Virtual Flaneurism

Another recipe for you -- and this one I plan to try immediately:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

(It's worth noting to you all that there is no egg involved [nor necessary, since you're not cooking them], so no risk of salmonella)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk or soy milk
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
14 oz dark chocolate candy coating

Directions:

Beat butter and sugars and in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add soymilk and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed (or by hand) until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Cover and chill dough for 1 hour.

When dough is firm enough to handle (it may help to lightly flour your hands), form dough into 1" balls and arrange on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Place sheets in freezer and let chill for 30 minutes.

Melt chocolate candy coating in a double boiler or in microwave according to package directions. Using forks or a dipping tool, dip cookie balls into candy coating to cover. Tap fork on side of pan to remove any excess coating, and return to waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Chill until set. Store, chilled, in an airtight container for up to 1 week (though good luck making them last that long).

From How to Make Girl Scout Cookies:

Note: Massive FAIL for no Tagalong recipe.

Homemade Thin Mints

1/2 cup of butter (softened)
1/4 tsp of salt
1 cup of white sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp of mint extract
1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
3 squares of semisweet chocolate (chopped)
1/4 cup of butter

Begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Stir together the sugar and softened butter until the mixture is creamy, then beat in the egg and add the mint extract. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture.

At this point, my friends and I deviated from the online recipe. The recipe directed us to refrigerate the dough for about five hours. We had no such time, so we left it in for about 40 minutes while we watched an episode of Jersey Shore online. Perhaps this is the reason our cookies did not taste exactly like Girl Scout cookies.

Roll out the dough until it's 1/4 of an inch thick. Use a round cookie-cutter to form the cookies, then toss them in the oven for about 12 minutes. When the cookies are baked, melt 1/4 of a cup of butter (or about half of a stick) together with the chocolate in the microwave or on the stovetop. Dip the cookies in the melted mixture and set them on wax paper until the chocolate hardens.

This video contains a few graphic moments -- not sexually graphic, though there are several images of second degree burns.

Nonetheless, I implore you to watch it. This video epitomizes why it is so awesome living in the future.

EDIT: Ok, just realized that the default image for the video is a big old burned up hand. Whoops. Thanks a bundle, youtube.

I badly want to get this shirt for my nephew. Sadly, it's only up for vote right now (and, in my impatience and ineptitude, I can't figure out how to vote on it):

This could easily be typical weather over-reaction, but I can't help but share. Also, THUNDERSNOW:

The Snowpocalypse Tsunami? Blizzard Could Send 18-Foot Waves Into Downtown Chicago Tonight

The crushing clipper is expected to sweep through the Chicago area beginning 3 p.m. Tuesday and will linger until Wednesday afternoon. It's been called a blizzard of “epic” proportions, a “potentially life-threatening” system featuring thundersnow, multiple feet of accumulation, and gale-force winds. And now, tack on the potential for waves cresting over the shores of Lake Michigan, threatening homes and roads.

Tom Hanks is a lot of Animals Tumblr

All the Simpson's McBain clips, strung together to form a cohesive, four minute short film.

McBain: The Movie from McBain on Vimeo.