baker's dozen.

i have recently become a fan of baking muffins. from scratch. i know, i know. hold your applause until the end please. it originated because i needed to use up some mushy bananas. so i googled a recipe... and it was REALLY good. but one of the people on my team that month was allergic to bananas. so i made some peach ones too by substituting peach applesauce for the banana mash. about two little tubs of applesauce worked about perfectly. so then i got a little daring for the next round, and made some with berry pomegranate applesauce with dried cranberries. and pumpkin chocolate chip. they were all really yummy. well, this week i have need to make muffins that would be palatable to a younger crowd, so i figured i'd just make plain chocolate chip... which i did today... so in place of the banana mash (supposed to be 3 bananas), i used about 1/2 a cup of milk and a tsp of vanilla... i'm not sure if it just wasn't ENOUGH milk or what, but the first round of muffins are a little dry and crispy. so i decided for the second round, i'd take them out a couple minutes earlier. they are less crispy, but still dry. so here's where you come in... do i just need to add MORE milk? or more something else? the batter seemed to be about the same consistency as it has for previous batches... i'm wondering though since the liquid part was ALL liquid, if it just evaporated faster than the liquid that comes in the form of mashed bananas...

up next: double chocolate chip (after i figure out how to fix this recipe, i'm going to add cocoa powder) and chocolate covered strawberry (where i'll mash strawberries and drop in dark chocolate chunks)... mmmmm...

stabbed through the heart by a little asian man.

living alone definitely has its perks. but i've been pretty lonely lately. and i just had a run-in with a lonely bug. i decided... after working all day long in the ER (which i HATE)... that i deserved some chinese delivery... there is a wonderful chinese place that delivers piping hot goods directly to my door in minutes (sometimes it takes a little longer, but seriously, one time it was 8 minutes...)... but i've discovered that asians must hate single people. you have to order $12 worth of food to get it delivered. so you order one meal and 27 side dishes, or you order 2 meals. for one person. and since i almost can't live without crab rangoon, i order that too... and so now i'm spending $17 to get the food i want at the price they'll send it for... and i'll eat chinese for a week. i guess there are worse things in life... but right now, i can't think of very many.

story in pictures. girl's weekend 4/2008.

my best college girls and i got together last weekend. when we are together, we try to solve the world's problems. we're pretty good at it. the conundrum of the year... the stuck cup... watch closely...


that there cup. it's stuck. and i don't mean just a little stuck. like real stuck. the teacher, the doctor, the architect, the accountant. we were all stumped by it. stuck, i tell you. stuck.


we tried shear will. we tried dish soap. still stuck.


we even tried WET dish soap. stuck.


we tried vegetable oil. say it with me. still stuck.

we tried putting it through the dishwasher. we tried putting it in the freezer. stuuuuuuck. and then, we called in a lifeline. and called the rocket scientist husband of the architect, who knew there must be a solution...


... and then we did it. we filled the sink with HOT water, and the inner (stuck) cup with ice water. and after a few minutes...


IT WORKED!! we felt like we had REALLY accomplished something. i screamed with joy so loudly that it scared the baby! ha. it was awesome!


and then we celebrated by going out for pedicures... i have the greatest friends.