So first - the karma thing. I worked on Saturday and in a flurry to get out the door and on the road I didn't grab anything to eat except an apple. I knew that would not be enough for a 9 hour shift while I am in full on musteatmorefoodnowbottomlesspit mode (aka, taking care of lady business). So I made my way to work, and after I got off the highway stopped at a little convenience store that I frequent and hooked myself up with an AP (Arnold Palmer) and Nutrigrain bar. I completed my transaction, went back outside into the howling wind and into my car. I was preparing to pull out of the parking lot when I was sneak-attack-accosted by a gentleman knocking on my window. He claimed he needed to get back to NH from MA and was out of gas and needed money. I had only put my window down a hair, but the whole situation felt warning.warning.wrong.wrong.WRONG. So I apologized and said I had no cash and continued on my way to work. I immediately felt guilty. Now don't get me wrong, I've been hit up for money before - it happens pretty much whenever I go to Boston or NYC or Philly. And I employ my tried and true method of "Do Not Engage. Do Not Make Eye Contact." And it has served me and countless millions well. This however, was decidedly NOT Boston. More like the middle of nowhere, plus apple trees, and a few people.
Maybe you think my methods are cruel, and maybe they are. But maybe I'm lucky to work 12 hours a week and still have to be responsible for phone bill, electric bill, gas bill, and grocery bill for two people as well as putting gas in my car to get to the 12hr/wk job that is 35 minutes away. Let's just say yes, I did have $10 in my wallet, but I am not necessarily in a position to just give it up considering there is a looming unpaid credit card bill, that has and will continue to loom until I get a real job (which is looking optimistic these days). So despite my refusal, I did pretty much immediately feel guilty and certain that bad things would befall me. They haven't. (knock on wood)
Second - and this is just kind of a funny aside - boyfriend loves to harass me and interrupt my internet surfing. I normally enjoy this activity on the sofa next to him with my laptop perched on my lap. He takes this as an invitation to reach over and press as many buttons on my keyboard as possible. Especially the calculator button. Yes, there is a button on my keyboard whose sole function is to open up the calculator. I know, it seems superfluous. But I didn't choose this computer because of its keyboard attributes. I chose it because it was cheap. And I had spilled a glass of iced tea on my last one. So this morning I am checking email, perusing recipes and meal planning for the week, and I get up to procure some breakfast (more about that in a minute) and return with breakfast to the sofa and laptop only to find about five calculator windows open, something boyfriend is immensely fond of doing, but clearly incapable of because he has a real job and is working hard at the moment. Curious.
Anyway, breakfast. Breakfast! Chocolate! You too can have it all in one neat package. Yay! Three cheers for me!
Chocolate Chip Muffins
Born from boyfriend's infinite capacity to consume chocolate chip cookies, and my indifference to making chocolate chip cookies. Again. (I tend to to lose interest after the first sheet of them go in the oven, so the cookies get progressively larger because of my laziness.)
3 cups AP flour (I'm interested to use cake flour next time, we shall see)
1/2 white sugar
1/2 brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter softened
1/4 ts baking soda
2 3/4 ts baking powder
2 1/2 ts vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 cups choc. chips (I had chunks on hand and they worked fine)
Oven @ 375
For future reference I would add more sugar next time. Or change the sugar ratio to 3/4 cup white and 1/4 brown. I understand the brown is there to give it that cookie like taste, but had the muffin base had anything other than chocolate (like fruit) it would not have been sweet enough.
Get the dry together - flour, baking soda, baking powder. The original recipe also called for salt, but I never add salt, because I never use unsalted butter. I figure the salted butter compensates for the salt in the recipe. Unsalted butter is for buttercream only.
Cream together sugars and butter. Then add eggs and vanilla. Cream. Alternate adding dry ingredient mix and milk. Stir in chips. Et Voila!
Bake 20 minutes. No way does this need 30 minutes. Also, the muffins will rise. Alot. That's what you get with almost 3 teaspoons of baking soda.
Things to look forward to this week, yeasted waffles, brined pork chops, chicken soup, homemade naan, probably some sort of mexican food, and hopefully a margarita the size of my face. YES!
No comments:
Post a Comment