Last week, Rachel, Steph, and I lived in a treehouse together and had matching pet weasels in Valentine's Day colors... white, red, and pink.

And a few nights ago I was lying in bed, asleep and naked in the summer heat, only to be woken by positive herds of overexcited children and their parents. Turned out that a new session of Robyn's horse camp had begun and that many campers had unpaid balances. As no one seemed able to locate Robyn, they thought Rachel and I might be willing to take charge and take cheques.

Last night it was Extreme Renaissance Fair with the Knights Who Say Ni, Travis and Robyn's wedding, and Christmas, all at the same time! If I'm tired today, I know why.

A few nights ago...

I went home to visit my family and was told that I could find my sister at our old elementary school. She was in the fifth grade classroom, and when I asked her what she was doing there, she shuffled around a lot and then admitted that she hadn't passed the fifth grade and had to repeat it. The current subject that they were covering? Human reproduction. A good thing to review before your wedding, eh?

And last night, I visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and Robyn was working there, offering free hair and nail makeovers to guests. Comments, chim?

Last night's dream:

Harry Potter and his friends are hosting a House Commonality party. What does everybody at Hogwarts have in common, be they Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin?

THEY ALL LOVE BACON!

*cue unfurling of huge posters of bacon all around the castle*

BACON! EVEN DRACO LOVES BACON! YAAAAAAAAAY!

This liverjournal will be, for the time being, devoted entirely to very interesting dreams!

And now, a startling image from last night's dream: Winnie the Pooh trying to lure people into an electric chair in order to pilfer their small change after he threw the switch.

Ze Saucy Chef artistic use of pears!



From Vegetarian Celebrations by Nava Atlas. Recipe for 4! Like nuclear family blood ties.

4 large, firm pears
6 tablespoons white wine boozers
6 tablespoons apple juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
some-a allspice
some-a nutmeg
2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 cup chocolate chippings

1. Gut pears, stripings in 8 quadrants.
2. Adding boozers, juice, vanilla, spices in frying pan. Then adding pears! Cover frying pan and wait, wait! Make to simmer, as if with angering.
3. Pears do become fork-tender. Make little water with cornstarch for cornstarch mud. Stir cornstarch mud in simmering angering pear boozer juice. Juice thickens like blood family ties. Take whole deal off of stovetop.
4. Melt of the chocolate chippings into sauce! Like water for chocolate.
5. Feng shui pears like star flower pinwheel! Arrange water chocolate attractively. Feed to guests like bears!

"The chocolate with the pears is as the winter it handles..." Such a proverb! Ho ho! Chop chop!

You put-a pancakes on Asian-wear! Very nice dinner, glasshopper! Chop chop!

Art-y artness!

Chocolate Truffle Cookies! With much improvement now with booze!





Recipe made by The Cookie and Biscuit Bible.

A Warning: Should make double, TWO TIMES like instluctions for many cookies and cooks! Only make handful cookies! NOT ENOUGH COOKIES FOR HARD SERIOUS BOOZERS!

1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar sweetening type
2 tablespoons diced butter
1 beaten egg
1 teaspoon cherry kind BOOZE -- kirsch, maybe cherry brandy
1/2 cup powdered sugar

1. Sifting flour, cocoa, baking powder into bowl containment. Add sugar sweetening type. Then rub in butter! Make a dough with crumbly look.

2. Beaten egg and BOOZE make together. Then together with crumble dough, stir.

3. Plastic wrap boozing cookie dough into icing refrigerator box. Leave there! Half hour, no more no less.

4. Preheat oven 400 degrees and grease-a baking sheet. Roll tiny boozing cookie dough balls. Put powdered sugar into bowl containment, roll the rolled boozing balls in powdered sugar bowl containment.

5. Take sweet snowed BOOZING BALLS onto sheet, bake 10 minutes. Cool down after baking on rack or something.


"To a deep dwindle, these cookie-of-the-mouth can give cunning twist with the addition of the cheerful brandy! The complete method of finishing the dinner party!"


Below, Ze Saucy Chef Mama pose with the Happy Holiday Haucks Booklet make-a by Rachel Klein! Recipe SECRET NO ONE CAN SHARE, EVEN BY SAUCY CHEF!

Link: The Which Spice Are You Test written by jodiesattva on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

The one picture I don't really, really hate (with me in it)!

Wow, if I knew I was going to be this sick this often, I might have cancelled.

(Note to self and others reading: Not sure what exactly I would have cancelled. But it sounds so purposeful to say I would have.)

Wahs!

Because I teh ultimate win-zor.

ZE SAUCY CHEF make-a eclectic meal... zesty classic miso soup and winsome blackberry tarts!


MISO SOUP you'll eat it and you'll like it!





ZE SOURCE: MOOSEWOOD RESTAURANT COOKS AT HOME

In the words of Babelfish, "As for this, it is basic cooking method for the soup which can be thousand changes!"

4 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 1/2 cups boiling water
2 medium carrots, sliced diagonally into 1/4-inch-thick rounds (about 1 cup)
4 cups vegetable stock or water
1 1/2 cups shredded greens, such as bok choy, endive, Chinese cabbage, or spinach
2 tablespoons red miso
2 tablespoons light miso
1 cake tofu
chopped scallions
crumbled toasted nori

1. Place the shiitake mushrooms in a heatproof bowl, cover with the boiling water, and set aside for about 10 minutes.
2. In a soup pot, cover the carrots with 3 1/2 cups of the stock or water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the carrots are crisp-tender.

(CRISP-TENDER TASTE SENSATIONS!)

3. Drain the shiitake and add their soaking liquid to the carrots and stock. Slice the shiitake caps into thin strips and add them to the soup. Stir in the greens and continue to simmer for about 5 minutes, until they are just tender or wilted.
4. In a small bowl, blend both misos with the remaining 1/2 cup of stock. Cut the tofu into 1/2-inch cubes. Stir the miso mixture into the soup, add the tofu, and heat gently. Be careful not to let the soup boil.
5. Garnish the soup with scallions, and with nori flakes if you wish.



BLACKBERRY TART you want, but you no can have until you make!





ZE RECIPE: MAKE ZE RECIPE!
ZE SOURCE: ZE BUTCHER ZE SOURCE!

1 pie shell (MAKE OR BUY!)
3 cups blackberries (MAKE OR BUY!)
2 tablespoons powdered sugar (MAKE OR BUY!)
2 tablespoons raspberry jam (MAKE OR BUY!)
2 tablespoons kirsch (MAKE OR BUY!)

ZE STEP 1: Squish ze pie shell into tiny tart shapes in ze tiny tart pans! If no ze tiny tart pans are available, squish ze pie shell into ze not-tiny pie pan! Fill with ze baking beans or rice to avoid ze bubble. Then bake awhile! Ze tiny tarts, about 20 minutes. Ze one big-big tart, 25 minutes! Take out when golden and CRISP-TENDER!
ZE SECOND STEP: Get rid ze baking beans, rice, blahblahblah. Replace, in ze blackberries and sugary sweet! Back ze oven, baking 20 minutes tinies, 30 minutes biggie.
ZE STEP D: Heat in saucepan ze jam, ze kirsch. Low warm heat, wait for ze jam to melt. When melt, trickling on blackberries.

NIIIIIICE!

Robyn and I visit a seaside hotel with a literary theme! Photographic evidence to follow...






Kitty Shelley sleeps in a puzzle box in the communal game room.





We stayed in the Edgar Allan Poe room. The Edgar-ly bed!





The pendulum sways above sleeping innocents! Oh noes!





The raven!





Alas Fortunato!





The mirror of goth-dom!





Edgar the plushie.





Robyn meets a rockin' pony.





A histronic lighthouse!





Ghostly lighthouse effects! How frightful!





All becomes too histronic to handle with dignity.

I'm off to the beach! Kimi and Mirabelle will entertain you in my absence.







Sketchy chibi infestation! Whoo hoo!

Lingwei has now officially described his profession; it is "putting up and shutting up." Hmmms.

And now, I have "Pounce" stuck and stuck and stuck in my head!

*tear*