Everything you were just dying to know about me -- until NOW

I got this in my e-mail the other day from Jen A. I am one of the friends who never responds with my own answers, so today I thought, "I'll do it!" And it's all 100% true, of course, because this is serious business. No time for facetiousness.

Friends Survey

0. What time is it
16:25.

You might be wondering why this is numbered "0." When I received this e-mail survey, the first two items were numbered 1, and renumbering the first one 0 seemed far easier than renumbering the other 38. And that is why this is question number 0.

1. What's your full name
Sarah Christine Maria Consuela Katerina Sophia [Schodroski] Ehman

2. What is your favorite season
Fall, all two weeks of it. I also like winter up through New Year's. Then I'm ready for summer.

3. What is the most recent movie that you have seen in a Theater?
Because I went to the movie theater *SO* recently, I can't remember. I *believe* it was Harry Potter.

4. Place of birth
Virginia.

5. Favorite food
Food. And ice cream.

6. What's your natural hair color?
Shocking pink. I only color it brown because I want to be like everybody else.

7. Ever been to Alaska?
No. Ever been to Missouri?

8. Ever been toilet paper rolling?
If by "toilet paper rolling" one means when you go to take toilet paper off of the roll and accidentally pull too hard so that the roll goes spinning out of control right there on the wall and unrolls half of the toilet paper, and then you have to sit there and try to re-roll it, only it never goes on straight or as compact as it was originally--kind of like re-folding a map as you're driving, while on the phone getting directions from your brother, eating a taco, and changing lanes--then yes.

9. Love someone so much it made you cry?
Love someone so much that when he was a stupid jackass, HE made me cry? Or perhaps I cried over the realization that I loved a stupid jackass? Do you see why I never fill these out?

10. Been in a car accident
No. Thank you for making me keenly aware of this fact, JUST AS I'M ABOUT TO GET IN THE CAR.

11. Croutons or bacon bits
Croutons, especially if they're the herby-buttery kind.

12. Favorite day of the week
CWS Friday: because it acts like Saturday, but when it's over--SURPRISE!--you get to do Saturday all over again!

13. Favorite restaurant
Kramer's Deli, Frostburg. Best chicken salad sandwich I have ever had in my entire chicken salad sandwich lifetime. AND they *deliver*.

14. Favorite flower
Sunflowers! Great big bouquets of great big sunflowers!

15. Favorite sport to watch
Lime jello wrestling.

16. Favorite drink
Non-alcoholic? Hot chocolate. Alcoholic? Hot chocolate with Hot Damn! cinnamon schnapps. What the heck is a schnapp? Hang on, I'll Google it...

http://guntheranderson.com/liqueurs/schnapps.htm

Personally, I like the term eau de vie in reference to liqueur. Water of life. Bon vivant. Jovial fellow. Hm-hm-hm.

17. Favorite ice cream
Pumpkin. Tin roof. Peanut butter panic! Vanilla. Mint chocolate cookie. I LOVE THEM *ALL*!

18. Disney or Warner Brothers?
Kellogg or General Mills? Ben and Jerry or Häagen-Dazs? Little Debbie or Hostess? Hershey or Mars? Dominos or Pizza Hut? Lays or Pringles? Granny Smith or Red Delicious?

19. Ever been on a ship?
A real, operating ship as it sailed the open seas? Nay. ARRRRR!

20. What color is your bedroom carpet?
Beige. (It came with the house.)

21. How many times did you fail your driver's test?
ZERO! How many times did I fail the Praxis? ZERO (and a half)!

22. Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail?
My momma

23. What do you do when you are bored?
Creative people do not get bored. Neither do perfectionist neat freaks who live with not-quite-as-neat freaks.

24. Bedtime
When I am healthy and relaxed, meaning that I am not sick--in which case I will go to bed much sooner, or never leave it--and that I am not taking a class and stressed about homework or busy/stressed at work and the house is clean, therefore I am not stressed about cleaning, and I am not on the computer where I can get sucked into something like blogging until all hours of the night, and if I'm not watching TV, especially HGTV or Food Network, which also draw me in late at night with crafty shows like House Hunters (that Suzanne Wong...) and Good Eats (that Alton Brown...), respectively, I typically go to bed between 9:00 and midnight.

25. Who will respond to this e-mail the quickest probably?
26. Who is the person you sent this to that least likely to respond ?
27. Who is the person that you are most curious to see their responses?
N/A as I am rebelling and posting this in blog-o-world, rather than sending via e-mail. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

28. Favorite TV show?
Colorsplash! on HGTV.

29. Last person you went to dinner with?
More than likely it was Keith.

30. What are you doing right now besides being on the computer?
How can I be doing something besides being on the computer if I'm on the computer? How much more do you expect me to do!? I'm sitting on my duff, answering silly questions.

32. What are your favorite colors?
ColorS? What happened to forcing us to pick just one? Is the alteration of this inquiry the result of widespread indecisiveness or the consumerist tendency to want more, more, more, more, more?

I love YELLOW. And YELLOW loves me. And ignore the fact that I have blatantly refused to choose a single favorite on almost every other "favorite" question.

33. How many tattoos do you have?
Well, counting the tiny, little, miniscule, microscopic pineapple on my hip--zero.

34. How many pets do you have?
We do not have any pets because Keith is allergic to all of the pets that he is allowed to have.

35. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
We don't do eggs. Keith is allergic. Just chicken.
If it still troubles you, please see the following: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken-and-egg_problem

36. What do you want to do before you die?
Train for a biathlon.

37. Have you ever been to Hawaii?
No, but I have been to Hawaii's website.

38. Have you been to countries outside the U.S.?
Canada. And Texas. I've also been to Scotland's website.

Pumpkin-Brownie Strata with Mascarpone Buttercream Frosting -- and wedding bells

This morning, as I was lounging around in my pajamas, enjoying the day off and busying my mind by thinking of all the things I should be doing--showering, eating, moving--I suddenly heard the joyful tune of "When the Saints"--buzzz, buzzz--"Go Marching In"--buzzz, buzzz--coming from my cell phone, which was also vibrating furiously across the coffee table. And I was delighted to discover that it was Jen B calling to tell me that SHE'S *ENGAGED*!

This made me so happy that I could not end the day without sharing this delightful dessert I created after I had an unexplainable but welcome craving for pumpkin and chocolate, which also inspired the work of art posted just before this--a little joy to celebrate a *VERY BIG JOY*! It takes two very individual and very special flavors, and combines them with a layer of what is mostly a combination of butter and sugar and a delicious Italian cheese. Which is not very unlike marriage. Except for mine, as my husband is allergic to dairy, and so our marriage is more like a combination of select brands of margarine and sugar and no cheese--not even the delicious Italian kind. But I'm sure it's healthier that way.

Pumpkin-Brownie Strata with Mascarpone Buttercream Frosting

PUMPKIN
1 C pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 C sugar
1 1/3 C flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flower a 9 x 13" pan.
Combine pumpkin, egg and sugar in a large bowl. Sift together flower, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix until combined. Spread evenly in pan.

Bake for 30 - 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

BROWNIE
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup boiling water
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 13" pan.
Stir together the cocoa and baking soda in a large bowl. Add 1/3 cup vegetable oil and boiling water. Mix until well blended and thickened. Stir in the sugar, eggs, and remaining 1/3 cup oil. Add flour, vanilla and salt; mix just until all of the flour is absorbed. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 35 - 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

MASCARPONE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
16 ounces mascarpone cheese*
1/2 C butter, softened
2 C confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream together mascarpone and butter. Mix in vanilla. Gradually add sugar, combining thoroughly.

---

Spread a thinnish layer of frosting on top of the brownie layer--enough to use as a glue. Place the pumpkin layer on top of the brownie layer. This is easier said than done. Frost the pumpkin layer--and don't be stingy, either. Cut into squares or rectangles or stars and serve!

* You can use cream cheese if you can't find mascarpone (say it: mas-car-PONE-ay)--but it's not nearly as fancy-sounding (or tasting).

Strata-licious

Sarah Schodroski Ehman
Strata-licious (from the kitchen of Little Joys)
September 2007
Paper
7" x 5"

A very thin line. And a dot.

Call Julie.

An ordinary command--a statement instead of a request, as indicated by a period at the end, rather than a question mark--becomes elevated in importance with the simple, continuous application of the shift key:

CALL JULIE.

But with a line hovering over that period, the urgent all-caps statement seems not only more urgent, but friendlier too:

CALL JULIE!

as if what it's really telling us, in sideways Morse-code-like style, is that the inflection of the last syllable is not a commanding drop but a cheerful raise in pitch, followed by an innocent but knowing smile, and that behind that narrow facade is a big fat "This is of the utmost importance, but I know that implied cheeriness is more likely than actual bossiness to get you to actually do it right now (please)." It may also say "Whoops, I almost forgot to tell you this, and I cannot possibly hold back any longer for if I do, I shall either forget again or explode."

So, as you can see, there is a very thin line dividing [an ordinary statement.] from [an EXCLAMATION!].