This is sort of a media overview – Dan made his five best of movies of the year post over at Geekadelphia. I want to talk about the best book I read, the best game I played, but I wanted to do something different with movies. So here are some of my Bests:

Best book I read this year: And I’ve read about 80 books this year, so it means something – but Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. It was a book I tore through in 48 hours, completely captured my imagination, and it’s implications are still with me six months later. Runner up – Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. This blog is a testament to that.

Best Game I played: World of Warcraft – hands down it’s probably the way I’ve spent most of my entertainment time this year, and I hope to spend much more time with it next year. Again it captured my imagination, and while I really am just a casual player, it’s given me a sense of accomplishment. Runner Up – Animal Crossing. So I’m late to the party on this one – but for my DS – I really don’t need any other game. Again – it’s the sense of accomplishment – I was able to pay of an entire mortgage! Never underestimate how that makes you feel. I also like the Wii version.

Best TV show this year – This one is tough. I’d have to say Big Bang Theory for pure laughs and enjoyment. Runner up which is very close – Glee. Again, this show just made me happy. I’m not going to have a music category – but the music of Glee would have to win.  And in the realm of WTFery – True Blood Season 2.  Great TV, but…yeah.

Now for the movies – my Most Unexpected Movies of the Year Read the rest of this entry

It’s the day after Christmas, which was quite nice, but for the disaster that the XBox360 has been.  The first one red-ringed out of the box.  So we got another one.  That one won’t play old X-Box games.  Sigh.  But for the most part, it was a nice day.  I have much old TV now to watch, some levels to gain so I can make a Death Knight in WoW, and cooking to be done.  But I do need to announce my goals for the year.

Now – let’s get one thing straight.  These are not New Year’s Resolutions.  They are goals – something to work toward – and you’ll see while they generally have a theme – they are not specific.  You could almost say less is more.  But I don’t want to give up on them too quickly.  So – without further ado: Read the rest of this entry

Here is my latest knitting project – the Fake Isle hat. This is the second one of these hats I’ve made – the first was last year, to match my new coat. The hat turned out too small, and the part that actually matched my coat – was very small. This year’s version matches this year’s coat beautifully. And it fits better – because I upped the needle size from a 7US to an 8US. I also made the ribbing longer, and I probably shouldn’t of – because I ended up having to make the top a little shorter. But it fits perfectly and is quite warm. And it matches! I’m a little nuts when it comes to matching. Read the rest of this entry

So we got a snowstorm this weekend.  Which meant from Friday night after seeing Avatar, we didn’t leave the house until about 2pm today.  And was I a productive domestic goddess?  NO.  I was a lazy, stinky gamer – who managed to get a couple of levels on each of my active toons in WoW.  Read the rest of this entry

I haven’t posted this week – actually, for a while it seemed the week was crawling by, but now it’s Thursday, and I’m not sure what happened.  Some weeks are like that.  Sunday after the dinner party, I did manage to bang out some more cookies, make home made marshmallows, and fudge!  I made fudge for the first time!  The theme of my cookies this year is really chocolate and esperesso – since getting the instant stuff (thank you internet and Google), I’ve made three batches of cookies and the fudge had it too.

But I have been pondering the upcoming year.  I’m close to getting my goals together.  Mostly they are about minimizing.  Less of this, less of that.  And coalescing how my cooking project will go.  They are almost ready to be revealed.

I’m starting to rethink my kitchen as well.  In researching for my project, I found out I was ruining my knives by using a glass cutting board, and so I’ve made some changes, but there are still a couple to come.  I’m trying to make the small space as economical as possible – what with all the appliances and such.  Pictures at some point, I promise.

And I’ve been playing World of Warcraft, and farming small eggs so I can make gingerbread for Father Winter, or whatever he’s called.  Again, when I feel like I’m not accomplishing a damn thing – I can go into WoW, and level up, get a purple elephant to ride, or farm for eggs.

And crap – there is still some Christmas shopping to do.  Sigh.

It was a busy day. We had a dinner party last night and I baked two batches of Christmas cookies with multiple steps and drizzling.

So what did I make yesterday? An apple pie, Buckeye cookies, caramel macchiato cookies, a teriyaki beef fillet, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, peas – Julia style, and buttered rosemary rolls. Oh and I guess I shouldn’t forget the baked eggs in ramekins that I made for breakfast.  And really – that took all day.  So – a break down: Read the rest of this entry

I have an idea brewing for a project for the new year. I have goals for next year, and for one – I want to do a cooking project – similar to the Julie/Julia project, but something that won’t have Dan close to walking out the door, and something a little more timely. Not to disparage the J/J project – but Julie does mention that MTAOFC is out of date, using more cream and butter, and having recipes for aspic, which honestly – does anyone make any more.

Then I was chatting with a friend over Facebook, who hopefully you will be seeing featured here – he is the one who first got me to make soup. He told me that Alton Brown’s book on baking is essential if you want to become a better baker.

Which lead me to think – is Alton Brown the Julia for today? I need to think on this to expand on this concept, but I’m thinking for my 2010 project, that maybe I will dedicate myself to cooking the Alton Brown way. I know the Good Eats book will be under my Christmas tree, and I really want to pick up the book on baking. So the terms of the project will be developing over the next couple of week, but I’m starting to think.

I baked a cake today. This is a big deal, because as I think I mentioned – I’ve never made a cake from scratch before. I decided to make a cake from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and because I happened to have a nine-inch cake pan, I decided on the orange sponge cake. I read over the recipe a couple of times before starting, and did like the people on TV do. I got each ingredient in a little glass cup. I started by separating the eggs, one at a time, putting the yolks in the mixing bowl, and the whites in a cup. Glad I separated them over a different cup – because the third one – the yolk broke. And it was weird – I started a new dozen of eggs in the third and fourth eggs, and the yolk was a lot smaller. While they were separating, I zested an orange, and squeezed the juice. Measured the flour, and sifted it. This is real cake flour – new thing for me. Read the rest of this entry

Today I made Chocolate Peppermint shortbread.  How I came about to this recipe was strictly fate.  I received my Beater Blade in the mail, and I had to try it out.  To test it – you needed softened butter, so the chocolate shortbread was the first recipe in the first book that I pulled out that was marked as something I wanted to make this year that needed softened butter. Read the rest of this entry

I have a had a rough week.  Earlier this week, I was hit by a curve ball that definitely become a bump in the road towards the plans I have.  It threw me for a loop, and I’m still not back to normal.  I find I’m going through the stages of grief, though that sounds silly, but I am – I’m slowly making my way through to acceptance.

Yesterday, I came home from work, promptly got into my new pajamas, and crawled into bed.  And what did then was to page through Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  It was oddly comforting, though it was with a purpose.  I am having a dinner party on Saturday night, and I needed to figure out what to make.

I’ve been listening to the audiobook of Julie and Julia, and reliving with her – the year she cooked through the cookbook.  It’s been a pleasant way to pass my commute.  But I get fascinated by the different descriptions of her cooking.

Paging through the book – I always end up lingering on the dessert section.  In learning to cook – I started with my favorite part of the meal – dessert.  I started with cookies, fruit crisps and have moved to other things.  But one thing I have never done – is bake a cake from scratch.  I was a mix girl, tried and true.  I even have two of the Cake Doctor books.  But never have made a cake from scratch.  It’s one thing that I want to learn…of all the cooking arts – I find pastry work to be the most interesting.  It appeals to my scientific nature.  It is very precise, the proportions of sugar, butter, flour and other things need to be in the right proportions to get the desired effect.  A little more of this, and you get a crispier cookie.  A little more of that, and they can be a runny mess.

And I don’t know why I haven’t made a cake from scratch, but I think it’s about time I did.  Of course, one of the sponge cakes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, may not be the easiest choice, but I LIKE the recipes.  I am utterly fascinated by beating eggs and sugar together to form “the ribbon”.  I’ve never done this, and I’m dying to try it.  I’ve never mixed eggs and sugar together.  Creaming sugar into butter is a key step for making cookies – it creates little tiny holes in the butter, which gives the cookies a certain consistency once they have been baked.  Along with this – I get to beat egg whites to soft peaks, which is one pastry skill I love to do.  It should be fun. One thing that strikes me about the recipe,  is that I only need to prepare one cake pan.

So, I’m going to bake a cake this Saturday.  I’ll post here about how it goes.  I haven’t decided which cake I’m going to make, but I’m leaning toward the orange sponge cake.  But we’ll see.

But all this cake and pastry pondering is making me feel better.  Which is what I need.