Two new buddies!

I'm well on my way to becoming a crazy cat lady. We adopted two little kittens, so now we have three...



This Darcy McTaggart, AKA Darcy.



And this is Solomon Greybeard, AKA Greybeard.

Scurvy was a bit wary at first, but he's starting to warm up to them. I think eventually he will be happy to have the company.

I have to say, if I am a crazy cat lady, Ben is a crazy cat man. Unfortunately the stigma is only attached to me. Oh well. We love our new little kitties, but how could you not love those little faces?

Crafty Time!

Ben mentioned that he wanted a basket or something to put the stuff he keeps on his dresser in. I checked at Goodwill the other day and didn't find what I wanted. Then I searched for DIY basket ideas, and still didn't find anything. As I was driving home from work today, it hit me! I'd seen bowls made out of old records, and that sounded like the perfect idea. We even had a record at home I could use. I googled how to do it. All the tutorials said to put it in the oven. I didn't really like the idea of putting plastic in the oven where I cook my food, so I tried to search out if it was unsafe, and wasn't satisfied that putting it in the oven was a good idea. I figured I would have to give up the idea, but I was disappointed. Then I thought, maybe I could use boiling water. The oven method only required heating it to 200 degrees. I thought it wouldn't hurt to try, so I did, and it worked!

This process was a little bit time consuming, but it wasn't difficult. If you try it you do need to be really careful so you don't burn yourself with the water or steam. I'm not sure about fumes being released into the air with this method, but I definitely didn't smell anything.

To do this project you need:

A record you don't care about.

Oven mitts.

A bowl.

A can (like a soup can. I used a can of chicken broth.).

Boiling water.

I had my kettle boiling and a pot of water boiling. I'm not sure how many times I ended up having to pour the water over it.

Put the bowl face down in your sink, with the record on top of it, and the can in the center of the record to keep it stable.


Pour the boiling water over it. I recommend concentrating on one side at a time. You will have a very few seconds after you pour the water where the record is pliable enough to bend. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR OVEN MITTS ON. This is very important. I don't want anyone to burn themselves. Bend the record down toward the side of the bowl.



Continue to boil, pour, and shape until you are satisfied with shape. I actually ended up switching to a smaller bowl so I could pinch the corners together more.





Here is it after I was finished shaping. It's not perfect, but I like how it came out.



I hot glued some fabric on the bottom of the bowl (although it's more like a tray really) to make it more stable, and I glued a piece inside so the stuff I put in it wouldn't slip and fall all the time.



I like how it turned out, and I like that I didn't fill my apartment with fumes or potentially poison anyone by tainting my oven with plastic.

Yummm.

When I heard Starbucks had a Mocha Coconut Frapuccino, I knew I had to try it. I love mocha and I love coconut. The town I live in doesn't have a Starbucks, so when I went to visit some friends at the beginning of summer, I made sure to swing by and pick one up. It was so delicious! Well, all summer I've wanted another one. But I rarely go places with a Starbucks, and even when I do I don't necessarily have a chance to get one. I've seen some recipes floating around the internets. None of them sounded exactly like something I wanted to try. So I decided to make up my own recipe, drawing a few elements from the other recipes. The first time I tried it, it was pretty good but needed some adjustments. The second time I made it, it was great! It's been a couple months since I tried the Starbucks version, so I can't vouch for how it matches up, but I do know it was delicious.

Here's what I used.


Toast your coconut on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees for a couple of minutes. Make sure it's spread out in one layer, and I put foil on it so I don't have to wash it. Check it and stir it often, until it is golden. I toasted a good amount and put the extra in plastic bag so I didn't have to toast more every time.

Put about 5 ice cubes in your blender. Add 3/4 cup coconut milk, 1 tsp instant coffee, a good squeeze of chocolate syrup, and a splash of milk (I started without the milk, but it was little to thick without it). Blend until ice cubes are mostly blended in. I usually have a few little chunks left, but I don't have that great of a blender.

Pour into your glass, and top with whipped cream, chocolate drizzle, toasted coconut, and enjoy! It helps to have a straw to drink it.

Here is the finished product.


The picture is actually from my first attempt. The second time I didn't have that separation.