Today I am a green-eyed peanut. Since I returned from my Seattle Soiree the travel I have managed to undertake has been utterly and completely by proxy (or vivid imagination) through my uni course.
Brochures depicting young and gorgeous people enthusiastically jumping off boats on the Amalfi Coast, couples clinking glasses on exquisite train journeys across Europe, intrepid explorers taking silly photos with monuments and statues in far off, seldom trod corners of this big, wide world. *sigh* and travel messages containing tantalizingly few details of police encounters, boat trips full of beer and bravado and blissful kisses from the European sun. *fumes* *grins* *crinkles up nose and narrows eyes in playful jealousy*
My adventures have been of the home and university variety of late. Several accounts are to follow:
Yesterday I arrived home after a day distinctly akin in pressured finite timings to an episode of "24" and felt an overpowering need to bake something sugary with a high chocolate content and dates, always dates.
Once I changed into my Joe Boxer track pants *shudder of fleecy warmth* and Uggs *after-shudder* I consulted the shelves of my half of the pantry. Flour..white sugar..brown sugar...baking powder..salt...umm, DATES! Then I took a peek in the fridge - eggs..and milk! Eeexcellent! And a block of Hershey's 70% extra dark chocolate hand carried from Los Estados Unidos (from whence all fructose-laden goodness cometh).
Expertly creaming the butter and sugar together then adding the eggs, milk and dry ingredients I tossed in an exorbitant amount of dates and chocolate chunks and whacked them in the oven.
I like my cookies slightly crispy on the outside and nice and gooey on the inside so when you bite into a particularly large chocolate chunk it oozes out of its home nestled in the cookie and inevitably ends up on your shirt/tie/necklace.
The edges slightly browned after 12 or so minutes on 150 Celsius and I extracted the tray of morsels from the oven and placed them on the stove. The entire house filled with the aroma of freshly baked delicacy and my flatmate magically appeared with eyes like saucers, licking her chops like Sylvester eyeing Tweety Bird, turning him in one image frame from canary to cutlet.
She has now termed them (with a note written in pink capital letters with highlighter) the "COOKIES OF DOOM (because they're so f*ing lush!)" and neither of us can stop munching on them. Ahh well, at least we live in the House of Metabolism! Redheads do it better you know..
*bites into warm cookie*
Next - Huzzar for moi! I overcame my Bakers Delight Scone Sampling phobia today! As I walk from the disembarkation point of my first bus I past a number of shops, one of which is Baker's Delight (hence the scone addiction). Normally I wander past, gaze lovingly at the carby, sugary goodness adorning the shelves, wait for an influx of customers and snake a long arm between them to pinch one (read: several) slices of the free-to-good-home scone in the little plastic sample tub on the counter.
Today there were no customers. It was also raining. And freezing cold.
"Bugger this rubbish!" I thought to myself, "I'm a human, I have rights to free food!" I psyched myself and, taking a deep breath, entered the little shop.
"Hi! How can I help you?" said the pre-teen behind the counter, seeing a sale meandering through the glass doors.
"Uh..I'd like a.." I pretended to scan the glass cabinets, "..umm... ok. Look. I'd-really-just-like-to-try-some-scone.-Seriously-I-buy-them-all-the-time-and-I'm-completely-addicted-and-they're-really-really-bloody-good-but-I-have-a-bunch-at-home-and-I don't-need-to-buy-an-more-but-I'd-really-like-to-try-some-is-that-cool??" I admitted with lightning fast speech in her general direction, avoiding eye contact.
To my distinct pleasure she laughed, openly, and said "of COURSE! We do it all the time!"
It was as though an enormous weight was lifted from my part-Jewish conscience and I happily tonged 2 slices of the little baked good into my hand, waved a goodbye to the girls, who were still laughing and merrily made my freezing cold way to the bus stop. Once more - HUZZAR!!
In other news my 16 day adventure tour brochure to Iceland has been printed (after a substantial cookie donation to the people at Kwik Kopy Darling Harbour garnered a large discount) and looks incredible. Someday I want to go diving, skiing, dog sledding, horseback riding, whitewater rafting and lounging in the Blue Lagoon. *shakes fist* "with God as my witness..!"
Last minute I aced yet another 2 exams this afternoon and rewarded myself with end-of-day rice paper rolls.
I passed my dive medical with a lovely aviation doctor in the city yesterday. We had a grand time pinching, prodding and concluding that despite a lower-than-recommended BMI (read: BS) rating I have incredibly good lungs (all the better for yelling at you with, my dear), hearing (for tuning out when you yell back, my dear) and balance (for..well I don't know..balancing I suppose!).
I actually had a great time and ate far too many blue jellybeans and promised to send the doctor a postcard from my first diving holiday, hopefully not too far away now..!
Tomorrow night is "Diving 101" with this weekend spent submerging in a pool remembering to ALWAYS BREATHE and learning how to empty water from my mask.
I'm really looking forward to it, breathing underwater has always been a dream of mine.
I shall leave you there, fine readers, until more adventures have I to rehash.
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