Author: Kris

Major Breakthrough

I had a major breakthrough with the fish phobia tonight. We were out to dinner at my co-worker Leanne’s new place, and her boyfriend Brendan (the one who works at XO) cooked for us. Knowing my issues with fish, he served us baked rainbow trout with smoked almond stuffing and he ASSURED me that it wouldn’t be fishy in the slightest. So there I was with an ACTUAL FISH on my plate, nasty little eye staring up at me and everything, and I reached out with my fork and ate a bit. And he was right! It was pretty nice. I’m not gonna say it’s now my favorite dish ever or anything, but I told him that eating a whole friggin’ fish is pretty much the highest compliment I could pay him as a chef. The Snook was conspicuously silent during this portion of the meal, which I correctly interpreted as his version of not talking to the pitcher during a no-hitter. No jinx! So we’ve reached another milestone. Of course, I nearly yuked it all up when Leanne, on a dare, ATE HER FISH’S EYEBALL. *shudder* Actually perhaps it’s better if I don’t think about that bit…

The real point of the visit was so that Leanne could help me construct my Halloween costume, which she did. And it’s gonna be AWESOME!

Straight-Laced Socks

Straight Laced SocksStraight-Laced Socks
Remember the wool I won in the Give a Little Raffle? Here it is! These are the Straight-Laced Socks from Knitty. As usual, I had to adjust the heck out of the pattern to make it work. I increased the number of stitches to 76 (38 on each needle) and thus had to change the maths of turning the heel. I think I’ve finally got my head around it, but I made this heel a little narrow. (Technically it’s perfect though, so I couldn’t bear to frog it back.) The toe was also turning out a little long so I started doing the decreases every row instead of every other. Still, they’re really pretty, aren’t they?

U2 Sucks

Heh. Some guy on AskMetafilter wonders “Why do you like U2?” and asks whether he’s alone in his hate for them. The ensuing discussion is 90% people agreeing that they suck – “U2 is the Wal-Mart of ‘alternative’ music” is a particular highlight – and 10% people going, “Yeah, I liked ’em back in high school but everything since the 90’s pretty much sucks.” Which amuses me.

Buck Eye Balls

Buck Eye BallsHalloween Treat: Buck Eye Balls
I wasn’t sure whether I should post this and ruin the surprise for any guests at our party, but the reactions I’ve gotten from the few people I’ve showed them to have persuaded me to do otherwise. The people of the world need to have this recipe for their own Halloween parties. Thus I present to you my greatest creation ever: “Buck Eye Balls.”

Most of us who grew up in the Midwest remember buckeyes, the peanut butter-and-chocolate balls that our Moms would make on special occasions. They popped in to my head recently while planning the menu for our Third Annual “Bringin’ Halloween to the Aussies” Party. But how to make them suitably ghoulish? It hit me like a flash: make them look like human eyeballs. It took three experimental batches before I got everything just right, but the results are before you. Here’s what you do:

To make the peanut butter mixture, you need 1 part butter, 2 parts peanut butter, and 3 parts powdered sugar. The mixture should look fairly “dry;” add more powdered sugar if yours is too gooey. (This is the part I kept messing up.) Add a couple drops of red food colouring at a time until it’s a nice disgusting red. (If you add it after you’ve mixed the other ingredients, you get a mottled “hamburger” type look. It may appear smoother if you add it before putting in the powdered sugar.) Use your hands to form the mixture into 1-inch balls. If they don’t roll easily you can try putting the mix in the fridge for a while, but my advice is to add more sugar. (In worst case scenarios, you may need to try a different and less oily peanut butter. The smooth stuff I used in my first batch just stayed gooey the whole time.) Put the balls in the fridge for a while just to firm them up a little more before dipping. A lot of the recipes on the Internet tell you to use paraffin with your chocolate, but I just bought white chocolate “cooking compound” that already had it included. Much simpler. Put a handful of the white chocolate pieces in a bowl and microwave it on low, stirring often, until you get a nice smooth consistency. Now get your peanut butter balls out. Stick a toothpick into the top of each one. (This is your handle for dipping.) The idea is to leave a circle on top for the iris of the eye. It’s a good idea to scrape the bottoms off on the edge of the bowl as you pull each one out, otherwise you get a lip where it pools on the plate. Set each one on wax paper to cool and set up. Once they’re hard, pull out the toothpick and press a dark chocolate chip (point down) into the hole. To make the veins, I used a toothpick dipped in red food colouring like a pen to draw them on. (Note: These can get pretty smeary so leave plenty of time for them to dry before eating.) And that’s it! Needless to say, they taste delicious. Now I just need to knock out about fifty of these next weekend…

Pogoing like I’m 19

moblogged imagePogoing like I’m 19
She’s Lump, she might be dead! At the PUSA show with Amy and Rob. Rockin’ like it’s 1996! Peaches for me…

Later: Wow, fantastic show. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard Australians chanting “USA! USA!” (and most likely the last). The Presidents evidently have a new album out but they deferred to the crowd and mixed in all of their old hits. (I have never seen a crowd pogo like they did during “Kitty.”) People were actually crowd-surfing! It was like we fell through a hole into the mid-90’s. Tripod nearly stole the show for me though. They were hilarious. I had to cover my face during the “You may be a little autistic” song because I was laughing so hard…

Sing it, Gwyneth.

I get the feeling that the BBC thinks Gwyneth Paltrow is being snobby or precious with her complaints about London life, but I say SING IT, SISTER. Her gripes were my gripes, and they’re a large part of why I was happy to leave. It was gray all the time. I got tired of walking past trash on the streets and blowing black stuff out of my nose after taking the Tube home. And is it impossible to have a shop be open when people actually want to shop?