Back Home

A (M)orning With Mae

Absent a label, Mae decided to try something new. Lots of bands have gone direct-to-fans with websites. But they added a humanitarian twist on it. They promised a song a month, every month throughout 2009, with the proceeds going to help folks out. From their site:

Our promise to you is to commit all of the profits from digital downloads to fund humanitarian projects that Mae and you will be a part of all year long. Like a fire that spreads without boundaries, we can ignite a change in this world if we work together. As we tie our voices, our resources, our minds, and most importantly our actions together, we will see the world change for the better over the course of this year and beyond. Take this music and this mission and run with it.

Glossing over the youth-group rally cry (jaded? me? what?), it's a lot better than lining one's pockets or spending profits on whores and ale. So kudoes for them having their hearts in the right place.

The EP (M)orning, featuring the January through August tracks, is now available for mass consumption on iTunes. It definitely has the more free, experimental feel of their earlier work as opposed to Singularity, their most recent (labeled) release. The songs are pretty varied—I imagine due to the recording/writing calender—but they're all well composed, of course. Because Mae is a great band.

Get it on iTunes or a special CD/DVD version (or MP3 downloads) at Amazon. I'm surprised the DVD version isn't available as a download on iTunes in conjunction with its recently touted "iTunes EP" program. Growing pains, I suppose.

For more info on the mission or to just download individual songs, visit Mae's website.

Mad Props To TeeFury Customer Service

I bought my first shirt from TeeFury last month. I went to put it on for the first time and noticed the stitching on the sleeve was coming undone. Long story short, they did me a solid and are sending me a replacement, even though I had washed the shirt first. It was definitely an exception, but as the kind customer service rep said, "I hate to have your first experience be a bad one."

It only seems right to pimp them for being so cool, especially considering how much I dig their business model (a new shirt every 24 hours, on sale for only 24 hours).

Now if they could only decide if they want to be "TeeFury" (website window title bar), "Tee Fury" (webpage graphical header & email subject line), or "Teefury" (email .sig and reply-to name)...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownie Cupcakes

This dessert meets the requirement of tasting yummy, while simultaneously delivering high on the "That looks so cool! How did you do that?" scale. And to top it off, it's stupid easy.

While the original recipe that I saw at Bakerella is quite good, it's just that good, ol' Momma Necessity helped make this dessert the hit that it is. The basic jist is this: Make a brownie box mix. Make a cookie dough box mix. Combine. Bake. Add ganache. Cool. Eat.

The rub was that I made the mixes... only to discover that I didn't have a dish to make it all cake/brownie style! In a fit of improvisation (and a need to take something to the party I was going to in, oh, and hour), I thought, "Cupcakes!"

Long story short, you pour the brownie batter into the cupcake molds, push a small ball of cookie dough into the middle, then bake. Pick a temp somewhere in the middle of the two mixes, and start checking it on the short end of whatever the brownie mix lists.

The end result is a brownie with a nifty cookie center and marbling. Big hit with the kids. Surprise, surprise.

A couple of hints:

• Since cookies aren't designed to be as structurally sound baking vertically as brownies are, the more cookie dough you put in the middle, the more your cupcake will collapse upon cooling. The size ball you'd use for a small cookie works great.
• An alternative is to cover the whole top of the brownie with cookie dough, which gives you a cookie center and cookie top. This looks cool, but you don't taste as much of the brownie.
• And you lose the yummy crispy brownie top bits.
• I later made the recipe as originally written. I found it to be a bit too sweet for my tastes with the ganache. I know, crazy. And it becomes pretty messy, which works great to go along with, say, a bowl of ice cream, but I think the cupcake approach works better for parties, what with their handy single-servingness.
• And not making ganache=less work!

Enjoy! Experiment! Eat!

Is This Thing On?

For the first time in months, I am caught up at work. And due to no procrastination on my part*. It has been nutty busy and the other copywriter has been on a special project since May. That = all the normal jobs coming to yours truly.

How to celebrate? How about some posts!!

*Fine, some procrastination on my part. Shut up.

We Need To Talk

<Insert "crazy busy at work" excuse for poor not blogging in so long>

Ok, this post is as much a reminder for me as it is to knock the dust off my RSS feed. I've been cooking a bit lately, and there are things I have heated and eaten that I think you'd like to know about. Over the coming days, I am planning on blogging about:

• The (Not Quite) Best Sheet Cake Ever
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownie Cupcakes
• The Best Grilled Cheese Sandwich I've Ever Made
• Sugar and Honey-Encrusted Pancakes

And I think there's one other thing I'm forgetting about. You'll find out when I remember. Prepare thy arteries!!

UPDATE: The fifth thing was another use of Kerrygold Herb & Garlic butter. Slather up!

I Heart Tim Wakefield

"I understand the circumstances of today," Red Sox starting pitcher Tim Wakefield told his manager before yesterday's game.

"No matter what, don't take me out."

The previous game's starter had headed to the showers after one inning. The bullpen pitched 11 innings after that. All but ONE relief pitcher was leaned upon hard, with Javy Lopez throwing for the third straight day and eventually taking the hard luck loss.

Things were bleak for my beloved Red Sox. Looking at a potential four-game losing streak, already down 2-6 to start the season, they needed something. Thursday was an off day, so if they could just get through Wednesday's game intact, they could take a breather, recuperate, and regroup to start pushing again. They needed a stopper. They got Tim Wakefield.

And vintage Timmy they got, in some of his most beautiful, fluttering, knuckleball glory. Wake took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and went home with a complete game, 8-2 win under his belt.

People may question his age (he would have been the 2nd oldest pitcher to throw a no-no), his unorthodox (and often maddening) pitch, his back or shoulder ailments that have slowed him down at the end of the last two seasons... but you can never doubt his heart.

"No matter what, don't take me out."

With the masterful performance he put on yesterday afternoon, we never even thought about it.

Picture via YFSF

Preparing For The End

Well, looks like our beloved dog Buddy is running his last few laps around the dog park. After noticing some strange behavior Wednesday night and Thursday morning, I carried him in to the vet yesterday. Most likely scenario is that he has a brain tumor.

Doc put him on some meds to help stabilize some internal stuff that showed up in the blood and urine tests, but really it's just a matter of time at this point. Could be a day, could be months. We'll keep an eye on him, and watch for signs that his condition is worsening.

If you met Buddy, you know what a sweet, soft dog he was. Laura often said she wishes we could get his coat made into a pelt when he died so we could pet him forever, he was so soft.

I offered yesterday (there have got to be tons of taxidermists up here with all the hunters!), but she declined. I think a little Buddy Throw might have been nice, but I deferred.

Our biggest concern is, of course, the girls. We've talked with them about it and they seem to be taking it in stride for now. Grandma's two dogs just "died" (ahem) a few weeks ago, so they kinda got broken into the idea with that.

And after Ali asked if we could go in to get the tumor our, Kaylee gleefully suggested, "We could cut open his brain!"

Looks like letting them hear all those songs about vampires and zombies are paying off!

Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

Jeri asked if there was a recipe for these delicious items. There is. And it is C-R-A-Z-Y easy.

Garlic Cheddar Biscuits
2 cups Bisquick baking mix
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Heat oven to 450.
2. Mix Bisquick, milk & cheese until a soft, sticky dough forms (I like to use a fork).
3. Drop dough onto an ungreased cooking sheet (I like to line mine with parchment paper for easy cleanup).
4. Bake 8–10 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Mix butter & garlic powder. Brush mixture over warm biscuits before removing from cookie sheet.
6. Serve warm. Makes about a dozen, depending on how big you want them.

I amped these up a bit this last time because I had a stick of Kerrygold Garlic & Herb Butter (look in your regular supermarket). I just melted that instead of doing a butter/garlic powder mixture. So delicious and the smell is AMAZING while you're bushing them. Mmmm...

Checking In

On prophetesse Annette Legion. Is UK going to the Final Four?

Yes, These Are Real Haikus From 5th Graders

You know when you see those "letters from kids" or "poems from prison" and you wonder... are those really children (or convicts) writing those? Well, you can be 100% certain these really are haikus written by actual 5th graders.

How can you know? Because I'm copying them off the homework they turned in to my wife who teaches them. I'll clean up the grammar and spelling, but will leave the humor un-cut.

First, let's start with a few after my own heart.

I have a monkey
That drives a Lamborghini
And takes people's money

I have a pet snake
It eats a lot of rat food
He eats the food cold

Dragons are awesome
Blows fire and kills people
Likable and nice

Food is a favorite topic, of course.

I love chocolate
Its like joy in my mouth
It is also brown

I like to eat food
My favorite food is cheese sliced pizza
It is hot and warm

Here's two from the same girl, who chose to (mostly) rhyme her haiku!

Balloon floats so slow
The balloon floats in the sky
Balloon floats so high

Balloon up you go
Balloon you will never grow
Balloon do not go

And if you'd like to know why our society is crumbling, I submit this one. Remember: 5th grade. That's, like, ten years old.

I saw Kill Bill 2
Kill Bill 2 was so awesome
My dad gave me it

How about something a little sweeter to cleanse the palate?

That shirt is as blue
As the sky on a good day
Feeling soft as you

Smiling is happy
Smiling is good and nice too
Happy to be here

How do you know when your student might have some bi-polar tendancies?

I don't know how to
I don't like haiku one bit
I don't like haiku

I don't know how to
I like haiku a lot so
I don't know how to

And, of course, the surreal and disturbing is always fun.

The human didn't think anymore
She was nice and very friendly
And was in a hospital

I think we've all learned some valuable lessons. Like why use 7 syllables for the middle line when you can use 10? And it's amusing to say you don't know how to do something when you are, in fact, doing it. Actually, they're probably more clever than I'm giving them credit for.

Overall, kudos to you, actual 5th grade poets. You've already written better poems than I ever have!