Beneath the Surface

Well, it looks like our Winter Finding is going to be on the 17th, which is cool. We're almost certain to be holding it indoors--then again, there's a fair chance of that happening even when we hold it nearer the equinox. Early snows and all that. Go Skadhi :).

I'm thinking of rereading Ginette Paris' Pagan Grace. Maybe because it's lighter reading than I've been doing, but it isn't, really--just an easier read.

I tried a new cookie recipe today, chocolate-chocolate chip, which I'm not altogether happy with--the cookies are nice and chewy but the flavor is a little...watered-down comes to mind although I'm not sure that's a reasonable thing to say of cookies. However, they are awesome with a little peanut butter. And I'm thinking that they'd be pretty good made into whoopie pies (with cream in the middle). So, not a total failure.

Cool thing: Aha! I have finished that tunic I started working on for Dan, about...um...two years ago. Hehe. In my defense I must say that it is relatively heavily hand-embroidered, and that two years ain't nothing compared to some projects I haven't yet finished...but still...two years is longer than it should have taken. But I have finished it now, and that's cool.

Uncool thing: I have just visited the Ben and Jerry's site and discovered that their Chocolate Cherry Garcia Frozen Yogurt is listed in the "Flavor Graveyard." Damn, but that would have made lowering my cholesterol a lot more fun! :)

I realized (okay, I already knew this, I think I was consciously forgetting it) that if I want the next Lake Effect (local pagan newsletter) out on time I have to get a lot of it ready before we leave, because I'll only have a couple of days once we get back. So I've been working on that. Luckily it's small, so I think a general piece on different harvest holidays and one on Lugh ("Putting Lugh Back into Lughnasadh"--but I'll refrain from being too obnoxious about that one :)) should do me. I think I'm supposed to be getting some poetry in as well, so will leave room for that when it arrives.

What I'd like to include is something about Finnish paganism--with our large Finnish population, I think that would be of interest to folks--but I haven't managed to find any decent resources on it yet.

And I made a blueberry pie (it's Dan's birthday and he doesn't like cake) today with some help from younger daughter.

The girls are playing the Sims on the PS2 this afternoon--actually elder daughter has convinced younger daughter to torment the little virtual creatures by removing doors and so forth. Generally she just likes building stuff.

I used sun-dried tomatoes in my potato salad today. I've never used them before, and while I suppose they've been around long enough to no longer be a sign of trendy cookery, I still feel as if I've taken a step away from my cooking zone. I don't think I'll use them often--I needed color, and the regular tomatoes were more pink than red (also a bad sign for flavor)--but they're about as similar as raisins are to grapes.

I also left the potatoes in their natural state, rather than peeling them like the bourgeois chick I am. That one was me being lazy, not trendy/healthful.

I made a cheesecake--tried something different this time, divided the batter in half and added chocolate to one half, then layered it (debated marbling it instead, maybe next time), then after it was done glazed it with semisweet chocolate. I hope it looks good; it should taste good in any case. You know, I always make cheesecake for these things. (Okay, not always, but really, really, really often.) But I like cheesecake!

We are still undecided as to exactly which spot we will be holding the Mayday blot tomorrow--one would be more convenient, the other would be a bit more dry. But we're pretty much set, I think. (Thinks, do we have a nonalcoholic option for sumbel?...hm, not sure.) The weather should be tolerable--high of about 50, not too much wind, overcast, so not too chilly. (Might rain on Sunday so I guess we picked the right day.) We'll be feasting indoors in any case.

I made bread and chicken soup for dinner (used the last of the frozen chicken breasts, that's okay, it won't be soup weather for that much longer), then made whoopie pies in the evening. (Elder daughter has dubbed them "choco-burgers" for some reason. She'll have one in her lunch tomorrow regardless.) Because they are so awesome.

Read Nero Wolfe ("Black Orchids") in the evening because Dan was watching all the garage reality shows on Discovery Channel. I've seen American Chopper a couple of times, it's all right but nothing to compare to Rex Stout! Will probably knit a bit later while watching Daily Show.

Soooooo unproductive. :) Also okay, I have to learn to do bead weaving later this week, that will keep me busy for a while!

Elder daughter's science fair (the regional one) is tomorrow; Dan is taking her. (She has to be there for five hours, so younger-daughter-the-impatient and I will be staying home.) For this one, she has to be available during a certain time for the judges to ask questions about her project. She is a little nervous, but seems to be looking forward to it as well.

I finally made the chicken soup today--wonderful stuff, homemade egg noodles, but every time I make them I remember just why I don't make them more often than I do. In addition, making them so rarely means that every time it's a revelation that egg noodles have not just eggs but EGGS!--more eggs than I'm strictly comfortable putting into anything that isn't brownies :).

But that's okay, I also made chocolate chip cookies. Only two eggs in chocolate chip cookies. Clearly the healthier option.

We watched the Barbarian stuff on the History Channel tonight. The part on the Vikings wasn't bad, but the part on the Goths didn't seem to have as much solid content as one would like. Plus I kept being distracted by the phenomenally bad hairpiece worn by one of the experts-in-the-field. I don't think I'm all that shallow but when it looks like you lacquered your hair to your head, it's an unfortunate thing. Then again, I was working on a quilt while I was watching and likely not paying close attention, so maybe I shouldn't criticize :).

The new ISP seems to be mostly an improvement. The connection speed is much better (we're actually getting 56 now) and not only is there someone there when you call tech support (I think I mentioned Dan's 2 1/2-hour wait with the old one before he gave up), they seem to know what they're talking about.

And I've got a little over a chapter left to read in Road to Hel. I'll want to read it again, it's been such a good read that I find myself reading instead of studying :).

We're trying out a new ISP. Dan has been having more problems with the old one than I have--it keeps telling him that his empty inbox is taking up most of his allotted disk space :P--but I haven't been very happy with it either. So last night, after he spent 2 1/2 hours on hold (yes, he's stubborn) with their tech support line and finally gave up (no, he's not that stubborn), I signed us up for a month with another one. I'm still in the process of switching mail lists and so forth over, and currently both addresses work. But--I was finally able to upload some new LJ icons! Yay! (Yes, the old ISP has a problem with letting me upload those little tiny LJ icon files!)

Before I went to bed last night, I had the brilliant idea of letting dinner cook in the crockpot all night so we could eat at noon or so. Checked it this morning--it had been coooking at low for about 9 hours at that point--man, slow cooking means SLOW, doesn't it? I turned it up to high, hopefully we'll have our corned beef and cabbage sometime this afternoon. I guess I don't use the thing often enough to understand it yet :).

Our winter has returned. Winds have been fierce, and it's been snowing again, a little bit. A good day to stay indoors.

16 dozen chocolate cookies with cherries and chocolate chips
10 dozen brown rim cookies
8 dozen pfefferneusse
6 dozen chocolate crinkles
15 dozen chocolate pecan sugar cookies
9 dozen Mexican wedding cakes
16 dozen molasses cookies
16 dozen chocolate cookies with way too many chips in them
12 dozen M&M cookies
7 dozen hermits
10 dozen peanut butter kisses
10 dozen snickerdoodles
12 dozen chocolate chip cookies
5 1/2 dozen sugar cookies
12 dozen butterscotch oatmeal cookies

Okay, now my feet hurt.

And now we have to sort and pack most of them for mailing. That plus wrapping younger daughter's birthday presents should take me until the wee hours.

So I think I might not make it to ADF chat tonight, although I'll be there if I can.

Today's total (new in bold):

16 dozen molasses cookies
16 dozen chocolate cookies with way too many chips in them
12 dozen M&M cookies
7 dozen hermits
10 dozen peanut butter kisses
10 dozen snickerdoodles
12 dozen chocolate chip cookies
5 1/2 dozen sugar cookies
12 dozen butterscotch oatmeal cookies

102 1/2 dozen cookies.

I guess that would be why I am starting to get tired of making cookies!