Not sure what this is, but it looks like a giant sprig of rosemary.

I don’t have the full list of books I wish to read, but I’ll continue to update this post until I’ve gathered fifty titles.

1. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

2. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

3. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

4. A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle

5. A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle

6. Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken

7. Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

8. Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

9. Chalice by Robin McKinley

10. Finding Calvin and Hobbes by Nevin Martell

11. Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede

12. The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer

13. The Surgeon by Kate Bridges

14. Mail-Order Man by Martha Hix

15. A Garden Folly by Candace Hern

16. A Match for Mary Bennet by Eucharista Ward (a book by a nun?  irresistable!)

17. The Help by Kathryn Stockett

18. The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

19. The Love Dare by Stephen Kendrick (for curiosity’s sake)

20. The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes

21. Little Bee by Chris Cleave

22. The Ascent of Ge0rge Washington by John Ferling

23. Unlikely Allies by Joel Richard Paul

24. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

25. Pink Brain, Blue Brain by Lise Eliot

26. Going Bovine by Libba Bray

27. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

28. Look Again by Lisa Scottoline

29. Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold

30. Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

31. Under the Dome by Stephen King

32. Dracula by Bram Stoker

33. Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs

6/29/10:  Sammich and fruitish things

Sammich:  turkey, Muenster, cucumber and green ranch dressing on 1/3 of a wheat hoagie

Fresh strawburries and some old skool black olives.  MMMMMMMMMMM.

Fresh pears and peaches with ginger, cinnamon, dark brown sugar and whipped cream.

I’m currently living in a new city for my engineering internship.  I have my own kitchen, a bathroom all to myself AND plenty of free time to make things.

Things like…food?

It was hella hard taking photos of this stuff.

Four Layer Dessert, or Ghetto Chocolate Cream Pie

• Layer One:  Le Crust

*1.5 cups of flour

*1/2 cup of butter

Melt ze butter (completely!) and stir in the flour; it’ll be thick and firm, like a dry pie crust dough.  Pat this crumbly mess into an ungreased 9″x13″ pan and bake for 10 minutes at 350F (176C).  This time may vary depending on your oven, so watch closely!  You want the crust to be very light, but slightly firm to the touch.  When it cools it should be slightly crumbly.

Let the crust cool completely.  Do not pass “Go” until this occurs.

• Layer Two:  The Creamy Goo

*8 oz. room temperature cream cheese

*1 cup of confectioner’s sugar

*an 8 oz. container of Coo’ Whip

Use an electric mixer, preferably handheld and from the 80′s, to whip the cream cheese and sugar together.  Add in about half a container of Coo’ Whip, maybe more if you’re feeling frisky.  Spread this on top of the cooled crust.  Proceed to the next step;  don’t bother washing the equipment, there aren’t any hygienic concerns ’round these here parts.

• Layer Three:  The proof of the pudding

*2 boxes of instant pudding (I used 1 chocolate and 1 vanilla, but I’d recommend using chocolate for both)

*3 cups of milk (any milk will work, I don’t care what you prefer)

Pour the milk into a large bowl.  Dump the pudding mixes on top of the milk and mix like crazy with the electric mixer.  The pudding will be slightly set, but pourable, after about two minutes.  Dump it on top of the cream cheese business and put it in the fridge, covered, for about six hours (or overnight) to make sure that sucker’s good and set.

Layer Four:  Coo’ Whip

*an 8 oz. container of Coo’ Whip

Spread some creamy goodness all over that pudding.  Spread it nice and thick.  Mmmmm.

I love this ‘recipe’ because you can do what you like to change it.  Don’t like chocolate?  Use butterscotch or cheesecake or banana pudding, or make some old-school homemade-stove-top pudding.  You’d rather use a graham cracka crust?  Be my guest, that sounds friggin delicious.  You like REAL whipped cream instead of Coo’ Whip? Go for it, I’ll try not to judge you.

Funny thing is that I really don’t have very much, especially compared to my roommates.  It’s insane to see how much one person can have and still never touch.  Sometimes an object is forgotten and a replacement is purchased, even though the original is in the top drawer of the computer desk.  I don’t get it.

Unfortunately, the fondant cracked in some places.  Boooo!

Recipes used:

Cake

Fondant

Icing

Maybe a pillow, or perhaps a dumpling.

It involves

CAKE

as well as

MY PARENTS’ 30th ANNIVERSARY

so it’s gonna be pretty sweet.