Anti-Cacti

I had agreed to make cupcakes for the Employee Council bake sale. Last night, I thought I’d make those cupcakes. Well, I tried a new recipe, one I hadn’t tested out before, and though the vanilla cupcakes I made initially were delicious, they also stuck to the sides of the pan with a vengeance. I thought I’d use Crisco to grease the pans instead of using Pam spray for the next round, but that didn’t work either. So, I ended up having to go to the store and get paper liners for the cupcake pans and doing an entirely new round of cupcakes.

They eventually came out great, but man, the first few batches were delicious … but UGLY!

I’ve had a summer cold for the past few days, which is the worst. Of course, I should be happy that it happened before school started rather than after because hopefully now I have had my share of the sickness. Bleh. Bleh bleh bleh. I’ve been chugging DayQuil by day, NyQuil by night, and drinking a gallon of orange juice slowly. Anyway, I’m feeling about 90% better today and hopefully tomorrow I will feel 100%.

Today I had a meeting (school-related) and we went to a restaurant here called Seasons and I had what may be my replacement grilled cheese. You see, back in Tucson, I loved this restaurant called Feast for one item on their menu: Feast grilled cheese. Made with seared Halloumi cheese, honey roasted eggplant, grilled onions, etc., it was salty and sweet and cheesy and delicious all at once. Well, Seasons’ grilled cheese is definitely different, but very, very good: white cheddar, chevre, pesto, tomatoes, etc. I didn’t have dessert but they had a bing cherry sorbet that sounded really good; I may have to go back sometime.

After the meeting I went to the local thrift store in search of some new bakeware. I didn’t find any but I did score an awesome marble rolling pin for $3.80. My antique wooden rolling pin is nice but I wanted something with more heft. Afterwards I stopped next door at the Humane Society (the thrift store benefits the society) and saw babycats! Oh so many small and cute babycats … too bad we have three sassy children already, or else I might have brought home a new playmate. There is a soft spot in my heart for little black kittens

Our new superfast internet rocks. We have been downloading movies and such and they’re going at pretty blazing speeds compared to our old DSL service. Niiiice. I got the new Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie and I’ll have to check it out. In the meantime, J downloaded stuff I don’t care much about watching–Die Hard and Transformers and The Count of Monte Cristo–so everybody’s happy!

So the person who is doing the “other” Sunday (i.e., I am supposed to do my radio show every other Sunday and this other woman picks up the days I don’t do) is going to be out of town for a little while. This means that for a little bit, I will actually be on-air every Sunday–neat! There is a pre-recorded talk show about food that goes on before me (called the Food Divas) that runs into my show by half an hour, so I am technically on every Sunday from 12:30 to 3 pm Colorado time. I did my first show last week and I’m already psyched for this weekend. If you want to listen online, click here or if you happen to be in the Durango area, tune in to KDUR on either 91.9 or 93.9 FM.

J and I are halfway through Season 3 of LOST and I know we’re getting to the good part. I can’t wait for him to see the season finale and tell me what he thinks. Unfortunately we’re having to watch burned DVDs of downloaded episodes since Season 3 doesn’t come out on DVD until December. But hey, instant Christmas present, right?

I told J that while I was waiting for the new season of Lost to come out, we would watch seasons 1-3 together so he could see what all the fuss was about. Not that he was against this idea or anything, but he has taken to Lost like the proverbial duck to water. We’re already almost through season 1 and we just bought the DVD set yesterday! It’s kind of neat re-watching the episodes because I first watched them on my iPod flying back and forth for conferences and job interviews; it’s much nicer on the big TV, honestly. And this time, since I know what happens and I am at the end of season 3 kind of wondering “is this what’s going on in the big picture?” I hear or see things that confirm my ideas about What’s Going On. Anyway, it’s fun to re-watch and because I usually don’t like television shows, it’s nice to at least have one show that’s not in any danger of being cancelled soon (I liked Mystery Science Theatre 3000; cancelled. I liked Arrested Development; cancelled. I liked Red Dwarf; dunzo. You get the picture.)

J and I had a little date night this past weekend which involved us going to eat chicken wings, drink beer, eat Cold Stone creamery ice cream, then watch Lost. It was quite nice Sunday we went to the Gem and Mineral show here (small but it was free), then drove out to Bayfield to check it out.

Anyway, today we’re going to finish season 1 of Lost, watch a Christian Bale movie we rented from Blockbuster, and hopefully get to the bank to set up some Colorado accounts. Oh, and give Faust a bath–that’ll be tons of fun! He needs it though; he’s dandruffy

I did go to DJ training the other week and the board was a bit complicated but I’m sure I’ll pick it up rather quickly. The station manager emailed me yesterday and said there’s an opening for a slot (every other Sunday from noon til 3) and would I like to train for it? Heck yes! So that’s exciting. I may soon have my little radio show

I remember about 5 or 6 years back when, after dreaming about being able to have my own motorcycle since my teenage years, I finally broke down and registered for the motorcycle safety course. I took the course and–despite dropping my class bike on the ground during kickstand practice and snapping the clutch off–I passed. Barely passed, mind you, but I’ve learned so much more from that point on just through riding on my own.

I first bought a Kawasaki Ninja EX500, which was cute but sort of small. An excellent beginner’s bike. I then moved up to the Suzuki SV650, which is like it’s made for me. I’m only 5′6″ so my bike can’t be too tall or I’ll constantly be on tiptoes. I never had any problem with my Suzuki. Well, after my first Suzuki was stolen in Arizona, I bought another off eBay from a guy in Utah, and thus Aka, my 2001 burgundy Suzuki SV650, was “born.”

I relate this all to you to segue into another small dream of mine. Music has always been a large part of my life and I am a big fan of 80s music, British New Wave and pop, things like XTC, Human League, ABC, and so on. I always wanted to have my own radio show on the local college radio. I don’t know why I didn’t do it when I lived in Arizona, but here at my new school there’s a small local college radio . . . and they offer DJ training! I emailed them and it may be as early as next week that I can go into the studio for training. So, I just wanted to share my excitement. Even if it goes nowhere, I know that I acted on my dream rather than letting it sit and always wishing “what if?”

I wish someone would buy me Larousse Gastronomique. Before I have to break down and do it myself.

(It’s all in the pursuit of a decent caramel recipe that won’t seize up.)

Don’t be discouraged if things seem to change pretty rapidly. I’m fooling around with the Wordpress application, particularly the theme, and it’s not quite right yet.

So far, though, I like the Wordpress dashboard.