A few weeks ago, I tried a little experiment. I tried following a recipe to the letter. Superficially, this may seem like a trivial task. But it’s not. To me, adhering to instructions is like trying to herd cats with snarling, rabid dogs. Not gonna happen.

But I was determined to make a cheese souffle despite its reputation for being a capricious, temperamental, perfection-seeking dish. Actually, the souffle and I have a lot in common. But I digress.

My biggest concern was the noise and activity levels in my home. Unless I was planning on making this sucker at 4 a.m., there is never a quiet moment around here. One of the hairy, smelly lumps of testosterone I live with is always yelling about something, or chasing something, or throwing something or whacking something (usually another hairy, smelly lump of testosterone) with a light saber.

In any case, I don’t know if I just lucked out or what, but I found this recipe on the Internet and it turns out that it’s noisy-hairy-smelly-lumps-of-testosterone- proof. And it was delicious. So, I thought I’d share it with you.

Oh, and just so you know, I followed it to a tee. Except I didn’t have any Gruyère cheese left. I thought I had some Swiss, but that was gone too. So I used sharp Cheddar, instead. Oh, and I didn’t use paprika, but I did put in a couple pinches of thyme. Oh, and I used 2% milk, not whole milk. And I added a bit of cayenne pepper, for a bit of kick.

But other than that, I didn’t change a THING!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• 4 large egg yolks
• 5 large egg whites
• 1 cup (packed) coarsely grated Gruyère cheese (about 4 ounces)

Preheat oven to 400F. Butter 6-cup (1 1/2-quart) soufflé dish. Add Parmesan cheese and tilt dish, coating bottom and sides. Warm milk in heavy small saucepan over medium-low heat until steaming.

Meanwhile, melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until mixture begins to foam and loses raw taste, about 3 minutes (do not allow mixture to brown). Remove saucepan from heat; let stand 1 minute. Pour in warm milk, whisking until smooth. Return to heat and cook, whisking constantly until very thick, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat; whisk in paprika, salt, and nutmeg. Add egg yolks 1 at a time, whisking to blend after each addition. Scrape soufflé base into large bowl. Cool to lukewarm.

Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in another large bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold 1/4 of whites into lukewarm or room temperature soufflé base to lighten. Fold in remaining whites in 2 additions while gradually sprinkling in Gruyère cheese. Transfer batter to prepared dish.

Place dish in oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 375F. Bake until soufflé is puffed and golden brown on top and center moves only slightly when dish is shaken gently, about 25 minutes (do not open oven door during first 20 minutes). Serve immediately.

That's my son Kane over there. No, not that one. The other one. No. Not that one! Sheesh. He's the one in the red shirt.

This past March, I was at a robotics competition. My son, Kane, joined his school’s robotics club and they entered the competition. No, it wasn’t the kind of event where you hope and pray that a freak lightning storm will occur right above your head and strike you dead before someone has the chance to ask you which one is yours and you are forced to admit – while attempting to not look completely humiliated – that the fruit of your loins is actually the 4^th apple tree in the back. Yes, the one picking his nose.

It wasn’t like that at all.

All of the robots were really incredible. I watched my son working on his between the match-ups. He was dismantling stuff, tightening screws, re-wiring and using power tools like they were extensions of his hands. And I am not ashamed to admit that I felt proud.

I also felt… nostalgic.

You see, I kept thinking about the little portable radio I had when I was a kid. I guess I was about 8 years old. It was a little AM/FM deal and I loved it. I loved listening to the classic rock stations on the FM dial. I loved listening to disco on the AM dial. I really loved turning the knobs past all the radio stations, until near the very end of the dial where I would pick up something I swear still was alien communications.

And then one day it stopped.

Invest in some tin foil. Seriously.

I noticed that my radio would cut out after a couple of hours. If I shook it around, it would come back on. Then it started cutting out after just an hour. Then half an hour. Then no amount of shaking would make it come back on. I was devastated. The music was gone from my life. Even worse, the aliens were gone! How would I know when the invasion was going to happen?!

I got the idea that I could fix it.

I started thinking about how, at first, it would start again when I shook it. That must mean that something was loose, right? And when I shook it, I jiggled it back into place. I also realize d whatever was loose had probably been shook off of wherever it was supposed to be, so shaking it no longer worked. So all I needed to do was open it up and find out what wasn’t where it was supposed to be, then put it back and my radio would be fixed. Simple.

But there was a little bit of a problem.

To do all that, I needed tools. I was the daughter of a conservative Greek man who believed all the tools I would ever need in life could be found in the kitchen. I wasn’t allowed to use tools. I stared at the slot screws in frustration, trying to figure out how I could sneak my father’s screwdriver set out of the workshop without him noticing. Impossible! Then I realized something. All the tools I would ever need in life may not always be found in the kitchen, but this time they were. I could use a butter knife to take the screws out!

So that’s what I did.

Simple, right?

I pulled the two halves of my radio apart. I looked inside to find the problem. I realized I had no idea what I was looking at. There were wires and metal things and other metal things and yet other metal things and more wires. I stared in frustration. Then I realized I was staring at the end of a red wire. Why wasn’t it attached to something? Aha! Here was the culprit.

But where should it go?

I turned the radio on, grabbed the loose wire and randomly touched it to metal things, other metal things, other wires and more metal things. Nothing. In frustration, I flung the wire down. It landed on a miniscule metal post, and  slowly slid off. For a moment though, whilst on the post, the aliens spoke. I was ecstatic. And then I wasn’t.

How to reattach it?

I couldn’t touch a screwdriver, there was no way I was getting my hands on a soldering iron. I had an idea. I swiped a pack of matches from the kitchen drawer (because, as it turned out, all the tools I needed really were in the kitchen) and a crayon from my little brother’s box of Crayolas (also, kept in the kitchen) and, holding the wire in place with my foot, I melted the tip of the crayon over the wire and post to fuse them together.

On a totally unrelated note, I miss the flexibility I had at 8 years old.

When the wax hardened, I jiggled the wire to ensure it stuck to the post. Then I closed up my radio and used the knife to tighten the screws again. I turned the radio on and listened to the aliens plot our demise. For about 10 minutes. Then the radio died again. I opened it back up and saw that the crayon wax had melted and the wire had come loose again.

I laughed.

The music was dead, the aliens were coming and I laughed. It didn’t matter if it didn’t keep working. I fixed it. Even if only for a little while. I figured it out. Then I put the matches back in the drawer, buried the crayon stub in the garbage, dropped the knife in the sink and left my broken radio on the nightstand.

I wonder if it’s still at my parents house.

I had completely forgotten about it until I saw Kane working on the robot. I had forgotten about how happy it makes me when I have the chance to fix something. Or to figure something out. I think I’ll have to visit my parents soon and see if it’s still there.

Now that I own my own power tools.

I know, you’re all sick of hearing, reading, and seeing anything to do with our recently completed 30 Days of Photographs challenge. I understand. I sympathize. I feel your pain.

And I’m going to post yet again about it, regardless. Because I love you and am a big believer in whatever doesn’t kill you makes you not dead.

So, without further ado, here are my favourite photos taken by the other bloggers who went insane with this challenge  – in no particular order:

I really don't like bananas all that much, but Dozo mentioned it was awkward. I have a soft spot for awkward bananas.

Cheryl absolutely blew my mind with this photo. It's unbelievable gorgeous. And the bonus? It's not a bird!

Dufus did a fantastic job with this one. I love the angle and that fantastic blue sky. A blue sky, I might add, that isn't in Colorado and wasn't enhanced. Because I've heard some people do that.

Mariann took this shot and I love the reference she made to the alien eye thingy from the movie The War Of The Worlds (the original!!).

Katherine made me laugh with this one! Too funny and I think Katherine's gorgeous.

Kristen's photo and the post that went with it were inspiring.

Liz took this shot and I love all the black and chrome and the bling on her finger.

Laughing Mom completely touched my heart with this photo of her father's hands. Beautiful.

This photo of Meleah's is outstanding and majestic and reminded me of the tree of Gondor in the Lord Of The Rings movie except bigger. And real, of course.

MikeWJ knows the way to my heart. The red shoes on her feet guaranteed this photo's placing first with me.

My co-blogger Mike took a whole whack of amazing photos. But this one is candy. Candy always wins. Unless shoes are involved.

I really don't know why this is my favourite of Mo's pictures. I mean, yes it's fantastic, but ALL of his little critter shots were fantastic. Hmmmm. Maybe it's the cape?

I loved Nora's creativity and determination to use cats in each and EVERY photo. This photo perfectly illustrates that.Plus she's hawt.

This photo of Malisa's is adorable beyond words. Seriously. He'll never live it down!

Tanya took a bunch of amazing photos, but none were shoes, so the candy won again.

I really love the watery effect of Bryan's fish photo, as well as all the hues of blue.

Ziva. Oh, Ziva. It's not weird that I've wallpapered every room in my house with this photo - including the floor and ceiling - is it?

And now I promise not to post another word (or picture) about our 30 Days of Photographs II.

Until it’s time for 30 Days of Photographs III, of course. Which starts tomorrow*. See you there?
*No, it doesn’t really start tomorrow.

P.S. There was another participant to this challenge, albeit an unofficial one. Cheryl P. posted pictures everyday here at WWFC, in the comment section, to cheer us on. Thank you Cheryl, for all the support and for being here every single day with a new, personalized picture. Here is my favourite one:

She made a special trailer for my shoes. It's not shoes, but it's about shoes, therefore it wins.

Mike – Ok, maybe “Rejects” sounds a little harsh, but that’s what they were. Some more than others. Seriously, some were awful. You’ll see.

Pleasure: This local place makes delicious empanadas. I didn't like the glare, so I chose to spotlight my guitar (which I'll choose over food anyday)

Fear: My lame attempt at creating a creepy scene. There's this wall panel in our bike locker at the office, so I carefully placed my mitt and just started laughing because it looked so comical.

Fear again. I had a lot of trouble with this theme and biked around until late in the night taking pictures of "creepy" things. This reminded me of Stephen King's "It". In hindsight, I probably should have gone with this one in the end.

Same night that I tried to take pictures of "Fear". The newly renovated Maisonneuve monument is pretty cool, but not very scary.

From Fish Tales: Dobson wants to be in every picture. Always.

Wood: I ended up pointing my phone up towards the sky and shot like that instead.

Mirror: I liked this but I decided not to use my guitar twice, although I probably could have done 30 days of guitars....hmmm...

Outlier: The idea was to have all these incense with the "outlier" over there on the right. There would be swirling smoke and a red hot ember. It looked awful and just failed miserably.

Nicky – Ok, maybe “Rejects” sounds a little harsh, but in fact, may actually be too kind a description. You’ll see.

Do you see a moon in this sky? Me neither. But there was one.

This is what happens when you go for a walk with your 18 year old son to take pictures for a photo challenge. He held the list of prompts. We stopped at the pharmacy and he suggested I take a picture of condoms for the Pleaure theme. Do you know how people look at you when you take pictures of the boxes of condoms at the pharmacy?

I took a picture of fire and then saw Max's face mesmerized by the flames and went with that instead.

Back when I actually cared about who saw me taking pictures of everything like a maniac, I tried to take this picture of people waiting in line for popcorn at the movie theater without anyone noticing. Fail.

My cute little black boots died this year. I tried to take a picture of them at the funeral, but I was crying a lot and my hands shook and all of the pictures were blurry. Plus *sob* it was just too painful. I miss them so.

Welcome to 30 days of Photographs II. And….we made it! Yay! It’soverit’soverit’soverit’sover!!!!!! Click to see the list of themes. Or don’t. Whatever. We don’t care because it’soverit’soverit’sOVER!!!!

And here are the others who are also doing a dance of joy today: Ziva, MikeWJ, Mo, Meleah, nonamedufus, Unfinished Person, Mariann, Malisa, Nora, LaughingMom, Tanya, Elizabeth A, Kristen , Cheryl, Katherine, and 00Dozo.

Mike – The Devil probably plays a lute and it’s horribly out of tune. He’s learning Smoke on the Water, but hasn’t quite got the timing right. Your fate is to listen to that. Forever.

Or maybe you’re destined to do 30 day photo challenges.

Every 30 days.

And the theme is always Outlier.

(Is this thing really over?)

Nicky – I read a Facebook thread last week where someone made the point that the Devil is not really evil. The argument was basically that the Devil isn’t tempting humankind into a life of sin, but rather trying to get humankind to think for themselves instead of blindly following God. Some might consider that idea blasphemy. We’re supposed to have faith in God. Unconditional faith. And we’re supposed to follow his words. Unconditionally.

To me, that smacks of God telling mankind “Do as I say, not as I do.” And I’ve never been very good at that. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not dissing God. I am as He made me, though, and He made me unable to follow directions and question authority. Even the ultimate authority.

Which is why I like the idea of the Devil not really being evil, just someone who challenges us to think.

Which got me to thinking about this challenge. And how it has made me look at the world a little differently. And how it has made me look at myself a little differently. And then I wondered if maybe the Devil didn’t have something to do with this photo extravaganza.

I went over the list of themes. I could definitely see his hand at work with some of them. I mean, seriously! 42? My toothbrush? Outlier?!?!

And then the realization hit me. Like 42 a ton of bricks. What do those ridiculous themes have in common?

My post alone is now over 250 words. The Devil made me do it.

In all seriousness, I would very much like to thank Ziva and MikeWJ for inviting us to play in this non-competition. And to all of the participants, I think you will all agree with me when I say:

I won.

Welcome to 30 days of Photographs II. One more day. Just one more day. Click to see the list of themes.

And here are the others who, by participating in this challenge, have had their cameras fused to their faces: Ziva, MikeWJ, Mo, Meleah, nonamedufus, Unfinished Person, Mariann, Malisa, Nora, LaughingMom, Tanya, Elizabeth A, Kristen , Cheryl, Katherine, and 00Dozo.

Mike -Fools. Waiting in line on a Saturday night for a smoked meat sandwich. I’ll admit that it’s pretty good, and I’ll grudgingly wait in such a line for a special occasion. Like, if a friend from out of town wanted to go. Or if say, my cousin wanted to go like that time last year when we went and she suddenly dropped that bombshell on me claiming that she didn’t have any cash on her and I was stuck with the bill! I swear.

Anyway, the experience is worth it. As a local…not so much due to the hassle of waiting in line. And I hate lines: Bank lines, post office lines, and especially restaurant lines. Being in line is bad enough, and if you’re in a restaurant line, there’s a pretty good chance that while you’re waiting, you’re also dying of hunger. Yes. Dying of it.

Lines suck*.

*Line ups for concerts and things that I like are perfectly acceptable.

Nicky -

Welcome to 30 days of Photographs II. Just 2 days and then it’s sweet, sweet freedom! Click to see the list of themes that have made grown men cry.

And here are the other manic-depressives participating in this challenge: Ziva, MikeWJ, Mo, Meleah, nonamedufus, Unfinished Person, Mariann, Malisa, Nora, LaughingMom, Tanya, Elizabeth A, Kristen , Cheryl, Katherine, and 00Dozo.

Mike – I took the definition of Outlier to be something that stands apart form the group. I even went outside and tried to photograph a person standing alone near a group, but it was too cold and everyone was walking too fast. So I photographed a bunch of Cheerios instead, with that one Cheerio dude doing his own thing. What a rebel.

Nicky – what CheesyMike said. Except without the Cheerios.

Welcome to 30 days of Photographs II. Barely 3 days left until this Godforsaken challenge is over. Click to see the list of themes that has God himself wondering if there is a God.

And here are the other sinners participating in this challenge: Ziva, MikeWJ, Mo, Meleah, nonamedufus, Unfinished Person, Mariann, Malisa, Nora, LaughingMom, Tanya, Elizabeth A, Kristen , Cheryl, Katherine, and 00Dozo.

Mike -  It’s a bare lightbulb. It’s naked. It’s nude. It looks like an electric endive. I will title the photo as such. It’s my brilliant idea for today’s theme:

Nicky – There have been a number of emails during this challenge going back and forth among the participants. Usually, one person would start a thread to let the others know if they’re running late, unable to comment or suffering broken bones as a result of “extreme dog-walking”.  Inexplicably (MikeWJ) yet without fail, the email thread quickly degenerated (MikeWJ) and someone (MikeWJ) ended up referring to day 27′s theme, Nude (or Nekkid or Necked, depending on who you are and where you’re from).

Then, of course, there were the electronic shouts of “I AM!” or “NOT me!!” when the threads turned to the subject of who, exactly, would bare all for this theme.

I actually had quite a few ideas for this theme. One of which, like my co-blogger, was a bare light bulb (Sidenote – CheesyMike, that light bulb is quite… phallic).

In the end, I thought “Oh, what the hell?!” and decided that I would tackle this theme in the manner that immediately springs to mind. By getting NUDE, NEKKID, NECKED!

Yes, that’s me, naked. What I won’t do for my art.