no one of consequence.

I noticed this little mini-article on Salon.com- Pick Your Pretty Poison.

Apparently there’s LOTS of toxic chemicals in your makeup bags ladies. Including ones that are possible carcinogens and suspected of causing birth defects. Tiny amounts… that can interact with OTHER tiny amounts, and that can in some cases build up in the body over years.

Including lead. They’ve found small amounts of lead used in 33% of top-shelf tested lipsticks.

Among the top brands testing positive for lead were:

• L’Oreal Colour Riche “True Red” – 0.65 ppm
• L’Oreal Colour Riche “Classic Wine” – 0.58 ppm
• Cover Girl Incredifull Lipcolor “Maximum Red” – 0.56 ppm
• Christian Dior Addict “Positive Red” – 0.21 ppm

Pretty scary stuff. Check out the FAQ at The Campaign For Safe Cosmetics and Skin Deep: The Cosmetic Safety Database.

You wouldnt EAT things with this stuff in it, but you put in in your eyes and on your lips…

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OK, so I transferred my Alliance main off of Kul Tiras. Dikka will now be playing on Malfurion, with a dear friend I havent gotten to spend much time with in ages. She’s the current GM, and a goodly number of my old AC guildies are members, so this is fantastic… I know *exactly* what to expect. I helped *train* some of these folks in the nettiquite of playing MMOs.

Yes nettiquite. theres a word I bet most folks havent seen in a long time. Im one of those dinosaurs who still believes in using it.

Now to get an alliance toon leveled up for my mate, and we’re back in business. For the first time since I left my horde guild, I actually WANT to play.

(Now to remember who some of these folks are… it’s been a long, long time since Asheron’s Call…)

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Ok, so after hearing about it in a number of places, and having reached the Internet Boredom Horizon, I joined Stumbleupon.

Funky-cool things discovered since?

Photos by Chema Madoz

Musicovery Interactive Internet Radio (They linked Pandora as well, but Pandora is now restricted to US only users. Sad.)

thecoolhunter.co.uk, who’s architecture and design sections are rocking my socks.

and this weird flash thing.

I could spend all day pushing that button.

Oh wait… I have…

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Ok, so last time it didnt work. This time is much better, but still needs some tweaking. I started with Corrigan’s Minestrone from Allrecipies this time.

I ended up doubling the amount of tomato paste. It really needed it, the broth was thin and sad until I did.

Needed changes for next time:

Ditch the potatoes. Either leave them out entirely, or precook them in water and add them at the last minute, because I can totally taste the potato starch in the broth. It’s not unpleasant, but not where I was going either.

Second it needs more beans than one can of kidney. Maybe ditching the potatoes completely (after all potatoes AND pasta makes for a bit starch heavy anyway) and adding a can of Great Northerns. Or maybe even Garbanzos.

So who wants soup?

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Oh noooooes.

Gristedes is no longer on Amazon.com. The makes me sad, because I had counted on them for making the rare occasional purchase of Items I *NEED* that I cant get up here. Last time it was good pepperoni, Sabrett’s hot dogs and Bell’s Seasoning mix. For a huge premium of course.

Their replacement is something called Netgrocer, which wont cross border ship. Gristedes has their own web storefront now, so I *can* still get it. Again, at an insane premium due to the dry ice shipping and all.

Now Im getting low on my Bells. I cant do poultry right without it, it’s a staple in my kitchen, as it was in my Grandfa’s. I usually only go through one box in a year, but I *will* have my own American thanksgiving and I need it for that.

Anyone wanna send me a couple boxes? I’ll pay back in Coffee Crisp, Smarties or Aero bars!!!

(Big puppy-eyed do-a-fellow-foodie-a-solid look at Bronxelf as the most likely candidate to assist…)

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My Little brother blows my mind sometimes.

See, I remember THIS.

I remember strollers and toddling and that angel-faced little kid there climbing up the front of my mother’s china cabinet and breaking most of the set of dishes my father sent her from Korea. I remember Barney and Seseme Street, and the endless shouting of NOOOOO!

I dont really know his these days. But yanno, it happens. They turn into teenagers, and they dont want jack shit to do with the “grownups”. (When the hell I got classified as a grownup Im not sure. I think it’s a default setting somewhere.)

But then I have a look at MySpace. And my brain seizes up a bit.

And then I laugh a little, because I remember using the same photoshop effect on my own pics.

Life is wierd sometimes.

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Well, since we were gifted with a pizza stone, it was time to give it a shot. So I mashed up a batch from a recipie I had on hand (snatched from god-only knows where) with WHAT I had on hand (All Purpose Flour. Meh.) and decided to make Calzone.

NY style Calzone, unlike the few things I’ve run across up here that are labeled calzone, which have sauce inside them (?!?!?!) and just mozzerella. Nonono. To me, that’s just stuffed pizza. Not a bad thing, but not calzone. Good thick calzone, bigger then both fists together, that oozes ricotta all over the damn place when you cut it to dip in in the sauce which is served on the side.

Not a huge fan of calzone, but it’s just been so *long*, I had the urge. Worked out well enough. Enough to satisfy the crave. I had some oozage onto the pizza stone, and the crust is *close* but not quite right. It came up a good bit crunchier than a NY Style pizza dough should be, but that may be from having the stone too low in the oven.

However, it seems that my super psychotic stove has a silver lining. It gets HOT. I kicked it up to max hot, and almost burned the suckers in ten minutes, (after a solid hour pre-heat). That’s got to be hotter than 500. 550 or maybe even 600. Which for pizza making is TEH SHINAY, since real NY pizza is supposed to cook at around 700-800.

Few things I’d do differently.

• Pizza Stone belongs at a higher rack level than the bottomest.
• I dont think the dough proofed enough. The sponge wasnt nearly as foamy as I’d have liked when put it in play.
• Screw even a brief kneading after the rise. With All Purpose Flour I need all the gluten lovin I can get. Next time I try this Im getting the bread flour and doing it right.
• Make Lee do the kneading. My wrists hurt. And get him to teach me how to toss the dang things.

There’s another recipie Im thinking I want to try over at www.pizzamaking.com, where some serious pizza people hang out. But right now I’ve got another ball of dough in the fridge, and I’ll have to use that up first. It’s actually continuing to rise in there. Which is probably a good thing. The Serious Pizza People talk about letting a dough slow rise in the fridge for four days…

Still, if I wasnt stuffed from all that cheese, I’d probably try tossing that last ball out and seeing how it goes with a normal pizza…

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YAY for out-ness with Sassy-Fae! Lucky has himself a new harness that is going to be harder to put on him, but much more secure. He also has catnip. Seriously good catnip. Instant stonercat. But no new toys, because I didnt see anything that I thought would entertain him at a decent price. After the pet store, we went to the dollar store, and then to the thrift shop. I was bought a present of a big *thick* soft chenille throw, to replace the one Lucky has decided is his girlfriend. Cuz it was my birfday, and I worried about not having enough cash on hand. And a goofy hat.

I also bought a small ottoman. Yes, another item of furniture into our overstuffed apartment (hides from Lee). But this is *just* the right height for me to put my leg up on when it’s acting up. AND the top flips up for storage space big enough to hold Lee’s biggest sketchbooks. AND it was only six dollars. So *NYAH*.

On the way back home, we stopped downtown to inspect the movie sets that have gone up. They’ve built Harlem! It’s FUNNY, because it’s both pretty obvious it’s a set in some ways (like the phoney storefront names) and in some ways is right on the money (like architectural details on the false fronts themselves) Very weird and very cool.

More images in the album HERE.

We hung out here and chattered and played with psychokitten, who was very well behaved for him untill he tried to bite. *sigh* Oh, and theres another present here that’s for both of us from the Fae for our anniversary that Im not going to tell, since Lee’s not home yet and I dont want to spoil it.

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Meh, another horrid damp yucky day. It’s cool today though, so I cant even justify turning the a/c to dry the air out.

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