Meet Tolstoy

We have a new little friend that lives with us. This is Tolstoy, the African Dwarf Frog. He lives in the aquarium where the late Bart, Mr. Fishie, Lucky, Dusty, and Ned used to live. I went to the pet store to get more fish (they call me the Fish Killa') when we saw these little guys swimming around. They are really cool because they basically act just like fish. They are entirely aquatic and don't need any land to rest on. I don't get it either, but apparently all they need to do is come up to the surface to breathe once in a while. He mostly hides under his little sherd (like he's doing in the photo) but sometimes he swims around or hops on the bottom. Every now and then it will really seem like poor Tolstoy is dead because he'll just float at the top or along the bottom with all his little limbs splayed out and not move for a long, long time. We looked it up and it turns out that this weird behavior is entirely normal for Dwarf Frogs. They call it their "Zen Pose". Isn't that adorable? He's just chillin'.
We feed him Frog Chow, which he doesn't seem to ever eat. We assume he's eating because he isn't dead, but we may have to try out the dried bloodworms (ew ew ew ew ew) if he continues to be so picky.
We're thinking of getting Tolstoy a bigger house so we can get him better hidey holes and a heater. And fish friends.

coooooookies

I made some cookies today for my favorite husband. He really likes peanut butter cookies, but the creative Blythe women have encouraged me to branch out and make different stuff. Well, only slightly different in this case. Instead of our usual peanut butter cookies, I made these with brown sugar and chocolate chips (I know. I'm a daredevil). Do you want the recipe? It was really really easy:Wednesday Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies:
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Peter Pan, but usually I like the more peanutty store brand for cookies)
1/2 cup brown sugar packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg slightly beaten
teensy handful of flour (maybe 1/4 cup)
1 cup chocolate chips (plus 1/2 cup for snacking)

I mixed the peanut butter with the sugars and the vanilla and then added the egg. It was seeming a little shiny and peanut buttery, so I added the small amount of flour until it seemed more doughy. I wouldn't add much, but I think just a little flour makes a cakier cookie. When I liked the look of the dough, I added the chips and drop them in large spoonfuls on a cookie sheet with a silpat. I think Peanut butter cookies smell weird when they cook, and the Silpat seems to help with that. I smooshed the dough balls with my favorite cookie fork* in a criss- cross pattern (of course) and then baked them at 375 for 10-ish minutes.
I cooled them on a rack and then ate them all. Ok, that's not true, I shared with Rob. Afterall, they were for him.

*I have big love for this particular fork. It is very narrow and has extraordinarily long tines. It's silver and has a semi-fancy handle. I got it at a thrift store, so it is the only one like it. It is so perfect for making cookies and for beating eggs and squooshing the edges of pie crust, etc. I would be so sad if I ever lost it. Do you have any funny tools like that? Anything that seems really ordinary but is indispensible for what you like to do?

I'm back

I'm back from a very long hiatus from blogland. I have lots of new things to tell you about and lots of fun things to look forward to. I promise to try and blog often now that I am home. I missed my blog when I was in Mule Creek and when I was away on GeoJourney. It has been kind of hard to make the decision to come back after such a long gap. What do I talk about? Where do I pick back up? I have decided that I am just going to blog as if I never left. I don't want to talk about the last few months, so we're going to move on. New Stuff. It's December now, so there will be lots of holiday stuff to post and lots of travel pictures to share. So, if you're still out there, I'm back and I'm ready to blog.