Home Made Star Crunch

Little Debbie Star Crunch are quite possibly my favorite junk food from childhood. 

Last week, I went for home made.  I found two recipes online, both of which looked close, but not quite right in the soft-but-chewy caramel department.

Here’s my recipe.  Yield 12-16, depending on size.

• 1/2 bag caramels, unwrapped
• 1/2 bag marshmallows (about 12)
• 2 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Pinch of salt
• 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Milk or water, as needed
• Rice Krispies (enough, maybe 1/4 box)

1. Melt camels and 1 tablespoon butter in a double boiler until you can stir them with a spatula.  Add vanilla and salt.
2. Add marshmallows to caramel mixture, and allow to melt.  Fold gently with spatula to maintain fluffiness.
3. Fold in as many Rice Krispies as the caramel-marshmallow mixture can adequately coat.  Remove from heat.
4. Spray your hands with Pam and prepare yourself to ignore the pain of handling something hot.  Working quickly, form the mixture into little pucks, and place on wax paper to set. 
5. Melt the chocolate chips and remaining butter in the double boiler until it is thin enough to coat a spoon.  Add milk (or water if you happen to be out of milk, like I was) one or two teaspoons at a time if the chocolate is too think.
6. Using chopsticks, dip the carmel-krispie centers into the chocolate one-at-a-time.  Set on wax paper elevated on a cooling rack.  Cool until chocolate is firm.

I like to eat them slightly cooler than room temperature, kind of like if they spent the morning in your lunch box next to an ice pack.  This effect can be simulated by refrigerating the Star Crunch, then pulling them out 20-30 minutes before you want to eat one.

The Northwest Passage

My home improvement project today was to create a passageway from my living room to my office, through which audio/video cables can span the two rooms.

The vast majority of my music and movies live on my computer.  Hulu, streaming Netflix, Zune, even my record player – the signal begins in my office, and can be played back on through the receiver and speakers in either room.

Before, the wires had to go ‘round the cape.  This was messy.

   

The new route goes straight west through the wall.   

Total project cost was $3.52 for two GFCI faceplates, four wood screws, and one square of flexible cork.  Yellow paint was leftover. 

  

Thanks to John at my neighborhood hardware store, Pacific Supply for listening to my plan and offering advice on the construction.

Physics Poems

Today I proposed an assignment to a friend who is a physics teacher: "For extra credit, write a poem or song about your favorite linear motion constant, vector or equation, and present it to the class."
 
My entries...

 

"80 in a 60" 
Last night the officer gave to me
A ticket for velocity
Despite my lame apology
Too much dx over dt

"How high?" 
My momma told me "just say no"
But I gots to get me high to flow
How high it goes, y'aIl gots to know
Get yo' VV up on tha double g, yo

Books Books Books

If I were still in school, I would be in 20th grade.  Ten years ago, in tenth grade, our teacher assigned us SSR - sustained silent reading.  To get full credit, we had to read 600 pages each six weeks.  For me back then, this was a chore.  Most grading periods, I struggled to get to 600, usually because the books I was reading were boring. 

These days, I read a lot more.  And a lot more voluntarily.  I sometimes wonder how my life would be different if I had discovered the kinds of books I like to read back when I was forced to read. 

Earlier this week, I read Twilight based on the raving recommendation of my friend Brie.  Five-hundred pages in three days.  I admit, this isn't college-bound literature.  I was even concisely mocked by my (English major) sister for stooping to read it.  BUT I AM NOT ASHAMED.

I am now auditioning books to be my next read.  These are my top candidates: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson; New Moon by Stephanie Meyer; and Ada, or Ardor by Vladimir Nabokov. 

Snow Crash is a favorite among several of my friends, and Jackie happens to be reading it right now.   I bought it a few years ago, read about 50 pages, then put it aside in favor of a different book.

New Moon is the sequel to Twilight, and  I am very tempted to continue my momentum with this series.

Ada, or Ardor has been on my shelf for a few years.  I bought a handful of used Nabokov books after I discovered and devoured Lolita.  I feel drawn to return to Nabokov as a pendulum swing away from the "lightweight" prose of Stephanie Meyer.  Depth.  Intensity.  Passion.  English!  All perfected by Nabokov. 

I took Ada with me this morning on the bus.  Chapter two starts off innocent enough:

Marina's affair with Demon Veen started on his, her, and Daniel Veen's birthday, January 5, 1868, when she was twenty-four and both Veens thirty. 

I began reading the next sentence while still in Seattle.  I did not move past it until we were two towns away.  Behold:

As an actress, she had none of the breath-taking quality that makes the skill of mimicry seem, at least while the show lasts, worth even more than the price of such footlights as insomnia, fancy, arrogant art; yet on that particular night, with soft snow falling beyond the plush and the paint, la Durmanska (who paid the great Scott, her impresario, seven thousand gold dollars a week for publicity alone, plus a bonny bonus for every engagement) had been from the start of the trashy ephemeron (an American play based by some pretentious hack on a famous Russian romance) so dreamy, so lovely, so stirring, that Demon (not quite a gentleman in amorous matters) made a bet with his orchestra-seat neighbor, Prince N., bribed a series of green-room attendants, and then, in a cabinet reculé (as a French writer of an earlier century might have mysteriously called that little room in which the broken trumpet and poodle hoops of a forgotten clown, besides many dusty pots of colored grease, happened to be stored) proceeded to possess her between two scenes, Chapter Three and Four of the martyred novel).

That was one sentence.  Now, I know that Nabokov likes words.  And likes to weave allusions in his writing.  And likes to sneak in his own musings disguised as asides from the narrator from time to time.  But all in one monstrous sentence?  This sentence makes me curious whether Nabokov's used an editor, particularly at this later stage in his career.  (And if he did, what a challenging job he must have had, since Nabokov was one of the most certain and defensive authors I've ever encountered ... he would even respond to his critics in print...)

I am not sure now whether to forge ahead or retreat to New Moon. 

Stella Cafe

Welcome to the neighborhood, Stella Cafe!

Earlier this evening I was walking back to my apartment from Caffe Ladro sipping a tasty pumpkin spice latté.  I stopped by to peek at the new place opening up at the corner location at 1st and University, across from the front door of Harbor Steps and the Seattle Art Museum's Hammering Man. 

While I was watching a worker complete the installation of the new sign, I started to chat with the owner of the shop, Rob Wilson.  He invited me in to see his cafe. 

While we were looking around, Rob offered to make me a coffee.  I obliged and traded in my Ladro latté for a fresh one from my new neighbor.  Stella coffee is smooth and delicious, and comes with a free French chocolate.  While I chatted with Rob about his shop and his personal roasting operation, I had the pleasure of meeting his lovely wife, Josie, and charismatic son Alex.  (Have you ever had a five year-old introduce themselves to you?  It's adorable.)

With all of the coffee competition on this block (there's a Tully's, Ancient Grounds, Cherry Street, Online Coffee, and Ladro less than a 2-minute walk of my front door), it is the personal experience that makes the difference.  Rob is already miles ahead in this game.  In fairness, the owner of Ancient Grounds is awesome too, and the baristas at Online Coffee are some of my favorite in Seattle. 

Stella Cafe makes a welcome contribution to the niceification of our neighborhood.  Joining some of my already-favorite neighbors Ancient Grounds, De Medici Ming Fine Papers, and the newly-opened Four Seasons, we're slowly but surely squeezing out the pawn shops and payday loan store that still hang on. 

Stella Cafe officially opens tomorrow morning.  Rob plans to offer Italian paninis, vino, and do us a favor by selling sundries like milk.  If you're in the neighborhood, stop by and welcome them to the neighborhood.