Have we talked about my yellow boots yet?

I have a fairly virulent strain of ebay fever, and I've been going cold turkey since we booked our tickets to New York because I need that money to eat while I am there.  But boo sent me a link to a locket a few weeks back all, If I had money I'd buy this.  And then while I was already on there checking out the locket, I poked around and found a pair of yellow boots.  For $18.

Dude.  The mennonite in me will not let me not buy a pair of $18 boots.  I was winging it with the sizing, and crossing fingers with regard to the quality, but for that few dollars I figure it was worth the risk.

Except then I had to wait, y'all.  For weeks (ok, like, two weeks).  But last Tuesday they showed up at my door and lawdamercy, do I love them.

The soles are like crepe paper and the construction is a little dodgy.  I don't see them holding up to more than a year of my super-aggressive walking.  But for that year, I will feel like a sunny little elf-pirate.  Ahoy.

So that's heartening.

Did I mention we went to see Grandma on Sunday?  We went to see Grandma on Sunday and she looked amazing.  Not even 'amazing for a woman in her 80s who has cancer,' but animal-print-velour-sweater-wearing, be-lipsticked and coiffed amazing.  She's back in her apartment now, receiving visitors and phone calls from overseas and eating garlic sausage with impunity, because who's going to gainsay her now?  She's presiding like a queen over her court and loving the shit out of it.

Keep on keeping on, Grandma. 

I know we all dressed like this in the 80s, but I was younger then.

It's times like these, when I've taken off my dress and put on a t-shirt, but neglected to swap my leggings for something more closely resembling pants, that I cross my fingers against any unexpected visitors.

New! York! City!

We have plane tickets and I just now this second confirmed our hostel booking!  We are actually going to go to New York now.  I mean, not now now.  We're not going now, more like the actually is now.  Oh English, sometimes you are so pokey.

The use for which it was intended.

After using my creme brulee torch to toast marshmallows, crisp the top of a shepherd's pie, and melt some recalcitrant nacho cheese, I finally turned it to its proper use.

En flambe!

That's before I got better at evening out the sugar.  But I was too busy eating the second one to take photos.

Baking soda fixes everything.

Stand back, everybody.  I'm going to do science.

I have this ring from years back that I lost in the bottom of a thing and when I found it again it was all tarnished.

I kept it, because why not, and the other day the internet is all Here's how you fix tarnished silver without actually doing any, you know, polishing.  Put strip of tinfoil in sink.  Fill sink with some hot water.  Mix in a tablespoon of baking soda and one of salt for every 4 cups or so of water.  Put in silver and leave it for, oh, like a minute.  Or longer, whatever.  It's not like you're doing anything.

Hey presto.  Alchemy.

Bakestravaganza

Last year Joel's class held a silent auction to raise money to help offset the costs of their rural rotations.  I auctioned off three batches of cookies, which were purchased by my favorite of Joel's instructors.  She finally got around to choosing her three batches and I finally got around to making them.  Even though Christmas is over and done, she still wanted ginger snaps

and I know that you are all Ugh, ginger snaps because ginger snaps contain both ginger and molasses, both of which are gross.  But these are Robyn's mother-in-law's ginger snaps and they are AMAZING and I have never not made myself sick on them.  Moving on.

She also wanted fudge puddles, which are those cookie cups I made that time with Robyn, but filled with fudge instead of Easter.  They are deadly delicious on their own

and then you add fudge.

Seriously, make these cookie cups and then put something in them.  ANYthing.  Recipe in that link up yonder.

And also I made brownies but forgot to photograph them before I'd packaged everything up and sent it off.

Presume that they looked like brownies, and that they were great.  And also that I ate those leftover edges afterwards.  ALSO, did I mention that my mother-in-law made me an apron for Christmas?  And that it is darling? 

I just want to prance around in it and bake coffee cakes.

I am back now.

Ok here's the thing: I haven't been here because my grandmother is very sick and I don't really want to talk about it to the internet but at the same time I don't want to be on here NOT talking about it like it's not happening, because that's sort of all I'm thinking about all the time right now.  Revising thesis proposal, thinking about grandma.  Walking up Mt Doug with Joel, thinking about grandma.  And then today I was baking up a storm and thinking about grandma and I spilled some molasses on the floor and SAW IT SPILL and did nothing about it and now there is (are?) molasses everywhere and I realized that I wanted to tell you about my molasses misadventure and that I've missed you, corner-of-the-internet-that-is-not-my-book-blog. 

So.  I am here thinking about my grandma and maybe tomorrow I will tell you why I dirtied every spatula in my house today.