Kabloom!

Patty has really taken off in the last couple of weeks. It's amazing what a little sun and fertilizer will do! She now has about 20 blooms!

My Poor SIGG

I have had my SIGG bottle for years. Recently it got crushed. Here's the story: A few weeks ago we went to the drive in to see Pirates of Caribbean and Fast Five. Ainsmar decided to meet us there. Well, the dumb people wouldn't let Ainsmar in--cause he was a single in a car, and they arbitrarily decide whether or not they will allow singles in. We had taken my car to the drive in, so I had to set myself up a seat in the back. That was fine until it started raining. We put the top up, and I was squished into the back of the car. That was probably when my SIGG fell behind the driver's seat.

A while later the rain stopped and we put the top back down. At some point when we were rearranging the seats the bottle was crushed between the front and back seats. I do remember hearing a pop at some point.

I still love my SIGG, and I'm going to keep using it. It still works right? I'm just sad that I had gone so long without any real damage and now it has major damage.

And Ainsmar won't be going to the drive in any time soon. He was really mad that they made him turn around and park at the gas station then walk in. And when he was walking in they told him to get off the grass! Poor guy. Poor SIGG.

X-Men First Class

Last night we saw X-Men First Class. It was good. Much better than Thor--which didn't even feel like a complete movie. I liked the story, and the acting was good. I didn't particularly like any of the women, but I loved Frost's outfits. I think Magneto was my favorite character, but his voice was strange. It seemed like he kept switching accents, and then at the end he had the rough-voice thing going. Of course I was annoyed by a couple of things... First, when Charles Xavier would do his telepath thing he would put his fingers to his temple. It was ridiculous. Also, the movie had that instant-warrior thing going on. In a week all the new recruits became great soldier-weapons.

Overall I would recommend it. Just don't forget your suspension of disbelief at home.

Mudra Monday: Mystery Mudra

I don't know what mudra this is. This is another mudra that I find myself doing a lot, especially when I'm tired. I have seen it on a couple of websites, but I haven't been able to find out what it symbolizes. It is comforting, kind of like sucking my thumb.

Lime Basil Tea Cookies

I found this recipe in the latest issue of Bon Apetit. I decided to try it because I actually have sweet basil growing in my mini garden. Of course I altered it.

Lime Basil Tea Cookies

1 c. all purpose flour

1/2 c. powdered sugar

1/2 c. butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 Tbl. minced fresh basil leaves

1 tsp. finely grated lime zest

1 Tbl. lime juice

1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Place all ingredients into food processor. (Put the blade in first....I forgot and had to dump it all out....)

3. Pulse food processor until large moist clumps form.

4. Measure level tablespoonfuls of dough, roll into balls, and place on baking sheet.

5. Dust the bottom of a measuring cup with powdered sugar and press cookies into 2 inch rounds. Thicker is better.

6. Bake until edges are brown. Mine were done at 17 minutes.

This made 16 cookies.

For a sweeter treat sprinkle with large sugar crystals before baking.

This recipe was perfect for my small food processor. It was easy and the cookies turned out well. I think I'm going to make some digesta-biscuits next.

Annoyed

I've been trying to post that pineapple video for 3 days now. I kept getting an error message. Well, I finally went to the help forums. Turns out I can no longer directly upload to Blogger. WTF? So then why is there a video upload button? I'm so freaking annoyed. I had to upload the video to YouTube and then embed it in the post. Annoyed. Why did I get an error message that explained nothing? Why didn't I get any sort of notice? This sucks. Google is pissing me off. First Goog411 goes offline, then Google video. Grrrrr.

As Seen on TV

Ross and I saw this gizmo on HSN. It makes coring a pineapple super easy. Ross loves pineapple, and cutting one up is a pain. Believe it or not, pineapple is a source of salmonella--on the outside, so I'm super careful when I cut it up--constantly washing the knife. Well, I did some searching and found out that they sell it at Williams Sonoma. I went to the store and was able to find it, and it was even on sale! We bought a couple of pineapples (also on sale) and Ross tried it out. Super easy and super cool!

Here's a video of Ross coring a very ripe, juicy pineapple.