I have a friend that keeps bugging me because apparently I promised I would make him cookies four years ago. So I finally decided to get the promise (and the nagging) out of the way and send him a package (because of course he lives far enough away where I can't just drop by with a plate of cookies...so why the constant nagging about them...you tell me) However, I pulled a classic amateur baker's move and started the recipe without making sure we had all of the ingredients in the house. SO I had to improvise a little bit, which I love doing with baking and cooking and I have to say that I like the way these turned out, here's to sharing!
Sweet Chocolate Walnut Chunks
2 sticks of Margarine (softened, not melted)
2 Large Eggs
3/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar
3/4 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Non-bleached, All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 Cups Cake Flour
1 Tsp Baking Powder
Pinch of salt
Almond extract to taste
2 Tbsp Sweetened Condensed Milk
3 blocks of Semi-Sweet baking chocolate, chopped
2 large handfuls of Walnuts, chopped
Beat eggs with softened margarine, add salt, baking powder and almond extract. Stir in sugar and brown sugar, make sure all the lumps from the margarine are smoothed out. Add All Purpose Flour, followed by sweetened condensed milk. Stir in the remaining flour (cake flour is very fine, so stir it in bits at a time to save your counter top and shirt!) Fold in chocolate Chunks and Walnuts.
Something that I learned from my mom is to preheat the oven right before the batter is done and then stick the batter in the fridge for a little while, it holds together better that way when you go to shape the cookies.
Take the dough out of the fridge and use a spoon to make balls on a clean cookie sheet, don't use non stick spray, it will make the bottom of the cookies funny, use parchment paper if you are worried about the trays.
Cook at 350 degrees for about 7-10 minutes. Cool, eat, enjoy!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Sick of LiveJournal and switched to Blogger!
I have made many pro-google changes this past year, g-mail, google books, google documents, and now blogger. I am satisfied, the other blog formats just didn't cut it.
So much has happened these past two weeks, its really exciting actually. I have gotten a lot further than I thought I would in this amount of time. For starters, I volunteered with the Chicago Fringe Festival, the first-ever Fringe Fest in Chicago (Well, there was an attempt in the early 90s and that group only lasted for two years and then it never happened again) and ended up working with them alot. I was a Venue Manager for most of the run. The position was the equivilent of what would be the House Manager if we had been using theatres to perform in, instead there were eight venues set up throughout Pilsen in gallery spaces, and one bar,(Funny that I never got to work in the two actual theatre spaces that were used) and it worked out perfectly. Each space was very unique, and seemed to be perfect for each show! Props to Rachel our production manager for that!
All of the performances were good, some were very different and interesting, but of all the shows I worked on or watched as an audience member I would reccomend Exhausted Paint: The Death of Van Gogh and Silken Veils as my two top picks. Exhausted Paint is a one man show produced by Opium, Fireworks, & Lead, a theatre company based out of St. Paul, MN. The show was fantastic, beautifully written based on letters from Van Gogh to his brother and friends. Shawn Patrick Boyd played Vincent and was one of the most entertaining and interesting actors I have ever seen. All of you Minnesotans...GO SEE THIS SHOW! It is highly reccomended!
Silken Veils was another beautiful show and has been touring the US for awhile. It follows the story of Dyra, a young Iranian woman about to get married and her family's history concerning the Iranian war. A lot of the dialouge was taken from Rumi poetry set to original music, both inspiring. Puppets and shadow puppetry were used to tell the story as well and made an incredible stage picture, even in the teeny tiny black box it was produced in.
It was a great theatre weekend to say the least. Also, follow up for information and "journaling" concerning the Rivendell Theatre Ensemble production I will be assistant directing called Precious Little and written by New York playwright Madeleine George. I will also be blogging about other random endeavors with Rivendell, such as a few marketing projects and publicity stints that I seem to have fallen into!
Just read: In the Other Room, or A Vibrator Play by Sarah Ruhl
Precious Little by Madeleine George
26 Miles by Quiara Alegria Hudes (who wrote the book for the Tony Award winning musical, In the Heights)
Re-reading: A Mercy by Toni Morrison, because I love it, and her and it is the One Book, One Chicago pick for this fall and there are a ton of free programs dealing with the book, such as a Steppenwolf performance and a talk back with Morrison herself...stay tuned, cause I'm really excited.
Watching: Heroes...addicted, it could become a problem. (I just started Season 2)
Recently Saw: Paper Heart, a documentry on relationships...it was really bad, Michael Cera is funny as usual, but not worth sitting through the whole two hours to wait for his one liners like my sister and I did.
How About You, an indie Irish comedy about two sisters running an old folks home is worth the watch. I gave it three stars on my Netflix Instant Queue.
Listening to: I need suggestions, I am very sick of the summer's pop hits!
So much has happened these past two weeks, its really exciting actually. I have gotten a lot further than I thought I would in this amount of time. For starters, I volunteered with the Chicago Fringe Festival, the first-ever Fringe Fest in Chicago (Well, there was an attempt in the early 90s and that group only lasted for two years and then it never happened again) and ended up working with them alot. I was a Venue Manager for most of the run. The position was the equivilent of what would be the House Manager if we had been using theatres to perform in, instead there were eight venues set up throughout Pilsen in gallery spaces, and one bar,(Funny that I never got to work in the two actual theatre spaces that were used) and it worked out perfectly. Each space was very unique, and seemed to be perfect for each show! Props to Rachel our production manager for that!
All of the performances were good, some were very different and interesting, but of all the shows I worked on or watched as an audience member I would reccomend Exhausted Paint: The Death of Van Gogh and Silken Veils as my two top picks. Exhausted Paint is a one man show produced by Opium, Fireworks, & Lead, a theatre company based out of St. Paul, MN. The show was fantastic, beautifully written based on letters from Van Gogh to his brother and friends. Shawn Patrick Boyd played Vincent and was one of the most entertaining and interesting actors I have ever seen. All of you Minnesotans...GO SEE THIS SHOW! It is highly reccomended!
Silken Veils was another beautiful show and has been touring the US for awhile. It follows the story of Dyra, a young Iranian woman about to get married and her family's history concerning the Iranian war. A lot of the dialouge was taken from Rumi poetry set to original music, both inspiring. Puppets and shadow puppetry were used to tell the story as well and made an incredible stage picture, even in the teeny tiny black box it was produced in.
It was a great theatre weekend to say the least. Also, follow up for information and "journaling" concerning the Rivendell Theatre Ensemble production I will be assistant directing called Precious Little and written by New York playwright Madeleine George. I will also be blogging about other random endeavors with Rivendell, such as a few marketing projects and publicity stints that I seem to have fallen into!
Just read: In the Other Room, or A Vibrator Play by Sarah Ruhl
Precious Little by Madeleine George
26 Miles by Quiara Alegria Hudes (who wrote the book for the Tony Award winning musical, In the Heights)
Re-reading: A Mercy by Toni Morrison, because I love it, and her and it is the One Book, One Chicago pick for this fall and there are a ton of free programs dealing with the book, such as a Steppenwolf performance and a talk back with Morrison herself...stay tuned, cause I'm really excited.
Watching: Heroes...addicted, it could become a problem. (I just started Season 2)
Recently Saw: Paper Heart, a documentry on relationships...it was really bad, Michael Cera is funny as usual, but not worth sitting through the whole two hours to wait for his one liners like my sister and I did.
How About You, an indie Irish comedy about two sisters running an old folks home is worth the watch. I gave it three stars on my Netflix Instant Queue.
Listening to: I need suggestions, I am very sick of the summer's pop hits!
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