Volcano Cakes

So here's a silly and exciting cooking adventure, since there's nothing else here.

I had a get-together with a lot of my friends back in May, and decided I wanted to have cupcakes there. Stephen and I went and bought the ingredients that were needed to make a recipe for Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream. It was the first time I had made cupcakes, and I was trying to do my best to follow the directions. However, the cupcakes ended in disaster, becoming instead "Volcano Cakes." A messy version of the tasty cupcakes.

The first problem that I can point to as potentially being a problem were the baking cups used, which were foil and didn't require a baking pan (but needed a cookie sheet underneath them). They probably weren't the problem at all, but it was something that I wasn't used to (I've only ever seen paper baking cups used), and so thought could be a potential problem.

Another problem which likely effected the taste of the cupcakes (I didn't actually eat them when they were completed, as they appeared to be very burnt) was that we used a sweetened cocoa powder rather than an unsweetened cocoa powder. Of course this would have only made them sweeter - and wouldn't have necessarily been a problem.

However, I know I tried my best to get the recipe as close to correct as I could, and followed the directions implicitly. Still, while cooking the cupcakes, I realized something was going wrong when they weren't raising like they were supposed to. They also seemed to be taking far too long to cook - which is why they ended up burnt, I think.

The second thing that went wrong happened when making the frosting for the cupcakes. Both Stephen and I overlooked the fact that the frosting (as any frosting would) called for Confectioners sugar. We instead used regular sugar. The result was very crunchy frosting-like stuff.

All in all, it was an exciting adventure, and one I hope to never, ever, repeat.

Projects Brewing in the Brainpan

I'm still alive! And I'm still mostly not writing.

On the upside, I'm now on medications for depression again. For more information, check out Rats in Pants, where I explain everything that's been going on in my life lately.

I do have some projects that I'm planning on starting up soon, though, despite not having creativity going very well.

First, two blog-style writing projects named, at the moment, Truth and Three's a Crowd.

• Truth is a modern-fantasy, taking place in an AU Earth where magic works and was embraced up until science became a focal point of everything. Magic still works, it's just so fiddly that most people don't use it. Mythical creatures and monsters also exist, and the humanoid ones are a part of human (yes, human) society, where they are mostly hiding in plain sight (under glamours). Enter Truth, the main character, who is just starting college. Truth is named so because she can "See the truth of things" - in other words, she can usually tell when someone is lying to her, but even more important - she can see through glamours. I'm hoping to get in to some equality type stuff, as well as (maybe) religious, emotional, and just interesting.
• Three's A Crowd is a little different. It takes place in our world, in our time, and is about a woman coming to terms with her husband's polyamory (for more information, look here and here. Disclaimer: I haven't actually looked deep into the two latter websites, I cannot account for their content). I'm writing this partially from experience, and partially from things I've read or heard about since learning about polyamory. It will follow the two main character's relationship as it grows and changes with time.
  

Second, I have my own domain now! So I'm going to be working on building my own website, and probably integrating all my blogs into that. Once everything is finalized (there's a domain name that I want, which I got, but it was .net rather than .com. The .com version is set to expire any time in the next three days - so I'm going to try to get it for my own :D If I don't, I can simply use my .net, which will be fine. More on that once I figure out what's going to be happening with it.

Finally, I'm hoping to get all of my webcomics up and running!

• I'm going to be redesigning Kyoot!'s website, and I hope to update it at least once a week, if not more - and I have a "special" that I'm going to be running over the course of two months based on something that Eliezer Yudkowsky of Overcoming Bias and Less Wrong wrote a while ago. I'm hoping to do it justice.
• I also hope to be updating Storyline once a week, getting it's webpage finished.
• Finally, I hope to start up another RPG-Based webcomic under the name Legends Never Die, but first I need to figure out if I care enough to or not. If I do, it will also be updating at least once a week (or I may alternate between Storyline and Legends), and will have it's own site over at ComicGenesis (for now, at least), or possibly at Drunk Duck. Or, if I get ambitious, I'll host it myself on my new server :D We'll have to wait and see.
  

And, aside from a few artistic projects, a long-term writing project (working title: Trinity of the Gods), and becoming a more active member of The Writing Circle, that's about all I have!

Life Goes On, Things Change

A lot has happened since my last post. Lets see if I can get them down in the order that they happened.

First off, I got married! Stephen Weeks (Tene) and I married on June 12, 2009 - just a tiny civil ceremony at the city county building. Our witnesses were our friends Nic and Marjut, who live in Finland and happened to be visiting Utah at the time. Others invited were our immediate family, and one of my stepsisters (who took photos), and that's all. In total, there were 16 of us in the room. We're considering doing something bigger later.

The next day Tene and I moved into an apartment complex. We have a cute little loft apartment, that feels a little big than it is. We need to get ourselves a couch still, but we mostly have everything we need, which is good. One unfortunate aspect is that the complex doesn't allow pets aside from service animals, and when I asked them specifically about therapeutic pets, they said they didn't count as service animals. So I might not be getting rats again for a while. Which is unfortunate. (I'm still going to try, though. I mean, they would help me out a lot)

I also got to go see VNV Nation when they were in town. That was really fun and I got all done up to see them. I really enjoy their music, and they were awesome to see in concert. It was also a lot of fun to get dressed up like I did. Even better, I got to meet them! I thought it would be a bit more fun, but we were the last people to go see them at the Greywhale they were at, and they had to run off to do a soundcheck for the show, so I guess that it not being as exciting and fun as I thought it would be is forgiveable. I also learned of a new Industrial band that I really like, one of the groups VNV was touring with - Ayria. I also got to meet the singer for their group, and she signed my CD. It was really a lot of fun. Tene and I also went to the afterparty at Club Vegas, but I was soooo tired and dead by that time.

The only other thing that's been really big and going on in my life has been working out all my health problems - both mental and physical.

On the physical side, before Tene and I got married I went in and had a CT scan for some bumps by my left eye. The bumps hurt a little, and they are growing and multiplying. The CT was done to figure out exactly where the masses were (which it revealed quite well) so that I could go in for surgery to have them removed and biopsied. I go in to see the doctor who will be doing the surgery on July 31 - hopefully we'll be setting up an appointment for the surgery that day, and I can get it done with. The downside to the CT scan was that it found a mass inside my ear. I haven't had a chance, yet, to see an Ear-Nose-And-Throat doctor about that so far, but I'm pretty sure it's not too urgent.

On the mental side - I am back on Zoloft (50mg). I have felt better since I started taking it than I have in .... quite a while. I'm happy, I'm enjoying my life, and my anxiety has been manageable! It's amazing. My motivation and creativity are still not here, however, and I've been having stomach problems (nausea and cramping) since I started taking the meds. Hopefully those will fix themselves and I'll be just fine, but I may have to tweak my medication a few more times before I'm good to go, not that that is very surprising or anything.

I also have some creative projects in the works, but you can go read all about those over at Truth in Lies!

Delicious Cookies

I found the recipe for these cookies over at Bake or Break. To break in the new stove, I decided to make the recipe for "My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies." Now, these are also the first cookies I've made in ... well ... years. I think they turned out quite well.

:pic:

I modified the recipe slightly, but tried to keep with the original as much as I could. Here's a reprint of the recipe, with my modifications.

Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2½ cups uncooked regular oats
• 1½ cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 4 ounces milk chocolate candy bar, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Beat butter at medium speed in a heavy-duty mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugars and beat well. Add eggs and vanilla, beating well.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to butter mixture and beat well.
4. Process oats in a food processor until finely ground. Add to butter mixture and beat well. Stir in chocolates and pecans.
5. Drop cookies by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly on baking sheets. Then, remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

In my version, I left out the pecans, and replaced the candy bar with extra chocolate chips (I ended up adding about an extra ½ cup). I also made a huge mistake - I left out the salt. The cookies were delicious anyway, which means they'll be even better next time I make them (when I can add salt). I'm glad about this, but I do feel a little silly for having left the salt out (I remember reading and rereading my printed out recipe, thinking - and saying - "It's so weird there's no salt in these!" I guess that's a recipe reading fail on my part.)
Regardless, these were some delicious cookies. I hope to make them again.

Rest In Peace, Aviendha

I put Avi to sleep. I took her to the vet at 10:30 this morning, and after talking to him we decided that the best course of action would be to euthanize her. Like Min, Avi's tumor had gotten large, and was uncomfortable for her. It was also beginning to take away the nutrients that she needed - essentially starving her slowly. I'd called the vet yesterday to have her looked at, so this wasn't as much of a surprise as Min's death (2 days shy of one year ago) had been.

She's buried in my mother's backyard - next to Min and under the cherry tree.