Friday, January 23, 2009

Return of Snippets

* Regarding the failed bread comments from yesterday. Really? I bought the packets of yeast and used them *the same day*. Is it really possible that the yeast was dead, er inactive? Should I bring my failed loaves to the market to get a refund?

* What's really shaming me is that I used the beginner's recipe that they suggested. One of the directions was "put the loaves into the refrigerator from 2-12 hours." Couldn't they have narrowed that time down a bit? I figured it meant any amount of time from 2 to 12 hours and so I chose 3 hours. Anyway I'm only making bread because we got a new Kitchenaid mixer for Christmas.

* I started taking St John's Wort again. I had stopped because Rox says it stops working after a while and I wanted it for when I inevitably get the sun starved winter blues. I'm thinking seriously about getting a lightbox too.

* I got the soundtrack to Slumdog Millionaire. Awesome workout music. Amazon was selling it for only $5 but then they changed their minds when they found out I was in Canada. So I got it from itunes (Canada) for $10.

* One sucky thing about living here (aside from the freaking elephant in the room that is WINTER) is that the broadcasting rules are all fucked up different and that makes it impossible to watch anything from hulu or comedy central for example. We just get a notice saying "We are unable to broadcast content to individuals located outside of the United States." Yes I know about proxies but the free ones aren't reliable for more than a few minutes at a time.

* This article is very interesting. Apparently we all live in a 3D world that is projected from a 2D surface, much like a Hologram.

* I can't remember from whose blog I read this, but it turned my monitor into a digital picture frame, changing the desktop image every hour. (You can set the frequency yourself.)

* I do know where I got turned on to this guy on Youtube. Thanks Gregory for the hilarity!



* Shameful confession time: Okay so when Blue Lagoon came out, I was a teenager and I saw the film and couldn't believe they showed Christopher Atkin's pee-pee, and then I went to see the movie like three or four more times and even recorded the film on cassette tape. Then I saw an article in People magazine about him and his family and was able to extrapolate his hometown from the article so I called information and got the number to his house and then when (I think it was his mother) answered, and told me he wasn't there but did I want to leave a message, I said, "No thanks, I'm just a fan calling...." And how retarded did I feel, I mean it was clear I was a GUY calling. Oh the shame, the terrible shame of it all.

* Now it's your turn for a shameful confession.

18 comments:

Rick Bettencourt said...

That's a funny "shameful" experience as is the YouTube video. "Goddamn, I ain't gonna be no Hershey kiss."

Confession? Hmmm...let me think. I'll have to post a blog entry about it.

Lemuel said...

On the yeast thing - did you recipe call for you to dissolve the yeast in [warm] water? Some recipes call for this and some people get the water too warm. That will kill the yeast. I've not heard of letting the dough rise in the refrigerator. Perhaps it is done. We always did ours somewhere where it was warm.

I confess that I was also taken by Atkin. I just did not follow through with the call.

Nico said...

Look people. It's all explained at baking911.com. Refrigerator rising exists but is a slow rising. Much slower than rising in warm conditions. That's all I'm going to say, just click that link, do your own research and stop baking some beginner's breads. BTW I'm sure you could stretch your bread failure enough to also get a refund for the Kitchenaid mixer. LOL.

Patricia said...

Wow, Uhmmm, harsh much?

I should delete that but I'm a woman on the edge, pumped full of hormones so it's staying.

I would try the same recipe again, this time leaving the dough to rise in a warm place. Since I keep my house so cold, this is often on top of the stove with the stove lights on overhead. It seems to create a nice little warmth for the dough.

The shame story killed me. I loved him, too! You are an excellent stalker, by the way :)

Have a lovely weekend.

Polt said...

ohmiGOD I LOVE that Christopher Atkins story!!!! How cool you actually got him MOM!!!!

I too was crushing big on him, although I didn't get to see his pee-pee for several more years. (Was too young to go to the movie at that time)

HUGS...

GayProf said...

Shameful confession: When I was a little boy, I was frustrated that the television shows/movies always showed men getting out of the shower (or equivalent scene) in a frame that started right at their belly button. I imagined that if we got a bigger t.v. that it would solve this problem and show the full picture.

Mel said...

I saw "Blue Lagoon" on a 7th grade class trip. It was one of the "adult" film offerings on the hotel telly, and my classmates and I were a little worried that we'd get nailed for it at the end of the trip. Nothing was ever said, though. I'm pretty sure the other boys were watching it for Brooke Shields's tits.

As for refrigerator rising, I can't imagine that'd work well enough to be worth doing. Not unless you had a couple days to kill waiting for your bread to be ready. Maybe when we're up your way in June, we can have a bread-making party.

Marc said...

I make a lot of bread, and several of my recipes use overnight stays in the fridge for rising. I can guarantee you that wasn't the problem.

The problem would be either that 1) the yeast is dead (not too likely) or 2) that you didn't proof the yeast before adding it (1/2 c or more of warm water and a teaspoon of sugar stirred together with the yeast - or whatever qty your recipe calls for). What should happen is that a deep foamy head will be created on the liquid if the yeast proves itself. If the water is too warm, it will kill the yeast, and if it's too cold, it won't activate it, and in either case, you won't get much head. ;-) Most likely, your water was too hot or too cold, or if you didn't proof it at all, there was never enough heat supplied to activate the yeast.

Word verification: mangoo.

Anonymous said...

Mangoo... I'm not going to touch that one. Heh.

God, I loved Christopher Atkins too! I just didn't know my boyfriend did more than I did. That Brooke Shields poster wasn't what I should have been worrying about, was it?

Shameful confession? I'm addicted to Confessions of a Teen Idol, and I still have a crush on Christopher!

Phronk said...

I remember having some quality alone time with Blue Lagoon...although I think it was actually Return to Blue Lagoon (and I wasn't looking at the wee wee, but rather the boobies).

Rox said...

I loved Christopher Atkins too! There's many I would have stalked had I hadn't been trapped in Canada! LOL!

I'll send you my bread recipe. Seriously, it's my MIL's and it's kick ass! I'll email it over the weekend.

Snooze said...

Now I want the soundtrack to Slumdog Millionaire. I need some good motivating music.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I'm not ashamed or anything...actually I'm kinda proud but faux cousin and I tracked down Nedra Volz in Upland and called her house and she even answered the phone. Then I sent her Christmas cards every year for quite some time and she'd send me personal ones back even though she had no idea who I was. We also found Tina Louise's house in Beverly Hills and...who else....oh! One of the girls from Facts of Life, I think it was Lisa Welchel. Let's see, then we found Shelly Hack lived in a condo on faux cousins street in Playa del Rey! I'm sure there were more...we had good connections. And finding the B, C, and D-Listers carried a lot more cache' then say finding Farrah Fawcett.

Chris Atkins never did anything for me but I never cared for that whole "surfer dude" look. I found that Brooke's love interest in "Endless Love" was much more my cup of tea.

Cheer up! Retarded people love you!

Anonymous said...

Holy Shit, that Mr. Chichi3 guy is highlarious. Holy crap. I'm dying.

I don't know about rising bread in the fridge. I guess according to Nico it works, but it's suspect to me. I want Rox's recipe.

I had forgotten the Christopher Atkin's story. Christ. My shameful confession is that I'm 44 and I can't figure my shit out.

Rox said...

LOL @ Em.

anabel said...

My shameful confession is that I'm spending money on a lesbian cruise that should probably stay in my savings. But we're talking the Caribbean!

Anonymous said...

My shameful confession is that I just spent $400 on books when I should've saved the money. Sigh. I am such a loser sometimes...

Mark in DE said...

The longer you own the KitchenAide mixer the more uses you'll find for it. I love ours for mixing stiff cookie dough.

Your embarrassing confession sounded so typical to me for a young gay boy, and not very embarrassing at all.