Thursday, April 14, 2011

the ultimate twofer.

I'd like to tell you about my Thursday night twofer. But first I feel like I must explain Twofer or else you might miss the point. I wasn't sure how to define it as it's a fake word, so I hit google for some research. Nothing but cold hard factoids for this blog.

My first find was a widely trusted source, especially for trendy words and phrases. Here's what Urban Dictionary has to say: A Twofer is when you get two things for the effort, price, time, or space of one.
I feel like one source isn't enough for such crucial information, and I don't want my bibliography to look too scarce so I checked out a site that's a little more serious, and has a bit more clout. TheFreeDictionary.com reports that Twofer is an informal noun and defines it as: An offer, a deal, or an arrangement in which a single expense yields a dual return.
OK, now that I feel like we are now on the same page, let's move on to the point of my story. A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon a recipe for Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies. BINGO! Twofer, i thought to myself. A cookie within a cookie, oh my god! Both the recipe title and accompanying pictures were enticing, however I decided to pass on it as I had oatmeal raisin cookies on my baking agenda.

This recipe haunted me for the next two weeks. I thought about it every time i thought about cookies (hourly) and each time i was at the grocery store. Finally I gave in and picked up the necessary ingredients. I decided yesterday that it was time to get project OSCCC underway. Today is Performance Evaluation day at work so I reckon everyone will appreciate a cookie (or two).

There is nothing much to say about the recipe itself, it's more about the assembly process. Essentially you take two scoops of cookie dough and smush it around an oreo. As per my usual insaneness I spent way too much time in front of the oven watching the first batch cook. I sit in anxiously hoping the cookies won't spread into each other. Nothing kills me more than cookies that touch when baking, i think that's a leftover fear from when I used to hate my food touching on my plate. My fears are not realized, the spread is minimal. The cookies come out nice and high and you can just tell that there's something magical about them. But until you bite or cut one in half the magicalness stays a secret. Of course I had to taste test and they are scandalously and deliciously delightful. I will have to put a sign up near the plate at work warning everyone that they are a Diet Wrecker. Five bucks says they're all gone by lunch time.




PS, the recipe came from this lovely blog called Picky Palate, here's the link: http://picky-palate.com/2011/01/06/oreo-stuffed-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Monday, April 4, 2011

Lost.ampersand.Found

Once upon a time there was a girl. This girl misplaced her ipod in the summer of 2010. She searched high and low; she scoured her penthouse, car and all of her belongings. She asked (some would say accused would be more apt term) all her family members, friends and even co-workers to no avail. She thought it would turn up sooner or later, pushed it out of her head and moved on.

Christmas time rolls around and Santa brings her an iPod shuffle. A sigh of relief she breaths. One long, unproductive month later, she finally downloads some songs onto her ipod and goes for a run. FANTASTIC! She wears it in the condo, plugs it in through her car adapter while she's driving and uses it for running. Every once in a while she gets pangs of jealousy at other's ipods who have screens and stop watches. She tries not to even think about their on-the-go playlist options and video capabilities. Occasionally she is hit with pangs of longing for her legendary playlists that were carefully cultivated. But as I mentioned, she moved on.

One super rainy Monday in her new life- Life after PodLoss- she is about to leave the office when a call comes in that she has to take. She borrows a co-workers computer and deals with the call. She grabs her stuff to leave and heads to the gym. After her first round of the circuit she grabs her water and goes to check her phone. "Hrmph, it's missing," she mumbles to herself. She realizes she's left it on her desk at work. She spends the next round on the circuit weighing the pros and cons of going back to work to get her phone. She finishes up and decides to do another check through her purse. The vastness of this purse definitely requires one to do more than 1 check. She begins again, taking everything out, searching carefully. Nothing. Hmm. The secret side pouch? Nah... Then she thinks, "What the heck," and reaches her hand in and feels something! A tampon - sad face - Hmm, a bit more scrounging and O. M. G! Her hand touches something electronic, she pulls it out. At first glimpse her heart literally stops in her chest. It's electric blue! Can it be? The long lost ipod!? It is! It is! Her mind flashes through all life's new possibilities, the playlists, the stop watching. It's a new day!

Damnit. The rejoicing ends abruptly. "Where the heck's my blackberry?!" She goes back to the office and retrieves her phone and all is right with the world.

Now that's winning! Duh:)