Slinging Ink

Homemade Granola Bars

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 21:30:06 GMT

My adviser gave me this recipe. If you like granola bars, you should do yourself a favor and try this. If you don't like granola bars, you should do yourself a favor and try this. So much better than Nature Valley, and customizable to whatever fruits, nuts, seeds, etc. you want.

You'll need:

14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk (low fat if possible). NOT evaporated milk.

1 c unsweetened dry coconut

1 c dried chopped fruit (apricots, raspberries, cherries, cranberries, raisins, etc.)

1 c raw seeds (sunflower, flax (not too much unless you're wearing a diaper), sesame, pumpkin is especially good, etc.)

1 c raw nuts (hazelnut, almonds, pistachios, etc.)

2.5 c rolled oats

Combine oats, coconut, fruit, seeds, and nuts in a large bowl. This one happens to be pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, pistachios, almonds, sunflower seeds, and dried apricots, dried raspberries. I also did one with cherries.

Heat up condensed milk in a bowl in the microwave. It takes about 1.5 minutes for me, but watch the milk while in the microwave. I had a sticky mess when it overflowed the first time.

Pour cond. milk over the mix in the bowl. Mix all ingredients well.

Pour ingredients into greased 9x13 casserole dish/baking pan. Pack down evenly. (If you're having problems with things sticking to your fingers and palms, get your hands wet before you press down.)

Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Let sit for 15 minutes before cutting bars into desired size.

Let cool completely before taking out of the pan.

Enjoy!

Little Pieces of Paradise

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:39:17 GMT

"Orangettes" or Chocolate Covered Orange Peels

I'm in the middle of making chocolate covered orange peels, thanks to a cooking blog I found: Smitten Kitchen.

It's a surprising easy procedure (with a few alternations by me):

Take the peels off four oranges and cut them into thin strips.
Blanch the peels three times.

Prepare a syrup by combining 8 oz. water and 8 oz. sugar.
Bring that to a simmer in a small pot and add the orange peels.
Simmer the peels in the syrup for one hour. (Check constantly, especially after the 30 minute mark. I left mine alone for 5 minutes about 40 minutes in and the sugar burned burned burned. If it does burn, no huge problem, they just won't look as pretty.)
Let dry and drain on a rack. ( I had to use my colander and a piece of aluminum foil).
Melt 16 oz. semi-sweet dark chocolate over double boiler (or, like me, slowly in microwave.)

Dip the peels in the chocolate, and set on a piece of wax paper or parchment paper to dry.
When chocolate is stiff, enjoy!

Delicious, maybe even better than store bought. I put up my own pictures, but Deb's of Smitten Kitchen are better than mine.

So what am I going to try next?

Smitten Kitchen

Franklin is TEH AWESOME

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:30:15 GMT

Just when I think old Benjy can't get any cooler.

You probably know that you can play tunes on wet glasses filled with different levels of water. Benjamin Franklin invented this instrument, called the glass armonica, where instead of your fingers going around the glass, the glass rotates under your fingers.

Beethoven and Mozart both composed for this instrument, including a famous tune, "God Save the King," known better in the U.S. as "America the Beautiful."

Even though I really don't like working on my lit project, at least I picked someone as cool as BF to write on. :)

(Apparently, there are still people that play these today. If I ever meet someone who does, I'll probably hug them. That's just so cool!)

Wunderkammer

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 05:30:27 GMT

According to Miller and Sheperd's "Blogging as a Social Action," an ancestor of the blog is the Wunderkammer, or cabinet of curiosities. The Wunderkammer was actually a room, full of cabinets and objects, says Wikipedia. And in Renaissance Europe, the objects in these rooms "were collections of types of objects whose categorical boundaries were...yet to be defined."

That's my blog: a collection of things yet to be defined categorically. Things I think are interesting or infuriating or inspiring. Maybe one day they'll come together in or offer stimulus for a short story or a novel of mine. Until then, they're sitting here for everyone's enjoyment. I hope it's fun and thought-provoking.

Anonymous, Florence, Opificio delle Pietre Dure

Darn That Santa Claus

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 01:34:50 GMT

I love Mountain Dew. And I always ALWAYS prefer Pepsi products over Coke. But come Christmas time, I have a hankering for Coca-Cola, and I buy it, drink it, abandoning all Pepsi products in the name of that bright red, shiny can.

I think I've figured it out. It's the Santa and the polar bears.

Coca Cola Company

As soon as the polar bear commercials come out and the Santa appears on the cans, I have to buy Coke. And I even like the way it tastes, even though I don't any other time of year.

Darn that Santa Claus.

But here's an interesting tidbit: Coke was actually the first company to put Santa in his red suit. Yes, to match their signature color. So actually, Santa owes his American identity to Coca-Cola.

Yes, Christmas is definitely a commercial holiday. In more ways than one.