Happy Shackleton's Birthday!!
Ahh, nothing like a 3-day weekend in the middle of February. And there are so many things to celebrate! Yes, there is Valentine's Day, which I have decided is a great day to do very casual date-type things. Steve and I took a couple tae-kwando classes together, then went back to our respective apartments. It was actually a good deal of fun, because after a little time apart we met up again at Harvard Square. Getting off the train and looking around the square reminded me of the first time we met up in Harvard. In a fabulous display of mutual love and affection, we proceeded to punch each other and mock-spar as a very confused couple looked on. The wind was in full swing, but we managed a quick walk around The River Charles and the Harvard Business School, before replaying our first real 'official' date by getting Burdick's hot chocolate. We ended our evening by slaying orcs and goblins in Champions of Norrath! It amuses me to think that on a day dominated by fancy restaurant reservations (which are perfectly fine, don't get me wrong) I had a brilliant time replaying the simpler date pleasures. When you've dated someone for a couple years (which is really what we were celebrating more than a commercial affair) you don't always make the time for simple dates, such as taking a walk to a cool place the other person hasn't seen, or meeting up someplace to get dinner at a cafe or to buy ice cream. It really captures that initial thrill; I enjoyed it immensely. I also got to give Steve his gift, which is more like a gift to him for the both of us. It's a textbook all about hardware hacking electronic devices to create musical instruments. My idea is that we put together a tool kit to go along with the book and work through the projects in the book together.
And now for something completely different: SHACKLETON'S BIRTHDAY!! In honor of the intrepid Antarctic hero, I made individual-sized Baked Alaskas. The recipe had me make brownies and then cut them into circles, but I bypassed the cutting step by just putting the brownie mix into a large cupcake pan. Then I froze the brownies and softened the ice cream. I added a scoop of ice cream on the top of each brownie and froze them again. Finally, we made meringue to cover the brownies and ice cream and cooked everything in the oven for about 5 minutes. They were delicious! My roommate made a flaming rum sauce that we lit on fire and poured around one of them. They're too small to be alaskas, though. I want to call them Baked Glaciers, or Baked Icebergs :) For next time, though, I need to make sure to freeze the brownie/ice cream combo a bit longer; a couple of the icebergs were a little soupy in the end. But seriously, who is going to turn down ice cream and meringue and brownie, no matter how melted it is?!
And now for something completely different: SHACKLETON'S BIRTHDAY!! In honor of the intrepid Antarctic hero, I made individual-sized Baked Alaskas. The recipe had me make brownies and then cut them into circles, but I bypassed the cutting step by just putting the brownie mix into a large cupcake pan. Then I froze the brownies and softened the ice cream. I added a scoop of ice cream on the top of each brownie and froze them again. Finally, we made meringue to cover the brownies and ice cream and cooked everything in the oven for about 5 minutes. They were delicious! My roommate made a flaming rum sauce that we lit on fire and poured around one of them. They're too small to be alaskas, though. I want to call them Baked Glaciers, or Baked Icebergs :) For next time, though, I need to make sure to freeze the brownie/ice cream combo a bit longer; a couple of the icebergs were a little soupy in the end. But seriously, who is going to turn down ice cream and meringue and brownie, no matter how melted it is?!