Patriot's Bagels

Our Friday office ritual includes bagels and in honor of the Super Bowl, we had some plain bagels dyed Patriot's team colors from Finagle a Bagel. Reminds me of the three gallon drum of rainbow "crazy vanilla" ice cream I bought from Newport Creamery one summer...the summer of 1999...good times.

Better Back Exercises

I found this on the web. Now I just have to get some black stirup pants and a black turtleneck so I'll be properly attired.

Plasticmom Knows Best

I was having lower back discomfort this morning and decided to sleep in. I feel a whole lot better and I think the discomfort is partially due to packing and lifting boxes yesterday when I'm usually more sedentary at work. Lo and behold, I got some mail from plasticmom and she'd sent me an ad for a contraption that stretches your back. Either she has ESP or she just knows me too well. Perhaps she's anticipating my problems based on her own experiences when she was my age.

State House

Stopped by the State House during my lunch hour because Adam's workplace (Healthy Futures) was hosting a media event with a big check presentation and all. I wondered whether the BIG checkwas valid and how funny it would be to fold it up and deposit it in an ATM. I thought it was funny, but it only mustered a small smile on Adam's part. The event was a great success as far as I could tell and I got to see the State House. Note that there's a bookstore in the State House where one can buy the usual postcards, but also purchase state government publications. It reminded me of copy centers near school like JoArt that sold the assigned course packets.

Seasonal Nalgene Bottles

The Nalgene online store now features a seasonal water bottle and currently the season is "Valentine's Day." I'm not sure how I feel about this blatant pandering to folks who like collecting variations of things. Perhaps, Nalgene is finding that their product is so durable and high quality that people only need one so to encourage us all to buy more of the exact same bottle...new colors and new designs are introduced. This is exactly the business problem Coach faced a few years ago before they became a trend setter. On the other hand, I kind of want a red heart bottle...maybe if the hearts weren't in that allover pattern it'd be cuter. I'm predicting a shamrock version will hit the website next month for St. Patty's day and I think Nina would probably be into it cause she's part Irish.

Pigs in a Blanket

We celebrated MGDub's birthday yesterday with a rousing round of Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture Edition and some tasty snacks. MGDub's good good friend, Caitlin made a delicious chocolate cake we all enjoyed. Not having time to bake something special for MGDub, my contribution consisted of some makeshift, but tasty pigs in a blanket (PIAB). At one point during the game, I set out a plate of hot PIAB on MGDub's coffee table. I turned away for a few seconds and looked back only to see that the top layer of PIAB had disappeared and hands were coming from all directions toward the plate of PIAB...it reminded me of commercials where everyone's grabbing cheese cubes all the same time.

PIAB "recipe"

3 cans of refrigerated crescent roll dough (eight in a can)
1 pack of Oscar Meyer's Little Smokies (approx. 48 per pack)

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees
2. Cut each crescent roll triangle into two smaller longish looking triangles (Jessica says thirds work too)
3. Roll each Little Smokie in a strip of dough starting from the wide side of the triangle rolling toward the point.
4. Place on baking sheet lined with aluminum foil or parchment paper and bake for 10-13 min or until rolls are golden brown.

Boxes filled with Free Coupon Books available in the lower level of the MIT Coop in Kendall Square.

Knowing how much I get jazzed about coupons, Nina and Jessica snagged two coupon books for me from the MIT coop yesterday...one for me and one for Adam. I later discovered they didn't take any coupon books for themselves not because there was any lack of supply, but because they mocked and scoffed at the coupon books. I must say, this year's coupon book is better than last year's book. Here are some highlights to motivate you all to run out and snag some books for yourself.

Pearl Art: 25% off single item
JP Licks: $2 off
Bertucci's: $5 off min $15 purchase
The Wrap: 20% off
Ben & Jerry's: Buy one get one free
coupons for salons, skiing, clubs and more.

Reconstructed quotes from a recent trip to Chicago

Steve: Do you have any food? I'm so hungry I could eat my hand.

Jessica: [upon realizing why the peephole of her door of her hotel room was located at hip level, not eye level] Do you have railings in your bathroom? I was wondering why my toilet was so tall.

Deep Dish Key Lime Something or Other

I decided to take a crack at making Key Lime Pie last weekend using a crust of ginger snaps rather than the usual graham crackers. Because I was too lazy to crush the ginger snaps to make a crust, I decided to use a pile of crumbled ginger snaps on the bottom of a 9x9 Pyrex glass baking dish and bypass the whole process of actually making crust. The results were pretty tasty, but I think my "crust" got soggier than usual and was a bit aesthetically unpleasing since I didn't bake the pile of ginger snaps in the oven before pouring on the liquid filling. Next time I think I'll try baking only the filling with no "crust" and serve with ginger snap crumbs on top rather than baking the ginger snaps...which would be a snap. Alternatively, I could fill little ramekins and torch the top like creme brulee which would require extra equipment and I'd have to get over my fear of fire.

Key Lime Pie Filling (1 pie, two pies of filling were needed to reasonably fill the 9x9 Pyrex dish)

Mix until blended:
3 eggs
1 14oz can of condensed milk
1/2 cup of key lime juice + a bit extra for more zesty flavor (Trader Joe's bottled variety)

1. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 min for one batch of filling. I'd try 30-40 min for two batches or until the filling is really no longer liquid to avoid food poisoning. 30-40 min may be overkill, but I'm always paranoid about food safety.
2. Cool outside oven for 10 min
3. Refrigerate for few hours or overnight.
4. Serve with crumbled ginger snaps on top

Hello 2004

The ever-thoughtful Jessica procured a 50% off 2004 Hello Kitty Wall Calendar for me. My search proved unsuccessful, but it was worth the wait because the 2004 is pretty darned cute. While the 2003 Hello Color theme was adorable, the 2002 Hello World was at times culturally insensitive...there was something weird about Hello Kenya. On a related note, here's a book about Hello Kitty, "Hello Kitty The Remarkable Story of Sanrio and the Billion Dollar Feline Phenomenon." I sure hope it's a hard hitting piece of journalism and not merely a piece of fluff.

Barefoot in my UGGs

The temperature plummeted down to zero this morning (Fahrenheit, not Celsius mind you); "Double Down Day" was added to the "Winter Spirit Week" lineup…a down jacket over a down vest. While bottoms and hats were also doubled, I remained comfortably barefoot in my UGGs.

"Double Hat Day"

With the weather dipping down 15 degrees this morning, I wisely re-instituted "Double Hat Day," which calls for simultaneously wearing two hats because it's too cold to wear just one...an odd sight indeed. This inaugural "Double Hat Day" also convinced me that I needed a new suit, a pants suit to be specific and since we're being specific, not a purple pants suit.

As all college seniors are to acquire a suit in hopes of acquiring that ever elusive job, I do own a suit from four years ago...a skirt suit. I have many fond memories from that fateful winter four years ago, including an especially memorable Siberian death march of two blocks in negative fifteen-degree weather for lunch at the Legal Seafood in Kendall Square. I would rather have starved than go to lunch, but one doesn’t have many options when one is being interviewed so I proceeded into the polar freeze in my skirt suit and an insufficient coat.

I've put off investing in a new suit because I never wear suits at work save for the one on-campus interview I conduct each year behind a desk usually in a small basement room or cubicle. Jessica, Steve and I are flying to Chicago next weekend for an interview and we need to look "professional," so warmth and comfort has now become a high priority. A quick trip to Ann Taylor around lunchtime reinforced the following lesson in life, "Money isn't the solution to all problems, but if the problem is needing a pant suit and you've got the cash, then you're all set." Ahhhh...Deep Thoughts...I should write for fortune cookies.

But I Love The Stipple Portraits

From the Onion: "Wall Street Journal Lays Off 150 Stipple-Portrait Artists"

Snaps for Adam for the tipoff.

Beautiful Array of Colors

I was perusing the latest Williams-Sonoma Catalog last night when I noticed the KitchenAid Mixers that come in all these beautiful colors...violet, pink, tangerine...a different color for every season would be pretty excessive, but disburbingly appealing. My mixer is a pale yellow and I love it.

Chewy Chocolate Ginger Cookies --- as requested by Adam's mom. They're also a favorite of Laurel's

From Martha Stewart with some edits from plasticann: makes 2 dozen or 40 smaller cookies

7 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate (or Chocolate Chips)
1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger (or 2 Tbs Chopped up Crystallized Ginger)
1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup granulated sugar

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Chop chocolate into 1/4-inch chunks; set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer,fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and grated ginger until whitened, about 4 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add molasses; beat until combined.

3. In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. Beat half of flour mixture into butter mixture. Beat in baking-soda mixture, then remaining half of flour mixture. Mix in chocolate; turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Pat dough out to about 1 inch thick; seal with wrap; refrigerate until firm, 2 hours or more.

4. Heat oven to 325°. Roll dough into 1 1/2- inch balls or 40 smaller 1 inch balls; place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Roll in granulated sugar. Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.