Author: admin

Today is brought to you by the letter M, cause I'm eating a muffin.

What's your letter?

I'm feeling much better now. Headache gone. Woke up at a godawful hour this morning cause Katy had to be at the office early. I was lucky at least in the fact that I was able to go back to bed for two hours before having to get up to get ready for work.

Slow night. I'm watching TV, Katy's snoring away on the bed. She dropped dead round 8pm and I don't really expect her to be lucid until tomorrow morning. It's a good thing that she got me earplugs for tonight, I have a feeling I'm going to need htem. It really sucks that her job leaves her so drained at night :( I hope the applications we found for her closer to home pay off.

I've had a headache since I woke up this morning. Katy and I slept poorly last night for reasons unclear. I woke up with a pain right behind my right eye, my normal spot for a headache. Earlier this morning, it was messing with my tear ducts, a sign that it's going to be a nasty one. Advil helped for a while, but it's now come back with a vengeance. I just took some more, but I'm going to be completely useless for the rest of the day. Having throbbing pain on half of your face really doesn't help to make you productive.

No, it's not a porn flick. It's a show I watched last night on TV. It was a documentary about teens in texas (ya don't say!) and the growing popularity of “purity pledges” – vows to remain virgins until marriage.

I was watching that and I was was angry. Angry at the lies being told to the youth of today. Did you know that latex condoms are useless because they're synthetic, and the fibers of latex are porous and will let spem and viruses go through? Neither did I. Apparently, abstinence is the only way to be safe. Oh, that that's what God wants too, so there you go.

With scare tactics and misinformation, added to the fact that it's ILLEGAL to teach sex ed in public schools, it's scarcely a wonder that Texas (and most of the bible belt, actually) has the highest rate of teen pregnancy and that ghonorrea is rampant. And don't even get me started on “technical” virginity… Then, of course, there's the issue that lesbian and gay teens face: how can you be abstinent until marriage if you're not legally allowed to marry? Well, never mind, gays are evil and will go straight to hell anyway, so who cares if they're pure?

What really got me riled though was a couple of teens who got married, but since sex was this whole taboo, they had no idea of what to do with their bodies. So who did they go see for advice? Their pastor, of course, who told them that men are microwaves and women are slow cookers.

Makes perfect sense.

Just came back from lunch. I was following the crowd of coworkers, who decided to go on their usual post-lunch walk. Not really paying attention, I followed. It started out ok, on a nice maintained path. I realized I was in trouble when the nice path turned into a footpath that went across a wetland nature reserve. I managed not to make a fool of myself by screaming like at a girl at everything that buzzed my way (and trust me, there was much to yelp about) but I was jumpy all the way.

We are not amused.

A new chilli sauce goes on sale today that is so hot it could KILL.

Ultra-concentrated 16 Million Reserve is the hottest science can make. The sauce is 30 times hotter than the spiciest pepper and 8,000 times more fiery than Tabasco.

Diners must sign a disclaimer recommending protective gloves and eye wear but even sweating testers in safety gear were blinded by tears for 30 minutes.

Just 999 bottles of it are on sale at each.

Medical experts fear it could kill asthmatics or hospitalise a user who touches a sensitive part of the body afterwards.

It is made of pure capsaicin, the chemical that makes peppers hot. It takes tons of peppers to make 1lb of capsaicin.

Creator Blair Lazar, 35, specialises in extreme food in New Jersey, US. After trying it, he said: Its like having your tongue hit with a hammer. Man, it hurt.

The sauce is named after its score on the chilli heat measure, the Scoville Unit.

Reserve scores 16 million units, while a Red Savina, the worlds spiciest pepper, measures just 570,000.

I used my blender for the first time tonight, to make carrot/potato/leek soup. As a main course, I made the risotto carbonara I'd written about previously. It was a smashing success. I didn't have any arborio, so I used basmati rice. I used the veggie stock from the soup to make the risotto. Really nice. I was dubious at the beginning because of the amount of stock I had to put in, but dayum, it's GOOD! I have a feeling this recipe is going to become a frequent feature in our diet. I also made the citrus cake to satisfy Katy's (and mine, to be honest) cake jones. A bit overcooked, but otherwise yummy. I'm still getting used to my oven, so things should only get better.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened at room temperature
1 cup sugar, plus 1/3 cup
4 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup lemon juice, plus 1/3 cup

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 6-cup loaf pan and line it with parchment or waxed paper. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or using a hand mixer), cream the butter. Add 1 cup of the sugar and mix. With the mixer running at low speed, add the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla.

Working in alternating batches, and mixing after each addition, add the dry ingredients and 1/4 cup of the lemon juice to the butter mixture. Mix until just smooth.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake until raised in the center and a tester inserted into the center comes out dry and almost clean (a few crumbs are OK), 65 to 75 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the glaze: In a small bowl, stir together the remaining 1/3 cup sugar and the remaining 1/3 cup lemon juice until the sugar is dissolved.
When the cake is done, let cool in the pan 15 minutes (it will still be warm). Run a knife around the sides of the pan. Set a wire rack on a sheet pan with sides (to catch the glaze) and turn the cake out onto the rack. Peel off the waxed paper.
Using a turkey baster or pastry brush, spread glaze all over the top and sides of the cake and let soak in. Repeat until the entire glaze is used up, including any glaze that has dripped through onto the sheet pan. Let cool at room temperature or, wrapped in plastic wrap, in the refrigerator (Well wrapped, the cake will last up to a week). Serve at room temperature, in thin slices.

Slow day today. Katy is in Leicester to see some friends. I didn't tag along cause train fare would have been prohibitive considering that I haven't been paid yet. I spent a good part of the day doing housework – I'm so domestic these days it's scary. Did lots of laundry and washing up and gave myself a coffee headache. Go me. The weather has been british-standard. It was pissing earlier, and now it's bright and sunny. Windy as hell too – I'm beginning to call Cambs The Windy City. I just made myself fish & chips for dinner. Yum.

I'm boring even myself with this entry, so I'll stop now.

The shuttles for Cambridge leave at 5:30 *sharp*.

This means that you're SOL if you're there at 5:32.

crap.