Cookies and Juice

Wow, it was kind of a busy weekend. I was home all weekend in honor of Mothers Day, plus it was the first day of the farmers market in Prescott, and the first Mountain Artist's Guild show of the summer. I got my paws on a jar of honey wine jelly at the farmers market. It should be pretty yummy, but I didn't have the heart to open it yet. Then came the art show, which was huge. I was not entirely prepared for the magnitude of the entire courthouse square in Prescott to be taken up with vendors. Fortunately, not nearly all of them were remotely interesting. There was a lot of cut-out sheet copper in the shape of roadrunners and coyotes. It's just not what I'm into. I did snag a pretty great pair of earrings and Mom got a bracelet from the same artist. Oh, and I ordered a bracelet from a guy who does glass enamel work, and he's going to bring it to the next show for me. So that was pretty cool too. Otherwise we just bought food.

Then we went and got me one of these. I tried it out on Sunday and what can I say. It makes juice. And pulp. Yeah. I'm pretty excited about it, but I made the decision not to bring it back to the camper with me for a week then have to cart it back home again. So I'm gonna be all over the juice diet next week.

Sunday I finally got to bake again. It's been a while. I'm sort of discovering that, as I told my mom, I really enjoy the process more than I enjoy the finished product. I think that's a good thing. It means I'm not going to gorge myself on cookies just because I can. I was cruising blogs last month and found this recipe for saffron cookies on pieknits and really wanted to try the recipe out. So I gave it a whirl, and I'm pleased to say they were delicious. It's a fairly simple recipe too.

Sadly, the kolachky experiment that followed was not nearly so successful. But I salvaged half the dough in the freezer, and I think half the problem was the shape I was trying to do. So I'm going to try again with the rest of the dough.

So the saffron cookies went to work with me today, and although they turned out quite a bit harder today than they were yesterday, they were still pretty much gone by lunch time (I snagged the second to last one). The failed kolachky, which still tasted good despite being a failure, stayed with my parents.

On Russia and vampires

Gasp! Two posts in a single week?? What is the world coming to?

I'm completely addicted to streaming movies on Netflix. Tonight I watched Nightwatch and remembered why it was so awesome in the first place: dissolving subtitles. Seriously, it sounds silly, but you have to see it to know how kick-ass it is. Usually the subtitles are just kind of there, but in this movie they're kind of integrated. They disappear behind bodies in the foreground and turn red and dissolve like blood into water. They're actually expressive. Not to mention that the effects are pretty great, especially considering the movie was made for something like $15 million.

Ok, that's all I got. My mind is too blown by the good vs evil crazy seasick battle cinematography, and also by the dude who pulls his spine out and it turns into a sword. Seriously. Wow.

I love you Netflix, but, um, what?

Dear Netflix,

Yes, I love the works of Hayao Miyazake. That's apparent, as I've pretty much rented them all from you. However, I'm not really making the connection between "Princess Mononoke" and "The Garbage Pail Kids Movie". Maybe you know something I don't, but I kind of think the suggestions you make are a little mixed up.

On the other hand, I'm totally loving the "watch instantly" thing. Yeah, it's pretty great.

Yours,
Morgan.