Chachi's all grown up

Who'd have thought Scott Baio would grow up to be kind of hunky. I was never impressed during his teeny bopper days, but he's aged pretty well. I just watched "Wedding for Bella" aka "The Bread my Sweet", and found it very touching. He plays a fierce, rather cold hearted corporate raider, paid lots of money to fire people as new companies are aquired. He has two brothers, one a fun loving ladies man, the other a gentle giant, a pie baking genius with the mental age of a five year old. At night they bake all sorts of wonderful breads and sweets for their bakery. They also keep an eye on their elderly landlords, the grouchy Massimo and his saintly wife Bella. Her biggest wish is that Dominic (Baio) marry her absent daughter, Bella. It becomes her dying wish when she is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and Dominic sets out to fulfill that wish so that she can die happy. It's been compared to "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", but I don't think that's an accurate or fair comparison. This is grittier and a bit less calculated.

I'm a cooking goddess!!!

Well, not really, sigh. But I kind of feel like one...I made home made marshmallows! And they actually turned out like....marshmallows! Made a batch and brought them into work with hot chocolate for my co-workers. Course the wintry atmosphere was rather ruined by the sudden warm spell we're having, but we pretended. Anyway, marshmallows turn out to be quite easy, fun and messy to make. If you're interested in giving it a try [experiment, try a flavor other than vanilla..]...

2 1/2 T. plain gelatin
1 C. water, divided
1 1/2 C sugar
1 C. light corn syrup
1/4 t. salt
2 T. vanilla
Powdered sugar as needed

Whisk gelatin and 1/2 C. cold water together in bowl, let stand for 30 minutes. Over low heat mix 1/2 C. water, sugar, corn syrup, and salt until sugar is melted. Brush sides of pan with wet brush or wet paper towel to disolve sugar crystals. Heat over high heat without stirring until mixture reaches 244 degrees (firm ball) on candy thermometer. Slowly pour hot mixture into gelatin while mixing on med speed. Mix on high speed until mixture is about tripled in volume, approx. 10-15 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Turn mixture into 8x11 glass baking dish generously dusted with sifted powdered sugar. Sift more powdered sugar over top. With wet hand smooth mixture flat. Sift more powdered sugar over top. Let sit out overnight, uncovered. Cut into squares or desired shapes with warm dry knife. (As knife gets sticky it will help to dip it in powdered sugar). Dip cut edges of marshmallows in powdered sugar.

HO HO HO ! ! !

That's it, I'm officially done with my Christmas shopping! Well, other than a few things for co-workers, but that doesn't count. I did most of my shopping online this year, so now I just have to sit back and hope UPS, USPS and FedEx come through for me. Oh, and organize some really cool wrapping paper. I think I almost like wrapping presents more than any other part of the gift ritual.

Black Friday

I've always avoided the huge "Black Friday" sales crowds, but decided to give it a try this year when I saw some things on my Christmas shopping list on sale. It was crazy!!! Walmart opened at 5am, so I pulled into their parking lot at 4:20 am to find the lot full and a queue of people lined up down the front of the store and wrapped around the side. It was 12 degrees and I wasn't going to stand in line for 40 minutes waiting for the doors to open! So I drove by a couple other stores and found the same situation at each. I decided I wasn't that ambitious a shopper and drove back to one of the restaurants that had opened at 4 am to serve breakfast to early shoppers. When I passed Walmart again the parking lot was overflowing and the road to the store was completely backed up. I was the only customer in the restaurant so had the entire staff chatting with me and waiting on me, kind of like my own personal restaurant. By the time I finished breakfast the nearby department store had been open for half an hour and so I ventured in and did some shopping. I didn't get the big early bird specials, but I got $305 worth of sweaters and winter clothes for $128 so it almost made being up at that ridiculous hour worthwhile. I was back home in bed before the sun came up. Next year I'll go back to sleeping in. It was kind of like the one and only Star Trek convention I ever went to.... intriguing in theory, scary in practice.

The cutest thing around

I think little "Butterstick" as he is affectionately known by locals is quite possibly the cutest thing around. The National Zoo's baby Panda is a living, breathing stuffed toy.... what a cutie! You can watch him on the pandacam and I'll warn you, it's addictive. You can also get Butterstick "stuff" at the Butterstick store.

I object!

Errr...sorry, too much time lately spent watching grown men (and women) roll their eyes, throw tantrums, and generally act like spoiled two year olds ... the wonderful world of the judicial system. Yup, I'm on Federal jury duty. I can't say much about the trial til it's over, other than to say it spans the globe, and I've gotten to hold evidence in my hands that is worth more than the next decade or two or my salary put together. Average trial length is 2-7 days, but ours is estimated to go 4-5 weeks. Luckily our jury gets along great and we actually enjoy each other's company. And I have to say the court employees really do try to make things as smooth as possible for us. We all are taking the responsibility seriously, but having a sense of humor does help alot. A few of the improvements we'd like to see take place in the court system: jurors should get to object!; jurors should be able to hold up score cards after each round of questioning, grading the prosecutor's/lawyer's performance; participants should be fined for each repetitive question.... I'm sure we'll come up with more before the whole thing's done.