My Life is Complete: Mud in a Mug

My dearest eighth street-ers,

I do feel that there is a despairing lack of posting happening in the past... 4 months. So in true procrastination-during-stuvac fashion, I shall be posting your saviour - the ultimate mud in a mug, lovingly adapted from a recipe send to me by She Wears Skirts.

Unfortunately, I ate it too quickly to satisfy my sweet/chocolate/cake/fudgy/gooey/hot craving and therefore do not have any pictures. But do not despair! I promise to give thorough descriptions of what it should look like and trust me, it's so freaking amazing you will forever be grateful.

So to all you fellow stuck-in-an-unending-hole-of-study friends and those damn-you-free-as-a-bird-but-so-cold-right-now friends, here goes. Note the measurements are in no way exact and you should just go by feel.


Mud in a Mug
Get a mug. One you can microwave, not too big, not too small. This recipe doesn't make too much (the cake turns out to be maybe 3/4 cup size) but it's rich enough.

Put 1 1/2 tbs milk and 3/4 tbs unsalted butter in in. Microwave for about 20 sec on high so it melts a bit. Stir this with 1 1/4 tbs sugar to dissolve the sugar and completely melt the butter.

Add 1 3/4 tbs plain flour, 1 tbs cocoa and 1 pinch bicarb soda. Stir it to incorporate everything, don't worry, it doesn't have to be perfectly smooth. The consistency should be like normal cake batter, not too thick, but a thick kind of runny. Sort of like the picture of pouring batter in this blog: click me! (scroll down a bit ps. how good does this look?)

Stir in 2 tbs chocolate chips. Yes! Do it!

Microwave on high for 30-40 seconds. The cake should be hot and super moist & muddy because it's only partially cooked. The top has a shiny sort of skin/layer. It sort of looks like this but not as high. click me! This is because we only partially cook it so it's super muddy. Oh yeah.

So eat! Enjoy! And much thanks to She Wears Skirts. I do enjoy, perhaps too much.

Good luck with exams, eighth street-ers!

cc

For those of you also studying babies like me or excitedly looking forward to Louis Tiffon's (or is it ala Louie now?) new sibling: here's a token picture to satisfy your cluckiness.

My little erratic post

Hello everyone!

Being dormant for the past week or so, (blame that on exams) I have finally burrowed out of a mass of paper, books and pens. Sorry if I sound a little erratic but I have two totally unrelated things I want to mention. (this is going to be a funny post)

Firstly - the dissolution of the NSW Government.

One thing - who saw that coming? I certainly didn't. I knew SS Iemma was a sinking ship from the start, but I didn't think it would go down better than the Titanic.

Nathan Rees looks too eager beaver in my opinion. Too fresh-faced. I'm not sure he's got experience and ability to turn NSW around. There are so many issues facing him - budget deficit, hospitals, transport, electricity... The list goes on. Can he save our flailing public system?

What are your thoughts? Maybe I'm just a cynic?

Secondly - The Sartorialist

Okay so Louis Tiffon has set a pretty high standard on this blog when it comes to fashion and beauty. I'm not going to match that, but I have been wanting to mention another (very famous) blogger and he so happens to blog about fashion.

Check out The Sartorialist. It's by fashion photographer Scott Schuman. He takes photos of well-dressed people across the world (Milan, anyone?) and posts them. It's great to see some real people in great outfits. (also good for inspiration)

I love the photos of the men's clothing more than the women - it's not everyday you see very-put-together outfits on men. My point:

Love his pants.

Only Asians pull off shorts like that. Also check out his fierce Louis Vuitton organiser. (tribute to Louis Tiffon)

Man-jewellrey: yay or nay?

Like his hair, it's such a contrast to the rest of this outfit.

The Sartorialist called this "the last looks of Summer"

If only Sydney-siders were as stylish...

- Hurley Who?

philosophic ramble of the day

From the grand master that is Dr. Seuss:

"Be who you are and say what you feel. Because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."

Everyone together now: AWWWWWW.

Today was quite a day for women in politics, with Carmel Tebbutt now Deputy Premier for NSW and Quentin Bryce (rather odd name for a woman if I may say so but anyway...) Australia's first female governor, and yet should these things really be such a milestone in our political history? Is it still so rare and unexpected to see women in power, or should am I just taking this the wrong way and should simply celebrate the fact that they have deservedly 'made it'?

Not finished with the topic: French war photographer Francoise Demulder died aged 61 today, being the first woman to receive the coveted World Press Photo award, which you can see here

And something that I read about and struck me the other day:

Imagine two years. Does that seem long to you? It may be, if you're going to sit in jail all by your lonesome for two years.

Or maybe it's not long enough. Two years isn't much time if the apocalypse came in 2010. Think of the things you wanted to do, and never could.

Einstein once said that everything is relative. Which it is. So have some perspective people.

And now...what about that chemistry exam?

[disco.read]

A useless but fun game

Studying for exams can be boring. So I try to combat the boredom by fishing out a board game and playing against myself. After my second day at home with no exams I found this awesome game called “The Worst Case Scenario Survival Card Game – Travel Edition”. You play the game by reading out a question, for example “How do you safely jump from a moving train?” or “How can you avoid being mugged while using a public telephone?”, then three options for the other person and they have to choose the right one.

Out of these 108 seemingly-useless-but-will-one-day-most-likely-save-my-like cards, I chose 5 which I think will test even those with the most intellectual of brains before they roll on the floor laughing like me (which may have only happened because of exam stress). Here they are:

How do you properly survive a landslide?
A) Curl yourself into a tight ball, protecting your head
B) Wrap yourself around a tree. It will happen anyway, so you might as well do it to begin with
C) Run with the landslide and if possible, pick up a log to surf on it with
Answer (highlight): A. But C seems funner (yes I know that isn't a word)

How do you stop a car when the brakes have gone out (on the freeway)?
A) Find a large barricade, and when 10m away from it, turn the wheel hard to the left and slide into it sideways
B) Honk at other cars to get them out of the way, while simultaneously accelerating to run out of petrol
C) Find another moving car and hit it from the back. Honk at the other driver to stop
Answer: C

How do you safely approach a seal?
A) Log roll towards it
B) Lie flat, bob your head up and down and mimic seal movements as best as you can
C) Imitate a seal squeak and once it has lost interest in you, it is safe to approach
Answer: B, despite how idiotic you will look

How do you attack an alien?
A) Go for the eyes. It will be the only sensitive area you easily identify
B) Never attack an alien. Alien abductions only take place for research purposes
C) Jump up and down to distract it, then punch it in the mouth and run
Answer: A

How do you catch a bird at sea?
A) Place bait in the water, and when the bird approaches ‘stun’ it with a paddle
B) Place bait in your boat. When the bird begins to eat it, throw a towel/blanket over it
C) Use a hook and line. Float bait on the water and wait until the bird is caught in the hook
Answer: C. But A made me lol.

Rate your score!
Less than 5 – Boo
5 – Wow you’re smart, are you sure your name isn’t whitebread?

- Whitebread