I was craving something sweet all day. But I'm broke, and we don't have any eggs or butter to bake anything. But I reeeally wanted something sweet. I thought, "Surely, there has to be something I can make with the ingredients I do have." And so I went on the internet, and stumbled across a blog called Rak's Kitchen, and they had a recipe for chocolate cake that didn't use eggs or butter OR milk. So I decided to try it:
Ingredients:
AP flour - 1.5 cups
Cocoa powder - 3 Tbsp
Sugar - 1 cup
Oil (I used canola) - 1/4 cup
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Lemon juice/Vinegar - 1 Tbsp
Water - 1 cup
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Vanilla extract - 1/2 Tbsp
Directions:
Preheat oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda together and set aside.
Mix water, sugar, salt - make sure
the sugar gets dissolved - then add the lemon juice/vinegar, oil and
vanilla. Mix well.
Add the sifted flour and mix well.
Grease a baking pan (I used an 8 inch round pan) with oil and dust with some flour, or use baking spray which is what I used. Pour the batter.
Bake for 35-40 minutes 25-30 minutes - mine was done in about 25 minutes.
Take cake out of the over and let cool for about 15 minutes. Invert cake and let cool the rest of the way.
I must say, I'm very happy with the results. It was good. The cake tasted like cake (lol), it was moist - I'm rather surprised. Hehe. I'm not a vegetarian so I'm going to try making it with milk instead of water next time. I think it would make it taste even better.
Did anybody see this coming? Because I did...due to my unexplained urge to sing Where Do We Go From Here last week, I got stuck in a Buffy musical mood. So this week, I put together a list of my top 10 songs from the Once More With Feeling soundtrack.
Can I just say, I had a very hard time with the top 2. I kept going back and forth between these two songs. I'm still not 100% sure I put them in the correct order, but I agonized over it for too long.
10. What You Feel - This is Sweet's big number. Sweet is the red, tap dancing zoot suit wearing demon that makes every one sing and dance until they spontaneously combust. He is very charismatic, I really enjoyed him. It was probably the tap dancing that did it for me. :P
9. The Parking Ticket - Listen! this is a brilliant little ditty. It was one of my favorites from the first moment I heard it. It's such a sad and desperate melody...and then you actually hear the lyrics. The whole thing is hilarious. Genius.
8. Where Do We Go From Here - As I said last week, this is the number where the gang acknowledges all the secrets that were uncovered throughout the episode and wonder what's going to happen now. So many relationships changed in this episode...
7. Something To Sing About - This is a very depressing song. It's Buffy explaining how she views life now after she came back from the dead. The reason why this song made it on the countdown is because of the bridge - the song changes, all the instruments are taken away except for the piano, and Buffy finally reveals that Willow pulled her out of heaven. The piano chords were perfect, they were kind of perverse, but it fit so well. You heard and felt Buffy's pain for what she had to leave and you saw the look of horror on Willow's face when she finds out what she did to her best friend.
6. Under Your Spell - This is just a lovely song. I loved Tara and this is the last time (before her death - hope I didn't spoil anything. :P ) when her and Willow are really together and in love. It's also a bit of an ironic song, because Tara is singing that she's under Willow's spell when she actually is - Willow used magic to erase Tara's memory about the fight they had.
Willow's addiction to magic was one of my favorite arcs, if you go back and watch the show you see how gradual it starts - Willow being the smarty pants she is, curious about magic and wanting to learn. And she keeps learning and wanting to learn more and do more. At first she has a handle on it, but throughout the seasons you realize she goes from using magic as a last resort to a first resort. It's there a lot longer than people realize. It was a great setup.
5. Overture/Going Through The Motions - It's the first song! The first time you see Buffy singing, it's so exciting! And it's a great introduction; you see her at the cemetery doing what she does best, slaying vampires. You can see how bored she is with it all, she really is just going through the motions. It's a fun song, very Tim Burtonesque, I really enjoy it.
4. Under Your Spell/Standing Reprise - The combination of these two songs was great! Better than the two original songs. Giles and Tara singing together was heavenly. It's also a much sadder song - Tara just realizes Willow has been messing with her memories, and so the lyrics take on a somber tone. She's disgusted by what Willow has done and decides she has to leave her. Giles realizes he has to leave Buffy so she can fulfill her duty to Dawn; if he stays she will always rely on him and she has to stand on her own two feet for her own good.
3. I've Got A Theory/Bunnies/If We're Together - I always thought this song as one song, not 3 separate ones. When this episode first aired and (I guess) that whole year after, this was actually my favorite song. Xander's theory part was amazing! So funny - the words and the fact that he said it so fast! It's a well-known fact that Nicholas Brendon has a stuttering problem so the fact that he could do that was very amazing from a fan's point of view.
2. Rest In Peace - SPIKE!!! SPIKE SINGING!!! Need I say more? Ok ok - This is an amazing song. Spike truly loves Buffy (not saying that Angel didn't cuz he DID - Bangel shipper all day every day!) and he's always been the type of guy to wear his heart on his sleeve - Cecily, Drusilla, Buffy...For someone that loves this immensely, it is very painful for him to have the person he loves use him. Buffy tells him that she's disgusted by him, that she hates him, but she sleeps with him; that is truly a cruel thing for someone like Spike. Rest In Peace is Spike being fed up and angry about the way that he's used and then discarded. He's telling Buffy to leave him alone if she isn't going to love him. He goes back and forth in the song - he's angry at her and himself, and then you peel back the anger and what you have is heartbreak. He's hurting because he loves her so much and she just doesn't give a shit about him, and even though he knows this, he just can't leave. He can't leave her.
1. Walk Through The Fire - This is such an insightful song. As we already know, Buffy is just going through the motions, she isn't really living, because she doesn't feel the wonders of living anymore. Not when she's comparing it to heaven. Everyone could tell there was something wrong with her since she came back and it created this divide between Buffy and the rest of the Scoobies. This song shows just how isolated she feels from everyone else - how lost she is, and alone. She wants to feel alive again, and so she gravitates towards dangerous situations (e.g. sleeping with Spike) in hopes of feeling "the fire". Buffy was always a very spunky and passionate person and she lost that when she came back from the dead (the second time lol). She's at a place where she'll keep throwing herself in dangerous situations just so she could feel again, even if it kills her.
At the same time, you have everyone else around her reacting to her lack of inner fire. The Scoobies want to abandon ship, they're tired of keeping up pretenses when things are not alright and Buffy won't talk to them, and tell them what's wrong. Giles is taking the training wheels off (so to speak), and Spike as he said in Rest In Peace is tired of the emotional abuse. But by the end of the song (when Buffy thinks she's all alone) everyone comes around and decides to help her and Dawn, because that's what they've always done.
I love this song for these reasons; because Buffy's friends abandon her, but change their minds in the end. Because of the way that Buffy feels - I can relate to it, I've been there, all of it.
I've decided to start a new Friday segment called Food Porn Friday - where I talk about a food I am craving, or really good food I had during the week. Basically, I'm going to be fat and talk about food. Food is delicious, so let's talk about it!
I've seen a few people do food porn posts around the social mediaverse, but I will credit the idea to author Cynthia St. Aubin. She has a Food Porn Friday discussion on her street team every week; and as a member of her street team, I have been privy to some really yummy things!
For my first Food Porn Friday post, I will be talking about deep fried Oreos. That's right; deep. fried. OREOS! Now, depending on where you live, you may or may not have heard of this. I grew up in Connecticut and it wasn't until I moved to Pennsylvania a few years ago that I even heard of deep fried Oreos. I'd heard of deep fried Twinkies, but not the Oreos. A friend of mine told me about them, and made it her mission to have me try some - Oreos not Twinkies. So off to the carnival we went! Apparently, it's carnival food - who would have thunk it? (Hehe, I've always wanted to say that)
Well let me tell you guys, that first bite of hot, powder sugary deliciousness that is a deep fried Oreo was life changing. Oh so so good! I was hooked from day one. As soon as spring hits every year, my mind starts; "When's the first fair? Where are the Oreos? Deep fried Oreo season!"
This year, however, I decided to figure out how to make them at home. So off to the internet I went, and found recipes, and pictures, and just lots and lots of deep fried Oreos (I also came across a deep fried Snickers...) After reading many posts, and recipes, I decided to make my own. I didn't take one particular recipe, I kind of took little parts from different recipes and also did my own thing. The result was A-MAZING!
So in the spirit of sharing, I will share the recipe with everyone. :)
Ingredients:
Pack of Oreos
Aunt Jemima pancake mix complete - the one that says just add water
Milk
Cooking oil - corn, vegetable, canola, whatever you use
Powdered sugar
Directions:
Take your cookies (this recipe makes a little over a dozen) and put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes before you start.
In a pot, add cooking oil. You want enough so the Oreos aren't hitting the bottom when frying; they will expand. Set your stove on medium heat and warm up oil. While oil is warming up...
In a bowl, measure out 1 cup of the pancake mix, and 3/4 cup of milk. Whisk it all together until there are no lumps
To check if the oil is ready, add a drop of the batter into the oil. If it quickly floats to the surface sizzling, you're ready to begin!
Take the Oreos out of the freezer and stick them in the batter. Make sure they're nice and coated with the mix on both sides.
With a fork, scoop out battered Oreos and drop them in the oil. You want to do 3 or 4 at a time (depending on the size of your pot) so they have enough room to float about and expand. You're going to cook them until they're golden brown which is about 15 seconds. Flip them over and repeat.
On a plate or bowl lined with paper a towel, place your deep fried Oreos to strain any excess oil.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy!
(Sorry about that horrid presentation. I didn't know at the time I was going to be posting it on my blog. LOL.)
"Understand we'll go hand in hand, but we'll walk alone in fear. TELL MEEEE. Where do we go...from here..."
Any Buffy fans out there? If so, you just sang those lyrics. ;) Today's Toe-Tapping Thursday is the song Where Do We Go From Here from the ever popular Buffy episode, Once More With Feeling, AKA the musical episode. It's the last full song before Coda (the concluding passage/song) and it's when all the characters realize that all of their relationships have forever changed due to the secrets that were revealed throughout the episode via musical numbers.
Not sure why, but I started singing this out of the blue while I was taking out the trash, and it got stuck in my head. Been singing it since.
This week's Triple T is the song Kissing You Goodbye by sister duo The Pierces. For those of you who aren't aware, I am a huge Pretty Little Liars (PLL) fan. The theme song to PLL is Secret by The Pierces, so it would make sense that as a PLL semi fanatic, that I would be a fan of this group. FYI, the album Secret is on, Thirteen Tales Of Love And Revenge, is a pretty good album, you guys should check it out.
Now, Kissing You Goodbye is not in that particular album, but the album after that, You & I, which is also a really good album. They have this folksy, psychedelic pop thing going on that I really dig. They're gorgeous, they sing heavenly, and their lyrics are just wonderful. Yet no one I talk to has ever heard of them. Talk about underrated!
And can I just say that I love all of their videos - I find them to be creative yet understated.
Welcome to another Toe-Tapping Thursday. NOT brought to you by Celine Dion. LOL.
Alright, now that we got Celine out of our systems, it's time to move on. This awesome awesome awesome song AND video has been waiting patiently for its turn. Chandelier by Sia. Where to start...well as far as Sia, her songs are either hit or miss for me. I either really enjoy her stuff or really don't; and I'm referring to both the songs she sings and the songs she writes for other artists. Chandelier is by far my most favorite song that she sings. The lyrics are dark and I find the chorus to have this desperation that I really like, and Sia paired it with such an awesome tune. Then last month the video premiered and when I saw it I loved it just as much as the song. It's an amazing video and it features Maddie Ziegler from Dance Moms who is an amazing dancer, even though personally I don't like the way she comes off on the show - I'm a Chloe fan. But let's not get me started on Dance Moms. (Note to self: Find out what date that's coming back on)
So if you haven't seen the video or heard the song, press play and enjoy! And if you have heard/seen it, I'm sure you love it as much as I do, so press play and enjoy! ;)
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