12/27/08 09:11 - 56ºF - ID#47202

Cookies!!!!

To celebrate the end of my first semester in law school, I invited A and Nisha up from Tioga County and (e:TinyPliny) over from the Mayflower and we made cookies and cholay! It was certainly a cross-cultural experience - (e:TinyPliny) got to lick the beaters for the first time ever and we got to saute cumin seeds in peanut oil! ((e:heidi) is a dork!)

Cholay and pulao - mmmmm now I understand how to make a proper garam masala. My apartment smells like an Indian restaurant! :-)

We made my great-grandmother's molasses cookie recipe and made oodles of tiny cookies, perfect little bites of yummy goodness. A and (e:tinypliny) rolled out the dough and cut out the cookies.

(e:tinypliny,47194) was horrified by the amount of butter and sugar involved in making cookies - this recipe calls for 1 cup butter, 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar AND 1 cup molasses, then sprinkle sugar on top before baking. She requested that some cookies be left naked (see cows below).

We also made molasses crinkle cookies, someone else's great-grandmother's recipe, which uses very similar ingredients but has a very different result - a sharper cookie, less cakey. They get rolled into little balls of dough, then dipped in sugar before baking. Here (e:tinypliny) becomes enthusiastic about butter and sugar :-) I've spent a little bit of time trying to figure out how to make these ones without butter and sugar - honey & applesauce seem like the best substitutes for the white sugar and butter - does anyone have any other suggestions?

(Nisha was pretty good and stayed on her turtle most of the time. (e:heidi,45816))

Permalink: Cookies_.html
Words: 287
Location: Buffalo, NY

12/26/08 06:46 - 36ºF - ID#47191

Cute pet pix

Here's China Cat checking us out from her temporary basement home (basement kitteh!)

Nisha considers any available lap an appropriate place to perch.

Permalink: Cute_pet_pix.html
Words: 27
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: weather

12/23/08 12:42 - 17ºF - ID#47151

what's up with the plowing?

I'm so confused about the snow removal situation in Buffalo. Allen Street got plowed about once a day Friday to Monday. Most of the sidewalks did not get shoveled, or just to the top layer got taken off. Irving didn't get plowed at all. Is this typical? It seems awfully dangerous to me!

Until Friday I had been telling folks at home that the weather in Buffalo is pretty similar to Tioga County - it snows, it's cold, Buffalo is windier. Oh my! Windy!!! I took Nisha outside sometime Sunday evening and she almost blew away!

Permalink: what_s_up_with_the_plowing_.html
Words: 96
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: crime

12/17/08 04:07 - 32ºF - ID#47093

Homicide in Tioga County

Since y'all were talking about crime in the downtown area (e:paul,47085)

The last time there was a murder in Tioga County was about 1984, a love-triangle murder-suicide. Last gun-related homicide was in 1997. (Last homicide: a woman riding her new horse down Main Street in Blossburg got hit by a drunk driver, both woman and horse were killed.)

Permalink: Homicide_in_Tioga_County.html
Words: 65
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: bus

12/12/08 06:01 - 27ºF - ID#47045

Google Maps Transit: Now in Buffalo!

Permalink: Google_Maps_Transit_Now_in_Buffalo_.html
Words: 9
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: politics

12/10/08 09:00 - 26ºF - ID#47020

Yea for science!

Obama's pick to solve the energy crisis
- Andrew Leonard

"You should interview Steven Chu," the scientist at the Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, Calif., told me. "He already has one Nobel Prize. He wants to get a second one for solving the energy crisis."

That was two years ago, and I sorely regret not following through and landing an interview with Chu, a physicist who has dedicated his post-Nobel Prize career to the development of alternative sources of energy. Because as Barack Obama's nominee for secretary of energy, Steven Chu is going to get a chance to make his dreams come true, with the full backing of the U.S. government.

Permalink: Yea_for_science_.html
Words: 121
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: pets

12/07/08 11:38 - 11ºF - ID#46995

Ridiculous puppy cuteness

fellyconnelly writes at 11:02:25 12/09/08 - Comment #43109: awwwww!

gardenmama writes at 11:27:15 12/08/08 - Comment #43107: They're both way too cute!

My brother has a coonhound too but it's dark with spots on it's chest (blue something, maybe). He's really pretty but he's afraid of everything. My brother rescued him from a no-kill shelter that the dog had been at for (around) the first 3 years of his life.

tinypliny writes at 06:01:01 12/08/08 - Comment #43101: ZOMG cute indeed. :)

Wouldn't they scare the squirrels to death if they barked up the wrong tree? (pun totally intended!) LOL

heidi writes at 05:19:57 12/08/08 - Comment #43093: Poodles are hypoallergenic :-) (although maybe not to the degree that (e:paul) needs)

Yeah, 70lbs is not a beagle... most likely a coonhound. Whitey looks like a monstrously overgrown beagle. She's big for a female, close to 70lbs. Her mom is a small slender thing, maybe 45lbs, but still ridiculously overgrown for a beagle.

here's a picture of her brothers Nailer & Bounce at work
:::link:::

matthew writes at 03:33:25 12/08/08 - Comment #43091: Awww, if I didn't already have an (e:Paul) I would want a small poodle. Soo cute!

Friends of mine have a coonhound, I think. They claim it's a beagle but the dog is like 70lbs and growing!! Maybe it's a mix?

heidi writes at 02:23:28 12/08/08 - Comment #43089: The grey one is a poodle. She weighs about 7.5 lbs. and is almost two years old. The other one is a Treeing Walker Coonhound (a hunting dog that chases raccoons up trees).

hodown writes at 01:12:15 12/08/08 - Comment #43088: What kind of puppy is the gray one?!

paul writes at 09:40:02 12/08/08 - Comment #43082: I don't even like dogs and that one is so cute.

janelle writes at 07:42:04 12/08/08 - Comment #43079: I want!

leetee writes at 11:50:40 12/07/08 - Comment #43075: puppy envy! so damn cute!!!

Permalink: Ridiculous_puppy_cuteness.html
Words: 4
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: school

12/05/08 06:38 - 25ºF - ID#46977

Constitutional Law again

I had been waiting all semester to get to Bowers v. Hardwick

Lawrence v. Texas

and Romer v. Evans

they were scheduled for Thursday, an extra-long class, 8:30 - 11:50. I had even stayed up late to make sure I had read and thought about the opinions. (LvT reminded me of the Molly Ivins gem I posted Wed night.

) which I also posted as my facebook status so the law school kids would see it ;-) Got to class and the prof was speeding thru the decisions... and at 10:45 he says, okay, we're done, good luck on the exam! I was like WTF??? 10 min for Romer??? I feel totally ripped off. Someone told him we don't get out of class until 11:50 and he said, oh... do you want to come back and talk about it more? I was practically yelling from my perch at the top of the room Yes Yes Yes! and my classmates were glaring at me. We got back from break and we didn't even go back to the cases, we just talked about the exam. What a disappointment.

I'm planning to go to the Friday, Dec. 12 8pm show of Dreaming out of the Digital by the Stripteasers & Alt Performance Group... Tickets available at

Wanna come with me? :-)

Permalink: Constitutional_Law_again.html
Words: 249
Location: Buffalo, NY

12/04/08 04:21 - 32ºF - ID#46956

cool show... wanna go?

I'm leaning toward 12/5 at 8pm...

Permalink: cool_show_wanna_go_.html
Words: 13
Location: Buffalo, NY

12/04/08 12:49 - 43ºF - ID#46946

While reading Lawrence v. Texas...

In Lawrence v. Texas (2003) the supreme court overturned Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) and said states can't prohibit consenting adults from enjoying sodomy. It reminded me of this excellent little clip by Molly Ivins

Texas' anti-sex-toy law was overturned Feb. 14, 2008, but they're still illegal in Alabama!

Enjoy!

Permalink: While_reading_Lawrence_v_Texas_.html
Words: 60
Location: Buffalo, NY

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