I Had A Random Thought...

[Gormongous]

A thousand and one posts! This feels like some kind of milestone.

[Zeusthecat]

A thousand and one posts! This feels like some kind of milestone.

 

Palindromes are so satisfying.

[clyde]

Enot selim fod nike mose kils leef siht?

[dibs]

Godammit Clyde

[Zeusthecat]

Speaking of palindromes, Demetri Martin's 224 word palindromic poem is pretty great.

[jmbossy]

Link: http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/02/demetri-martins-palindrome-poem.html
 

Also; I know I'm a little late to the conversation, but I do want it to be known I was 100% joking about the Mandarin/Cantonese thing

[Ucantalas]

Also, Weird Al's song "Bob". (video below)

[SecretAsianMan]

Goosebumps and Hardy Boys for me. And a touch of Nancy Drew. I also read the book "Hatchet" a lot as a kid. And "Island of the Blue Dolphins".

 

Oh man Hatchet.  That brings me back.  I actually read The River first because someone gave me that as a gift.  I later read Hatchet.

 

 

Also; I know I'm a little late to the conversation, but I do want it to be known I was 100% joking about the Mandarin/Cantonese thing

 

No worries, I knew you were kidding.  My comment was meant to be a joke but became a serious thing.

[Patrick R]

The Best Show on WFMU ending feels like the end of an era. Such a bummer.

[tegan]

I somehow always avoided whatever reading group read Hatchet each year in school, but we totally read Island of the Blue Dolphins.

 

My dad and brother loved The Hardy Boys but I never got into them. I read one or two of the Boxcar Children books and some Gordan Korman stuff around that age, though.

[SecretAsianMan]

I actually read a lot of Great Illustrated Classics.  My favorite was The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.

[Ucantalas]

I actually read a lot of Great Illustrated Classics.  My favorite was The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.

Ah, I remember reading The Three Musketeers and War of the Worlds.

 

[clyde]

I actually read a lot of Great Illustrated Classics. My favorite was The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.

I was playing Stacking three days ago and when I was describing the feel it gave me, I brought these up.

Edit: oh wait, I clicked the link and the books I read as a kid were square (not rectangular) and the illustrations on the covers were not as "great".

[SecretAsianMan]

I just learned there used to be a landfill in New York called Fresh Kills Landfill.  It's in the process of being turned into a park to be named Freshkills Park.  I do not want to visit this park. 

 

(And yes, I'm aware that the word Kill in this case derives from old Dutch meaning stream, brook, or channel but still)

[Ucantalas]

I just ate like half of a cake I had baked on Monday because it was starting to get old.

I'm wondering if I couldn't have just waited a little longer for it to harden some more and then just chop it up and make some kind of bread pudding type of thing.... Oh well. Sorry stomach.

[Twig]

God I really wanted cake last night but managed to stop myself from going and buying a cake.

 

Now I want cake again, except I want to bake one myself (which I've never done).

 

I was about to say maybe I'll do that tomorrow but then I remembered Day of the Devs is tomorrow.

[clyde]

Large quantities of refined sugar make me feel like shit. At most, I can eat a glazed donut over the course of 30 minutes. Otherwise I crash, silently mourning and wailing the loss of all my potential.

[Ucantalas]

God I really wanted cake last night but managed to stop myself from going and buying a cake.

 

Now I want cake again, except I want to bake one myself (which I've never done).

 

I was about to say maybe I'll do that tomorrow but then I remembered Day of the Devs is tomorrow.

I'll be fair, I kind of cheated with baking the cake by just using store bought cake mix in a box *(just add eggs and water!) and then poured it in a pan and popped in the oven. Barely baking at all, really.

[dibs]

Coffee cake. Coffee cake.

I sometimes am reminded how well off I am compared to a lot of people. My workmate noted the chips were 1.80 rather than 1.50 where he usually goes. I had just spent that much on a bottle of coke. He is on the work a placement dole at the moment, but is being hired properly soon. Woo.

[clyde]

I just saw someone almost get pinned between a truck and a large metal container. That reminded me, and hopefully them, of how fortunate we are. Memento mori.

[Frenetic Pony]

Coffee cake. Coffee cake.

I sometimes am reminded how well off I am compared to a lot of people. My workmate noted the chips were 1.80 rather than 1.50 where he usually goes. I had just spent that much on a bottle of coke. He is on the work a placement dole at the moment, but is being hired properly soon. Woo.

 

Here's the coffee cake recipe:

 

2 cups cake flour, sifted. Yes cake flour, you can buy it.

1/2 teaspoon salt.

1 tablespoon baking powder.

1/2 cup butter.

1 cup light sourcream.

1 and 1/2 cup sugar.

2 eggs.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

 

Oven at 350 F (175 C) grab a 9x13" rectangle pan, line with tinfoil, grease/pam/your preference.

 

Put the (soft) butter and sugar into a mixing bowl, beat on high speed for four minutes until its super light and fluffy. Next beat in vanilla and sour cream for about one minute on low speed. Finally add both eggs at once, and beat for fifteen seconds on low. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

 

In a separate bowl sift cake flour, then add salt and baking powder, stir well.

 

Now, by hand, combine the flour/etc. and sugar/butter/sourcream until its combined, but just barely, do not overmix, if you can still see flour separated in places that's fine, don't overmix it.

 

Pour into pan and spread evenly, don't worry if it seems pretty thin.

 

Now take:

 

1 tablespoon cinnamon (actual cinnamon preferred, that stuff you buy at the local supermarket isn't actually cinnamon most likely)

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup finely chopped pecans

 

Mix together.

 

Now using a spoon spread evenly over the top of the batter. Put into the oven for 25-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. If you did it right you know have coffee cake better than you will find at any bakery.

[dibs]

Is there any coffee in that?...

[clyde]

My understanding was that coffee-cake is to be consumed with coffee, not made out of it.

[Ucantalas]

I'm with dibs on this, I thought coffee cakes had coffee in them? (Or at least some kind of coffee flavoring?)

[Gormongous]

I'm with dibs on this, I thought coffee cakes had coffee in them? (Or at least some kind of coffee flavoring?)

 

Nope, it's cake to have with coffee. I hated all bitter things as a child, so it took my poor mother years to convince me that coffee cake wasn't a Trojan Horse to get coffee inside me.