Wheat Chocolate Chip and Cinnamon Cookies

 

Mmm...Homemade cookies that are kinda healthy  :)

Hello 2012...

Happy New Year, everyone!!!

How to Succeed in Business...

I spent this past Christmas in New York City.  I did all the touristy things like visit Rockefeller Center,  Time Square, looked at all the department store Christmas displays, snore, snore, blah, blah.  But, the best thing I did was see Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette in the Broadway comedy musical "How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying".   This is the second time I've seen it.  I loved every single minute of it all over again.   The singing and dancing is just so energetic and electrifying.  You can't help but grin like a goon throughout the entire 2 hour and 45 minute spectacular.  Daniel Radcliffe is one talented little cutie.  He's also incredibly friendly and gracious to his fans.  Radcliffe is definitely one of my favorite actors.

My husband and I waited for him at the side stage door after the matinee show on Christmas eve.  It was freezing cold but so worth it.

Daniel Radcliffe signing my husband's playbill

Signed playbill and program.

We love Daniel Radcliffe so much that our stay in New York was extended an extra day so that we could get his autograph one more time. We camped out for 9 hours in 30 plus degree weather to get the entire cast.  I know this sounds crazy.  Ha!

Rose Hemingway plays Rosemary Pilkington.  J. Pierrepont Finch's love interest

John Larroquette plays J.B. Biggley

Playbill signed by the cast.  Radcliffe's autograph is the big star looking scribble covering part of his cheek.

 

 

 

 

"It's Been a Long Day" elevator scene signed by R. Hemingway and D. Radcliffe

A personalized autographed Harry Potter poster made out to my husband

New York was a great time.  My "How to Succeed" experience made it even better.  It's sad to know I'll never be able to see the performance again.  January 1st is his very last show.   Boo!  Well, at least I can play the soundtrack over and over and over.  :D
 

Mini Chocolate Donuts

I'm a huge sucker for anything cute regardless of whether or not I need it. So last week when I was walking through a store, this super cute bright yellow machine was screaming at me...."TAKE ME HOME!!!"  I said "donut maker....why not?"

The donut maker comes with a manual that includes a handful of basic donut recipes and glazes.  I tested out the machine by making a small batch of chocolate donuts with a chocolate glaze.

They came out so cute!!!   Taste wise, I need to experiment a little more.  I think I over baked them.  They were a tad bit crispy and dry.  I need to reduce the cooking time and probably add more vegetable oil to the batter.  Otherwise, not bad for a $30 machine.

Quinoa, The Everyday SuperFood

Recently I picked up this cookbook from Amazon for about $17.  I haven't had a chance to try out any recipes yet.  I'm especially excited about the dessert section.  I've always associated quinoa with savory dishes. The idea of using quinoa in desserts intrigue me.  There's a recipe for a Raspberry Cake that sounds awesome.  I'll be testing this recipe out really soon.

My first experience with quinoa actually happened last month.  I was at Whole Foods and they had a buy one get one free sale on bags of quinoa and farro.  Never having tasted it before, I took a leap of faith and picked up a small wheelbarrow's worth.  I found a simple recipe online with shrimp and veggies. It was AWESOME!!!  I was so happy to discover that I liked quinoa, especially since I have enough to last a year.

Spotted Dick

Oh yeah!  I'm showing off my maturity level today.  I saw this can at my local grocery store in the international aisle. Don't ask me what this is but it got mentioned in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  That's good enough for me!  Happy Tuesday everyone!   Still working on reloading all my blog pics by the way.  Meh!

Google+ Sucks and My Blog Looks Funny

The other night I noticed all my pictures were missing from every blog post. Each click brought me to Error 404 File cannot be Found. I thought it was a server issue, maybe Blogger had gone down. Tonight I looked up the error and found link after link with one common theme... Google+ and Picasa.  While experimenting with settings and trying to figure out how everything worked, I deleted my blog photo album from my Google+  account.  I didn't know deleting an album from my social networking account would affect my blog.  I had no idea Picasa was directly connected to Google+.  The really , really crappy part about this whole things is, photos deleted from Picasa are not recoverable.  Doh!!!

I was fuming about an hour ago.  I was pissed at myself for deleting the album and pissed at Google for having such a shitty setup.  I know this is my own fault but it still sucks!!  I even thought about deleting this entire blog and sticking with Twitter and Tumblr.  Fortunately as I started to calm down, I realized it would be a very stupid thing to do.  I can't delete my blog!  This has been the longest running project I've ever worked on.  I know I'm not very good at keeping it updated but when I do add new content, I have fun with it.  I've also met some really cool people through Pass the Pocky.  So with great patience, I will slowly reload all my pictures until everything is restored and right in the Land of Pocky. 

Please learn from my stupid mistake.... Whatever you do,  do not delete your blog photo album from your Google+ account.  Ha!