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Things to do concerning cookies (3): Thin Mints

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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Tuesday! I hope your week is starting off as well as mine has.

Today, I’m continuing my cookie series. I’m going to be talking to you about

Things To Do Concerning Thin Mints

So… What’s a thin mint? A really thin mint leaf? How does that relate to cookies?

Thin Mints are a type of Girl Scout cookie. You see, Girl Scouts every year go around selling cookies. Thin Mints are a chocolate-mint patty type cookie that are actually one of the most popular types.

…Ah.

But as I was saying.

1) Eat them plain. This is, of course, the normal route. This is also the most boring route. Seriously, if you’re going to spend $4 for a small box of cookies, you might want to have a better plan in mind than just getting melted chocolate all over your fingers and ending up as a sticky mess. Eww.

2) Eat them frozen. This is a much better solution. Frozen Thin Mints are amazing. They’re refreshing, sweet, and very tasty. Better yet, they don’t melt as quickly, which means that it’s not as messy! Yay!

3) Sell them. This only works if you’re in Girl Scouts.

4) Turn them into ice cream. Breyers Ice Cream has done something to officially get permission to sell Thin Mint Ice Cream. It’s sort of like a marvelous cross between mint chocolate chip ice cream and cookies & cream ice cream. As I said, marvelous.

5) Use them as ice cream toppings. Freeze them, then crumble them, and then dish them over a bowl of ice cream. It works best with non-fruit flavored ice cream. (I’m a fan of strawberry and other fruit flavors, so trust me when I say it’s not that fruit-flavors aren’t the best. It’s not a bad flavor, it’s just not the best combo.) I always enjoy putting Thin Mint crumbles over Thin Mint Ice Cream. It’s sort of like dessert Inception.

So, there you go! I hope you enjoy some Thin Mint inspired things to do. Happy Tuesday!

Good Birthday Cakes

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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy July 27th!

New way of starting your greetings?

Only when it’s my birthday.

That makes sense then, I suppose. Because your birthday has become like a holiday; is that correct?

Well, it’s at least a day that I’m excited about.

Fair enough.

But that leads me to today’s topic:

My Favorite Types of Birthday Cake. (In no particular order.)

So, just a bit of background. I really like all of these kinds. It’s really hard for me to choose which type is my favorite. So if there’s any difference in the ordering, it’s purely coincidental and only reflects the order in which I thought of and wrote about the different types of cakes.

First: flourless chocolate cake. I’ve made this for people more often than I’ve had it for my own birthday cake. But it’s a really good cake. How can you go wrong with something like 8 ounces of dark chocolate per cake?

At some point, I’m going to need to upload my favorite ways to make flourless chocolate cakes. But for now, here’s a link to the epicurious cake recipe I use, and the AllRecipes Ganache. If you use the ganache as the frosting, it’s really amazing. The cake itself is already very chocolatey. Add a combination of boiling cream and pure bittersweet/dark chocolate, and it’s one of the most chocolate chocolate experiences you can have.

1) Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I haven’t made one in a while. But it’s really good. Nice and perfect sugary-sticky-sweet-maraschino-cherry-and-canned-pineapple goodness. It can also be a thing of absolute beauty.

It doesn’t come with frosting or an icing, which can be a downside. But the crustiness of the cake itself is wonderful, and doesn’t actually need one.

Alpha) Carrot Cake with cream-cheese frosting. This is another one of my favorites. If it’s fresh, then recipes with a bit of pineapple in them are really good. Yes, I do like pineapple. How could you tell?

Now, a small confession: I really like stale carrot cake.

What is wrong with you?

Haha, very funny. I know, it’s a bit odd. But it’s really good! If you wait for a few days, the frosting gets a bit of texture to it. A bit of crunch, that is, which is something I really like with this particular flavor. It’s sort of almost like carrot-cake croutons. Admit it, those sound like they’d be good.

Uno) Ice cream cakes. I like both BaskinRobins’ ice cream cakes, and ColdStones. If there’s the possibility of mixing flavors, like Cold Stones does, I really like their Strawberry, with either white chocolate chips or Kit-Kats. (I haven’t checked to see if they let you use a sorbet. If so, I’d go with either lemon or raspberry sorbet with white chocolate chips.) For the straight ice cream flavors, I really like mint chocolate chip. It both tastes fresh, and like chocolate. Where even can that go wrong? (Unless the mint tastes like toothpaste. That’s a problem.)

Chief) Mud Pie. Not technically a cake, but I don’t know if ice cream cake really counts as a cake either. Mud pie is another one of my more favorite desserts. The coffee ice cream and rich chocolate flavor combine in a perfect flavor harmony. It’s like eating a sugary coffee drink. When done right, it truly is a thing of beauty.

S, what about you, Fluffsters? Do you have a favorite birthday cake? I’d love to read about them in the comments below!

Happy Saturday!

How to: Write July 23’s Fluff Post

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Gee, not thinking of any particular ideas for your Fluff Posts, Webmaster?

…Maybe.

But just tonight’s. Until inspiration hit. (Spoiler alert.) Because, you see, I realized what I could write abou- Oops. more spoilers. Sorry.

I should probably just start the post.

If it even qualifies as a post…

Hey! Of course it does! But that’s another digression. So, without further ado:

Instructions for writing the fluff post for July 23, 2013

1) Look at the clock. Realize that it’s only 9:00pm on the 22nd. (12:00am on the 23rd Fluff Time.) You’ve got plenty of time to start spinning some yarn/thread/stuff before you need to start writing a fluff post! It’s a whole nine hours before it needs to be up and ready!

2) Lose track of time while wasting time. Look up at the clock again at about 11:00pm. Realize you’ve still got a bit of time before you were planning on going to bed.

3) Make some tea, and start thinking about the Fluff Topic. I would go with coffee, but that takes work. These days, for writing stuff, I’m going with Tea, Earl Grey, Hot. (I’ve always wanted to say that! Yay!)

You and your life goals…

Huh, yeah! I have just achieved a life goal! That’s fun!

But back to the list.

3b) “brainstorm”. Otherwise known as look around the internet, wander your current location aimlessly, and maybe read a book. All to get “inspired”, of course.

By this time, it’s a bit after midnight. You meant to go to bed about 15 minutes ago. Woops. Time to start thinking in earnest…

4) Focus. Fabric. Fabric is a good option- it’s fluffy, right?. Go to fabric.com to drool over all the fabrics available online that you can’t afford yet. Well, that you might be able to afford, but realize that you just bought about 5-10 yards of fabric recently that you haven’t started to use yet, and realize that you really shouldn’t get any more fabric. Even if it’s penguin printed fabric. More to the point, penguin printed fabric that would match your penguin socks perfectly.

I wonder if I could justify making a skirt out of this? Do I have any shirts that would work? Is it bad form to use flannels like that for adult(ish) apparel! Can I justify buying any of the fabric? Can I even afford how much it would take? ($13 a yard? No thanks!)

And I’m digressing again.

4b) Realize you can’t use fabric.com exclusively for your fluff post. Especially if you haven’t actually ordered anything from there (which I personally haven’t.) Besides, there’ve been enough posts on this blog about other websites already.

5) Stare at your messy counters. Realize that you’ve already written a post about how to messify any surface in just a few simple steps… there goes that stroke of inspiration.

6) Realize that you just passed your 175th blog post, so can’t even write about that. (Yay Fluff, though! Over 175 posts, and almost 6 months of daily blogging! Woohoo!)

7) Realize that what doesn’t kill you gives you stories. (Ooh, I should make a cafepress design out of that! I’ll let you know if I do.)

8) Enter Inspiration: Decide to write about writing a fluff post. The day is saved! And it’s only 12:30 am- still only about a half hour after “the latest I’m going to bed tonight, period.” (Hah!)

9) Get sidetracked by a conversation with Fluffy about what this post is going to be about. And give spoilers. You can’t forget the spoilers.

10) Start writing. Get up to point ten (Hey, look at that!) and wonder whether you should include pictures in your post.

11) Decide yes, and then decide to ignore that decision. And the sudden itch in your fingers to pick up a pen and try to figure out how to illustrate this post.

12) Realize that it’s almost 1:00am, and that you can always update the post later.

13) finish the post, have the final conversation with Fluffy (if it happens), double check everything, realize that you’re linking to this post in this post, yadda yadda, schedule for the post to go up at 9:00am on July 23rd, decide that you’ve gotten too little sleep and should therefore go to bed, follow through on that decision, and get ready for bed. And hopefully end up actually getting some sleep. (This hasn’t happened yet as I’m writing. It will hopefully have happened by the time you’re reading. Because time is weird like that, and so are blogs and stuff.)

So there you go, Fluffsters! That’s how to write today’s post in 13 circuitous steps. Happy Tuesday!

Wait, what about the final conversation with me? It didn’t happen!

You mean the one we’re having now?

…Oh. Yes.

I think it sort of slipped my mind.

Anyways, as I was saying, happy Tuesday! I hope you have a fantastic week!

bonus: ~~14)~~ Waffles) Realize that somewhere in there you took a screencap of how this post is the 1337-est post yet. Insert that picture, and an ambiguous timeframe. Is this supposed to have happened before or after I go to bed?

The Leetest post yet!

blue) Change what had been 14 above to waffles. Ambiguous times in lists and instructions are even more confusing when you have numbered lists. So ignore the numbers, and change it to something nonsensical. Return to the rest of 14 as usual.

So, once again: Happy Tuesday!

**update** Disclaimer: Results may vary, based on word choice. Simply following these directions does not guarantee that an identical post might easily be written.

Five Things I’ve Said that my Parents Never Expected

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In honor of my parents 31st anniversary (congratulations, Mom & Dad!) I’m sharing

Five things I’ve honestly said that my parents probably never expected to hear me say.

1) I want to take a nap. When I was a lot younger, I was one of those types of little ones. I despised nap-time. I saw no use for it, I “wasn’t tired”, and so I hated taking a nap. Now, I can’t get enough of them. I think I blame high school, and whatever social conventions have determined that regularly getting up before 10:00am is necessary.

2) Can you teach me to cook? I’m a bit surprised by this one, but this was the first thing that came to Mom’s mind when I asked her what something was that she never expected me to say. I guess that when I was a lot younger I had no interest in learning how to cook. It’s amazing what looking at allrecipes– especially the dessert, pretzel, and bread sections – will do to you! It’s almost worth the cleanup, even!

3) I want/need to take a shower/bath. I got over my extreme protestations about personal hygiene before I got to be too old. It’s still a bit of a nuisance to interrupt whatever you’re doing to go take a shower, but at least I no longer (exactly) protest. I fully realize that it is absolutely, 100% worthwhile to interrupt stuff to take a shower or bath, especially when needed.

4) Is there enough broccoli for me to have more? This especially happens when Mom makes her Broccoli Almondine recipe. It’s amazing. It’s broccoli, but it tastes good. I think Mom & Dad practically despaired of my ever liking broccoli. I liked brussel sprouts, but not that green-tree.

5) I want to study my textbook during the summer, to get a head-start on the school year! Yes, alas. College got a hold of me. I used to have this irrational worry about being “bored” in class because it would be “too easy.” My math classes broke me of that worry. Especially for classes beyond Calculus I, they are quite challenging enough. I wish I’d looked at my books earlier for more of my classes… math especially.

(Bonus) 6: Eww, mud! From what I can recall, I loved mud when I was younger. “Mud castles” were one of my favorite pass-times. Making rivers and drawbridges was also fun. I do remember tramping mud into the house several times without realizing it, and then needing to clean it up. These days, I really dislike mud. Or anything slimy, for that matter. (To be fair, I’m still ok with mud. I just don’t like getting it on my clothes.)

How about you, Fluffsters? Is there anything you say that your parents would never have expected?

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Masking tape is fantastic

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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Monday! I hope you have a wonderful week!

Masking tape is one of the most useful materials I have come across.

I thought that your world loved this thing called “duct tape”?

That’s good too, but sometimes masking tape is a lot better.

Oh?

Yes. In fact, that’s one of the things I normally keep in my backpack.

Right next to your socks?

No. First, the socks live in my purse. Second, the tape would make them sticky. But not as sticky as Duct Tape would. Which leads me to:

Five things to use Masking Tape For

1) labeling things. Ever need to label a bag? A cup? A shoe? Yourself? Write on a piece of masking tape, tear it off, and stick it on whatever you need to label. I’d suggest not using it to label your hair, but that’s just me. Duct tape is a lot more difficult to write on.

3) Remove dirt. Put the tape on the dirty spot, and pull. It might remove some of the tape, carpet, furry stuff, paint, or whatever you’re using it on, but at least it won’t leave as much residue as duct tape would.

You skipped 2.

No, I didn’t yet. I’m just reordering them.

5) Fix your broken piece of chalk. Or pencil. Take your writing implement, put it back together, and wrap it with a couple rounds of masking tape. It’s not as sticky on the outside as duct tape, and so is more comfortable to hold.

4) Hanging dorm room decorations. Not candles, of course. Those are not permitted. But masking tape can be used to hang posters, banners, or basically anything else. Duct tape is normally not permitted.

So there you go, fluffsters! Five ways to use masking tape. Have a great wee-

You still skipped number 2.

That’s because I’m leaving it up to you, Fluffsters. What is your use for masking tape that I haven’t mentioned? Preferably one where Duct Tape wouldn’t work?

Hans Zimmer Soundtracks.

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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Thursday!

I think I’ve mentioned that I enjoy music. I especially enjoy movie soundtracks. Particularly when they are composed by Hans Zimmer. (John Williams is also fun, but Hans Zimmer consistently writes music I really like.)

So here’s a bit about

My Favorite Hans Zimmer Soundtracks

1) Muppet Treasure Island. This is true fluff. It’s actually a musical. I don’t know who did the lyrics, but this is some of the most awesome movie music ever composed. Here’s the song about the advantages of becoming a Professional Pirate.

And here’s the movie intro music:

I mean, how epic is that music? Granted, it sounds a whole lot like his Pirates of the Caribbean music in some ways, but oh well. That brings me to:

2) The Pirates of the Caribbean Series. Granted, it sounds a lot like his previous pirate-y soundtrack, Muppet Treasure Island. But it’s still really fun music. It’s fun how in the second movie he uses a special theme for the villain, and plays with it a bit. And pipe organ is a lot of fun! And in the third movie, he introduces another new theme that he plays with a lot. And the fourth movie? It’s got a fantastic soundtrack. Zimmer went way overboard with the melodrama for the new badguy theme. It’s totally epic. I think it’s impossible for it to be more melodramatic!

One of the other things I love about movie four’s soundtrack is that Zimmer makes little references. Heads up, spoiler alert: In the Fountain of Youth scene, when the Spaniards come and start to destroy it, the music totally makes an “old classics” reference. Zimmer pulled in a traditional plainchant theme: The Dies Irae theme. From what I understand, the chant translates to “day of judgement, day of wrath…” and goes on from there. Nice little reference when the Spaniards are judging and being wrathful, don’t you agree?

3) Lone Ranger Soundtrack. From what I understand, in the traditional Lone Ranger genre, the William Tell Overture is “his theme.” Zimmer uses that and incorporates it. He also makes variations on the theme. Sometimes it’s slower. Sometimes it’s a lot darker and more mysterious. But it’s still very recognizable as the William Tell. And as with Pirates, Zimmer uses musical phrase references brilliantly. There is one scene (minor spoiler(ish) alert) where a woman is talking about her days as a ballerina. A portrait of her as a ballerina is shown, and Zimmer pulled in a small, clearly identifiable segment from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake during that shot. It’s very well done.

How about you, Fluffsters? What are your favorite soundtracks?

5 ways to defeat boredom

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Hello, Fluffsters!

Yesterday’s post was… interesting, wasn’t it?

Anyways, Today I’m going to try to rectify the situation.

Some ways to relieve boredom

1) Plot to take over a world. Not necessarily this world, of course. That would be bad. Probably. But plot to take over a world. I hear there’s nobody on Neptune, yet!

2) Write about a world you could take over. And then find some way to teleport yourself into the story, as Dictator of the World. Then you could really take over the world! And you never hear of any world dictators complaining of boredom, do you?

Uh… Does any world actually have a world dictator?

I’m sure there’s one somewhere. But moving on.

3) Learn woodworking. Create a musical desk.

I mean, isn’t that just fantastic? How can you possibly be bored when making something like that?

4) Waste too much time on YouTube. On the other hand, if you’re bored, I guess you’re not really wasting too much time.

5) Read a good book. Not on “advanced empirical methods for statistical studies on the eating habits of the fruit-fly.” (whatever that would even be.) No, instead I’d read something like The Enchanted Forest Chronicles.

Well, there you go! Five ways to defeat boredom!

Happy Friday! I hope you have a great weekend.

How to thoroughly bore yourself

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Greetings, Readers!

From what I understand, your world is currently experiencing Summer.

One of the staples of Summer, from what I can gather, is perpetual boredom. After you are bored, solutions can be considered. But until you are bored, what point is there to any of the solutions? After all, if something isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

Huh. I’d always remembered it as “if it isn’t broken, fix it until it is!”

…

But I digress. Today, I am here to give you a list of ways to try to live your Summer to its fullest: By becoming bored.

5 Ways to Achieve Boredom

1) Sit in a very crowded room, with nothing to do. Especially if you cannot communicate with anyone. I’m sure you were thinking my first recommendation would be to find someplace quiet and sit. That is a bad solution. If there’s nothing else going on, you can think. If that fails, you can take a nap. With a crowded room, however, you cannot concentrate on anything. You cannot even concentrate on your own thoughts! Believe me, this is one of the best methods for achieving boredom.

2) Try to read a textbook on advanced empirical methods for statistical studies on the eating habits of the fruit-fly. Or something equally esoteric. If you’re a statistics nerd, try reading James Joyce.

3) Do 2… in Hebrew. Greek, if you already know Hebrew. That way you have even less chance of understanding what’s going on. That confusion will inevitably lead to boredom.

Wait a second… I don’t think it’s possible to have less of a chance of understanding what’s going on. You can’t have less than a zero-percent chance of something, right?

Ah, I can tell that you haven’t read “Advanced Empirical Methods for Statistical Studies on the Eating Habits of the Fruit-Fly.” The statistics would explain that possibility to you.

4) Put the fluffiest piece of music you can find on perpetual loop, and lock yourself in a room with it for a week. This is actually very similar to 1. But this has the added bonus of killing 7 days!

5) Paint some ebony black, an emerald green, a ruby red, or ivory white. Do your best to match the colors. Please note, this will be a slightly more expensive option.

I hope, dear readers, that this helps you attain the full Boredom that is promised with Summer! Have a fantastic Thursday!

Things To Do Concerning Thin Mints

My Favorite Types of Birthday Cake. (In no particular order.)

Instructions for writing the fluff post for July 23, 2013

Five things I’ve honestly said that my parents probably never expected to hear me say.

If I had a dollar for every time (something) occurred.

If I had a dollar…

Five things to use Masking Tape For

My Favorite Hans Zimmer Soundtracks

Some ways to relieve boredom

5 Ways to Achieve Boredom

3 Apparently Shareable Things (by modern standards.)