Seriously

What is wrong with people?

Low Food

So I've already admitted to liking some rather base food. A couple days ago, I destroyed my gourmet credibility with one of my friends, so I'll happily admit in a public forum that I like Jell-O. I own this cookbook and have made several recipes in it. (1) And yes, there are, indeed, initial joys to warrant the title. I made myself a Poke Cake yesterday, pictured here. Oh, it's so wonderful - I haven't made one in years. I'd heard about them, but the first time I ever tried one was in my college dining hall. This one isn't nearly thick enough, and I probably used a bit too much Jell-O, but I don't care - it's still good. And the texture - the gelatin soaked into the cake firms up when refrigerated. Mmmmmm!

Jell-O Poke Cake
1 box white cake (I prefer Duncan Hines "Classic White" - prepare as package directs)
1 box Jell-O (any flavor, I prefer "red")
1 c. boiling water

Bake cake as package directs. When cake is cool, poke all over with a fork. Combine boiling water and gelatin and pour gelatin over top of cake. Refrigerate and frost with whipped cream. Or, this frosting:

Whipped Frosting
2 envelopes Dream Whip
1 (4-svg) package instant pudding (use White Chocolate for pure white frosting, Vanilla if you don't mind it a little yellow, or any other flavor as your needs dictate)
3/4 c. milk

Combine packages of powder with milk and beat until stiff. Frost cake.


Speaking of that frosting, using Pistachio pudding mix to frost a pistachio cake (make another white cake, dumping a package of Pistachio pudding mix in the batter) makes for a tasty treat.

As other "low food" goes, I freely admit I like hot dogs. Pigs in Blankets were my favorite school lunch, and I still make them now. (Chicken hot dogs + refrigerated breadstick dough = yum!). Speaking of hot dogs, if I don't have hot dog buns, I'll make hot dog sandwiches - split a hot dog in half lengthwise, and then again crosswise - line 'em up flat on a hamburger bun with some mustard. And if you're making homemade pizza, hot dog slices are surprisingly good toppings.

I am also not ashamed to admit that I like Cool Whip. In fact, I personally prefer it to fresh whipped cream. And the French Vanilla Cool Whip available in November-December? Heavenly. I could take down an entire container in one sitting, left to my own devices.

(1) Used copies starting at a penny! You're just depriving yourself if you don't buy one.

A Glitch in the Matrix

I get pretty strong deja vu, about once a month or two. Well, deja vecu, is what it really is - the feeling like I've experienced a situation before (as opposed to just having seen something: vu). I often get the sense that I've been in a room before where the people or furniture were arranged in a certain manner. Or someone has said something in a certain way, and I knew that they were going to. I often feel like I've dreamt a situation before. Who knows - maybe I have. Some research indicates that deja vu might be a misconnection between short- and long-term memory. The long-term memory of a situation gets processed first, so even though you're truly experiencing something for the first time, your brain thinks a memory of the situation is being recalled from long-term storage.

When this stuff happens, I usually feel like I dreamt them before - I've even gone back to my bedside journals to see whether I'd written these things down. Actually, I had one instance of deja vu recently where I was almost certain I had written it down before - but I never did go back to see whether I had. Maybe I should...

It's interesting that these actually have a label.

On a tangential note, the DVR has officially ruined my life.

I don't watch a lot of TV, but there are a few shows that I do enjoy. Now that we have a Tivo-esque recorder, it is pretty nice to be able to watch television on my own terms. And skip commercials. I also like to pause a program or rewind to catch a missed line. I didn't realize how much I rely on these features, until I was in a conversation a few days ago. I was distracted and didn't hear some things that were said. My first instinct was to replay the conversation to see what I had missed. This is bad. Last time I checked, life doesn't have a remote control.

The Other Central Florida

I've lived in Florida for three years. Today, I found what may very well be my favorite thing in the state. We spent the day at Rock Springs, in Kelly Park.

Rock Springs bubbles up out of a rocky (duh) outcropping, then flows in a stream for some distance. There are boardwalks and picnic spots all over the place. Instructions: Carry an inner tube up one of the boardwalks to the source of the spring. Put your butt where it goes (wow, that water's chilly!), and ride the lazy current downstream for 20 minutes or so. To me, Florida has few charms, but this was absolutely delightful! The spring water is 68-70 degF - so awesomely good in 98 degF air. The stream is partially shaded, and it's all jungly with trees and blooming plants on either side. There are rocks in the streambed on the upper half, the cool water is crystal-clear, and with the sun filtering through trees and glinting off the water, it's just heavenly. I decided to forego (1) the tube a couple times to swim down the stream - also fun. Well, until I had my back turned (not before it was too late) and took a rock in the shin. A mixed blessing is their crowd control procedure. The park opens at 800a, and they let people in (only a dollar per person!) until the park is full (1030-ish today); they turn people away until 300p or so, once the crowd starts to thin. The line of cars to get in at 300p was a half-mile long, easily. It's nice that they keep it from getting crazy-crowded, but half our group didn't get in. But still, it was really really really sweet.


Top Ten Free (or Nearly Free) Things to Do in Central Florida

1. Rock Springs/Kelly Park
2. Watch Shuttle/Rocket Launch
3. Orlando Science Center (especially when free for Orlando residents)
4. Orlando Art Museum on Thursday Afternoons
5. Watch Big Planes Take Off/Land at Orlando Int'l
6. Leu Gardens on Monday Mornings
7. Tour Model Homes
8. Winter Park Farmer's Market on Saturday Mornings
9. Watch Thunderstorms Develop
10. Pressing Pennies (esp. at Turnpike Service Plazas)

Honorable Mention: Benefit Wine Tastings at (now-defunct) Salvatore's Restaurant



Construction continues to zoom along. We have cabinets and countertops, and the tile is mostly finished.


(1) What is the past participle of forego? Forewent? That sounds ridiculous.

Wine and a Whine

The Good News: the wine shop I mentioned a week or so ago? I like it even more now.

I was in the neighborhood (seriously!), so I popped in to the shop yesterday afternoon. I wandered around for a while, picking up another bottle of the Washington Gewurztraminer that was popular at the party, an Austrian Gruner Veltliner (which I've had and liked at Seasons 52), an Australian Viognier, a French Vouvray, a French Syrah Rose, and I was contemplating a sparkling Shiraz (which I did not get) and a late-harvest Semillon (which I did) when an employee came by and asked me whether I was finding everything I needed. I joked that I had found what I came in for and was now just looking for anything else I had to have. He handed me his card (regional manager) and explained that the shop conducts tastings every weekend. Cool. And then he continued; the shop is conducting a class for employees back in the classroom, and he'd love to have a customer come in and give them some real-life practice. For a ten-dollar gift card, would I be interested? Uh, yes! [The fact that the shop has a classroom wins it some points.] So he led me back to the classroom, where there's 40-some employees. I'm led to the front of the room and asked what I want. What are my choices? Chardonnay (eh), Pinot Noir (okay), or an Italian. Hm - let's try the Italian. So a tasting glass is poured and I gave it a try. Yipes, it's tart! I chat it up with the employee who's up at the front, on the spot with me, asking after the kinds of grapes in it and some food pairings. Other folks chimed in from the rest of the room. And that was it. (I'd have happily done more to earn my ten bucks!) Maybe it was a marketing ploy, but they have a satisfied customer. I definitely dig this shop. All of the employees have been very helpful and knowledgeable - which is necessary, because it's a big shop and it could easily come off as impersonal. The cashiers never card me, though - a bit of a blow to the self-esteem. :) And I've been in there wearing a t-shirt and shorts, no makeup, and messy hair - thinking I look pretty young - but maybe it has the opposite effect...


The Bad News: my previously-mentioned Kitchenaid mixer on backorder. Until December! :-( I'm hoping a ton of people cancel their orders, so I might get mine faster. Because if Thanksgiving really does take place in Florida this year, it would be a handy appliance to have for Cookie-Baking Day.

Where'd summer go? We go back for inservices at the end of next week. I'm not ready!

Shuttle Lift-off

Space Shuttle Endeavour lifting off today. This picture was taken from our neighborhood, 45 mi away - apologies for nothing in the frame for scale. With binoculars, I could see the solid-rocket booster separation. < /nerd>


These are the kinds of clouds we get about an hour or two after a launch:

Never-Ending Miscellany

Trapper Keepers. Anyone else notice the surge of vintage-80s stuff available now/again? I saw Trapper Keepers in back-to-school advertisements a couple weeks ago. I remember you just had to have one; mine was beige and had a picture of kittens on it, though the ink-splash one pictured here is pretty sweet. Next thing you know, we're going to start seeing GI Joe lunch box-thermos combos again. They're probably already on shelves. By the way, I had Snoopy on my lunch box. [Dang. The site where I pulled the picture has my old lunchbox (w/o the thermos) for $48. Too bad mine's banged up and has been storing crayons in my parents' basement for the last ... couple decades.] Anyhow, this shouldn't be a surprise. Everyone who grew up in the 80s is now having kids, and what better way to market to parents than through nostalgia? Brilliant.

Postage Rates. Every time the USPS raises first-class postage prices, there's always outcry. I don't understand - 41 cents to pick up a letter at my house, deliver it clear across the country directly to someone else's home, all in a matter of days? Sounds like a bargain at twice the price.

More Bad Chocolate. Saw these chocolates at the grocery store - thought I'd give them a go. Bad idea. They're $5 for 6 pieces. One of them was all melty and misshapen, so I didn't even try it. The tops don't correspond *at all* to what's inside, so the one with red patterns on top wasn't the raspberry ganache I was expecting. One (the cacao truffle) was so bad I spat it out - and I usually commit to swallowing chocolate, even if it's bad. No discernible differences in taste among them all, either. Cheap transfer patterns on top, too. Run. Far.

My Plate Obsession. I have a serious thing for plates and bowls and assorted kitchenry. Someone needs to send me $200 so I can have these. Please and thank you. :)

I Am a Nerd

Like I actually need to provide any more evidence for that.

I'm considering driving over to the Cape tomorrow for the Space Shuttle launch. STS-118 is scheduled for 636p - so weather might make for an iffy launch. I've only watched them from our house, so it might be worth going over, especially since I'm not working yet. We'll see.

That picture over there ---> is from last summer. Discovery, the second launch following Columbia's last.

The Perseid meteor shower is this weekend - best viewing towards dawn on Sunday night into Monday morning. New moon will be good, even though light pollution is really awful around here. Totally worth staying up to watch since I'm not in school yet - and I've been keeping odd hours anyhow.

Construction Update

Man, we leave for five days and return to see paint, sidewalks, a driveway, interior doors, and half the floor tile installed. Sweetness.

Oh, and a public thank-you to the dear readers who, in the past two weeks or so, have graced my mailbox with a postcard, a letter, two cards, and an honest-to-goodness box of socks! Love love love it. :)

Fly Kitty Air

Why was I not informed??

"The cabin interior is a fantasy land with sweet Hello Kitty paintings on the walls, and friendly flight attendants wearing Hello Kitty ribbons in their hair and Hello Kitty aprons. The Hello Kitty fun starts at check-in and lasts until luggage is claimed just as it does on EVA’s original Kitty Jet. Passengers get pink Hello Kitty boarding passes and luggage tags. Service onboard is accompanied by Hello Kitty accessories. Menu choices include Hello Kitty meals with special Kitty ice cream, and passengers have access to exclusive EVA Hello Kitty duty-free shopping."

Looking at that airplane food made me reminisce about Asian vittles. I wish we had these available in convenience stores in the US. And better selections of rice-cracker snacks. The stuff served in JAL's Sakura lounges was particularly tasty. Both the onigiri and the snack mix. I should spend more time downtown in the Asian grocery stores. And go for sushi sometime soon.

Postscript

And the fireflies. I'd forgotten about fireflies in cornfields on warm summer evenings.

Oh, and the contrast of a darkening sky and the silvery undersides of maple leaves ruffled by the wind as a storm approaches.

Back Home Again...

In Indiana...

I am amazed by clear skies at 400p. In FL, we'd already be on our second round of thunderstorms by now. It is amusing to see everyone complain about how hot it is.; air temperatures in the 80s are actually refreshing. I'm also startled by how green it is. We normally come back to Indiana in the dead of winter - for Christmas - and it's usually very grey and barren and cold. The corn is pretty tall, it's light out until 900p (I don't understand how this works - I guess we're just that far west in the time zone), and there's even a bit of topography, too. Okay, the topography doesn't change in the summer, but it's shocking to see even rolling hills after acclimating to Florida's lack of them.

Not much internet access, and I'll be busy with wedding stuffs soon. Updates when possible. I know you're dizzy with anticipation.