Vote for Charity: A Post from Mitch

Hey, y'all, it's me, Mitch.  I haven't really been here lately because I've been on snugglin' duty with mom.  She's pregnant for the second time.  The first was when she was about to have me.

Okay, well, that's a little story we tell in our family.  But it's time for me to come clean with you.  You see, I am not born of woman.  I'm actually born of dog, and when I was a tiny puppy the humans who owned that dog who had me took me and all of my biological brothers and sisters to the Humane Society, where my mom and dad found me and I charmed them with my lopsided ears and by chewing on my mom's jacket.  The Humane Society was actually pretty nice (and sometimes when I'm being super annoying my mom and dad say that they're going to take me back there, but I know that's just a joke), and the cool people there took care of me and all of the other dogs.

There's only two things I could say bad about the Savannah Humane Society.

1.  They named me Chico.
2.  They also love cats.

But in everything else, they're the bee's knees!  They even have a thrift store upstairs where I like to donate all of my used toys and collars and where sometimes I'll go buy some stuff.

And I just found out from my Aunt Cassie last night that the Savannah Humane Society is in a contest to win $100,000, and we're currently in first place.  Now, here's what I need you to do.  Vote.   It's super easy, and all you have to do is enter your email address and then verify that your email is real.  I mean, just think of all of the bones and treats and collars and beds that the Humane Society could provide to other dogs. . .and, fine, cats too. . .if they had that kind of cash.

So go vote.  Do it for all of the Mitchell Pancakes and Henry Parkers (I can swallow my hatred of cats for a hot minute if it means helping lots of dogs--plus, Henry's my cousin and I kind of respect him because he has to live with Fletcher.)

You can vote once a day from now until Halloween.  So what are you waiting for?

Click here to vote for the Greater Savannah Humane Society.

Don't make me get up in your face and bark.

This and That

Hey there, party people.  The blog has been as boring as Andie MacDowell lately, huh?  Shoot.*  Sorry about that.  But I've got some things to share as I near the summer summer summer tiiiiiiiiiiime.

1.  The best thing about teacher workdays is that we can go out for lunch every day.  It's also kind of the worst thing about teacher workdays, because then you start to think that just because you can go out to lunch, you have to go out to lunch.  Oh well.  So what if I've eaten at Pub 29 twice this week? THEY HAVE TOTS!

2.  A cute dog provides a lovely foot elevation ramp.

3.  Totally went to a wine tasting the other night just because it was free.  If I was not being so damned lazy right now, I'd do a whole post on the event, on how it was in a weird blast from the past kind of room called The Rebel Room, a brick-walled, carpeted room adorned with large photographs and paintings of Confederate generals.  And how my good teacher friend decided that we needed to be taking notes on the wines that we drank (see below), and how I was tempted to ask how much it would be to buy a box of one of the wines. And how the people there were really pretentious and how I accidentally broke a glass even though I'd only had like two sips of wine.  I mean, that's pretty much it in a nutshell.  Oh, and there was cheese, too.

4.  MY GOD IT IS HOT OUTSIDE!  And it's going to be this way until November.  Also, apparently we are in a drought.  That sucks.

5.  Everyone here at M Cubed loves Sleepover Tuesdays, the night each week when Cassie comes over to stay.  Last night, I thought I heard her pull up, and said something to Mitch along the lines of "Is Aunt Cassie here?" except that she wasn't here yet.  Mitch ran to the door and whined for about 10 minutes until she actually did show up.  And then I let him outside and he ran around like a rabid racing puppy.  Also, Mitch is cute.

6.  Still cute.

7.  Last night's Sleepover Tuesday was a lazy one, so we ordered pizza instead of cooking.  The best thing about ordering pizza (well, second best thing, I guess, since the actual best thing would be the pizza itself)?  The Domino's pizza tracker set to romance novel theme.

8.  Made these super chocolate chunk cookies this weekend.  Again, if I was being a real go-getter I'd do a whole post about them, and tell you about how they're basically perfect and delicious and packed with chocolate.  And how they make some pretty damn good ice cream sandwiches when paired with peanut butter ice cream.  But I'm being lazy.  Make these if you've got people to please.  You will then succeed at the people pleasing.  Just make sure that you've got people to share them with, lest you accidentally eat an entire batch in one sitting and then feel so sick that you don't ellipt for four days.

9.  I was in a cranky mood today until Ann called me up and said there was a big sale at Gap and that I should join her in a shopping adventure.  And even though I have more clothes than I will ever need, I decided that perhaps buying something new and pretty would make me less cranky.  It pretty much worked when I found this cute shirt for $12.  I could totes wear that to someone's house for dinner or to the club to show off my club moves or to school if I was going to cover it up with a fancy powerful woman jacket.

10.  And, finally, the Humane Society in Savannah is giving away kittens--with shots and vet visits and spayed/neutered and everything!  No fees!  I told Ann during today's shopping trip that her girls need a kitten and she said that if I got them a kitten she'd never forgive me.  Silly Ann!  I wasn't going to get a kitten; I was going to get three kittens.  I wouldn't want the girls to fight over them.  That's much more forgivable, right?  Right?

[source]

Hope your week is full of pizza and cookies and friends and kittens and a dog.  Seriously, why am I even cranky?

*Caitie and I are co-founders of the Andie MacDowell anti-fan club.  Ugh!  So dull and boring and always playing the same wet blanket character!

An Ice Cream Sandwich for the King.

First things first.

This weekend, during all of the kitchen bitchin', I made (along with Cris, who was quite a sport) a double batch of chocolate waffle cones.  They were super cute.

Um, you can also shape waffle cones into little bowls! 

Unfortunately, they were really finicky and hard to get just right.  I thought about sharing the chocolate waffle cone recipe with you, but think that I'll work on perfecting it first.  (Like, only about 20 percent of them were the right amount of crispy without being burnt.  They tasted okay, but the texture was. . .wanting.)  If you're really jonesin' for some waffle cones, make the vanilla ones.  They're fan-f'ing-tastic*.  Also, you don't have to feel guilty about sharing them with the dog.

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yeah!  Chocolate waffle cone mediocrity.  Mmmmm hmm.  Well, here's something I figured out.  If you have a chocolate waffle cone that's not outstanding on its own, all you need to do is add some really delicious and creamy ice cream to it.

So, let's switch gears now (because I'm too lazy to come up with a real transition into what I'm really here to talk to you about).

I LOVE ELVIS.

I've loved him for many, many years.

When I was younger, we had cats named Elvis and Presley.

I've been to Graceland. . .twice.

I did my persuasive speech in high school about how Elvis was still alive.  (Why else would his name be spelled incorrectly on his tombstone??  You tell me that!)

I listened to the '68 Comeback Special CD my entire senior year.

I even have Elvis dolls.  And books.  And magnets.  And clothing.  And pajamas.  And the clock where his hips swivel.  The list goes on and on.

When I was young, I did a good Elvis impression.  "Hey 'Cilla, make me a peanut butta and 'nana sandwich."

My favorite Elvis song: "One Night."  My second favorite Elvis song: "All Shook Up."  I think Matt fell in love with me for real when I sang "All Shook Up" at karaoke one night.  I was particularly good at singing "All Shook Up" at karaoke because I had performed it with my vice principal at our after prom party in high school.  (Somewhere there is a video that would provide many a laugh.)

Check out sexy Elvis.

Well, enough already about my past obsessions (that also include: water guns, blankets, puppies, bubbles, cupcaking, Adam Lambert, and Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure nail polish).  I actually still love all of these, but they've just been put on the back burner to make room for new obsessions, like ice creaming.

And what I have for you today is the marriage between new and old, between past obsession and present obsession.

"'Hey, 'Cilla, make me a peanut butta and 'nana ice cream sandwich."

OKAY! (Also, someone had a little too much fun with the Elvis doll.)

It's really, really amazing.

See, I'd been ice creaming all weekend, and I wanted to try a few new recipes from David Lebovitz.  I made this peanut butter one, which is insanely, dangerously, easy to make.  And I made his roasted banana one, which is more involved, and is pretty good as well.  (Full disclosure: if you need to make banana ice cream to stand on its own, make banana puddin' ice cream.  It's better.  But this banana ice cream is better for the sandwich and better for mixing with other flavors.)

So here are the recipes you need.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Source: The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

¾ cup smooth peanut butter

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

2 2/3 cups half-and-half

Pinch of salt

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Covered Peanuts (recipe follows)

Puree the peanut butter, sugar, half-and-half, salt, and vanilla in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. 

Roasted Banana Ice-cream (also from David Lebovitz)

3 medium ripe bananas

75g brown sugar

1.5 cups (375ml) full-cream milk

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1.5 teaspoons lemon juice

half teaspoon vanilla extract

quarter teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. In a small baking dish, chop up the bananas and toss in the brown sugar. Bake for around 40 minutes or until the bananas are cooked through, caramelised and golden. Turn them once during cooking.
3. In a blender or food processor, blitz the hot bananas, the syrup from the dish, milk, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla and salt until smooth. Chill this mixture until cold in the fridge or ice bath.
4. Churn in an ice-cream machine until thick or place in a plastic container, pop it in the freezer and give it a good whip every few hours.

 

If you're still reading, I commend you on your patience and stickwithitness.  

Thank you, thank you very much.

*You know what's awesome?  Infixing.  Not a prefix, not a suffix.  It's an INFIX.  Fan-fucking-tastic.  That's what infixes are.

Cats that look like Hitler?

Why can't I stop laughing?