#shockingly a dark horse winner

[cookinguptales]

so I texted my dad saying that this cannoli SLAPS and

bless.

[vending-deeper]

Cookie Profile 3

Hello, friends! If you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed that I am having a cookie naming contest! (You can find the full information post HERE.)

The contest officially ends at 12:01am on the day after Christmas - and sometime during the day on the 26th I’ll release the winning names as well as the Order Form for baked goods to be delivered at @charmedhypno​. Until then, I’m going to be posting a profile of each of the different baked goods to help people come up with naming ideas!

You can enter one of the following ways: Reblog or Reply to this post, DM me either here on tumblr or over at Twitter (where I am @enscenic), on Twitter you can also reply to any of my cookie contest posts with your entries or post with the hashtag “#EnScenicCookieContest. You can also DM me on Fetlife, where I am Noelle_Cyanide. I will pick one winner per item, (unless I like my own idea better. This will not happen very often.) Winners get free cookies!

Today’s Cookie is…

Rosemary Chocolate Chip

This is the dark horse of my chocolate chip cookie stable. I’ve made a vegan version of this cookie in previous years, and never really managed to create something that I felt could match the other cookies that I make. This year, this cookie will not be vegan, which means that it will have a traditional cookie mouth-feel, and will, quite honestly, knock your socks off with how shockingly good it is. This is as close to a savory cookie as you can get, short of leaving out the sugar entirely; if you pay close attention you may be able to taste hints of nutmeg and cinnamon, but the rosemary is absolutely the star.

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 30 - VAN - Never Easy

6-5 OT Loss

It’s never easy with these guys is it? They gave us just enough Thanksgiving hope to make us think this season wasn’t already over. A shockingly weak Atlantic Division was the gravy beside a turkey of early winter belief. Well maybe send a check for it to Josh Allen because I don’t know if our hope is coming from this team or if it’s a biproduct of the football team’s success. Even when it’s close, even when they force it into overtime, this hockey club drags us hard. Tyler Myers gets a two-point night including a go-ahead goal? This game felt like it was being written for us; written in just a way to give us the full range of emotions. We got the former Sabres scoring, we got Marcus Johansson scoring a goal to resurrect himself, we got Victor Olofsson being the hero we knew in October and getting a powerplay goal! We even got an OT winner… that was iced as the football kickers say! It was a drama, a dramatic tragedy. These guys could’ve gotten two points tonight, but they had to settle for one. Hey, at the end of the day the regular season is like a good streaming show. Every episode has its moments and the overarching narratives are what keep you coming back. The Sabres current overarching narrative is a Jack Eichel point streak that has now reached twelve games straight! That’s the longest of his career and accompanied by some pretty stellar gifs out of this one. Speaking of coming back, how about those Canucks jerseys? I got confused at times because at a quick glance they look like the Sabres primary home jerseys. So the Canucks actually wore two throwback jerseys begging the question why the Sabres… nope, okay I’m going to resist the urge to distract from this game. It was actually rather fun if I say so myself.

This team is resistant to making it easy. It’s funny to say that two games removed from demolishing the New Jersey Devils but throughout it’s rare to see a complete performance from these guys. The Sabres went in ebbs and flow for the whole first period but it was more ebbs than flows if you know what I mean. Right after a decent stretch of O-Zone time Jordie Benn the angry leprechaun airmailed a puck into the neutral zone where Josh Leivo managed to out-maneuver his guy and go in on Hutton to draw first blood. The Canucks were dominating in every category except 5 on 5 high danger scoring chances in the first and even that was 50/50. I don’t think I’d want to say the home team could’ve scored even more in the first but it was another less than stellar period for Buffalo. The Jake McCabe – Zach Bogosian pairing was so terrible I’d like to rant about it but that feels like beating a dead horse at this point. I do trust Krueger to rotated Colin Miller back in, I do not however trust Jason Botterill to move the piece necessary to allow him to ice the best D-Core. That debate is a little too tired for a Saturday night though. I’d rather roast those ugly V jersey throwbacks the Canucks wore for warmups. Meh, I’ll save it for the P.S.

The second period wasn’t as bad. It did however start with the visitation of the ghost of Christmases past. Vancouver was buzzing around Hutton when a Tyler Myers move drew Hutton a little further out of his net that you probably want. Antoine Roussel took advantage and put them up 2-0. More on Mr. Myers later. Mere minutes later Johan Larsson had the puck behind Thatcher Demko in the Vancouver net and put out front for a charging Kyle Okposo. Okposo, back surprisingly quickly from another concussion, snuck that one in, 2-1 Canucks. That response felt big and it was only amplified two minutes later when Rasmus Ristolainen got a quick pass from Victor Olofsson on a Vancouver delayed penalty. He launched one of his trademark rockets we might hopefully miss real soon and suddenly the game was tied. This was a very encouraging chain of events after the comeback came too late in Calgary the other night. This time we were treated to some real fun hockey for a little bit: back and forth and wow, isn’t it nice when our team doesn’t suck or rock, they just entertain us?

As soon as that thought was ticking through my head Josh Leivo struck again. It was a neutral zone turnover courtesy of Marco Scandella and this time Elias Pettersson was involved. Once again, there was some comeback in Buffalo and finally a powerplay goal by way of Mr. October Powerplay Victor Olofsson. It was a pretty one-timer too within the last minute of the middle frame. It would be 3-3 going into the third period and the script writing unto this point was interesting, it felt like we were due for something really trash or really nice in the third act. Turns out we got both. On a play that started all the way back in their own zone, Tyler Myers and JT Miller come streaking in on Hutton and Miller gives Myers a gorgeous assist to slam in a real banger, 4-3 Canucks… wait for it… shorthanded! That’s some real trash, friends. Does that feel bad? Well how about another for Antoine Roussel, 5-3, guess whose an all-star now? Make it happen Vancouver, you can vote nine times a day! Now, here’s something to ponder: What if I told you 2014 NHL All-Star Zemgus Girgensons would play into yet another comeback? Funny joke, eh? This is a comedy, but it’s based on a true story like Tag. LOL. Yeah, Girgensons did it at 12:05 of the third period and once again made it a one goal game. Keep it close guys! Hell, you can win it too if you want! Unfortunately this entertainment was not a comedy… if it was it was a dark one. No, this was a tragedy when all was said and done.

The seven remaining minutes of regulation were not without excitement. Pettersson almost scored a true slapper for the ages and the boys wearing blue (not Vancouver because remember, they’re wearing those awful black skate jerseys) kicked into gear for the late equalizer. In the last five minutes or so Buffalo really found their stride forcing the Canucks to only have the option of icing it to get a break. With 58 seconds left Marcus Johansson gets the puck way out at the blueline and rips a shot through the woods and five hole to find the equalizer. Skinner-Johansson-Asplund is a sneaky good line. Weirdly enough Johansson has been the worst part of it lately so hopefully this big goal gets him going again. I’ll be honest I’d feel a little wronged as a Canucks fan. The refs called this game with endless penalties for Vancouver. It was almost like these refs really wanted to see how bad our powerplay is. This one was settled in OT. This overtime period was weird AF. Henri Jokiharju got called for tripping a Canuck and effectively iced a Jack Eichel game winning goal. I’m not saying it was unfair seeing it back again but perhaps the refs felt they had some making up to do. OT Powerplays are cardiac experiences. Jack Hughes almost scored a dozen times before JT Miller scored a high rocket Hutton couldn’t get his glove to. 6-5 OT Loss, the Sabres were in it the whole time and got a point for it but, damn that felt like an opportunity missed. It’s never easy, even when it’s fun.

I think the hockey gods took umbridge with my suggestion the Sabres could get 4 out of 6 points on this trip. Between the embarrassing 45 or so minutes in Calgary and the final result tonight in Vancouver we’ve got two points… and I kinda feel that maybe it for us before the next time we see them at home. Have you seen Conor McDavid lately? Hell, have you seen Leon Draisaitl lately? If the game Buffalo wins on this trip is Edmonton I am going to look like a real clown. If it happens though I will be proudly making balloon animals. Like, comment and share this blog. For us bloggers there are no loser points in engaging our readers. Maybe tonight respond to this post with an emoji describing how this game made you feel. Do a whole a dramatic tragedy with emojis! I’m feeling festive. With tomorrow’s lineup of games for Buffalo teams it will be incredible of we get one win out of our teams this weekend. Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. Okay so the Canucks have never had a good jersey. However the Skate jersey and the flying V are a special kind of tacky. If aliens had to represent visually what popular culture was in the 1980s they could really just show that ugly rag.

[theresabookforthat]

Friday Reads: Margaret Atwood

On Friday, October 27th in Beverly Hills, PEN Center USA honored Margaret Atwood with the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award. In conversation with novelist Edan Lepucki, Ms. Atwood discussed the screen adaptations of her novels, notably THE HANDMAID’S TALE, but especially ALIAS GRACE. The Netflix Original miniseries about a 19th century murder, “Alias Grace” was adapted by Sarah Polley and premieres tonight Friday, November 3rd. Ms. Atwood read a beautiful excerpt from the novel and you may watch the trailer here. Don’t stop there though… for this Friday Reads edition we offer the following superb books from Margaret Atwood’s distinguished body of work.  

 ALIAS GRACE: A NOVEL

Now a 6-part Netflix original mini-series: in Alias Grace, the bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale takes readers into the life of one of the most notorious women of the nineteenth century. It’s 1843, and Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer and his housekeeper and mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence, Grace claims to have no memory of the murders. An up-and-coming expert in the burgeoning field of mental illness is engaged by a group of reformers and spiritualists who seek a pardon for Grace. He listens to her story while bringing her closer and closer to the day she cannot remember. What will he find in attempting to unlock her memories?       

 HAG-SEED: A NOVEL

Now in paperback, William Shakespeare’s The Tempest retold. Felix is at the top of his game as artistic director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. His productions have amazed and confounded. Now he’s staging a “Tempest” like no other. Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. And also brewing revenge. After twelve years, revenge finally arrives in the shape of a theater course at a nearby prison.

 THE HANDMAID’S TALE: A NOVEL

A seminal work of speculative fiction from the Booker Prize-winning author, and Emmy-award winning Hulu series. Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable.

 BLUEBEARD’S EGG: STORIES

By turns humorous and warm, stark and frightening, Bluebeard’s Egg glows with childhood memories, the reality of parents growing old, and the casual cruelty men and women inflict on each other. Here is the familiar outer world of family summers at remote lakes, winters of political activism, and seasons of exotic friends, mundane lives, and unexpected loves. But here too is the inner world of hidden places and all that emerges from them-the intimately personal, the fantastic, the shockingly real…

                                                                                                                                THE BLIND ASSASSIN: A NOVEL

WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE. In The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood weaves together strands of gothic suspense, romance, and science fiction into one utterly spellbinding narrative. The novel begins with the mysterious death—a possible suicide—of a young woman named Laura Chase in 1945. Decades later, Laura’s sister Iris recounts her memories of their childhood, and of the dramatic deaths that have punctuated their wealthy, eccentric family’s history.                                                                                                                                                                  

THE HEART GOES LAST: A NOVEL

Margaret Atwood puts the human heart to the ultimate test in a new novel that brilliantly satirizes the corporate prison complex of the twenty-first century.                                                                                                                      

THE EDIBLE WOMAN

The novel that put the author of The Handmaid’s Tale on the literary map; a groundbreaking work of fiction. Ever since her engagement, the strangest thing has been happening to Marian McAlpin: she can’t eat. First meat. Then eggs, vegetables, cake, pumpkin seeds—everything! Worse yet, while Marian ought to feel consumed with passion, she really just feels … consumed. A brilliant and powerful work, rich in irony and metaphor, The Edible Woman is an unforgettable masterpiece by a true master of contemporary literature.                             

ORYX AND CRAKE

Margaret Atwood’s brilliant, page-turning new novel joins her all-time bestselling The Handmaid’s Tale in conjuring a frighteningly convincing future dystopia.                      

STONE MATTRESS: NINE WICKED TALES

Nine brilliantly imaginative tales—filled with Atwood’s trademark creativity, intelligence, and humor—that speak to our times with deadly accuracy in tales of acute psychological insight and biting humor.                                                                                                 

ANGEL CATBIRD VOLUME 1 (Graphic Novel; from Dark Horse)

Atwood’s first graphic novel, a cat-centric all-ages New York Times bestselling adventure. On a dark night, young genetic engineer Strig Feleedus is accidentally mutated by his own experiment and merges with the DNA of a cat and an owl. What follows is a humorous, action-driven, pulp-inspired superhero adventure—with a lot of cat puns.    There are now 3 in the series .                                                                                                                    

For our full list of amazing Margaret Atwood titles visit the collection: Atwood