Random Questions Co-Workers Have Asked Me

“Are you listening to Christian rock?”divbr //divdiv”Are you watching kung fu videos?”/divdivbr //divdiv”Are you watching iWho’s the Boss?/i” (Sadly, this one is true.)/div

Simple Acts

Yesterday, as a co-worker and I were waiting to pick up the food we ordered from a restaurant on campus, two students hauling a bucket of red carnations walked up, presented a flower to each restaurant worker and said simply, “We appreciate what you do.” The impact this simple gesture had on the restaurant workers was beautiful. Faces lit up, smiles appeared, and the workers went about their jobs with a little more pep in their steps. I watched as one girl smelled her flower and then told her co-worker, “They appreciate what I do!” Considering that they are in the business of serving meals to hungry college students, this is probably a sentiment they don’t hear a lot. divbr //divdivI think we underestimate how powerful simple acts of kindness can be. As evidenced by what I witnessed yesterday, you don’t need to make a grand gesture or spend a lot of money (or any money at all, really) to make a positive impact on someone. A heart-felt, “thank you,” or, “I appreciate what you do,” or, “good job” can mean just as much, or even more, than an expensive gift. Seeing those two students with their carnations and kind words challenged me. Lent is right around the corner, so I think this year, in lieu of giving something up, I’m going to give simple acts of kindness and words of appreciation. /div

Things I Cook: Hot Chocolate Cookies

div style=”text-align: left;”Back when I still had a Facebook account, I started posting pictures of the food I’d cook, along with the recipes. To be honest, I started doing it to prove to loved ones that I can indeed cook, and am no longer the girl who burns food in the crock pot (true story). Since I a href=”http://svb-thatswhatshesaid.blogspot.com/2010/12/i-have-committed-digital-suicide.html”no longer have my account/a, I thought I’d resume the food blogging here. For my first post, I bring you Hot Chocolate Cookies./divdivbr //divdivThis recipe comes from ia href=”http://cgi.ebay.com/Best-Holiday-Cookies-Favorite-All-Time-Recipes-/380306874980″Best Holiday Cookies/a/i, a book I received for Christmas from a co-worker. The Hot Chocolate Cookies immediately caught my eye because they looked delicious, and the recipe was simple (taken directly from the book):/divdivbr //divdiv1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened/divdiv1/2 cup sugar/divdiv1/4 teaspoon salt/divdiv1 cup milk chocolate chips, melted, divided/divdiv1 cup all-purpose flour/divdivmini marshmallows, cut into small pieces/divdivbr //divdiv1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper./divdivbr //divdiv2. Beat butter, sugar and salt in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add 1/4 cup melted chocolate; beat until well blended. Gradually add flour, beating after each addition./divdivbr //divdiv3. Shape dough by level tablespoonfuls into balls. (If dough is too soft, refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to handle.) Place 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets; flatten to 1/2-inch thickness. Bake 15 to 17 minutes or until set. Cool on cookie sheets 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely./divdivbr //divdiv4. Spread about 1 teaspoon remaining melted chocolate onto each cookie. Sprinkle with marshmallow pieces; press gently into chocolate. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until set. /divdivbr //divdivTip (not from book, but what I learned by watching a href=”http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/takehomechef/takehomechef.html” style=”font-style: italic; “Take Home Chef/a): Chocolate can be easy to burn. In order to avoid this, heat a pot of water on the oven. Place the chocolate chips in a bowl and place the bowl over the hot water. The heat from the water will melt the chocolate without burning it. Thanks, a href=”http://www.curtisstone.com/”Curtis Stone/a! /divdivbr //divdiv /divdivHere’s how mine turned out:/divdivspan class=”Apple-style-span” style=”color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; “img src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SEtHXu9tF_U/TUDUe9fU8oI/AAAAAAAAAfs/EJ-Ejv0nHWs/s320/cocoa%2Bcookies%2Bcropped.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566682767797056130″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 239px; ” //span/divdivspan class=”Apple-style-span”br //span/divdivMine were considerably bigger and flatter than the ones in the picture, so I think my tablespoons were too big. I also didn’t melt enough chocolate, as I only eyeballed it and melted it as I went along. /divdivbr //divdivbThe verdict: /bThey didn’t blow me away. It seemed like all I could taste was the butter, sugar and salt. The melted chocolate on top and the marshmallows did help somewhat, but not enough to warrant making these cookies again. /div

Books I’ve Read: Mini Shopaholic

a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SEtHXu9tF_U/TTxQ9ZzjODI/AAAAAAAAAfI/EkQxu6jtLjg/s1600/minishopaholic.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 320px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SEtHXu9tF_U/TTxQ9ZzjODI/AAAAAAAAAfI/EkQxu6jtLjg/s320/minishopaholic.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565412255352436786″ border=”0″ //abr /I’ve adored Sophie Kinsella’s span style=”font-style: italic;”Shopaholic /spanseries ever since a a href=”http://www.savingherlife.com/”friend of mine/a introduced me to it. They’re fun, easy-to-read books, and I thought Rebecca Bloomwood was charming and easy to relate to. Until now.br /br /Sadly, I think a href=”http://www.amazon.com/Mini-Shopaholic-Novel-Sophie-Kinsella/dp/0385342047″span style=”font-style: italic;”Mini Shopaholic/span/a is proof that the adventures of Becky Bloomwood amp; co. need to end. In this installment, we find Becky, her husband, Luke, and their daughter, Minnie, living with Becky’s parents. Every time they find a house to buy, the deal somehow falls through, and to make matters worse, the Bank of London has gone bust, causing a state of panic and forcing people to cut back on expenses. Of course, Becky is incapable of cutting back and decides instead to throw a vulgarly expensive surprise party for Luke (one that she can’t afford), and hi-jinx ensue.br /br /Becky’s irresponsibility and impulsive nature could very easily be excused earlier on in the series: she’s young and reckless, but she’s also twenty-five, and very few of us have it totally together at that age. But when you’re twenty-nine and married with a toddler, shouldn’t you grow up just the teeniest bit? Isn’t it time you carefully planned your finances and didn’t make such expensive, impulsive buys? That’s the big problem I had with this installment: Becky is no different now than she was in a href=”http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Shopaholic-Movie-Sophie-Kinsella/dp/0440244870/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_0_main?s=booksamp;ie=UTF8amp;qid=1295799847amp;sr=1-1″span style=”font-style: italic;”Confessions of a Shopaholic/span/a. She’s still hopelessly addicted to shopping (as evidenced in the opening scene when her brat of a daughter wants an expensive toy pony and she relents), and when she finds herself in tricky situations, she lies and schemes instead of just coming clean and telling the truth. She’s even span style=”font-style: italic;”diagnosed/span with a shopping addiction and agrees to therapy, but when the book ends, surprise, surprise! Her husband’s PR company magically lands a movie-star client who wants him to work with her out in Los Angeles for a few months, so the whole lot of them decides to go, effectively excusing Becky from getting the therapy she needs. And when a rich benefactor decides to step in and pay for Luke’s surprise party, Becky doesn’t learn any sort of lesson regarding budgeting or fiscal responsibility.br /br /Reading this book was maddening, which is a shame since I love this series, and adore Kinsella. Hopefully this will be the last of the span style=”font-style: italic;”Shopaholic/span books–I just can’t stomach reading about a forty year-old Becky Bloomwood gallivanting around, buying over-priced clothes and trying to make some ridiculous fantasy come to life. I just can’t.br /br /I give it one star.

Bay Area Eats: Eddie and Sam’s

On my lunch break today, I ventured once more into downtown, this time to grab some lunch at a href=”http://www.eddieandsamspizza.com/”Eddie and Sam’s/a. I’ve heard rave reviews, both via the a href=”http://nealesa.blogspot.com/2010/08/eddie-and-sams-ny-style-pizza.html”blogosphere/a and word of mouth, and since pizza is a food I could eat everyday until the day I die, I had to try it out.br /br /Eddie and Sam’s specializes in New York-style pizza, and New York is a prominent theme in the restaurant’s decor: the long wall on the right-hand side has pictures of the city, the Brooklyn Bridge, and other landmarks. The restaurant itself is long and narrow, but cozy–and also extremely crowded during the lunchtime rush.br /br /My co-workers and I got the lunch special, two slices of cheese pizza and a soda for $5.99, a deal well worth the money. The pizza slices are HUGE, and I was stuffed by the time I finished eating. Eddie and Sam’s also offers other types of pizza, such as white pizza and margherita pizza, as well as bread sticks and some delicious-looking buttery garlic knots (priced at 50 cents!).br /br /I thought the pizza was delicious, if a little greasy (I had to dab some of it off before I ate it), and the prices were pretty reasonable. I can definitely see why Eddie and Sam’s is popular, and am planning on going back to try a slice of one of the specialty pizzas as well as one of those garlic knots. Mmmmmm.

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