Maraschino Cookies, Music, and Lip Balm

Fun news in my life: I got food poisoning and have been having some ongoing nausea for the last week and a half, hence no blog posts.

Digestive turmoil aside, other things I have been doing include working (open enrollment season! Aaagh!), listening to "new to me" music, instagramming my Halloween socks, following P90X Plus, sorting Legos, and writing.

New Lego Halloween Monsters in some kind of metal music video setup that TC made:



 

These are not Breast Cancer Awareness Month cookies.  They just...I'm just going to stop here.  TC asked for maraschino sugar cookies and this is what I found.





 

 

[yumprint-recipe id='26']

[caption id="attachment_4396" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The stickers are from Vapor Distillery in Boulder. I've never been there, but I sticker my notebooks. TC said I should send them to all my East Coast friends. Ouch![/caption]

 

The Workout

P90X Plus is the continuation/maintenance/bonus program that came with the "deluxe" version of P90X I bought two years ago.  I completed P90X earlier this year, did Insanity in late summer, then picked back up the weights (resistance bands) in P90X Plus for now 'til January.  I'm doing the "Lean" track.  It is inner thigh and back murder.  My only logistical complaint is that these DVDs were recorded at a lower volume than other Beachbody DVDs, meaning I really have to turn my music down in order to hear the trainer (in this case, Tony Horton).  There is a more thorough review of this and other home workouts on this great website I found while looking into what others though of P90X Plus: 2 Lazy 4 the Gym.  Follow, read, and be amused.

 

Music and Earworms

Since last year's Gothic Granola Exercise Playlist, I think it's time for a new one, with some pop (what?!) included.

In no particular order, my earworms:

"Dressed to Kill" - Sharon Needles (Video shot at Exdo in Denver, yay.)

"Get Away with Murder" - Jeffree Star (What an aromantic anthem.)

"Nails" - Alaska Thunderfuck (I always used to want fake nails like claws.  Because I cook and bake so much, fake nails are not practical.)

"Blitz und Donner" - Erdling (I can't find a translation and it doesn't bother me.)

While listening to a Communion After Dark Radio podcast, I learned of IAMX - "Happiness" specifically, then I liked these others: "I Come with Knives," "The Unified Field," "Bernadette." (Again proving my music tastes are anywhere from 5-10 years behind the times.)

Radio Digital Gunfire (Hearing various band members saying in various European and Russian accents that "you are listening to Radio Digital Gunfire" is just great.)

 

Vegan Lip Balm

Is a bitch to find.  I've always liked Crazy Rumors since I first bought a few of their lip balms at the Whole Earth Center in Princeton.  Roots Market in Maryland stocked CR, as well, but in Colorado, Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Lucky's have been really coming up empty for good vegan lip balms.  Lucky's only vegan chapstick was by hidden away by the registers: Soothing Lips.  I'm currently using the Soothing Lips vanilla chai vegan balm and I have a Candy Corn Crazy Rumors stashed away from my last visit to Nooch in Denver.  I don't want to order a tonne of vegan balm online nor do I want to have to haul ass to Denver every time I need a new lip balm.  #firstworldveganproblems, seriously.

Parting Shots:

Legos, Legos, Legos.  The sorting is going well, but sorting fatigue is a real thing.



Banana protein "vice cream" made with Cholaca and topped with One Degree veganic cacao crisps.

Made 'naner bread with red bananas.  Vitamixing the bananas is key for texture; I TOLD YOU SO, TC.



I know what you think this bread looks like.  Buckwheat flour makes everything very dark.  I don't agree with the "oven spring" practice in Jennifer Katzinger's Gluten-free and Vegan Breads (nor do I appreciate her flowery prose), but I like her sourdough starter directions.  This, however, is a regular yeasted "Buckwheat Boule."  Very hearty, like the GF version of real pumpernickel (not the coloured stuff).  The two-hour baking time (with a proper bain marie) made me glad I don't pay for gas.



Before he was stricken with the plague, TC made me soup with lots of rosemary, and I ate it before I could take pictures.  When I felt a little better, I made a pumpkin bisque (like this zombie soup recipe) with tofu, quinoa, and cauliflower--and rosemary.