Chocolate Marshmallow Pie

I love spontaneously making pies. You can make them pretty much any way you'd like..with anything as a filling.

Last night I decided I wanted to make a chocolate marshmallow pie.

Here's how:

Crust:

• 9 graham crackers (you can use any kind you'd like..I used the regular honey ones)
• about 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 5 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

In a food processor:

Break up graham crackers and combine them with the chocolate chips and the butter until coarse crumbs form.

Press mixture into a 9-inch pie plate using a spoon and your hands.

Bake for about 10 minutes in an oven at 375 F.

Filling:

• 34 large marshmallows
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 cup half and half
  
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a medium saucepan, heat marshmallows, milk, and chocolate chips on low heat until the mixture is melted together. Be sure to stir constantly.

Then combine the marshmallow mixture with the half and half in an electric mixer until it is well blended.

Pour the filling into the baked crust and leave the pie in the fridge for at least 3 hours. I left mine in overnight to make sure the filling set well.

The end result was a bit more of a pudding-like pie instead of marshmallowy..but it was extremely delicious!

Dan Arborise

I just discovered him..and I'm kind of in love with his music:

Girly things

Nestled

The sun has shed its last tiers of light

And now it is time to pass through the tunnel of slumber.

A chill brushes across my spine.

I curl into my snail shell and hide from the blue.

Enveloped in the blankets like a sprout in its bean.

Wrapped in a nest of feathery down.

Soon I will wait for the day when I awaken and bloom.

Insomnia..find yourself a calm

I often have trouble sleeping when I am worrying about something or my mind is just too full of thoughts..

I found this video and I find it very calming and serene. The filming in amazing..the details..and the music..it's really great if you're in need of something tranquil to rest your mind.

Woven - Extended Version from Ryan Hunts on Vimeo.

Another old seasonal poem of mine..

Vernal Song

Melodic spring,
Youthful, unsullied, immaculate.
I’m counting bees in my garden.
Wisps of verdant pasture sway in the distance.
It’s a grand ball of the fae,
A dance of heaven and earth.

The lady next door sets a table of porcelain.
She delicately folds the kerchiefs and napkins.
Embroidered with violets and lilacs.
Then she sits and proposes a toast to the sunshine,
And the breeze,
Which sings a tune of new beginnings.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig

Last year I celebrated St. Patrick's Day in Cork, Ireland. You would think that if there was any place you should be on St. Patty's Day..it should be Ireland..right? Well my experience told otherwise.

My Irish roomates warned me not to expect much, especially if I had been to the New York festivities before. I just shrugged this off..I was in Ireland! What could be better or more exciting?

I started off the day with a late start and a homemade crumpet.



At least these boys resembled Irish Jonas Brothers...I don't think they would have that in the American parade.



The parade started off with a giant dragon-type balloon. It eventually fell down and began eating all the small children in the crowd.



Kids were dressed from head-to-toe in green. But the display of Irish pride definitely didn't compare to the NYC parade.



They had some sort of theme...space ships? Last time I checked this wasn't the outer-space parade.



Aliens with giant kissy-lips.



Green cheesin' creatures.



They had a cultural potion as well. This was a little boy playing the flute from a country I unfortunately can't recall.



There were some dancers. Perhaps from Serbia?



This is my favorite shot from the parade.



The turnout was not nearly as large at NYC. Of course Cork is a much smaller city, but I would have expected more enthusiasm since it is Ireland. However, every day that I spent there, I always encountered an abundant amount of cheer and drunkenness. I suppose every day of the year they prepare for St. Patrick's Day. In America, it's more of a corporate thing. Which is the way it is with most holidays. Valentine's Day anyone?



Enjoying vanilla soft serve on a GREEN cone with a Flake chocolate stuck in.

Despite the parade, Ireland was definitely one of the best experiences of my life. All the people are the friendliest, cheeriest people you'll ever encounter.

On that note, I'll talk about when I was sick for two weeks with a throat infection. All of my friends and roommates were either out traveling or had visitors over, so I had no one to turn to if I needed help. My throat infection left me the weakest I've ever been. I couldn't sleep, eat or swallow and I had no idea what to do about any of it. One day I walked down to a nearby chemist (yes, they call pharmacists "chemists"..isn't that lovely?). She was an adorable elderly woman who reminded me of someone I would want to call my grandmother. I told her my problem and she advised I take some pain medication and some throat drops. I thanked her..extremely glad to have at least something besides a cup of tea and some honey.

I came back almost every other day..to replenish my throat drops and also because I really enjoyed having someone to talk to when no one else was around. Also sitting in my room all sick and dreary wasn't the nicest of things, so I would go for short walks every so often.

One day I woke up and my throat felt as if there were knives slicing it. I walked down to the chemist and asked her to give me the strongest medication she had because I was in a lot of pain. She took one look at me and called a nearby doctor's office to make an appointment. She gave me directions and said I should really go see the doctor at this point. Honestly that was the nicest thing for her to do that. I feel like she really cared for me and wanted to make sure I got the proper treatment. So I went to the doctor, got some antibiotics and was all cleared up in a few days.

So that's my experience with Irish chemists. And I'm very grateful that chemist was there through my terrible two weeks when I was all on my own.

Anyways, perhaps the parade would have been more festive in Dublin, but I won't ever know. I suggest just going to the Manhattan parade if you're really looking for a wild time smothered in green.

How to make: Tiny Tasty Jam Pockets

I originally was going to call these “homemade pop-tarts”, but the end result turned out to be more of a “jam-pocket” so that’s what I’ll call them. They’re really easy to make and they turn out delicious!



Here’s what you’ll need:

Crust:

* 1 cup white all-purpose flour
* 6 Tbsp. butter
* 2 Tbsp. cold water

Filling:

* Jam (the thicker kinds with fruit pieces in them work best)
* You could also try nutella, marshmallow, or cut up fruit

How to make the crust:

In a medium bowl or in a pastry blender, combine the flour and the butter. The pastry blender works very well or if you’re using a bowl, cut up the mixture with a fork or a pastry cutter until the mixture has small lumps. Sprinkle the water over the mixture until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl or pastry blender.



If the mixture doesn’t seem to be pulling away, then add another tablespoon of water. Then roll the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for about 30 minutes so it can become firm and easier to work with.



Rolling the dough:

Unwrap the dough, divide it into two halves and roll it out on a floured surface. Roll it out until it is about and 1/8 inch thick (about the thickness of two stacked nickels).




Cut the dough into rectangles that are about 8 x 6 inches and set them aside. Repeat this process with the remainder of the dough. Roll each rectangle a bit thinner if you feel they are too thick. You want to have enough room to spread the filling and then fold it in half.



Place the rectangles onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Spread half of each rectangle with the filling, leaving about an inch on each side.



Fold the dough in half and match the edges, pressing down to seal them. If you find that your dough is not sticking, try wetting your fingertip in some water, spread it along the edge of the seam and press down to seal.



Use a fork to seal the edges and create a nice pattern along the edges of each pastry.



Trim the edges of each pastry with a knife to neaten them up. Save the scraps for tiny pastries later.



Cut out a few vents on the top of each pastry.



You can use the scraps to make tiny jam rolls. Then bake them in a preheated oven at about 400F (200C) for about 20 minutes or until they are a nice golden brown.



They go very nicely with a dollop of whipped cream or some vanilla ice cream.



Enjoy! J

My teaset..featured! :D

My teaset was featured on Camp Smartypants' blog!

http://campsmartypants.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-etsy.html

Flowers - nature's art....man's inspiration.

"From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity."
~Edvard Munch



And here a few pictures of flowers I took when I first got my Canon Digital Rebel XT





Just figured I'd throw this skywriting photo in while I'm digging up old photos. :)



I can't wait for spring so I can make clover chains again. This photo was taken with a simply Kodak point and shoot..nothing special. But the story behind it is that I was in Canada, camping with my family and my sister and I decided to pick every clover from the lawn and make a giant clover chain. We ended up draping it on the fence across the yard. In Ireland they had tiny daisies. Those were nice to make chains with too.




Making tiny faerie trees in a friend's yard during summer.





And old self portrait of mine..a bit bazaar.



And here's a less bazaar old self portrait of mine when my hair was pretty short.

Talk of Trees

The winter blues can really get you down. Most times winter leaves me unmotivated, lazy, and I almost never want to go outside to risk a frostbit nose.



The sun sets earlier..so it's dark more often and rarely will you catch a glimpse of the sun peeking through those snow clouds. Today however, I was lucky to catch some gorgeous weather and sunshine. So I decided to go for a walk to a nearby reservoir. Going for a walk during winter is definitely a great natural antidepressant. Might I add though..that for some odd reason, whilst walking on the road, a woman in a car pulled over and asked me if I wanted a ride. Did I look like a hitchhiker or a vagabond?



I found this rather creepy decapitated clown toy in the woods.



The trees are bare.



Despite the changing of the seasons and the coming of spring, you can still get a whiff of pine needles in the woods.



A little burrow in a tree for some forest critter?



My favorite grave in the cemetary. Jane was born on Christmas and died on my birthday 100 years before I was born. Guess who put the sunflower there?



It's kind of worn down now..perhaps I'll get a new one.



Deer tracks.