Creepy Shoes!!

Check out these shoes! Totally weird and creepy, right!?!

Rob convinced me that since my running shoes were not working for me and giving me constant blisters and had to be returned, I should give the Vibram Five Fingers a shot. He has them, and absolutely loves them. And when I say loves them, I mean that he maybe wants to snuggle with them at night. Well, that's an exaggeration. But anyway, so I wanted the Classics in lilac. Out of all the ones suited for running stuff, I thought that at least the purple was cute, even though the styling is totally weird looking...

So, I ordered them from a company online (Stores are completely out of my size! Apparently, these things sell like hot cakes! I guess I will eventually find out whether they stack up to the hype or not...). When they arrived, they were cute and weird and purple, so I felt optimistic... But, then I tried them on... they fit, but felt too small. But it's hard to tell, because I've never had toe shoes before. Getting my toes to go into the slots was SO difficult! So, anyway, I walked around my house in them, thinking, "Yeah, these are just too small!"

Today, I called Abbadabbas, asked them to hold a size 41 (one size up - yep they are in European sizing - confusing!) - but it was in black... not purple! Boo hiss! So, I try the 41 black ones on, decide that the 41's are too big. :o( so, then she said I should try the 41 with a mary-jane strap. So I did. And they fit! I wish they would have had the purple, but instead I got black because that way I can just pretend they are regular black mary-janes.

What do you think of them? They're pretty weird, huh? Rob says they are mega comfortable and really good for your feet.

Here's some websites which talk about the awesomeness of creepy toe shoes:
One from Vibram's website
From Wired Science

Opinions please! Think they are ugly as hell? I might think that too...we'll see if their comfortability makes them worth it... ^_^

It's Wednesday. Let's Bake!

Hi everyone! So, it's Wednesday, I don't have to work, and I'm home all day. What do you think I did? Well, I went looking for a new and exciting recipe and made it! Shocking, I know!

My boyfriend, Rob, loves chocolate chip cookies. So I figured, what a great way to start. I found this blog post at Une Gamine dans la Cuisine for what she said were some pretty perfect choc chip cookies! (She'd found the recipe on the Food Gal blog). So, the recipe was a Thomas Keller one for a non-vanilla recipe. I love vanilla, but I figured...well, why not?

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 sticks of cold butter cut into small pieces
1 cup of packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup of white sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/3 cups + 1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. of baking soda
1 tsp. of kosher salt
5 oz of 55% chocolate, cut into small, chip-sized pieces
5 oz of 70-72% chocolate, cut into small, chip-sized pieces

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. I used a non-stick cookie sheet. If you don't have that, you can use parchment paper.

2. Chop up your chocolate bars. I used Lindt 70% dark chocolate and a milk chocolate Galaxy bar. (That's all I had! ^_^ Rob will have to forgive me for mixing chocolate brands - he hates that. He's a chocolate snob! ^_^) Set your chopped chocs aside. The directions say to also put your chocolate in a strainer to keep all the dust-y bits out of your mix. Me? I wanted all the chocolate I could get in it, so I kept the chocolate dust.

3. In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat 1 stick of butter on medium speed until it's smooth. Then, add the brown and white sugars and the other stick of cold butter, and beat until it's all well combined. Keeping mixing until the mixture is light and creamy. Don't forget to scrape down the sides. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. In a bowl, sift the flour and baking soda, and then stir in the salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet.

5. Fold in chocolate!

The mix: light and delicious


6. Roll into balls and place 2" apart of your cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes until beautiful. - My mixture came out too wet to roll into balls easily, so I spooned them onto the cookie sheet in a mound.


Here's how they came out:




The verdict: How did they come out, you ask? Well, they came out delicious. But, I think I'll stick with recipes that incorporate vanilla. I prefer the flavor that light brown sugar and vanilla bring to the table. These are really good, but the brown sugar is a bit too strong for me. And, my cookies weren't quite as fluffy-looking as the other bloggers, but, I love the dark chocolate chunks, for sure! Would I made this recipe again? Probably not.

I am still searching for a recipe to rival Ben's Cookies!
















Uhm...that's not me licking the bowl clean after baking all those cookies!

Hey, you should be proud of me for waiting till the end to eat the cookie dough! ^_~