Closing!

So I signed all the papers for my house yesterday. We couldn't do the money transfers because it was a stupid holiday. So the money part was left for today. I was told it should be a quick process, that what was left should be a piece of cake. I thought I'd be in the house by 10 this morning.

The bank opened at 9 this morning so I got there a couple minutes before 9. There was a whole line of people waiting for them to open. I thought that was kind of strange but whatever. For some reason it took a while for them to do it so it was about 9:30 when I had the check in my hand.

I have never had a check that large in my possession before. The most I've had before was about $3000 and that already made me uncomfortable. And this was 20% down + fees. So this was a monstrous check sitting in my passenger seat. It was a long 10 minute drive to the lawyer's office.

I get to the lawyer's office and she is not there. Some other lady comes out and asks what I'm doing there. I explain to her what is going on and she comes over, takes the check, tells me it'll be about noon or so before they do anything and ushers me out the door. This was a little disheartening. I had just handed the largest check I have ever seen to a lady I'd never seen before and whose name I didn't even know. The only consolation I had was the check was made out so that it would be my down payment.

So the second I am out the door I call my realtor so she can explain what the hell just happened and if I should storm back in there to get my check. She didn't answer. I just paced around the parking lot about to have a heart attack. Eventually my realtor called back and said it was OK and I just had to wait and that noon isn't that bad.

So I went to Panera and waited. And waited. And waited. And ate a chocolate chip bagel, toasted with butter and a lemonade. And waited. Noon rolls around. And I'm wondering what's going on and if I should call anyone or who I should even call. My realtor calls me at about 12:10 asking if I'd heard anything. Apparently she hadn't heard anything either and was hoping that I had. She had called the lawyer and couldn't reach her. The lawyer's office apparently is out 12-1 every day for lunch. So I continued to wait. Needless to say, I am not thrilled with this lawyer. I suspect the staff at Panera were suspicious because I was there being all fidgety and nervous. And I was there for so long. Just playing with my computer, nursing a lemonade, checking my phone every couple minutes with a car parked right in front loaded up with who knows what. I'm shady like that.

And apparently there was someone else at Panera with my name. It was strange because I was sitting there playing with my computer when I hear my name on their speaker system. I looked up like wait, what did I order when I realized maybe it's someone else. No one ever has my name.

At about 1:30 my realtor called. I was hopeful that everything was now done and I could finally get into the house. Not so much. They were still waiting on the wire transfer. Something about getting backed up because of the holiday. Like I care. I wanted to get into the house so I could get my stuff in and clean the place down. I thought I'd have that done by 1 or so. Instead I wasted my day at Panera.

It looks like I am going to have a long night ahead of me. After I get things done at the house I have to go back up, pack up the rest of my stuff, get it in the car and be out the door by 7AM tomorrow to get down here in time to meet the movers. Assuming the wire transfer gets done and I do get in this afternoon.

I hate this. Today was supposed to be an easy happy day.

Brownies and my new camera

I decided I needed a digital camera. I got a Sony Powershot SD1100 IS. Consumer Reports likes it. Hopefully I will too. It's my first one. I know, I'm so far behind the times. According to the Wall Street Journal I should be on my 3rd or 4th. I almost need to get 2 more right now so I can catch up with the rest of the world.

I needed to test out my new camera. I've had it for 3 days now and had taken 1 pic. This clearly was not good enough. So I made these brownies. I'm a fan of the Ghirardhelli brownie mix but I didn't have any and I have a bit of chocolate so I went in search of a recipe. I ended up basing it on Dorie Greenspan's Quintuple Chocolate Brownies. Very loosely basing off of it. I had 10 oz of milk chocolate so that's what I used for most of it.

Here is the best pic I got with my new camera. Still doesn't look good like some food bloggers' but oh well. I still need to figure out how to use it. The first few pics came out orange because it kept using the flash until I turned the flash off. I need something else to take pics of but for now this will do.

Brownies
based loosely off Dorie Greenspan's Quintuple Brownies

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
5 oz milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
5 ounces pmilk chocolate, chopped into small chunks
1 cup chopped walnuts (or whatever you have)

Preheat oven. In my case I was melting the butter and chocolate in the toaster oven because I don't have a microwave safe bowl so that was my version of preheating.
Line a 9x9 pan with parchment paper.
Melt butter and 5 oz milk chocolate and semisweet together in a bowl. Once mostly melted, let it sit and the rest should melt when you give it a stir. Let it cool for about 5 minutes.
Add the sugar.
Add the vanilla and eggs, one at a time. It will seize up a bit until near the end. That's OK.
Mix in the flour, cocoa powder and salt, just until it's not very dry.
Mix in milk chocolate and walnuts.
Pour into lined pan and spread to even out batter.
Bake at 300 in a convection oven for 35 minutes.
Allow to cool before cutting.
Cut into however many chunks as you want.

Quote of the Day

"Friends let you to not sit in a room by yourself."

Maybe not of the day. Maybe of the week. Maybe something else.



First person who can tell me what the quote is from wins a prize.

Post a comment with where you think it is from.

I tweaked the quote so you can't google it to find the answer.

Yes, I am that insane.

No, I don't know what the prize is but I'll figure something out.

Yes, I am having a conversation with myself.

Bacon Cinnamon Buns

I saw this post and I knew I had to make them. They just sound so horrifically bad for you that I just needed it. Kind of like the that monster burger I don't remember who came out with when McDonalds, Burger King and everyone else was carrying on about their salads and low carb stuff. Granted, I never actually got whatever burger that was but I didn't have a whoever it was's close by. That sentence probably only makes sense to me.

They are not my real cinnamon buns where I make the dough and everything but boy do they smell good.

Here's what I did:

Get a can cinnamon buns and unroll them
Precook the bacon for a few minutes in the toaster oven so some of the fat drips off but it still stays soft when it cooled
Cool the bacon so it can be handled
Roll the bacon into the cinnamon rolls
Bake at 350 in a convection oven until lightly browned, it was about 20 mins but keep an eye on it.
You should probably let it cool a bit before frosting but I didn't.



I will, however, let them cool a little before trying them. We shall see what people at work think of these. Everything I have brought so far has been relatively tame and 'normal'. We'll see how people react to these.

House!!!

Like I mentioned before, I have chosen and reached an agreement on a house. I am closing on the 10th. Today we did an inspection. It went pretty well. A few cosmetic issues but nothing of real concern. I can totally fix most of the cosmetic issues too. In like an hour and $50.

Well you know how I am. I can't exactly just sit there and stay out of the way while they do the inspection. So I decided to take pics of the house. I was using the VGA camera on my cell phone so pictures are not that great and apparently angled really poorly. I just snapped and figured it'd be good. I'm not exactly a professional photographer.


So without further ado, here is a grand tour of my house.


The first 2 are the exterior, obviously. Front and then side/back. It's a townhouse so they maintain the exterior and yard. I have the garage, 2 spots on the left and the space for a car in front of the garage. There is a mirroring house with their garage attached to the right of the pic. I could probably put 1 or 2 more cars pulled straight in but it might be difficult to get cars out. And there's my car on the left, at least the butt of it (the silver one). I don't think I ever got a pic of it posted.


There's not much of a patio in the back but there is enough room for a grill and since I'm the end unit I can also use the yard on the side. There's shrubbery around it that makes it a little more private, though it's definitely not secluded. I'm figuring I'll get a folding chair and table or a few of those plastic stacking chairs that I can keep in the sunroom and pull out as desired. If I decide I like the outdoors. That's the sunroom with all the blinds drawn. My old couch will go in there. And the grill that I intend to get. And in the winter my little herb garden. That will be in planters that will get moved around as necessary.
OK let's go back to the front and go in the house. So you walk in the front door and this is what you see. Stairs to the right. Living room on the left, connecting back to the kitchen and sunroom.

Here's another angle of the living room. And I think that's Howard, one of the inspectors. I've been told that they are really good prefinished hardwood floors. I think he said it was spruce but he had a pretty heavy accent and I didn't want to ask a 4th time what he said. Oh, and it's on the stairs too. I'm thinking I am going to get a microfiber sectional in here. And I think an LCD over the fireplace. It's a working gas log fireplace. The inspectors said it could easily heat the 1st floor should the heat die or something. Good to know but hopefully won't get used.

Now let's continue into the kitchen. That's Cheryl, my realtor. I was just bopping around taking pictures so she ended up in the pic. A nice lay out. The cabinets and appliances are functional but definitely not new. Apparently I missed taking pics of it but to the left is where the dining table would go and then glass doors to the sunroom that then leads out side to the pic you can see above. I have 18.5" between the top cabinets and the countertop to fit a TV. So now I know what my limits are for the LCD that will go right where their TV is.

Here is what I'm dreaming up for the kitchen. New cabinets (I'll need to determine if I just need to do the faces or the whole thing), stainless steel appliances, tile floor, I am undecided on granite or manufactured stone countertops. The layout is great. I really like the island and there's lots of cabinets and countertop space.

This is the laundry room that leads to the garage. It is to the right of the fridge in the kitchen.

Then next to the laundry room is the half bath. My realtor likes the wallpaper. Me, eh. It'll stay for now. It's got the same vinyl floors as the kitchen.

And then next to the bathroom is the pantry. mmmm this should work nicely for me. It's pretty deep. Hopefully I won't overflow it.

That covers the downstairs. Now let's head up the stairs. In front is the water heater. Not really any significant storage here. To the left of it is the hall bathoom and further over the 2nd bedroom. To the right is the master. The master is so much more important so we'll head there first.

Here are a few different angles. First from the doorway. Another angle near from the right of the door and then a shot from the left to the right showing the closets and leading to the master bath. There's plenty of light though my pics don't show that so well.

Yes it is that green. This is the first place to get repainted.

Big walk in on the left. And then smaller closet on the right. The one on the right is actually bigger than the closet at my old apt. This should be funny. I might fill one rack in the big closet. Then lots of storage in the rest.

Now for the bathroom. To the right, sink and toilet.

And to the left, the shower. I know the green here and in the bedroom are pretty hideous. That's the first thing getting repainted. I'm thinking gray. A real light gray. I'm not sure if I want to do the same shade in the bedroom and the bath or maybe do the bath a shade darker. Any thoughts?

In my fantasies I'm going to redo this bath. Solid surface vanity, new toilet, get rid of that wallpaper and a walk in shower. I really want a walk in shower. Then the guest bath would get a similar thing except with a soaking tub instead of the shower. We'll is what, if anything, actually happens.

Let's continue. Through the bath to the office. The desk and cabinets are built in. This is actually pretty exciting. And most of the drawers have file holder thingys too. I like file holders. It's got a skylight that is angled that you can't really see out of but provides some light. One problem though is that the A/C does not seem to have a vent in here. We'll see how well it works. There is also the attic access from here. It's got the pull down stairs and a solid floor. Nothing particularly fancy, not a living space, but a solid floor is good for putting random crap that I really should get rid of but instead stick in the attic.

OK, we're done with the master suite. Now let's check out the guest area. Here's the bathroom. Yes, it really is that purple. This will get repainted too. Any thoughts on color? Same as the master? That would save me a can of paint. It's got pretty much the same tub as the master too.

And over to the guest room.

And here is the closet. I didn't capture it very well but this thing is monstrous. It's bigger than the walk in in the master. No one visiting me is staying long enough to use all that closet space. This means more storage space for me.


And that's my house.

So what do you think?

Food Blogging

So I saw this post on a blog talking about food blogs. It is kind of a strange post. I'm kinda disturbed by it actually. Apparently there is a very dark scary side of food blogging that I didn't know about. Kind of like the little kid who found out the boogie man really does exist. And it's that weird uncle who is just a little too friendly with your kid brother. And while this uncle doesn't seem to care for you, he seems to spend a little too much private time with your brother.

OK that's a pretty disturbing analogy. Anyway.....

The poster, or rather the person the poster is quoting, felt that food blogging is an eating disorder. She thinks she is obsessing because she has 20 food blogs in her reader (hah, what does that say about me? I've got 100+) and that food blogging made her obsess over food. She would hide what she was eating online because she was afraid of what other food bloggers would think. There is also a focus on food bloggers not being overweight but maybe having been overweight and posting everything they eat.

Maybe I am on another planet or something but the food blogs I read don't post everything they eat. A lot of them are bakers who carefully test and hone their recipes and techniques and post amazing pictures of it. It's about expressing and preserving your passion for food.

For me the purpose of this blog is a lot different. I like to bake. I baked a lot before I started this blog. It lets me carry on about something I made without having to bore someone (or have to listen to someone tell me that I'm boring). I blog about the good and the bad with no discretion. Just anything that I have some thoughts on or that I make just because I feel I need to make something. And it's probably better that I spend a bit of time blogging after I make something rather than making the next thing. It keeps me from making food for the rest of my life in a single day.

The blog is really like having someone to talk to but without having to listen to them. It's got the pro's of people without the con's of having to deal with their drama and need for attention. I can ignore the blog when I've got other stuff going on and it doesn't get mad. It doesn't talk back and it always agrees with me.

So a blog is like having a friend without any of the stupid stuff that comes with people. I get to have my cake and eat it too. Literally and figuratively. Right? Right.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Now that the house thing is resolved I decided I needed to bake something. Now keep in mind, although it is resolved, I am not actually moved in yet. I still am using my toaster oven to do all baking. I am still doing my prep at the bathroom sink. The place is all carpet, even in the bathroom, so I have to be really careful not to spill things.

Last week I got my copy of Bon Appetit. The trouble is I am still getting my mail at work. My boss is the one who gets the mail. He hands me my mail, one at a time as he is sorting through it. Then he sees the magazine. Since then I've been hearing about how I need to bring stuff in.

I brought flour, butter, sugar, baking soda with me... everything I need for chocolate chip cookies. Those were on the list of items I could not see myself living without for a month. I even had some kinda old dark chocolate bars. They sat in the car on my drive down, so the surface bloomed but I still used them. The cocoa butter goes back in when the chocolate melts while it bakes anyway.

I pretty much used the Original Nestle Tollhouse recipe, with some minor modifications.

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 heaping teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

8 oz chopped up dark chocolate

4 oz Mint dark chocolate chips and Raspberry dark chocolate chips

Cream the butter, sugars and vanilla together.
Add the eggs, 1 at a time, mixing until uniform before the next addition.
Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt together and mix into the butter mix.
Mix in the dark chocolate.
Separate the dough and mix in mint and raspberry chips or anything else you want to different batches as desired.
Refrigerate the dough for about 24 hours. Or leave in the fridge until you want cookies.
Scoop into cookies on foil or parchment. I used a tablespoon.
Sprinkle a few grains of salt on each cookie
Bake an appropriate amount of time for the size cookies you are making. I didn't time it. I was using my toaster oven so I'd just look.
Slide the cookies off your pan so they don't overcook.
Allow the cookies to cool a few minutes before moving them.