How am I supposed to make cookies with a brick?

That's right, a brick. I'm talking about a brick of brown sugar, because it's so ridiculously dry here. Erik and I decided to make chocolate chip cookies this last weekend, and it was a bit difficult to get started.

Brown sugar is supposed to be delightful and fluffy. Here in Las Vegas, however, brown sugar has the tendency to dry out. We've encountered this problem at home by not keeping it in an airtight container before, but this time we ended up with a brick straight from the store.

Here is the initial brick:


The white marks are from Erik trying to bust it apart with a spoon:


We read that microwaving the brown sugar with a bowl of water next to it might help. Not so much...


This is where we gave up, went to a different store, and bought brown sugar of the proper consistency.

Monday's Gone

This is how I was supposed to feel about today,
until I woke up with a migraine. Boo.

Photo: icanhascheezburger.com

Road Trip: Part 3

On the return trip from Minnesota to Nevada, we decided to play the license plate game. First, Erik sang the "States Song" so I could make the list of all 50 states. Then we began crossing off states as we saw the corresponding license plates. When you've got three days of driving to do, one needs something to keep entertained and awake.

By the end of the trip, we had crossed off 36 of the 50 states! The biggest excitement of this game was when we saw two (that's right, two!) Alaska license plates. Erik only wanted to count the conterminous 48 states, but I had a feeling we'd see a Hawaii plate (there are lots of Hawaiians in Las Vegas). In the end, I was wrong, but I'm glad we counted all 50 because we saw Alaska!

What did we miss, you ask? Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, Ohio (we saw 2 Ohio plates the day after we got back in Las Vegas...), North Carolina, Rhode Island (we basically had no hope for this one), South Carolina, Vermont, and West Virginia.

Photo: childrensfurniture.guidestobuy.com

Minneapolis Makes Me Smile

The "watermelon garage" on the way to Great Wall (yum yum yum!)

Cora is being so calm.

Ginsberg and Charlotte having a tussle.

Ulysses, or zen kitty, hanging out in a decorative box.