• a variety of fine pickles •

boo!

happy halloween!

gouuuuuuuuulet

november 26, 1933 - october 30, 2007

goodbye, goulet.

HUGE break in the WM3 case

defense attorneys filed a 200+ page writ in federal court today in arkansas demanding a new trial on the basis that there are other people that should have been considered suspects, and name one of them in light of the DNA evidence found this summer: terry hobbs.

terry hobbs was the stepfather of stevie branch, one of the 3 8 year old boys murdered and dumped in a ditch, hogtied and bound, in west memphis, arkansas in 1993. a human hair was found to have been tied up in one of the knots in the shoelaces that bound the 3 little boys, but due to shoddy policework, the hair was never tested. until this summer. DNA concluded the hair belonged to terry hobbs, and police in west memphis concluded - if you can even believe this - that the hair that belonged to terry hobbs, that was tied INTO one of the knots that bound the drowned boys - was secondary transfer evidence. not on your life.

there's great video here from a news broadcast this afternoon.

here's another story that yeilds even more good news for the wm3. there are many more available on the web right now as well.

there will be a live webcast of damien echols' defense team's press conference NOV 1 at 10am at www. wm3.org

FREE THE WEST MEMPHIS 3!

fortune cookies & mimosas

my sister megen's wedding is on november 10th - that's two weeks from yesterday. it's getting close and i'm starting to feel the affects and have a brand new bottle of pepcid ac in my medicine cabinet.

yesterday we had the "fortune cookie party" at my house to make the fortune cookies that will be given as favors to the wedding guests. we had to make roughly 100 fortune cookies which, if you're baking say, chocolate chip cookies on a cookie sheet, would have taken about 8 batches or so if we made a dozen cookies per batch.

not so with fortune cookies. try FIFTY BATCHES.

fortune cookies have to be made in batches of no more than two. two cookies per batch. maybe if you're better at it than we were you could handle 3 or 4 cookies per batch, but i'm telling you, these cookies are bitches. they're a batter, not a dough, and when they come out of the oven, you have roughly 10 seconds or less to get them shaped and formed before they've completely set up and start to crack or break.

so my sister megen, her maid of honor tina, her good friend amanda, our mother, and my good friend craig all started working around 9am. we were done at 5:03pm. we had a great time because we were all tanked up on delicious mimosas, thanks to amanda who showed up bearing orange juice and champagne. seriously, is there anything better than being drunk at 10am on a saturday morning?

after the inaugural batch of 2 cookies where i showed everybody how they had to be made, we were on a roll and we only stopped once, for some lunch. i whipped up a batch of sweet cornbread muffins and we all had big bowls of homemade pinto beans with hamhocks and jalapenos. the beans, if i do say so myself, were delectable, but i'm sure they all started to hate me sometime around 8pm last night...

mimosas flowed freely until we were out of both champagne and orange juice, but the cookies didn't suffer as a result of our tipsiness. we worked like slaves yesterday but had a great time doing so.

above, amanda is measuring a tablespoon of the ultra-sticky fortune cookie batter onto the backs of crisco-greased cookie sheets, then she smoothed the cookies out to round circles about 4 inches in diameter. since we had quite a system going, she prepared several cookie sheets at once so as soon as one batch came out, there was another ready to go in immediately.

while a batch was baking, there wasn't much to do except catch up on gossip and of course, drink mimosas. that's tina in the gray sweatshirt sipping a mimosa, my mother in the middle wearing camel and my sister megen on the far right. tina was in charge of having the fortunes ready for us, i was in charge of getting the fortune cookies off of the cookie sheet with the metal spatula, as well as molding one of the fortune cookies. megen was in charge of molding the other cookie on the cookie sheet. that's amanda's rear end in the far left of the photo - she's diligently forming batter circles on the cold cookie sheets...

my mother's job was to shell pecans. we weren't using them for the cookies; i just have a bag of about 5 pounds of pecans that i picked up from my front yard, and they needed shelling. she's a pecan-shelling professional. here she is hard at work, concentrating on picking the nutmeat out of the sharp little shells... go sharon, go! shell those nuts!

when the batches were ready, everybody sprung into action. there was definitely a sense of urgency when somebody shouted "cookie time!" i have to admit, it was usually me shouting, and i did it gleefully. i love to shout.

normally i'd be the one opening the oven to retrieve the cookie sheet as well as weilding the spatula, but since i was taking the pictures the roles were shifted for a couple of batches. above, amanda is frantically opening the oven to retrieve the cookie sheet, that's megen weilding the spatula to help her slide the upside-down cookie sheet off of the rack, and tina is on the right, at the ready with a paper fortune in each hand. this wasn't a set-up photo; this is the way it really looked, all 50 times. it was frantic!

this was the best photo i could get of the cookies being lifted off of the cookie sheet... i had to wedge myself between my sister on the left, and tina on the right. megen is trying to lift the cookie off of the cookie sheet as quickly as possible so she can flip it upside down onto a smooth, cool glass cutting board so tina can lay the fortune in the middle.

when the fortune is in the middle of the round cookie, the soft cookie (getting stiffer by the second) is then folded in half, then folded again, seam-side up, over the rim of a coffee cup. that's how the fortune ends up in the cookie, and how it gets its shape. this is also why me and megen have something close to 3rd degree burns on our thumbs, index and middle fingers. those cookies were freakin' hot. (the little glass bowl of jalapenos is leftover from the beans & cornbread.)

the cookies, once shaped over the cup, were then placed point-sides down in a mini-muffin tin to help them keep their shape as they cooled.

fortune cookies!

they're all done now, and ready have their widest part (at the seam) dipped in chocolate and rolled in pink sprinkles. they'll then be wrapped up in cellophane and packaged in pink chinese takeout containers, two per box. lovely. it's a great way to completely murder a saturday, but i'd recommend wearing fitted white cotton gloves for the folding to cut down on the skin-searing freakin' heat of the hot cookies. i'd also recommend having as many of your friends help you as is humanly possible, and of course, serving mimosas. mimosas make any task more fun.

and with mimosas, your friends find their way into your laundry room to try on your lingerie.

you look gorgeous, craig.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

fortune cookies

(this recipe is for 6 fortune cookies - we increased it signifigantly to make 100)

1 egg white
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract (use good vanilla, real vanilla)
scant 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1 pinch salt
1/4 cup unbleached flour
1/4 cup granulated white sugar

1 bottle of champagne
1 container of quality, fresh-squeezed orange juice

preheat oven to 400 degrees. write or print fortunes on strips of paper about 3 inches long and 1/2 inch high. generously grease cookie sheet(s) with regular crisco.

beat egg whites with vanilla and almond extracts until foamy, but not stiff. you don't want merangue.

sift in the flour, salt & sugar and blend until smooth. batter will be glossy and very sticky. i found it's best to let the batter rest for about 30 minutes before using. it will slightly darken in color and be a little more manageable.

finish your 2nd mimosa. make another mimosa.

place batter at least 4 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. you can roll the batter into a round shape, but we found it easier to shape with the back of a spoon for more uniform, round cookies. cookies should be between 3 & 4 inches in diameter. do yourself a favor and make no more than 2 cookies per cookie sheet. you'll thank me later, especially if you're making these by yourself.

bake for 5-7 minutes, or until your cookie is golden brown 1/2 inch around the outer perimeter of the cookie. the middle will remain a pale color. (don't worry about bubbles; they will settle as soon as you lift the cookie off of the cookie sheet)

shotgun the rest of your 4th mimosa as the timer is going off.

remove from the oven and QUICKLY lift the cookies off of the cookie sheet with a thin, metal spatula. (don't use plastic and don't use a thick metal spatula - trust me on this.)

flip the cookie upside down onto a smooth workspace (a wooden cutting board will work nicely; we used a glass cutting board which might have cooled the cookie a little more quickly. note to self: buy a wooden cutting board.)

place the fortune in the middle of the cookie, and fold the cookie in half, trying to join ONLY the edges. don't flatten the middle of the cookie if possible.

gently fold the cookie again, seam side up, against the rim of a coffee cup. hold the pointed edges down with your burning fingers. (one edge will be inside the cup, the other outside.)

place the folded cookies in a cool, ungreased muffin tin to help hold their shape. we used a mini-muffin tin, but a full sized muffin tin will work as well, and you can lay them on their sides instead of on their ends. allow them to cool in the muffin tin until they are firm. store in ziplock bags after completely cooled until ready for use.

eat the ugly ones right then and there.

throw away the empty champagne bottles and pop open another. make and drink your 6th mimosa.

for this holiday season...

click the image above to read about the handmade pledge...

or to pledge it for yourself! :)

congratulations shannon & rudi

 

i'm home!

well, i'm home from my camping trip deep in the texas woods. i had a great time seeing all of my friends and it was great to just get away from civilization for a few days. i'm a little hoarse from the drunken sing-a-longs around the fire with shannon, and from talking loudly to be heard above the din of tipsy camping revelers... that happens every time but i always forget not to shout until i no longer have a speaking voice. the food was awesome - there's just something about cooking over a live fire in big cast iron pans... the weather was gorgeous if not a little hot, especially on thursday and saturday, but friday was gloriously mild, somewhat overcast and just beautiful.

and melissa, your woods-woman amazon warrior friend, killed a snake.
i know! i can't believe it either...

bob and i were setting up my tent when he found a juvenile copperhead and held it in it's place with a tent pole while everybody ran around screaming "snake!" it was striking at the tent pole bob was holding. my good friends jeffe and jana, who were setting up their own tent said "kill it! grab a mallet!"

... and so i did. i had to beat it to death, which i did in about 3 heavy whacks to its head. then i fell apart a little bit. i don't think i've ever killed anything before other than bugs and scorpions. i couldn't even kill a mouse or a rat. but i killed that snake like a snake-murdering pro. like a snake hitman. i was a snake mercenary. bob flipped its lifeless body into the woods behind our tents and i had to cry a little bit like a big old sissy, but was assuaged by jeffe, jana, bob & mary telling me that i'd done the right thing even though i'd had to kill it. it might have bitten somebody, possibly even a child, and since it was a juvenile copperhead, it would have very possibly delivered a fatal dose of venom to whomever it struck. that made me feel a little better about it. melissa mcgee: snake killer. i knew my grandfather would be proud.

then sometime saturday, i was bitten by some sort of nasty spider... i noticed the bite in the afternoon. it just itched, it didn't really hurt, and i have no idea when i was bitten or by what sort of spider. it wasn't a brown recluse though, i know that for sure. at any rate, by nightfall i felt like i had the full-blown flu: achiness, stiffness, fever and general malaise. i felt so crappy i wanted to cry, but i didn't attribute the feeling to the spider bite until the next morning. i took a handful of benadryl and turned in early, sick and disappointed at having to listen to my friends whoop and laugh and hollar without me.

the next morning my friend shannon said she'd gotten an identical bite the last time she was out there; it looked the same as mine (raised red center, bruised outer ring, local fever) and she'd suffered the exact same symptoms afterwards. she didn't know what sort of spider it was either, but whatever it was was nasty. i was a lot better by the next morning though, especially after shannon brought me a tall freshly brewed cowboy coffee with whipped cream and caramel sauce.

spent yesterday washing clothes and carefully unpacking, taking care to LOOK for things like scorpions (of which we found a few out at the camping site) and spiders in and throughout my many bags and boxes. since everything i owned was in the washing machine or the dryer, i went to the grocery store wearing an old t-shirt and jeans, and just said "screw it" when it came to putting on any makeup or doing anything at all to my hair. so OF COURSE i ran into people i knew...

i ran into 2 people that i knew inside the store as well as a dapper older gentleman who knew me from the bell county jamboree. since there are usually lights in my face, he recognized me right off but i'd never seen him before, but was perfectly lovely to chat with, even though i looked like a hobo.

then, out in the parking lot as i was loading groceries from the basket to my trunk, i heard someone ask "melissa? are you melissa mcgee?"

i said "yes..." and i realized how timid and tenative my voice sounded... "who is this guy?" i wondered.

"i'm paulie!" he said. instantly i knew who he was. paulie! we read each other's blogs! he was so sweet and kind, and i stood there over-explaining that i usually look better than this. we chatted and exchanged handshakes and hugs and told each other how great it was to finally meet and how incredible it was that he even recognized me and that we'd never run into each other before... and i vowed to my self silently right then and there to NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE AGAIN WITHOUT MAKEUP at the very least.

that thing they say is true... when you leave the house looking like crap, you WILL run into every person you've ever met.

new friends

i had the distinct pleasure of meeting my friend shannon's parents this weekend. pat and bob are two of the most wonderful people i've ever come in contact with. they have more energy than anybody else i know of any age; we had long talks last night about how they're working their way across the globe on scuba diving trips. their favorite dive destination so far is indonesia. this afternoon, i got to photograph pat & bob in my home with their shannon & rudi and their two daughters brooke and devon. we had a blast and got many beautiful photographs. my favorite by far from the whole shoot is something of an outtake, but it's definitely a keeper.

mullet update with bonuses

my awesome friend craig came over to my house and CUT MY HAIR. it was that bad. when your hairstyling friends start offering to make housecalls, you've got a mullet and there must be something done about it.

anyhoodles, it's really cute, and i am now completely, 100% mullet-free.

on another front altogether, i wanted to say a very heartfelt congratulations to my very dear friends shannon and rudi for tying the knot! congrats, you two!

and on another completely different front, i'm going to be out of town for several days this week on a camping trip! woo! it's going to be a much needed blast, sleeping out in the woods with temperatures dipping down to the mid-sixties... which, in texas, is autumn. and of course, all the drinking. i'm not a big drinker normally; i might have a drink once every couple of months. seriously. just not big on the hootch. but camping? forget it. that's another story altogether. i can get my drink on out in the woods. so there's that.

and finally, on the last front, my sister is getting married in less than a month! i feel like i've been tearing my hair out lately, trying to keep about 7 irons in the fire and balancing things like bills and work and trying to have something resembling a social life and printing, cutting, assembling things like invitations and shower announcements... but it's all worth it because it's for my little sister megen. then i do silly things like wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat wondering will my house be ready? will my cats behave? will the fortune cookies be adorable? will the weather be nice? can i pull off a wedding AT MY HOUSE, FOR MY SISTER?

god i hope so.

just call me joe dirt

between planning a wedding for my sister, helping to plan another wedding for my friend shannon, making jewelry like a woman posessed for my etsy shop, living with two female kittens, one of which is currently in heat (feel sorry for me), learning how to use and simultaneously falling head over heels in love with my hasselblad, and just living my life in general, i've somewhat neglected my coif... i haven't been to see my wonderful hairstylist ronda martindale in a while. like, since june. i've just been too busy.

my hair is still short; i've hacked at it a few times in the bathroom during fits of rage with scissors, and other times in moments of curious experimentation... "i can do this... can't i? sure i can. can i? i'm doing this. should i do this? (snip) i guess i'm doing this..." so the front, top and sides are pretty manicured. the back, however, has been neglected because, well, i just can't see it.

and now i have a mullet.

yes friends, that's right. yours truly is rockin' the "business up front, party in the back" hairstyle.

all my friends tell me "no! that's not a mullet!" but i hear the snickering in their voices when they try to assuage me, secretly loving the fact that their most anti-mullet acquaintence is now sporting the very hair atrocity that she so vehemently opposes.

i gotta do something about this. i don't have time to get in to see ronda... and honestly, i'm a little too humiliated to tell her what i've become... the very thing i dispise. it's just gone too far. it's like a lie that you have to keep telling, or a friend you've gone way too long without calling... and it's just too late now. i am joe dirt.

it's no where near as long as his glorious mullet. the 'burns aren't there. the top isn't anywhere near as high and regal... but make no mistake, it's a mullet. a mini-mullet, but a mullet nonetheless.

my good friend leah who sits with her back to me at work tells me every day that i've got to do something about my hair. "i know, i know..." i always tell her. she threatens to bring in her very special hair-cutting scissors from when she was a hairstylist. "do it!" i encourage her. but she hasn't. i think she's too terrified of the power of the mullet. even my friend and coworker scottie who still styles hair on the side told me "sister, when are you gonna let me cut that hair!?"

i am planning, i SWEAR, to get it cut as soon as scottie comes back from his vacation next week when i'm off. i SWEAR. i don't want a mullet even more than people don't want me to have a mullet. scottie's gonna give me a cute, sassy stack in the back of my hair and the mullet will be no more.

...but maybe i can talk him into leaving me a rattail.