Showing posts with label why i hate the amish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label why i hate the amish. Show all posts

20 January 2011

A Friday Mystery.

**If you don't like gross stories, stop reading now.**

Okay.  So, we have a picnic table in our back yard.  We hardly ever sit at it, but it's out there to make us look more outdoorsy than we are (kind of like the roof racks on my car).

Sometimes when Reilly is here he'll jump up on it and bark at things, and sometimes when I'm chatting on the phone I'll go outside and sit on top of it, but other than that, it doesn't really get any use.

It's just a standard picnic table.  Nothing special about it at all.


Well, there was nothing special about it until yesterday.  See, I had gone out to the back yard to take pictures of Mitch (because he's going for a Guinness record for most photographed dog), and after snapping away and asking him a billion questions in that tone of voice that will make him cock his head just enough to the side to make my heart melt one hundred times over, I noticed something bizarre.

On the bench of the picnic table (the bench!) was a large pile of feces. 

In other words, something--or someone--pooped on the picnic table.*

It was right where the star is!  But how?

But who?  And why?  And how?

I'm not sharing this with you because of the "gift" left to us on our table so much as I'm sharing it because it's a great mystery.  So far I've been able to rule out both Mitch and Reilly as Picnic Table Poopers.**  I suppose it could have been a neighborhood dog, but I never really see any dogs around here that are bigger than Mitch, and the pile suggested that it was a large creature.  Plus, you know how dogs are all neurotic when they're doing their business.  The bench itself isn't wide enough for a large dog to spin around in circles, and it's far enough away from the top of the table to make it difficult to go at it from the top.

So here's what I'm left with: I think it was a person.  And I think we were the target of Savannah's Picnic Table Pooper.  Maybe the person was trying to protest the fact that we still have our Christmas lights up.  Maybe it was a student of mine.  Maybe there's just some drunk hobo wandering the neighborhood pooping on people's picnic tables.  Maybe some cheating Amish fellow read the blog (which he wasn't supposed to be doing!) and decided to find us and punish us in the best way he knew how.

That said, who the fuck poops on a picnic table!? 

*You should know that Cassie strongly advised against posting anything on the blog about my Picnic Table Pooper mystery.  I rejected her sage advice, because sometimes I like to write about gross stuff (like here and here and here).

**I've also been able to rule out both Matt and myself as the Picnic Table Pooper***, because we'd been out of town.  Horray for alibis!

***Also, why is it so much fun to say "pooped on the picnic table" or "picnic table pooper"?  Try it.  Say it right now.  Just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?

16 October 2010

Whoop! Whoop!-ie Pies.

Pumpkin + cream cheese = heaven.  Am I right or am I right?

I think my first exposure to this flavor perfection came when I was in high school, and worked as a shampoo girl at my aunt's salon that was in the same shopping center as the Amish market.  It was during this time that I grew to both love and hate the Amish. 

Pumpkin cream cheese rolls and soft pretzels contributed to the love part.

The cheating on the whole "no electricity" thing + the no buttons thing + the bad haircuts thing + the Nike shoes combined with awful smocks thing contributed to the hate part.  Hell, those same "Amish" are probably reading this on their iphones right now.  Cheaters!

Where was I?

Oh yeah, pumpkin and cream cheese.  The only thing that is better is a cute dog on a couch.


Yeah, dog, I mean you.  (Mitch also reads the blog on his iphone.)


But without further ado, I bring you a birthday treat, the pumpkin and cream cheese whoopie pie.



I know you're dying to have it, so here's the recipe.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (adapted from this recipe)

COOKIES:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Lightly grease or line four baking sheets with parchment paper.

COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large mixer bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin and vanilla extract; beat until smooth. Stir in flour mixture until combined. Drop by heaping measuring teaspoons onto prepared baking sheets. (A total of 72 cookies are needed for the recipe.)

BAKE for 10 to 13 minutes or until springy to the touch. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

CREAM CHEESE FILLING:

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk

BEAT cream cheese, butter, milk, and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until light and fluffy. 

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