Poundcake.

The baking season continues for me... you would think that I would be going through cheesecake mania, but nope- I'm still going and discovering new recipes.

This past week at work, we've been served Red Radish- this awesome catering company out of Asheville and Charlotte- and twice now they've served us Porkloin with Grainy Mustard Rosemary sauce. So I was going to try and copy the recipe but they didn't have it, BUT they did have a recipe for a white chocolate poundcake with lemon icing.

Ooooo, I thought. Might have to make that, so I did.

The recipe called for lemon zest and lemon juice AND the lemon icing.. I love sweet-and-savory lemony things, but I felt the need to do something different.. and the end result was yummified to say the least. I substituted white chocolate chips with milk chocolate chips, the lemon zest and juice with vanilla, and lemon icing with cream cheese icing.

Tomorrow I'm going to try and make the grainy mustard sauce from scratch.. we'll see.

Do I really have to keep working in eyes? Can't I just quit and go into the baking business?!

Tis the Season

So this year I'm getting ready to hit a mile marker in my life-- hitting the big 3-0 in November (eesh)-- and while I'm very much looking forward to celebrating my bday at Kobes (yes I have already put my request in)- there's something else I'm looking forward to-- COOKING AND BAKING!! Oh I Love this time of year. Now this year will be very different from any other for more than one reason- one being that I will be 30, two I'm going to try and experiment with different dessert recipes, and third-- this year will be the first year that we will be without our beloved Cindy-- how weird it will be without her there to celebrate and eat with us and have her say, "Hhhmm Mandy that is sooooo good." (BTW, she is the ONLY one allowed to call me Mandy). She will definitely be there in spirit but still will NOT be the same.

When September rolls around, I honestly feel the seasons change- from Pina Colada cheesecake, grilled steaks, salad, and Iced *Bux coffee to pecan-caramel cheesecake, White chocolate peppermint cheesecake, chili, spaghetti, Thanksgiving and Christmas food, and nice hot *Bux coffee. Now I haven't made my fall/winter cheesecakes yet, but I have made an apple tart and a chocolate cake made from scratch. I'm hoping to master an apple pie this year, as well as make my yummy cheesecakes. There is something so hearty and comforting in cooking and/or baking... maybe it's the end result or seeing the expressions on people's faces and hearing people say, "Oh my god Amanda that was heavenly." (yes it's the Monica in me).

And I swear- if I knew I wouldn't sink to the bottom, I would say "Screw it," and go into business for myself.. but it costs a lot of money to go into the restaurant business and statistics say the businesses fail in first 5 years. Then where would I be? Back to eyes??!!! No thanks- if I'm going to be done with eyes, I need to be completely done with eyes-- I can't backtrack.. once the bridge is burned, it's burned.

There Once Was a Pup Named Bailey

This past weekend, we have babysat Bailey- an adorable Schnauzer that is just shy of two years old. Miss Bailey's hometown is in Wingate, North Carolina- near Monroe- and her parents are my parents- Thomas and Karen. She is a dark gray color and is close-shaved along her back and sides- her stomach and legs are shaggy and long. She has a small stub for a tail and these big amazing brown eyes. Her ears flop over and when she looks up at you, they can go straight out and look like Ewok ears. She has a beard and shaggy eyebrows like Charlie Chaplin.

She whines when she needs to go out or when her daddy left her today- she growls at unusual things- and she barks at the legless dogs, aka the snakes, that we have in the cage. She loves her some Branson, although I can't say if the feeling is mutual or not. She loves to shred toys and loves a fleece rope that I got Branson from Woofstock. She doesn't have the tug-of-war thing down pat yet.

She has some unusual behaviors- like last night when we were getting ready to go to bed, and she felt the need to shred her bed. She turned her bowl of food over on purpose. She refused to come up the stairs and had to be carried. She sat beside of Josh and started growling/talking for no reason. She refuses to be fed from her bowl and prefers to be hand-fed, if at all possible. She was playing with the rope and sat half of her body on me, the other half on the floor.

I got in the floor to play with her, and she proceeded to give me kisses and love and bit/nibbled on my nose. She still has the run of a puppy, that prissy trot that most dogs have. She gets the most interesting looks on her face, especially when she's trying to understand what you're saying. She is rarely ever still but is the most beautiful pup when she is sleeping. She understands sit and shake- doesn't understand Come here just yet.

One thing is for sure-- I LOVE this little girl... she is the greatest dog EVER!!!

I put on my I-Pod headphones on and headed outside for my daily walk as I always did, but this night was different. Something was different, I could feel it but couldn't see it.

The Carolina blue sky above me gave me a show of dark blue clouds outlined in pinks and yellows- it was absolutely gorgeous. The hot summer weather took my breath away as soon as I stepped outside, and I immediately thought how I couldn't wait until next month when the weather would start cooling down.

I took the three flights of steps downstairs and noticed how much more comfortable my feet felt since I had bought shoes specifically for running and some insoles that supposedly made my feet and back hurt less. But that wasn't it either...

What was it that was different?

I turned my I-Pod to song 37 and turned my volume up as loud as I could, before stretching my legs and taking off to run.

"Hung my cotton dress on rusted wire," blared LeAnn Rimes as she sang "Nothin Better To Do" loudly into my ears. I was in my running mode, paid attention to nothing and no one around me. I ran my five miles and headed back up the three flights of stairs to my apartment.

I took my end of the day shower and was getting ready to get into bed by eleven. As I stood beside of my bed, I looked down at my feet and thought how wonderful my feet still felt with my new shoes and insoles. I couldn't believe it.

I lifted one leg to get into bed when I felt it and knew what was different- excruciating pain in my ankle and something wet running all over my foot. I looked down to see a deep gash along my Achilles Tendon with dark red, thick blood pouring onto my foot. As soon as I set my other foot down, I saw it- a hand with a sharp surraded knife slashing a gash into my other ankle. The movement was so quick that all I saw was a swift motion, but I felt the pain and soon fell to my knees and collapsed onto my stomach.

I was starting to feel faint and cold and started losing consciousness. I was slowly starting to bleed to death... guess I wasn't going running tomorrow.

Copyright: Amanda Vittitow.

Idea #2

The last thing I wanted when I left Ohio was a relationship. I wanted a change… no, let me rephrase that…I needed a change. I had been stuck in the same Podunk town since I was a child and had gone to college to have the experience- thinking it would change something for me. But after the same parties, the same situations, the same thing day after day, I had finally had enough. I packed all of my stuff into my car and headed for home, but when my exit for home came up- I kept driving.

In front of me stood nothing but open interstate and the clear, blue horizon in front of me. I had no idea where I was going or what I was going to do when I got there, but I was going and that’s all that mattered to me.

As I drove to my destination unknown, I thought about my life… kinda boring, definitely uneventful. I had grown up in the rural area of Southeast Ohio, in the typical house with my parents and siblings- one older brother, who everyone thought the sun rose and set with, and one younger sister, who according to my parents was, “the cutest thing you’ve ever seen.” Gag me. Being the middle child did have its advantages because while my parents were tending to my siblings, I was getting away with things that I never would have gotten away with if I was the oldest, youngest, or even the only child. And as much I pushed the limit and wanted to get caught or punished to get my parents attention, it never happened. I was the forgotten child.

The forgotten child, I thought as I continued to drive. It had a nice ring to it. I mean what would truly happen if I never went home? My parents wouldn’t miss me, my siblings wouldn’t miss me, my roommates back at college definitely wouldn’t miss me. The girl that played her music too loud when her roommates were sweating exams the next day, the girl that came in way too late and clattered around because she wanted Ramen noodles at four in the morning… yeah they definitely wouldn’t miss me.

Copyright: AmandaVittitow.

And Thoughts..

Still writing articles and such.. trying to get back into grant writing. I'm going to meet a grant writer on Tuesday for her to teach me some things to see I like it and want to get into it.

I have also had a lot of fiction ideas come into my head. Only thing is I don't know where to go and what the characters should or can do to make them stand out and be different from everyone else. I mean let's face it, writing a book is a great accomplishment but I'm not proud of it. I think if things were handled different with the publishing company, I would be more proud of it.

May be writing different ideas to put on my blogspot... just a tip: I own the rights- all of them. It's my original work, and I am proud of it- so it's MINE.

Idea...

I haven't blogged in a while but have had a lot of ideas running through my head. Finally had to write an idea down to see where it took me.. here's the result. Who knows where it will end up if anywhere.

I own all rights to this.

I woke up the morning after and looked around his bedroom. It looked a whole lot different in the morning sunlight than it did in the dark- where the only light coming through was the softness of the moon. Now the morning sun made everything look extra bright, almost translucent. I rolled over to see him sleeping soundly next to me with his arm draped over his eyes to block out the sun, or maybe he was he was doing the same thing I was- trying to avoid me, like I was with him. But oh my god it was fun—ten years of playing catch up wrapped into two hours of pure, animal, never-going-to-see-you-again sex.

I peeled myself out of his bed and tried to step lightly across the hardwood floors. One of the boards creaked underneath me, immediately causing me to stop and turn around to see if I had woke him up. I sighed under my breath to see that he was still peacefully sleeping and continued walking through his room picking up my clothes that seemed to be in order from his bed to his bedroom door. First was my black, lacy underwear, second was my matching bra, third was my simple, black cocktail dress, fourth and fifth were my shoes and my hair barrette that I tossed as soon as the door was closed.

As soon as I was dressed, I opened the door and was just about out of his room- thinking I had played it safe.

“Hey,” I heard behind me.

Damn it. I was busted.

Moshimoshi..

This is a plate thing we found at Anthropologie that I thought was a good hat. My friends are always hassling me that I'm from Hong Kong, Japan (yes I know that Hong Kong is in China) so I thought this was a good touch.

Saturday Shopping Trip

One Saturday out of the month, my mom and I get together in Huntersville (it's about equal distance for the both of us- I'm in Hickory, she's in Wingate near Monroe). At first when we were meeting at Birkdale which is interesting enough, but then on a navigating trip we discovered Northlakes Mall complete with a Macy's and Borders- two stores that Valley Hill Malls lacks.

I made the hour trip in the A/C (thanks honey) and listened to the CMA Country Fest (what used to be known as Fan Fair). They were doing a songwriter's session which was the best and only session I've heard. The songwriter that wrote Kelly Pickler's "Red High Heels," and "I Wonder" was on there- also the songwriter that wrote Luke Bryan's "Country Man," and one of the writers (who happened to be a guy) that wrote Carrie Underwood's "Last Name." Oh also heard one of the writer's that wrote Billy Currington's "Must Be Doin Something Right." It was an excellent session.. really really good.

Mom and I met for coffee in the two-story Borders store which is an awesome bookstore that has even better coffee-- better than Starbucks could ever think about being. I got a white chocolate mocha coffee complete with whip cream and white chocolate shavings- mom got her usual coffee. As far as our pastries- she got a raspberry pastry thing with peach cream cheese in the middle, and I got a lemon pound cake that was really yummy.

First store we went into was Belk (by the way it's Belk, not Belk's- mom used to work for them, she would know). I went looking for a darker shade of powder for summertime. Instead of just being shown what to buy for makeup, I was given 3 different powders. I found one that didn't make me look chalky, and after I chose, the Clinque-ician put the powder all over my face and dressed up my eyelids, cheeks, and lips. I don't wear a lot of makeup b/c I'm really prone to breakouts, but I really like what she did. I was almost tempted to buy it all, but I know me and I wouldn't wear it. I also found a pair of jean shorts that are a little longer and nicer than the jean shorts I have now. What's funny about this is these shorts were originally $36 but thought they were on sale for $17.99. When I got up to the register I paid $12.59.. isn't that awesome???

Let's see where did we go from there.. OH we went to Coldwater Creek- mom's favorite store. I helped her pick two shirts out for a skirt and spotted another shirt for her to wear with white capris. I told her I was going to stop working in eyes and be a personal assistant and shopper.

Next was my absolute favorite store- Anthropologie. I love, love, love that store. I could easily drop $1000 in the store on dishes, a bedspread, sheets, and clothes-- not to mention the soap and the candles. It's such a funky store!! Mom bought a lot of scented soaps and two candles that cost more than your average candle (I refuse to say the price, but it was quite up there).

Last shopping place was Border's.. of course all we got there were books, but I got two books- Eat This, Not This (supermarket survival guide) and the book My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. There's a movie getting ready to come about that, but books are already better than movies- so I bought the book.

Originally lunch was going to be at a rustic Italian restaurant that has the best drinks and food, but I changed my mind and opted for TGIFridays which still has good drinks and food. But I decided to stay sober on this shopping trip- lol- but let me talk about the burger I got. It was called the Cheesy Bacon Cheeseburger (so very fattening but I didn't care).. what was good about this burger was the thick piece of FRIED PROVOLONE. Now serious who doesn't love fried cheese of any sort??? Other than that it was just a cheeseburger.

I made the long trip home and have been lazy ever since. I really do enjoy the trip I make down there every month. I enjoy what the day holds.

Couple of Weeks Have Passed..

I realize that a couple of weeks have passed since I have blogged on here. I have been extremely busy with writing projects. I have decided to take another writing project doing nothing but re-writes and still doing my originals and re-write articles. I am having some trouble trying to figure out how to plan and do everything, but I have to believe that it will come to me when I least expect it.

I just finished a batch of re-writes in regards to tracing cell phone numbers, and I'm working on another batch right now in regards to fitness. Other subjects I've been writing include Twitter, business cards (boring), window and vertical blinds (bore me to tears), rejuvenating the body to get rid of toxins, and various other subjects that I can't really remember right now.

Josh and I have really getting into hiking lately- we've been to South Mountain hiking up the side of the mountain, and we've been through the Appalachian Mountains, and of course our usual park that we go to. Hiking is really great exercise, and it gives Josh some really good picture ideas. Other than that, same ol' same ol'.. work, work, work.. write, write, write... hanging out with great friends.. eating great food.. blah, blah, blah.

May Days

This past week has been an interesting week. At my day job I followed the retina doctor around- learned how to listen very carefully to what he was saying, learned how to write down exactly what he was saying, went to surgery two days, got thrown to the wolves Friday morning, and rode in his Porsche Friday at lunch. But at lunch he said I was doing extremely well and he would be sure to pass the word to my supervisor. He's the president of the company, so she's gotta listen to him. LOL... day job aside...

I've written a lot more this week as far as the number of articles I've been writing. I think I've written sixteen or seventeen articles this week compared to my usual ten or eleven. The big thing I've written about this week has been tubal reversal surgery- how to find the best doctor, what to do following surgery, tubal reversal vs IVF, and ovulating after tubal reversal surgery. I've also written about some how-tos for cooking, disciplining your teenager, marriage problems and their solutions, pediophobia (a fear of dolls and/or children), and then some re-writes on hypnosis and Singapore museums.

This week my boss is going to take on a large writing project, so lots of work will be available. I'm really excited.

Josh's photo shoot went well last week with TR. Then later Saturday evening we went to our friends' mother's house for a cookout. Our friend has five dogs- two Great Danes, a Great Dane/Lab/Hound mix, a Lab, and a daschund- and all five of them were there. Needless to say Josh got some great pictures of the dogs and of our friends and such.

Spring is here..

As always I'm still writing about various subjects.. let's see I've written about credit repairs, acne, foods that lower cholesterol, and other things that I really can't remember right now. I've been bidding on other projects this week, so hopefully I'll be able to expand my writing skills.

Next week I start rotating through with the retina doctor at work. I've been extremely interested in retina ever since I've been in the eye biz and especially since working at CEENTA. It's a very interesting field with a lot of pathology and causes unknown...

Still my one true passion, even more than retina, is writing. True some of the subjects may bore me to tears even though I say I'll do them- not knowing what I'm getting into- but I still enjoy what I do very much. And I would still love to stay home and write full time. One of these days I will.

Let's see.. Josh does his first official photo shoot tomorrow am at 10.00 (ish). I'm so excited and happy for him. After that we'll have a couple of hours to spare, and then it'll be off to another photo shoot but this one will be more relaxed.

Stay tuned, happy spring weekend.

Beginning of New Week

Let's see.. still writing.. Friday I turned in two pet articles. Saturday I wrote about the basics of vegetable garden growing, one re-write on Liberia and one on Libya. I took off Sunday and wrote two articles on aromatherapy.

I did send an email to the editor-in-chief of Diabetes Health magazine in hopes of being able to write an article for them. I've been in ophthalmology for the ten years or so, and I must say that besides eyes- endocrinology is something I've been extremely interested in. I think I could definitely hold my own when it came to writing for this magazine.

Mom got me this huge 2009 Writer's Market book filled with literary agencies, publishing agencies, and magazines to write for. I'm starting to go through that and see what I can get into. I would still love to write for Bon Appetit one of these days... to see my name in my favorite magazine ever would be the great accomplishment and dream. I would just about frame that article. LOL...

As much as I love writing and doing what I'm doing, I'm slowly starting to realize that I can't make the kind of money I want to make being a ghostwriter. I write the articles but they're not really mine.. they belong to someone else. But writing is writing, and it's great practice... very good practice.. so I'll keep on keeping on.

The Week Is Almost Over

I've been a busy writing girl this week, which is really good for me. I like being able to write every day, regardless of how tired I am.

I've written about a variety of subjects this week: Monday was depression, Tuesday was inspiration for women, Wednesday was hypertension re-writes, today I was supposed to write about pets but was asked to do two more hypertension re-writes. I just finished the re-writes and am going to turn my pet articles in tomorrow.

Last week I got a little bit more of a bonus than I was expecting, so I'm taking that as a sign that my writing is improving and I'm getting to be more dependable.

Our Kentucky trip was wonderful as usual.. I love going up there, and I always hate coming home. ALWAYS. Josh and I have talked several times about how we're going to move up there one of these days. So we have decided that once we're self-employed full time, we're moving up there. There were lots of pictures taken by Josh and me, and as of now, he's editing and saving them. Stay on the lookout on blogspot for updated pics from our trip.

Lots going on...

http://lifesjourneyphoto.blogspot.com

Greetings from Bardstown, KY

Josh and I got here in KY almost three hours ago, and we're awaiting some heavy rain. Rain never seems to escape us no matter where we go (down right sucks), but Saturday and Sunday are going to be good.

Saturday we're heading over to Loretto, KY where the big Maker's Mark distillery is. We go up there just about every time we come up to Kentucky, and I learn something new at every visit.

Josh of course brought his camera with him to take lots of pictures, so be on the lookout.

Just in case you need the address: http://lifesjourneyphoto.blogspot.com

I have finished my weekly articles and have requested some re-writes for the ride home on Sunday.

More later...

Guitars, Herbs, and Coffee... oh my

I finished writing my guitar articles on Saturday and almost immediately after sending them in, I got an email asking I could do an emergency rewrite on the electric guitar. "Sure why not?" so I spent an hour doing the rewrite because I thought it was an emergency, but I don't think it was all that big of an emergency.

My articles writes this week are three re-writes on coffee, three originals on herbs (anything and everything is welcome), and three originals on weightloss. We got to choose what we wanted to write on this week, so that's why my subjects are a little more interesting.

I'll be done with my weightloss articles tomorrow, so I'm hoping I can do some more rewrites or originals before we head off to KY... so excited.

**ah**

I think I may have mentioned in my last blog that I had to write about dental procedures which I finished. Yesterday I was given 3 re-writes to do, around 700 words, about electric guitars.. the beginner buyer's guide, electric guitar lessons, and how to get started or something along those lines. I was going to do an article a night since they were so long, but I buckled down and finished them all tonight.

Now I get to relax for about 30-45 minutes and wait on the next assignment. Woo..

Bored To Sleep... No Seriously

Well I thought I was going to die this past weekend.. no not really but relatively speaking. I usually try to write on the weekends because I can write and accomplish more, blah, blah, blah. My writing boss- god love her- gave me an assignment to do seven re-writes about golf.. GOLF.. what kind of balls to use, the clubs, how to improve technique, yadda yadda. Oh my gosh y'all.. I haver never been so bored in all my life. Granted the weather didn't help matters either, but geez golf is so boring to me.

Now I've played golf before, and I really enjoy it but good grief, having to write about it? Kill me, kill me now... I vowed to get the articles written by Saturday. Know when I finished them?? 12:00am Sunday/Monday am. I hope I never have to write about golf again...

Now I'm writing about dental procedures which is so more interesting than golf.

*sigh*

It's 12.01 at the start of a Thursday morning, and I am still awake.

I have been a busy girl this evening, but it's all in good fortune. I've been writing about the benefits of contact lenses, X-Box 360 Live Codes, and tomorrow I write about Real Estate Investing with a re-write from the original article.

I was supposed to go with mom shopping, but she ditched me (not really). So hopefully I'll be writing this weekend, since it's going to be nasty and rainy.

Okay the computer is dying, so I'm gonna jump off here and go to SLEEP.

Still writing...

Let's see mid-week I wrote about microdermabrasion- something I'm familiar with being in my line of work. My article titles: What is microdermabrasion? What are the benefits of microdermabrasion? Microdermabrasion at home.

Now I'm writing about pregnancy: The Risks of Pregnancy, The Joys of Being Pregnant, and What to Expect When You're Pregnant. Two of the articles have to have url sources.

I need to write some more, so hopefully I'll have more subjects coming my way.

Colon Cleansing

Yes you read right colon cleansing... that's the topic up for discussion- well topic up for writing- tonight. I'm writing five articles, and I must say after reading some of the topics... kinda freaks me out a little bit. I could go into details but why ruin your appetite and evening with the icky details. Hopefully I can get done with the articles tomorrow and move on to something nicer like diabetes or blood pressure or strokes or EYES (lol).

And on a completely different subject matter, I got paid today... got paid more than I thought I would AND I got a bonus for turning stuff in on time or early.

Supposed to take a day off

My writing boss said that all of my articles were really good and that she was very happy with my work. I should be getting paid tomorrow for my articles, and the sad thing about that is- I've made more money writing these articles in one weekend than my book has made since August 2008 (not my fault but my publisher's fault).

Good thing is I've been writing, and I like writing so it's all fine and dandy. My writing boss asked me if I would like to work today, but it's Sunday and I said no. Then I got a little bored and felt like I needed to write to keep my momentum going, so I asked for a re-write or two.

I've never been good at re-writes, simply because they confuse me. But I gave it a try, and hopefully my writing boss will approve of them.

I wrote about Why Dogs and Cats Eat Grass, and How to Give a Pill to a Cat.. both interesting titles but fairly easy titles.

Writing is a way of life... My life

I'm finally getting to see what my life would be like as a freelance writer, and I must say-- it certainly is a job (no a job you hate but a good hardworking job). Friday I wrote four articles about dental insurance (thanks Shannon for your help). I woke up this am and wrote the final article on dental insurance.

Then I was given the assignment to write eight articles on stress: Signs and Symptoms, Management, Reducing, Causes of, Dangers of, How to Deal With, Job Stress, and Relationship Stress.

I've been writing all day, and I must say I'm exhausted. But I've been very productive today and have loved every minute of it. Good thing, too, is I've made money sitting here on my rump and writing. Woo.

What's New?!

So I've gotten accepted to write medical and miscellaneous articles. Last night I wrote an article about Complaint Handling in 30 minutes. I must say I'm proud of this article-- not because it took 30 minutes but because I know so much about customer service and the article flowed wonderfully as I wrote it.

I'm waiting on permission to publish it on blogspot, so be on the lookout...

I found out last night that I don't have the rights to the articles I've written- which is totally fine with me.

Good thing I'm writing like crazy, and that's always good.

Oh my, my, my...

I have to share this recipe with you b/c it is probably one of my favorite cookies ever. Now mind you until tonight the only cookies I had made were either out of the package (a quick fix) or homemade chocolate chip, pecan, and toffee cookies (when I'm feeling creative).

I had discovered this cookie recipe out of my Bon Appetit magazine- one of my absolute favorite food magazines ever (should anyone from Bon Appetit read this blog, see how much I love y'all? Can I please write for you now?? LOL). This recipe calls for no eggs which makes it a really good cookie b/c when you bite into them, its flaky and not doughy... kind of like eating a flaky, buttery pie crust... oh my, my, my...

Ok so here's the recipe from Bon Appetit magazine:

Lime Shortbread Cookies with White Chocolate and Almonds.

2 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 cup of powdered sugar

1/4t salt

1 cup (2 sticks) chilled, unsalted butter cut into 1/2 cubes

1t vanilla

2T fresh lime peel (usually 2 limes)

1/2 chopped toasted almonds

1 3.5 ounce bar of white chocolate (I used 3/4 cup of white chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 325. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add the cubed butter, lime peel, and vanilla into the processor and pulse until the dough forms clumps. Press the dough evenly into a buttered 13 x 9 x 2 pan. Pierce the dough with a fork and cut the dough (make sure you go all the way through) into 12 bars and then diagonally to make 24 bars.

Bake the shortbread until golden brown around the edges for 30 minutes (the recipe says 45 minutes but with my oven, it's 30 minutes--- so judge your time-- the rule is: if you can smell them, they're overdone). Remove from the oven. Using a knife, immediately recut shortbread, gently seperating triangles. Put them on a cooling rack.

Place white chocolate into a metal bowl and put over simmering water to melt. After the chocolate is completely melted, take it off the water. Using a fork, drizzle the chocolate in a zigzag pattern over the cookies (I put the melted the chocolate and put it into a ziploc baggy, snipped the end and made it into a piping bag- that works too). Sprinkle evenly with the almonds.

You can sprinkle any remaining lime peel over the cookies, but I didn't have enough so I didn't.

I'm telling you once you make these cookies and bite into them, you'll be in cookie heaven. They're not overly sweet and you can taste the lime in the background.

Trust me you won't regret it.

More Pictures

Ameteur Photography

Now I am by no means an expert photographer like some of my friends and my wonderful husband, but I did feel the need to get out this morning and take some pictures with Josh's camera.

I think I'll just stick to my writing, but hope y'all enjoy the pictures just the same.

My Talk Carolina About Us Page

This is an About Us Page that I re-wrote for MyTalkCarolina.com. The administrator gave me his draft and told me to have it, so I did.

MTC About Us Page:

So what is MyTalkCarolina.com? What are we all about? Keep on reading, and I’ll give you (or y’all, depending on what part of the states you’re in) all a little bit of history about who we are and what do.

MyTalkCarolina.com started off from a lot of different sites that I used to own… well… I still own, but they’re pointed to a different domain. Coast2coast-info.com was the first website that I started off with but was unsuccessful. The second website I started with a buddy of mine called stringdat-lax.net, which is now owned by yours truly- me. It was a lacrosse sports website that was never paid attention to, therefore, not really all that successful. Last was metroconnections.net- I really liked the name and had several friends to help me out. It was popular, at the time, but decided to bring it down and start what we have now- MyTalkCarolina.com. They say with each new thing, you learn something and this is what I’ve learned. With each website MyTalkCarolina.com is the HUB of all the domains I owned.

MyTalkCarolina.com has several thousand members with people signing up daily. We discuss everything from politics to family, recipes to pet care. MyTalkCarolina.com is designed for those that live in North and South Carolina, but we welcome anyone and everyone to sign up, stop by, and say hello or a, “What’s up y’all?”

So sit back and enjoy the ride because at MyTalkCarolina.com, that’s how we roll.

Freelance Project

I got to add another freelance writing project to my "writing resume." It's a company called "myhappyad," and what they do (what Josh told me) is that if you're on MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, or one of those sites, myhappyad puts advertisements up that they think you'll be interested in, in hopes that you'll click on it and drive business to advertising companies. They track what you like and may be interested in and put up the appropriate advertising ads for you. I've already re-written the "About Us" section of the website- now I'm working on advertisers, publishers, and such.

I've decided to go ahead and do the re-writes.. that way I'm ahead of schedule.

Strawberry Pie Recipe

This pie is made of a graham cracker crust and a great substitute when I'm craving Backyard Burgers' strawberry cobbler.

The crust:

9 graham crackers pulsed into crumbs or 1 1/2 cup of graham cracker crumbs
3T sugar
5T melted butter

Mix together and press into a 9-inch pie pan or 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

The filling:

2 cups of strawberries
1/2 cup sugar

Put the berries and sugar in the food processor and pulse until it's a puree.
Transfer to a pot and cook on medium heat with:

1/4t of salt and 2T cornstarch

Cook mixture for about 5 minutes until the taste of the cornstarch is gone, and the mixture has a custard appearance to it. Stir it constantly.

The topping:

4 cups of strawberries
3T strawberry preserves or orange marmelade, melted

Coat with berries with the melt preserves or marmelade to give the berries a shiny appearance.

Pour the filling into the crust and top with the strawberries. Gently push the berries into the custard.

Cover the pie and put it in the refrigerator to set up anywhere from 2-3 hours to a day.

Bon Appetit!!

What Is Sjogrens Disease?

What is Sjogren’s Syndrome?

Sjogrens Syndrome (pronounced SHOW-grins) is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own moisture glands. This disease can affect as many as four million Americans and affects nine out of ten women. The average age of Sjogrens is late 40s, although it can occur in all age groups in men and women.

What are the Symptoms?
The main symptoms of Sjogrens Syndrome is dry mouth and dry eyes (known as Sicca Syndrome) but may, also, cause dryness in the organs such as the central nervous system, the GI tract, the blood vessels, the kidneys, lungs, and the liver. Other symptoms include dry nose, trouble speaking, a change in the sense of smell or taste, dry skin, and fatigue.

Who treats Sjogrens?
Rheumatologists generally treat Sjogrens. Ophthalmologists and dentists are, also, highly qualified to treat Sjogrens.

How easy is it to diagnose Sjogrens?
Sjogrens Syndrome is often misdiagnosed or under diagnosed because the symptoms mimic other systemic diseases such as Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Multiple Sclerosis (MS). But because all of the symptoms do not come up at once, doctors will often treat one symptom at a time and do not recognize a systemic disease is present.

If Sjogrens is suspected, your doctor may run blood tests to determine if you have high levels of antibodies that are indicative of the disease, such as anti-nuclear antibody and rheumatoid factor (Sjogrens frequently occurs secondary to RA).

A Schirmer’s Test can be done by your ophthalmologist to determine if the dryness in your eyes is caused by Sjogrens. A Schirmer’s Test measures to see how much tear film you have. This is conducted by the technician putting an anesthetic drop into your eyes and inserting little strips of paper that have numbers edged into them. She will have you close your eyes for five minutes. After five minutes has passed, she will pull the inserts out and record the amount of moisture you have. If the moisture in your eyes is 5mm or less, then there is the possibility that you may have Sjogrens

Treatment:
Many symptoms of Sjogrens can be treated with over-the-counter medications such as preservative-free artificial tears, artificial salivas, vaginal lubricants, nasal sprays, and unscented body lotions. Prescription meds may include Lacriserts or Restasis, which is used to give relief for dry eyes. Salagen and Evoxac are available to treat dry mouth. Depending on severity, your doctor may recommend non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or immunosuppressive drugs. Some other, non-medicine remedies are to get a humidifier and to wear eye protective googles.

How to Cook a Steak

I used to always get my steak cooked well-done, I wanted no fat on my steak, and I wanted A1 sauce to go with it. It wasn't until I went to eat at a well known steakhouse, that I learned some things about the way steak is cooked.

1. The longer you cook a steak, the less nutritional value it has. Also if you go to a steakhouse and have it cooked well done, they will more than likely give you a steak that is less quality than someone who orders their steak medium rare.

2. Fat gives the steak flavor, so leave it on there.

3. If you have a really good, well seasoned steak, you don't need A1.

SEASONINGS:
You never want your seasonings or marinade to overpower the steak. Sometimes it's as simple as salt and pepper and sometimes it's as simple as a dry rub. A dry rub that I've come up with is chopped rosemary, chopped garlic, salt and pepper. I mix them together and put the dry rub on both sides, just enough to give the steak flavor. Marinades are good as well, but again, I only put enough on the steak to give it flavor.

"HOW WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR STEAK COOKED?"
So now you have your seasoned steak ready to cook, but how? There are five ways to cook a steak by either frying, broiling, or grilling.

Rare: The steak should be lightly charred on the sides and should be bright pink through most of the steak. This steak needs to be cooked on high heat for a minute on both sides. The internal temperature of this steak is 50-55 degrees Celsius.

Medium Rare: The steak should be charred on all sides with a hint of red, but the center should still be pink. The surface should be firm to the touch but still has some give in the center. The internal temperature of this steak is 55-57 degrees Celsius. This steak should be cooked on high heat for 2-3 minutes on each side. Any gourmet chef will tell you this is the way a steak should really be cooked.

Medium: The steak should have a thick pink center but be more browned than pink. The steak should, also, still have some play in the middle but be firm. The internal temperature of this steak is 60-65 degrees Celsius and should be cooked over medium heat for about 5-6 minutes on each side.

Medium well: The steak will be brown all the way through with the slightest hint of pink. This steak needs to be cooked on high heat for a minute (the central part of your grill), and then cooked on medium heat (the side of your grill) for about 5-6 minutes on each side.

Well done: The steak will be brown all the way through with no hint of pink but should not be burnt. The steak is firm all the way through with no give if you press on it. This is by far the hardest steak to cook because you don't want to burn it. The steak needs to be cooked low and slow to prevent this; cooked on medium heat 10-12 minutes on each side. The internal temperature of this steak is 77< degrees Celsius.

You've taken your perfectly cooked steak off the heat; now what? I bet you want to cut right into it and eat it, right? WRONG! Never, never cut into a steak that has just been taken off the heat. The reason being is if you cut into a steak too soon, the wonderful, flavoring juices that should be redistributing through the steak is going to go all over the plate, and the meat will be tough. The rule is to wait 5 minutes before cutting into a steak, so you give the juices time.

Trust me, your mouth will thank you! Bon apptit!

Assessing Sexism in Gaming: Is It Still a Boy's World?

When I was little, the Easter Bunny gave me a Gameboy. I played games such as Tetris, Super Mario World, even a baseball game that I was really good at. I pretty much played my Gameboy until the screen cracked, and I had to get rid of it.

It wasn't until I got engaged that I started getting back into gaming; this time graduating to the original Playstation and this time playing Crash Bandicoot and Grand Theft Auto. I played those games so much that I had them memorized; had every secret unlocked on Crash and knew exactly how to turn my car so that I wouldn't run into a fence. Playing Playstation was so much fun and made the time pass by when I was bored, but I still wasn't into gaming like I am today.

A couple of years ago, I bought a Playstation 2, still playing every Crash Bandicoot game that I could get my hands on. I bought and played Guitar Hero 2 when it was originally made for Playstation 2; the same goes for Hot Shots Golf 3.

That still wasn't enough, and soon, my husband bought an Xbox 360 Elite, and I bought a Nintendo DS. This is where my gaming skills start to really improve, and I start to play more than most girls my age ever thought about playing. The Xbox 360 games range from Condemned (think Silent Hill-scary) to Burnout Paradise to Acme Arsenal to Rockband (all of which I have played). My DS games range from Brain Age to Word Coach: French to Sims to Yoshi.

So as far as assessing sexism in gaming: Is it still a boy's world? No. Are about sixty percent of the games, regardless of the system, targeted towards teenage boys and young men? Yes, BUT that doesn't mean that all teenage boys and men are the only ones that play the games or that they're the only ones that gaming industries want to play the games. Gaming industries know boys are more likely to play because they know women think gaming is for boys, but the industries are trying to change that thought process.

On Xbox you can purchase Xbox Live cards; these cards let you play online with other players in other states and even other countries. My husband plays with a lot of guys from his work but also plays with a lot of girls in other states and, at least, one in another country (No it doesn't bother me). These girls play games like Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty 3, Gears of War, Halo 3, Bioshock, and the list goes on. These girls not only play but have beat the games on expert while still playing "girlie" games.

There's even an online group called The Gamer Chix. They get together every week to play a different game and invite girls from everywhere to play. When you're in the room with these ladies, there is no trash talk, no put downs, no negativity; just girls having fun, boosting each other up, playing video games.

If non-gaming women think it's still a boy's world, it's because women think it's a boy's world. A lot of women are too scared to even try to play. For whatever reason I don't know; either they're scared of getting embarrassed, afraid they might enjoy it, and/or afraid of what other women will think about them. I once had a girl tell my friends (in front of me), "Every time I talk to Amanda, she's playing a video game. I mean, seriously, how old is she?" Needless to say, she's not my friend anymore.

In conclusion, more than half of the games are targeted towards males, BUT if we can play a shoot-'em-up game and pretend it's our boss or significant other, then we're going to play it. We're going to play just as well, if not better, than boys. So watch out, the Gamer Chix are coming to get ya!

New Update.

It's been a long time since I've blogged here, but here I am... keeping my word about what's going on with my writing and such.

My freelance career is starting off slow, but I'd much rather have it start out slow than not at all. I know that I'm not going to be able to quit the eye business on Monday, and I'm okay with that. But writing is something I've wanted to do since I was a teenager. Writing comes natural to me, and it's something I am passionate about, and for that- I'll gladly wait my turn to be a permanent stay-at-home writer.

So what's new in the writing world of Amanda??

Well right now I'm working on my first Grant Writing project in ophthalmology (eyes). I have never done grant writing before (yes the guy knows this), but I'm strong in ophthalmology so he's letting me take the project on. We're working together-- he's doing the research, and when the time comes, I'm doing the writing. I've bought a Grant Writing book and have been very dependent on my wonderful cousin who is experienced in research and grant writing--- THANK YOU JESSICA!! Every email that is sent, I forward to her for her professional opinion.

I've also been in contact with someone about re-writing 25 articles twice, and that looks promising.

I'm really strong in the medical field- obviously-so I think writing and re-writing medical articles is going to be my strong suit and a strong start to my freelance career, which is fine with me. Everyone needs to start somewhere.

I have also been working on another book-- this one a little darker than the first one, actually, it's a lot darker than the first one. LOL...

So that's what's going on with the writing world of me. Now that I know how to blog on "blogger" correctly, I'll post more often.

Love to all.