A Common Problem

I saw this driving home from work the other day:

I'm Not Touching You

We've all been here, haven't we?


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Mojito: Part Two, er...Dos!

I did it. I made my first mojito. Then I made my second, and third, and......well, you get the idea. I feel like I know what I'm doing now, so I shall share with you my mojito experience..with pictures even! First off, I don't own a shot glass, or if I do I can't find it. Hence the measuring cup. Very scientific and bar-like, don't you think? I followed the recipe I put on my first mojito post...but changed it as I tasted.

As you can see my drink making supplies leave something to be desired. Since I don't own a 'real' muddler I used the end of a wooden spoon. A muddler has more surface area for muddling so you probably get faster muddled results with one. The ones I've seen on-line resemble miniature baseball bats. I went and read up on muddling too. Apparently you can muddle too much and bring out the bitterness of the fruits / leaves you are muddling. Well. I wouldn't want to do that. I made the simple syrup (2 parts sugar / 1 part water boiled together for a minute). I made plenty for future use...works well for lemonade and iced tea, too. It's the stuff in the mason ball jar,if you were wondering.



Also, no ice crusher. Well, no fancy ice crusher - just the low tech version that looks suspiciously like a hammer. My younger daughter thought that it was gross to use a hammer, until I told her I put the ice in a plastic bag for crushing.





The recipe calls for a sprig of mint. My sprig had about 8 or 10 leaves or so. One recipe I saw called for 12 leaves. Guess it depends on how big the leaves are and how much you like mint. I used one whole lime (reduced to half a lime for all future drinks - much better!), and added a bit more syrup than called for. You can use whatever brands you prefer for club soda and rum (if anyone from Bacardi sees this, feel free to send me a thank you bottle...or two...for my upcoming vacation / family gathering). The verdict? Tasty, refreshing and full of delicitude, or delishitude, depending on your spelling preference for non-existent words....

Mt. Tater

Who among us hasn't made a mashed potato and gravy volcano on our dinner plate? I did it a lot as a child. My younger daughter recently had the opportunity to make a volcano for a science project and she chose the quintessential mashed potato volcano for hers.

Originally she wanted a gravy eruption - because, hey, who wouldn't? She had this idea the the mountain could erupt and then everyone could dig in. Theoretically this would be possible, but in practice, not so much. We thought about numerous ways to make her volcano erupt but eventually we settled on the basic vinegar and baking soda combo to get the job done. To make our lava red we used condensed tomato soup that was thinned out with some vinegar. We experimented with quantities of baking soda and soup mixture until we got the eruption we were looking for.

Then we built this:

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mt. Tater! Yes, its actually made of mashed potatoes. If I had thought of it at the time I would have taken pictures of my daughter up to her elbows in potato flakes and water. Basically, she mixed a couple of large boxes of mashed potato flakes (bargain brand) with water and about 3 eggs. The eggs were to help the mixture hold together. We built Tater Mountain around a water bottle and some wadded paper towels (to lighten the load)and when it was done we 'painted' it with some caramel coloring (the kind you buy to darken gravy). A dusting of pepper around the top was reminiscent of volcanic ash. We did all this the night before and wrapped it in plastic to keep it from drying out.

Each student had to talk about their volcano (what type of volcano and the type of eruption) as well telling about their choice of building materials. One of the nice things about Mt. Tater is that it's easily biodegradable (except the water bottle inside). The opening is plugged with some paper towel and the figure made of paper on top is her science teacher with a word bubble. My daughter and her teacher had an ongoing argument over a test question and my daughter decided to rib her teacher about it by placing him at the top during the eruption. Thankfully he has a good sense of humor! I wasn't able to leave work to attend the actual eruption but I hear it came off as planned and Mt. Tater was the talk of the school. Yes, my daughter was quite pleased with herself!

Mojitos . . .

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending my nephew's wedding in South Florida. The bride was beautiful, the groom was beautiful, the weather was beautiful! It was a wonderful weekend and I really enjoyed the getaway. The last night I was there several of us went out to dinner, where we sat out doors and enjoyed the weather, the company and the food. One of my sisters had introduced me to the mojito a few years back and when she ordered one before dinner I jumped on the bandwagon and ordered one as well. Because, you know, they're tasty and light and refreshing...and I hadn't had one in a while.
My drink looked like what you see here, except there was no lime or mint leaves hanging around on the table for a photo op. Now, I'm no connoisseur of mojitos, although that certainly seems like a noble profession, does it not? After one sip of my drink I was ready for a career change. That first sweet sip of minty delicitude (ok, that's not a real word...except in my world) had me thinking "Mojito Connoisseur" was the perfect new job title for me!

A mojito, for the great unwashed (mojito virgins,if you will), is made with fresh mint, sugar syrup, lime juice, rum and club soda. Or sparkling water...depending on what recipe you find. If you don't have sugar syrup (and don't want to make it - come on now, it's only sugar and water boiled together!) you can use plain sugar. I've been reading up on these babies because I'm on a mission this weekend to re-create that perfect and awesome mojito that I experienced.

So, the recipes all say that you have to muddle the mint/limejuice/sugar mixture. Muddling sounds like something I can do! All day in fact. Who wouldn't want to muddle? There's even a tool for muddling - called a muddler! Who'd have thought? Think mortar and pestle. Well, more like tall glass and pestle. I'm telling you this because I want you all to go and try this so I won't be muddling alone this weekend. We can all muddle through this together. Awe, come on, you knew that was coming...

Anyhow, you can use the recipe below or find another on line. They are all fairly similar:

Mojito

* 1 Large Sprig Spearmint
* .75 oz. Simple Syrup
* 1 oz. Lime Juice
* 2 oz. White Rum
* 3 oz. Sparkling Mineral Water

Gently muddle the spearmint sprig and syrup in a 16 oz mixing glass. Add the lime juice, rum, and mineral water with the spent lime hull for garnishment. Fill with crushed ice and stir until drink is combined and glass is frosty.

The first time I had a mojito it was not particularly sweet. You'll need to adjust the sweetness level to your taste. I'll let you know how mine turns out - perhaps if I think of it I'll get a picture too. Let me know if you give this a try, ok?

Oh, and happy muddling!

LOL's, Graphs and Other Fun

Here's a little something to help us all get through the week:



see more Lolcats and funny pictures




see more pwn and owned pictures




see more Engrish




see more Funny Graphs




see more Lolcats and funny pictures




see more Funny Graphs





see more Engrish

Holy Moses, What A Ride!

Half a dozen years ago, when I was in my early 40's, I did something out of the ordinary...for me, anyway. I've never had much love for roller-coasters, mainly because they make me want to hurl. Motion sickness just isn't my thing. But for some reason, after I had turned 40 I felt I had to prove something to myself.

I didn't even realize I had this need until after we arrived at Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando. When you arrive at the park you can see and hear the Hulk Roller-Coaster well before you enter the gate. It has a loud growling/roaring kind of noise that it produces. Right away I was mesmerized by the whole thing but I had no intention of getting on it. When we came into the park we stood and watched it for a while and then got on about our business of having fun for the day.

Eventually my oldest and her dad rode the Hulk. My youngest was, well, too young and I was too chicken. I wasn't afraid of the speed or the height or anything like that. I just don't like to be sick and dizzy (go figure!) because once I get motion-sick the feeling can last the rest of the day. Eventually, though, I found myself standing below the ride watching it go around again and again. That's when I began to feel the need to ride. The need to prove to myself that I could (and should) ride the Hulk. Somehow, I felt that if I left the park that day without conquering the Hulk I would not be able to look myself in the mirror - like I would really be letting myself down. It was like some right of passage that I had to complete.

At some point I left the girls with their dad and wandered back to the Hulk. I bet I stood there for an hour getting my nerve up, convincing myself I could do it without fainting or losing my lunch. After I had psyched myself into going, it took me about half an hour to get through the line to the top. It seemed like forever but then suddenly I came around a corner and there I was - next in line to board. Which I did. The contraption (photo from Mr. Noded, Flickr) closed around me, and then the ride began. For a couple of seconds you move along slowly and then you suddenly accelerate and get shot out like a canon ball, whereupon you immediately get turned upside down and dropped.

I found a good description of the ride on line:

"....riders are shot (they're not kidding!)out within 2 seconds at 40 mph and are sent through a zero-g roll, down a 105-foot drop (zoiks!!)and through a cobra roll. Riders complete a vertical loop, then enter a tunnel full of mist. At this point of the ride, the train's speed has reached approximately 60-67 mph (it was pretty much a blur when I could force my eyes open). The train encircles the gamma tube and is sent into the back area via corkscrew (there was a lot of upside down time). After another vertical loop and two over-banked turns, the coaster is slowed down by a brake run before being sent down another hill to a corkscrew and turn-around. Riders then travel sideways through a camera area (yeah, I looked mortified!)and then to the ride's closing after a helix.

Now, while I had stood below watching the ride for an hour (mentally preparing and all) I hadn't taken into account the fact that I had not yet seen the back half of the ride. Had I noticed the spaghetti-knot portion on the back half I'm not so sure I would have gotten on! I tried to keep my eyes open- it took a concerted effort! I also had to keep telling myself to breath. After the first corkscrew I thought I would lose it but somehow when you are going so fast and flipping around so much - well, maybe it's impossible to throw up when 'up' keeps changing?? Looking back on it now it's a wonder I didn't have a stroke.

When I got off the ride I couldn't believe I hadn't fainted or gotten sick. My legs however felt like jelly and it was quite a knock-kneed walk down. I did get to see a picture of my face from when we traveled through the camera area but I didn't want to spend money on a picture of me looking mortified! I found this video on you-tube that almost does the ride justice. Oh, and if you're wondering - no, I don't think I'll try something like this again!



Really, I guess roller-coasters are just a metaphor for life, aren't they?
Q: What's a metaphor?
A: It's where you keep your sheep....