The Thinks I Think

Heed the cookie

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:02:00 +0000

Today's special: How to make fortune cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:01:00 +0000

You may not be psychic but if you can make fortune cookies, that's close enough. Think of how surprised your friends and guests will be to receive a personalized fortune!

Ingredients

2 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon (2.2g) of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon (2.2g) of almond extract
3 tablespoons (41g) of vegetable oil
8 tablespoons (62.5g) of flour
1 1/2 teaspoons (4g) of cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon (1.5g) of salt
8 tablespoons (100g) of sugar
3 teaspoons (15g) of water

Steps

Measure out strips for your fortunes on a piece of paper. The strips should be about 3" (7.6cm) long and 1/2" (1.25cm) wide. Write your fortunes out and then cut the strips. You'll need about 10 fortunes.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease baking sheets.
Beat the egg white in a bowl. Add vanilla extract, almond extract and vegetable oil.
Put flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt into a separate bowl. Stir in the water.
Add the flour; cornstarch; sugar; salt mixture into the egg; vanilla; and almond mixture. . Stir until you have a smooth batter.
Place tablespoons of batter onto the cookie sheet, spacing them around 2 or 3 inches (5 - 7.5cm) apart. Tilt the baking sheet back and forth, side to side, until each tablespoon of batter forms into a circle 4 inches (10cm) in diameter.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until the outer half turns to a golden brown color, and they are easy to remove from the baking sheet.
Remove the cookie with a spatula, and flip it over in your hand. Place the fortune in the middle of the cookie.
Form the fortune cookie shape: fold the cookie in half, then gently pull the edges downward over the rim of a glass or wooden spoon.
Place the finished cookie in the cup of a muffin tin or teacup or whatever you think will work best so that it keeps its shape. Continue with the rest of the cookies.

Tips

Use a baking mat on a cold cookie sheet. If you do not have a baking mat, grease the cookie sheet very well. Do not put batter on a warm cookie sheet.
Start by making only one or two cookies.
Work quickly with the hot cookies. They harden as they cool.
After removing the cookie, give it a couple (and only a couple) seconds to cool before putting the fortune in. Putting it in immediately will cause it to sink into the batter and make it very difficult to remove.
If you do not want to put fortunes in your fortune cookies, you could skip those steps.
Only put four cookies on the cookie sheet at a time.
The cookies cool fast.
This makes 15 cookies.

Warnings

Wear gloves when working with the hot cookies to keep from burning your hands.
If gloves are difficult to work with try applying duct tape to the pads of your fingers. You may wish to double up. It works great at protecting you from getting burned by repeated exposure to the heat while folding the cookies.
It is not necessarily good for your health to use any industrial paper and ink, as these chemical ingredients will be in contact with the food you are about to eat.

Things You'll Need

Cookie sheets
Baking mat (optional but very helpful)
Cup or glass
Muffin tins or more cups
Paper, scissors, ruler, pen for fortunes
Gloves
Paper for fortunes

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Make a Fortune Cookie. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Today's special: I'm a nut

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:00:00 +0000

Cool! I may freak some people out. :o)

What Nut Are You?

Hey Disney, what gives?

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:19:00 +0000

I told you recently about the wonderful website for Buy n Large, the mega-corporation responsible for the end of the world (or close to it) in the movie Wall-E. When I tried to visit the site today, the URL redirected me to the main Disney site instead!

It looks like Disney (*cough* speaking of mega-corporations) has taken down the somewhat subversive, wonderfully entertaining send-up of corporate puffery and unbridled consumerism. Hmmmm. Maybe Disney finally picked up on the not-so-subtle similarities between the two companies?

But not to worry. You can still see the smart and funny Buy n Large site (or at least a snapshot of it) by using the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Take that, Disney!

Update: You can actually still access some of the Buy N Large site here (at least for now) --> http://www.buynlarge.com/bnl.swf

Enjoy it while you can!

Today's special: Have you had enough coffee?

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:01:00 +0000

I took the Caffeine Click Test and evidently I am well caffeinated. Good, because I think it's going to be a looooong day.

Monday's a bitch

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:40:00 +0000

This is from Monday's a Bitch, a meme blog especially for Mondays.

1. Have you ever been on a cruise? Sadly, no. My dream vacation would be to go on an Alaskan cruise.
2. Do you own a gravy boat? *snicker, snicker* No. I am definitely not a gravy boat kind of gal.
3. You've become the proud owner of a brand new boat. What do you name your vessel? The Gravy Boat.
4. What is your favorite movie about boats? The only one I can think of is Titanic. I guess that makes it my favorite by default.
5. Do you get sea sick easily? I really haven't been on a boat long enough to find out. I do know I'm a-ok in the bath tub, though.

I'm hot!

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:58:00 +0000

It's Africa hot in my house and I'm schvitzing all over my keyboard!!

Yes, I'm a major whiner. I've learned to live with it.

Rules for being human

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:01:00 +0000

I found this photocopied list when I was cleaning out my junk room on the weekend. I've had this list for maybe 15 years or longer. I remember it being on my fridge for awhile and then on my bulletin board for awhile. I never wanted to part with it because the words really meant something to me.

Rules for being human

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.

2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error and experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately "works".

4. A lesson is repeated until learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.

5. Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6. "There" is no better than "here". When your "there" has become a "here," you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here".

7. Others are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.

8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9. Your answers lie inside you. The answer to life's questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.

10. You will forget all this.

Today's special: Shake it up, baby!

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:01:00 +0000

This quiz got me all wrong, except the part about me being a chocolate shake. If I was a milkshake I would definitely be chocolate!

What Flavor Shake Are You?

Food for thought

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 13:15:00 +0000

There is nothing like good food, good wine, and a bad girl. ~ Fortune cookie

My ideal phone and the dangers of public bathrooms

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 13:01:00 +0000

Funny! I actually have an LG Chocolate cellphone!
What's your perfect phone?
(via: The Generator Blog)

Speaking of cellphones, you have got to read this hysterical tale that will (hopefully) prevent you from EVER talking on the phone while in the bathroom. I laughed until I cried!
[warning: graphic bathroom humor]

Previously on The Thinks I Think:
Cellphone envy
Emily Post would know

Sounds yummy

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:27:00 +0000

I plan on having one of these the next time I feel like I might turn into a ranting axe murderer!

Create your own one-of-a-kind drink with The Bar Drink Generator.

(via: The Generator Blog)

You can be in a beer commercial! (Well, your name can anyway)

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:52:00 +0000

Go to Bar da Boa and put your name in the first box. Put a friend's name in the second box. Then click Visualizar.

Cute, huh? I have no idea what she's saying (I think she's speaking Portuguese), but that didn't stop me from laughing my ass off.

Today's special: I have long-lasting flavor

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:01:00 +0000

My mind is churning! It's scary how dead-on this description of me is.

What Flavor Gum Are You?

I'm perplexed

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:51:00 +0000

Why would someone who I barely knew in high school, and who I did not keep in touch with for the past twenty years, try to befriend me on Facebook -- twice? I ignored her friendship invitation the first time and she sent me a second one! Why???

I don't have a picture of myself on Facebook (as you can no doubt tell from my blog, I don't like to subject other people to photos of me), and I don't live in the city where I lived when I was in high school. So how does she even know that I'm the same person? I might just be someone with the same name.

I checked out her Facebook friend list and it was crammed full of people who we both went to high school with. I'm really not interested in being added to her collection. Quite seriously, if I had wanted to keep in touch with any of those people I would have done so without the aid of Facebook.

And I know it goes against the whole Facebook philosophy, which is "whoever dies with the most friends wins," or something like that, but I only add people to my friends list if they're my actual real-life friends. I know... it's absolute heresy!

Don't tell Facebook, but the only reason I stick around is for Scrabulous. All the other stuff pretty much sucks. ...*shhhhh!*

Today's special: The doctor is OUT

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:01:00 +0000

Yuck, I hate Dr. Pepper! However I am unique and funky and I'm sure everyone thinks I have great taste (in which case, trust me when I say Dr. Pepper is dreadful). :o)

What Kind of Soda Are You?

I'm in love with this cat!

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:44:00 +0000

Food for thought

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:02:00 +0000

Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside. ~ Mark Twain

Today's special: Food galore

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:01:00 +0000

(Photo credit: kevincrumbs)

Happy birthday, Big Mac! 4 stories about America’s best-known burger
Top 5 easy BBQ tips
Five favorite fictional foods
Top five (most yummy) green celebrity restaurants
5 powerful reasons to eat slower
Top five weirdest things to eat in Atlanta
Top 10 awesome nostalgic foods we want back
Top 10 basic ingredients for Chinese cooking
Top 10 diner foods
10 easy ways to reduce food waste
Top ten foods for a barbecue
The top 10 foods only America could have invented
Study reveals top 10 healthiest drinks
Top ten list of really odd & weird candy
Top 10 places to enjoy ice cream
Ten simple meals in ten minutes or less
Top 10 ways to cut your grocery bill by half!
Ten tortilla tips for mealtime madness
The 11 best foods you aren’t eating
11 cartoon and video game energy drinks
The 20 healthiest foods for under $1
Anchovies anyone? Top 20 most hated foods
20 super foods you need to build muscle & lose fat
The 20 worst foods in America
The 20 unhealthiest drinks in America
33 health benefits of drinking tea
America's regional hot dog styles
Around the world in pizza time
Cooking with coffee
If you like pina coladas: calorie-conscious cocktails
Need a cheap cool dessert? Make your own shaved ice!
Tips for eating out cheaply

even more food...

Snack & stack

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:02:00 +0000

More cool utensils!

Sadly, though, I couldn't be trusted with these; I'm pretty sure I'd lose them the first day I took them in my lunch.

from: Fred

(via: GoodyBlog)

Today's special: Food fight!

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:01:00 +0000

Let’s face it, sometimes there is a need to launch your lunch or defend your dinner, and this is the perfect utensil to do it with. It’s easy to use; simply load up a particularly mushy pea or corn niblet, aim, pull back the spring-loaded handle and watch your food take flight.

I want one of these!

Order from: The Spoon Sisters.
(via: Neatorama)

Today's special: I adore this cake!

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:01:00 +0000

alicia policia made this awesome Tom Selleck cake for her friend's birthday. He It looks tasty! :o)

Jack of all trades ...

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:22:00 +0000

... master of none.

What Utensil Are You?

And I shouldn't be left out in the sun

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:15:00 +0000

This is very me!

What Condiment Are You?

Today's special: Portion size, then & now

noreply@blogger.com (Andi) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:15:00 +0000

Portion sizes have gotten a lot bigger since I was a kid. Is it any wonder that waist sizes have grown too?

Read more...