When life hands you Quaker Oats, make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

What started off as 30+ cookies last Friday went down to 3 1/2 by Sunday

If there's one thing better than homemade chocolate chip cookies, it has to be homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Honestly, it beats every store brand oatmeal cookie out there; there's nothing quite like biting into an oatmeal cookie that's soft rather than crunchy, and with a satisfying amount of chippits rather than just a few or none. Rarely do I have them, but for the past few weeks, I've had a fervent desire for some homemade oatmeal goodness. So I skimmed the net and some cookbooks for a half decent recipe, and I settled on an old Hershey recipe, found here. I don't know if it was the best oatmeal cookie recipe out there, but it was pretty darn good, and the cookies turned out really nicely! Not dry at all. I was a bit worried that they would be under or over baked, but neither happened. I would say just time them to how you like your cookies, soft or a bit crunchy--next time I would do mine a minute or so longer, because I found them a bit soft.

*Try not to over bake them! Even though they don't look quite done when the timer goes, they definitely are. Just so long as they look set. Once you take them out, they'll continue baking for a bit, and they'll harden up as they cool.

CHOCOLATE CHIP OATMEAL COOKIES

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (250 mL) butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) lightly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups (325 mL) all-purpose flour
• 2 cups (500 mL) quick-cooking oats (not instant)
• 1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) salt
• 1 package (350 g) CHIPITS® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (2 cups/500 mL)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F (180°C).

2. In large bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs until creamy.

3. In medium bowl, mix flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Stir into butter mixture. Stir in semi-sweet chocolate chips.

4. Drop from 1 tbsp (15 mL) measure onto lightly greased baking sheet.

5. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

Conclusion...

Hmm, ok. Can't say I entirely loved the conclusion to Lost. In fact, I kind of wanted to fling something heavy at the tv screen. All I could do was repeat was "nooo! Just nooo!" Then my friend and I had a big discussion about its hits and misses. Yes, generally it was a good episode, and there were some absolutely wonderful moments of the show, and no, it doesn't make me love the show any less. I just did not like the last 15 minutes. I won't reveal any spoilers to those who haven't seen it yet--in fact, don't go just by my opinion. Lots of people out there loved the ending! But it certainly wasn't what I wanted to see, and it just left me feeling dissatisfied.

The End is Nigh

Ahh, it has been a wild ride these past six years watching Lost. I'm amazed that I even stuck around to see every single one, but I'm so glad I did. But I'm pretty sure I knew I would when it first premiered! So in honor of this wonderful, albeit quadruple mindf*** of a show that is concluding tomorrow night (waah), I present to you my favourite moments from the past six seasons (there were many!), and in no particular order.

*On a quick note, none of the images belong to me, they are courtesy of Lost Media.

"NOT EVERY NOOK AND CRANNY JOHN!"

"Have a cluckity-cluck-cluck day, Hugo."

“When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home”

Thornton Wilson was right on. But none the less, it's great to be back home. I actually came back a week ago, but it has really gone by fast. I spent the last few weeks getting organized in moving my stuff around my place in Halifax, while others were moving out and moving in. The place was pretty much in a jumble of stuff. It seems to be ritual when I get home in April from school to give my room a cleaning out.

In the process of cleaning out my desk (again), I came across two of my journals from when I was younger. Had a good time skimming through them! It's interesting to look back on how I was feeling at the time. There were some

rather... Interesting entries I wrote.

I saw the musical Mamma Mia on Thursday night--it was good! The leading lady Sophie may have been a bit off key, though?

I'm pleased to say I finally bought Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict last weekend; it was a fun read, and I devoured it in two-three days. I'm also working on Tess of the D'urbervilles, which is good too, but that's taken me since last summer. And that's not because it's a difficult read.

Dun dun duuuuunh.

Image belongs to Buddytv.com, the link here

Image belongs to ABC, link here

The episode of Lost last night was awesome. The truth about old Smokey (as I like to call him) has been revealed! Same with the bodies of Adam and Eve way back in the first season. I can't believe it's come down to the very last episode next Tuesday. Ever. AAAAHHH whatever will I do with myself??!! What will I watch??! V, maybe? By the way, I love looking here for a good rousing discussion on the previous night's episode. Makes me really tempted to create an account just to stick in my two cents, and not just for Lost.

In other news, I have an interview for job coming up, to work as a camp councillor for the summer. First interview in a long while--eeps. Hope I don't get too nervous! I was inspired to think up a list of confidence boosting songs by an article in Jezebel, seen here (I've been visiting there a lot, yes), so here's what I came up with:

-Hairspray, by Rachel Sweet

-Suddenly I See, KT Tunstall

-Then he Kissed Me, The Crystals (if you've seen Adventures in

Babysitting, then you'll see what I mean)

-My Moon my Man, Feist

-Goodbye Lenin, Yanni Tiersen

-A Brand New Day, The Wiz

-Linus and Lucy, Charlie Brown

-I have Confidence, The Sound of Music

If you've got any songs in mind out there, let me know! I'd be quite interested to give them a listen. I just may need these next week!

A year ago today...

On a rainy afternoon, this blog was born! Amazing how time has flown by. Blogging has been an interesting experience--I've enjoyed sharing my hobbies, fascinations and obsessions (ahem, Lost) with all of you out there. I didn't really know where I wanted to go with this blog, and in fact I still don't really know (much like my current position in life). Food? Inspiration? Poetry?? Aah! But I guess it doesn't have to be nailed to a certain theme. I'm always debating about things I should be writing out, so I'll just settle for making this space a mishmash of subjects I find interesting.

In honour of this semi-momentous occasion, I treat you all to a virtual banana split cupcake cone! Thanks for reading this--your comments make my day much more nicer!

The image and the recipe are from Erica's blog here, and they look super delicious, and definitely worth trying out. I remember helping making these kind of cupcake cones once when I was younger, and oh boy they were good at the time.

Have a wonderful weekend! I'mma heading home to Toronto for the next couple months :)

Finisshhed!!

So glad I'm done school at last! The past few weeks have been insane; endless assignments and things to study for. Other than tending to those, I've been throwing myself into dance, summer job hunting, organizing stuff for the big end of the year move around in our flat, Lost, and so forth. It even included a couple of really late-nighters, which resulted in slow movement, higher consumption of caffeine beverages and cracking up at the weirdest things.

And speaking of Lost/things that made me crack up, I recently discovered this little gem courtesy of Michael Emerson; it's been around for a while now, but my goodness it is hilarious.

Image belongs to DoctorWhotv

Just last Saturday, series five of Doctor Who premiered here in Canada and I was absolutely thrilled--I've been waiting for it! And the first episode was really good, Matt Smith fit right in. On Easter weekend, knowing it had already premiered in the UK made it rather difficult; however, my Mom's Easter package kept me tied over... Thank goodness for chocolate.

And now that I have time to actually read for pleasure, here are a few of what I'm working on. Amelia Earheart, from what I've read, had a remarkable life; I think if there were any female role model to look up to, it would be her.

Now that I think of it, one other fascinating woman I read about recently was Isadora Duncan in her auto biography, and that came about via my theatre paper about butoh and modern dance; she developed modern dance as a way to defy the formality of structure in ballet. Fascinating stuff.

Also, I finally got my Italy pictures developed! All three hundred and something, coming in four thick envelopes. It was rather pricey, but the finished results were worth it. Seeing them only on the computer didn't do them justice. Can't wait to frame some of them, and album the rest!

Weather here has been... Gross. First came the cooler temperatures, then rain, and to top it off, snow. I felt bad for the flowers who had to put up with it. Hopefully spring will return soon and I can venture outdoors more frequently. Until then, I wait patiently. Sort of.

Mac and Many Cheeses

Credit goes to the Telegraph, link here

My love for cheese is undying. It goes as far back to when I was five and my Mom would give me a snack of raisins and cheese to have while I watched taped episodes of the Little Mermaid series. (I imagine I must have liked the sweet and salty combination.) I digress; a good bowl of the regular Kraft Dinner Mac and Cheese* is very nice once in a while, but a good bowl of homemade m&c is even nicer, I discovered recently. The recipe I used was adapted from the Star (the newspaper I read when I'm home), and they said you could use just about any type of cheese. So I did! I've never made *real* mac and cheese before, so this was a good start for me. I experimented with old cheddar, medium cheddar, emmental cheese and smoked gouda. It turned out creamy and lovely, (served along side with some steamed veggies) and the smokey flavour of gouda added a nice touch. However, I'll probably go with the regular kind next time. I had some of it leftover, and it did not take long for its aroma to take over my small fridge, and linger on for a bit after I'd finished it.

2 cups macaroni (preferably whole wheat)

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3 cups milk

2 cups mixed shredded semi-hard cheeses

Kosher salt + freshly ground pepper

2/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

In medium saucepan of boiled, salted water, cook macaroni as per package instructions until al dente. Drain well.

In another medium saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Whisk in flour until paste forms.

Gradually whisk in milk until smooth. Raise heat to medium-high; bring sauce to boil, whisking constantly, until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in mixed cheeses until melted. Season with salt and pepper. Add macaroni; stir to coat.

Transfer to 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Generously season with pepper. Cook under preheated broiler on high 5 to 8 minutes, until richly browned. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.