Category Archives: Personal

Recipe: Vanilla Ice Cream with White Wine

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Earlier I posted a bit of my first impressions of a book called: Ice Cream Happy Hour 50 Boozy Treats You Spike, Freeze and Serve, it is through this recipe book that I decided to try my hand at using the alcohol at my place to make ice cream.

The first recipe in the book seemed fairly simple enough: “Vanilla with Brandy”, except I didn’t have brandy at my place. So I did what I always did best, I adapted, changed, and worked with what I had on hand.

First thing’s first… here is the original recipe:

So what did I change?
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Comparison: Les Miserables Complete Song List

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Since we were only given “Highlights Soundtrack“, most of the below is heavily borrowed from the Wikipedia articles of the film as well as the stage versions as a basis… notes are from memory.

Earlier I have posted a comparison article using strictly the Highlights Soundtrack… so the below is the expanded song list and any changes based from memory… which is getting flaky by the day. So do not take this as a total list, but it is close to complete as I am able to recall off-hand… at least until they release a complete film soundtrack (which I sincerely hope they do).

NOTE: Songs marked with an asterisk (*) have already been posted in my Comparison: Les Miserables Soundtrack post.

So below is a table of the breakdown and comparison of the song list between the stage and film versions of the Les Miserables musical… For a quick cheat sheet of the below list, go beyond the break (at the end of the table):

SONG TITLE STAGE SEQUENCE FILM SEQUENCE CHANGES NOTES
* Work Song 1 1 lyric changes Combined with “On Parole” and called “Look Down” in the “Highlights Soundtrack”
* On Parole 2 2 lyric changes Combined with “Work Song” and called “Look Down” in the “Highlights Soundtrack”
* Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven 3 3 none Called “The Bishop” in the “Highlights Soundtrack”
* What Have I Done 4 4 none Called “Valjean’s Soliloquy” in the “Highlights Soundtrack”
* At the End of the Day 5 5 none
* I Dreamed a Dream 6 8 none
Lovely Ladies 7 7 minor lyric changes
Fantine’s Arrest 8 9 none
The Runaway Cart 9 6 none
Who Am I? / The Trial 10 10 minor lyric changes
Come to Me (Fantine’s Death) 11 11 minor lyric changes
* The Confrontation 12 12 missing lyrics Valjean’s final overlapping lyrics with Javert and the lyrics that Valjean is singing to Fantine at the end are cut
* Castle on a Cloud 13 13 none
* Master of the House 14 14 lyric changes Introduction completely revised
The Bargain / The Thénardier Waltz of Treachery 15 15 minor lyric changes
* Suddenly — 16 New Song
Look Down 16 18 added lyrics Gavroche gets an additional verse
The Robbery 17 19 missing lyrics only the opening line, and Thenardier and Eponine’s lines were used
Javert’s Intervention 18 20 minor lyric change
* Stars 19 17 none
Eponine’s Errand 20 21 minor lyric change
* ABC Cafe / Red and Black 21 22 minor lyric change
Do You Hear the People Sing? 22 28 none
* Rue Plumet – In My Life 23 23 none Combined with “A Heart Full of Love” on the “Highlights Soundtrack”
A Heart Full of Love 24 24 none Combined with “Rue Plumet – In My Life” on the “Highlights Soundtrack”
The Attack on the Rue Plumet 25 25 minor lyric changes
* One Day More 26 27 none
Building the Barricade (Upon These Stones) 27 29 minor lyric changes
* On My Own 28 26 none
At the Barricade (Upon These Stones) 29 30 minor lyric changes
Javert’s Arrival 30 31 minor lyric changes and missing lyrics there were some lines that were cut and others changed
Little People 31 32 none
A Little Fall of Rain 32 34 none
Night of Anguish 33 35 none?
The First Attack 34 33 none?
* Drink with Me 35 36 none
* Bring Him Home 36 37 none
Dawn of Anguish 37 38 none?
The Second Attack (Death of Gavroche) 38 39 none
* The Final Battle 39 40 none
Dog Eats Dog (The Sewers) 40 — Cut Song
* Javert’s Suicide 41 41 none
Turning 42 42 missing lyrics only first verse used in the film
* Empty Chairs at Empty Tables 43 43 none
Every Day 44 44 added vocal part when song ends with the trio between Cosette, Marius and Valjean, in the film there is an added vocal part for Marius’ grandfather who is welcoming Marius home
Valjean’s Confession 45 45 none
Wedding Chorale 46 46 none
Beggars at the Feast 47 47 minor lyric changes
* Valjean’s Death 48 48 minor lyric changes Combined with “Do You Hear the People Sing? (Reprise) [Finale]” and called “Epilogue” on the “Highlights Soundtrack”
* Do You Hear the People Sing? (Reprise) [Finale] 49 49 none Combined with “Valjean’s Death” and called “Epilogue” on the “Highlights Soundtrack”

Alright are you as confused as I was? Well how about a quick cheat sheet of the major changes from the above list?
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Comparison: Les Miserables Highlights Soundtrack

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So there was a lot of speculation as to you which songs got cut, added, adjusted, revised, etc… So I figured that I would provide a quick and simple table to help you understand where the changes were made (if any)…

Keep in mind that I using the “Highlights Soundtrack” for comparison purposes that was released on the 21st of December… and all notes in regards to what was in the film is based off of what was from memory… since I saw this film on Christmas Day.

Later this week I will post a more complete list using the song list as shown on the Wikipedia page (once information can be confirmed)
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Review: Ice Cream Happy Hour

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Earlier this month I was talking to a friend of mine about my desire to make ice cream and she offered to loan me her ice cream machine indefinitely since she and her husband were not using it… ever. So naturally I decided “why not?” and borrowed the ice cream machine.

To test out the machine I tried a batch of a simple vanilla ice cream with chunks of chocolate and candy canes mixed in and had great success. So I decided that since I had so much alcohol at my place I needed to find ways to “get rid of” them without having to resort to either drinking, throwing a party, or giving them away. What was I left with was the idea of using them to cook with.

The idea came out like a bolt out of the blue… why not make boozy ice cream? It can’t be all that difficult and I am sure others have tried to figure out ways to make it work. So after some research online a young adult duo of Valerie Lum and Jenise Addison eventually authored a small recipe book called “Ice Cream Happy Hour: 50 Boozy Treats You Spike, Freeze and Serve”. BINGO!

I stumbled upon this duo via a post / article about them on Gizmodo which also featured a movie that gives a quick idea of what they did to create their boozy concoctions and also immediately I was sold. So I bought the book via Amazon.com and waited patiently for the book to arrive to create to give a recipe a try.

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Reflection: Christmas Truce 1914

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Typically I try not to preach, there are far too many of my friends, acquaintances, etc… and since I claim to be Switzerland more often than not, I keep out of most discussions dealing with politics and religion. But like all things there is typically an exception and this is one of those exceptions.

My family decided to go to a rather late evening mass for Christmas and I went with them, during the priest’s homily he talked about how was a bit of a history buff and proceeded to talk about the Christmas “truce” of 1914 that occurred in the trenches of World War I. You know the one where throughout most of Europe in the trenches of the war, the British and German troops (around Christmas Day) fraternized with one another to the point that there were a few groups that were playing football in “No Man’s Land”.

Being the curious skeptic that I was the moment that I went home I did some research online wondering if this could be true and wouldn’t you know it… it was… There are many articles and websites online like History.com that have given short summaries of what had happened in the trenches.

Some pages claim that this form of chivalry and fraternization is one of the last moments in history to have occurred on such a grand scale. Other sites have claimed that this occurred for week leading up to Christmas Day and quite possibly for a week there after leading into the New Year.

There have been reported cases of the swapping of gifts, singing Christmas caroles, and just some good natured camaraderie. So what happened?
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Entertainment: Christmas Carole Flash Mob

Over the past few years we have seen videos on YouTube of various Flash Mobs happening all over the world. The major one would the one done for commercial at a train station in Belguim to Julie Andrew’s rendition of Do-Re-Mi from The Sound of Music:

Searching online there have been other flash mobs of all kinds happening all over the place. Here are a few holiday ones:
First the Hallelujah Chorus

And here is a medley of various Christmas carols

So why am I going on about all this?
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Fleeting: Kickstarter Projects Backed

Personally I have backed twenty projects thus far… of the twenty, one got cancelled, another was unsuccessful and a third is currently in progress and will be until mid-January.

Of the seventeen that are left… I have seen the final products of five of them while others are either delayed or still in development. Below is a list of the final products / projects that I have received and how I have felt about them thus far in chronological order from the first project / product backed to the most recent:

MODEST MEDUSA SEASON 1
Modest Medusa is one of those web comics that I was introduced to by a friend and grew to not only love and enjoy but actively keeping up with to see more of. So when a Kickstarter was created so that Season 1 of the Modest Medusa web comic could be released in book form I just HAD to jump on it.

So what did I ended up going for?

A walk on role in an upcoming Modest Medusa strip. You’ll appear in at least one panel (and likely more) sometime during Modest Medusa Season 2. You may get a speaking role, or you may get killed by the Chainsaw Unicorn! You’ll receive the original black and white art for this strip after it’s published. You’ll also receive the previously mentioned rewards.

Damn right! Featured in a couple of panels was nice… quick, sweet and to the point… not to mention it caters to my semi-evil self. But what were the “previously mentioned rewards? Well they include:

  • A special Modest Medusa Season 1 print, created just for this kickstarter! This full color 11 x 17 print features all the characters and events from Season 1
  • A box of tasty Hostess Chocodiles (the Medusa’s favorite snack)
  • A hand colored Modest Medusa panel. Choose your favorite panel from any Modest Medusa strip and I’ll print it in black and white on high quality 5 x 6 bristol board and color it by hand using copic markers. A one of a kind piece of art
  • A copy of the Modest Medusa Season 1 book, signed by myself and my niece Marah. I’ll also do a little Medusa sketch on the title page!
  • A special Modest Medusa sticker set, featuring brand new art created just for this Kickstarter! Additionally your name will appear on the Thank You page in the book

Anyway… more about Modest Medusa in another post down the road… for now… onward!

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Entertainment: The Periodic Table

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Now there have been a lot of images and off shoots, songs and video about the periodic table. But what really brought me to creating this post was the following periodic table:
periodic-table-final-fantasy-characters

Granted there is a whole bunch of these all over the internet like the Harry Potter version:
pejao

And one of various Super Heroes (Heroines):
Periodic_Table_of_Superheroics_by_daerave

And of course the Hunger Games version of the periodic table:
Periodic-times-table-of-The-Hunger-Games-characters-peeta-mellark-30462820-1280-858

I am just a wee obsessed lately. 🙂 Blame the science / fantasy geek in me.

Entertainment: Tiny Houses / Cottages

At the moment I live in a cottage… a small one bedroom home with a great room, kitchen, bath and a little area in the back for the furnace and the washer/dryer. There is an attic and I have a backyard.

For a while I tickled with the idea of having a housewarming party, and in some ways I still am tickling with that idea, but I find I like the solitude and the idea that it is close yet far and away from everyone else I know. I have a little area in front for a small garden and it is close to everything I need to go to as well as walking distance to the train station.

If I was smart I would have bought a bike and just bike to work or to a friends’ place or what not… but that might be something for me to consider come the new year.

So why am I talking about where I live? Because I came across an article on Yahoo! about tiny homes and they featured a blog called Little Yellow Door which featured the creation, development and building of a tiny home by a young lady who at the beginning of her project had never lifted a tool in her life.
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Recipe: (Gluten Free) Molten Lava Cake Variations

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20121218-195252.jpgIn a previous post I talked about my attempt of turning the molten lava cake recipe into something more cupcake-y… and then how I tried to adapt the same recipe for friends of mine that is gluten-free.

But why should I stop at the traditional molten lava cake? I mean there are other bags of “chips” that I had readily accessible that are outside of the semi-sweet chocolate vein… including but not limited to butterscotch (which I have used for the Butterbeer Cupcake recipe), cinnamon (in hopes of creating a chocolate / cinnamon cupcake adaptation), white chocolate… and others.

So that is why in this post I decided to really take it another step and create other variations of the molten lava cake recipe by using first the white chocolate chips and the later the butterscotch chips.
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Fleeting: Philosophy Class

The following came around my Facebook feed and I felt it had to be shared:

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full.. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’

The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand.The students laughed..

‘Now,’ said the professor as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things—your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions—and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.. The sand is everything else—the small stuff.

‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and mow the lawn.

Take care of the golf balls first—the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented. The professor smiled and said, ‘I’m glad you asked.’ The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.

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Recipe: (Gluten Free) Molten Lava Cakes with Candy Canes

Many months (over a year) ago, my mother and I concocted the idea of baking our own version of the “molten lava cake” that we loved eating at restaurants so much. So, we searched online for various recipes and came across one that we decided that we liked from Savory Sweet Life.

The recipe seemed simple enough, and had the addition of Kahlua, which was a plus for the both of us since there was a bottle of kahlua that has been untouched for years (if not decades).

We used custard dishes for the formations and created the molten lava cakes that we absolutely loved.

Over time, a coworker asked if I would be willing to bake a batch of such treats but in a smaller form. I agreed as long as he paid for the ingredients. Unfortunately that agreement never materialized so I never had a reason to try out the recipe in a different medium.

Recently as I was walking through my local Meijer I came across a shelf of Peppermint Mocha Kahlua and instantly a new idea came to mind: What if I took the molten lava cake recipe, added ground up candy canes and exchanged the traditional Kahlua with the Peppermint Mocha Kahlua? I mean, it couldn’t be all that bad could it?
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Entertainment: Anna Kendrick as Elphaba in For Good

This came through my RSS Reader and I just had to share.

Earlier this year I wrote a post about Anna Kendrick being in a reading / workshop of a potential film version of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods as well as diving into speculation as to whether she could truly fill the role of Cinderella?

Also there were rumors flying about her taking the part of Cathy in Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years that is also being rumored to be headed to film?

Well… here is a video of her singing “For Good” from Stephen Schwartz’s “Wicked” with none other than the original Glinda: Kristin Chenoweth. Not only that but Anna ended up singing Elphaba’s part…

So she’s got the pipes, but Cinderella is a fairly high vocal part and Anna sounds more in the mezzo-soprano range at most, well based on the videos I have seen thus far… so it remains to be seen / heard if she could hit the high notes, but at least in the above video she is getting closer.

Fleeting: Creating Bios for Playbills

I’m bored… entertain me.

Sound familiar? If you are friends with me then at some point in time I have said these very words either out of jest or actual boredom. Considering this is me the latter is more likely to be true.

When in community theatre, the actors and production team are usually asked to provide a bio for the playbill so that audience members coming to see the production would have an idea as to who has done what in the past, or their thoughts of the show/people, etc.

However… for me… that has become rather dull and boring, and I rather blame a good friend of mine for that. In the very few shows I have either been with him or seen him in he has always provided an entertaining and off the wall bio that is sure to crack a smile on anyone.

Me on the other hand? Bleh… I go the “traditional” route as I would put it.

There is one bio that I am itching to use one day if someone would let me:

[…] is a multi-linguist that has traveled throughout the Eastern hemisphere as a tour guide and is highly knowledgeable in not only the various dialects but a vast variety of cultures as well. She is also well versed in a plethora of martial arts / fighting styles and is skilled with the katana which has scalped many heads of her opponents.

Oh the inside jokes to be had. If you are confused there was a post about ignorance I wrote a few months ago that touches on the above that as now become a running joke that I use to sort of “break the ice” in a way.
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Fleeting: Smoking Kids

Normally I am pretty open minded when it comes to habits… particularly of the smoking variety. I am personally a non-smoker and will forever be a non-smoker. However, I do know quite a few people that do smoke and I just leave them be… they know me well enough to know that if they smoke they should at minimum pop a mint or a piece of gum if they want to talk to me again… I’m just that sensitive to cigarette smoking.

But enough about me… via my Facebook feed earlier this week a friend of mine shared the following video (that I managed to hunt down via YouTube) and I have to say… this is probably by far the best anti-smoking video I have seen in a very long time:

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