Christmastime is Here

Yes, the season is again upon us. My favorite part of the holiday season is the music. Unfortunately, it's also my least favorite part. I love turning on the radio to hear a great arrangement of a Christmas tune.

But then- the next song is something atrocious, like the one I heard last night- "The hat I got for Christmas is too big". I just sat there, staring incredulously at the radio speakers, wishing so hard to make it end, but also too much in shock to actually reach for the power button. Some guy with a horribly fake Mexican accent was lamenting the fact that Santa had brought him the wrong size sombrero. Excuse me while I gag. It's bad enough that Grandma got run over by a reindeer, but now this?!

Basically, when it comes to real Christmas music, I have two rules:

1. Do it right. Traditional songs, in a relatively traditional manner, preferably the original. Don't just be another voice doing the same song the same way with some generic background music and a few soulful riffs. I'll undoubtedly compare to the original, and you'll fail miserably.
OR
2. Do it completely differently. Make it so unique that I recognize the song, recognize its link to the season, but it has its own character. For example: Mannheim Steamroller and/or Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Pretty much anything by Andy Williams. Winter Wonderland done by Avalon. Let It Snow done by Gloria Estefan. Or (going out on a limb here) Deck the Halls done by She-Daisy. Most of the music we did for our Christmas show a couple years ago. Good stuff!

I'm sick of mediocre music, or ridiculous music like the sombrero song. Next to rampant commercialism, it's what disgusts me about Christmas.

I guess I'm just Picky.

But it felt good to rant, just a little bit. Now, I'm off to listen to my carefully-selected playlist of holiday music :)

A break!!

So- I finally have a much-needed break for awhile. It hasn't really sunk in yet, and I still will have quite a bit to do, but my huge presentation is OVER!!!

I might venture into the world of gluten-free baking. I may take a trip to the health food store tomorrow to stock up on all the weird flours I can find.

I'm a little scared. I used to be a decent baker (I mean, come on, I did win a few awards in 4H back in the day), but I am completely inexperienced when it comes to GF baking. At least I'll have some sort of a guide, between the Gluten Free Girl blog and some of Bette Hagman's books.
And where the heck do I find sorghum flour?! Guess I better start looking for it while I'm still living in the "big" city.

I'll let you know how it goes...

It's cold.

That's about it. It's cold. I hate being cold. Yuck.

Time for a cup of tea?

C is for Cookie

I tried Pamela's Products Chocolate Chunk cookie mix yesterday.

Procrastination cookies, more or less. I used to make a lot of stress and procrastination cookies. How things have changed...

My hankering for cookies started during THE game (which ended up not being that exciting anyway), so I decided that instead of working on my presentation(s), cookies were in order. Given that I haven't had the time or the ingredients to try any of Bette Hagman's promising recipes yet, the mix was calling my name from the pantry.

I'd probably end up giving it a 3.5. Not essential, but a HECK of a lot better than the horrible sand cookies I made earlier this year. A little crunchy for my taste, and still a hint of sand-like quality, but they tasted good. Especially warm. It's been a loooong time since I've had a freshly-baked cookie.

My dear hubby tried them and told me that they were gross. But- his mom is the best cookie baker I know, and he is used to wonderful gluten-filled creations that he can eat.

That's ok then, more for me.

Gluten Free Dreams

Nope, not posting about my dreams about being GF. Those are more like nightmares anyway. This is about a chocolate cake mix I just made, by Gluten Free Dreams.

First bite- pretty good, mostly impressed by the texture, BUT it has a funny taste. It almost tastes like burning. I'm certain I didn't burn it at all, and the edges surprisingly have less of the questionable taste. It's not bad once you get used to it and realize that it's not actually burned. Frosting is definitely essential.

I'd have to give it a 4. Not quite as amazing as Pamela's sour cream recipe, but decent. I can deal with it.

Of course, I just made cake in accordance to my craving, and then had a duh moment as it was cooling when I realized that I still have most of a yummy cheesecake to eat up in my fridge. Yikes. I'm going to be fat!

I'm still here

Don't worry, I'm still here. Just trying to figure out my health situation. I think I'll just stop speculating for awhile and wait for my next doctor's appointment... SO until next month, I am hopefully signing off of the health updates.

However- I'll still try to update some, but be warned that I will probably either be just posting info on food or using this as my personal soapbox...

I'm really craving chocolate cake. Heck, I'm just craving food lately. I don't get a whole lot of chances to eat during the day, which has totally been screwing with my hunger schedule. I think I was hungry for about anything possible. Except when I saw some really, really nasty things today. Then I was glad I hadn't eaten anything. I'm currently rounding with the infectious disease doctor, so use your imagination. (For my mom's sake, I won't give details!)

Anyway, I apologize for the continued randomness. Maybe from now on, I'll stick to a topic or something.

I'm off to go procrastinate and bake a cake. Then, maybe I'll get some work done.

Are you serious?

Got a voicemail from the doctor's office last week. Apparently my tTG titers are now higher than before. That's not supposed to happen. It was supposed to be positive reinforcement to continue to eat like a nut case.

This will warrant more investigation. Many possible reasons, including some sort of lab error (it's a send-out, and I went to a different lab...).

I'll keep you posted.

Pun intended.