Ballet Grande

An Enchanted Moment

Thinking About Food

I'm getting excited for Thanksgiving time. The weather has finally changed. The chill in the air triggers my kitchen instincts. I'm watching a lot of Good Eats episodes to find good festive recipes. My usual food blogs are full of tantalizing like gleaming pumpkin pies, spice cakes, croissants stuffed with Nutella, cookie exchanges, dog biscuits, and jam canning extravaganzas. I don't know where to start, but the interest is stewing up inside me. Soon my lovelies, soon the goodies will pour forth from my kitchen. Keep a nose out so you'll know when to come a running.

Happy Halloween!!!

Barefoot at the Belmont

Belmont Hotel Fall Series
presented by Bend Studio
901 Ft. Worth Ave., Dallas, TX 75208.
www.bendstudio.com/belmont
tickets and info

My Phone is On Its Last Legs

Yesterday, as I was getting ready to go out with friends and see 1100 Springs at the Granada, my dear kitty, Zee, threw up on my phone... effectively killing the phone. I can still text and see that there is a voicemail, but if I try to make a call or listen to voicemail, I can only hear on speakerphone- if I'm lucky. I am very much not in the mood to take care of it this weekend. I wanted to buy myself the Google phone for an early Christmas gift when it comes out. Now I have to scramble to get something new... any suggestions are welcome. (I'm a T-Mobile girl and under contract, so no iphone.)
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My horoscope yesterday:
Taurus Friday, October 10

You will be getting a lot of truly unusual phone calls, emails, faxes or letters today. Don't be surprised if people confess all sorts of strange things. You may find that there are changes in how you communicate with a family member or loved one. Someone may finally buy themselves a new cell phone.

Lucky Numbers: 15, 20, 28, 31, 39, 45
Compatible Sign: Virgo

my scant goodie drawer

note, vitamins... ibprophen... hot chocolate...

it is pretty empty of the delisiously good stuff. its thursday. i'll take another one tuesday, it'll be much more well stocked.

send me ideas of really goos stuff to have in the goodie drawer!

Contemplating the Flying Spaghetti Monster

i was walking down my local grocery store aisle and had to document this... for science or religion, i can decide which. is it an ode to the flying spaghetti monster?

all hail the flying spaghetti monster! (just in case.)

research:
http://www.venganza.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster

Happy Lane

Got caught in 635 traffic the other day. (Happens all the time.) Anyway, I hopped off and drove around a random neighborhood. Look what I found!

Wonder what it would be like to live on Happy Lane. I always thought it was more of a state of mind, but nope here it is, in the flesh... or the concrete.

Caught a Cold

above: Splendid cuddled me while I was bed/couch bound.

Yep, I caught a cold, that I ignored until it turned into a deep sinus and respiretory infection. I was out of it for a couple of weeks. To all the unreturned calls and unanswered email, I'm very sorry - just had to check out and get better for a bit.

I'm much better now. ...bored out of my wits. ...dying to be asked to go do things. My brain has gone stupid from minimal human interaction. Had it not been for Jonathan Hooker, David Tarcy and Kris Youmans iming me, my brain would have gone to complete mush. Thank you guys so much, I owe you.

A beautiful day at the Women's Expo.

Exceptional Douchbaggery

holy toledo, would you listen to this guy?!


http://view.break.com/527579 - Watch more free videos

Halloween's a Comin'

Halloween's a comin'. Who should I be, Wonder Woman or Cher?

Bob rocks Rock House with Bend

Bend Studio hosted Bob Schneider at Rock House last night and rocked the house and took names, okay not names but requests. Why is AssKnockin' always the #1 requested song? Doesn't anyone want to hear (my faves) Ooey Gooey Chocolate or the one about Jimmy the Trucker?

The topic of the evening was something (can't remember what) feeling like a cock up his ass. Not that he know what a cock up his ass would feel like." His guitar was being unfriendly to the Rock House sound system. He was able to abide in Rocky's extensive guitar collection.

Have you only ever seen Bob and the band at Granada or any other large venue, I suggest a night at Bend Studio. Rarely are there more than 80 people in the space. Bob has an opportunity to speak softly, engage the audience more intimately, and work on music in a way you'll never see at another venue. Not to mention Bend Studio's sound system kicks musical ass and often the shows are recorded for sale.

TWU, SLIS & FUZZY TACOS

I sit here contemplating my brand-spankin-new livestrong-style TWU School of Library and Information Studies wristband. Saturday, Fuzzy Tacos (thanks James for turning me on to it.) Tempura fish tacos, sweet tea, mexican rice, enchiladas, black beans and I don't know what else I stuffed my belly with.

Happy 9th of July!

Garlic, and what I love about you.

I love garlic. Its taste and smell. The way it looks carmellized and soft after roasting. My mouth waters at the thought.

There's tons of garlic lore out there. Good food... heart and immune health food, aphrodesiac, insect and vampire repellent. Bad food... some people are offended by the odor (wierdos.)

In 13th century France, ailee (a soupy sauce made of garlic, almonds and breadcrumbs ponded together with chicken broth) was benificial health aide. Chicken soup, almonds and garlic together - that's my kind of super food.

Hardneck/softneck: hardneck (rocambole) have a hard central stem and more robust flavor vs. softnecks which obviously have a shy flavor and thin grassy stems.

Buying garlic: only purchase firm, plump cloves. When garlic ages, it shrivels and sprouts green shoots. Common pink skinned = spanish garlic, thinner skin and (imho) is more forgiving in cooking and less bitter flavor in general. Elephant garlic = mild flavor, big bulbs. Green garlic = never even seen it. I hear it is very rare and delicate in flavor.

I could go on and on - this could easily be a garlic blog, there is so much to say about garlic. Check out this site for even more info: http://www.hoodrivergarlic.com/variety.htm = garlic of the month club. + Great garlic information resouce.

Moon Illusion

See a Huge Moon Illusion Wednesday

Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
SPACE.comTue Jun 17, 11:15 AM ET

As the full moon rises this Wednesday evening, June 18, many people will be tricked into thinking it's unusually large

The moon illusion, as it's known, is a trick in our minds that makes the moon seem bigger when it's near the horizon. The effect is most pronounced at full moon. Many people swear it's real, suggesting that perhaps Earth's atmosphere magnifies the moon.

But it really is all in our minds. The moon is not bigger at the horizon than when overhead.

The illusion will be particularly noticeable at this "solstice moon," coming just two days before summer starts in the Northern Hemisphere. The reason, according to NASA, lies in lunar mechanics: The sun and full moon are like kids on a see-saw; when one is high, the other is low. This week's high solstice sun gives us a low, horizon-hugging moon and a strong, long-lasting version of the illusion.

If it's any consolation, space station astronauts report the same effect.

Here's how it works: Your mind believes things on the horizon are farther away than things overhead, because you are used to seeing clouds just a few miles above, but the clouds on the horizon can indeed be hundreds of miles away. So if we think something (such as the moon) is farther away, and it's not, then it seems larger.

If you remain doubtful, test the idea yourself. Go out at moonrise with a small object, perhaps a pencil eraser. Hold it at arm's length as the moon rises and compare the sizes of the moon and the eraser, then repeat the experiment an hour or two later when the moon is high in the sky. A rolled up tube of paper works well, too.

Moonrise times vary by location. On Wednesday, it will come up at these local times at these locations, according to NASA: New York City, 8:58 p.m.; Miami, 8:35 p.m.; Seattle, 9:51 p.m.

The moon rises about 50 minutes earlier Tuesday night, when the effect will also be noticeable because the moon will be nearly full. Oh, and that raises another fallacy: There's no such thing as a full moon.

Additional moonrise times for your location are available from the U.S. Naval Observatory Web site.

Key to All Optical Illusions Discovered Top 10 Cool Moon Facts Moon Image Gallery Original Story: See a Huge Moon Illusion Wednesday

Everyone knows it takes quite a lot of chocolate to maintain a magnificent bosom like hers.



This is a great (fast, easy, tasty) recipe. I shared it with a friend today and thought I might share it with all y'all too. I do shave down the sugar a bit b/c I think semi-sweet morsels are perfectly sweet just the way they are.

http://crackinggoodegg.blogspot.com/http://crackinggoodegg.blogspot.com/2008/02/choco-hoto-pots.html
This is a great food blog with many other delicious recipes.

Choco Hoto Pots
(adapted from Nigella's Feast TV show)

Melt 175gm of dark chocolate with 125gm of unsalted butter in a double boiler. Leave to cool.

Whisk together 2 eggs and 3/4 cup caster sugar. Mix in 3 tbspn of plain flour.

Fold egg, sugar and flour mix into the chocolate butter mix.

Spoon the mix into small buttered ramekins (less than a cup in size) or little teacups. Only fill to about 2/3 full. You should have enough for 4.

Place ramekins onto a baking tray. Bake in a 200C oven for 20 minutes. The pots will be piping hots so leave to cool down a bit. Expect the tops to sink down. Serve warm.

This Girl is Amazing!

I like bellydancing. I've taken bellydancing. This girl has stunning control. Watch in awe and wonder.