Vegging

[kelliem]

It snowed fairly heavily here today but it was a very wet snow and so it packed down a lot. I'd say we got no more than about 5 inches total here at my house. I hear it is worse the further south you go, though, so Denver got more and they shut down the airport and stranded everyone flying through. I feel for them.

The major problem with the snow was that the Kid Unit and dad were supposed get together for the big 21st birthday celebration hang-out all day thing today, and that got cancelled byt the weather, so KU was kind of bummed at having to just stay home all day. But we made a big batch of chocolate mousse (with Callebaut semi-sweet chocolate and Godiva chocolate liqueur) and that made up for a bit. Spent the rest of the day watching The 10th Kingdom on DVD together. I also made a strawberry-rhubarb pie (KU's favorite) and a couple of other things for the family get-together tomorrow evening. The streets aren't bad now and the snow has stopped and is melting pretty rapidly, so the KU's dad is going to come up and do the dinner at least, so that's good.

I, on the other hand, after spending all day yesterday doing CosPlay assistance and today cooking, need a break, so I am going to veg out by watching Supervolcano for a couple of hours on Discover. :)

Comments

[bluster.livejournal.com]

You deserve some veg time. I've kind of done that all day and it's been grand. Enjoy the show!

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

I did, actually. It was much less cheesy than 10.5. Though I do adore Fred Ward (who, not to be confusing, was in 10.5 not Supervolcano.) Though I was right, and Rebecca Jenkins was in BOTH of them (Governor in one, and FEMA Assistant Secy in the other). She is now Queen of the Crisis, isn't she? And the roles are SO different from her Wilby Wonderful one. It's nice to see her range.

[bluster.livejournal.com]

Fred Ward was wasted in 10.5. His character could have been really interesting; although that can be said for more than a few of the characters. We should have known Supervolcano would be better. First of all, it's a BBC production.

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

He was wasted in 10.5, but I wanted to see him anyway. :-) The other reason Supervolcano was probably better was that it was made for a semi-educational channel.

[tanacawyr.livejournal.com]

21?! She's 21?! When the hell did that happen?

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

My sentiments exactly. And it was yesterday, to be exact. :)

Scary, eh?

[ardent-muses.livejournal.com]

Gah. It's still snowing down here and I think I can see at least 14 inches on my deck. Unfortunately just talked with the woman who is my supervisor at work and I am thinking I'll have to go in tomorrow. Which *sucks*.

Glad you guys had fun, although I'm sure you need a break.

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

Wow. It's amazing how much difference 40 miles makes. It did start snowing again after I posted, but it didn't amount to much. Just a skiff. I'm sorry you have to go in tomorrow. {{hugs}} That sucks.

[ardent-muses.livejournal.com]

Just found that Jeffco Schools are closed, which means my office is closed. How happy am I? :)

I went out and did the driveway. 14 inches was conservative. There were at least 18 to 24 inches of drifts up against the house.

I'm glad you didn't get so much -- I know they never give you snow days.

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm glad they've closed! It sounds like a nightmare down your way. Ugh.
2 feet?

And yes, it is good it didn't snow as much here, because you are correct, they NEVER close my office.

[janeterry.livejournal.com]

Can I get your recipte for the mousse?

Jane

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

(Oops, found an error in the first post, so I deleted it and am reposting)

Note: I am an admitted chocolate snob. I prefer Belgian to any other type, which is why I use Callebaut, which is the only Belgian brand available locally in bulk. If I can't get Callebaut, my second choice of available brands is Valrhona, which is French. I can usually find one or both at Whole Foods. However, I realize that most people are not chocolate snobs, so use whatever you can get your hands on. :-)

Classic Chocolate Mousse

1 lb semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 eggs, separated (room temperature)
2 tsp vanilla extract
¼ C sugar
Pinch of salt
4 Tbsp sweet liqueur (Amaretto, Godiva, Mandarine Napoleon, Chambord,,, use your favorite)
1 ½ C. heavy cream, chilled

This is a bowl-intensive endeavor. Have 3 mixing bowls ready. You will also need a double-boiler and a good spatula. Clean your beaters thoroughly between steps, especially before the egg whites, as they are finicky and may not set if your beaters have egg yolk or cream on them.

1) In a large bowl, beat the egg whites and salt at high speed until frothy. While beating, add the sugar and continue to whip the whites until they hold medium-stiff peaks. Set aside.

2) In another bowl, whip the cream together with the liqueur until stiff. Set aside until ready to use.

3) In the largest bowl, beat the egg yolks until pale and thick. Add the vanilla and mix in thoroughly. Set aside.

Melt the chocolate in the top part of a double boiler over a pan of simmering (not boiling!) water, stirring often. Remove the top part of the boiler from the pan and let it sit for about 5 minutes to cool very slightly.

Drizzle a small amount of the melted chocolate into the egg-yolk mixture and fold the ingredients together gently to 'warm up' the yolks without cooking them. Gradually add and gently fold in the remaining chocolate. (Be careful not to overmix or you will end up with chocolate playdough.) By the time you finish, the chocolate and egg mixture will be stiffening up as it cools.

Fold one third of the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture. The chocolate will have stiffened quite a bit and is heavy so you may have to beat the first third of the whites in fairly vigorously. Working gently, add the remaining whites one third at a time. Finally, fold in the whipped cream. Divide the mousse among 6 ramekins and chill for 2 hours before serving. We like to top them with fresh raspberries and a little sweetened whipped cream.

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

Yay 10th Kingdom! I'm about 30% of the way through coding my mammoth 10thK story to post it on my site.

I love that show. I love Wolf and for a time desperately wantedwould to have his puppies.

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

We've been watching it a little bit at a time as we do cosplay stuff, it's very long, but I am definitely enjoying it. Wolf is delightful. I don't blame you a bit.

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

It was actually the only time I've actually let a fannish feeling drift over quite so much onto the actor. Scott Cohen lives in New York, and I've seen him in a bunch of plays since seeing 10thK. He's very nice - a slew of us back in 2001 managed to get him to join us for dinner. Imagine 30 fangirls all squeeing over the poor dude for two hours!

Probably just as well CKR doesn't live in NY or I'd be leaving drool trails in his wake. I'm actually appalled now at my semi-stalking of poor ol' Scott.

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

I get the feeling from watching him in 10K that he would be really good on stage. He has the sort of big, broad acting style that does well in life theatre.

But I bet you were quite ladylike in your stalking. I can't imagine you going TOO overboard. :)

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, ladylike as all get out. I made it my business to keep the other gals under control, which was tough considering one chick who wore an unbelievably revealing bustier and kept trying to shove her tits in Scott's face. He's very gentlemanly, if funny, and is quite happily married to a playwright. He was starting to get uncomfortable so a couple of us in essence got between them and wouldn't let her anywhere near him.

THe play he was in starred John Spencer, of WW fame, and he is fucking brilliant on stage.

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

See? I knew you'd never be a real stalker. Go you.

Who was John Spencer in WW?

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

Leo.

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

Oh! You meant West Wing, not Wilby Wonderful. ;-D

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHAHAHA!
How quickly things change.

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

Fannish Butterflies. :)

[the-haunt.livejournal.com]

It snowed fairly heavily here today

Ack. :( Spring snow is the worst. I hope it melts soon!

I am going to veg out by watching Supervolcano for a couple of hours

I actually enjoyed this. I don't usually care for these kinds of specials, but they did a good job this time. I'd started to watch that other one, 10.5 or whatever it was, when it aired, but the excessive use of the camera zoom in every single %^$!%#@ shot made me dizzy, so I turned it off after the first five minutes.

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

It's already melting. As I said, Boulder didn't get all that much, but Denver and points south and east apparently got really hammered. ardent_muses could probably use some melting vibes.

Supervolcano was well done. Probably the best disaster movie in modern memory-- I suspect because as Discover Channel at least pretends to be educational, they had to be less hysterical than your average cable channel.

I could sure tell most of it was cast and shot in Vancouver though. I knew about 90% of the actors from other shows. Ah, the incestuous Canadian film industry. :)