Cooking by the Book feat. Lil Jon - A Lil' Bigger Mix by Mastgrr

Yeah yeah I know I'm two years late on this one but I was just introduced to this in the past month and it took me a few introductions to get over my initial lip-curl reaction. But once you do... oh ho ho. The song is addictive -- it's happy and bright and shiny and dirty typical Lil Jon all in one! Enjoy.

Sugar Cookies

I've started a recipe book with some of my favorite desserts to make and meals my mom cooks when I come home from school. Here's the recipe for sugar cookies I now use, and pictures of the ones we made for our holiday craft.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups APF
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (two sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

METHOD

1. Whisk together the flour & salt in a medium bowl, set aside
2. Using a mixer, cream together the butter & sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg & vanilla, mix until well blended
3. With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until thoroughly blended
4. Add food coloring if you want
5. Turn out the dough onto the work surface & divide it into 2 or 3 equal portions. Form each into a rough disk
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
7. Roll and cut dough (1/4" thick). TIP: Place dough between two pieces of parchment cut to side of cookie sheet so you can just remove excess dough and don't have to pick up each cookie and replace it on a separate sheet (streamlined!)
8. Let dough cool in fridge
   
9. Bake until it turns slightly golden on edges, 12-16 min.
10. Cool completely before decorating.
    

We bought icing for flooding and for decoration + food color to make the different designs. Great way to spend a snowy afternoon.

Bonus pic: the cake we got from Party Favors in Brookline. Seriously the best (Georgina, you yourself sampled one of their crazy flower cupcakes. Imagine that amount of frosting times 10.)

And yes, those trees are completely icing (save for a little green stick supporting it). My mouth was, consequently, a strange blue-green for the rest of the evening (which consisted of more eating and watching old movies). The skiers were quite fun to play with, as well. Don't know if you can tell, but those skiers were seriously carving down that sloped surface (yes, the cake was sloped).

Christmas Failure

I've failed my family.

Like the albatross, shame and dishonor burden me on this Christmas eve, for I have time traveled this morning and made a terrible mistake.

My father woke me up at 8:45 asking, "Don't you have work today?" Groaning and turning on my side, I managed to grumble, "no, ugh." Leaving me to bask in the fresh radiator heat, he closed my door and continued to bustle about our apartment.

Fast-forward five minutes.

I decided to be virtuous and perhaps get up on this glorious morning. I was slightly confused by my father's question that seemed to seep into my dream; it made me wonder if he was, in fact, correct.

He was.

I thought today was Wednesday and yesterday was Tuesday. Perhaps it was Avatar's fault. I have no clue.

Throwing on whatever Rugby clothes I could find, I snagged a macaroon and headed off to work.

Oh, what losing a day meant.

It meant I did not have time to buy a glorious present for my family, one that would bring us together more than our annually purchased puzzle (we have 4 ones from the Beatles collection; my mom and I bought one from the M&M's store in Times Square that is proving to be rather difficult).

And what game was that?

Stratego.

I saw it in the "Onyx" edition at B&N for $50, which was absolutely ridiculous. Borders was sold out. I didn't have time (since my epiphany was on "Tuesday" which was really Wednesday) to buy one from the games store in Harvard Square.

My memories of playing Stratego during recess (my friends and I in middle/elementary school skipped outdoor recess in favor of sitting inside and playing the game) were instantly trivialized; if I had really wanted to get Stratego, wouldn't I have put more effort into finding it?

Work screwed my plans for nostalgic game-playing on a cozy winter day.

Sulking as I ate mounds of crackers, cheese and olives and drowning my sorrows in a tiny glass of Pinot Noir, I regretted not buying that game.

And yet, in hindsight, it wouldn't have been a family gift. It was my own present, one that I need not wrap poorly and make my brother open when he would never find the game as special as I did. Not buying the game lifted this burden; perhaps I'll invest in one for when I return to college.

Maybe frat parties will be replaced by heated battles of Red vs. Blue.



What are your favorite board games and why?

Etsy is In!

I have been talking incessantly about doing crafts and stuff with my friends this winter. It was, at first, going to be for my own, personal expression; a headband here, a pair of earrings there, maybe even a scarf. But now that Etsy has become much more well-known as a venue for selling wares, from iPod cases to ugly hair clips, why shouldn't I start a business? You down, Georgina?

Some people make like $250,000 a year doing their crafts, more than they made at their previous jobs (layoff=artistic expression time!). College grads of 09, here's something you can do that might even give the same or more work hours/week as your elusive finance job!

Here's the Times piece about Etsy.

I feel like I could do better than some of the stuff on the site. See for yourself how simple some of the items, like hairclips, are mad easy to make. Etsy.com

But these gaiters are pretty ridiculously awesome. I could be the Yeti for all of Hanover's blustery blizzards!
Or I could be from Williamsburg with this "Cranberry Cozy"! Do I see an MJ pin? I actually kind of like the cozy, but come on, the rest of the styling is kind of absurd. PS: Etsy was started by a couple of people in Brooklyn, so the site design does remain faithful to some kind of artsy craftsy alternative scene.

SNL: UPS

So funny. I hate how they use the Postal Service in the background. And they were spot-on in mocking the guy's hair, too.

Clip sent to me by my brother. Enjoy.

Christian Louboutin Dillian Flower Pump

Here's a new game: what does this new shoe by Christian Louboutin most resemble?

My ideas are:

-Mitochondria
-Intestines
-Flower
-Flamenco Skirts

What are your ideas? COMMENT!!!
(Georgina and I had a laugh about Bloomingdale's recent email "New Louboutins Have Arrived!"...I wonder who in the world is that desperate for them right now?)

Nifty Nails

So I've decided that this summer, I'm going to refrain from my typical peach/orange tones and return to my childhood nail enamels of BRIGHT pink and Crayola blue. I bought a couple of tiny bottles from Sephora ($4) and they are perfect as little pigment pick-me-ups.

The colors I own are "Hip Hop" (bright magenta) and "Myrtille" which is seen at left.

I've also been introduced to a miracle top coat by Sally Hansen called "Mirror Shine" that makes any nail polish last/have a glossy, clean finish. It also speeds up the drying process so your nails are completely dry in practically 3 minutes. Amazing.