megotelek

( echoes of the past )
Day 20 - A hobby of yours

Aah, I'm behind! Hmm, a hobby. I'm going to go with baking, because it fits with tomorrow's recipe, and because I really do like to bake. I entered a pie in the state fair two summers ago and won second place (cranberry-apple pie) and every Christmas I bake cookies and bars and shortbread for the family. Plus any and all other food holidays. Such as...

Day 21 - A recipe

Since the next major food holiday for me is St. Patrick's Day, my recipe for soda bread:

4 cups (16 oz) of all purpose flour.
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon salt
14 oz of buttermilk

Method:

Preheat the oven to 425 F. degrees. Lightly grease and flour a cake pan.

In a large bowl sieve and combine all the dry ingredients.

Add the buttermilk to form a sticky dough. Place on floured surface and lightly knead (too much allows the gas to escape)

Shape into a round flat shape in a round cake pan and cut a cross in the top of the dough.

Cover the pan with another pan and bake for 30 minutes (this simulates the bastible pot). Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

The bottom of the bread will have a hollow sound when tapped so show it is done.

Cover the bread in a tea towel and lightly sprinkle water on the cloth to keep the bread moist.

Day 22 - A website

Because I just discovered it: The Ironic Catholic. If only for this quote in their sidebar:

Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says, "Oh crap, she's up."

I enjoy the reminder that I can be both devoutly Catholic and not lose my sense of humor or quirky ways of looking at things. It's true!

( moar )

The latest from Google Reader...

( Weird/fun/geeky stuff )

( News/politics/science )

Whee!

Ex 'Grey's' Star Cites Racism for Firing - I...I have no words...

Racism? Seriously? No, it couldn't be because you used an anti-gay slur, denied you did, and then used it again in public backstage at the Emmys Golden Globes (Oh, come on, it's not like they mean anything anyway...of course I can't keep them straight!). Of course not. But any doubts I may have had about Isaiah Washington are completely gone now...I'm glad Burke won't be back on Grey's.

I can't believe I forgot to link to this....the website is up for the movie of The Golden Compass, the first book in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. And, Tom Stoppard wrote the script! If you don't know who Tom Stoppard is, hide in a deep dark hole read and learn: he wrote Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, as well as the Academy Award-winning screenplay for Shakespeare in Love. So exciting!

Yeah, yeah, it's been a while! So long, in fact, that I've now seen Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest three times in the theater. Three! Once with John, once with Jessica, and once with Jessica and Lisa. So each time, I was with someone who hadn't seen it!

And before the movie, we were treated to two trailers for movies I must see when they come out: Night at the Museum starring Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney and Owen Wilson. Yes, you read that right. Coming out this Christmas! And Transformers, a live action/CGI movie coming out 7/4/07 starring our very own Hasbro Transformers! Shut up, they were big when I was small!

Oh, speaking of things that were big when I was small...there's a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie coming out next year also...all CGI, from the look of it. Not sure how I feel about that one yet...

Anyway, on to the POTC review!

( Spoilers ahoy! )

Sigh...off to listen to the music again!

This is for you, Eliza!  Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series is making its way to the big screen!

And the theme for this year's California State Fair has been announced: Superstars & Superheroes!  The first concert calendar is up too: Kenny Loggins, Loverboy, Rick Springfield and more!  Sigh...we may have to get a season pass this year!  Psst....Eliza...d'you and Scott want to come to any of these with us?

And, in the latest Lost news....Jimmy Kimmel interviews Hugh McIntyre of the Hanso Foundation on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

So, it's the 100th anniversary of the 1906 Great Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco. Here's a couple of links for the occasion:

SyzygyJob - Website of "maverick" geologist Jim Berkland, who allegedly predicted the 1989 Loma Prieta quake among others, he predicts earthquakes based on tidal forces - very interesting!

SFGate and the Great Quake - Info on the Great Quake itself.

California Geological Survey site - More info on the Great Quake as well as general earthquake preparedness...anybody remember "duck, cover and hold"? Ah, elementary school earthquake drills, how I remember you...

So, we went to see the midnight showing of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe the day it opened. And I was...trying to restrain myself from getting too excited. After all, I am usually disappointed in movies based on books. And this book was one I had read so many times starting in early childhood, and love so much, that it was hard to not get too excited.

And then...it started. And it was incredible. I honestly don't have the words to describe it, except that it was the book! It was everything from the book, everything I loved! And done so beautifully, that I do believe I cried several times. When Lucy first stumbles into Narnia, when the children encounter Father Christmas, Aslan's sacrifice and the mice nibbling at the cords, the list goes on and on! Jim Broadbent was remarkable as Professor Kirke, and the children were just wonderful. I loved how their characters were fleshed out and they became more real. It was just...incredible. I can't wait to go see it again!! And the soundtrack comes out tomorrow...which I also desperately want!

And now, a little linkspam:

Stan 'Tookie' Williams was denied clemency by Governor Arnold Schwarzennegger. And I breathe a sigh of relief. Hmm, let's see...he murdered 4 people directly and caused the deaths of hundreds (if not thousands) more by co-founding the Crips (one of the most notorious LA street gangs), but he wrote a couple of children's books on death row so we should let him out of his lawful jury-decided punishment? Uh, no.

Want to win a Nobel Prize? Show the world how much you hate America. That's right, folks! That shiny Nobel can be yours for the right amount of venom against the greatest country on Earth. I have no words. But the author of this article does, and uses them beautifully.

Ok, some random stuff.

From Catholic Answers, why Catholic women are tired of being told that they are somehow "oppressed".

Sad news, Nipsey Russell dies at age 80. I don't know how other people remember him, but to me he was the Tin Man in The Wiz. We'll miss you, Nipsey!

How to tell if The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe will be a Christian movie. If these four sentences are in it, or not. My favorite being:

"The Witch knew the Deep Magic. But if she could have looked a little further back... she would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards."

Personally, I don't think it's even possible to make a faithful adaptation of the book and have it not be Christian. Oh, and did you know that the 'C.S.' in C.S. Lewis stands for Clive Stapes? (Yeah, Dad, I'm sure you do, I'm asking the rest of the class!)

Edited because his middle name is Stapes, not Staples. Hey, the little booklet inside my new Cinderella DVD says it's Staples! Must have been written by Michael Eisner. Heh.

In other news, I got my DVD of Disney's Cinderella, which comes with a free glass slipper necklace! The only problem is, it's more like a glass slipper bracelet for me. Apparently the only people who would be excited about it are twelve-year-old girls, judging by the length of the chain. And coming later this month, the Tarzan Special Edition DVD!

And, in baseball news, the Cardinals whip the Padres (sad!) and the White Sox beat the Red Sox (happy!) so they're definitely moving on, and the Angels and Astros are leading their respective series against the Yankees and the Braves. Huh. And next week will start the League Championships, followed by the World Series at the end of the month. Although, if neither the Cardinals or the Yankees are in the World Series, I don't think I'll watch. It's hard enough getting me to watch when the Giants aren't involved somehow, so we'll see.

I think that's it for now...see ya!