Halloween!

With Halloween tonight, it’s time to put out the last of the decorations and fill the candy bowl with goodies for Trick-or-Treaters. Hopefully it won’t be pouring down rain like it was last night.

So last night’s adventure in the pouring rain was, to say the least, rushed, as we had to get home after the play, figure out costumes to wear, and then meet friends at the Edgefield McMenamins. My partner decided to go as Milton from the movie Office Space and I went as a costume a first wore when I was 18, a Literal Interpretation of a Split Personality. Sorry, I didn’t take pictures, but I’m hoping that our friend Laura will post some on her Facebook page sometime today, in which case I’ll steal them and add them to this post later.

One thing about keeping old costumes around is being able to pick and choose from something in case you don’t come up with anything new or simply are unable to locate the fabric required to make the costume authentic. The latter was certainly the case for my partner, who wanted to make a tunic and toga to wear like the Newsreader from the HBO series, Rome. The tapestry-like fabrics, usually made from wool, are incredibly difficult to find, even at a certain fabric store in Portland with an acre and a half of fabric to choose from. So instead of simply settling for curtain and drape material, he opted to figure out another costume, and since Milton really isn’t much of a stretch for him, and he already has the famous red Swingline stapler, it was a costume he could throw together in a couple minutes. Same thing with my Literal Interpretation of a Split Personality, which really only required me to rat out and spray one half of my hair and put on a bit of lipstick and eyeliner on that side too.

Keeping costumes fairly simple is the best way to not make such a big deal out of the whole matter. After all, Halloween is supposed to be fun, not stressful, and if you are spending all your energy into pulling off the perfect costume, you probably will end up having no fun at all. However, the one thing I really don’t understand when it comes to costumes recently, and this is quite the disturbing trend, is to turn every possible occupation or persona into a sexy version, especially for women and little girls. I understand wanting to be pretty, hence princesses and fairies, but why in the world would a costume maker design a sexy nurse costume for a 6 year old? As much as I absolutely love Halloween, there are times that I find certain trends to be not only disgusting, but downright wrong.

But since this is a fun holiday (although, not so holy) my plans today are to get out the rest of the Halloween decorations for outside. I’ve also got to set up the fog machine, strobe light, black lights to cast an eerie glow onto the tombstones and bone yard, and make the front porch as festive as we can with what we have. My only regret is not getting pumpkins to carve this year. Perhaps I should take the small jack-o-lantern out of the pathetic pumpkin patch we have in our backyard, the only jack-o-lantern that grew, and go ahead and carve it.

Dog Sitting for the Weekend

Lucy’s boyfriend, Otto, is back for a couple days and she is loving the attention. Well, loving it except when she’s being a bitch about him getting even the tiniest amount of attention from us instead.

How should I put it? Our dog is has a jealous streak. Actually, it’s more than just a jealous streak, she’s spoiled rotten. I mean, way worst than only child syndrome here and more like Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I only have one person to blame for this… my partner. Okay, so I may have played a minute role in her development too.

Anyway, Otto is an adorable one-eyed Pug who really likes our Lucy. I mean really, really, really likes her in that way that boy dogs like girl dogs. It’s hilarious to watch him lick the inside of her ears as his hips are swinging back and forth. I suppose he just has an ear fetish. I get that.

The thing is, every time we watch another dog for any length of time, it makes me realize more and more why we need to get Lucy a little brother. She’s more excitable and playful when there is another dog in the picture. I mean, don’t get me wrong, she loves the attention she gets from us and abhors any attention we give to our cat, Tuesday, but I’m sure that given a bit of time she’d finally realize the benefits outweigh the detriments. Another dog will actually play with her, whereas our cat just sits in place and swipes her protracted claws at her nose, which I’m sure doesn’t help their currently (and still after over four years) volatile relationship. Perhaps soon we’ll be in a more stable financial place to consider adopting another whether it be another Great Dane from a rescue or a mutt from the Humane Society, but in the mean time dog sitting will have to suffice.

Oh, and just in case you’re wondering about the Popcorn Cake I posted about yesterday, here’s a picture. And yes, the little girl loved it.

Work and Cake

Last night after work I had to decorate a cake. I haven’t had the hurried cake making experience like that it years.

Even though this cake isn’t due until later this evening, in order for it to be done I had to put it all together yesterday. There are certainly some disadvantages to this, mainly making sure the cake doesn’t dry out before getting eaten, which I was told would be Saturday. One way to counteract this is to tort the cake and fill the layers, which is something I usually reserve for my Death by Chocolate cake and wedding cakes, but with this being out as long as a wedding cake would be before getting eaten, I decided it would be best to give it the same treatment.

Now, with the theme being popcorn, I made the cake in the shape of a popcorn bucket, a little larger on the top and tapering slightly towards the bottom, frosted it and was thinking about simply putting red stripes over the frosting. However, then I decided to cover it in fondant. Sometimes it is best to simply go with your original plan. Because the cake was so tall, I had to roll out the fondant larger than usual in order to completely cover it, but because I frosted the cake like a regular cake and not for covering in fondant, there was a bit of an issue with frosting oozing out the bottom as I formed the fondant around the cake, which in turn made the bucket look a little wonky. Oh well, it’ll be a happy accident and looks fun, perfect for a little girl’s birthday party. I even made fondant popcorn in various buttery shades to cover the top of the cake and a few popped kernels around the base. I’d put a picture up, but the birthday girl hasn’t seen it yet, so I’ll wait until then.

Balance

It seems that with me starting work again, the housework, chores and animals are getting less attention than they should be. I guess that means I need to plan how to bring balance to my life again.

After waking up, starting coffee, feeding the animals and getting cakes baking in the oven first thing this morning, I realized just how out of practice I am at getting everything done before work like I used to be able to do. And last night after work and having to go grocery shopping (in business attire, no less… probably should’ve taken off my tie at least) I was exhausted after putting everything away, feeding the animals and changing into more comfortable clothes. I don’t remember it being like this when I worked in retail where I was on my feet all day, but then again, that was almost two years, so I’m really out of practice.

So while I am decorating a cake tonight after work, I plan on making a plan. I plan on figuring out how to balance work and home life again so I don’t get into a routine where I never cook or clean anymore and the laundry piles up to the point there are 6 loads a week, which, yes, I know isn’t a lot, but for two people is an enormous amount. The most important thing I need to remember while planning is the chickens, as with them being outside I’m not attending to their needs as often as the cat and dog. Oy, that reminds me… I forgot to collect eggs yesterday.

Fall Pet Blanket: Started

With fall currently well under way, I figured it was time to start my fall projects that should’ve been done a month ago. Better late than never, right?

Using the current pet blankets, I arranged and rearranged the Charm squares from Moda’s Gobble Gobble by Sandy Gervais until I was well pleased with the results. I then stacked them into rows, chain stitched them into pairs, then the pairs into fours, two rows of fours and finally into finished blocks of 16 squares each.

With the remaining 10 squares, I am probably going to save the patterned ones for another project and the solids I specifically set aside to use on my fall quilt. My plan is to create appliqué pieces for the four feature panels using the solid charms, but I haven’t exactly planned this portion out too much. I’m pretty sure one will be a pumpkin, one a maple leaf, one an oak leaf and the final an acorn. These feature panels I’m also thinking of doing special hand quilting to really make them pop out, which should be an adventure in and of itself.

However, this week being my first week back to work in nearly two years, a major cake order due Friday, and a play my partner has been helping one of the local high school’s with starting tomorrow and running until Sunday, my sewing time will be limited. I guess I’ll have to get creative about being creative.

Jobs, Movies and Birthdays

Today has a bunch of reasons to celebrate; it’s my first day back to work in nearly two years, Back to the Future Trilogy comes out today on Blu-ray, and it’s my partner’s birthday. I have a feeling the first two items will make the third that much better.

Okay, so first things first. I start my new job today and I’m a little nervous. I’m not so nervous about the job itself, I’m more nervous how being out of the workplace in general for so long will affect my performance. Of course, let’s be real here, my job is going to be sitting in a chair at a desk and talking on a phone. I’m not worried about that portion, but I am worried about how long it will take getting back into a work routine. I tried it ten months ago with this blog, making it daily to have a goal to accomplish each day, and so far haven’t missed one, including while out of town, so hopefully it will go by smoothly. After all, there is only one day of training involved.

Then there is the issue of our dog, who over the last couple years has gotten quite used to me being around all the time. Actually, I think she’ll adjust perfectly fine. Every time I’ve tried to play with her or get her to do anything she gives me a look like, “Really? You want me to get up off my ass and play?” But as soon as my partner comes home she’s all tail-waggy and jumpy and excited and wants to play… with him. Perhaps me being gone all day too will make her excited to see me when I get home. Perhaps.

Even though it is my partner’s birthday, he unfortunately has a very long day ahead of him. Between substitute teaching, helping with a school play that starts Thursday, and a special choir session tonight, he’ll be gone from 7am until 9pm. Not exactly the best way to spend a birthday, so I’m glad he had a great party on Saturday at least. Who knows… maybe I’ll surprise him with another birthday present.

Cheese Zombies

Growing up in the Vancouver School District, one of the staples of the school lunch program was something called a Cheese Zombie. It wasn’t till I was older that I realized just how localized this delicacy was.

Five or six years ago I wanted to make Cheese Zombies. It was a cold, rainy autumn day and the delicious combination of melted cheese baked between two layers of bread and covered with butter with a bowl of hot tomato soup sounded like the perfect dinner. So I made a couple batches of white bread dough, waited for it to rise, rolled half of it into a jelly roll pan, covered it with sliced cheddar cheese, rolled out the other half on top, spread melted butter over it and baked it until it was golden brown. It was okay, but it wasn’t the Cheese Zombie I remember, just a substandard, ultra bready imposter.

Last week, as our weather was beginning to turn (mostly in the morning, mind you, as the afternoons were gorgeous and warm) I decided to do a little more research on the Cheese Zombie, to which I found that there were other school districts in the country who claimed to have the elusive lunch item usually served on the last Friday of the month, and obviously the most common day for parents to join their children for lunch, but most of these were not the ones I was familiar with. It wasn’t until I found one that called for a French bread dough that I knew this was the information I needed. That was the key. And so, with this new knowledge in hand, yesterday afternoon I started the dough and dinner last night of Cheese Zombies and tomato soup was just what we needed on a dark and stormy night.

Cheese Zombies

Ingredients
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1½ cups warm water (about 110 degrees F)
1 pound 4 ounces flour (about 5 cups)
2 tablespoons sugar
1½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
5 tablespoons melted butter, divided
1½ pounds Tillamook Cheddar Cheese, sliced

Bread Machine: Stir the yeast and warm water into the pan and let sit for 5 minutes. Combine the flour, sugar, salt and garlic powder in a large mixing bowl and add to the bread machine pan along with 3 tablespoons melted butter, put the machine on the dough cycle and wait until it has mixed and risen, about 1½ hours.

Stand Mixer: Stir the yeast and warm water into the bowl and let sit for 5 minutes. Combine the flour, sugar, salt and garlic powder in a large mixing bowl and add to the stand mixer bowl along with 3 tablespoons melted butter. Using the dough hook, stir the ingredients for about a minute to combine then turn the speed up to medium to medium high for five to ten minutes, or until the dough is thoroughly kneaded and elastic. Remove bowl from stand mixer and cover with plastic wrap, allowing it to rise for an hour and a half.

Hand: Stir the yeast and warm water into a small mixing bowl and let sit for 5 minutes. Combine the flour, sugar, salt and garlic powder in a very large mixing bowl and make a well in the center. Pour the yeast mixture along with 3 tablespoons melted butter and slowly mix in the flour until combined before kneaded for ten minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1½ hours. If there isn’t enough room for the dough to double in size, halve the dough and let it rise in two separate bowls.

Using a jelly roll pan (12x18 inches with a 1 inch lip) roll half of the dough into the pan, edge to edge. If you’ve had experience with sticking bread or cookies on this pan, use a parchment liner. Add sliced cheese, make sure it is at room temperature otherwise it’ll take twice as long for the dough to do its final rise, leaving no more than a quarter inch along the edges or between the slices. Just for reference, I cut 22 slices and placed them 4 across along the 12 inch side of the pan with 5 across (4 x 5 = 20) the 18 inch side, cut the last two slices in half and put those 4 at the other end. Roll out the second half of the dough on top of the cheese, pressing the edges together. Let rise for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Don’t be frightened if it doesn’t rise too much on this final portion, you are mostly letting the dough relax after torturing it into shape. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool for a minute before brushing on melted butter, then allow it to cool for another few minutes before cutting into 12 slices. Serve with tomato soup.

P.S. – Sorry there aren’t any pictures. We couldn’t wait to start eating them. I hope you understand.