Baking duds

Either I'm getting pickier and seeing my baking faults more easily, or my baking's not been so good lately.

I made some mint-chocolate brownies for Chico's Boy Scout meeting. I had some leftover chocolate glaze from my black-and-white cookies (which, miraculously, turned out pretty good), so I figured I'd use a box of brownie mix that's been sitting in the cupboard for a few months (see? Saving time and using products before they expire - now that's smart), whip up some mint frosting, then top it with the chocolate glaze. In my head, they would look like this:


But the chocolate glaze set too quickly before I could even scrape it all out of the bowl, then when I spread it around it started getting all smeared with the mint frosting and there were green streaks all over the place that could not be confused with a nice marbled effect. A few attempts to make it look better resulted in more streaking and the hardened chocolate glaze wasn't cooperating with me, so I eventually forced myself to stop messing with it before I ruined the whole thing. Overall the brownies didn't look pretty, but they must've tasted great because the Boy Scouts wolfed them all down.

Yesterday I tried making the basque cake using this recipe. The guy mentions in his blog post that the recipe had been scaled down to make enough batter for one cake, but I think his math was off. The recipe made way too much batter for one cake and even though it called for 1 lb of pastry cream, his pastry cream recipe only made 8 ounces. I doubled the pastry cream recipe to accommodate the recipe, but the resulting cake had way too much pastry cream in it and was a big, gloppy mess (a huge waste of expensive butter and vanilla). Also there was enough leftover batter to make a second cake. My solution? I sent him a message asking him to check the recipe, then immediately impulse-bought the cookbook he cited.

My black and white cookies actually turned out okay (this is not my picture, but they basically looked the same).


I also made homemade pizza yesterday, and that didn't go so well, either. I used a pizza stone on the bottom rack of the oven and 475 degree heat. This is normally okay as it creates a crispy crust and cooks the toppings, but this time I amped up the ingredients and used tons of vegetables on the pizza. As the pizza cooks the water seeps out of the vegetables and creates little water puddles on the surface of the pizza. I left the pizza in the oven long after the crust had cooked, waiting for the water to evaporate. However, by the time the water evaporated, the crust had burned - it was completely black. I cranked down the heat to 400 for the second pizza, but the same thing happened. It wasn't as bad that time, but the crust did get scorched. So I need to balance the heat and placement of the oven racks so that the toppings and the crust cook at the same rate.

Tomorrow I'm making chocolate chip cookies for the newspaper guy (he wrote an article about my upcoming African music show) and soon I'm attacking a lemon layer cake. Hopefully that will go better.

Latest baking project

While I was at my baking/pastry class in Napa Valley, I got to eat all the wonderful creations of the other students. One of the pastry arts students made this amazing cake. It was very simple looking - one layer, no frosting, just powdered sugar on top, and not a chocolate chip in sight. It looked like a plain brown slice of cake with a little custard in the middle.



Although it looks simple, it tastes amazing. I was stuffed from eating my huge dinner and already sampling like four other desserts, but I wolfed down an entire slice of this cake. It just had an amazing richness for looking so plain. I asked the pastry students what it was, and they said it's Basque Cake. I did a little googling and found it's from France and/or Spain. Now I want to make this for my family and friends just to show them its deliciousness. I'm using this recipe.

I've discovered it requires six sticks of butter and 5 eggs. No wonder it tasted so good!

Now I must make it.

African music comes to Grayling!

I have to say, I'm better at coming up with ideas than actually organizing things. But I'm trying really hard to put on this drum-building workshop and plan a couple of shows for my friend Djam.

I'm working as a liaison between Djam and the local music venues and the music store to make this a success.

The drum-building workshop will be May 1 and May 3 at Dharma Music in Grayling.

On Saturday, May 1 there will be instruction on building drums and includes carving, sanding and oiling the base and heading the drum. There's also a Ghanaian food luncheon featuring delicious tuwo (you overcook rice to make it a mushy paste, then scoop it into balls) served with okra soup. I have some hibiscus flowers to make bissap juice, too. Yum! The created drums will take a day to dry.

Monday night (May 3) we will tune the drums, followed by a drumming lesson from Djam. The cost for the class is $350, but everyone gets to take home their own djembe along with the instruction on building one for themselves.

Djam explained the class to his friend Tani, and now Tani is going to come to Grayling with Djam and they will do a performance here. Tani plays the kamele ngoni, a Malian instrument that's like a cross between a banjo and a harp. He's a great musician with a beautiful voice and I'm excited about the shows. His music is like African blues with a little funk and I think it will be a welcome change from the usual music scene in Grayling.

I scheduled them to play at Gray Rock Cafe and Lounge saturday night (May 1) with a $5 cover charge. Then they'll do a free, family-friendly show at the local coffee shop (Thanks a Latte) on sunday (May 2) from 10-2.

I've submitted the event to the local newspaper and put an ad in classifieds. Now I just have to make some posters and get them hung up around town. Hopefully tomorrow, when I have a day off, I can get started on that.

Djam's beautiful drums.


Tani and Djam.

An interview with Crystal about Napa

An interview was conducted with Crystal regarding her trip to Napa Valley, California, during the week of April 4-10. She attended the CIA's (Culinary Institute of America) Baking and Pastry Arts Career Discovery course.

Interviewer: Hi Crystal, thanks for meeting with me.
Crystal: The pleasure is certainly mine. I'm so glad I can get my story out to the general public.

I: Would you care for some wine? [holds out a bottle of Folie a Deux's Menage a Trois, a Napa Valley wine]
C: Well, I don't usually mix business with booze, but today I can make an exception. Thank you.

I: So I'd like to start by asking you what the course is about and why you signed up for it.
C: The course is for people interested in learning about careers in baking and pastry arts. For example, working in a bakery or food writing or becoming a pastry chef in a restaurant. I've always loved baking and have considered going to baking/pastry school but wanted to test the waters before plunging in headfirst. So that was the point of the course - to try to make up my mind on whether on not I should enroll in pastry school.

I: And did you come up with a decision?
C: Yes! I loved the class so much that I've decided I'm going to do it - I'm going to go to pastry school, and hopefully this fall. In all my years of college (6-1/2, but who's counting?) I was never as interested in a lecture as I was for this course. I was hanging onto this guy's every word. And I don't feel too guilty about making such a huge jump (from wood products engineering to baking) because baking involves a lot of science, and I'm confident I can transfer my wood science skills to the baking field.

I: Tell me more about the course. What did you do? Did you make food? Who was your instructor?
C: My instructor was Chef Aaron Brown, a really cool, funny, and smart-as-hell guy. He acted kind of laid-back which gives one the impression that he's spacey, but man, that guy is on the ball. You could ask him anything and he'd have an answer. I was totally impressed with him and his vast knowledge of baking. [finishes glass of wine] So here's how the class worked - first we'd attend lecture for about 2 hours, going over each recipe we'd be making and discussing the theory behind it. Then we'd go up to the kitchen and begin working. We were assigned to teams of 2, and were usually given about two different things to complete in the next five hours. My partner and I made:
Chocolate chip cookies and walnut shortbread (where we studied the creaming method),
Lemon meringue pies and tiramisu (making pie crusts, custards, and whipping cream),
Sourdough bread and soft rolls (yeast doughs),
Lavash and pita bread (flat breads made with yeast doughs), and
Chocolate ganache tart and white chocolate-cointreau-coconut bonbons (tempering chocolate = huge pain in my ass.)

I: And what about the other people in the class?
C: There were eight of us, all women. Four of us were between 28-38, and four of us were in their 50s or 60s. The younger women were like me, trying to figure out if they should go to pastry school, while the older women were business entrepreneurs wanting to know more about baking and experienced chefs working on their technique.

C: Oh, and I have to add something. My career discovery class weren't the only people in the kitchen. There were culinary students and pastry students there, too, working on their own creations. Every night I looked forward to dinner, where at 7:00 we'd drop what we were doing and eat. All the food the culinary and pastry students made that day was served. It was just tons of entrees, one after another, taking up two 20-foot tables. The week I was there was "Asian Week" for the culinary students, so I got to eat Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai and Indian food all week. Plus the TAs have to make food just in case the student-made foods don't turn out or are running late, so there were more traditional foods served, as well. And for dessert you could choose from about 25 creations from the pastry class. I had to try at least four different pastries, cookies, cakes, and pies each night. It was amazing.

I: Wow, sounds delicious. I bet I'd gain 50 pounds if I went there.
C: Yeah, I admit I went a little apeshit while I was there, but I think if I were a "normal" student I'd be more careful about not stuffing myself. But since I was on vacation I just enjoyed myself and lived life to the fullest.

I: So are you going to go to school at the CIA?
C: I don't think so. I just can't afford the tuition. As it is, I'm still paying off loans from my first round of college, so I don't want to add onto that too much. I'm currently looking at the Culinary Institute of Michigan at Baker College in Muskegon, so we'll see where that goes.

I: What did you do in Napa besides go to school?
C: Well, I was a couch surfer for the week. I stayed with my friend Anthony and his housemates, who were really cool. I like hanging out with artists and poets and musicians because I feel like they're my kind of people, so I really enjoyed their company. Plus we went out at the end of the week for some dancing, and it was fun to just let loose and have fun (not easy to do in Grayling). Other than that I went to a local museum, ate a great burrito, and did some cooking for my new friends.

I: Did you go wine tasting?
C: No, and I can't believe it. I just didn't get a chance! With my class being from 2pm-8:30pm it just wasn't conducive to taste wine and go to class tipsy. At a normal college that would've been okay because you just sit in class and daydream, but being in the kitchen you gotta be on top of your game to make the best pastries you can. So I was waiting to do it on saturday, but that day there was heavy rain, which isn't good for touring vineyards, and I ate an awesome burrito that unfortunately made me feel sleepy. So it just didn't work out. I bought a $6 bottle of Napa valley wine at the store and called it good.

I: Did you take any pictures:
C: Naw, my camera's batteries died and I never got around to getting new ones. You'll just have to imagine Napa valley with its rolling green hills, vineyards, winding roads, and "quaint" mansions.

I: Well Crystal, thanks again for the interview. It sounds like your trip was a success.
C: Absolutely! And thank you.

Freezing in Napa

Okay, so I made it to Napa in one piece. It was some serious traveling - first a 3-hour busride from Grayling to East Lansing. Then a night in a run-down Super 8, but near the MSU campus so I found some good Thai food and spent some time hanging out at Meijer. Then a 5:00 bus to Detroit. That was interesting because first the hotel's shitty alarm clock never went off, and the cell phone alarm either didn't go off (I guess the phone needs to be on) or I silenced it in my sleep. So I get up at 4:15 and jump in the shower. I had arranged for a taxi to pick me up at 4:30 and they showed up at 4:20 and started banging on the door and calling me. I'm like, "dude, you're early. I'm coming." So anyway, I make it to the bus station, head for Detroit airport, and then proceed to travel until 8pm getting to Oakland. Three different flights with stops in Colorado and Salt Lake City. Good times.

I make it to Oakland and practically have a heart attack when the car rental guy says they need to charge my debit card an extra $250 as "insurance" in case something happens to the vehicle. So today I am at the library to check my account and make sure there's enough money to cover this little incidental.

I'm couch surfing with a guy named Anthony. His house is freezing. It's about 45 degrees outside and it's the same temperature inside. The house has big single-pane windows and is heated by a woodstove that sometimes is lit. But Anthony and his roommates are really nice and I'm headed to the thrift store to pick up some sweatshirts. And soon I will be going to my first career exploration class. Wish me luck!

A new job and Napa

I have exciting news!

A few weeks ago, while I was working at Kmart, this customer, the manager from a bank across the street, liked the way I interacted with customers and encouraged me to apply for their seasonal teller position. I took her up on it, put my application in, had a couple of interviews, and... I got the job! I will be starting at the end of the month. The good thing is I get 40 hours a week and $8 an hour (Kmart is $7.40/hour and I get 25-30 hours/week). I will also have a consistent schedule, none of this weird 3-9 pm stuff one day, 9-5 the next.

The bad news is, I actually like my job at Kmart, and I'm worried this job will be boring. And I have to dress up.

But that's also good news, because I love clothes and dressing up. So I'm kind of pumped to go shopping for "business attire." When I was a little girl and thought about what I wanted to be when I grew up, I just imagined myself wearing a powersuit and high heels. I never had an idea of what job I'd be doing, I just knew what I wanted to look like. I'm glad I finally have an excuse to wear a powersuit and high heels.

The bottom line is, I'm going to stay at Kmart, as long as I don't get too burned out. I don't want to burn any bridges there. And I was just starting to get tight with the girls in fashions...

So yeah, that's my latest job news.

Tomorrow I'm going to Napa for a career exploration class in pastry at the Culinary Institute of America. I found a couch to crash on, and it's in a good location and the dude has roommates so it doesn't seem too scary. I'm going to rent a car so I can explore the area. Tomorrow I'll be hopping a bus to East Lansing, then spending the night there and flying out of Detroit City. Hopefully this class will help me find some answers about what I want to do next.

A walk down the road

The weather has been beautiful here lately, and I'm trying to take full advantage of it.

I took a walk down my road. I purposely didn't bring my mp3 player because I wanted to hear the birds and see the beauty of my surroundings with no distraction. Here's some things I saw:

Mailboxes hit by plow trucks.


There's a state-owned game refuge along one side of our road.


I liked this knobby-looking tree with its shiny new sap droplets.


I love the ground cover - dead oak leaves with lots of dried-up moss. Very crunchy when you walk on it!


And some nice pussy willow down by the riverbank.


Last but not least, my favorite picture:

Packages to Afriq

I've been collecting things to send to Niger for quite some time. We even had an earring-making party to send to the ladies. I sent the packages out today, one for my villagers in Niger, one for my friend Ma Mouda in Ghana (he takes care of my villagers when they travel there to do work).

To my villagers, I sent:

• 2 big packages of bubble gum.
• About 40 pairs of earrings, plus necklaces and bracelets for the ladies.
• A couple leftover euros to buy the kids a soccer ball.
• Small bottles of hand lotion.
  
• A WWE t-shirt for Issoufou (only 99 cents at Kmart).
  
• A pair of sunglasses for Malam Ousmane, the village Fulan leader.

Malam Ousmane. I had a secret crush on him. :)

• I also sent a few things for Ryo, the local JICA volunteer (like Peace Corps from Japan) who I'm sending the package to - he will then give it to Issoufou to bring back to the village. I had to send the stuff to Ryo because he has an address and my villagers don't. I hooked him up with almonds, granola bars (with raisins, since it's hot season right now and chocolate will melt), and jelly beans.

Petting baby camels with Ryo.


And for Ma Mouda in Ghana, I sent:

• $40 cash for him to exchange. When I went to Ghana he hooked me up (let me crash at his place, took me out to dinner, bought me minutes for my cell phone) and now he takes care of Issoufou and friends.
• Granola bars (again, without chocolate chips).
• Makeup samples and a few headbands to give to the girls (Blackie had to try them on first).

Ma Mouda


I'd like to extend a special thanks to Alanna and Heather for sending me goodies to send to my friends. :)

Couchsurfing, grrr

My Peace Corps buddies told me about couchsurfing.org, a program that connects people to crash on each other's couches while traveling and, in return, host people to crash on your own couch. My first thought was, "is this safe?" I mean, you sleep on a complete stranger's couch. What if that person is a psychopath or a rapist? But my friend Chelsea assured me that yes, you have to be careful about whose couch you sleep on, but there are ways to check that person out first. You read their profile. People who have already slept on their couch "vouch" for them - "John is a really great guy. I enjoyed hearing his music and his friends were really cool." Also, they can be "verified" by couchsurfing.org, where they contribute some money and their identity and address are verified to be true so you know it's not some creepy freakazoid pretending to be a cute female college student. Also, there are "friends" like in facebook, only in this website you have to say how you know that person. You can use all this to make sure it's someone you want to stay with. Then you send them a message, asking if you can surf at their house, and voila - you have a place to stay and a potential new friend. That's the best case scenario.

I joined couchsurfing.org so that I can find a place to stay while I'm taking my pastry career exploration class at the Culinary Institute of America. The school is in St. Helena, CA, which is right smack dab in the middle of Napa Valley. Wine country, baby! In the past month, I've sent out over 20 messages to people asking if I can surf on their couch. Some never gave a response. Others said they're going to be out of town, or have someone already staying with them, or that their couch is just "not available."

I'm getting frustrated. I'm leaving for Napa this saturday, and I have no idea where I'll be staying. I'm starting to lose my faith in the whole program, as it's not helping me out so far.

The good news is, I have a backup plan. I found a cheap hotel that's only $50 a night. After living in Africa for two years, even the shadiest hotel is probably "not that bad." Hotel's got some cockroaches? Try having them crawl over your foot when you have to pee in the middle of the night. Hotel's got shady plumbing? Hey, at least I can drink it without getting diarrhea. And it includes a continental breakfast. I'll give it a couple days. If I don't have a place to stay by wednesday, I'm booking a hotel room.

Never part of the crowd

I like my job at Kmart. It's challenging, I get new things to do, and I like interacting with people. But the problem is, I still don't feel like I fit in there. The people I work with, the other cashiers and the customer service people, have their own little cliques going and, as usual, I'm the odd one out. It doesn't matter how long they've worked there, there's this group of people who hang out all the time and even new employees somehow have joined this "club." But I'm never invited. I get that I take my job more seriously, more professionally than others. Maybe they see me as someone different because of that. And I get that I'm different because I'm in my late 20s while they're a lot younger, like 20 or 21. But that doesn't mean that I don't feel left out.

I don't know why I'm so upset. For the most part I don't even like these people. There's the girl with the newborn baby who drops the baby off with her parents and goes out every night. There's the girl with a new scuzzy boyfriend each week, complaining about her relationship problems. And there's the lazy boys who, at every given chance, run off to a corner and "hide" from the management, thus ignoring their work and leaving more for me the next time I come in.

These are some of the feelings I had in high school, where I never felt like I fit in and didn't make connections with most of the people I knew. I've never been a cliquey person, and that's something I'm usually happy with. But every so often I feel left out, and it's lonely.

My time in Teyiss

My Niger boyfriend, Darey, finally rejoined civilization and was in an area where I could call him. I was so happy to hear from him, and hear how he and his family are doing.

Now who is this guy? I use the term "boyfriend" loosely. While I lived in Niger we had a kind of third-grade romance: we'd see each other every few months, bring each other little gifts, express how happy we were to see each other, etc. When I left he was like, "please don't forget me!" and how could I? I had a lot of adventures with Darey. He taught me a lot of Hausa (my Niger language), he taught me about his culture (the Wodaabe people), he taught me some cultural norms, and we just had fun together.

I first met him at a herders' meeting near Abalak. He is very much a politician, always meeting people, making contacts, trying to get help for his people. He's also handsome, with dark skin, high cheekbones, a straight, long nose, and beautiful white teeth. I also like his polite, soft-spoken manner. Never one to get angry or upset, and always gentle.

We were together for about a year, but only saw each other every few months for about a week at a time. He would come down to Konni to visit me, and a few times when I hadn't seen him in a while, I traveled up to Abalak to see him in his village and to stay with his people.

Staying in Darey's village was so different from living in my village. My village seems rich compared to his. In Darey's village (known as Teyiss), there are only about 5 houses. The houses are made out of sticks and old rags, and some don't even have a roof. The land is dryer as his village is further north, and so the lush, leafy Neem trees that we get in Korap don't even grow in Darey's neck of the woods. All they have are thorny Acacia trees and this invasive exotic tree from Asia that looks like a woody milkweed. You really gotta watch out for those thorny Acacias - the thorns fall on the ground and will pierce your foot right through your shoes. If you want to sit under one for shade, you have to be careful not to get stabbed in your butt and legs.

These people are truly bush. They don't listen to the radio like my villagers because they can't afford batteries. The kids don't speak Hausa (they are Wodaabe and they speak Fulfulde), and flashlights are a rarity. The Wodaabe people's livelihood is their cattle. Some cows have been around for a decade at least, and wherever there is grass, that is where the herders take them. They walk through trail-less, thorny bush land to get water from the wells and find something, anything for the cattle to eat. They camp out under the stars every night, carrying their possessions in a backpack or in calabash bowls they balance on their heads. There is never enough water for bathing. While some family members are herding, others are staying in the village, the homestead. These are the people I stayed with.

In the true Niger tradition, they gave me the nicest bedding - a cot with blankets and a real pillow. At nights we sat around fires (at least there's more firewood up north since they don't have farms), the old men making individual pots of tea, us young kids sharing our own pot of tea. The Wodaabe people are cuddly, young men and young women not shy about touching each other, and I would snuggle up with my friend Mariama as we huddled under a blanket. When darkness really fell, we would go to bed, where I slept warm and comfortable under the cold Sahel sky.

In the mornings I'd awaken to the sounds of fire-building, tea-brewing, and goats and sheep running around bleating. I'd find some kid to fill my water bottle, my Nalgene bottle which never left my side, and use the bathroom (go to some bushes). It's culturally appropriate to walk around to each house greetings its occupants ("a waali jam?" "How did you sleep?"), then taking them up on any offers to have tea or eat food. It would easily take an hour to visit four houses.

To kill time, I'd read a book I'd brought (I remember reading "The Poisonwood Bible" in Teyiss) or do some sewing. When you live with others, you feel as though you have no personal space or time to yourself. Being a visitor can be trying on a person. Plus, I didn't speak their language, so the energy spent trying to learn Fulfulde would kick my ass. I also couldn't take part in conversations unless they were in Hausa, and listening to people speak in a language you don't know gets boring. Throughout the day we'd move our mats around to follow the shade, as it moved along with the sun. At midday they let me stay in the teacher's house, the only building with a roof, so I could get shade.

If school was in session, I'd go sit in class just for something to do and to talk to the teacher, my friend Boubacar. He had each of the kids draw a colorful bowl, then gave me all the pictures. These kids are about 7 years old, so the pictures were pretty cute. I still have them.

One afternoon Darey's grandmother invited me into her little home, a 4' by 8' tent made with a wood frame and rags. I walked in and it was just full of stuff, including a pair of Darey's shoes that I remembered giving him a while back. She laid out a mat and invited me to sit down. Then she laid down, saying she was tired. I realized she was inviting me to take a nap with her. It was so sweet. Unfortunately, I had just awoken from a nap, which I told her, and when she was close to falling asleep I left her on her own. It is not unusual for people to sleep together in Niger - men, women, kids, women and kids. Often grandmas will sleep with a couple of grandkids each night. I remember my neighbor/best friend Rabi offering me her daughter Habsu to use as a sleeping friend.

The beautiful Darey.


One of the old guys, I just call him "Baba" (Dad).


Zamani, who braided my hair and whose house I hung out at the most.


Darey's cousin, I forgot the guy's name. He was just stopping through. Notice the tea brewing on the charcoal stove.


My homegirl Mariama.


The kids! I taught this girl, Halima (the taller one), how to play cards. Jyo'di, the boy, is the little guy in the Niger shirt. And the baby is my little friend Zeina (we have the same name).


How could I have forgotten a picture of grandma?

St. Patty's Day cupcakes

My dad's workplace had a potluck lunch on St. Patty's Day last week, and he predictably signed up to bring a dessert (he knows how much I love baking.)

I tried to get creative with this one. When I think of St. Patty's Day, I envision corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes (who doesn't?). But those don't really fit with desserts, so I went a little further and thought of Irish coffee - coffee with a shot of Irish whiskey and a shot of Bailey's Irish Creme. I did a little research on Bailey's to figure out how I could replicate its flavors, and learned it's cream flavored with chocolate, vanilla, and possibly caramel and hazelnut. So maybe I could make a cupcake with an Irish cream filling (that you inject into the cupcake using a pastry bag), and with some kind of chocolate frosting.

I made standard yellow cupcakes using a recipe from The Cake Bible. For the cream filling, I made pastry cream, which is basically a thick custard. I flavored the pastry cream with vanilla, a little chocolate, a little coffee, and just enough whiskey to give it a kick. For the frosting, I wanted to try working with ganache, as it's something I have little experience with. Ganache is a chocolate glaze made with heavy cream and chocolate, and works perfectly when making chocolates, chocolate-covered strawberries, and any cake where you want a glaze hanging over the sides that isn't too fluffy like frosting.

Something happened to the pastry cream and it came out kind of thin. I had a hard time injecting it into my goods because it just tried to squeeze out the top of the pastry bag. Even now, I have leftover chocolate-coffee-whiskey-flavored pudding in the fridge, and I'm not sure what to do with it. I've already put it back on the stove twice for additional cooking, but it only helped a little. I'll try stiffening it by mixing in some cool whip, then use that to make a couple pies for people to bring to work.

Injecting cupcakes.


I didn't have cupcake liners, so I tried making some by squishing parchment paper circles into a cup shape. It kind of worked.


Voila! The final product.


Here's how they look on the inside.

Exciting new coat

The only mild-weather coat ("mild" meaning anything above 45 degrees) is a long leather jacket that I got at a thrift store. This guy I knew in college called it my "pimp coat," and the description rings true.

Since pimp coats are not in style at the moment, I need something to get me through the Michigan springtime. My criteria:

• It has to be stylish, so I'd prefer a military-style jacket or something with studs.
• The coat must have a lining to stand up to this chilly Michigan weather.
• It needs to fall at the hip - anything shorter and my already substantial hips would look bigger; anything longer would look too formal for daily wear.
• To complement my shape, I want it to have a belt, drawstring, or tailoring at the waist.
  

After hours of searching for the coat online, I finally found something I like. Behold, the Hurley Newman YC Jacket:



I'm getting it at zappos, my favorite shopping website, for only $60 including shipping. I can't wait to try it on!

Great family movies

We have a subscription to Netflix, and everybody puts their movies