Food Network's Candy Corn Cordial!

Ingredients

For the infused vodka:

• 1/2 cup candy corn
• 1 1/2 cups vodka

For the cordials:

• 2 ounces orange liqueur
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 large egg white
• Candy corn, for garnish

Directions

Infuse the vodka: Combine the candy corn and vodka in an airtight container; set aside for at least 3 hours, then strain.

Make the cordials: Add 4 ounces of the candy corn vodka, the orange liqueur, lemon juice and egg white to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously for at least 30 seconds. Strain into 2 chilled martini glasses and garnish with candy corn.

Candy Corn Cordials on the Food Network

Happy Halloween!

...So this is my last minute costume. I threw it together in about 20 minutes and it was just enough to take some cute new profile pictures which was all I needed it for, since I don't have any parties to attend. I love Halloween, but I am unorganized so I'm rarely prepared for it when it arrives. I love the whole month of October for it's ghouls and spiderwebs (aesthetic ones NOT the real kind *shudders*) and all the crisp air and apples, cider and pumpkins...and lets not forget the scary movies and my annual screening of Sleepy Hollow. Glorious!
...At the same time it's time for me to mourn the death of...well, death, just in time to enter the month of gratitude. I suppose it's enough to be grateful for surviving all the creeps and freaks of the October and time to get all bundled, cozy, and thankful. :-)
...Tomorrow, on November 1st, it's all about the NaNoWriMo launch and getting ready for the holiday season, but more on that in tomorrow's blog.

Halloween Spirit!

A Halloween Cocktail That Will Spirit You Away

A Scary-Good Drink Recipe

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Halloween or not, there’s no disguising your love of a good drink. 

The Great White PumpkinServes one

Ingredients1½ oz. dark rum
½ oz. pumpkin puree
½ oz. Cointreau
¼ oz. lime juice
2 oz. heavy cream
½ oz. simple syrup
Fresh nutmeg

1. In a cocktail shaker, combine rum, pumpkin, Cointreau, and lime. Shake well and strain into a martini glass.

2. Shake heavy cream and simple syrup separately until thickened and layer on top.

3. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.

From Daily Candy http://dailycandy.com/all-cities/article/91016/Halloween-Cocktail-Recipes-Drinks-for-Halloween

Jane's Addiction & Studying

     Jane's Addiction are blowing my mind right now with their spectacular new album The Great Escape Artist. Pretty sure I'll be playing this every day for awhile. I'm listening to it on Spotify, which is where I've been testing and trendspotting all my new music lately. This one's good enough for a download purchase though. It's kind of dreamy and ethereal. I admit, my experience with this band ended with "Been Caught Stealing" back in the 90s, so I have no clue as to whether or not this album is a departure or in sync with their usual stuff. I get really excited when I get excellent new albums from actual rock stars.


     I realize I need to get serious about my class work. My attention is divided into so many factions right now, and I tend to compartmentalize or I wont ever get anything finished. I have already wasted so much time today on random web surfing and following various bunny-trails but I tell you: I must study!


     Okay, got that off my chest, and now I will get some lunch and settle down to study all about Martin Luther's Revolt.
Ciao!

October halfway point! Yikes. I have a midterm, a photography field trip, and a bunch of other stuff to do. Aside from school there are 3 things takin up most of my concern:

1. NaNoWriMo- begins on November 1st, which is fast approaching. I need to have the apartment stacked with a month's worth of food, a month's worth of clean clothes and a lot of organization. I also need to complete character sketches.


2. Guns n' Roses are coming to Bridgestone Arena!!    (December 4th)


3. Christmas (Duh!) on December 25th.

September 30

It's the last day of the month and Ii can't even remember it. If I try really hard I think the first week was rained out, the second week I was sick, and the third week I was trying to get back on track. This past week, I've spent mainly on school...so, yeah, september, not very glamourous. On that note lets see if the last day can bring it up a notch. I have some chronic trepidation about my job right now because of some dame with chronic negativity, but...I have faith that God can handle her even though my chest tightens at the thought of spending eight hours with her. Light conquers darkness. Happy Friday!

Hello September! Hitting the books & the playground this month

     Well...it's September 1st and I'm officially back in school. So far I like my classes and feel genuine interest for the subjects. My major is still up in the air but I'm pretty sure I'm going for Liberal Studies, which will allow me to keep this erratic course selection I've been choosing and still graduate at a semi-decent date. More than anything, I am trying to find a way to make money doing things I already love to do. 


      My interest in writing has never been stronger. This is unfortunate in a way, because my sister, the self-proclaimed "greatest writer in the world" (and rightfully so) has narrowed her focus on this area of her particular giftedness as well. So like singing before it, I find myself in the "me too" category of a talent that I am genuinely good at...but perhaps not as genius at as the aforementioned sister. Still, I am good enough and the lifestyle beckons me as none so strongly have beckoned me since my acting aspirations. I know MY category is supposed to be photography (and I DO like it...a lot) but it's more of a pleasure hobby, for me....a great escape. I tend to glaaaaze over when the technical jargon kicks in.
     
     Anyway, I suppose the only way to wrestle myself from that second status, into a niche of my own is to actually write something that I'll actually allow other people to read. Ha ha! Yes, I do write things just for me...but seriously, it's time to write in public. Funnily enough, the more I read, the more I like to write, and the more I write, the more I want to write anything. So I'm going to have to give myself a writing assignment, designed for public consumption and SHARE IT. I think I'm going to push through NaNoWriMo this year and emerge with a product. And I think I'm going to pull from my unfinished Script Frenzy bone-yard.


     **On a totally off-topic side note: I am keeping up with my fitness better than I EVER have in my life! I work out minimum 30 min x3 weekly! MINIMUM. If I had a bike, it would be more. The best thing about committing to fitness is that I'm not suffering through torturous sessions...I'm re-learning how to play. Yes play. Play is fun and it's why we all miss childhood so much sometimes. It doesn't have to be the kind of organized games called "sports" that the masses expect adults to do. It can be silly and crazy and fun. It can have no rules or made-up rules. It can be whatever gets you moving and laughing and enjoying yourself and I guarantee it will burn calories...laughing burns calories. 


     Anyway, all for now. Hello September, nice to see you, please be gentle. :)

Just Say No!... to the end of summer

Everywhere I look, something or someone is trying VERY hard to convince me that summer is already over. Seriously! It's only the 21st of August. Summer doesn't end for another entire month!

It began with swimsuit clearance in July. The stores weren't quite ready to stop making money off the surfers, swimmers & sunbathers so they rolld out new lines of swimwear mid-July labeled "Resort 2012"; as though you'll only need a swimsuit in July if you're planning some vacation to the islands in January. It's baloney.

Then all the back to school nostalgia from when kids went back to school after the summer harvests, before they went to year-round school that has them back-2-School during the summer. People don't like to think of poor kids having to sit in classrooms during the summer, it ruins their fantasy of summer vacation as a free-for-all & also ruins the idea of new back to school sweaters, crisp apples & chilly mornings. It's easier to pretend it's already fall...in July.

But now the weather itself is conspiring. I don't remember a summer before that had such cool mornings in August. But they are already cooling off. The days are getting shorter too...even though Halloween is still 71 days away. I expect the fashion magazines and Walgreens to be ahead of the seasons but the weather itself is working against me.

I'm determined to soldier on and see summer out to the end. I will keep swimming in my pool & eating ice cream until it gets too cold. I will continue to wear tank tops & flip flops by day and a single sheet & double fans at night until it really gets too cold and Halloween & the end of Daylight Saving's are closer.

I plan on squeezing every last drop of summer in the next 4 weeks until it really turns to fall on September 22 or so. Enjoy. The rest of your summer! Don't let corporate advertisers short you of your most relaxing, gloriously fun filled, low key, inexpensive month from you. Hold your ground with me & let's jump back into the pool!

Ummm...

I've been busy. Sorry. I'll return with something mesmerizing soon I'm sure. I'm trying to get a focus on what this space means to me...

Is it a soapbox for ranting? A forum for art? A dumping ground to complain? A spot for shits and giggles? I'm figuring it out. As soon as I do, this space will reborn. :)

I want this! I NEED this!!!