Christmas apron December 15, 2007

My grandmother makes all kinds of beautiful aprons. When we used to visit her house for Thanksgiving when I was in college, I always came away with a new one. This is one of my favorites. I was feeling pretty grumpy and overworked last night, and one of the things I had to do was whip up some toffee bars, and when I walked into the kitchen this apron caught my eye. I put on some Christmas carols, my trusty Christmas apron, and had a pretty good time baking up a storm.

TOFFEE SQUARES

Crust

2 c. flour

1 c. pecan halves

1 c. light brown sugar

½ c. butter, softened (do not substitute)

Topping

1 c. butter (do not substitute)

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

¾ c. light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For crust, combine all ingredients (except pecans) with a pastry blender until mixture resembles cornmeal. Press with fingers into bottom of an ungreased 9 X 13 aluminum pan. Distribute pecans over the crust. For topping, combine butter and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil exactly one minute, stirring constantly. Pour over pecans and crust. Bake exactly 20 minutes. The surface will be bubbly. Allow to cool for one minute. Sprinkle chocolate chops evenly over the top. Wait a few minutes until chips soften completely; spread with a knife to cover the top. Chill well. Bring to room temperature before cutting. Makes 48 to 50 1-inch squares.

Three Layer Chocolate Mint Brownies December 11, 2007

Brownies 

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate	½ c. butter
2 eggs	1 c. sugar
½ c. flour	1 ½ tsp. vanilla
¼ tsp. salt

 Mint Cream Filling 

1 ½ c. powdered sugar	3 T. butter, softened
2 T. half and half	1 tsp. peppermint flavoring
Green food coloring (several drops)

 Chocolate Glaze 

2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate	2 T. butter
1 ½ tsp. vanilla

 For Brownies, preheat oven to 350º.  Grease a 9-inch square pan (may be doubled and baked in a 9×13 inch pan) and set aside.  Melt chocolate, butter, vanilla and salt together in a double boiler over hot water.  In a bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until thick.  Add flour and chocolate mixture and stir until smooth.  Pour into pan and bake for 20-35 minutes.  Let cool. For mint cream filling, beat together all ingredients for filling until smooth.  Spread filling evenly over the brownie layer; cover and chill until firm, at least 1 hour. For glaze, melt all ingredients for glaze in a double boiler over hot water.  Drizzle the glaze over the mint layer using a spatula.  Cover and chill again until firm.  Cut into squares.

cool library alert December 10, 2007

Things are crazy right now what with the end of the semester, last two weeks of work, getting ready to move, etc. You won’t be hearing much from me, but I thought I’d draw your attention to these pix of a cool public library in Kansas City.

now that’s a good spokesperson December 5, 2007

Someday I’m going to have Allstate Insurance and it’s all due to this guy, right here. Dennis Haysbert is the most trust-worthy, sincere spokesperson I’ve ever seen. I’m pretty sure I’d do just about anything he says.

all I want for Christmas is an alethiometer November 23, 2007

Among the other toys and keepsakes coming out for The Golden Compass, they are making an alethiometer.  I must have one.

 With the movie opening in two weeks, I trust everyone’s getting excited for it.  Here’s an interview with Chris Weitz to whet your appetite.

opera blues November 20, 2007

I feel like I should like the opera, but I don’t. It’s too much for me, most of the time. Occasionally someone in my family will come to visit and ask if I’d like to see an opera, and I have to scrunch my nose and say no thank you!

Of course, just as soon as I leave, the Met is doing an opera I really would like to see. Hansel and Gretel is right up my alley since it’s a fairy tale and I sang a song from it in high school choir. The sets look pretty awesome too. There’s also going to be an art exhibit at the Met which I am hoping to see before I go of book illustrations of this oh-so-famous tale.  Click on the picture for a sneak peak care of The New Yorker.

Pullman Week November 20, 2007

Disclaimer: I know this is way late, but I had camera issues. And personal issues, but that’s the norm, so let’s move on.

A couple of weeks ago I had the great pleasure of going to hear my favorite living author speak at the new Times Center. It wasn’t until I got there that I realized I hadn’t brought a copy of any of his books, should there be a book signing opportunity. Which there was. Which prompted me to by another set of His Dark Materials (my 4th, I believe). Anyway, the talk was probably 90 minutes, and it was great. Philip Pullman is charming, funny, and engaging. At the end they had a Q&A where he was asked questions I know he’s answered a million times (If you had a deamon, what would it be?) but he didn’t let it show. Very polite and thoughtful answers. He was in no way a dissapointment which was a relief. Here’s a link to some great notes on the event. (Incidently, this is the blog of one of my online teachers last summer, and I obviously should have been more friendly because Philip went to her house for Halloween!!!  Probably would have been too much for me anyway.)

Erin and I had a great night which should have satisfied me, but all I could think about was that I should have brought my all in one copy of His Dark Materials to be signed, and I was so stupid not to.  So, I went to see Pullman at Barnes & Noble two nights later.   It was a much briefer talk, very fun and amusing about writing the first book and starting to go to signings and being a public figure.  I wish all of the people who don’t like His Dark Materials based on moral grounds could see Pullman speak about the story, how he came to write it, what it means to him, etc.  I feel sure if they did, they could not remain convinced that Pullman or his books are “evil.”  Please do click on the B&N picture above to see his presentation, or click here to see an interview with Pullman from beliefnet.

Never fear, I got my book signed and went home happy. Pullman continues to say he’s very happy with the movie, so I’m really looking forward to it!

a sampling of shoes November 19, 2007

Here are the shoes I have out to possibly wear over the next six weeks.  The rest are in two (big) boxes in my closet awaiting the move.  Is it sick that I like looking at them?  Yeah, probably.  I still do though.

Amy & Will November 16, 2007

I have such a crush on this couple. Amy and Will have both given me many, many laughs, and for that, I love them. I also think they’re both pretty cute. This is one Gap ad I actually enjoying seeing everywhere.

the business of Broadway November 13, 2007

…is seriously putting a crimp in my style. The skuttlebut is that the Broadway directors really don’t want to give in to the stagehands who want a bigger piece of the Broadway box office pie, so in turn, the stagehands want to hit the producers where it hurts – the holiday take. Bottom line, this strike could go on for weeks. Weeks!

Don’t they know I have a limited time to get as much theatre in as possible before I leave the Promised Land!?  I was hoping to see The Seafarer, The Little Mermaid, and Pygmalion before I left, but now, I’m worried it’s not possible.  Pygmalion is actually still running, but I was hoping to get into the Monday showing Thanksgiving week which, on the unusual night, is usually accessible, but now, I’m worried tourists will throw themselves at it since there are only 8 Broadway shows to choose from for the indefinite future.  If only they’d held off until 2008 it would have been so much better for me, and isn’t that the most important thing?

how did I not notice? November 9, 2007

I’m reading a book about a family who’s (whose?) son goes missing (A Year Without Michael by Susan Beth Pfeffer if you can’t see my sidebar) which got me to reminiscing about books I read in my youth.  You see, I was a very disturbed child whose absolute favorite books to read centered around kidnapping and fatal diseases. Seriously, I cannot tell you how many novels I read about kids with cancer or an eating disorder.

So, I was thinking about this book that I used to check out over and over from the library, Baby-sitting is a Dangerous Job.  It’s a great story about a girl who babysits two very bratty kids from a very rich family and they all get kidnapped.  I loved it.  I actually used to fantasize about getting kidnapped while babysitting so I could live out this book.  Today after lunch I thought I’d look up the book to see if it’s still around (it’s got a new cover, but other than that, it’s just as I remember). Willo Davis Roberts, that named sounded familiar.  I remembered looking up the author of A View From the Cherry Tree a couple of weeks ago when my sister reminded me of it and lo and behold, she wrote both books.  Not only that, but I looked down the list of books she wrote, and another book I’m very familiar with is on the list, The Girl with the Silver Eyes!  I don’t know why I never latched on to this author’s name, but I have much to thank her for.  These three books alone have brought me hours of pleasure.  I look forward to reading some more of her books real soon.

for the record November 8, 2007

Last night I went to see the 3-D Nightmare Before Christmas.  It was great, naturally, that’s not what I felt the need to record.  I just want it stated on the record that after the movie I went to the bathroom, and heard my first official public playing of Christmas music.  On November 7th.  In a movie theatre.  Can’t even figure out how it benefits the movie theatre to play it since I don’t generally do much Christmas shopping there.

That’s all.  Go about your day.