Cake, Jon Stewart, My Computer, and CafePress

Cake

We realized that now that we have free time and are cooking again, we really felt the need to cook some sweet things as well as healthy things before going back to being healthy. So, a find of some wonderful berries at the grocery store resulted in the following improvised creation:

• 1 angel food cake (normally we’d make it from scratch, but we happened to have a cake mix sitting around; not quite as good, but it works)
• 1 cup of whole milk (or a mix of fat-free half-and-half and skim)
• 3.5 to 4 oz bar of white chocolate (preferably Green & Black brand vanilla-flecked if you can get it)
• 1 big bowl of berries (say, at least four cups), sliced if strawberries
• 2 Tablespoons of liqueur (orange for strawberries or blueberries; amaretto for cherries or blueberries; dark rum works for just about anything)
• 2 Tablespoons sugar, preferably brown (adjusted to taste depending on the sweetness of the berries)
• whipped topping and/or ice cream

Heat the milk to scalding (on the stovetop or by microwaving) and whisk in the white chocolate until smooth. If you couldn’t find vanilla-flavored white chocolate, add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Cool (but do not chill); mix together again just before using. (If you save the leftovers for the next night rather than drinking them as a white chocolate drink, then chill. Just before using again, microwave for 15 seconds at a time, mixing well after each time, until smooth again.)

Mix together the berries, sugar, and liqueur and allow to sit for at least a half-hour in the fridge.

Place a slice of angel food cake in a bowl. Drizzle several tablespoons of the white chocolate mixture overtop and top with a heap of berry mixture, ice cream (if using), and whipped topping. (At first we used strawberries with orange liqueur; when we ran out of that we used cherries and blueberries with amaretto.) Sheer decadence.

Jon Stewart

Some guy has written up a marvelous blog post on why Jon Stewart should run for president. It’s a great read!

Link found on FARK, naturally.

My Computer/Storyweaver

The review of Storyweaver will be delayed a bit. I couldn’t finish exploring the program because it kept crashing and it appears that some of the material I entered previously got lost. Now before you blame Storyweaver, I’ve been having some computer troubles of late that have been getting noticeably worse lately, so I have no way of knowing right now whether any of the problem is Storyweaver at all, or if it’s just my computer.

So, I’ve backed up all my important files and sent off for a utility package that’s supposed to clean up my computer, defrag my drive, detect hardware problems, and so on. It should be here Friday or thereabouts. I’m hoping it can fix things up enough to keep my computer operational until I have the money to replace it without having to rack up debt for it.

CafePress

I really had no idea what to expect from the CafePress venture. I certainly tried not to expect too much. But I’ve only been paying for the premium shop for a week and the first sales have already more than paid for the first month’s fee, which is just awesome.

The site doesn’t make all details remarkably clear. However, I picked up a book on CafePress (review to come eventually) that discusses everything on up to the proper resolution and sizing for your images. Hence, I’ve been steadily replacing original images with much higher-resolution images that are sized properly. Also, in places where I don’t have versions for black T-shirts, I’ve been fixing that as well now that I have a program that will properly export to PNG with a transparent background.

Well, I’m off to do more image conversions, review-book reading, oh, and yes, coffee drinking. Can’t forget the coffee.

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