, I rolled out the top crust. Then the blind baking was done, and I filled the pie...
...then placed the top crust and cut the thematically appropriate vent. SYMBOLIC!
That went into the oven, allowing me to focus on the other pie.
Oh, the other pie!
See, a few weeks ago, I had an idea, which is always a dangerous thing. And not just any idea, mind. A pie idea. Or piedea, I suppose. And it was a majestic piedea. See, it's Easter, and Easter means Peeps. Peeps are marshmallows, right? And if you'll recall from my thingaday posts, I'd been making toaster oven s'mores. Do you see where I am going with this?
Yeah, that's right. It's an Easter S'more Peep Massacre pie.
So you already saw the graham cracker crust resting idly alongside the berry filling, but here's another shot of that, for fun.
I also made a chocolate custard while the dough for the other pie hydrated (no action shots on that; haven't yet worked out how to stir constantly and take a photo simultaneously). That cooled while the berry pie was baking, and then I proceeded to fill the graham cracker crust with the custard. Then came the Peeps. I bought four colors, and arranged them on top of the custard in the pie (oh, and check the completed berry pie. NICE).
They look so innocent.
I started wondering whether they knew what was about to happen next. It was about at this point when I started laughing hysterically.
See, here's the thing: it's not a s'more if the marshmallow isn't toasted.
Thank goodness my dear friend was willing to loan me his kitchen torch.
Note: Peeps do catch fire, just as you'd expect. Also those freaky brown dot eyeballs are not nearly as sturdy as I thought they would be.
I have to say, I feel a little bad for melting their tiny faces off. But it had to be done. For science.
That pie happened like this:
First came crust assembly, following a recipe adoxograph gave me about a gazillion months ago. I always have trouble with pie crusts because I have hot hands, and the butter wants to go all melty. It probably doesn't help that I am impatient.
While I was letting the dough rest (have to give the starches time to hydrate, man!), I prepped the filling, which was just frozen fruit, a little butter, a little salt, about a quarter cup of sugar, almond extract, and that corn starch I mentioned earlier.
Oh yeah. And there's a graham cracker crust back there. Ignore that for now.Once the filling was prepped, I rolled out and blind baked the bottom crust. While the blind baking happened, I rolled out the top crust. Then the blind baking was done, and I filled the pie...
...then placed the top crust and cut the thematically appropriate vent. SYMBOLIC!
That went into the oven, allowing me to focus on the other pie.Oh, the other pie!
See, a few weeks ago, I had an idea, which is always a dangerous thing. And not just any idea, mind. A pie idea. Or piedea, I suppose. And it was a majestic piedea. See, it's Easter, and Easter means Peeps. Peeps are marshmallows, right? And if you'll recall from my thingaday posts, I'd been making toaster oven s'mores. Do you see where I am going with this?
Yeah, that's right. It's an Easter S'more Peep Massacre pie.
So you already saw the graham cracker crust resting idly alongside the berry filling, but here's another shot of that, for fun.
I also made a chocolate custard while the dough for the other pie hydrated (no action shots on that; haven't yet worked out how to stir constantly and take a photo simultaneously). That cooled while the berry pie was baking, and then I proceeded to fill the graham cracker crust with the custard. Then came the Peeps. I bought four colors, and arranged them on top of the custard in the pie (oh, and check the completed berry pie. NICE).
They look so innocent.
I started wondering whether they knew what was about to happen next. It was about at this point when I started laughing hysterically.
See, here's the thing: it's not a s'more if the marshmallow isn't toasted.Thank goodness my dear friend was willing to loan me his kitchen torch.
Note: Peeps do catch fire, just as you'd expect. Also those freaky brown dot eyeballs are not nearly as sturdy as I thought they would be.
I have to say, I feel a little bad for melting their tiny faces off. But it had to be done. For science.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Power tools rule
Okay, so I've heard your pleas for pictures, and I'm responding.
Here is the skeleton dresser that was the end of Day 1 of my IKEA adventure:
Here is the skeleton dresser that was the end of Day 1 of my IKEA adventure:
Things sped up a bit on Day 2 when I added my power drill to the mix, but not being able to find a regular hammer + about 75 itty bitty nails = incomplete dresser on Day 2:
Day 3, I added a NAIL GUN! WOO HOO!! Not only did I complete the evil dresser from hell, but I finished the chest of drawers too. Fear me! I have power tools!
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