Aw, Matilda, I had to that task at the end of second grade (so two years older, I think) and it totally loomed over me as this impossible thing, but then I was able to do it. And then I turned out to be quite mathy later on.

I also remember watching my grandmother cross stitch, and she's put in a couple of stitches and ask me where the next one would go and I would have NO IDEA, it was a complete mystery. I can't reconstruct how not to see such a simple pattern now. Brain development is a wacky thing to experience as it happens to your own brain.

Sorry for the loud, ita, hooray for real treatment!

I was thinking, do you whisk up the wet and dry ingredients separately before gently combining them? If not, that might help. For some reason.

Eta: CI suggests equal parts butter and oil for tender crumb.

Halfway through last night's SNL. Jeremy Renner continues to be the sexiest, a bit surprising for SNL.

ita Glad the ER visit is going smoother with the medicine.

I suck at pattern recognition. Mom says that when they were doing some testing they did the test with the blocks that are half red and half white - they show a picture with a design, make it with the blocks then mess it up and you have to complete it.

I couldn't do it. I never finished a single one. Mom said the tester got extremely worried until they got to the story telling part of the test. They give you a set of pictures of people doing something , you put them in the proper order so they tell a story. I didn't get them in the correct order, but I told a really good story to go along with the order of the pictures so that was a pass.

ita,

I don't know if your recipe calls for eggs, but if so, you should beat your eggs with the milk/yogurt separately. mix the dry stuff separately, then put them together and fold in. This has made a diff for me.

you can now buy the video of "This American Life" show from last May.

It was really incredible. Rakoff's piece (from memory) is so much more affecting now.

[link]

Trader joes has their holiday cookies and sweets out already, including all of the holiday Jojo packs.

Just in case anyone was wondering.

Trader joes has their holiday cookies and sweets out already, including all of the holiday Jojo packs.

I saw that last week. SO TEMPTING. Except the evil peppermint Joe-Joe's. Yuck.

Care package!!! I'll PayPal.

I use a combined CI/Alton Brown method. I don't normally like baked goods that use oil, because they often end up having an oily feel. However, I learned from CI that if you start by beating your eggs and then slowly adding the oil like you were making mayonnaise, you get an emulsion that removes the oily feel. Then I add the rest of the wet ingredients and beat the hell out of them. I mix the dry ingredients, and by mix, I mean dump the baking soda, etc., on top of the flour in the cup measure, and then adhere to Alton Brown's advice to add the dry ingredients and mix no longer than 30 seconds.