Topic: THE MERRY MONDAY NOTES (Read 20819 times)

bk · « **on:** December 15, 2003, 12:20:49 AM »

I can't wait to see your topic of the day posts, and all the other various and sundried posts, especially now that you've taken a gander at the merry Monday notes.

bk · « **Reply #1 on:** December 15, 2003, 12:23:37 AM »

Are we having a posting frenzy yet?

Tomovoz · « **Reply #2 on:** December 15, 2003, 12:28:30 AM »

Don't you hate it when you miss the cut off?
Thanks Panni. I indeed read all the posts and had a wonderful two day birthday (thanks to the time difference). My long day was made happier and more delightful by the input of the HHW family. Thank you again everyone.
DR Jed: Now I know the secret of those Washingtonian accents - people have them on the boxer shorts.

Tomovoz · « **Reply #3 on:** December 15, 2003, 12:38:09 AM »

I shall indeed give considerable thought indeed to the topic of the day. I shall now desert the dessert topic and bid you all a good night. See you in twelve hours at the usual place.

JoseSPiano · « **Reply #4 on:** December 15, 2003, 12:58:35 AM »

Well, I tried to post this "yesterday", but...

DR George - I understand your cookie woes. However, as you discovered, even the "mistakes" taste good!

From my own experience, any dough made with melted chocolate tends to seem thick. It's just the chocolate starting to harden again. *Don't go there, TCB! This is especially true when baking around this time of the year when the "room temperature" is cooler. Baking cakes is always tricky for me during the winter since my apartment tends to run cool anway. It's very nice in the summer, but in the winter, I sometimes have to gently warm the butter by placing in it the mixer bowl, and then placing the bowl on my stove to be warmed by the heat from the pilot light. Cold butter will not a pound cake make!

As for the M&M problem, I've always wondered how those store bought cookies manage to not have melted M&Ms. I've come across a few possible solutions, but I haven't tried them yet. One is to freeze the "drops" of dough before baking them. Another is to press the M&Ms into the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven - seems very impractical to me. Finally, and this seems the most logical to me, is to bake the cookies at lower temperature, 300 instead of 325 or 350. *However, I have a few recipes that call for chilling the dough balls, and it does help keep the cookies from spreading too much when they bake.

Oh, and then there's the method where you press the dough flat, and then press the M&Ms into the dough before baking the cookies.

I'm baking tomorrow, and do have some M&Ms in the pantry... Maybe I'll have a progress report for you.

JoseSPiano · « **Reply #5 on:** December 15, 2003, 01:06:38 AM »

Oh, as for dessert and dip recipes... Hmmm.... I'll have to sleep on that one - literally.. It's waaay late right now.... But dessert will probably be cheesecake and/or a chocolate "lava" cake. And as for dips, I've always been fond of that spinach dip made with Knorr soup mix. Or a roasted red pepper hummus. Or....

JoseSPiano · « **Reply #6 on:** December 15, 2003, 01:25:20 AM »

Oh, and speaking of the National Building Museum, here's a pic of me in front of it. Fun with the self timer!

JoseSPiano · « **Reply #7 on:** December 15, 2003, 01:30:19 AM »

WHEW! I took me at least four tries before I could get the pic to right size so that we weren't in widescreen!

Sleep? What's sleep?

Of course, now I'm watching One Hour Photo...

Jason · « **Reply #8 on:** December 15, 2003, 03:03:35 AM »

I'm home!! I had the most exhausting 12-hour bus ride of my life, but I'm here. I haven't had time to read ANY of the notes and I freely admit that I probably won't be able to catch up on all of the posts from the last two weeks, but I just wanted to check in, say hi, let you know I'm home and alive and the show went well and I had fun and I had a mouse waiting for me in a trap when I got home a few minutes ago and still no NetFlix in my mailbox, even though they supposedly sent out three new movies, and I still haven't received two of the CDs I ordered from Amazon.com for my birthday and I'm really pissed about it but I'm so tired and ready for a shower that I won't go into it here right this minute.

I missed you guys. And now I'm off to bed (did I mention that I've been up for 25 hours? Well, I have.)

Goodnight.

Emily · « **Reply #9 on:** December 15, 2003, 04:55:24 AM »

Quote from: Jason on December 15, 2003, 03:03:35 AM

I haven't had time to read ANY of the notes and I freely admit that I probably won't be able to catch up on all of the posts from the last two weeks, but I just wanted to check in, say hi, let you know I'm home and alive and the show went well and I had fun and I had a mouse waiting for me in a trap when I got home a few minutes ago and still no NetFlix in my mailbox, even though they supposedly sent out three new movies, and I still haven't received two of the CDs I ordered from Amazon.com for my birthday and I'm really pissed about it but I'm so tired and ready for a shower that I won't go into it here right this minute.

I think DR Jason just broke the HHW Longest Sentence Record! Been drinking coffee, J?

In other news, good morning all! Today I have my DEVELOPING AREAS: ARAB WORLD exam at 2pm to look forward to - hence my very early wake-up call.

There is 25cm of snow outside and it is still falling. Sometimes I think God is a skier

At least it isn't the 40cm that was originally predicted yesterday by those peppy geniuses at Météo Média.

Am I the only person who confuses the monarchical structures of the United Arab Emirates with Bahrain? I thought not...

I will post later with my dip recipe. Let's just say it is majorly unhealty and full of vampire-rejecting garlic. I have yet to encounter a food product made with too much garlic. Ever.

Toodles and wish me luck!

Dan-in-Toronto · « **Reply #10 on:** December 15, 2003, 05:10:28 AM »

Here's a cheesecake recipe that has received oohs and ahhs. I'm a purist and don't include a topping. I sometimes serve fresh fruit alongside a slice. I've gotten the best results with Martha Stewart's spring form.

I don't usually make the crust, but am including the recipe. I figure I'd rather have an extra slice and forgo the crust. For the crustless cheesecake, I place a circle of parchment paper over the base of the spring form.

Crust:
Combine
26 graham crackers, rolled fine
1 cup butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Line bottom of nine inch spring form with this mixture.

Filling:

Ingredients
3 x 8 oz. packages cream cheese
4 eggs
1 cup sugar (I use a bit less)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
1 pint sour cream
3/4 cup sugar (again, I use a bit less)

1. Combine and beat at medium speed for 20-25 minutes the first four ingredients. (I use a good-quality blender.)
2. Bake 40 minutes at 325 degrees (middle rack).
3. Cool for about 30-40 minutes.
4. While cooling, beat together for 10 minutes the last two ingredients.
5. Pour over top of cooked cake.
6. Bake in 400 degree oven for 10 minutes (middle rack). Watch carefully - it should brown very slightly on top. (It sometimes takes a bit longer. Just a tinge is fine.)
7. Refrigerate at least overnight.

DearReaderLaura · « **Reply #11 on:** December 15, 2003, 05:53:29 AM »

Welcome home, Jason.

William E. Lurie · « **Reply #12 on:** December 15, 2003, 06:21:52 AM »

Since I'm at work and my recipes are at home I'll try to post tonight. Mine is also a cheesecake, but it's all put together in a blender and the crust automatically sinks to the bottom when it is baking.

Jennifer · « **Reply #13 on:** December 15, 2003, 06:30:25 AM »

Hey good morning everyone!

BK wrote:

Quote

I’m almost through watching the second season of Alias on DVD – and I still predict that what I’m assuming is the amazing season two closer will be something I predicted way back three-quarters of the way through season one. We shall see in just two episodes.

Okay as the resident Alias expert let me just say the Season Two finale is nothing anyone could predict

(but do post after you've seen it - i am dying to know your reaction).

Jennifer · « **Reply #14 on:** December 15, 2003, 06:34:19 AM »

DR Ron wrote yesterday:

Quote

"Survivor" has ended here on the West Coast.

I was very pleased with the end result!

Am delighted it's over! Hope I never see Jon or Burton or Lill again (Lill doesn't clean up very well, does she? And does she wear that uniform EVERYwhere she goes???) Hope I never have to hear Darrah's voice again.

I'm confused. I thought you loved Lil and wanted her to win? You were defending her last week. And now you hate her?

I was happy with the winner. Even though I disliked Sandra, she has grown on me recently. She has given me so many laughs, I was much more satisfied with her as the winner.

I thought Lil handled herself very poorly at the final plea tribal counsil. Instead of saying how she was a kind person, she harped on how people had betrayed her.

It's funny, but Lil always betrayed them at the first hint that they would betray her. I think that was part of her downfall. If she and Darrah had been smart, they would have made a deal at the end to take each other (since Sandra and Jon would have taken each other).

I was amazed with Lil's strength at standing on that thing in the water. I was suprised that Sandra and Jon decided to ditch Darrah (since they seemed to think Lil would beat them at the finals).

Sandra was sneaky and I would have liked to find out what the other contestants thought having only recently found out all she had planned.

Noel · « **Reply #15 on:** December 15, 2003, 07:15:52 AM »

There's no point in trying to make my apple pie if you can't get the right apples. They must be big, ripe, round, fresh Rome apples from the state of New York (sorry Washingtonians: yours are fine for eating, but these are to be baked into a pie).

Shortening disgusts me. I won't deal with it. So, here's how to make the crust sans Crisco:

Shake together 1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon cooking or salad oil with 1/4 cup water. In a mixing bowl, sift 2 cups flour and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Now, as you mix the dry ingredients with a fork, slowly drizzle in the wet stuff. Do not use a mixer! You're creating something that can be molded into a ball. Use clean hands to make a ball and place it between wax paper sheets. Roll this flat so it can fit into the bottom of a 9 inch pie pan. Carefully remove one sheet of wax paper, turn it upside down into pan, and, ever-so-carefully remove the remaining wax sheet. Set aside.

Peel and core about five apples. Slice one apple thinly, and place these slices flat on the bottom of your pie, covering it all - except the "lift" of the pie's sides. Cut some other apples in eighths. Now, depending on the size of your apples, this may be as few as three or as many as five. I don't know of any apples that get bigger than Romes. These slices will be placed on their ends, like little sailboats, but eventually, you're just piling them on, creating the convex top of your pie. Use as many as you think won't spill over the size. The apples are the star here.

1 and 1/3 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons flour and 3/4 teaspoons salt are combined before you mix in 1/3 cup light cream to make a gloop that you pour over your apples. Finally sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.

Bake around 90 minutes at 375 or until apples are tender. You'll want to put a not-tight covering of foil over it - make sure this isn't touching the pie. And foil under it to catch the drips.

MBarnum · « **Reply #16 on:** December 15, 2003, 07:23:11 AM »

Good Monday morning all, and welcome back to civilization Jason! We missed you and can't wait to hear about your stage adventures!

Jennifer: I was happy with the outcome of Survivor as well. Like you, Sandra had sort of grown on me.

I was very proud of Lill, I thought she handled herself fairly well...she certainly did well in that immunity challenge and I was thrilled that she would not bargain with Jon! I still wish that Andrew or Ryan O. would have won, however. I really think Andrew deserved to win, IMHO.

I think T is such a lovely person and certainly cleans up well...very classy!

Alright, I am at work now, but don't want to be here. Have a dinner date tonight, however, so that will give me something to look forward to!

Panni · « **Reply #17 on:** December 15, 2003, 07:35:29 AM »

JoseSPiano - thank you for the instructions.
As for the Notes, I don't make dips, never have. I'll post a delish dessert recipe later.

Matt H. · « **Reply #18 on:** December 15, 2003, 07:48:50 AM »

Welcome home, DR Jason! Glad the show was successful and that you're home safe and sound (with a dead mouse to keep you company - hey! an early Christmas present?)

bk, I don't see how you could possibly guess the Season 2 conclusion unless you're totally clairvoyant, but I'd be interested to know what you THOUGHT it was going to be after you've watched it.

Just read that the AFI has chosen its 10 Best Television Programs of 2003 (includes series and made-for-TV movies). ALIAS was among the ten chosen as was ANGELS IN AMERICA, '24,' and, for those who like it (I don't), JOAN OF ARCADIA.

MusicGuy · « **Reply #19 on:** December 15, 2003, 07:52:10 AM »

Good morning to all the early dear readers....

Glorious good morning to the esteemed, swarthy, rogue-ish BK --

And a special big "huge hugs hello" to our adopted baby Jason. We are so glad that you are back home, and want to hear all about your adventure out of town, what kind of people did you have to work with, etc., etc.

I am done with my rather long work weekend over in So. Calif., and am very glad to be home with Kerry and Sugar. The most fun part of the trip was meeting up with the sleek and studly BK at Dupar's, and shoving fluffy, scrumptuous pancakes down my greedy maw on Saturday morning.

By the way, I have to report that the lithe and sinewy BK showed terrific restraint, and did NOT shove said pancakes down his own cultured mouth.....likewise, he embellished nothing with whipped cream. Such healthy, he ate !

Off to check on a little work now.....be back later today.

Matt H. · « **Reply #20 on:** December 15, 2003, 07:54:40 AM »

I'm listening to the ANDY WILLIAMS CHRISTMAS ALBUM this morning. It's a lovely way to get this week before Christmas started. I especially like "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, " "The Holiday Season," and "Sweet Little Jesus Boy." The latter song has about the most emotional version of that song I've ever heard a pop singer do.

Kerry · « **Reply #21 on:** December 15, 2003, 08:20:06 AM »

I'm very sorry to hear about Jeanne Crain. I love her and her movies. In many ways, she and a few other people (like Diana Lynn) are a symbol to me of a better time, a more innocent time and of a Hollywood and America that probably never really existed. Kind of like the Carvel (or is it Carville?) in my head.

I'll post more after work.

A bon voyage to Ben and Ant.

Matt H. · « **Reply #22 on:** December 15, 2003, 08:25:08 AM »

I agree with you, DR Kerry. Her two mid-40s musicals STATE FAIR and CENTENNIAL SUMMER seem to reflect an era totally alien to what passes for entertainment these days. And despite being dubbed by Louann Hogan in these films, she still was astonishingly lovely.

She was dubbed by Anita Ellis in her other musical - 1955's GENTLEMEN MARRY BRUNETTES.

MBarnum · « **Reply #23 on:** December 15, 2003, 08:43:59 AM »

That is very sad about Jeanne Crain. What a lovely lady!

Actor Sean McClory also passed away I just found out. He was the husband of one of my favorite actresses, Peggy Webber and brother of the wonderful Maureen O'Hara.

JoseSPiano · « **Reply #24 on:** December 15, 2003, 09:06:09 AM »

Welcome home, Jason!
Welcome back, Jason!

I'm glad to hear that you had a good time in WVa. Of course, we all want to know: Pics?

Hope you get a good night's/day's sleep!

Well, I got my six hours of sleep, more or less. I actually stayed up until 5:30!

I started channel flipping, then (stupidly) checked out the latest cable On-Demand listings. Well, I came across One Hour Photo, and since it was mentioned on this board the past few days... And as for Michael Vartan doing the full monty... eh...

Oh... and besides the usual sink full of dirty dishes to clean up when I got back in last night, I also found out that our building has some water damage in the bathroom area. Actually, more like "confirmed" rather than "found out". Luckily(?), most of the damage is in the apartment "upstairs" - we're in a duplex, but there's a sort of sink hole in our bathroom. The landlord is supposed to come by today to check it out - as well as some other issues. We'll see... *I have started looking into new apartment possibilities, so... I actually like this place - of course, I'm only here one day a week - and if the damage won't require any major repair work - and in convenience - then I'll keep it on the options list.

-Thanks for letting me think out loud.

Well, I'm watching "Designer Guys" right now on TLC, and all I can say is, "Boys, boys, boys..." (while shaking my head from left to right).

I still have to look up my dessert and dip recipes, but two of my favorites desserts are very simple:

S'mores
-"Cook" a marshmallow - over a campfire is traditional.
-Sandwich the hot marshmallow between two graham crackers with a piece of chocolate - Hershey's is the classic.
*I noticed - and sampled - in the vending machine at the theatre a new S'mores candy bar. Not bad. Next time I'll have to put in the microwave for a few secs.
**Oh, and as for microwave S'mores, my method - after some trial and error, is to put the piece of chocolate on a graham cracker, and nuke them for about 15-20 seconds. Then place the marshmallow on top, balance the other graham cracker on top of that, and nuke for only about 5-10 seconds - marshmallows "spread" really fast in the microwave. Enjoy!

-Ricotta with sugar
Get the freshest ricotta cheese you can find. Place it a bowl. Spoon some sugar over the top. Dig in! That's it! So simple and sooo good. You can also sweeten the cheese with honey, and/or add some cocoa powder to the mix. Or mini-chocolate chips - it becomes like canolli fiiling.

Hmm... Now I'm getting hungry....

bk · « **Reply #25 on:** December 15, 2003, 09:34:47 AM »

I actually ended up watching the season two finale of Alias last night. It was not what I thought it would be, although I still think they will go where I predict they'll go at some point - there were definitely subtle clues all during season two if one is looking in that direction. I thought the ending was okay - a necessary deux ex machina and I'm sure they'll have fun explaining it all very quickly (actually, they HAVE done so - does anyone tape this series?). The fact is, I thought that episode thirteen was much more fun, surprise-wise - that one had even me scratching my head.

Now, where in tarnation IS everyone? Does no one else find this recent spate of errant and truantness odd? I find it decidedly odd, and from some pretty surprising people, too ( you know who you are). Well, I'm not going to bother mentioning it again - if it's to be a silent Christmas, so be it. I'll enjoy it with those who see fit to be around.

MBarnum · « **Reply #26 on:** December 15, 2003, 09:36:48 AM »

Right now I am listening to a CD compilation that my friend David sent to me for my birthday. The song playing at this moment is THERE ARE FAIRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF OUR GARDEN by Beatrice Lillie (circa 1934). I recall a situation similar to that at a party I once attended. Strange.

MBarnum · « **Reply #27 on:** December 15, 2003, 09:39:09 AM »

BK, I think it is just that busy time of season. I imagine all E and T DRs will be back as often as ever once these holidays are over with!

Emily · « **Reply #28 on:** December 15, 2003, 09:40:21 AM »

We are not allowed to have long lulls when I am studying Arab Gulf States. That is just too cruel

Jennifer · « **Reply #29 on:** December 15, 2003, 09:51:43 AM »

SURVIVOR TALK!

(okay I know some people don't like Survivor talk - and my karma points don't like it, but please just skip this post if it doesn't interest you, thanks)

Quote from: MBarnum on December 15, 2003, 07:23:11 AM

Jennifer: I was happy with the outcome of Survivor as well. Like you, Sandra had sort of grown on me.

I was very proud of Lill, I thought she handled herself fairly well...she certainly did well in that immunity challenge and I was thrilled that she would not bargain with Jon! I still wish that Andrew or Ryan O. would have won, however. I really think Andrew deserved to win, IMHO.

I think T is such a lovely person and certainly cleans up well...very classy!

I was impressed that Lil lasted that long at the immunity. Although I was not too happy that nobody won the first immunity (interesting, but not really fair).

I think Lil could have won (although she said she didn't think an outcast could). But she was so negative in front of the jury.

And there are plenty of nice honest people who won Survivor, including Tina and Ethan. I think Lil made a huge mistake by turning on her alliances every time she "thought" they might betray her.

News:

Author Topic: THE MERRY MONDAY NOTES (Read 20819 times)

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