Introverts, how is your day?

[Arcadia]

Taste better, too. :p

[Pseudonym]

Hm, freshly back from the latest attempt at being social. I don't know about this whole sociability malarky, it was okay but I likely would have been happier at home playing Assassin's Creed or reading some Johnlock. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I think it's good to get out of the house now and then, and meet a variety of people in a social setting.  I agree that it's often not what you might have hoped for, but then every so often you meet someone you can actually carry on an interesting conversation with, and that's pretty cool.

[Artemis]

I've got some turkey legs roasting.  I finally found a couple at the store, and not too expensive.  Probably trying to clear out their Thanksgiving stash.  They're already smoked and everything, so I can't practice brining like I hoped.  That's alright though.  I just hope I'm roasting them correctly so they don't turn out dry.  I'm going to make a side dish to go with it, then light a candle and put on some Christmas music and relax with my dogs. 

 

The rest of my day was comprised of disasters and near-disasters.  I swear I woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  So far, I have knocked over a ceramic bowl, spilled water all over the floor and wall, forgot my keys and almost wasn't able to get back into the house, ruined a pair of pants and a chair cushion, cut myself (on my bum, of all places), ripped my coat, tripped on a cord, burnt my pumpkin pie (I followed the directions!), and just now almost broke a glass.  On top of that, I'm having computer problems, and I got bitten by a mosquito.  A mosquito!  I thought they were dead already, or whatever they do in the wintertime.  I didn't know they were still laying low in my house, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.  Rawr.

 

I just hope I don't burn the place down or something, lol.  I'm a little afraid of what's going to happen next.

 

 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Maybe we will get cold enough weather again in Minnesota. We had 60's in my part earlier in the week.

[Artemis]

True, I think we hit a record high for Black Friday.

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

How is / was your dinner?  Fortunately pumpkin pie can take a bit of burning, even if you might need to trim it a bit, and even if your turkey dries out some, it'll still be good in soup or casseroles.  (In case you haven't already figured this out, it pays to check what you have in the oven a little while *before* it's supposed to be done, just in case your oven doesn't quite agree with the recipe author's oven, or even with how it turned out last time.)

 

[Artemis]

That's the thing: I did check it early, and it was already burnt!  Which is extra weird, because my oven normally cooks slowly and requires extra time.  Fortunately the pie is still edible, it just tastes a little burnt, lol.

 

The turkey hasn't finished yet, it's cooking much slower than it should.  :/  I might have to wait until tomorrow to eat that.

 

 

[Pseudonym]

Bit of an aside, but I have never ever had any luck baking American style cookies. The ones that are gooey in the middle. I've googled the problem and it said to always take them out of the oven earlier than advised, but alas still no luck. Does anyone have any recommendations?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Not sure what you mean, gooey in the middle?  If you're talking about store-bought cookies, it's probably a trade secret.  If you mean homemade, I'd need to know what type of cookies you mean.

 

[Artemis]

I've never been able to get them like that either.

 

 

[Pseudonym]

Homemade. The middle stays raw so it's all soft and gooey when you bite into it. Mmm. But no matter how early I get them out of the oven they don't seem to be right. 

 

This type:

 

 

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Oh, OK.  I don't think the middle stays raw, exactly, but not cooked enough to make it crispy or even firm.  I've never made any quite like that (at least not intentionally).  Mine ideally end up moist in the middle (like a good cake) and crispy at the edges, which is a matter of keeping a close eye on them and being very lucky.

 

I suspect that the gooey kind are a recent (i.e., since I learned to bake) attempt to emulate certain store-bought brands such as Archway (which are yummy!).

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Make sure your butter is cold and chill the dough a little if the butter is getting too soft. That will help make it chewy. If the butter is to soft the crisper the cookie. I have a friend who likes her cookies crispy and accidentally made them chewy because the butter had not warmed enough.

[Pseudonym]

Really? Huh, surprised that makes much of a difference but something to try next time. 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I didn't know there was a difference either until the forum she & I were on at the time discussed it.

[Carol the Dabbler]

If the butter is good and cold, how do you get it mixed in -- like making pie dough? Or just good old elbow grease?

[Artemis]

^ I was wondering the same thing.
 

How is / was your dinner?

 
The turkey is good!  Turned out tender, not too dry.    I also made a pasta salad from stuff I had sitting around, had an assortment of veggies with dip, and some blackberries.
 
After seeing Pseud's pictures, I now desire cookies, lol.

 

 

[Pseudonym]

I was also wondering, lol. 

 

Me too. There's a place in Covent Garden called Ben's Cookies, and omg. Best cookies ever. Warm, melty, gooey... I shouldn't have looked. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

We have cookie stalls in a lot of our shopping malls. They tend to be in a high-traffic area, and apparently vent their ovens directly into the concourse -- pretty effective advertising!

 

I'm too cheap to patronize them though, so unfortunately cannot report on their quality and/or gooeyness.

[Pseudonym]

We do too, though I don't think they pump out their delicious cookie smells. But I've never come across anything like Ben's. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I should perhaps point out that here in the US, the term "cookie" covers quite an assortment of goodies. There are thin crispy ones such as ginger snaps, flat chewy ones like classic chocolate-chip ("Toll House") cookies, thick chewy ones such as peanut-butter cookies, and nearly spherical chewy ones like coconut macaroons. Then there are gingerbread men, butter cookies (which are a specific type, not just any cookie made with butter), thick cakelike ones such as snickerdoodles -- and that's not even counting foreign imports such as German springerles or those lacey fried things that look like snowflakes and seem to be native to every country from Italy to China -- or store-bought favorites like vanilla wafers or Oreos or sugar wafers or those decadent ones with a layer of marshmallow on top and a chocolate coating.

[Pseudonym]

Yep I know they're different over there.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Gooey in the middle cookie? Really?

My cookie is like that, but I don't really prefer it that way because my concern it's not cooked enough, raw egg blah blah because they are eaten by others, but they love it that way too. I only take a couple at most that's why I don't bake when nobody is here or I'm not going home.

 

Try to adjust the temperature, higher temp would cook the exterior and the interior remains soft. I never have rules when baking though, adjust the temp or time as I wish based on the look. So I can't advice, believe it's around 160-190 Celcius (I know it's around that angle in the knob, hardly read what is written there :p). Normally heat the oven, for ten minutes, bake for 20, run around, then take a look, add another ten, jump around, then another ten or five, then more.

Practice at your own risk (running and jumping compulsory) Same with amount of sugar or butter etc, I hardly follow recipe.

My friend always complain that I don't want to share recipe, she doesn't believe it when I say I don't have hard and fast rule.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Anyone watches Curb Your Enthusiasm or Seinfeld?

 

Backstory: Curb or Seinfeld poke fun at people and general things in society. They are not usual happy-dovey nice warm good-hearted people. Nope. Actually the guideline of Seinfled is: no hugging, no learning. In fact, the characters have unlikable traits, vain, petty and borderline terrible human being. Didn't dig it on the first Seinfeld watch, but I come to adore it as I grow older and get more and more annoying and annoyed :P. Curb is created by Seinfeld creator, it's brilliant at times although sometimes I can't stand the amount of shouting, whining and complaining. There.

 

What I meant by the shows being brilliant, they say and point things that is ridiculous in society, shout out people that are annoying but get away with it, and things that we want to do but can't really do because we are living in society! (one of the catchphrase).

 

So one of the latest Curb talked about Reset Button.

I remember, at least me, have couple of places where I buy food, gas regularly. But once the people start to make small talk or recognize me I become very reluctant and even avoid to go there and find other new places instead. Because it escalates. First they want to know what species I am, then where I stay. the more they ask, the more they are building up resume and start to treat you as friend, while random strangers being too chatty or friendly is the last thing you look for.

So here comes Reset Button.

 

The main character in Curb, Larry, had this problem when he got more and more annoyed by people who gets increasingly familiar and friendly from the place/thing he patronizes, so he proposed Reset Button to get things back to day one when they don't know each other and to undo all the small talks. I think it's brilliant :D but as usual, everyone shuts him down harshly as expected if we ever tried it in real life. aiz. I tried it before, it frees me but they are mad at me, which is fine by me (but I'm going to die friendless at the rate I'm going). I like to think if someone resets me I'd welcome it, as it'd be good to know that I don't overstay my welcome and there is a clear sign for it.

 

What do you guys think of Reset Button? Do you need it and will you be upset if someone pushes a Reset Button on you?