Cast Iron Cookie

If you’re a regular follower of this blog, or even just someone who knows me (the two don’t always overlap), you know that I am all about my old cast iron skillets and Dutch ovens, and I am always looking for new things to cook in them.

It’s going to be hard to top this one.

I saw this recipe from Sophistimom last week, and I had to stop myself from driving to the grocery store that instant. It looked amazing. I had to try it.

Let me tell you, it’s not a disappointment.

The cast iron cooks very evenly. The edges of the cookie get nice and crispy while keeping the inside super gooey and soft. And as far as the chocolate goes… let’s face it. Chunk beats chip any day. Now let’s stop with all this ado.

I didn’t change this recipe much – because I didn’t need to. Good job, Sophistimom!

YOU WILL NEED:

• 1 medium sized cast iron skillet (I used a 10.5 inch skillet)
  The size of the skillet will affect cookie thickness and cook time. The smaller the skillet, the thicker the cookie, the longer the cook time.
• 1 stick butter (unsalted. If you’re using margarine, throw it away and buy some butter.)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1.5 cups chocolate chunks (I used various chocolate bars found in my cabinets – one Hershey’s milk chocolate, one Ghirardelli 60% cacao, and a few squares of semi-sweet bakers chocolate.)
• Vanilla ice cream. Important.

YOU WILL NEED TO:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Over medium heat, melt the butter in the skillet. It’s the only pan you’re going to use.
   
   
   
3. Once completely melted, stir in sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla.
   
    
   
4. Remove the pan from heat, and let it rest for about five minutes – or until you can hold your finger to the bottom for a couple of seconds without crying. Warm, but not hot.
   
   
   Don’t actually leave the heat on, though.
   
5. Crack the egg into the mixture, and whisk with a fork.
   
    
   
6. Mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt. It will thicken very quickly, so make sure it gets mixed in completely.
   
   
   
7. Add the choco chunks.
   
    
   
8. Place in oven and cook for about 20-25 minutes. Cook time will vary depending on various factors – especially with cast iron – but just keep an eye on it every few minutes starting at the 15-minute mark, and take it out when the top and edges start to go golden brown.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Serve it up! I went pie-style, but I think handing out spoons would work just as well. Serve with ice cream for ultimate satisfaction.
   
   
   
   
   

24HBD#24–I Wish Someone Had Told Me...

• That I would wish, at 24, that I had learned how to play piano as a kid.
• How little my profession seems to matter to my government.
• How much of an impact improv would have on my life, so that I may have started it sooner – and continued it sooner.
• How much friends would come to mean to me.
• How awesome it is to spend every day with your best friend.
• How cheesy that last one would sound.
• Not to be so meta in this blog post.
• They’d bet money against me doing home improvement projects.
• That I’d won the lotto.
• That country music is the worst.
• That nothing is really as awkward as I think it is.
• That friends are important in high school, too.
• That personal insecurities and social awkwardness aren’t real reasons for not reaching out and helping someone feel better.
• That online courses are 100x more stressful than in-person courses.
• How to apply for student loans.
• That I really don’t need to worry about what anyone thinks of me.
• That I only need to worry about what one person thinks of me.
• That I’d finish the second 24-hour blog day over two hours behind the original schedule.
• That even so, it won’t matter because you’re gonna do a good job anyway.
• To stop typing things.
• To seriously, cut it out.

24HBD #23–Nicholas Nack’s Paddy Wagon Hands Out Dog Treats

Monday, September 5, 2010
BY Chel Tei | City Editor

In a retired police transport vehicle – turned delivery van, Nicholas Nack has taken to the streets to spread canine joy throughout the city.

Easily spotted in his “copper blue” 1920s-era vintage paddy wagon, Nick will stop for any pooch who happens to catch his eye – or his bumper!

“Really, for me, it’s all about making dogs happy,” Nick explained as he handed assorted dog biscuits through his wagon’s side window to cheerful, paying customers. “Well worth the small fee I ask for each home-baked treat.”

Nick plans to continue driving up and down the city streets every day for the next two weeks, so be sure to flag him down if you want Nick Nack’s Paddy Wagon to give your dog a bone.

24HBD #22 - China

I’ve never really wanted to go to China, but I’ve learned a lot about it over the years. You know, the 25-or-so years I’ve been alive. Here’s what I know:

China has the red book.

China has the new look.

China has the answers to all the questions.

China’s solution is revolution.

China has ping pong and egg foo yung.

China ordered out for submarines instead of Chinese food.

China: fields of rice.

China has a great big wall they could all watch Orientals on.

China, what do you need?

China has everything from scruffy head to dirty feet.

China, do you want to dance?

China is wearing makeup and listening to Adam and the Ants.

China has the new look.

China has the red book.

China’s solution is revolution.

China, living in China.

China, living in China.

24HBD #21: What Would You Do To Survive Alone On An Island?

Probably fish.

24HBD #20: You Hear a Noise & There Is a Sudden Flash…

 

And you’re all like “ow man that was bright!” and your friend says “sorry man, but look at this Polaroid I just took of you!”

And you all have the most retro of all the times.

24HBD #19: Favorite Thing To Do In A City

Honestly, my favorite thing to do in a city is walk around and take pictures.

Like these:

Lafayette is a beautiful place. Some of those pictures are from Europe, and maybe Spokane, or Chicago.

But Lafayette is a beautiful place. I like it a lot.

24HBD #18: Imaginary Home Remedies to Cure Imaginary Ailments

Under the cover of darkness they brought the boy. The old man, waiting.
Give it to him, they pleaded. But he had his price. And they paid. Four dollars, each, for four sugar cubes.
This will cure him? They asked. No, he said.

That’s for the horse.

They rode, still shrouded in the non-glow of seemingly eternal night, the countryside barren, the trail long cold. The boy seemed listless, waifish, light as air.

They came to the hamlet, so different from the city they had just left. A young girl met them at the gate. Speaking no words, she held out her hand. In like silence, they responded, handing over a single white feather.

A feather from a white eagle.

The boy was taken inside a small cottage. They followed, tensely eager, cautiously hopeful. The girl showed them to a small door.

The entrance to a tunnel.

They crawled on hand and knee, pushing the boy in front of them on a small board. His weight was negligible.

After hours, still hidden in the shadow of eternal, underground darkness, they came to an iron grate.

On the other side of the grate was a boy. The boy. Their boy.

He held out his hand.

He lifted his hand.

He touched

He touched his

Their fingers

 

It was dark. The boy was there.

 

Alone.

 

In his pocket he found a robin’s egg. Blue. Small.

 

He ran through the tunnel.

 

He ran to the stable, for the horse.

 

He rode back to the city.

 

It was still dark. So dark.

 

He went to the old man. The old man stood, like a statue, eyes focused, fists clenched.

Refusing to look.

The boy moved on.

 

Home. He went to the bedroom. His father lay in the bed. Gaunt, he was sunken, sallow.

 

Wasted.

 

The boy pushed the robin’s egg into his father’s mouth. Wake up, he said. Wake up. They’re gone.

The man opened his eyes. Eyes that seemed not so hidden. Not so sunken. Not so gone.

 

They went outside. It was day. There was sun. There was light.

 

Cured.

24HBD #17: If Hobbies Could Make You Rich

Hobbies can totally make you rich, if you have the right hobbies. I don’t think I have the right hobbies for richitude. If hobbies could make you rich? Let’s face it. They’d be jobs.

I would love it, though, if my hobby was my job. I could definitely do that for a living.

What’s my hobby? Go to here ----> http://adliberation.net

So fun. So challenging. So financially unsupportive.

24HBD #16: Brag a Little.

Brag a little. The “tell us a little bit about yourself” questions are always the ones I hate the most. I never know what to say, and I feel awkward talking about myself. BUT NOT TODAY!

So here’s a list of some things that are awesome in my life right now:

• I have the best wife.
  
  
  Mary and Charlie.
• We own a house!
  
  
  So grand! So new! So last year!
• We both have steady jobs.
• I’m in an online graduate program at Purdue. That’s right, I’m back in college. Where the party at?
• My hair’s pretty sweet.
  
  
  Just look at it! Magnificent.
• My improv group (Ad Liberation) is having a really productive fall. We are super legit now, and our group synergy has never been higher. I feel that I’m doing a pretty adequate-to-decent job of being the in-charge guy.
  
  
  You mean the official photograph, where I'm doing this?
• I got these new shoes, and ladder-laced them.
  
  
  Contrast! Ladder!
• I am super home-improvement guy. Last summer I built a fence and deck (from scratch, like a cake), and I put gutter guards up last weekend. Is my last name Taylor or what?
• I’m slowly but steadily losing weight, and I’m managing it without really doing any work (just eating less… go figure).
• I’m pretty awesome at TF2.
  
  
  Wannannannanna!
• Mary and I got new phones, and they are the bestest bests.
• I’m one of 3 remaining bloggers still awake during 24HBD. The finish line is looming!

24HBD #15: Using a Randomly Generated Word, Find a Picture and Tell its Story

 

The thing about huntin’ posssim, yeah? The thing is, is yeh’ve gotta have the… the… wossname… the right equi’ment, yeah? Yeh cain’t jes’ go out there inna… inna… woss… loike a li’l Johnny B. Tidy scootah wif’ the little hard rubbah wheels, roight? Yeh’ve got teh  have tha bes’ equi’ment for theh job. So’s when I saw this beau’ heah in ol’ Feathehwood’s, I said to misself, I said “Jeremy, ol’ guy, yeh know yeh’re goin’ possim huntin’ next Thursdey, and all yeh’ve got now is that li’l pea shootah yeh got frum yeh mum when yeh were in prim’ry school.

So ah bought ‘er. And ah bought tha boots and socks and knickahs and vest and tie and cap to go wiffit. And theh whole boondle oonly cost meh tweelve hoondred pounds!

 

(The word was “gamekeeper”.)

24HBD #14: Open Your Phone Camera Album. Tell the Story of Why You Took the 5th Picture (from either end)

 

Man, so many blog situations that have already been posted about.

The story of this photo can be found here.

Blog accomplished!

24HBD #13: The Nature of Identity

Identity was a pretty good movie. I enjoyed it, at least. I didn’t know it at the time, but it has a really great cast. Alfred Molina, John Cusack, Amanda Peet! John C. McGinley’s in it, I mean come on!

So basically, all these people are stuck in this hotel together, and something keeps killing them. There’s a pretty great twist at the end. It’s a horror film, but (I think) a smart horror film. The ending might seem cheap to some, but only if you’re going about it as a mystery you have to figure out.

The rules of fairplay don’t apply to horror films, guys. That’s just ridiculous.

Anyway, if you like murder movies, you should watch it. I sort of forgot about it.

Oh yeah, and Ray Liotta’s in it! Smokin’ Aces, anyone!?

24HBD #12: Create a How-To Manual for Something You Do Well

Oh man. It’s a good thing I’ve already done this.

________________________________________________________________________________

Man that’s a seriously phoned-in blog. Maybe I’ll try something else.

HOW TO BE A GOOD HUSBAND
(I think I’m pretty good at this.)

• Understand the importance of pajamas.
• Know all about Egg.
• Be able to build a deck if you need one.
• Make good chili.
• Be enthusiastic about bottomless pits.
• Like frecks.
• Know the difference between Squirrels and Chipmunks.
• Mow the grass.
• Know how to change a flat tire.
• Chipotle.
• Call when you’re almost home from work and tell her that you’ll be home late but really you’ll be home in just a few minutes to surprise (trick) her and she’ll be like “oh, you tricked me” and you’ll be all like “yeah gotchya!”.

24HBD #11: Tell the Story Behind the 15th Picture of You On Facebook

 

Hey look! It’s a picture where I’m not doing a completely weird thing.

This is a picture Mary and I took while we were on vacation in France. It was actually our anniversary, so we put on adult dress-up clothes and tried to go out to eat. There’s a pretty good story behind our attempts at an anniversary dinner, and it can be found here, on the blog I wrote for the France portion of our Europe trip.

It was a really great anniversary, as we couldn’t speak or read any French at all, so everything was kind of funny. I ended up getting the worst dessert probably possible on the menu of the restaurant we chose for dessert one night. Some kind of orange-rind milk-pudding thing.

Super good times.

24HBD #10: Map Out A Road Trip You Would Like To Take

In the summer before my freshman year of high school (I think), my family went on a road trip to California and back. We drove all the way out there with a pop-up camper, visited some family, and then drove all the way back. It was really fun! We got to stay at some interesting campsites along the way, and see some really cool bits of history.

When we went out, we went through Kansas to Colorado, then over to Cali. We came back a more northern way, going to Yellowstone and seeing Mount Rushmore.

I thought about using an actual map and drawing a course I’d like to take on a different road trip, but I’m a blog behind so I’ll just go a little faster.

If I were going to plan another road trip, I would hit up New England, I think. I’ve never been up that way, so I think it’d be a good experience. I’d get to see New York, Niagra Falls, go to Maine for some reason, maybe go to DC again, and then home. T’would be fun.

Phoned in blog complete. Not even a picture. Sorry doods.

224HBD #9: Make a Treat or a Gift For Your Friends and Blog About It

I made cheese straws! Sort of. They came out kind of puffy, which is weird since I made them the same way as I have in the past. Then they crumbled to bits, so they were really more of mostly-floury-slightly-cheesy-bits. I don’t think I had enough cheese.

I also gave Andrew a piece of dough to eat. He thought it was cookie dough, and eagerly jammed it into his mouth, to his great displeasure.

But anyway, there’s my gift to everyone, even as not all that great as it is.

24HBD #8: Pick a Random Sentence From a Random Book. This is the 1st Line of Your Story.

“The mist goes on and on. As you walk things come up out of your thoughts, frazzles of memories swirling around you and binding together, gathering like ghosts out of the dark.” – from Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

The mist goes on and on. As you walk things come up out of your thoughts, frazzles of memories swirling around you and binding together, gathering like ghosts out of the dark. High school prom, your first promotion, losing your job, losing your wife of sixty years to the peaceful clutches of old age, your first date, your first flirtation, the moment you realized that you had something you would keep, if only forever existed.

Images flit by as you take each step, and as you come to a bend in the path, your thirty-third birthday party looms out, brighter than the others. The party when everyone was sober but you, and you made a complete ass of yourself but still there she was to pick you up and clean you up and tell you it doesn’t matter, it didn’t matter, everything is/was/will be fine. Everything is fine.

Everything is gone.

Shapes come out of the fog that curls around your shuffling feet, great spindly moss oaks that soar above, dripping moisture that adds to the coolness of the dark. You keep walking, confident if not completely steady as your life makes its way to you in disjointed, out of order vignettes, each one more precious than the last, each one featuring her or at least fueling your eagerness for the ones that do. Riding your first tricycle in the cul de sac in the house you loved for the first eleven-and-a-half years of your life, the house you cried over when your parents moved you away, the house you went two hours out of your way to drive by after you were old enough to do so without feeling uneasy, when the feeling of complete freedom no longer came with the guilt of breaking the rules of childhood.

Every memory, every feeling, every thought you ever had that led you to her, and every one after roll to you and through you out of the fog as you make your way through what is now clearly a forest path, lined with misty thistles and soft sighs of leaves in a breeze.

And then the memory of waking up without the familiar puff of breath on your neck, feeling colder than ever before even under the piles of winter blankets, and knowing…

Knowing…

And now the path is entering a clearing, the mist pooling around, and you drift, no longer shuffling, no longer weak, no longer gasping with age, gasping with the weight of a life lived and loved, weight you never knew you were carrying, weight that is lifted as you float down, through the ground that was never there, through everything that was and wasn’t and finally you can rest easy as you take yourself away.

24HBD #7: Go Outside. Pick a Starting Spot and Direction. Walk 100 Steps. Find Something From That Spot and Blog About It.

I decided to start at the corner of Congress and 18th, and walk west. 100 steps brought me nicely to the corner of Congress and 16th.

My walk brought me by some sidewalk that had, somewhere along the line, been swallowed by nature. Gonna happen to everything, someday.

And now to the main event! At the corner of Congress and 16th street, there is a fairly normal fire hydrant. It’s sort of shrouded in some nice greenery, some flowers, and a broken cinder block which, rather than detracting from the overall setting, somehow made the whole thing very picturesque.

Nothing special about it, but, I thought, pretty nice. I’d want to have a fire put out in the area, if I could choose.

Whenever I take pictures like this, or even pictures in general, I try to focus on small details. I think close up, off-center shots of everyday objects are so appealing. Now, this shot isn’t all that close-up, but it’s a bit off-center. I like the focus of my photography – in this case, the hydrant – to be obscured in some way. Whether it’s as part of the background, or zoomed in and focusing on a small part of the whole, I like the main subject to be de-emphasized. I think it makes the shots more interesting. WELCOME TO WHAT TIM THINKS OF PHOTOGRAPHY. You didn’t even know you were here until you got here, did you?

24HBD #6: A Look at Yourself Through The Eyes of Your Pet

PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME

PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME

PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME

PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME

PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME

PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME

PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME

PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME

PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME

PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME

PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME

PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME

PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME

PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME

PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME PET ME

 

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN LET ME IN

24HBD #5: Write a Blog From The Perspective of Your Favorite Fictional Character

Lord Clancey III
Penfold Manor
#6 Charleton Way
London, England

To the Respectable Lord Clancey,

Having received your correspondence regarding the care and use of the Common South Wales Pixie, I can only respond with speculation, as the capture and subsequent care of these creatures is something I have had as of yet no personal experience with.

Your question, however, reminds me of a particularly intricate spell written down in Percifold Hargrave’s Of The Tameing of Magickle Creatures and the Dangers Therein in which he describes in great detail the methods with which to hypnotize the much rarer Red Pixie, which unfortunately have not been seen or written about in any capacity since the late twelfth century. Though hypnotization was not, I surmise, your original intent, I do believe his methods could be adapted to fit your particular situation.

Unfortunately, I am afraid this is the entirety of the assistance I am able to provide at the moment, however I will research the matter further and alert you if I find anything worth conveying. It would, in addition, do you well to find a copy of Hargrave and thoroughly study it, though obtaining texts of magick has been quite difficult in recent times.

I do hope this letter has found you well, and I look forward to future correspondence with your lordship.

Respectfully yours,

Jonathan Strange

24HBD #4: What The World Would Be Like If People Had Gills/Wings

I mean… it would probably have a bunch of people flying around, or swimming a lot. I imagine there’d be a lot of clothing specially made to accommodate the fabric requirements of a lifestyle full of free-flying or free-swimming. Parkour would not be as impressive, but there would probably be more impressive forms of it around.

Sharks would be deadlier. So would flocks of pigeons.

Video games would be lame.

24HBD #3: What My Life Would Be Like Without Computers

The majority of my time is spent on my computer. I’m quite proud of my computer. It’s one of my most prized possessions (along with my new watch, gumball machine, Charlotte the Cat, my wife, and the sweet shoes I got at the mall a couple of weeks ago).

On an extremely related note, the pictures I have of my computer when I first put it together and turned it on make me realize how dusty my house is, and how much of that dust has worked its way into my computer. It used to be so clean!

Anyway, I am going to approach this topic as if, by “without computers” it means “I am suddenly unable to use them”. The other way to go about it would be to assume that I live in an age without computers, in which case I would assume that my life would be very pastoral. Boring, even.

If I was suddenly unable to computer, I would have to come up with innovative mechanical solutions to everyday niceties. I would probably be always bugging my wife (one of my prized possessions, remember) to check my email for me. It would be kind of like that one time I didn’t have a cell phone until I was a sophomore in college, except back then I still at least had a computer, so I could be at least up to date on things on a day-to-day basis.

Communication would be more difficult. I wouldn’t be able to Facebook or Plussy-do Google thing, or listen to things on 8tracks.com. Look at all that promo!

I would have to play TF2 in real life. Changing classes would be more difficult, because I’d have to get into a new costume each time, and waiting until I died to do so would take forever – unless I was super brave all the time. But I might get reincarnated as a bug or something, and even if I come back as a human I would still have to wait about 20 years before respawning.

Who am I kidding? I’d just be scout every time. Clearly the best.

Probably the biggest downer I’d have from not being able to computer would be not being able to tell people how awesome my computer is. Seriously. Look at it. Bask.