you can't do that with a tiffany lamp!

draaaaaaaama. or, at least, my version of it. surprise, it involves a) food, b) jobs, and c) weather. oh, also internet tv. and ryan ross.

first, storytime! yesterday I was SUPER CRANKY at the snow, because it meant I couldn't go in to Outpost to do my demoing and baking. well, guess what, I WENT IN ANYWAY. by mid-afternoon the weather had calmed down enough that I was able to drive out, do the baking (two tarts and five dozen cupcakes) and give Mom a tour of the store, and be home by 8. rockin! and I'm SO HAPPY I DID, because today was AMAZING. the gluten-free mini chocolate cupcakes were a HUGE HIT (and I made at least one little girl with celiac VERY HAPPY :D), and the brie-apple tarts got DEMOLISHED. I even had to run upstairs and print out more recipe cards halfway through the day, because so many people wanted to make it at home! and at LEAST half a dozen people asked to buy a premade tart, straight up. I was flattered, even though I could not actually sell the tart *g*

also, since phurie_dae coaxed me into watching it (twisted my arm. really.) I have TOTALLY FALLEN FOR BBC'S MERLIN. ugggggggh. BOYS~ and PLEASE, COME ON, SOMEBODY TRY AND TELL ME WEE!MERLIN IS *NOT* A CLONE OF RYAN ROSS. I DARE YOU. you guys, I need people to flail at about this show. message me.

thirdly, secret message for sansets: (I don't want to jinx anything because my desire to write has been rather fragile lately, along with my free time, but) GRETA AND LADY!BRENDON WILL NOT STOP MAKING OUT IN MY HEAD. IT'S VERY DISTRACTING. D:<

MOVING ON!


Apple and Brie Tart with Honey and Walnuts

( yeah, another recipe. I like coming up with these, okay? anyway, THIS TART IS DELICIOUS. )

YOU GUYS! I LOVE MY JOB!

you guys.



I really really want to go to culinary school instead of spending oodles of money stubbornly finishing an english degree that I will probably only use to pay for culinary school, if that. :/



(I do want to finish said degree, eventually, but OMG CULINARY SCHOOL.)


more on this angst later. work now :)

okay, so, whatever, I translate things into food. it's how I roll. also, IT'S MY FUCKING JOB, OKAY? (oh god I love the fact that I can actually say that.)

anyway, ( delicious Folie a Deux cookies. )

the great thing about these cookies is they're not just Folie A Deux because that was what I was listening to on my drive to and from work, while coming up with the concept, and while baking them. they're Folie A Deux because, to me, they're like the album (and yes, this is where I start to sound kind of crazy). they're salty and sweet with a bit of a bite, a little spicy; luscious (because of the pumpkin, mmmm pumpkin) and yet layered with textures: crunchy, chewy, velvety-sweet-smooth; they're pretty and golden but a little scruffy, too. also my springboard was a traditional classic recipe (my grandmother's chocolate chip cookies), but then I modded the hell out of it to get something new -- kind of like the synthetic process that built Folie A Deux into what it is. and, ultimately, like the album, I'm not quite certain yet what I think of them -- but I'm pretty sure it balances out on the side of awesome. also color of the batter matches PStump's hair.

...WOO! COOKIES!

a.k.a. some good news and some bad news, with just a splash of self-pity (because, really, it's my journal and I'll cry if I want to):





R.I.P. Black Pearl



July 18, 2006 - November 26, 2008
nb: the scratches & the weird edges/corners are courtesy of my brother; in addition to taking REALLY BAD CARE of the iPod (direct quote: "it got slammed in a few doors") he apparently also thought it would be clever to RUN A LIGHTER AROUND THE EDGES, thereby bubbling, burning, and generally fucking up the clear plastic. WHAT THE HELL. ASSHOLE.


HOWEVER, ( Saving The Day: what best friends are for? )

ETA: MEET GRETA! thank you, kinetikatrue! I am plotting as to your reward. we will be in touch. *g*

SO: help me name my new 2004 40G iPod Photo! as stated above, the main criterion is that the name be OUTSTANDINGLY AWESOME and/or TOTALLY SWEET. in particular, I am leaning toward names that are a little more dignified than your average fare. also, I am aware that I am very silly. shh.

the winning suggestion(s) will earn the person(s) who suggested it(/them) ... something. I do not know what quite yet. but something! along with the joy and warmth of knowing that you have assisted a friend in need!

...SO COME ON!

ACTUAL YOUTUBE ADDRESS!

UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION!

TRANSPARENCY!!!

change.gov is totally my homepage right now!




... THIS IS SO EXCITING!

the first half of this day has been filled with SO MUCH FAITH AND AWESOME, I just hope it can carry me through the drudgery and anxiety of a dinner shift while waiting to (hopefully, if all goes well) receive election update texts on my telefono. in the (somewhat) immortal words of fairestcat, "We can has President Obama now?!"

WAIT. LET ME EXPOUND UPON THE AWESOME.

first I voted. YES, YES I DID. it felt spectacular. and not in the pro-Obama, go-team-go, bleeding-heart liberal, democrat crazy-person sense; but in the "look at all these PEOPLE who are actually GETTING OUT and VOTING, this is AWESOME" sense. and yes, maybe I might have listened to The Hush Sound's "We Believe In Barack Obama" several times on the way there. and back. I may not have listened to anything else until I was at least halfway to OUTPOST, where I got to spend the rest of my morning participating in EVEN MORE FAITH AND AWESOME! I love my job. we got to explore the store, chat about the fantasticness of co-ops, tell stories about crazy vegan recipes gone wrong, and share our moral crises re: acai berries, POM Wonderful, bees, indoor cows, et cetera. UGH. LOVE MY JOB.

so right now, between those two events, I feel like the world is KIND OF AMAZING and I am DEFINITELY A PART OF IT.

hopefully I will continue to be right. :D

if you had asked me just four minutes and ten seconds ago I would have sworn up and down that there was no possible way, no way for me to be any more in love with "Northern Downpour".

then I watched ( the music video. )

I just. seriously. I don't even have words right now; it's not even 'I have them but I'm too lazy &/or flaked-out to share' -- it's really that I don't even HAVE THEM.

jfc.

I need to see that again. and again, and again.

♥




[ETA: AIR PIANO.]

dear America,

today I attended my cousin's wedding. it was gorgeous.

I want one.

please, vote for Obama.

love,
mel

new music video (but not new music): Tegan and Sara - Call It Off


I just. god. *hands*

I mean, for one, I can't be the only person who's consistently under the impression that Tegan and Sara are writing the soundtrack to my life before I get there, can I? also, that video is FUCKING GORGEOUS.



in other news, tomorrow I take my server training final, and as of the lunch shift on Friday I am actually serving at Stir Crazy Fresh Asian Grill in Brookfield. WOO! but before that, I have to study study study. also, FIND MY IPOD so I can study outside tomorrow D:<

wish me luck!

♥

first things first, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO katilara!!!!! may your day (and, apparently, your last night) and your WHOLE YEAR be as AMAZING and FUN and WONDERFUL as you are (for anyone wondering, that's REALLY REALLY amazing and fun and wonderful :O ). I wish I could be there. *VIRTUAL HUGS AND CAKE*

♥ ♥ ♥


in news about the rest of my life,

my dad and I are again having the "replicators would make life so much easier" conversation.

also,

I've gotten a job as a server at a restaurant called Stir Crazy; it is a "Fresh Asian Grill" and the first one in Wisconsin is opening down the street from my house at the end of the month (it's the one I'm working at, obv). of course I have no actual waitressing experience but fortunately for me the whole opening team gets a little over a week of full training. so that's what I've been up to.

also,

it's maybe a mixed blessing that gas prices went D: and my parents (and my wallet) went :[ and I didn't drive to Madison after work yesterday because I got to go to the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW downtown at the Oriental with my coworker and her fiance. it was AMAZING ♥; I haven't been since I was working at Canyon Coffee with one of the castmembers. which was ... 4 years ago. D:

lastly,

it is rainy and gross outside and I have to do housework and study for my Stir Crazy training midterm, but all I want to do is crawl back into bed. bleh.


hugs all around.



post script: oh, and for some reason my mood icons have stopped working. I need to fix that.