Sweet Tooth

Marshmallows (with tie) and Caramels
packaged up for my niece & nephew.

I kind of have a new hobby, and it's not good. First of all, I'm diabetic with some impulse control issues. Second, I'm seriously trying to eat healthier and lose weight so I can get that pesky diabetes under control. So candy-making? Probably not the best hobby to pick up.

Friends and family aren't complaining, though, because after my husband and I eat a couple/few pieces of my experiments, I package up the rest and mail 'em out. With the summer approaching, I'm going to have to take a break, and only do this when I have a special occasion to cook for, but it has been a blast - all two weekends of it.

It started out innocently enough. Several weeks ago, I stumbled across a book on Amazon and wishlisted it: Sugar Baby: Confections, Candies, Cakes & Other Delicious Recipes for Cooking with Sugar. When I have a chance to get myself a small treat, it's usually a book, so a wishlist is a great way to see what I want (in case I forgot) and what's on sale, etc.. So, when I had the opportunity to pick out a new book, this was it.

My first caramels, using Hungry Girl's recipe.

In the meantime, one of my friends on Facebook (Hi, Debbie!) shared a link to a recipe for some yummy-sounding Demerara Caramels. There I was, all in the mood to make some candy, and the book wouldn't get to me by the weekend, so this was destined to be my first candy-making* experience.

My attempts to procure a candy thermometer could almost earn their own blog post! In just a little over a week, I have owned four thermometers, three before the Sugar Baby book arrived and I just followed her recommendations and got a classic Taylor Thermometer (around $10 at my "local" grocery (local is relative in the country)). The first one broke in the utensil cup of my counter-top drain rack before it could be used once. The second one, although found with the caramel apple-making supplies at a concession-supply store,** was really for meat and the temperature did not go nearly high enough. Number three would go high enough, but was digital and I got it wet somehow when I rinsed off the probe (should have just wiped it down, yes?). It's what I used for the first attempt, but it was a little glitchy.

It turns out that we own pretty decent pans for candy-making: heavy-bottomed stainless steel. I didn't think I could get the Demerara sugar called for in Hungry Girl's recipe (turns out I didn't look closely enough), so I used Turbinado sugar and dark corn syrup instead. Despite have a glitchy thermometer, I actually managed to get my first batch of caramels done on the first try! They were the perfect (to me) consistency/texture, and the flavor was deep and rich. We had a couple pieces each, and the rest went to family & friends. (I posted a message on Facebook, offering up caramels to anyone that wanted them (in the US -- I wasn't sure about mailing them internationally.) The folks that chimed in got a package of sweets in the mail.) They were pronounced "yummy," and it was good.

Then, the book arrived. Being a very novice beginner candy-maker, I'm probably not the best reviewer, mostly because I don't know what I'm talking about. From my limited perspective, it's fantastic! Great pictures, clear directions and tips that made this beginner comfortable enough to dive in.

One batch of Marshmallows. I actually got
a plate dirty to take the picture.

First up: marshmallows. Oh, yes, I can see myself making these again. I'd like to try piping them or, if poured and cut again, I need to find a way to keep the goop from sticking to the sides of the pan. (Wondering if cooking spray would work?) I did the full recipe, adding in the (optional) egg whites. Since I've never done it before, I'm not sure if I did it all exactly right, but they sure looked and tasted like marshmallows when I was done! The only thing I think I'd do differently next time is add more vanilla, just because I think I'd like the flavor even better. I also want to try some variations -- strawberry marshmallows are calling to me.

Fleur de Sel Caramels, poured and salted. (Next time,
I'll measure the salt for the top!)

Caramels, take two. These had the perfect, traditional caramel taste, with the sea salt making the flavors pop even more. I kind of had a reading comprehension fail while I was making them and added the butter, salt and vanilla too early, so I don't know if that accounted for the texture difference. (Basically, I skipped a step, but was able to get the mixture to the right temperature anyway.) These were much closer to a hard candy than the first type I made (they also called for twice as much cream, so I'm hoping that's the explanation). Seriously, these were beautiful. (I don't have the book handy, but I think they're called "Fleur de Sel Caramels.")

Cutting the caramels. (That's a pizza cutter, not a machete.)
They hardened up pretty quickly and that, along with the
butter, kept the pieces from sticking until wrapping.

The only real problem with these? Cutting the caramels into smallish pieces as I did was a good thing, because bigger pieces could give you a sore jaw if you insisted on chewing them (I have little patience with "sucking candies"), but cutting them small yielded way over 100 caramels and wrapping them seemed endless. Oh, that and the fact that they were there, all weekend, taunting me. Yup, that's my big complaint: it made a lot of candy and I ate way too many of them.

It became immediately clear that I had to get most of those caramels out of my house! I went through a rough patch recently, and several people helped cheer me up by sending surprises in the mail (and email - knitting patterns are a great pick-me-up!), so I made cute little bags out of gift wrap and put together little "Thank You" packages for several of them. A few people commented on the pictures on Facebook again, so some packages went to those folks as well.

PS: There's a companion blog for the cookbook, with extra photos, video tutorials, etc.: SugarBaby Cookbook.

*As fun and cute as they are, I don't count melting those candy discs and pouring them into molds as making candy. Don't get me wrong -- I'm not knocking it, and my collection of molds is staying put -- but it's a different thing altogether.

**I need to write about that. Fun times!

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Book Reading

I'm a little late with sharing my experience at the Laurie R. King/The Language of Bees book signing last Monday.

What happened is, I really didn't feel like going, but knew I'd regret it if not. (I wasn't ill, certainly not contagious, just meh.) I thought I'd arrive early... not early enough: the place was packed! Seating was managed, and I ended up in a makeshift first row, just off to the side instead of in front.

This was my first reading/author talk, and I did not know what to expect. I certainly couldn't tell you if Mrs. King is a typical author or not. She has a very self-deprecating manner, and is quite funny. She read a short chapter that I had just finished, from near the beginning of the book, talked a bit about her process and inspiration, then took questions. Lots and lots of questions. I didn't ask any myself, but there was no lack. Finally, it was time to line up for the signing. Everyone had a ticket, and they had us line up in groups of ten, so we were free to wander about the store & shop until our group was called. I'm not a big autograph collector, but a) I feel a little differently about authors v. other personalities, and b) I was already there.

When I finally got to the table, I gave her a little bee pin that I'd made awhile ago... and said just that. Felt dumb for awhile, but it was the truth after all: I made it a long time ago, when I made such things, and gave her one of the couple I'd saved for all these years. I did find out that she's a cat person, too.

Everyone talked so fondly about a book of hers, called Folly, that I wanted it, but every copy had been snapped up. I finished The Language of Bees, a day or so later, and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you haven't read Laurie R. King's books, I recommend them to mystery lovers. I wouldn't start with this last book -- at least read the first in the series, The Beekeeper's Apprentice. You can download the first couple chapters of several books on Mrs. King's site. (Link to excerpt of The Language of Bees, since it's not on the other page.)

This pic is a little blurry, but that's not a terrible thing, considering my actual subject. Not only is the image blurry, but the subject -- the little girl on the floor in the front -- has her face hidden.

Which is perfect, because I'm really not comfortable taking pictures of total stranger's children and posting them online. You can just make out her hands. See what she's doing there? Knitting.

She knit for a good part of the talk, as did the woman I took to be her mom. So did I, as a matter of fact, until I reached the end of the cuff on the baby sock I was working on. I didn't have the pattern with me, and wouldn't really want to consult it at that point anyway (definitely distracting to the people around me), so the knitting went back into my purse.

Later, I went over and said hi, and asked her what she was knitting. For someone with good hearing, I had a rough time understanding -- entirely my own fault, I don't know what was wrong with me (she spoke perfectly clearly, although quietly (I was a total stranger after all!)). I finally got it (headband!), apologized for being lame, and wandered off to shop. Poor kid. Hope I didn't scare her. (She was surrounded by what looked like her entire family - the only time I'd attempt such a conversation.)

Bonus: I found a really nifty, independent bookstore. I definitely plan to return!

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Goodreads

I'm adding the following to my nav bar on the right:

I'm liking Goodreads as a way to keep track of what I'm reading now, what I've read in the past and what I want to read next.

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Book Report

Later in this post is the back story to how I came to have a degree in Literature without reading a lot of the classics.

Whenever I do one of those book memes, I feel a little twinge of regret. I mean, I have read many classics, but most of them voluntarily, and not part of any curriculum. I know some of the books on those lists are crap and don't qualify as literature, and some might be required reading in school but aren't really all that great. But there are some great reads that I've missed. So, I took a poll and asked some folks for suggestions. Some of them I'm going to skip, because I still don't believe in reading some books just to say I've read them. But I am mixing it up and reading great books because they sound great.

Recently finished:

• Atlas Shrugged
• Jane Eyre (via Google Books)

In progress:

• Animal Farm (via Google Books)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (loving it!)
• In Cold Blood (Non-fiction. Found while I was digging around Google Books; read a good portion of it on preview. Now will have to buy it.)

In the line-up (pdf downloaded):

• A Tale of Two Cities

Read in the past (in no way an exhaustive list; these were recently recommended, but I'd already read them):

• Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion
• The Scarlet Letter, House of the Seven Gables, many short stories, including Young Goodman Brown and The Artist of the Beautiful (which made me cry). Writing this reminds me how much I love Hawthorne.
• 1984
• The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings trilogy
• Chronicles of Narnia (over and over and over)
• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
• Little Women, Little Men, Jo's Boys
• Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• The Color Purple
• lots of Shakespeare, some Kafka

Recommended, and planned (have to acquire them first):

• Fahrenheit 451
• Catch 22
• The Bell Jar
• As I Lay Dying
• Wrinkle in Time and a Wind in the Door

Maybes:

• The Giver
• Edith Hamilton’s Mythology
• Moby Dick

The Back-story continues after the cut

I have a Bachelor's degree in English Lit. I love to read. I don't recall ever learning to read - I just started reading, around the age of four. I started getting in trouble over my reading in first grade, when I was caught reading under the lid of my desk. (Yes, I went to school when they still had desks with lids that lifted up, and you stored your crayons, etc. inside.) I loved mysteries the most, starting with The Happy Hollisters, progressing to Trixie Belden, then Agatha Christie. (Not Nancy Drew so much.)

In 6th grade, at the beginning of the second semester, I transferred from a private school where I'd spent 2 semesters to a public middle school. I was plopped into "Reading," where the entire class read a selection from a reading textbook, then answered questions. No great literature there; in fact, I'd read the entire book for fun when I was about nine. (My paternal grandmother worked for an elementary school and always brought me copies of the books they were throwing away because they were too worn.) The class was co-taught by a pair of women, who were not happy with me when they saw me looking around the room when everyone else was reading. I swore that I'd: a) finished reading the selection in class and, b) had already read the entire book. They made me read it again, and again, I finished before the class.

That was the end of my time in 6th grade reading. Rather than put me into another reading class, I was shuffled off to one of the coolest pigeonholes ever: I was to be a Ditto Aide. (Yes, I went to Jr. High back when they still used mimeograph machines. There was one Xerox copier, but it was locked away and only used for office business.) The teachers had to use mimeographs for handouts, quizzes and tests, and there was a team of misfit students who ran the copies. After that, when people mocked the AV squad or other teams of their kind, I knew that they were just jealous.

I went on to another private school for 8th through 12th grade. Baptist school, where they would never, ever foist those terrible reading lists on the students. Heck, we barely read at all. I vaguely remember some poetry, and some Shakespeare. Oh, dear. And Beowulf and Pilgrim's Progress. But not a lot of lit. In fact, a couple of years after I graduated, they dropped "Lit" altogether, as well as anything resembling composition. Imagine the fun later graduating classes had if they managed to get into college! I'll save for another day the appalling, dare I say, abysmal, state of my science education.

Then I went to college. I do not recommend my academic path to anyone. I went to a Baptist college for one semester. Hated it, hated my roommates. It was almost a blessing when I found out that my mom was on bed rest from a back injury and I was more than happy to be inconvenienced and forced to move back home. I transferred to the only local college still accepting students for the next semester - a Church of Christ school. I got my AA there, and had, for the first time, a true, positive, academic experience. Then I went completely insane and went back to the Baptist college. Two semesters there, and I was ready to run. (I did make a wonderful friend there, someone I'm still friends with today (once we found each other again), so it wasn't a total loss. That, and the Abnormal Psychology in Literature class. I loved that class!)

Finally, I arrived at OU. I wanted to teach, and I had the majority of the core curriculum completed (I'd obviously lost some credits as well, transferring between the school), so I started taking the pre-education courses. I excelled at those, and loved them, only to be told that they were only accepting into the program minorities, males, and people who hadn't transferred in. (Swear!)

Distraught, I made my way to the Registrar's office. "What do I have the most credits in?" Literature. Many of the courses I'd taken at the religious schools had transferred as Literature. "Okay, then. Literature is my new major. What do I need to graduate?"

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Lost & Found

I make this kind of post a lot, it seems!

Back when I did Ren Faires a lot, and made collections of favours (for people to pass out), I made some little guys like this to be a bonus for customers. I wanted to make more as stitch markers a few months ago, but could not find the box of stamps anywhere!

It actually made me quite sad, because I couldn't find a place to buy him online (nor could I remember the co. that made the stamp). When we were packing up stuff in the garage at the old house, I found a tote full of most of my stamps. Oh, so that's where they went! Right on top? Nekkid guy.

So, stitch markers have been made, and will hopefully be inserted into my Etsy shop (empty at the moment) later this week.

Making them with a gas oven instead of a tiny toaster oven was interesting. First thing that happened: they all flipped over and baked upside-down. Amazingly, I only lost 3 because of that. Next load from the old house will include my old toaster oven!!

Halloween Stuff
Y'all know I love Halloween the most, right? Well, after adding a bunch of books to my wish list, I set about making my first Listmania! List on Amazon: Grown-up Halloween. I know right where my box of Halloween books is, so I might be adding to it as I get that unpacked. Sadly, however, I can't recommend most of the books I own.

My Halloween links site is down right now, thanks to Comcast's so very smooth transition. They promised a seamless transition for movers. What did we get? They deleted all of our web accounts and content. I hope to be rebuilding it in the next few days.

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Book Shipment and Contest Reminder

Just a reminder: the IH contest ends tomorrow at noon Detroit time. If I've received an email, preferably with a picture, by that time, you'll be entered.

Trixie Belden Book #4...and More!
In a previous post, I stated that I was seeking book #4 (The Mysterious Visitor) in the Trixie Belden series to give to my niece. As far as I can tell, #4 is the only one of the recent re-releases that is out of print; the cheapest one I could find on Amazon was $18. Well, I got lucky on eBay (not easy to do lately, it seems): eight books for $21 (plus shipping). John got them from the post office today,* and I'm so happy! They were packed carefully, wrapped in plastic bags, with recycled foam pieces wedged in to keep everything comfy. (The seller even shipped before I'd paid, AND included a bonus book (shown on top of the stack)!)

I'm going to insert these into my collection and pass my paperbacks onto niece K: book 4 now, and the rest for Christmas. We just need to find book #5 to get her through the first 12. (I found book #6 and sent it to her at camp this summer as a surprise.**) Book 2 (The Red Trailer Mystery) is a duplicate, so I may sell or give away the extra (paperback).

*Our mail carrier has issues. We were home all day Saturday, and she didn't even try to deliver the box. She just stuck a slip in our mailbox. This happens a lot. If it's bigger than a magazine, she won't deliver it.

**I remember being at camp, seeing other kids get mail and being so jealous! (It was only a week.) K was at a similar camp for a week this summer. She was allowed to get email (the staff printed out messages and distributed them), so I sent an email and a fat envelope. She was so excited! While John and I were in Ann Arbor that weekend, I found a necklace with her name on it, so I included that. Her name isn't very uncommon, but it's not found on every rack of personalized goodies, so I generally buy whatever I find. She's getting closer to that age where she'll suddenly be too old for all that kiddy stuff (11?). I think my brother was a little surprised to hear me sound so positive about my camp experience: I told him it was the best "religious institution" experience I'd ever had, and as long as it wasn't like that awful Jesus Camp documentary, I was rooting for her to go and have lots of fun. (She did. Big time.)

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Finished!

I finally finished reading Dracula. Wow, that took a long time! I put it aside for a couple of months, because I kept hearing Keanu Reeves (the first, oh, third of the book is all Jonathon Harker, and Reeves played Harker in the 1992 film). I picked it up again last week, and forced myself to continue; once I hit the parts where other characters' voices were heard, it became an enjoyable read. Now to settle on a new classic: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde or Frankenstein?

I also finished the brightly colored Bazic scarf (seven colors in 2x2 rib) for niece K. About 1/3 of the ends need to be woven in, and of course it needs to be washed and blocked (K is allergic to many things, including cats, and YOU try knitting something without a cat trying to nap on top of it!).

These may not seem like great feats, but it's been a rough couple of days! I had a killer migraine yesterday, and have been having some girly trouble as well (both much improved). I used to have migraines all.the.time, but I hardly get them now that I'm not working at GM and have quit drinking diet pop. I do, however, still have to maintain some level of caffeine intake, usually in the form of unsweetened ice tea. I didn't drink anything with caffeine yesterday, because I thought I was dehydrated and focused on ingesting copious amounts of water. Oops.

In addition to finishing the above, I got several items prepped for the craft show that's coming up (23 August). I'll show pics tomorrow. I feel really accomplished right now!

Today would have been my mom's 63rd birthday. It's our 11th without her -- she passed away Thanksgiving 11 years ago. Happy Birthday, Mom.

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Halloween Library, and More!

A few weeks ago, I read this post on gee, that's swell, wherein Andi shared her Halloween library. I promised to do the same, and steal the credit (I'm obviously not doing that). I'd already indexed it and added comments, but hadn't photographed it for quite some time. So, this is my Halloween library!

There are 2 duplicates shown, but they don't actually exist anymore. One of my favorites is Halloween Crafts: Eerily Elegant Decor by Kasey Rogers. I love it so much, that when I thought I'd lost my copy, I immediately ordered another. While I was gathering all the books for the photo session, I glanced down into an open drawer, and there was my old copy! One of them went to live with Heather last weekend. I also had two copies of the 2007 Holiday: Halloween from Martha Stewart Living; I bought one for myself and then John surprised me with a copy. Someone on a Halloween discussion board spotted the duplicate and asked to purchase the spare. (As far as I'm concerned, I'm selling the copy I bought, and am keeping the one John got for me.)

My other faves:

* Give Them a Real Scare This Halloween by Joseph Pfeiffer
* A Halloween How-To: Costumes, Parties, Decorations, and Destinations by Lesley Pratt Bannatyne
* I can't believe I'm admitting this, but I still love Halloween: The Best of Martha Stewart Living, as well as the first Holiday (2000). From that same year ('00), the October Living was excellent. Starting with '01, there has been sporadic goodness in the Living and Holiday issues, but lots of repeats as well. I still buy whatever they put out (Halloween-wise), but have never been as delighted with anything as I was with that original trio.

Also good: Halloween Merrymaking: An Illustrated Celebration Of Fun, Food, And Frolics From Halloweens Past by Diane C. Arkins (lots of info. about Halloween between 1870-1930)

More on the Halloween front
Decorations are starting to pop up! I spotted this display at a Dollar Tree yesterday:

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In Books

There's a line in Twin Peaks, where a character says that he grew up "in books." That's pretty much the answer I could give. I was a natural reader. I never actually learned to read: I just started reading, around the age of four. (These pictures are from my first birthday -- I wasn't reading yet. When it came to reading, I was a little ahead of the curve, but I was no prodigy.)

I have many fond, book-related memories. My paternal grandmother, who worked at an elementary school, played a crucial role in this by bringing me - literally - grocery sacks full of books that were being tossed out or otherwise destroyed by the school. One of my favorite books was an old health book from the 50s; oh, how I wish I still had that! I don't remember this, but heard stories from my mom about frequently getting in trouble in the first grade for trying to read a book under my desk lid. When I got to the reading class in 6th grade, I was handed a textbook that I'd read - for fun - at the age of seven or eight. My teachers weren't amused, and I was transferred to a "service" class for the rest of the semester (Ditto aide - some of the most fun I had in school).

Every Christmas, my Grandma K would give us a book- or paper-themed gift, a practice I adopted recently for my brother's kids. I'm thrilled to find that niece K (10) loves to read Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden books, and nephew J (6) is a good reader as well. His current fave is Skippyjon Jones; the whole family enjoys that series. Honorary nephew C (8), who was diagnosed with a mild learning disability when he was three, is now - in the appropriate grade for his age - reading several grade levels ahead, and is always happy with books as gifts, as is his little sister, M (4), especially if the books are about sharks. Aside: I'm looking for a copy of Trixie Belden #4 (pictured), in any of the editions. Come payday, I'll start looking on eBay again, but it's starting at $18 on Amazon, and since niece K isn't sure she wants to collect the books, that's a lot to spend!

Something I learned along the way: books are great, but they are no substitute for life. My dad was right: it is impossible to meet people when you're locked in your room, reading. I was actually fairly active as a chid, but as a sullen teen, I started staying in and reading more and more, communicating less and less. This practice continued well into college, and even beyond. And guess what? I never really dated. I was, in many ways, a late bloomer, in part because I didn't interact with people that much.

My advice to the young readers in my life would be to enjoy the books, for sure, but to get outside and play, too! Books are wonderful, and, in my opinion, people who read* are more interesting, but sometimes you need to set the book down and go for a walk, or to a party. It's cool -- the book will be waiting when you get home! I also told niece K, over dinner this weekend, to not be dumb like me, and to hold on to her favorite books from childhood. It took me years to replace all the Trixie Belden books I cavalierly gave away when I was young, only to find that they were books I wanted to keep far into adulthood. (I'm relieved I never considered getting rid of my Happy Hollister books!)

*I make no judgement on the kind of reading, myself. I have a degree in English Literature, but the majority of my book list is mysteries, with some horror and sci-fi mixed in.

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Twitchy

My eyes take turns twitching when I'm stressed. Lately my right eye has been active, but this morning, my left eye has taken over. It's no big deal. It usually means I need some more sleep (or a bubble bath). Truthfully, I got lots of sleep last night, but was very restless and had nightmares & stuff, hence the twitch. Last week, I looked like a total dork at work when I threw a flannel heating pack into the microwave and sat through a meeting with it over my eye.

Denied
I'd planned to share a pic of a new knitting project that I was going to start at lunch today, but I just looked at the ball band for the yarn and oops! wrong weight. The pattern calls for mercerized cotton, and I assumed that the Rowan 4ply Soft that I had in my stash was the same weight. Not even close. I will find different yarn at home and cast on for the Victorian Baby Bonnet (from Knitalong) at another time. Looks like I'll be just reading at lunch.

Reading
I ran across a book I'd misplaced awhile ago (Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea) and I decided to re-read the series starting from that point. It turns out that the friend who recommended the series to me isn't a huge fan anymore, but I still love the books. I like it when a main character is flawed and human.

Books I won't be reading: with the exception of any Cross sequels, anything by James Patterson is off my list, especially if the book is a collaboration. I've started to wonder if the collaborations are mostly by the second writer, but with Patterson's name on top to promote sales? The guy is putting out a new book every couple of months, it seems, and I've not been to impressed with the ones I've tried recently. He could have a huge stash of books put away, but I'd be very surprised if he wasn't just consulting with these writers and getting top billing as part of the deal.

I've really enjoyed some of his books (The Jester (a collaboration) & most of the Alex Cross books), but one of them was so bad that I've had to draw the line. I got Maximum Ride, thinking it was a continuation of the When the Wind Blows series. I didn't bother reading the fly leaf or anything; I just dove right in. It wasn't long before I was so confused that I put the book down for close to a year. The first series was about a group of genetically engineered kids who could fly. Their leader was a girl named Max. The new series? About a group o f genetically engineered kids who can fly, whose leader is a girl named Max. But they're different series. The book I have even has a disclaimer on the flyleaf (if I'd bothered to read it); however, a paperback version of it or a sequel states that it's a sequel to When the Wind Blows. Is it stupidity, carelessness or greed?

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