Isn't just the littlest things that set us off?

Have you ever gotten annoyed by some little thing...and trying to resolve it only provokes you more...and then you can't let go...so you spend too much time on it...and then it doesn't end the way you want anyway?

A couple months ago, I bought some more of my usual Almay "intense i-color" mascara at my local drugstore. You know how cosmetic companies are always changing their products, but I didn't notice anything different because I looked. I'm picky about my mascara wands; I like the straight ones, not the curved wands. So I looked closely at the picture of the mascara wand on the package, and the picture was the same as always.

But when I opened the mascara at home, the wand was totally different than the wand that was included with my previous "intense i-color" mascaras. It was a skinny little wand, with little brushes that felt like sharp metal teeth. So I completed the "Contact Us" email form on Almay's web site, questioning the discrepancy in the picture of the mascara wand and why did it feel so sharp. And honestly, I wasn't comfortable using the wand so I threw out the mascara, and gosh darn it, it cost 5+ dollars and now I'm getting annoyed.....

After a week without a response, I sent another email to Almay. And got a response from Revlon saying "We sent you a response and a coupon." Almay is part of Revlon? How would I know that? Since my Gmail Inbox is clogged with advertising emails...if I was expecting an email from Almay...I probably deleted anything from Revlon.

So, of course, I had to send that little rant back to the Revlon email team...and wait with smug satisfaction for another email with a replacement coupon.

This time I got an email saying "We are sending you a coupon by postal mail." (I'm pretty sure that "you beyotch" was somewhere in the fine print, heh.) So now I had to keep an eye on my "junk" postal mail every day to be sure I didn't toss my paper coupon.

I finally got my coupon - for $5 of REVLON products - not Almay! (and no one ever answered my question about why that mascara wand was so sharp, which was all I wanted to know to begin with)

Again with a baking post? But it's chocolate...

What with all the posts about cookies and all - you'd think I baked all the time. I don't bake half as much as I'd like, considering how much we love homemade baked goods at Casa de la Wheel. It's just so easy to do a post where I just copy a recipe and then post a picture of the finished baked good...when I"m feeling lazy brain-dead exhausted from work.

I made "Joe's Chocolate Fudge Pie" a couple weeks ago. I have no idea where the recipe originated; it's been languishing in my recipe box for a long time. Meester's father was named Joe, but this recipe was printed on a sheet of paper, so I doubt that it's from his mom. Don't you miss the old family recipes hand-written on a decorative recipe card, and then stained from years of use? ...the ones with the little notes written by a beloved family member or friend in the margin?... They are the best.

Joe's Chocolate Fudge Pie
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
4 large eggs
3 tsp. light corn syrup
1 1/2 Cups granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 Cup milk
1 9-inch baked pie shell

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In the top of a small double boiler over warm water on moderate heat, melt the butter and chocolate, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth. Set aside. In a bowl, beat the eggs to mix. Add the corn syrup, sugar, salt, nutmeg, vanilla extract, and milk. Beat to mix thoroughly. Then add the chocolate mixture (which may still be warm) and beat well.

Pour into the prepared crust. Bake for 33 minutes until a sharp knife inserted near the edge comes out almost clean. Cool to room temperature. Serve at room temperature or chilled, with whipped cream or ice cream.

This pie is fat fudge heaven.

Time-honored kitchen traditions

Ah, Friday, thank Gah. I can either whine about the non-stop rain storms this week or whine about how much my job sucked this week.

How about if I lighten up and post about time-honored kitchen traditions among womenfolk? Time-honored and traditional via the internet, that is.

Anyhoo...in the timeless tradition of recipe sharing amongst women...I was visiting "Namely Marly". Marly introduced me to Monet Moutrie. Monet shared with me her recipe for "Chocolate Pretzel Cookies". Of course, I ran right to the store to buy chocolate chips and pretzels. I don't usually have chocolate chips in my cupboard because in the time-honored secret tradition of women...I can't resist nibbling chocolate chips out of the bag until I don't have enough left for baking anything.....

Sooo...I was tired and crabby from work, and multi-tasking to get everything done when I got home. Laundry, make supper, check e-mail, throw stuff in a bowl to get the cookies started. Now I do know how to make chocolate chip cookies...I actually make a pretty good basic chocolate chip cookie...but my eyes read "in a bowl, whisk together dry ingredients"...and I just threw everything dry in a bowl...flour, baking soda, salt, SUGARS. Wait - turn brain back on! Sugar always goes with butter and eggs, not flour. Duh!

Now my grandmothers and my mother went through World Wars and the Great Depression; I've heard the stories. I've been through the poverty of divorce - in the 1980's - divorce was the new Depression. So in the time-honored tradition of women in kitchens everywhere, I had to "make do" and "carry on".

I just whipped up the melted butter with the egg and egg yolk and vanilla. Then I added my erroneous dry mixture about 1/2 cup at a time and beat really well until I only had about 3/4 cup of dry mixture left, which I stirred in by hand. Then added my chocolate chips and pretzels as usual.

And those cookies turned out damn good! 'Cause we all know how to rescue a kitchen disaster when it involves butter, sugar, and chocolate.....

Love these, and I'm not getting paid to say it!

My three-day English Garden - part deux

And what else grew like Jack's beanstalk in my English Garden that only lasted three days?
My favorite campanula rotundifolia - bluebells of Scotland.

This is an old picture, but I just thought it was cool that once I was taking pictures of my bluebells of Scotland, and surprised a bunny hiding among the bells.

And campanula persicifolia - peach-leaved bellflower.

I am not bending my knees, honest - the bellflowers were up to my neck!

Too short and too sweet.....the flowers, that is.....I'm just short.

For one brief shining moment.....I had an English garden

Oh people...I finally had the English garden that I have been working on for years. It lasted about 3 days!

In 2000, Meester and I took a trip to the Cotswolds - the absolutely charmingest part of England. I fell in love with all the gardens frothing with lavender and roses and lady's mantle. I came home and for the next 2 years planted every flower that I saw in the Cotswolds, trying to create my own little English garden in the extreme climate of nothing-at-all-like-England Iowa.

The lavender thrived, and so did the lady's mantle, but the roses didn't make it and the foxgloves didn't even try. For years and years, the foxgloves produced a clump of leaves but no flowers. I know foxgloves are biennial, but that means they bloom every other year, doesn't it? And it's been 10 damn years of waiting for those foxgloves!

Finally...after a brutal winter with 2 feet of snow on the ground for 4 solid months...those foxgloves bloomed.

 Could it be that all that snow was actually good for something?!
(Then the Iowa wind and rain knocked the foxgloves over. So Iowa weather is only good for corn, not English gardens.)

Someone reminds me of an old boyfriend

Tonight is the season finale of my current fave tv show "Justified". Timothy Olyphant is hot as Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens. Who doesn't love a guy with a great cowboy hat and a gun?

All the "Justified" actors have developed great characters roles in this show. In fact, some of them kind of remind me of someone.....

Ummm...yea...think of your old boyfriends...can you relate? *Sigh*

Life shouldn't be an expensive bowl of cherries

Do you know how much I paid for this bowl of cherries?

I paid $10! Whereas hotfessional paid $5 for a whole box of a dozen mangoes! Hotfessional lives in an urban Chicago neighborhood, and I live in a small city in Iowa. Isn't living supposed to be cheaper in a rural area?! I'm denying myself the pleasure of fresh summer fruit because I go into shock at the prices. It might be cheaper to buy a tank of gas and drive to Chicago to buy a load of fruit for the summer!

Or I could just get my summer fruit this way:

Coconut-infused vodka and red wine. Coconut is a fruit, right? And wine is made from grapes.

We went to a liquor tasting a while ago and bought these two bottles. I have a problem with allergic reactions to red wine; I pretty much have to sample the wine before I buy to be sure that I won't get a reaction. I've even had reactions from guaranteed no-sulfites organic wine, that's how weird I am. So I like this Tamas Estates Double Decker red wine and the cute picture on the label, too.

I'm not a big Pina Colada fan, because the rum and cream of coconut combo was always a little too heavy for me. This is where this post gets really good...thanks for hanging in thru the whine... UV Coconut Vodka is perfect for summer pina coladas! ...and anything else requiring coconut flavor for summer. It's so light and refreshing...those coconut drinks go down way too easy. This is really delicious - UV Coconut Vodka over Ben & Jerry's "Creme Brulee" ice cream, with toasted almonds on top. I should know - I've been making vodka sundaes every day this week!

"One" means All of Us

I know we're all watching the ongoing BP.oil.spill.disaster with horror. No one has a definite answer as to how the BP oil well exploded. No one has yet come up with a plan that stops the oil leaking from the well.

Today CNN.com has an article about one woman, Kindra Arnesen, the wife of a Louisiana shrimp fisherman. Kindra is speaking out about the the problems that coastal families are experiencing because of the BP oil spill.  Kindra's statement is one that we can embrace: "Anything that ever starts, starts with one. And if I have to be the one then I have to be the one."

We may feel helpless to stop the leaking oil...helpless to stop the damage to the Gulf waters and coastlines...but there's something that each one of us can do. Be more mindful of the oil and petroleum products that we consume. Would we need as many oil wells if each one of us made one less car trip to the mall each week? What if the whole family got in one car and did errands together on Saturday, instead of everyone driving around in separate vehicles? Yes, I know it's not that simple, but it's a start that each one of us can make.