I Love Espresso Beans

Hi!

Today I started a 4-day session of GIS (geographic information systems, if you must ask) training. Maps are fun. I'm not exactly sure how this will play into my job, but I hope it does. In the meantime, I'm enjoying time out of the office and free lunches.

Here's my usual weekend recap...

Saturday
Even though there were a million other things (or at least three) that I wanted to do Saturday morning, I accompanied Porkchop during her 4-hour stint at the UPS Store. Because these are the things that we do. Also, guilt-inducement might have played a role!

Here's Porkchop hard at work:




It was thrilling. I don't know how that store operates without me reading for 4 hours.

The reading material in question was The Uses of Enchantment, which I thoroughly did not enjoy yet continued to read, hoping for some sort of redeeming quality. While I appreciate the interesting look at how truth can be constructed, I didn't like the following:

• The slamming of feminist psychoanalysis. The main character is critical of psychoanalysis in general, but particularly feminist psychoanalysis. Maybe the author agrees with the viewpoints expressed by the main character, maybe she doesn't...I don't know. I do know that such seemingly uninformed patriarchalist criticism is still damaging to feminism at this point in time (and maybe forever).


• The book reinforces the idea that girls' lives don't have points, that's why they do things like plan their own abductions. In a time when girls are abducted and sexually assaulted every day, I don't see the point in adding to the cultural imagination that girls make up this shit because they're bored.


• The only character given the "I" narrator is the male psychoanalyst who "stole" the main character's story (abduction) and wrote a book about how girls make up extreme lies. Literary device? maybe. Annoying? sure as hell.

Finally, none of the characters went through any sort of extreme transformation to warrant the pain of reading the book. So, don't do it.

After the UPS Store, I did fun things such as dish washing, sweeping, and mopping. Fun times! However, real fun was had by going to eat at Everest Café, the owner of which has a master's and doctorate in public health. I enjoyed nearly everything, including my huge vegetarian platter, the daal, Nepali tea, and kheer. The only not-so-good thing was the samosa, which tasted like it could have been frozen.

Me and my platter:



All of the reviews I read about Everest Café made a point to state that one might want to visit in the daytime due to the sketchy environs. Maybe I'm inured to such things, but come on people! There were neither run down buildings nearby nor gunshots to be heard. So, suck it up.

Upon returning from dinner, I practiced crocheting for a couple of hours. I brushed up on single and double crochet and learned half double crochet. Next up is triple crochet, and then I start more fun things.

Sunday
Sunday was sleep-in day and grocery-shopping day.

I accidentally bought $12.50 worth of dark chocolate-covered espresso beans. That is all I have to say about that.

Porkchop and I had a bake-off Sunday evening. She made M&M cookies while I made chocolate-coconut macaroons. Both are delicious.

See...



After dinner, I partook of our sweets and enjoyed a coffee stout. I'm in trouble with this coffee stout. You see, we bought a 12-pack in late December, thinking we might take it along during our January travels. With no travels, I'm stuck drinking most of it. Not a bad fate, but I usually don't average 12 beers in 1 year. It is my goal to drink one per week.

Another goal is to bake something once a week (or thereabouts), post a picture, and share the recipe.

Let's start with this week.

CHOCOLATE-COCONUT MACAROONS

2 large egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
7 oz sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat a 12-cup nonstick muffin pan with cooking spray. [Recipe makes 12, feel free to use a 6-cup pan twice.]

Whisk together egg whites, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt until frothy. With a fork, stir in coconut until coated. Spoon mixture into tin and press in gently with a fork (or your floured hand). Sprinkle with almonds, pressing gently to adhere.

Bake 20-30 minutes or until almonds are golden. Let cool in muffin pan for 10 minutes. Run a fork or metal spatula around macaroons to loosen. Turn out onto wire rack for cooling.

Yum!