I did not have Columbus Day off. I ate vaguely Italian food for lunch, though.

I slept too late, finished reading a book, did the aforementioned work that I should have done on Friday, made mashed potatoes to use in shepherd's pie tonight, went to the gym, started a new book (Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan, which is steampunk-y WWI goodness) did 2 loads of laundry, took a shower, and now I'm loafing until it's time to put the shepherd's pie in the oven.

BTW, since The Boy is a vegetarian, I use only vegetarian shepherds in the shepherd's pie.

I want to be Liese, or at least I want to hang out with her and eat a cinnamon sugar muffin.

I want that muffin recipe, too. YUM.

BTW, since The Boy is a vegetarian, I use only vegetarian shepherds in the shepherd's pie.

Snerk.

I have spent (and will still be spending, after my break is done) Columbus Day crunched under a nightmarish pile of work. But I did have leftover Moroccan food for lunch, so it evens out.

I have survived another Turkey Day...but I really don't want to go to work tomorrow.

I'm scared that I'll get a new job right away when I move (not really scared about that part), and since I'll be both the new girl and local, I'll have to work the day after American Thanksgiving for the first time ever. Probably won't happen, though...

It is super simple. Betty Crocker. (MasterCook for those of you I sold on that software, hee.) It's a kid friendly recipe, which is why it says the bit about adult help at the end. I imagine most of you can manage this without adult help. I love this recipe because it's pretty much just stuff I always have around. It says it results in 12 muffins, but my tins are a little big so I only get 6 out of this recipe.

Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

Shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup margarine or butter (1 stick)

1. Heat oven to 350º.
2. Grease bottoms only of 12 muffin cups with shortening
3. Beat in medium bowl with fork:
  1/2 cup sugar
  1/2 cup milk
  1/3 cup vegetable oil
  1 large egg
4. Stir into milk mixture just until all the flour is wet (do not stir too much-batter will be lumpy):
  1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  1/2 teaspoon salt
  1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
5. Spoon batter into muffin cups until 2/3 full. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
6. While muffins are baking, mix in small bowl, then set aside:
  1/2 cup sugar
  1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
7. Melt in saucepan over low heat, then remove from heat:
  1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine or butter
8. Adult help: Immediately remove muffins from pan. Roll hot muffins in the melted margarine, then in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve hot.

OK, I love both Craigslist and cell phones tonight. Some lady just drove up in a Lexus and gave me $10 for crap out of my house.

Regarding flour: if a recipe does not specify self-rising flour, but that's all you have, would tragedy occur if you substituted self-rising flour for unspecified (but what I assume is meant to be NON-self-rising) flour?

Nope, but you should skimp on or omit entirely the ingredient(s) intended to make the thing rise (i.e. baking soda or powder.) I *think* self-rising flour has baking powder in.