Stuff and Things 2/14/14

Life as I Know it
Happy Valentine's Day! Or as I know it, the-day-before-my-birthday-and-also-the-reason-my-friends-all-have-other-plans day!

I'm quite comfortable with my role as crazy fangirl, though. (I still have 24 hours to pretend this will happen. Shhhhhh)

I know I've been kind of an absentee blogger lately, but in my defense, that always seems to happen around this time of year anyway.

Okay, that's not really a defense. Why do you guys even still come here? I suck.

Did you guys get Thunder Snow last night? I did. And I'm a little too way excited about that fact. Thunder Snow. It sounds like a Syfy original movie. Or a bad eighties power ballad.

What else, umm... Have I ever told you how much I hate Dr. Oz? Like, with a passion? Since the grand majority of his claims are unsubstantiated-- or even actively rebuffed-- by actual medical science? Well, after reading this article in the New Yorker, I've gone from thinking he's just a buffoon who doesn't know how to check his sources to a legitimately terrifying public figure knowledgeably peddling pseudo science as fact. I mean, this quote in particular I find chilling:

Oz sighed. “Medicine is a very religious experience,” he said. “I have my religion and you have yours. It becomes difficult for us to agree on what we think works, since so much of it is in the eye of the beholder. Data is rarely clean.” All facts come with a point of view. But his spin on it—that one can simply choose those which make sense, rather than data that happen to be true—was chilling. “You find the arguments that support your data,” he said, “and it’s my fact versus your fact.”

-Michael Specter: "Is Dr. Oz Doing More Harm than Good?" 

 And on this subject, let's have a chat about one of my biggest peeves, which I can trace right back to Dr. Oz. Coconut oil is not healthy. Is it better for you than Crisco? Yes, but not as much as you think. Is it better for you than olive or vegetable oil? No. Is it good for you? No. If you sit down and actually do the research, which is a thing that I like to do, this all becomes readily apparent. Coconut oil is very high in saturated (bad) fat. It raises good cholesterol, but it also raises bad cholesterol. And while it does contain mid-chain triglycerides, which some studies suggest may help with weight loss, it doesn't contain enough in a serving to actually give you any benefit.

But don't take my word for it; this article from WebMD sums up all these points very well. (And in anticipation of the next argument, no I didn't do all my research on WebMD, but the article is consistent with all the rest I found and is a good summation in layman's terms)

Look, use it because you like it or use virgin coconut oil as a less processed, vegan alternative to solid fats like shortening or butter (the non-virgin version of coconut oil is very highly processed), I have no problem with that. But stop perpetuating the idea that it's some sort of health food

Books

Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic

Stuff and Things 1/24/14

Life as I Know it

It's freeeeeeezing here in NJ lately. Record arctic temps, and we got about 10-12 inches of snow in my area. It's the light fluffy stuff, so it wasn't so bad to shovel up, it was just the drive home on Tuesday that was scary. And we closed early.

Of course, this has been my uniform at work lately:

That's me, in a long sleeve shirt, with a sweater over it, in my winter coat and gloves, a fleece blanket on my lap, and a 12ft 4th Doctor scarf. Because someone in HR threw a hissy fit that not having the receptionist in the lobby "isn't professional and doesn't look right." And if you look closely at the revolver behind me, you can even see the gap where the doors are improperly sealed but, according to the landlord, "aren't worn down enough to fix."

Yeah, I'm looking for a new job.

Update: They finally moved me. Because G had a talk with the exec who "controls" the conference center. She got in trouble, but I'm actually able to take off my winter coat. Just the fact that we had to fight to not sit in a 44 degree lobby tells you all you need to know. Plus no one recognizes my 4th Doctor scarf, and that's just unacceptable.

In other news, I got some new phone cases! I went Sherlock-themed, obviously, and I couldn't decide which one I wanted, so I got two. I'm currently using the wallpaper one.

I love the pink rhinestoned cupcake one I've been using, but it's been shedding rhinestones like nobody's business, and it just looks a bit sad. I got them both from Etsy: the wallpaper one is here and the 221B one is here (the image is a little blurry close up on this one)

I'm assuming that you've all heard about Bridgegate and how Gov. Christie and his administration continue to give NJ a bad name. Well, this Born to Run parody by Jimmy Fallon and Bruce Springsteen makes the situation a little bit better:

And lest we forget, folks: Bruce Springsteen is NJ's favorite son. So while the media makes us out to be either white trash or mafioso, Bruce is out there representing the rest of us. Because we rock.

And if you watch Sleepy Hollow (if you're not, you should) and saw the finale, this recap from The Mary-Sue is hysterical and also completely accurate.

I'm also beta-ing a novel for a fanfiction author I really love, which is why I haven't had any book/movie reviews lately.

TV- (Beyond this point, there be MAJOR spoilers)

Sherlock Cupcakes

Lemon Scented Chocolate Cupcakes

Today marks the US premiere of Sherlock Series 3. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, full disclosure, I've already seen tonight's episode. I just didn't want to take the chance of it getting spoiled. And I've really wanted to talk about it here, but I didn't want to be responsible for spoiling it for anyone else.

Still, I know many people will be watching it tonight for the first time, so I made cupcakes to celebrate. We've been waiting two years; we deserve it.

I originally found this recipe on 221 Baking Geeks and fell in love with the all the thought behind the flavor combination. It's complicated, unexpected, maybe a bit incomprehensible, but it somehow works and you fall head over heels for it, exactly like a certain someone from a certain show, based on a certain book.

The combination of lemon and chocolate doesn't seem like it should work on paper, but like Holmes and Watson, it ends up being a partnership for the ages. The cake itself is soft and fluffy, with a light texture and a surprisingly tasty flavor.

It also contains a 7% Coke solution, which tickles me.

(Coca Cola, not the fun stuff.) (I don't know if it's actually 7%, but we'll just pretend it is, okay?)

The original cupcakes were decorated with chocolate curls, for obvious reasons (as a certain someone has the most delicious dark curls) but I went with decorations a little more simple and more obvious. I had these black and white damask baking cups that reminded me a bit of the wallpaper from the show. Then, instead of the chocolate lemon frosting, I used my basic buttercream, flavored with a little lemon juice and extract to give myself a blank canvas. I mixed up a small batch of yellow royal icing, I had a tube of black gel icing, and I went to town.

Okay, I didn't really go to town, but with my general lack of decorating skills, I think it came out swell. Even if the B does look a little like an 8.

If anyone wants to talk about The Empty Hearse, drop me a line. I've been bursting to talk to someone about it.

Lemon Scented Chocolate Cupcakes

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

100 ml Coke (or other cola)*

1 cup flour

1½ tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

¾ cup sugar

1 egg

40 ml milk*

½ tsp. vanilla extract

Zest of 1 lemon

For the frosting:

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

¼ cup solid white vegetable shortening (Crisco)**

2 cups powdered sugar

Approx. 1 tsp. lemon juice (add to taste)

½ tsp. vanilla extract

Splash of lemon extract

Approx. 1 tbsp. milk

Directions

For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a saucepan over low heat (or in the microwave), melt the butter. Remove from heat and stir in the cola. Allow to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl add the sugar, egg, milk, vanilla, and lemon zest, mixing until the sugar is fully dissolved. Whisk in the butter mixture until fully incorporated (if the butter is still warm, add it slowly and whisk constantly to avoid cooking the egg). Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until the batter is smooth.

Divide the batter equally between 12 baking cups and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large mixing bowl with electric beaters, beat the butter and shortening on low speed. Gradually add the powdered sugar. Add the lemon juice, both extracts, and just enough milk to make it smooth. Gradually increase the speed to high and whip until smooth and fluffy.

*When converting the recipe from metric to US measurements, I kept the liquids in milliliters because most liquid measuring cups do have metric measurements, and the conversions were coming out wonky

**Feel free to use all butter; however the lemon juice did seem to make it a little on the grainy side without the shortening

Cupcake recipe adapted from 221 Baking Geeks. Frosting recipe by Kim