Maybe I Should Call You Back Next Week

I think I'm too tired to put together any coherent thoughts about the Barenaked Ladies concert last night. I'll try to do so later, as well as go through the hundreds of photos I took. Some highlights included:

• Excellent seats!
• A great set, which included a wide range of old and new songs.
• Goofy on-stage antics.
• Meeting Nanette in person!

Since Ed Robertson talked about being dorky, maybe he'll come live with me here. (Thanks, Stan!)

Bleeding Heart

The blood donor center at work has a love-hate relationship with me. They love my blood and even call me up sometimes to come down and donate, which I can't always do. I have a fairly rare blood type, so they often have little or no supply. There are also some other "special properties" in my blood, which I don't fully understand, but that make it possible for it to be used for people with certain conditions such as sickle cell anemia or thalassemia. It also got me a "Donor Buddy" card.

So yeah, my blood is all special and whatnot, but apparently my veins are kind of small and they don't like giving up my blood. Keeping this in mind, I really make an effort to super hydrate myself before donating, but invariably the tech has to stay with me and basically "hold" the big ass needle in my arm and watch to make sure the blood is still flowing. This seems to annoy them, but they say it's worth it for my precious A-negative.

I was able to successfully give up a pint yesterday, which brings me to my first gallon over the past few years. I was exhausted and not feeling so great last night, but I feel like it's a small price to pay for being able to do something so important. Not only did I get a warm, fuzzy feeling, but I got a t-shirt and had a great excuse to eat cookies and red meat.

I'm No Martha Stewart

Those of you who know me are aware that I rarely cook. Okay, that’s not entirely true if you call throwing a chicken breast in the toaster oven or heating up a pot of soup “cooking.” And baking is usually out of the question. I don’t know if I became inspired by the delicious brownies I made last week…even if they were from a box mix...but last night I not only baked an apple cake, which did come from a box, but required cutting apples, but also some homemade molasses sugar cookies that did not originate in powdered form in a rectangular cardboard storage device. I actually purchased a cookie sheet for the project. Since E and I essentially eloped all those many years ago, I never did the wedding gift registry thing and have crappy, hand-me-down kitchen supplies.

Anyway, I didn't stop with the baking, but also proceeded to make some homemade spicy chicken tortilla soup, complete with tortilla strips that I cut and baked. E loves this soup and has been requesting it for a while now. Since we started having cold nights recently, I thought the time was right. The soup was a hit and E ate several bowls of it. I wasn't too happy with the chicken I used, but it was okay. I made a double batch so there is quite a bit left over to eat on for the week.

The baked goods results were mixed. I brought the apple cake to work today and it got eaten. I think the top turned out just perfectly crunchy, but the rest of it was a bit too mushy. I'm not sure if it was undercooked or if that's just how that mix turns out. The cookies were the big experiment for me. They have always been my favorite of the cookies my mother bakes every holiday season. I've even had her make them and send them to me before. I way overcooked the first batch, which promptly went into the garbage. I made two dozen more and they were so-so. Much thicker and not as chewy as what Mom makes. *sigh*

I called my mom this morning to problem solve with her what I may have done wrong. The first mistake might have been not chilling the dough long enough. Her recipe said "several hours." I assumed three hours would be plenty, but apparently it wasn't. Also, I cooked it at the temperature according to her instructions. (I have a thermometer in my oven, so I know that was okay). Well, she chills her dough overnight and possibly bakes the cookies at 25 degrees less than on the recipe. The recipe that she wrote out by hand and mailed to me. I'm sorry, but I don't improvise or interpret real well in the kitchen. I need clear, specific instructions.

So, maybe I'm not cut out for all this kitchen domesticity, which was my original hypothesis. I will be giving the cookies at least one more go, using the revised recipe and see how they turn out. I brought those in to work also and did get two sincere compliments.