Culinary Disaster

So I tried to make a lava cake thing tonight.  It tasted AWFUL!  It seemed really simple, I halved the recipe to save on some butter, and baked it in little spring form pans.  I bought raspberries and blueberries to serve it with, thought about making whipped cream, (but am glad I didn’t, it would have been quite the waste).  It was to be the end of a great valentines out.

The end result was sugary and gross.

I usually have great success with baking and new recipes.  However this was just a disaster.

I find myself asking was it the cocoa being old?  Was it the flour?  Did I not mix the sugar and eggs long enough?  Not clarify the butter right?  I have mastered angel food cake, cream puffs, breads and pretzels but this simple recipe seems to have eluded me.  So for now I ditched the left overs and will not try this recipe again.  Though maybe I’ll keep my eyes out for a new version with less sugar.

It also might be time to buy new cocoa.

Grateful continued

I haven’t been updating with everything I am grateful for.  I guess I’m not very good at staying on top of things here on the blog. 

I am overall feeling more positive.  Though I still catch myself in strange dark moments, where things seem bleak and I don’t know why.  Today I am grateful for the simplicity of things like red lentil curry, and wheat free cinnamon crunch granola on plain yogurt. 

For flowers on the valentines day weekend, and for home made muffins (I might have made a lot of these).

For taking the time to have coffee with my sister, for the creator of black bean chips (and the chips themselves), for a cat that knows just how to suck up to her owner caretaker.  For ravelry and the world of awesome people it opened up, for loose leaf tea that makes a galaxy in your cup when you steep it right (the key is you aren’t supposed to use a disposable tea bag… just a strainer or you filter out the sparkles)…

I need to find something amazing for my swap partner on the Pi/Pie Swap… I mean more awesome than what I already have.

Being Grateful – Day 2

Yesterday I was supposed to post my first three things I was grateful for and I got so tired after finishing my proposal for class that I shut down my computer and refused to even check if I had class today.  It just wasn’t worth knowing, I was too tired to go.  However, determined to think of three things I was grateful for I spent a bit of time thinking about it before bed and just wrote it on a piece of paper.

Here they are… I am grateful for knitting because it keeps me calm and sane and busy.  I get to make beautiful things for people I love and in a zombie apocalypse I will have the ability to loot yarn stores and create clothing for myself and loved ones.

Next I am grateful for two people and they each count as one thing I am grateful for.  My dear roommate here at school who listens to me bitch about my program and laughs with me (and sometimes at me, I can do stupid with the best of them).  Also my res program friend, who chills with me, shops with me, and also bitches with me about the program.  Those were my three for Tuesday.

Today is Wednesday and to be perfectly honest I am struggling for the my three gratefuls.  I guess the first one is easy.  Every other Wednesday is Knit Night at a coffee house in downtown St Catharines and I am grateful to have a group of people who love to craft, accept my youth and are open and accepting.  Five months ago I had never been near downtown St Catharines and I was terrified to venture into a strange shop, to meet a group of strangers.  They were so open, accepting and supportive!  They shared the excitement of finally getting my spinning wheel and finishing projects.  They enjoy nerdy things and I learn as much from them about their jobs as I do at school about the one I want.

I guess my other grateful is going to be puppies!  We had therapy dogs visit residence tonight.  It ended up solidifying my determination that I will one day have a dog of my very own.  Particularly a dachshund, they are adorable.

Lastly I am grateful for cooking blogs.  Yes that’s right I am grateful that other people cook like crazy and blog about it.  Why?  It’s very simple really, if someone took the time to create a beautiful step by step blog post for me to follow it is likely that the food will be very tasty.  Also things I never thought I would be able to make like these delicious looking pretzel dogs (hello treat for a valentine!).

They seem like trivial things to be grateful for, but I guess if we don’t take joy in everything small and large we will be very depressed.  So I will continue to smile stupidly at wonderful signs and take joy in puppies and knitting.  The people are big though, I think any person that takes the time to be a friend is a big deal. 

Positive Energy

So my dear friend Amie keeps a wonderful blog, it is much more complicated than my own little setup and she is much more dedicated.  So she posted this link to a TED Talks lecture. Shawn Achor : The happy secret to better work, is a talk that is both humorous and motivating to change the way we think.  If you aren’t familiar with TED Talks browse the website take some time to browse other talks, they have a ton innovative ideas.

The idea behind this talk is that you function better when you are positive, and that the happy has to come first, then your brain functions more effectively.

One of the tasks set to help create the positive brain energy and increase how you function is 3 Gratitude's. For 21 days find 3 new things to be grateful for every day.  This is my February challenge. Starting later today (because it is midnight on February 7th) I am going to try and think of 3 new things to be grateful for every day for the rest of the month.  I feel like after I should turn it into a tumblr blog, maybe that will come next.

For now (this counts as one of my Feb 7 grateful) I am grateful to have a group that is flexible for my year long project, it would be brutal if they weren’t.

Goodnight blogosphere