tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62529427419581029542024-03-04T23:36:09.383-08:00spacesemicolonspaceSuzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-16385676564959150232013-09-21T16:59:00.002-07:002013-09-21T16:59:28.105-07:00Gai Tua Chicken in Peanut Sauce <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Based off of Jennifer Brennan's "The Original Thai Cookbook"<br />
<br />
Start Jasmine rice in the rice cooker.<br />
<br />
1 inch ginger root peeled and chopped<br />
3 or so cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed/chopped a bit<br />
1 teaspoon of curry paste - this stuff can be hot - adjust as needed. When putting in two whallops, dilute with the rest of the coconut milk<br />
1/4 cup of the cream top of a can of coconut milk<br />
<br />
Swirl in the food processor to make a nice marinade<br />
<br />
Cut chicken breast in to bit size chunks. 4 or 5 depending on size<br />
<br />
Marinate chicken at least 30 minutes.<br />
<br />
1/2 red onion minced cooked in about 2 tablespoons of peanut oil until browning<br />
Add chicken (if you have had to dilute the marinade with alot of coconut milk then do not add all the marinade.<br />
Brown up the chicken.<br />
<br />
3 tablespoons of chunky peanut butter<br />
shy tablespoon of sugar<br />
1 teaspoon ish of fish sauce<br />
rest of the can of coconut milk if you didn't use it in the marinade. If you did, you may need to use about 3/4 of another can.<br />
<br />
Steam broccoli or spinach<br />
Drain.<br />
<br />
Green onions or spring onions thrown on the finished steamed veggies to wilt just a bit.<br />
<br />
Serve with Jasmine rice.<br />
<br />
<br />
Pantry/Grocery list:<br />
red onion<br />
green onion or spring onion<br />
broccoli or spinach<br />
jasmine rice<br />
ginger root<br />
2 cans of coconut milk<br />
crunchy peanut butter<br />
sugar<br />
fish sauce<br />
thai curry paste<br />
chicken<br />
<br />
Overall time about 1 hour +. 30 minutes minimum for marinading chicken. Rice cooking time. Once woking or stir frying about 20 minutes.</div>
Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-30726759187378829732012-11-03T17:42:00.003-07:002012-11-03T17:43:27.519-07:00Smithsonian Institution Libraries Intellectual Framework 2011<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Smithsonian Institution Libraries</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Intellectual Framework</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
July 2011</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
“The Smithsonian Institution Libraries will build, sustain, protect and share world class collections, making decisions about acquisitions and preservation of print and digital collections informed by an understanding of user’s current and future needs.” </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
– Smithsonian Institution Libraries 2009 Strategic Plan</div>
<br />
The Smithsonian Institution Libraries (SIL) collections and its staff are a critical component of the intellectual core of the Smithsonian Institution. We are a robust and in-depth foundation for research, scholarship, and museum initiatives for public outreach, education, and exhibitions. SIL collaborates with users to collect and create resources that benefit present and future generations and inform, sustain, and interpret the intellectual scope of the Smithsonian Institution. SIL staff and collections are a tool for researchers to engage with preserving our heritage and discovering new knowledge. We provide authoritative information and offer innovative services and programs for the Institution and the general public. The Smithsonian Libraries strategic plan A Focus on Service is a dynamic springboard for future directions and actions that will inspire continual learning and improvement; individually and collectively. (http://www.sil.si.edu/PDF/Focus_on_Service.pdf)<br />
<br />
The Smithsonian Institution Libraries:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Regards our audiences in the broadest terms, including Institution researchers and staff, scholars, interns and fellows, students, volunteers, the general public, international visitors, and virtual visitors through Web portals and electronic tours; </li>
<li>Collaborates with constituents to shape SIL collections that are versatile in their utility to our users; </li>
<li>Selects, acquires, and maintains collections in print, digital, and other formats preemptively and in response to the information needs and focus of the Institution, its museums, and units; </li>
<li>Maximizes the utility of collections to research and educational clients as reflected in visitation, loans, web visits, or the published literature; </li>
<li>Supplies information resources that are critical to Institutional work while bolstering interdisciplinary efforts; </li>
<li>Collects materials mindful that innovations within the field of library and information science necessitate taking advantage of various formats and insures authoritative data is shared to all stakeholders; </li>
<li>Constructs core databases and expands electronic access to a wide range of users through informatics, imaging, and other technologies; </li>
<li>Increases information content of the collections via more precise and authoritative identification and documentation of provenance, context, and scholarship; </li>
<li>Develops and meets the highest professional standards of library collections care (storage, conservation, and access); </li>
</ul>
<br />
And in doing so, SIL collects specifically to develop and maintain specific subject collections that include:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Fundamental materials that are essential for the current and future research areas of the Institution;</li>
<li>Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology collection of rare books and manuscripts;</li>
<li>Joseph F. Cullman the 3rd Library of Natural History collection of rare books in anthropology and the natural sciences;</li>
<li>Trade literature collection for the history of American business, technology, marketing, consumption, and design;</li>
<li>DeWitt Clinton Ramsey Room collection documenting the early history of aeronautics;</li>
<li>Thomas A. Bradley Rare Book Room collection of early sample and trade catalogs, decorative arts, and other design; and</li>
<li>World’s Fair collections.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-45734504157983319522012-01-14T06:02:00.000-08:002012-01-14T06:07:44.564-08:00Shrimp 'n Grits (Lactose Free Substitutions)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"> Grits</span></b></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">4 1/4 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth (or substitute some of broth with "shrimp shell" stock)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">3/4 cup lactose free whole milk</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">6 tablespoons earth balance buttery flavor vegan spread</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">1 garlic clove, minced</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">1 cup corn grits (either white or yellow)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"><br />
</span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">Shrimp</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">1/4 cup earth balance buttery flavor vegan spread</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">1/3 cup finely chopped shallots</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">1 large garlic clove, minced</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">2 pounds uncooked large shrimp, peeled, deveined (use shells to make stock for grits)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">1/2 cup dry white wine</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice, drained, juice reserved</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">4 ounces prosciutto, cut into thin strips (about 1 cup)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">1/4 cup chopped fresh chives</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> For those who want - can - grated Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> Adapted from </span><a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Creamy-Shrimp-Grits-with-Prosciutto-104183#ixzz1hPBnlEUj"><b><span style="color: #003399; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none;">http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Creamy-Shrimp-Grits-with-Prosciutto-104183#ixzz1hPBnlEUj</span></b></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"> For grits:</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"><br />
Take shells from shrimp and water to cover and boil. Reduce to simmer and reduce liquid (a ways) to make strong stock. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"> Bring chicken stock and shrimp stock, milk, fake butter and garlic to boil in heavy large saucepan. Gradually whisk in grits. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"> Return to boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat to low. Simmer uncovered until grits thicken, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"> whisking often, about 15 minutes. (whisking makes for less lumps than just plain ole stirring)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"> Leave on stove top off as you cook the shrimp. They will continue to thicken.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"> For shrimp:</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"><br />
Melt 1/4 cup butter substitute in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and garlic and sauté until tender, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"> about 4 minutes.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"> Add shrimp and sauté 2 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer shrimp to large bowl. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"> Add white wine to skillet and boil until reduced to glaze, about 5 minutes. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"> Add drained diced tomatoes and half of prosciutto and simmer until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"> Add parsley, chives and sautéed shrimp and simmer until shrimp are warmed through, about 2 minutes. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"> Thin sauce with some of reserved tomato juices, if desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"> Spoon corn grits into shallow bowls. Top each serving with shrimp-prosciutto-tomato mixture, dividing equally. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"> Garnish with remaining prosciutto strips and serve immediately. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> <br />
</span><br />
<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> Adapted from </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Creamy-Shrimp-Grits-with-Prosciutto-104183#ixzz1hPBzFvii"><b><span style="color: #003399; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none;">http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Creamy-Shrimp-Grits-with-Prosciutto-104183#ixzz1hPBzFvii</span></b></a></div></div>Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-14142290753152568712011-12-20T12:22:00.000-08:002011-12-20T12:22:10.232-08:001-2-3 Cheese Cake<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Very easy to make. Hardest part is letting it sit for 24 hours after making. Then not eating it all in one sitting (boy, you'd get sick!)</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">350 Degree Oven</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">9 to 10 inch spring form pan</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I have also used this recipe and made a few small cheesecakes. I got some little spring forms. Sooo cute. People could have their own individual cake)</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Cookie tray will go under the pan to catch any spills and helps be get the thing in and out and in and out (the cake goes in and out and in and out)</div><br style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">1. Crust</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Graham crackers (honey and / or chocolate)</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">3/4 cup all crushed up. I use maybe two or three of the packages inside a box</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Ground walnuts (if you want)</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">3/4 cup</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Melted unsalted butter</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">3 Tablespoons or so. Not too much - but enough to stick the crumbs together.</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Pat down the graham cracker nut crumbs at the bottom of the pan. Pour melted butter. Try to get it kinda smooth. Have it kinda form a barrier at the edge/seam of the pan all around the sides. Lick fingers.</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">2. Base</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">4 packages of 8 ozs of cream cheese blocks (I mix and match Philadelphia Brand and generic or whatever I find)</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">4 eggs (I think, by default, these are usually large - which is what I normally buy. Not mediums and not extra large)</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">1 1/4 cup sugar</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">1 Tablespoon of lemon juice (the standard amount - but if you don't want it too lemony use less. if you want it more lemony an extra splash. I have experimented with adding orange extract splash. Couldn't tell at all.)</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">2 sloppy teaspoons of vanilla (that sloppy spill just adds that much more yumminess)</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Cut the cream cheese into chunks that won't jam your Cuisinart. Using the setting that lets you go on and off in "pumps" - start creaming that cream cheese. After adding the last of the cream cheese let the machine run to get it really broken up and heading towards smooth - it will want to start balling up so you add one egg at a time to get it going toward liquid. Then add the sugar and let it whirl to get nice and smooth. As it is mixing pour in the lemon and the vanilla and let it continue to get all mixed up. </div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I stop the machine and take the whole top off from time to time to scrap down the sides. After I add the lemon and vanilla, I check to see what got splattered on the inside top and scrap and swirl a bit more.</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I pour the base into the spring form (or divide it up into the littler spring forms) and put it in the oven for 50 to 55 minutes. If I keep checking it, usually 55 minutes - if I am patient, 50 minutes is usually good enough. It will still be a bit jiggley but not too jiggley. I guess error on the side of less jiggley for the first time until you can tell - because, you know, you will be making this over and over again.</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">3.Top</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">While the cake is in the oven - mix together</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">2 cups sour cream</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">1/4 cup of sugar</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">1 teaspoon vanilla</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">After the 50 to 55 minutes, take the cake out and let it just sit there for about 15 minutes. It will settle down a bit and probably crack. But who cares?! You will be covering the top with the sourcreaminessgoodnessyummy.</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Spread the sour cream mix on the top. Start in the middle and go close to but not exactly touching the edges of the pan. It is n't the end of the world to get it to the edge - it just looks prettier when you take the sides off the spring form if the sour creamy yumminess hasn't gotten stuck.</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Put the whole cake back into the oven for 5 minutes.</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Let it cool down.</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Refrigerate for 24 hours.</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Top with cut up fruit - I've done strawberries cut different ways. Blueberries and strawberries. I've done thin sliced lemons. I've done nuthin'.</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I've topped with fruit and then took the edges of the pan off.</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I've taken the edges off and then topped with fruit.</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I don't know if it really matters.</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The whole cake is pretty dang heavy.</div><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">And it gets even better on day 3 if you have any left.</div></div>Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-16242336644999039982011-12-20T12:20:00.001-08:002011-12-20T12:20:50.984-08:00Vegan Oatmeal Cookies (With Suzanne's alternations)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">3/4 cup margarine (Earth Balance Butter Flavored)</div><div class="MsoNormal">1/3 cup sugar</div><div class="MsoNormal">3/4 cup brown sugar (Dark Brown Sugar)</div><div class="MsoNormal">1 tsp vanilla</div><div class="MsoNormal">1/2 cup soy milk (Almond Milk)</div><div class="MsoNormal">1 cup flour</div><div class="MsoNormal">1/2 tsp baking soda</div><div class="MsoNormal">1/4 tsp ginger powder</div><div class="MsoNormal">1/4 tsp cloves (Barely any at all – just a hint)</div><div class="MsoNormal">1/2 tsp cinnamon</div><div class="MsoNormal">1/4 tsp nutmeg (Barely any at all – just a hint)</div><div class="MsoNormal">3 cups quick cooking or rolled oatmeal (2 cups quick and 1 cup rolled – about)</div><div class="MsoNormal">1 cup dried cranberries (Skipped)</div><div class="MsoNormal">Preparation:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Cream together the margarine and sugars until smooth. Add vanilla and soy milk and mix well.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Add flour, baking soda and spices until well mixed, then stir in oats and cranberries.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Spoon 1 1/2 inch balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet (Sprinkle the top with just a smidge of Kosher Salt – I was accidentally too heavy handed on some!)</div><div class="MsoNormal">and bake 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees, or until done.</div></div>Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-49850853699227604702011-12-10T13:06:00.000-08:002011-12-10T13:29:19.302-08:00Jazz Lab<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxjKwmcGX8SrP3VO8T98ARqSFx2_ws0EzVFlprfgU_u4pNH1OFI90RUEWskLqxW4G7eo2Gl84goAkTnHG7OJw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-53689213900122068592011-10-17T17:42:00.000-07:002011-10-17T17:43:02.684-07:00Marilyn's Carrot Cake<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Cake Ingredients<br />
<br />
<br />
1 ¼ cups corn oil<br />
<br />
2 cups sugar<br />
<br />
2 cups flour<br />
<br />
2 tsp cinnamon<br />
<br />
2 tsp baking powder<br />
<br />
2 tsp baking soda<br />
<br />
4 eggs<br />
<br />
4 cups grated carrots (about 1-lb bag)<br />
<br />
I cup chopped pecans (optional)<br />
<br />
1 cup raisins (optional)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Preheat oven to 350. Use either a 10” tube cake pan or two regular sized baking pans so that you already have two layers. Whisk together corn oil and sugar. Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Sift half the dry ingredients into the sugar-oil mixture and blend. Alternately sift in the rest of the dry ingredients while adding the eggs, one at a time. Combine well. Add the carrots, raisins, and pecans. Pour into the prepared pan (or pans) and bake for 70 minutes.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Cream cheese frosting<br />
<br />
If you are making layers, use this in between.<br />
<br />
Ingredients<br />
<br />
8 oz soft unsalted butter<br />
<br />
8 oz soft cream cheese<br />
<br />
1 1-pound box of powdered sugar<br />
<br />
1 tsp vanilla<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Cream the butter well. Add the cream cheese and beat until blended. Stir in the sugar and vanilla. If too soft to spread, chill a bit. Refrigerate if not using immediately, but bring to a spreadable temp before using.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Enjoy! <br />
Marilyn </div>Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-14206925742987552682011-07-30T13:21:00.000-07:002011-07-30T13:23:16.808-07:00Yaki Onigiri - Grilled Rice Cake -<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, times, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Use 1 cup of hot (or warm) cooked Japanese short grain rice per serving. Add the rice to a small bowl (like a cereal bowl) just big enough to hold it. Jiggle the bowl, moving it in a flat, circular motion, like the motion of a hula hoop, until the rice forms into a ball on its own—a neat kitchen trick Tadashi's mom taught him. This motion packs the rice so it holds together when it grills.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Wet your hands and place the ball of rice between your cupped palms. Now squeeze, flip, and turn the rice ball several times to form it into a triangular shape. This motion takes a little practice, but after a few yaki onigiri, you'll get the hang of it. Make sure not to compact the rice too tight; you want it to just stick together.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Grill yaki onigiri over medium heat. If the fire's too hot, the rice will burn. We like to place the yaki onigiri along the cooler edges of a grill while other foods cook in the hotter center. Watch the rice carefully while it grills; perfect yaki onigiri need constant attention.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><br /></p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, times, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; ">Reprinted from <a href="http://www.publicradio.org/store/?158008737X" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(216, 31, 42); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><em style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The Japanese Grill: From Classic Yakitori to Steak, Seafood, and Vegetables</em></a> by Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat from the Splendid Table site: http://www.publicradio.org/columns/splendid-table/recipes/yaki_onigiri.html</span>Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-70111768350184933242011-07-11T18:53:00.000-07:002011-07-11T18:54:30.422-07:00Summer Rain Storm<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> 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humid and it is hot. No. It is really humid and it is really hot.<span style=""> </span>The lightening is high up in the sky. It is the time of day – that twilight time – that makes it hard to tell if it is a darkening stormy sky or just night falling. But then the breeze comes – a hot breeze that smells like rain.<span style=""> </span>It does. It smells like rain.<span style=""> </span>Smell can tell you lots – is the ocean nearby? Is there something dead in the refrigerator that should have been thrown away two days ago? This the heavy smell of rain.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The dash board reads 93 degrees at <span style=""> </span>8:30 pm. That just isn’t right for July.<span style=""> </span>Maybe August dog days but this is over the top for July.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I get out of the car and it is wall of thick air. Immediately sweat forms but it is hard to tell since the air is so humid there is no difference between my skin and the air. <span style=""> </span>The breeze is changing. 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I’m not seeking an underpass to hide with other cars caught on the interstate. I’m not worried about the motorcyclist that I’ve seen so many times enjoying the summer. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I’m not carrying groceries in from the car dodging rain drops trying not to step in puddles or have the bag give way under the weight and wetness. I’m not walking to the metro under a mini umbrella that is easy to carry but useless in a rain storm. Or even a larger umbrella that can be walking stick on clear days and just turns inside out against gust of winds half the strength of this rain.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I’m not waiting on an airplane pulled off the side of the tarmac waiting for the signal that all is clear. Listening to the rain against the little plastic windows, squeezed in the middle seat, thumbing through the skyways mall magazine that has been thumbed by too many people that the pages seem to have thinned and gotten a bit oily. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I’m on my porch. The cat is in the basement waiting for the sounds to stop; for the intense rain smell to past.<span style=""> </span>My salad is gone and the wind is dying down.<span style=""> </span>The weather station is slowing to a constant spin. The tops of the trees sway, almost gently with a gusty breezy sounds. The rain has slowed. All the sounds have mellowed to where I can now hear the rain running down the gutters. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Rain splashes some but eases up.<span style=""> </span>The cat has come to check to see if all is better. The lower branches of the far trees no longer move. The tops just dance. The leaves wave goodbye.<span style=""> </span>A gust of wind travels from the neighbors to me to beyond. Dripping of the gutters is steady but is not longer running water down to the drive and out to the street. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">It becomes silent except for the dripping.</p>Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-57922635530222770272011-06-11T09:21:00.000-07:002011-06-11T09:48:11.294-07:00What I use to do...Our club is going to have a meeting and we have to let everyone know when and where. The phone tree is the best way to get the word out. Three officers of the club divide the membership list into thirds and go home.<br /><br />After a quick snack of Charlie's Chips Potato Chips (I like to dip them in a bit of ketchup) and a Tab, I pull out my third of the list and begin.<br /><br />The phone is on the wall in the kitchen but the curly handset cord reaches to the kitchen table. I dial Francie's house first and sit down at the table to play with the chips in the ketchup trying not to have my mouth full when the phone gets answered.<br /><br />"Smith residence."<br />"Hi Mrs. Smith. This is Suzanne. Can I talk to Francie?"<br />"Sure. Just a sec." And I hear the hand set bang down and Mrs. Smith yelling in the distance: "FraaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnCIEeeeeeeeeeeeee. Phone. It is Suzanne. Be quick because I need the phone."<br /><br />"Hi Suzanne."<br />"Hi Francie. Hey, we are going to meet at Wendy's house next Thursday at 7. Think you can make it?"<br />"Sure. Who do you want me to call?"<br />"Great! Can you call Janet, Betsy, Linda and Lisa?"<br />"Sure. I'll ask mom if we can bring something. Probably cokes."<br />"That would be a great help. Talk to you later."<br />"Okay. Talk to you later."<br /><br />So we use to have one phone in the house that was tethered to the wall. You couldn't walk around the house chit chatting. And you didn't call someone personal phone, but the phone that rang at the house for the entire house hold. This is now sometimes referred to as a "land line".<br /><br />There was no texting. Nor instant messaging to tell people what is going on. No evites or Facebook event. The phone tree was the best way to make sure everyone got a message and you got to share the burden on reaching an entire group by passing the calling along.<br /><br />You actually DIALed the phone with a round disc that you used. Holes around the dial for each number and you rotated it and let go - waiting for the dial to spring back before the next number. I loved dialing. I thought it was really neat how some people used a pencil so their nails didn't get chipped. But I really never did that. I liked just pulling the dial around and letting go. It was great when there were zeros! They took the longest to pull and wait for the return. The sound is still in my ear memory.<br /><br />Where I grew up "coke" was the same as "kleenex" or "q-tip". The brand was the name of the soda no matter what the real drink was. "You want a coke?" "Sure. I'll take a Sprite." or "You have any coke?" "Yes, Root Beer, Coke, and Kick". Kick was in a green bottle with a mule kicking his back legs in the air. <br /><br />What was really fun was the delivery of potato chips to the house. Yes, potato chips in a cool tin can was brought to the house by a Charlies' Chip delivery guy. I'm sure others roll their eyes a bit when they hear the older folk talk about milk and eggs being delivered. And those returning to the freshness of having milk and eggs delivered now. But I haven't seen a resurgence of the potato chip man.Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-18379639497184562362011-04-13T16:45:00.000-07:002011-04-13T16:46:01.689-07:00Chocolate Cake in a mug - Microwave!<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 15px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">2 tablespoon of Self-raising flour<br />2 tablespoon of castor sugar<br />1 tablespoon of dark cocoa<br />1 tablespoon of instant coffee<br />1 egg<br />1 table spoon of milk<br />1 table spoon of sunflower oil<br />If you want to, you can add chocolate chips.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 15px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">You can replace self-rising flour: regular flour with some baking powder. 3 tsp. of baking powder for every 8 oz. of regular flour. Recommended in this case, considering that 2 tbsp. = 1 oz., you're going to need 2 tbsp. of regular flour and 3/8 tsp. of baking powder.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 15px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">For castor sugar, you can use regular granulated sugar and run it through the food processor or try confectionery sugar.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 15px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">For sunflower oil could substitute canola oil (not sure about olive oil) more of the "flavorless" oils.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 15px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">Prepare the cake in a mug :</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 15px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">1. Get a mug, wide but not too tall.<br />2. Put the self-rising flour (or regular flour and baking powder), sugar, cocoa and coffee powder into the mug and mix it thoroughly. Fork better than a spoon.<br />3. Add the eggs in and mix it all together with a fork.<br />4. Add in oil and milk and mix it all very well.<br />5. Add in some chocolate chips. (I replaced this with a regular, plain chocolate bar and it worked pretty much the same way.)<br />6. Place in the microwave on full power for 2½ minutes.<br />7. Leave to cool for one minute or you'll burn the roof of your mouth.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 13px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 15px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana; min-height: 16px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 19px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 19px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 19px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">Adapted from Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6165944</span></p>Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-19118203257103877802010-11-17T07:22:00.000-08:002010-11-17T07:36:52.395-08:00Writer for Hire - from Chronicle of Higher Education<snip>I keep returning to the concept of a writing tutor - and how can this work to benefit the students who need this?<br /><br />In today's world of collaboration - is there a place where "ghost writing" can be come legitimate assistance to those who need the help with expressing their knowledge.<br /><br />Granted, in the article that follows, the clients did NOT participate in the knowledge being written about. <br /><br />Makes an employer, a mother, a librarian, and just a citizen that will be relying on these educated people for my doctors, nurses, bankers, etc... worried.<br /><br />[snip snip snip]<br /><br /><a href="http://chronicle.com/article/article-content/125329/" target="_blank">http://chronicle.com/article/<wbr>article-content/125329/</a><br /><br /><br /><h1>The Shadow Scholar</h1> <h2 class="deck">The man who writes your students' papers tells his story</h2><br />[Chronical's Editor's note: Ed Dante is a pseudonym for a writer who lives on the<br />East Coast. Through a literary agent, he approached The Chronicle<br />wanting to tell the story of how he makes a living writing papers for<br />a custom-essay company and to describe the extent of student cheating<br />he has observed. In the course of editing his article, The Chronicle<br />reviewed correspondence Dante had with clients and some of the papers<br />he had been paid to write. In the article published here, some details<br />of the assignment he describes have been altered to protect the<br />identity of the student.]<br /><br /><br /><br />The request came in by e-mail around 2 in the afternoon. It was from a<br />previous customer, and she had urgent business. I quote her message<br />here verbatim (if I had to put up with it, so should you): "You did me<br />business ethics propsal for me I need propsal got approved pls can you<br />will write me paper?"<br /><br />I've gotten pretty good at interpreting this kind of correspondence.<br />The client had attached a document from her professor with details<br />about the paper. She needed the first section in a week. Seventy-five<br />pages.<br /><br />I told her no problem.<br /><br />It truly was no problem. In the past year, I've written roughly 5,000<br />pages of scholarly literature, most on very tight deadlines. But you<br />won't find my name on a single paper.<br /><br />I've written toward a master's degree in cognitive psychology, a Ph.D.<br />in sociology, and a handful of postgraduate credits in international<br />diplomacy. I've worked on bachelor's degrees in hospitality, business<br />administration, and accounting. I've written for courses in history,<br />cinema, labor relations, pharmacology, theology, sports management,<br />maritime security, airline services, sustainability, municipal<br />budgeting, marketing, philosophy, ethics, Eastern religion, postmodern<br />architecture, anthropology, literature, and public administration.<br />I've attended three dozen online universities. I've completed 12<br />graduate theses of 50 pages or more. All for someone else.<br />You've never heard of me, but there's a good chance that you've read<br />some of my work. I'm a hired gun, a doctor of everything, an academic<br />mercenary. My customers are your students. I promise you that.<br />Somebody in your classroom uses a service that you can't detect, that<br />you can't defend against, that you may not even know exists.<br />I work at an online company that generates tens of thousands of<br />dollars a month by creating original essays based on specific<br />instructions provided by cheating students. I've worked there full<br />time since 2004. On any day of the academic year, I am working on<br />upward of 20 assignments.<br /><br />In the midst of this great recession, business is booming. At busy<br />times, during midterms and finals, my company's staff of roughly 50<br />writers is not large enough to satisfy the demands of students who<br />will pay for our work and claim it as their own.<br /><br />You would be amazed by the incompetence of your students' writing. I<br />have seen the word "desperate" misspelled every way you can imagine.<br />And these students truly are desperate. They couldn't write a<br />convincing grocery list, yet they are in graduate school. They really<br />need help. They need help learning and, separately, they need help<br />passing their courses. But they aren't getting it.<br /><br />For those of you who have ever mentored a student through the writing<br />of a dissertation, served on a thesis-review committee, or guided a<br />graduate student through a formal research process, I have a question:<br />Do you ever wonder how a student who struggles to formulate complete<br />sentences in conversation manages to produce marginally competent<br />research? How does that student get by you?<br /><br />I live well on the desperation, misery, and incompetence that your<br />educational system has created. Granted, as a writer, I could earn<br />more; certainly there are ways to earn less. But I never struggle to<br />find work. And as my peers trudge through thankless office jobs that<br />seem more intolerable with every passing month of our sustained<br />recession, I am on pace for my best year yet. I will make roughly<br />$66,000 this year. Not a king's ransom, but higher than what many<br />actual educators are paid.<br /><br />Of course, I know you are aware that cheating occurs. But you have no<br />idea how deeply this kind of cheating penetrates the academic system,<br />much less how to stop it. Last summer The New York Times reported that<br />61 percent of undergraduates have admitted to some form of cheating on<br />assignments and exams. Yet there is little discussion about custom<br />papers and how they differ from more-detectable forms of plagiarism,<br />or about why students cheat in the first place.<br /><br />It is my hope that this essay will initiate such a conversation. As<br />for me, I'm planning to retire. I'm tired of helping you make your<br />students look competent.<br /><br />It is late in the semester when the business student contacts me, a<br />time when I typically juggle deadlines and push out 20 to 40 pages a<br />day. I had written a short research proposal for her a few weeks<br />before, suggesting a project that connected a surge of unethical<br />business practices to the patterns of trade liberalization. The<br />proposal was approved, and now I had six days to complete the<br />assignment. This was not quite a rush order, which we get top dollar<br />to write. This assignment would be priced at a standard $2,000, half<br />of which goes in my pocket.<br /><br />A few hours after I had agreed to write the paper, I received the<br />following e-mail: "sending sorces for ur to use thanx."<br /><br />I did not reply immediately. One hour later, I received another message:<br />"did u get the sorce I send<br />please where you are now?<br />Desprit to pass spring projict"<br /><br />Not only was this student going to be a constant thorn in my side, but<br />she also communicated in haiku, each less decipherable than the one<br />before it. I let her know that I was giving her work the utmost<br />attention, that I had received her sources, and that I would be in<br />touch if I had any questions. Then I put it aside.<br /><br />From my experience, three demographic groups seek out my services: the<br />English-as-second-language student; the hopelessly deficient student;<br />and the lazy rich kid.<br /><br />For the last, colleges are a perfect launching ground—they are built<br />to reward the rich and to forgive them their laziness. Let's be<br />honest: The successful among us are not always the best and the<br />brightest, and certainly not the most ethical. My favorite customers<br />are those with an unlimited supply of money and no shortage of<br />instructions on how they would like to see their work executed. While<br />the deficient student will generally not know how to ask for what he<br />wants until he doesn't get it, the lazy rich student will know exactly<br />what he wants. He is poised for a life of paying others and telling<br />them what to do. Indeed, he is acquiring all the skills he needs to<br />stay on top.<br /><br />As for the first two types of students—the ESL and the hopelessly<br />deficient—colleges are utterly failing them. Students who come to<br />American universities from other countries find that their efforts to<br />learn a new language are confounded not only by cultural difficulties<br />but also by the pressures of grading. The focus on evaluation rather<br />than education means that those who haven't mastered English must do<br />so quickly or suffer the consequences. My service provides a<br />particularly quick way to "master" English. And those who are<br />hopelessly deficient—a euphemism, I admit—struggle with communication<br />in general.<br /><br />Two days had passed since I last heard from the business student.<br />Overnight I had received 14 e-mails from her. She had additional<br />instructions for the assignment, such as "but more again please make<br />sure they are a good link betwee the leticture review and all the<br />chapter and the benfet of my paper. finally do you think the level of<br />this work? how match i can get it?"<br /><br />I'll admit, I didn't fully understand that one.<br /><br />It was followed by some clarification: "where u are can you get my<br />messages? Please I pay a lot and dont have ao to faile I strated to<br />get very worry."<br /><br />Her messages had arrived between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Again I assured her<br />I had the matter under control.<br /><br />It was true. At this point, there are few academic challenges that I<br />find intimidating. You name it, I've been paid to write about it.<br />Customers' orders are endlessly different yet strangely all the same.<br />No matter what the subject, clients want to be assured that their<br />assignment is in capable hands. It would be terrible to think that<br />your Ivy League graduate thesis was riding on the work ethic and<br />perspicacity of a public-university slacker. So part of my job is to<br />be whatever my clients want me to be. I say yes when I am asked if I<br />have a Ph.D. in sociology. I say yes when I am asked if I have<br />professional training in industrial/organizational psychology. I say<br />yes when asked if I have ever designed a perpetual-motion-powered time<br />machine and documented my efforts in a peer-reviewed journal.<br />The subject matter, the grade level, the college, the course—these<br />things are irrelevant to me. Prices are determined per page and are<br />based on how long I have to complete the assignment. As long as it<br />doesn't require me to do any math or video-documented animal<br />husbandry, I will write anything.<br /><br />I have completed countless online courses. Students provide me with<br />passwords and user names so I can access key documents and online<br />exams. In some instances, I have even contributed to weekly online<br />discussions with other students in the class.<br /><br />I have become a master of the admissions essay. I have written these<br />for undergraduate, master's, and doctoral programs, some at elite<br />universities. I can explain exactly why you're Brown material, why the<br />Wharton M.B.A. program would benefit from your presence, how certain<br />life experiences have prepared you for the rigors of your chosen<br />course of study. I do not mean to be insensitive, but I can't tell you<br />how many times I've been paid to write about somebody helping a loved<br />one battle cancer. I've written essays that could be adapted into<br />Meryl Streep movies.<br /><br />I do a lot of work for seminary students. I like seminary students.<br />They seem so blissfully unaware of the inherent contradiction in<br />paying somebody to help them cheat in courses that are largely about<br />walking in the light of God and providing an ethical model for others<br />to follow. I have been commissioned to write many a passionate<br />condemnation of America's moral decay as exemplified by abortion, gay<br />marriage, or the teaching of evolution. All in all, we may presume<br />that clerical authorities see these as a greater threat than the<br />plagiarism committed by the future frocked.<br /><br />With respect to America's nurses, fear not. Our lives are in capable<br />hands—just hands that can't write a lick. Nursing students account<br />for one of my company's biggest customer bases. I've written<br />case-management plans, reports on nursing ethics, and essays on why<br />nurse practitioners are lighting the way to the future of medicine.<br />I've even written pharmaceutical-treatment courses, for patients who I<br />hope were hypothetical.<br /><br />I, who have no name, no opinions, and no style, have written so many<br />papers at this point, including legal briefs, military-strategy<br />assessments, poems, lab reports, and, yes, even papers on academic<br />integrity, that it's hard to determine which course of study is most<br />infested with cheating. But I'd say education is the worst. I've<br />written papers for students in elementary-education programs,<br />special-education majors, and ESL-training courses. I've written<br />lesson plans for aspiring high-school teachers, and I've synthesized<br />reports from notes that customers have taken during classroom<br />observations. I've written essays for those studying to become school<br />administrators, and I've completed theses for those on course to<br />become principals. In the enormous conspiracy that is student<br />cheating, the frontline intelligence community is infiltrated by<br />double agents. (Future educators of America, I know who you are.)<br />As the deadline for the business-ethics paper approaches, I think<br />about what's ahead of me. Whenever I take on an assignment this large,<br />I get a certain physical sensation. My body says: Are you sure you<br />want to do this again? You know how much it hurt the last time. You<br />know this student will be with you for a long time. You know you will<br />become her emergency contact, her guidance counselor and life raft.<br />You know that for the 48 hours that you dedicate to writing this<br />paper, you will cease all human functions but typing, you will Google<br />until the term has lost all meaning, and you will drink enough coffee<br />to fuel a revolution in a small Central American country.<br />But then there's the money, the sense that I must capitalize on<br />opportunity, and even a bit of a thrill in seeing whether I can do it.<br />And I can. It's not implausible to write a 75-page paper in two days.<br />It's just miserable. I don't need much sleep, and when I get cranking,<br />I can churn out four or five pages an hour. First I lay out the<br />sections of an assignment—introduction, problem statement,<br />methodology, literature review, findings, conclusion—whatever the<br />instructions call for. Then I start Googling.<br /><br />I haven't been to a library once since I started doing this job.<br />Amazon is quite generous about free samples. If I can find a single<br />page from a particular text, I can cobble that into a report, deducing<br />what I don't know from customer reviews and publisher blurbs. Google<br />Scholar is a great source for material, providing the abstract of<br />nearly any journal article. And of course, there's Wikipedia, which is<br />often my first stop when dealing with unfamiliar subjects. Naturally<br />one must verify such material elsewhere, but I've taken hundreds of<br />crash courses this way.<br /><br />After I've gathered my sources, I pull out usable quotes, cite them,<br />and distribute them among the sections of the assignment. Over the<br />years, I've refined ways of stretching papers. I can write a four-word<br />sentence in 40 words. Just give me one phrase of quotable text, and<br />I'll produce two pages of ponderous explanation. I can say in 10 pages<br />what most normal people could say in a paragraph.<br /><br />I've also got a mental library of stock academic phrases: "A close<br />consideration of the events which occurred in ____ during the ____<br />demonstrate that ____ had entered into a phase of widespread cultural,<br />social, and economic change that would define ____ for decades to<br />come." Fill in the blanks using words provided by the professor in the<br />assignment's instructions.<br /><br />How good is the product created by this process? That depends—on the<br />day, my mood, how many other assignments I am working on. It also<br />depends on the customer, his or her expectations, and the degree to<br />which the completed work exceeds his or her abilities. I don't ever<br />edit my assignments. That way I get fewer customer requests to "dumb<br />it down." So some of my work is great. Some of it is not so great.<br />Most of my clients do not have the wherewithal to tell the difference,<br />which probably means that in most cases the work is better than what<br />the student would have produced on his or her own. I've actually had<br />customers thank me for being clever enough to insert typos. "Nice<br />touch," they'll say.<br /><br />I've read enough academic material to know that I'm not the only<br />bullshit artist out there. I think about how Dickens got paid per word<br />and how, as a result, Bleak House is ... well, let's be diplomatic and<br />say exhaustive. Dickens is a role model for me.<br /><br />So how does someone become a custom-paper writer? The story of how I<br />got into this job may be instructive. It is mostly about the<br />tremendous disappointment that awaited me in college.<br /><br />My distaste for the early hours and regimented nature of high school<br />was tempered by the promise of the educational community ahead, with<br />its free exchange of ideas and access to great minds. How dispiriting<br />to find out that college was just another place where grades were<br />grubbed, competition overshadowed personal growth, and the threat of<br />failure was used to encourage learning.<br /><br />Although my university experience did not live up to its vaunted<br />reputation, it did lead me to where I am today. I was raised in an<br />upper-middle-class family, but I went to college in a poor<br />neighborhood. I fit in really well: After paying my tuition, I didn't<br />have a cent to my name. I had nothing but a meal plan and my<br />roommate's computer. But I was determined to write for a living, and,<br />moreover, to spend these extremely expensive years learning how to do<br />so. When I completed my first novel, in the summer between sophomore<br />and junior years, I contacted the English department about creating an<br />independent study around editing and publishing it. I was received<br />like a mental patient. I was told, "There's nothing like that here." I<br />was told that I could go back to my classes, sit in my lectures, and<br />fill out Scantron tests until I graduated.<br /><br />I didn't much care for my classes, though. I slept late and spent the<br />afternoons working on my own material. Then a funny thing happened.<br />Here I was, begging anybody in authority to take my work seriously.<br />But my classmates did. They saw my abilities and my abundance of free<br />time. They saw a value that the university did not.<br /><br />It turned out that my lazy, Xanax-snorting, Miller-swilling classmates<br />were thrilled to pay me to write their papers. And I was thrilled to<br />take their money. Imagine you are crumbling under the weight of<br />university-issued parking tickets and self-doubt when a frat boy<br />offers you cash to write about Plato. Doing that job was a no-brainer.<br />Word of my services spread quickly, especially through the<br />fraternities. Soon I was receiving calls from strangers who wanted to<br />commission my work. I was a writer!<br /><br />Nearly a decade later, students, not publishers, still come from<br />everywhere to find me.<br /><br />I work hard for a living. I'm nice to people. But I understand that in<br />simple terms, I'm the bad guy. I see where I'm vulnerable to ethical<br />scrutiny.<br /><br />But pointing the finger at me is too easy. Why does my business<br />thrive? Why do so many students prefer to cheat rather than do their<br />own work?<br /><br />Say what you want about me, but I am not the reason your students cheat.<br />You know what's never happened? I've never had a client complain that<br />he'd been expelled from school, that the originality of his work had<br />been questioned, that some disciplinary action had been taken. As far<br />as I know, not one of my customers has ever been caught.<br /><br />With just two days to go, I was finally ready to throw myself into the<br />business assignment. I turned off my phone, caged myself in my office,<br />and went through the purgatory of cramming the summation of a<br />student's alleged education into a weekend. Try it sometime. After the<br />20th hour on a single subject, you have an almost-out-of-body<br />experience.<br /><br />My client was thrilled with my work. She told me that she would<br />present the chapter to her mentor and get back to me with our next<br />steps. Two weeks passed, by which time the assignment was but a<br />distant memory, obscured by the several hundred pages I had written<br />since. On a Wednesday evening, I received the following e-mail:<br />"Thanx u so much for the chapter is going very good the porfesser<br />likes it but wants the folloing suggestions please what do you thing?:<br />"'The hypothesis is interesting but I'd like to see it a bit more<br />focused. Choose a specific connection and try to prove it.'<br /><br />"What shoudwe say?"<br /><br />This happens a lot. I get paid per assignment. But with longer papers,<br />the student starts to think of me as a personal educational counselor.<br />She paid me to write a one-page response to her professor, and then<br />she paid me to revise her paper. I completed each of these<br />assignments, sustaining the voice that the student had established and<br />maintaining the front of competence from some invisible location far<br />beneath the ivory tower.<br /><br />The 75-page paper on business ethics ultimately expanded into a<br />160-page graduate thesis, every word of which was written by me. I<br />can't remember the name of my client, but it's her name on my work. We<br />collaborated for months. As with so many other topics I tackle, the<br />connection between unethical business practices and trade<br />liberalization became a subtext to my everyday life.<br /><br />So, of course, you can imagine my excitement when I received the good news:<br />"thanx so much for uhelp ican going to graduate to now".</snip>Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-91680798449882085732010-08-01T13:51:00.000-07:002010-08-01T13:52:07.431-07:00Walden Treat - from Amy<div> <p class="x_MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.5pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;">Congo Bars</span></b></p> <p class="x_MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.5pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;"></span></b></p> <p class="x_MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> <span class="x_Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>2 3/4 cup all purpose flour<br />2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder<br />1/2 teaspoon salt<br />2/3 cup butter, softened (not melted) (approx. 10 2/3 tbs)<br />1 lb. light brown sugar </b></span></p> <span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="x_Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>3 eggs<br />1 teaspoon vanilla<br />11.5 ounce package chocolate chips</b></span></span> <p class="x_MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"> <b><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;"></span></b></p> <p class="x_MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"> <b><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;">By hand:</span></b><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;"></span></p> <p class="x_MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"> <span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;">Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.<br />Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.<br />Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.<br />Add vanilla and chocolate chips. Mix well.<br />Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined. The batter should be thick.</span><span class="x_Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px;"> </span></p> <p class="x_MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"> <b style=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;">OR,</span></b><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><b><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;">by mixer:</span></b><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;"></span></p> <p class="x_MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.5pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;">Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.<br />Combine butter and sugar using a mixer until blended.<br />Add eggs, one at a time to sugar mixture, mixing on low in between each addition.<br />Add vanilla and mix.<br />Add flour and mix until combined.<br />Stir in chips. The batter should be thick.</span></p> <p class="x_MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"> <span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;">Coat a 13 X 9 pan with non-stick spray (or butter/flour combo) <span style=""> </span>and spread batter evenly into pan. I usually put the pan into the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight at this point, but you don’t have to.</span></p> <p class="x_MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.5pt; line-height: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;">Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake.<span style=""> </span>Use a toothpick to insert and check for doneness before removing from the oven. <span style=""> </span>Sometimes it takes a bit longer to cook (especially if they’ve been in the fridge), so don’t be surprised if they’re not done after 35 minutes.<span style=""> </span>If you feel that the top is getting too brown, put tin foil over the top.<br /></span></p> </div>Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-63064646938818435282010-02-19T17:49:00.000-08:002010-02-19T17:54:24.494-08:00I can't tell Roy he is wrong....Roy Tennant tweeted that he wanted to be told he is wrong. I took the bait and read his blog post "RDA Adds Complexity to MARC" here http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/1090000309/post/1520052752.html (Yes I used the full url and not a bit.ly or a tiny.url!)<br /><br />It is a short read but clear and thoughtful - as Roy always is - and though I hate be thought of as "a spoiler" his last paragraph is to the point and I just can't say he is wrong:<br /><br /><span class="infuse">"I wish I had more confidence than I do in our bibliographic future. I really wish that I could believe that this represents a systemic, clean break from our past and a firm move into really machine-ready data. And I really, really wish I could feel inspired about this change, instead of skeptical, and fearful, and disappointed at what increasingly looks like a missed opportunity. Please convince me I am wrong. I really, really want to be wrong."</span>Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-28860015183183825842009-12-29T16:54:00.000-08:002009-12-29T16:57:20.569-08:00Special twist to The Last WordThe Last Word / Vodka style<br /><br />Equal parts<br />Vodka<br />Chartreuse (Green)<br />Maraschino Liqueur (Luxardo)<br />Lime Juice<br /><br />Shake over ice and strain into waiting chilled martini glass<br /><br />Mmm'mmmSuzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-72369633653487045112009-02-25T19:06:00.000-08:002009-02-25T19:14:12.591-08:00Salty Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Borrowed Recipe1 1/4 cups all purpose flour<br />3/4 teaspoon baking powder<br />1/2 teaspoon baking soda<br />1/2 teaspoon salt ( or a bit less)<br />3 cups rolled oats (1 cup old fashion and 2 fast cook)<br />1 cup raisins<br />1 1/2 sticks butter = 12 tablespoons<br /> 1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar (dark brown gives good mouth feel and chewy)<br />1 large egg<br />1 teaspoon vanilla extract plus a splash<br />Kosher salt for sprinkling on top.<br /><br />Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl<br />Combine oats and raisins in a separate bowl<br />Beat until fluffy the butter and sugar and then add egg and vanilla.<br />Add flour mixture in batches mixing well between.<br />Mix in the oatmeal/raisins until just blended in.<br /><br />Roll in to balls and put on baking sheet - press down a bit and then sprinkle with a half a pinch of the kosher salt.<br />Oven 350<br />Cook about 12 minutes and let cool on pan a bit before trying to get off them off.Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-50498446112987059552009-01-03T13:58:00.000-08:002009-01-03T14:06:32.070-08:00Adobo Chicken Attempt½ cup mixed vinegars (wee bit of leftover white wine vinegar, wee bit of leftover cider vinegar, rest of red wine vinegar)<br />¼ cup soy sauce<br />Lots of twists of pepper from multicolor pepper corns<br />2 bay leaves<br />One normal size can of small diced tomatoes<br />Lots of smashed garlic (skins removed)<br />Chicken thighs<br />Chicken broth to cover<br /><br />High for 4 hours in slow cooker<br /><br />Removed thighs (whoospee they all fell apart)<br /><br />Poured sauce in pan and reduced on top of stove<br /><br />Diced yellow onion and added to iron skillet with olive oil<br />Add thighs to skillet while sauce reduced.<br /><br />Smells great but lacks a bit in taste.<br />Needs more kick.<br />Curious about the coconut milk alternativesSuzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-79827749584359892772009-01-02T18:29:00.000-08:002009-01-02T18:31:03.171-08:00Dublin Core and RDA - Posting on testing with linksPosted to the NGC4LIB discussion list on January 2, 2009<br /><br />"The DCMI/RDA Task Group has been doing some testing of RDA data since last fall, based on several cataloging scenarios we developed with members of the community, using what we then knew about the RDA element set and roles vocabulary. The scenarios and testing are available at: <a href="http://dublincore.org/dcmirdataskgroup/" target="_blank">http://dublincore.org/<wbr>dcmirdataskgroup/</a> The site also includes use cases, developer scenarios, etc. We're happy to have the testing group use as much of these as are useful.<br /><br />As I'm sure you are aware, the RDA elements, roles and selected vocabularies are available on the NSDL Registry (<a href="http://metadataregistry.org/" target="_blank">http://metadataregistry.org</a>), and they can be used by anyone. I'm happy to answer any questions about what's there, decisions that have been made about registration, what's missing, etc. Most of the work of registration and the wiki scenarios has been done with the help of Karen Coyle. Both of us are happy to be available to the testing group at any point.<br /><br />Regards,<br />Diane Hillmann<br />co-chair, DCMI/RDA Task Group"Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-49340593530057036532008-12-29T18:13:00.000-08:002008-12-31T15:04:17.788-08:00"Momma's" sticky baked chickenSo this isn't my Momma's sticky chicken. This is my kids' Momma's sticky chicken. That actual might be called in other places as Chicken Marbella. I have used whole chicken cut up, only thighs, only breasts, bone in and bone out, wings, mixed and matched legs, breasts, thighs, skinless, skin on. Basically any way you want to get your chicken.<br /><br />I always wash my chicken until the water gets clear and then stick it in a bowl of salty water. This is just what I was told to do. I always do this first and then move on to other things leaving the chicken there as short or as long as it takes for me to do whatever has to be done. I mentioned this to a friend asking her if this is "normal" and her response was ... duh, it is "kosherizing" it. Who knew I was kosherizing anything?<br /><br />Marinade: You want me to measure? Aint gonna happen. I make more marinade than any recipe calls for. All my cook books and magazines have the skimpiest amounts of marinades. I like my chicken to soak in a bath of marinade. Mmmm'mmm<br /><br />Real Recipe is below but sometimes my variations on the theme include:<br />Olive Oil<br />Red Wine Vinegar<br />Bay leaves<br />Dried basil (rubbed)<br />Dried oregano (rubbed)<br />Salt<br />Pepper<br />Smashed up garlic (peel paper and get the cloves mangled a bit)<br />Onion powder<br />Garlic powder if I feel my smashed garlic is weak<br /><br />Mix. Taste. Needs to be "stronger" than you think to really get the chicken flavorful. So usually I need more something...<br /><br />I've been known to add<br />lemon juice<br />dry mustard powder<br /><br />Taste. Well, don't it taste like a strong Italian salad dressing? I guess I could have just used Newman's Italian Dressing. Okay - so I've been known to do that and "doctor it up" a bit with more herbs.<br /><br />Shake off water from chicken and put in big zip lock bag and pour marinade.<br /><br />Leave in frig over night. Or on counter for a few hours.<br /><br />Dump it all out into a large glass lasgna style pan.<br /><br />If I forget to add to the marinade, I add to the pan:<br />dried apricots<br />pitted green olives<br />prunes<br />capers ( a little of the yummy, salty caper juice)<br /><br />Sprinkly brown sugar on top. Not alot. We aren't making sweet and sour for goodness sakes. This just gets some chicken some color (lovely brown) and the "sticky" that is essential for finger linkin' goodness.<br /><br />Bake at 350 for a while.<br /><br />Serve with rice.<br />Store excess in frig with sauce. Great for warming up the next day, slicing the chicken for sandwiches, picking at it with the door of the frig open - just to steal an apricot - to pick at a wing - dontcha know.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Real Recipe Sticky Baked Chicken Marbella</span><br />Chicken:<br />4 chicken breasts<br />4 chicken thighs<br />4 chicken legs<br />4 chicken wings<br /><br />Marinade:<br />6 to 8 to whole head of garlic peeled and smashed<br />1/4 cup dried oregano rubbed in the palms (Or less and add dried basil too)<br />1/8 cup dried onion powder<br />1/8 cup of dried mustard powder<br />salt<br />pepper<br />1/2 cup red wine vinegar<br />1/2 cup olive oil<br />6 bay leaves<br />(Sometimes I forget to put these in the marinade and they go in later)<br />1 cup dried apricots (or 1/2 apricot and 1/2 prunes or 1 cup prunes)<br />1/2 cup pitted green olives (with or without pimentos)<br />1/2 cup capers and some of the juice<br /><br />Last touches:<br />1/2 brown sugar<br />optional cup of white wine<br /><br />Rinse chicken.<br />Combine marinade and pour to cover chicken<br />Let marinate for at least 3 or so hours on counter or overnight in frig<br /><br />Put chicken in single layer in a shallow baking pan (or two depending on your size pan). Pour marinade over. Tuck dried fruit and olives underneath chicken or deep in marinade to insure they don't burn.<br /><br />Sprinkle with brown sugar and add wine if seems it needs more liquid.<br /><br />Bake for an hour at 350. Basting every 15 minutes or so.<br /><br />Store leftovers separate from sauce or combines. Good at room temperature the next day.Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-72232612993991592402008-12-26T17:56:00.000-08:002008-12-26T18:00:34.366-08:00Staying homeI love staying home. I guess working full time, mothering full time, wife-ing full time - eventually just staying home and doing nothing is allowed. I realized today as I walked to the co-op up the street for some fixin's for a salad for dinner that I hadn't been out of the house in quite a while. And, well, that was fine with me.<div><br /></div><div>Some people get "antsy" with a bit of cabin fever. What would be the opposite of that - just shy of diagnosable as a psychosis?</div><div><br /></div><div>I just like being home. Futzying around with this and that and doing a whole lot of nothing. I guess I would eventually get bored. And I might have actually gotten officially bored today. But I was happy being bored!</div><div><br /></div><div>The difference I guess is that I COULD go out if I WANTED to go out but chose not to go out. If I could NOT go out, then I wonder if I would be one of those antsy people?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-25557849454473598522008-11-19T11:03:00.000-08:002008-11-19T12:07:42.003-08:00Chick Pea Stew (Peanut Butter style)I've been asked to share my stew recipe. It is a shame that I just don't know exactly what I did!<br /><br />So, lets say that I started by sauteing onions and garlic in olive oil. That is how I usually begin everything. I was trying to get rid of chick peas. Husband and son say it is "too hard" to make hummus and prefer to buy the stuff. This drives me crazy since it is so easy to make hummus. I empty a giant can of chick peas into the pot grumbling to myself. Probably gave it a stir.<br /><br />Canned tomatoes chopped up (or squeezed apart as I'm known to do when I'm mumbling about how silly it is to buy hummus) and the juice. Still seemed dry. Can of plain canned tomato sauce. (Made the mistake once of buying canned tomato sauce that had ... stuff... in it. YUCK) Broth that I had (probably beef but could have been chicken of veggie... who knows!). I probably just added some of the "box" thinking I'd save the rest. And, as usual, I slowly added the whole container. Taste. Stir. Let simmer. Taste. Verdict: Bland.<br /><br />Hmmm jalapeno pepper chopped added some heat. Two giant heaping tablespoons of peanut butter. Stir. Tasting a bit better. Plus it got that nice creamy look and feel. Yummm. After chatting with a friend, chose cinnamon over ginger. Tomato paste to give it a bit more umph. Chopped okra and let it soak in white vinegar and water for a bit - drain and rinse (ALOT) and threw it in. Still need some thing. Found some yellow curry powder so threw that in. Sweet potato peeled and cubed. Maybe more chickpeas because I have so many of them. They love hummus. They eat it by the ton. You'd think they would be interested in making their own!<br /><br />Cook. Taste. Adjust. Not too bad!<br /><br />I think the order of the ingrediants needs to be adjusted so that the sweet potatoes cubes cook through. I like my okra to be a bit of a crunch. The chickpeas will fall apart if they are cooked toooo long. The jalapeno and other seasoning probably need to meld in their flavor sooner too.<br /><br />Ingrediants that I think I used:<br /><br />Two large cans of Chick Peas (drained)<br />Two small cans of tomatoes<br />One can of tomato sauce<br />Tablespoon of tomato paste<br />One container of broth (I'm agnostic on the kind)<br />One jalapeno<br />One medium yellow onion<br />Two cloves of garlic (ha, who am I kidding! More like four!)<br />Three ish tablespoons of olive oil<br />1/4 cup or so of smooth peanut butter<br />2 teaspoons of curry powder<br />1 teaspoon of cinnamon<br />1 medium sweet potato peeled and cubed<br />Hand full of okra (trimmed and soaked in vinegar/water bath for de-sliming)<br />Standard salt and pepper to taste if you think it needs it.<br /><br />Serve with pasta or rice or maybe even over chicken. Or... add chicken for a non vegetarian version(?).Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-8931078002684220912008-06-24T11:51:00.000-07:002008-06-24T11:56:46.458-07:00Strategic Planning - Some love itSome take to strategic planning like fish to water.<br /><br />Strategic planning shouldn't be hard; should it?<br /><br />I'm finding it has its challenges. Lacking a crystal ball, the future is a big unknown so it is hard to prepared fully for it. So, strategically, planning should be light and flexible with overall goals of moving forward. Specifics will seem "quaint" and outdated when we look back - even if we are only looking back from about 2 weeks out!<br /><br />Yet, without some concrete plans, the strategic planning seems like light hearted desires. Actions make the goals real.<br /><br />Quandary: Keep it loose and light - or - give concrete steps and actions<br /><br />More after this afternoons meeting!Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-28188063839161566192008-06-23T14:09:00.000-07:002008-06-23T14:11:47.803-07:00Once in awhile, I postSo if I want to go to a Bloggers' Salon then I better blog.<br /><br />Planning for the American Libraries Association Annual Conference in Anaheim has once again been more than I want to face. I have it on my to do list "plan conference" - I even am taking the approach of "booking myself" on my calendar to block out time to "plan conference" - and still I'm good at goofing off.<br /><br />I've added the Bloggers' Salon - so that is one thing.<br /><br />Now then... I guess I'll work my schedule out around it.Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-64356036211519322692008-02-04T06:38:00.000-08:002008-02-04T06:45:13.506-08:00Forcing Change in Copyright Law? - Google Scanning and Copyright Law<p><span class="speaker">The part that hurt because it hit right on target: "</span>I actually think that this is the job of libraries. ... [libraries] should have identified this as a major public need ... It's a sad commentary on our sort of state of information these days that it takes a daring and - for now, anyway - rich company to make these sort of inroads and stand up for a more flexible copyright system when in fact our public institutions should be doing this. But in this day and age, it's not very fashionable to believe that public institutions can actually do anything for us." -- Siva Vaidhyanathan.<br /></p><p><span class="speaker">From: http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2005/09/30/05</span></p><p><span class="speaker">NPR On The Media: Steal this Book<br /></span></p><p><span class="speaker">BOB GARFIELD:</span> So if I understand this right, you're actually sympathetic with Google's view of how fair use and copyright law should be understood but you just think that they're rolling the dice and too likely to hit snake-eyes on this one. </p> <p><span class="speaker">SIVA VAIDHYANATHAN:</span> Exactly. I see our copyright system right now as rather absurd and unworkable. And what does work is delicate. It's a delicate ecosystem, and I'm very worried about something so disruptive and so revolutionary really flattening out a lot of the nuances of copyright that have allowed for such amazing creativity in the Web world. </p> <p><span class="speaker">BOB GARFIELD:</span> If not Google now, then who? And when? Who should be in charge of deciding which books get scanned? </p> <p><span class="speaker">SIVA VAIDHYANATHAN:</span> Well, I actually think that this is the job of libraries. I think libraries should be doing this first and foremost. The Library of Congress should have identified this as a major public need and goal and pursued this sort of project years ago. Instead, they've outsourced it to a private corporation, and this corporation, as good as they like to make us think they are, is still operating by keeping us blind. Their technology is proprietary. Their algorithms for search are completely secret. We don't actually know what's going to generate a certain list of search results. They don't work for us. </p> <p><span class="speaker">BOB GARFIELD:</span> You're suggesting this is a war that has to be fought. You just don't want Google to be the one doing the fighting. </p> <p><span class="speaker">SIVA VAIDHYANATHAN:</span> Yeah. It's a sad commentary on our sort of state of information these days that it takes a daring and - for now, anyway - rich company to make these sort of inroads and stand up for a more flexible copyright system when in fact our public institutions should be doing this. But in this day and age, it's not very fashionable to believe that public institutions can actually do anything for us. </p>Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252942741958102954.post-25739944018680266532008-01-16T19:00:00.000-08:002008-01-16T19:01:39.676-08:00Attending a Blogger Salon Implies BloggingStarting to feel guilty about attending the OCLC Bloggers Salon. Guess I should actually blog....Suzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12771011307288339046noreply@blogger.com0