Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

So I was reading Popular Science and read about a website called shop4freebies, and since many of the best things in life are free I was obligated to go look at this website. Aside from "yes, I would love for you to send me a free sample" type things they also have recipe books that you can download or ask to have mailed to you for free. One booklet I skimmed was for Sun-maid raisin recipes, and that resulted in:

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (24)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix in a small bowl:
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix in a large bowl:
1 c. brown sugar
6 Tbsp. nonfat vanilla yogurt
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Add the dry mix to the wet and stir until well combined.

Stir in:
1 1/3 c. uncooked rolled oats
1 c. raisins

Drop rounded spoonfuls of dough onto a cookie sheet about 1.5" apart. You should get about 24 cookies. *

Bake 11-13 minutes or until lightly browned. **

Immediately remove with a spatula and transfer to a cooking rack or plate. If you wait they will be harder to get off of the tray. ***

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* I used 2 half sheet pans with a 3x4 layout, and the amount of cookie dough worked out perfectly for 24 cookies.

** Doneness is admittedly hard to determine since the brown sugar and wheat flour make the cookies so dark. I look for the cookies to be matte instead of glossy on top and for resiliance when I poke them.

*** To make your life easier you could lightly grease the sheet with butter to make the cookies easier to remove. You could also use a silpat that you can just lift off and move to the counter, the cookies will easily peel off once cooled and set.
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Feedback: As a first attempt these are quite tasty. I think they have good flavor and texture. Banik finds the cookies to be a bit too sweet. Since we tend to like less sweet foods I may try using half brown and half white sugar next time to see if that helps. They must be decent though- he's already eaten 4 of them.

Evolution of the Household

The article has statistics for each decade from the 1950's to 2000's. They aren't terribly consistant, but it is interesting nonetheless.

there's never enough R2-D2

This morning Banik sent me a link for commercial by Nikko. If I had absurd amounts of money to burn I could now have an R2-D2 projector and/or webcam of my very very own. Actually one set for me to play with and one set to keep in the original packaging. Banik would have to get his own.



Prices for this awesomeness?

the R2-D2 Projector + Millenium Falcon remote is $2900
the R2-D2 Webcam + Lightsaber remote and IP phone is $400

maybe it's just a phase... again

I'm having another stage of Star Wars obsession- they do tend to come and go- and it's not really helping me get things done for real life.

There are 3D puzzles. Over break I built the Imperial Star Destroyer, and I'm still working on the Millennium Falcon at home. Now I find that there's an R2D2 and a model an Anakin's Jedi Fighter that I'd never even seen before I found them online tonight. You know, while I should have been working.

Banik went and got me playing the SW Pocket Model TCG (trading card game, for those like me who had no reason to know that). First it was a pack so that I could build the little ships in it; they are SW after all. Then it was another pack because the ships were neat. Then it was 4 more because when he talked me into trying to play with only 2 packs we really didn't have enough ships and cards to do much. Now he's hoping that this is the gateway drug into me actually taking up miniature gaming, and I'm hoping that I don't just keep buying and building these neat little starships. Oh, and they have a ground assault version. Guess how many packs you have to buy to get yourself an AT-AT model.

Banik also has this book that I've been reading about the behind-the-scenes stuff. Because what I really need is even more esoteric SW trivia knowledge. And he's been mentioning all the SW novels; since I read a few years ago it's rather piqued my interest in them again.

I've watched all the movies in the last week or so, and if I'd had time I probably would've watched all the extras as well. I've also been poking around on a few of my more preferred SW webpages, but I shouldn't talk about that now. I think I'm in enough trouble as it is. Maybe I'll go photoshop something.

"i'll keep you, my dirty little secret"

Not the most flattering of endearments, hmm? PostSecret is a blog that I first learned of when Banik linked me the video for All American Regects' "Dirty Little Secret."

For some reason I keep going back. It's not that I read it religously, but rather that I find myself rediscovering it when I'm alone. I tend to watch the song and read the blog simultaneously; they are perpetually linked in my mind. I would imagine that there are a lot of reasons people read it- for the shock value, to know that there is always someone more messed up than they are, for the reassurance that other people feel the way they do, to see if their cards will be posted.

From what I can tell, however, once they leave the mainpage the posts are gone; to read more postcards you have to keep up because there are no labeled groups or older posts to visit. In the PostSecret Community there are video secrets and such, but it's not the same as the graphic clarity of the postcards. (If your internet is less than wonderful watching the videos is also rather painful.) For those who prefer the overdose instead of the IV drip, there are four books released in 2005, 2006, and January and October of 2007.

One day I may have to aquire them.

Disapproving Rabbits

It may or may not be for the best, but I've discovered another blog that I can look at without channeling sarcasm. I've already been visiting Cute Overload and Stuff on my Cat, which I highly recommend to anyone who deals with a lot of stress. For those of you who aren't cat people there is Stuff on my Mutt, but I don't find that to be cute so much as people forcing their poor dogs to wear stupid costumes and other items of clothing. Still not your cup of tea? CO keeps a running list of links that may suit your fancy. Anyway, I'd like to think I already have enough cuteness in my life, but apparently not. This is all your fault; you know who you are, with your cartoon-pig-in-a-dragon-costume post-its.

For anyone who likes cute fuzzy animals in the first place (read as "anyone with a soul") Disapproving Rabbits has the potential to become a sinkhole of time... or at least a webpage that occupies time when your brain is useless following a late night and a relentless day of class but you have to work til 22:00 anyway. They're overflowing with all kinds of rabbits with one thing in common: overwhelming disapproval.

Perhaps the reason I don't channel sarcasm is that the rabbits do it for me? If so, I'm going to need an army of hopping minions. Certainly the ones that resemble powder puffs are out, but I have no idea if the upright or floppy earred ones would be better for maximum damage. Clearly this will require some research.

Will there be rabbits in our future menagerie? Perhaps. They'll have to join the waiting list along with everyone else. There have been maybe a dozen nominations, but I suppose that's another post for another time. At the moment it seems like having any pets is a very long way off.