Sunday I decided to make pancakes. I haven’t cooked anything in weeks. I was quite a sight.  I was wearing bright orange plaid pajama pants, a black tshirt that said “I’m not dead yet.” with a really awesome owl apron from modcloth and bunny slippers while holding up a spatula with a very determined look on my face. PANCAKES.

They came out great. Then I moved on to cupcakes and a cake.  The decorating didn’t come out that grand, though.  Here’s the final product:

Perhaps next year on Valentine’s Day I’ll go all out.  Not so much this year.

Also, sorry for the short and sporadic posts.  I’m trying to get the world sorted and get myself back into the swing of things.   Stick around — I’ll be back soon.

The cheesy garlic knots were made from crescent rolls (just add loads of garlic and some mozzarella and bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until golden. The pigs in a blanket were the same concept – wrap little smokies in crescent rolls and add cheese if you like. I just put the little smokies in a tiny sauce pan and covered with BBQ sauce and about one tablespoon of grape jelly (I don’t know why but my grandma told me to and one should always listen to grandmothers). But these are all pretty easy and boring. The jalapeños were the fun event.

Anyone ever heard of “jalapeño hand”? Well. I’ll start with saying these tasted great. I cut the jalapeños in half and deseeded. Then I put cream cheese in them and then wrapped in bacon. Put in the oven for 20-30 minutes on 375 degrees. Super easy.

Until your hand begins to feel like it’s ablaze.

NOTE: USE GLOVES. I’m serious. I’ve cut jalapeños without gloves with no problem before. There must have been one really mean one in this batch because I didn’t use gloves and my hand was on fire for about 12 solid hours.

I felt really dumb being the 27 year old in tears in Walgreen’s asking the pharmacist to heal me. I googled this issue first. I tried everything. Milk. Water. Ice water. Lemon juice. Nothing really helped very much or for more than a few minutes. The pharmacist told me to call the poison control hotline. He said he calls them all the time (I didn’t ask why).

I then called the hotline and the conversation went something like this:
Me: Hi, I was dumb and cut jalapeños without gloves and now I think my hand is on fire. Please help me. Please.
Nice nurse lady: Not a problem. You should try milk of magnesia or some kind of oil like mineral oil or vegetable oil.
Me: I’ll go try those. Thanks.
Nice nurse lady: no problem. Call us back if that doesn’t work. Can I get your name, age, and zip code?
Me: I’m 27. Apparently not a very bright one. Sorry to bother y’all with something like this.
Nice nurse lady: Seriously it’s not a problem. You’re actually my third jalapeño call of the night.

So there you have it. At least I’m not alone. I did call back later and a different nurse lady answered. She said in the future, wash your hands in super hot water with dawn right after you cut the peppers. Or wear gloves. And apparently time is the only main cure by the goal is to get the oils off your hands.

So I rang in the new year siting on my couch with my hand in a bowl of milk until 6am when my hand no longer felt on fire.

Moral of the story: don’t eat jalapeños. Or use protection.

I woke up early to do some errands with the boyfriend, Kaleb.  After the errands, we decided to go eat breakfast.  While walking up to get kolaches, I received a phone call asking if I could come in for an interview on Wednesday.  It’s for a job that I’m super (SUPER) excited about! I hope it goes well.

Then I took a 3 hour nap (mainly because we started running errands at 7am and I went to bed around 2am.), and it was awesome.

Then I had lunch at Thundercloud Subs.

THEN we went geocaching. It’s our new hobby.  We’ve been finding some cool things, and it’s been nice to get out in the nice weather and act like ninjas in parks.  While we were at one park, we saw the most beautiful cat. Kaleb and I both wanted it, which is very unusual because Kaleb is not really an animal person.  We both saw this gorgeous cat, and Kaleb said very convincingly, “If you catch it, I will help you bring it home and will totally condone you owning a cat.”

So naturally, I immediately jumped out of the car after said kitty. It looked like a long haired albino bengal. Maybe not quite long hair, but longer than a regular bengal. However, it was clearly uninterested in my agenda, because after five minutes of trying to convince it how awesome it would be to come home with me, it  just looked at me with the most apathetic stare.

If it could talk, I’m pretty sure it’s response to my pleadings would have been:  “Yeah? Sardines and canned cat food you say? I was chasing a mouse until you showed up. I’d rather not, really.”

And then it just kind of walked off. So Kaleb gave his beast master powers a try.  He said it said the same to him.  (We’re special.)

I’ll also be sure to take a few pics of my paintings that I made a few years ago along with my book and DVD collection.  But I’m saying all this because a few weeks ago (actually when it immediately came out at midnight) I saw the new Alice in Wonderland that was directed by Tim Burton.

And I loved it.

I have heard a lot of critiques, and I think a good chunk of those people are just being snobs.   The only thing I disliked about the movie was the music selection during the Mad Hatter’s dance.  Otherwise, it might be the best Danny Elfman score in quite some time.  Also, it might be Tim Burton’s best film in quite some time.

I thought the Cheshire Cat was perfect.  Absolutely perfect.  I thought actress for Alice was a good choice – she did a great job.  I do think the makeup for her and the younger version of her was not very good, actually.  (Okay so two things were wrong with the movie.) I’ve heard a lot of people angry that the storyline took a very stereotypical/archetypal path, which is completely opposite to what Lewis was doing in Alice in Wonderland.   They say that Carroll purposefully wrote Alice as an observer only and not in any way more involved.  My response: I disagree, but even if you’re right… so what.  It’s a fun, visually appealing, and interesting movie.  It’s a different take and tangent to Alice in Wonderland.  In fact, they probably should’ve named it something else.  It actually seems like it’s almost a sequel to the Disney’s 1951 Alice in Wonderland.   I agree that there could’ve been some other device that the writer could’ve used to create an interesting and different Alice movie.  But he didn’t.  And this one works.  So instead of crying about a movie that doesn’t exist, I’m going to look at the one that does.  And this movie was a lot of fun, had a great plot, graphics were amazing, and I liked all the actors/actresses (including Johnny Depp, which I did not think was over the top). My favorite characters: the White Queen (Ann Hathaway) and the March Hare. I also didn’t think it was too Burton-y, which was surprising.

So there’s my opinion/almost rant about Alice in Wonderland.  Any thoughts?

]]> http://thissideofdandelions.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/alice-in-wonderland/feed/ 1 me http://thissideofdandelions.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/a-rainy-day/ http://thissideofdandelions.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/a-rainy-day/#comments Sat, 20 Mar 2010 20:56:40 +0000 me http://thissideofdandelions.wordpress.com/?p=20 ]]> I have yet to get started on the fabric wall project or much of anything artsy since I moved a few weeks ago.  I’ve been looking for jobs and unpacking and spending much needed time with friends instead. (If anyone in the Austin area is hiring, please let me know – I’m awesome, I promise.) But anyway, pretty soon I should have a few projects in the making.  I did manage to finally get my art nook in working condition and cleaned up yesterday.

It’s a rainy and cold day in Austin, which is upsetting considering how beautiful the weather has been.  This week has been SXSW, and the whole city is going a bit crazy.    The cool thing about SXSW is that there are other unofficial free events going on that are really cool and/or a bit absurd.  For instance, my boyfriend’s cousin runs this social club called the Austin Bacon Eaters (check them out on facebook).  There was an event called the Bacon Takedown last week.  It was basically a bacon cookoff, and the ABE entered.  Our guys made a bacon avacado salad that was to die for.  They won 3rd place in crowd’s choice and 4th place in the two judges’ choice.  A few pics:

There were all kinds of great entries as well.  Oddly there were a lot of desserts.  I know what you’re thinking… “Bacon dessert? What kind of crazies are y’all?” Well, however crazy we all were, it was absolutely amazing.

Aside from the Bacon Takedown, we also went to a concert that was at a used old school video game store called Game Over.  My friends band played, and they only play their cover versions of video game music (everything from Little Nemo to Megaman 3 and Mario. Of course.).  Here’s a video clip of their performance: Descendants of Erdrick.  I took the video with my new blackberry, so the quality isn’t the best. You still get the idea though.

We also attempted a few free shows downtown at Emos… that ended in total failure due to it being a metal show and people being jerks.  Regardless, it’s been fun.

Oh, and on St. Patrick’s Day, I made these:

Hopefully, I’ll get this whole job thing straightened out soon, and I’ll be more in the blogging and artsy kind of mood.  It’s been really frustrating with the job search because I’m qualified to do many things, and I’m not a moron.  However, the economy isn’t that great.  So we’ll see.

]]> http://thissideofdandelions.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/a-rainy-day/feed/ 0 me Bacon Avocado Salad by ABE Awards Descendants of Erdrick Cupcakes http://thissideofdandelions.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/packing-boxes-shutter-island-and-colored-walls/ http://thissideofdandelions.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/packing-boxes-shutter-island-and-colored-walls/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:27:18 +0000 me http://thissideofdandelions.wordpress.com/?p=14 ]]> Once I made the decision to move back to Austin, I hit the ground running.  I’m moving this weekend (only two weeks after I signed all the papers to withdraw from the university).  Everything has really fallen into place – I’ve gotten out of every contract with no fees, including my lease.  It’s really surprising.

However, with moving comes packing – one of my least favorite things to do aside from breaking a limb.   I always find myself staring at a fork thinking, “Will I need you in three hours?  What about this ziploc sitting next to you?” Eventually everything will get packed.

I took a break last Thursday, however, and K and I went to see Shutter Island.  I absolutely loved it! I won’t discuss it in depth yet, because it’s impossible to do without any spoilers.  Once the movie has been out for a few more weeks, then I’ll give my two cents about it.  The few things I can say are that I thought the acting was absolutely amazing, it kept my attention the entire time (not something always easily done), and it’s still making me think about it a week later.  So go forth and watch Shutter Island and come back and tell me what you thought!

Also, since I move in three days, I’ve decided my first project of the new apartment will be the fabric wall.  (Here are two awesome blogs that talk about it: Silver Linings: Purple and How About Orange: Starched fabric decal experiment) My mom and I are going to Ikea, so I should be able to find some interesting and cheap fabric to use.  I’m probably going to do one accent wall somewhere.

The one good thing about moving is that I get a clean canvas for decorating.  I’ll be sure to take before and after photos.  Decorating is always an ongoing process for me, but I’m excited to see how this apartment turns out.  Also, a nice perk is that I actually have windows in my kitchen for once, so I should be able to have a nice and sunny breakfast every morning.

I’m so excited I’ll be back in Austin!

I wasn’t willing to sacrifice that. Also, I just didn’t have the energy. I really didn’t want to spend my entire life working 70 hours a week to pay back loans for a career I was not too thrilled about.

So I left. Right in the middle of everything.

I honestly thought it would be terrible. I was going to break a lease, I would have no money, no job, tons of debt, and nothing but a pug to keep me company. But I was willing to do that before I spent one more day inside that school.

Oddly, the easiest thing about law school was leaving. My complex let me out of my lease with no fees. I have a job interview on Monday. My friends are all excited to have me back in Austin. My family even understood and agreed it would be best. The pug still loves me.

So now I’m back in Austin – the place where I can do things I enjoy. I’ve never been so relieved. I really feel at home here. I’ve been going down the gonna-be-an-attorney road since high school. Now I get to plow through some uncharted territory and figure out what I really want out of life.

This blog is going to be my diary of how I get through this whole new change and a collection of things I like – mostly involving arts and crafts, music, movies, local events, baking, and dog treats.