random box of thought

Gavalia Kaffe New Customer Promo Deal Rocks!

2009-11-30T15:07:00.000-05:00

Try Gevalia and Get This
Coffee Bundle for Only $9.95 plus S&H!

FREE 12-cup Coffeemaker & Stainless Steel Coffee Scoop
2 Boxes Gourmet Coffee
Coffee delivered direct to your door on a schedule you set
NO obligation. Keep the gifts even if you don't continue to enjoy our direct delivery program
Our "love your coffee or it's free" guarantee
Only $9.95 plus $5.95 S&H

I was a customer a few years ago but I recently signed up again using a different credit card # and shipping address so I could get another coffee maker just to keep at a friend's house. I've taken to avoiding going out for coffee to save money (unless it's a social thing) as it's not hard to spend as much on a drink as the entire pack of coffee costs. I compromise by making and enjoying good coffee at home.

If you decide to continue the program and have to pay full price, Gavalia's coffee is definitely not cheap (as compared to grocery store w/coupon). However, it is good and the foil packs do keep freshness.

I was very disappointed they were out of the Dark Chocolate Truffle when I signed up the other day, but I see it's now back, so I will definitely have to schedule that for the next shipment.

Google Wave Free invite!

2009-11-30T12:22:00.000-05:00

I have spare Google Wave invites yay!

Figured I'd share one as a way to test blog traffic, as this blog currently less than refined work in progress.

Since invite can be used only once, this is first come first serve as it will no longer work after the first person has completed sign up.

Happy Waving!

https://wave.google.com/wave/invite?a=pre&wtok=7ab4854462cdfbaf&wsig=ABk8uhR3MwxMcp9otr4WSAZCuzoIKM1NnQ

Twilight fonts and character handwriting

2009-11-29T22:27:00.001-05:00

Twilight series fonts

Each character has their own "handwritten" font for sending letters and notes at various points throughout the series. Below are samples with the associated book and page numbers for comparison.

Book title

Font: Zephyr

Price: $20.00 USD

Source Foundry: P-22

License: Commercial http://www.fonts.com/FindFonts/Detail.htm?pid=4345376&/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=0&page_id=41357&query=ZEPHYR&SCOPE=Fonts

Format:

Windows PostScript

Windows Truetype

Mac Postcript

Mac Truetype

twilight

new moon

eclipse

breaking dawn

Other sources:

http://www.mediafire.com/?v14k0bffwgx

Bella's handwriting

Font: Pablo

Price: $29.00 USD on fonts.com

Source Foundry: ITC - International Typeface Corp.

License: Commercial http://www.fonts.com/FindFonts/Detail.htm?pid=203882&/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=0&page_id=27029&query=PABLO&SCOPE=Fonts

Format: Mac & Win OpenType - PostScript Flavor (.otf)

$25.99 USD

Windows PostScript

Windows Truetype

Mac Postcript

Mac Truetype

Bella and Edward Quotes
Sample from Eclipse (Book 3) Page 88

The pilots are passed out drunk

Easy. I'd fly the plane.

Both Engines have exploded and

we're falling in a death spiral toward Earth

I'd wait until we were close enough to the ground, get a

good grip on you, kick out the wall, and jump.Then

I''d run you back to the scene of the accident, and we'd

stumble around like the two luckiest survivors in history.

Other sources:

http://bellaandedward.com/funfonts.php

http://www.twilightsource.com/fonts.php

http://www.mediafire.com/?1jkuwopuqep

Edward's handwriting

Font: Carmilla

Price: $18.00 USD on myfonts.com

Source Foundry: Scriptorium

License: Commercial http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/scriptorium/carmilla/

Format:

OpenType OTF

OpenType TTF

Windows/Mac OS X TTF

Mac PostScript

Mac TrueType

Windows PostScript

Edward Quote
Sample from Breaking Dawn (Book 4) page 119

I'm hoping you won't notice my absence, but,

if you should, I'll be back very soon. I've just gone to

the mainland to hunt. Go back to sleep and I'll be here

when you wake again. I love you.

Other sources:

http://bellaandedward.com/funfonts.php

http://www.twilightsource.com/fonts.php

http://www.mediafire.com/?o7tijr3uljk

Alice's handwriting

Font JoeHand 2

Price: 12 € on www.joebob.nl

Source Foundry: JOEBOB graphics

License: Commercial http://www.joebob.nl/commercial-font/joehand-2#node-78

Demo available: http://www.dafont.com/joehand-2.font

Format: TrueType

Alice Quote
Sample from Breaking Dawn (Book 4) page 558

Don't Look for us. There isn't time to waste.

Remember: Tanya, Siobhan, Amun, Alistair,

all the nomads you can find. We'll seek out

Peter and Charlotte on our way. We're so sorry

that we have to leave you this way, with no

goodbyes or explanations. It's the only way for us.

We love you.

Other sources:

http://bellaandedward.com/funfonts.php

http://www.twilightsource.com/fonts.php

http://www.mediafire.com/?zwz4dtr6ht2

Aro's handwriting

Font: Lucida Blackletter

Price: $25.99 USD on fonts.com

Source Foundry: Monotype Imaging

License: Commercial http://www.fonts.com/FindFonts/Detail.htm?pid=206336&/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=0&page_id=1687&query=LUCIDA%20BLACKLETTER&SCOPE=Fonts

Format:

Windows PostScript

Windows Truetype

Mac Postcript

Aro Quote

Sample from Breaking Dawn (Book 4) page 531

I so look forward to seeing the new Mrs. Cullen in person.

Other sources:

http://bellaandedward.com/funfonts.php

http://www.twilightsource.com/fonts.php

Charlie's handwriting

Font: Asa

Price: free

Source Foundry: unknown

License: unknown/freeware http://www.abstractfonts.com/font/13584

Format:

Windows/Mac OS X TTF

Charlie Quote

Sample from Eclipse (Book 3) Page 197

He said he didn't mean it, and that

he's sorry. He wants you to call him.

Be nice and give him a break.

He sounded upset.

Other sources:

http://bellaandedward.com/funfonts.php

http://www.twilightsource.com/fonts.php

Jacob's handwriting

Font: Almagro

Price: free

Source Foundry: unknown

License: Freeware http://www.fontcubes.com/Almagro.font

Jacob Quote

Sample from Eclipse (Book 3) page 4

Yeah, I miss you too. A lot.

Doesn't change anything. Sorry.

Jacob

Other sources:

http://bellaandedward.com/funfonts.php

http://www.twilightsource.com/fonts.php

http://www.mediafire.com/?grqnsj2iu8e

Zombie cupcakes

2009-10-31T02:54:00.176-04:00

So I finally got around to making the zombie cupcakes I saw on Flickr.

xsomnis did an excellent job with both the photos and directions.

Craft Store Supplies:

Brain Candy Mold

Wilton chocolate candy melts in white, brown, blue and pick

Wilton "red" and "burgundy" icing/food dye

Grocery Store:

Hershey's Carmel Topping

Duncan Hines Red Velvet cake mix - 24 cupcakes/box

(need 2 eggs, 1/3 cup veg oil, water for mixing)

Duncan Hines Cream Cheese Frosting

Muffin Tin Liners

All the supplies laid out - ended up only making one batch though

1st layer of brain chocolate.

I don't have a double boiler but pyrex rocks and works just as well over a pot of water. Be careful not to scorch chocolate as it gets all grainy and loses form.

Mix pink + white melts for brain highlight color.

Highlight color all dabbed around the brains.

Note: each mold makes 9 brainz so you'll need 3 batches to cover all the cupcakes and you'll have 3 brains left over unless you don't fill the last mold.

Brain grey color - 20 pink, 12 blue, 4 brown

Mine looks much more grey than xsomnis did but I liked it so stuck with same ratio, maybe microwaving alters color?

Finished zombie brain molds heading to the fridge for cooling.

Excess brain matter breaks off pretty easily if it's thin so my sloppy filling wasn't an issue.

Fresh Brainz!

Hardened chocolate zombie brains ready for blood.

Mix 1/2 teaspoon red dye with 1/3 cup of carmel sauce, adjust color with a small amount of burgundy. It's very difficult to lighten color later except by adding a lot more carmel.

Be careful the dye will stain and the blood easily gets everywhere if you don't clean it off your hands completely.

I found it worked best to smear some blood on top of the brains first, then flip brain over and spoon it on the flat side before flipping it back over on the cupcake.

This smeared the blood more naturally than drizzling it directly onto the cupcake and plopping the brain on top.

And the final results!

A total hit at the Halloween party but better looking and more fun to make than eat.

I will opt for a homemade mix next year as box cake mix was too dry despite being the "deluxe moist"

The texture and look of the carmel sauce was perfect but just too sweet for my taste, so I will have try to find a substitute. Otherwise, I may try something completely different, such these.

Flower Pot Garden

2009-07-01T12:40:00.003-04:00

So, after a few weeks and a period of lots of rain my flower pot garden is doing acceptably well. Hanging tomato planter has lots of green tomatoes on it, pepper plant is much taller and getting ready to bloom and herbs (chives, basil, rosemary, parsley and mint) are growing like weeds.

The zucchini has more flowers on it and less foliage than before, but none of the flowers seem to be producing and it appears to be due to a lack of pollination...not many bees in my city back yard. I'd self pollinated the tomatoes to ensure they'd fruit and it appears I have to do this with the zucchini as well. The blossoms never really seem to open which makes it difficult for nature to take its course. Instead the zucchini blooms and then nothing, the flowers fall off and die including the tiny fruit on the female flowers. I'd made the mistake of not putting any holes in the bottom of the pot and it was drowning in over a gallon of excess water by the time I came back to pour it off. Since then some of the leaves died off and it appears less leafy over all. I'm eager for some edible results.

Enjoying fresh herbs

2009-06-22T21:12:00.001-04:00

One of the reasons I love the internet is that everything is on it...or at least most everything. I decided I was hungry for comfort food involving chicken and wanted to incorporate some of my fresh basil. I have a few cookbooks but I've found the internet a much better place to search recipes when I don't know exactly what I want.
First I tried: casserole chicken and basil
I got something slightly interesting but not what I was looking for but it had goat cheese in it, which I happen to love and actually have on hand.
Next search: basil noodles goat cheese

and voila a Cooks.com recipe:
CHICKEN BREASTS STUFFED WITH GOAT CHEESE AND BASIL

CHICKEN BREASTS STUFFED WITH GOAT CHEESE AND BASIL

Printed from COOKS.COM

4 boneless chicken breast halves, skinned
1/2 c. fresh goat cheese, about 4 oz.
2 green onions, thinly sliced
3 basil leaves, shredded or 1 tsp. dried, crumbled
1 egg, beaten to blend
1/2 c. dry bread crumbs
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pound chicken between sheets of waxed paper to 1/4" thickness. Pat chicken dry.

Combine cheese, green onions and basil in small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Spread chicken mixture lengthwise over half of each chicken piece. Tuck short ends in. Roll chicken up, starting at one long side, into tight cylinders. Tie ends with string to serve. Dip chicken in egg, allowing excess to drip into bowl. Roll in bread crumbs, shaking off excess.
Place chicken in an 8" square baking dish. Pour 2 tablespoons melted butter over. Bake until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Serves 4.

Sounded good to me and I had everything to make it on hand, except for string to tie the chicken rolls up. I also subbed in chives instead of green onions. Since it was just me tonight I decided to only use 1 chicken breast, butterflied it in half and made two rolls using half the filling. The other half of the filling I decided would sound good put over pasta with diced tomatoes. This worked out extremely well but required more filling for the amount of pasta I used. I garnished it with yet more basil and cooked up the egg used to dip the chicken. It turns out the chicken when cut thin and pounded did not need to be tied and stayed together just fine. The chicken was good, but the pasta was excellent, I will definitely make this one again as the pasta was super quick to make.
Pasta:
Goat cheese, basil, chives, salt, pepper - amounts to taste
1 can of diced tomatoes
Stir goat cheese into warm pasta after straining and add remaining ingredients to taste.
I probably used about 4-6 ounces of goat cheese for about 2 dry cereal bowls of egg noodles. Cooked it ended up filling a 1.5 qt bowl.

The presentation of the pasta is not spectacular, so next time I might try layering the tomatoes in with the pasta or topping pasta with tomatoes after stirring in herbs and goat cheese.

Poison Ivy day 16

2009-05-24T14:08:00.004-04:00

Among the many things my house came with, was a front hedge full of poison ivy...yay, normally I'd just pay someone to get rid of it for me, but I'm not in the position to do that any time soon and as a new home owner I kind of enjoy that I have some new and interesting responsibilities and I actually want to be involved with them personally.

Prior to taking it on, I looked it up some online. I'd never really dealt with poison ivy, but I'd seen enough friends with a case of it and knew about it in my front yard from speaking to the next door neighbor...who got a nasty case of it last year.

Having never had an allergic reaction or known exposure, there was a chance I might be fine, but given my family and personal history with allergies I was unlikely to get that lucky.

I took some suggested precautions of:

- Clothing (long sleeves, long pants and gloves) even though it was a considerably warm day

- bagged everything and tied it off, putting all the bags together in a big black trash bag to let the sun finish cooking it until the trashmen picked it up

- came back in after about 2 hours of yard work, and immediately showered and bagged my clothes

And I thought I might be ok...I'd gotten touched by a little spot on my right wrist between where the gloves ended and the sleeves started. After a few hours everything seemed ok, the next morning a few spots finally appeared on my right wrist...seemed like no big deal.

After a few days the spot on my right wrist was getting large, and nasty...I'm actually kind of amazed at just how bad a tiny amount of this stuff can be...people are afraid of what artificial chemicals can do when there are plenty of equally scary things already in nature.

At 3-4 days down it seemed the poison ivy was still spreading, I now had it scattered up and down my left arm, all across my waist and random spots on legs. According to what I'd read, the blisters aren't contagious, but the oil is persistent so clearly I hadn't washed it all off in a few days of showering, or it was getting transferred back and forth with my clothes or sheets. Even though the work clothes are still in a bag yet to be washed or even touched.

Frustrated I enlisted the support of my friends that has had considerably more experience with the stuff. He suggested I get this stuff called Tecnu...I'd never heard of it, but it was developed to clean off radiation poisoning and that it's use with poison ivy was discovered by accident. He also suggested I get Calagel, like calamine lotion, but no telltale runny pink residue gunk. It contains Diphenhydramine (generic Benadryl), an antihistamine which locally helps calm the itch a lot, I also took Loratadine (generic Claritin) and Cetirizine HCL (generic Zyrtec) since the package specifically warns against taking any other product with Diphenhydramine, orally or topically. I also swabbed the affected areas frequently with rubbing alcohol. It helped dry up the oozing parts, keeps everything nice and clean and the sting on the open areas feels much better than the itch, in my opinion.

I still have more poison ivy to get rid of, but next time I'll be smarter.

- longer gloves so there is no gab in the long sleeves

- swab skin with rubbing alcohol after I'm done/wash definitely touched areas with Tecnu

- take a cold shower when done (my hot shower opened my pores and made it worse)

- start the Calagel and allergy meds (Loratadine or Cetirizine) at the first sign of reaction instead of days later

- do not re-wear pj's or any other clothes until level of reaction has been determined

I've also sprayed the remaining areas with Round-Up for poison ivy...I'm really not fond of pesticides, but the only other non chemical method I found was plan salt, which will just kill everything and takes longer to get out of the soil making it more harmful to the environment than the pesticides.

I've neither washed nor touched the clothes I wore while removing the poison ivy, and frankly am not excited about dealing with them at all, but I don't want to throw them out either. I think next time I might put some cheap painting coveralls on so I have an outer layer that I can throw out.

Dinner and food storage

2009-05-21T17:43:00.003-04:00

In an effort to save money I've been cooking more at home...for the first time in many years. Also trying to eat more healthy foods that includes a lot of fresh vegetables (that don't keep anywhere near as well as frozen box meals btw). Although this fact is obvious, it's taking some time to get used to.

I like a well stocked fridge and I hate throwing food out.

The two don't always exist in perfect harmony, and require a bit of planning and follow through. If I plan to make something and buy produce for it, I have to make it in a reasonable amount of time or the produce goes bad. Again this is obvious, but when you factor in daily life and planning to cook for company, plans change. What was planned for one week, gets put off until the next, and a meal for company can become a meal for one etc.

I'm sitting here, very much enjoying my red Thai curried stir fry, but wishing the vegetables would have kept longer so I could have made it for a friend coming tomorrow. Since I'd made something else last week for company, I still had everything left over. The bok choy which I'd neglected to do anything with other than stash in the fridge was looking tired and a bit wilted but smelled fine so I used it anyway. The portobellos were starting to smell, but I couldn't remember what they were supposed to smell like fresh, and considering mushrooms are already fungus I figured I'd see how they tasted after being sautéed. Being cautious, I sautéed them separately since I really wasn't sure...they turned out to taste fine. On top of that, I was using a pre-made sauce from Trader Joe's that had a suggested use by date of Nov 08...but it also smelled and tasted fine, so into the mix it went.

The results were scrumptious!

But being a bit more adventerious with my stomach than most people are willing to be is probably best done alone...I've been told more than once not to eat something or a combination of something for fear of getting sick, but I usually don't listen and have yet to suffer consequences.

Lessons learned:

Red peppers can keep for an insanely long time in those seen on TV Debbie Meyer Green Bags - I used the last one up tonight (had to cut out a few bad spots) but it was in the fridge since late March/early April, so was at least a month an a half old!

Meanwhile the broccoli was starting to look a bit tired after 2 weeks in the crisper in a normal produce bag. The remainder that still looked good went into the now empty Green Bag. (Need to get more bags)

The portobellos were also at 2 weeks and this is definitely too long for comfort, need to limit them to a week, or go back to using canned.

Trader Joe's Red Thai curry sauce is both tasty and keeps longer than suggested, but I'd not want to make a habit of seeing just how long that is, since I may have just gotten lucky.

Stir fry is a good way to use up left over rice from last week's Mexican

Recipe:

Red Thai Curry Veggie Heavy Stir Fry

1 sweet white onion

1 red pepper

3 stalks of celery

1-2 broccoli crowns (about a 1/2-3/4 lb) I used both florets and stems

1 8oz can water chestnuts

8 oz fresh baby portobellos

3 small bunches of bok choy

2-3 cloves of garlic

3 pre-cooked chicken asiago & spinach sausages (or 10oz -1lb tofu/chicken/other meat)

11 oz Trader Joe's Red Thai Curry sauce

olive oil or other stir fry oil

salt

white wine

2-4oz water

long grain brown rice (judge amount by number of people serving)

My rice was left over, but it can be done while everything else is cooking since it takes a while.

Cut up veggies, start out sautéing onions, peppers, broccoli, celery and 1 clove of garlic with some olive oil in a wok or large sauté pan. When they are nearly done, or the peppers and onions have some nice caramelized char marks add more garlic (if desired) along with mushrooms and water chestnuts (including the juice from the can). Turn heat to medium/low. In a separate pan start sautéing the sliced sausages until lightly browned.

Note: if not using pre-cooked meat or tofu, meat should be started earlier to avoid over cooking other veggies.

Add the Thai red curry sauce.

Slice bok choy keeping leafy sections separate from the stalk sections. In a separate pan sauté bok choy stalks on high heat with a little olive oil, salt and white wine. Shake 2-4oz water into the Thai red curry sauce bottle to get the last bit out. Add leafy portions after stalks have had a minute or so to get started. Pour this into the bok choy and cover for a few minutes. When leaves have fully hot but stalks are still crisp transfer all into wok/main pan.

Re-heat left over brown rice, or plate fresh cooked rice and serve stir fry on top.

Serves 4-6

Hey Grad, Play hard with an iPod?

2009-05-19T18:13:00.001-04:00

Just got the Apple email:

	Goodbye, finals. Hello, fun.Give your grad something fun to do now that school's out. iPod touch has all the entertainment one person can handle. Games, apps, music, movies, TV shows, theweb—with so many exciting features, it's like tons of graduation gifts in one.Shop iPod touch

... and my first thought is wow, after finally graduating college I wonder how some grads would feel "just" getting an iPod. Even though that engraving is totally shiny.

Now I'd definitely be grateful for any gift or acknowledgment, knowing someone took the time to think about me and care...but traditionally I've known peers to get things like iPods for birthdays or Chrismukkah/Festivus etc.

Graduation seems to be something more significant being that it's an achievement, something earned. Some parents go to great lengths to throw a party in order to showcase their new grad in front of friends, family, co-workers etc. Graduation is something to be proud of and to be marked in some way that will be remembered. My dad got money towards his first car after graduating college...that's pretty significant. Now obviously not everyone should get a car and no one should be in the habit of expecting gifts in general... especially if they may already have the gift of their education being paid for by family. On the other hand, a car is a practical tool instrumental in the pursuit of employment, so while an extremely generous gift, it also seems more valid. Then again after working hard in school for years, it might be nice to sit back and "play" with an iPod, and a $200-300 computer that kicks my first computer in the teeth is nothing to scoff at.

It does however, make me wonder...is Apple using graduation as another excuse to push iPods? Or in its infinite marketing wisdom, is Apple pushing iPods over cars (or other more expensive practical items) due to current market?

Car manufactures are failing left and right offering to pay your loan if you lose your job just so you'll buy from them, except struggling families can't afford the cars they have, let alone to help their grad get a car. Or maybe the grad already has one from when times were good, as a high school graduation present perhaps?

I'm trying to remember the graduation day ads from the golden years past...I'm pretty sure they included cars and some car ads this year probably include grads.

But I wonder what has more influence on ads this May, the market or that it's graduation time which is yet another commercialized gift giving holiday.

new paths

2009-05-19T14:47:00.000-04:00

having thought life was all planned out, it of course had other plans...

Went back to school part time a few years ago since I couldn't imagine not working and just going to school. I don't consider myself materialistic but I do like "stuff" and the ability to buy it with plastic without going into debt. In the spirit of enjoying stuff moderately, I bought a house since the market was ideal for that...then became unemployed before I even moved in! I'm still kinda bitter about that one, but I'm hoping it works out for the best seeing as there is no way I could continue school and work as strangely after several semesters of it working just fine, classes will be all kinds of in the middle of the day and I'd have had to quit working or school anyway...strange luck or fate?

I guess we'll see.