Monthly Archives: August 2013

Fluffy Animals: Marmots

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Hello, Fluffsters!

So, I’m still on vacation. And I still found internet! Yay!

Today is Sunday, so I’m going to start another new series: Animals. More to the point, fluffy animals. (Lizards are right out. So are hairless cats. Eww.)

So today, I’m going to be talking a bit about…

Marmots.

Marmots are really cute. They’re a small rodent, and they’re all over the place in Rocky Mountain National Park. (At least, I think they’re marmots.)

I got a few photos.

A small rodent from rocky mountain national park perching on a rock

Marmot on a Rock

So, I can’t quite get my camera to cooperate and focus on the nearby things. Sorry about that. The rocks and grass in the background are quite lovely though, aren’t they?

A rather chubby looking smaller rodent in a colorado national park

This fella was big.

This picture turned out better!

But anyways. Here’s a bit of information about marmots.

1) My first introduction to them was through fiction. Wolf-Speaker by Tamora Pierce is still one of my favorite books. It’s number 2 in a quartet of books, so you can’t just start with it. (The first one is Wild Magic. Have I mentioned I like fantasy?)

You know, I think you may have gone a week without mentioning that fact! How remarkable!

Hmpf.

And the quartet is something like the 2nd or 3rd quartet of books in this particular universe, but I think you can probably start with it anyways. But yeah, there’s a marmot in that book. I don’t quite remember her name, but I do remember wondering whether marmots were even real.

2) They are fairly cute. They’re small, furry, and dark colored. I was unable to get too close to any marmot, but they were adorable from a distance.

They were especially cute when they would run around. They seemed to just boing along.

3) Marmots have a shorter wikipedia article than unicorns do. It’s true. Look at the article about marmots, then look at the article on unicorns. There’s clearly a difference in length. So what is this? Discrimination against real animals? Dscrimination against rodents? Anti-discrimination against fictional animals…?

4) Groundhogs are a subspecies of marmot. Fact. Thus sayeth the wikipedia, and so it must therefore be true, right?

So, what information do you know about marmots? Or do you have any fluffy animals you’d like me to highlight?

Happy Sunday!

Things To Do Concerning Cookies: Freshly Baked

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BWAHAHAHA! I found INTERNET! That means that Fluffy couldn’t delete yesterday’s post!

I tried, to. Just for the fun of it…

But anyways. Happy Friday, Fluffsters! I hope you’re having a great week. Today’s post is about

Things To Do Concerning Freshly Baked Cookies

Didn’t you already talk about this?

Across the different cookie posts, maybe. But in terms of just the freshly baked cookies? No.

Now, I know that this looks fairly obvious. When you have freshly baked cookies, you normally

1) Eat them. After letting them cool a bit, presumably, so that you can actually pick it up. But even that isn’t entirely necessary.

So I’m sure you’re now asking, “Webmaster, why even write a post about this? What else can you do with freshly baked cookies?”

Good question, Fluffsters! I’m glad you asked!

This leads us to 2) Put a large scoop of ice cream on it. Some restaurants do that, and sell it for a fair amount of money. Especially if you bake it in a small pan. That’s really good. I’ve primarily seen this done with chocolate-chip cookies, but I imagine that oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, Snickerdoodles, or basically any other type of cookie. If you like, you can put a candle in it and call it a birthday cake. (Or an unbirthday cake, if it’s not actually your birthday.)

3) Take a picture. Put a filter on it, and post it on Facebook. After all, we do need more instagramish type things, right?

…That was a bit of a stretch. Didn’t you already mention that for something?

…Ok, maybe. But you can still (apparently) instagram a lot of different types of things.

4) Take advantage of the extremely soft state and decorate them. You know. Like as previously mentioned, you could put peanut-butter cups in them. Or, if you prefer, you could take colorful candies and stick them in to create designs. (This especially works well with chocolate-y cookies, as many colorful candies are more chocolatey.) But chocolate candies would also be excellent with peanut butter cookies. (If you do that, take a picture and send it to me at webmaster (at) totalfluff.com?)

Well, that’s about all I can think of without experimenting, which I won’t be able to do for a while. (I’m a ways away from any of my baking supplies. It’s sad.) But if you can think of anything else to do with them, let me know?

Happy Friday! I hope to talk with you tomorrow!

Things to do concerning Cookies: Samoas.

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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Thursday!

Yes, today’s going to be another cookie day. Another Girl Scout Cookie day, even. But that’s alright, because Samoas are probably my favorite type of cookie. So…

Here are some things you can do that relate to the Girl Scout cookies Samoas.

1) Eat them. Obviously. For those unfortunates out there who haven’t had them, here’s a basic description of a samoa. It’s doughnut shaped. (A very small doughnut, of course.) It’s got sortof a thin plain cookie base. And then on top of it is a layer of caramel, mixed with shredded coconut, chocolate, and covered in even more caramel and chocolate. In other words, pure amazingness. So yeah. Eating them is a very good choice.

2) Dip them in your coffee. And then eat them. (You can pull through my reasoning for point 1.)

3) Freeze them. And then eat them. If you’ve never had a frozen samoa, you’re missing out. Seriously, you need to try one. Careful not to chip a tooth- frozen caramel and coconut and chocolate and cookie all mixed together can be surprisingly hard. But all the same, it’s totally worth it. In fact, you might even want to try this if you’ve got a little one who’s got a loose tooth! What better way to lose the loose tooth than by eating a cookie? (And a Samoa, at that!)

4) Put the box on display for all to admire. My family & I, at least, would totally admire them you lucky person, you.

5) Dress up like one. Seriously, it’s a thing. It’s primarily used by younger girls who are trying to sell them (last time I checked, anyways) but it’s still pretty cool. And amazing. And worthwhile. And I’m rambling here, aren’t I?

Well, anyways, have a great rest of your week! If I missed anything you can do that relates to samoas, please let me know in the comments below!

Things to do concerning cookies: Cookie Dough!!

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Hello, Fluffsters!

Just a reminder, I’m going on vacation tomorrow, and I might not be able to access the internet to make sure that Fluffy didn’t delete the post.

Ooh! I could, now that you mention it!

Of course, if she does I’ll be very upset…

Darn.

So, without further ado:

Things concerning Cookie Dough!!

Yes, the two exclamation points are necessary.

So. Cookie dough. The stuff cookies are made of. It’s pretty amazing, right? I mean, how can you go wrong with butter, flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and sweet flavorings? (Besides it being unhealthy. I wasn’t even going to mention that! Why did you bring it up?!)

I know that if it didn’t have raw eggs in it, most people would just take the cookie dough over the baked cookies. (It’s that good.)

But what are some things you can do with it?

1) Eat it. This isn’t the safest bet. Salmonella, raw eggs, etc., are not always the best. Of course, the odds of you actually getting food poisoning from something like that… It might be worth the risk, right? Well, I normally don’t (beyond “cleaning” the bowl and beaters amounts, that is) but if you want to, that’s your choice. We at TotalFluff cannot be held responsible for your own decisions, however.

2) Mix it up without the eggs. And then eat it. Brilliant, right? All right, so it doesn’t taste quite the same without the eggs. But it’s still really close. After all, it’s the butter-flour-egg-sugar-vanilla-etc. combination that’s the best part!

3) Bake it. And then eat the cookies. So I guess, technically speaking, I wasn’t quite honest in number 1. I just normally eat my cookie dough in cooked form.

But as I was saying. There are two ways to bake it. One is in cookie form. The other is in bar form. If you’re doing it in bar form…

4) Half-bake it, freeze it, and then eat it. Done that way, it’s like halfway between cookies and raw cookie dough. It’s sorta like the best of both worlds. My roommate last year did this, and it was amazing. Seriously. Half-baked frozen cookie dough is one of the best forms of cookie I have ever had.

5) Store it by freezing it. And then turn it into cookies. This is especially useful if you only want to make a dozen or so cookies. You see, a full batch of cookies makes about 4-5 dozen. (At least with the recipe I use.) A half-batch (which is as small as you can go, until you find a way to use only half of an egg) makes about 2 dozen. But if you scoop out the dozen cookies you want, and then put the rest in the freezer, you’ve saved yourself a lot of work the next time you want cookies. (Or half-baked batter. Up to you.)

6) As with thin mints, turn it into ice cream. If you haven’t had cookie-dough ice cream, I’m not sure how you’ve survived on this earth so long. (Unless you’re lactose intolerant. Then it’s understandable- if you’ve survived this long on this planet while also being allergic to milk, you’re basically superheroes. Or something. And it’s also unsurprising that you’ve survived without cookie-dough ice cream.) But anyways. Cookie-dough ice cream is an amazing flavor. So you should totally try it.

Well, there you go! Happy Wednesday, folks! I hope you have a wonderful time the rest of your week. And if Fluffy deletes the post tomorrow, do let me know, and I’ll see what I can do.

Things to do concerning cookies (3): Thin Mints

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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Tuesday! I hope your week is starting off as well as mine has.

Today, I’m continuing my cookie series. I’m going to be talking to you about

Things To Do Concerning Thin Mints

So… What’s a thin mint? A really thin mint leaf? How does that relate to cookies?

Thin Mints are a type of Girl Scout cookie. You see, Girl Scouts every year go around selling cookies. Thin Mints are a chocolate-mint patty type cookie that are actually one of the most popular types.

…Ah.

But as I was saying.

1) Eat them plain. This is, of course, the normal route. This is also the most boring route. Seriously, if you’re going to spend $4 for a small box of cookies, you might want to have a better plan in mind than just getting melted chocolate all over your fingers and ending up as a sticky mess. Eww.

2) Eat them frozen. This is a much better solution. Frozen Thin Mints are amazing. They’re refreshing, sweet, and very tasty. Better yet, they don’t melt as quickly, which means that it’s not as messy! Yay!

3) Sell them. This only works if you’re in Girl Scouts.

4) Turn them into ice cream. Breyers Ice Cream has done something to officially get permission to sell Thin Mint Ice Cream. It’s sort of like a marvelous cross between mint chocolate chip ice cream and cookies & cream ice cream. As I said, marvelous.

5) Use them as ice cream toppings. Freeze them, then crumble them, and then dish them over a bowl of ice cream. It works best with non-fruit flavored ice cream. (I’m a fan of strawberry and other fruit flavors, so trust me when I say it’s not that fruit-flavors aren’t the best. It’s not a bad flavor, it’s just not the best combo.) I always enjoy putting Thin Mint crumbles over Thin Mint Ice Cream. It’s sort of like dessert Inception.

So, there you go! I hope you enjoy some Thin Mint inspired things to do. Happy Tuesday!

Things to do concerning cookies (2): Oreos

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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Monday! I hope your week is starting well.

As you may recall, I’m doing a mini blog-series on things to do concerning cookies.

Today, I’m going to talk about…

Things to do concerning Oreos.

1) if you’re using Firefox, you can add the plural form to your dictionary. Unless you’re slightly insane like me, and somewhat enjoy having red underlines in your text on words that you know exist. Like heteroskedasticity. There are few things quite so satisfying as being smarter than your web-browser’s dictionary.

2) Eat the oreo whole. As in, both chocolate and white filling. Together. Or, you could…

3) …Separate the oreo. As in, separate the chocolate cookie part from the creamy filling part.

If you want to go epic, you can do it with a specially designed gun/slingshot.

4) Crochet fake oreos. Then give them to friends. (That’s great for christmastime cookie exchanges. I was able to give my fellow high-school girls some “guaranteed calorie-free cookies” a few years ago.)

5) Make Oreo Truffles. Even without being dipped in chocolate, these things are scary delicious. I can’t recommend them enough. Especially since they are so easy!

So, there you go! I hope you have fun doing stuff that relates to oreo cookies!

Things to do concerning Cookies (1)

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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Sunday! I hope you have a blessed week.

This upcoming week, I’m going to be traveling a bit. So I’m going to be doing a series on things I’m fairly comfortable with: Cookies. And things to do having to do with them. (That will make more sense as we go along. Hopefully.)

Somehow, I doubt it. Did you even study your own language? That sentence looks like you murdered your language.

If you’re talking about the last thing I wrote, it’s not technically a sentence- it’s a fragment.

But anywho. Without further ado:

Things to Do Concerning Cookies (1): Chocolate Chip

Today I’m going to be looking at Chocolate Chip Cookies, and a few things about chocolate chip cookies.

1) You can change the recipe. I actually have listed my personal recipe adaptation in the recipes section.

2) You can eat them. This should be obvious. My personal preferences include a nice glass of milk. Or maybe coffee. Sometimes both.

3) Zap them, and then eat them. If you’re at a cafeteria, for example, odds are incredibly slim you’ll get cookies fresh out of the oven. But nothing can beat a freshly baked cookie. (Except maybe for beaters- that would likely do the trick.) So,. here’s the solution. Stick a cookie in the microwave. I think about 5-10 seconds is plenty. Or, if you have access to one, stick it in a toaster oven. That reheats the cookie, and gives it the sense of being freshly baked. Again, I highly recommend a cup of milk. If you’re lactose intolerant, almond milk is a wonderful alternative. (I’m not, I don’t think, but my family is. So I’ve discovered a love of almond milk. It does go nicely with chocolate chip cookies. It’s not quite the same, but still really good. Especially if you get the vanilla flavored stuff.)

4) Give them to friends. The cookies, that is. Just to clarify that we weren’t talking about almond milk still. So, yeah. I’d take the cookies, put them in bakers’ bags, and then give them to friends. (Only if you’re feeling generous.) If you’re feeling really generous, you can even give them to professors, teachers, or people you don’t even know/like.

5) Photograph them and put them on Facebook. Because there aren’t enough people using Instagram.

Anyways, there you go! Five things to do that relate to chocolate chip cookies. Have fun! (And tell me how your cookies turn out, if you make any?)

Spinning more yarns.

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Hello, Fluffsters!

I still can’t find Fluffy, and I spent most of my creative energies on the Big Thing Today. (In case you hadn’t noticed, I always write up the posts the day/night before. That way, I don’t need to worry about waking up in time to write and post an entry.) So because I’m tired and can’t really think of anything else, here’s a picture of about 55 yards of plied spun yarn.

55 yards of spun fluff.

Isn’t it pretty? I’m very happy with how it turned out. I think I’m getting better!

Next step, actually use some of my blue spun yarn… (The stuff I already spun & set is a lot more uneven. But it might still be able to work up into a nice/interesting hat! I can hope, right?)

Anywho, happy Saturday!

Pictures of Fluff.

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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Friday!

I had/have/will-have/whatever something big on Friday. That’s today from your perspective, tomorrow from mine. Man, blogging is confusing!

Anyways, I can’t find fluffy right now. So instead, I’m going to share a couple of pictures of fluff.

Pure fluff. Of the wool variety.

Spun Fluff

Happy Friday!

Marmots.

Here are some cookies people make with nuts.

Things To Do Concerning Freshly Baked Cookies

Here are some things you can do that relate to the Girl Scout cookies Samoas.

Things concerning Cookie Dough!!

Yes, the two exclamation points are necessary.

Things To Do Concerning Thin Mints

Things to do concerning Oreos.

Things to Do Concerning Cookies (1): Chocolate Chip