blue candy flavor, breaded cats, poo-purri advertisement, shotgun hulls and their uses, and apple butter protocol

Of primary importance is the announcement that the Avett Brothers have a new album being released on Oct. 15th, and you can hear it over on NPR's First Listen.

Several bags of rainbow Twizzlers were left on the table in the break room this week. Some of the Twizzlers were blue. This lead to the inquiry, when you see a blue candy, what flavor do you personally immediately think of? Luisa, who grew up in southern Brazil, said tutti fruitti, which jives with the popular blue moon flavor of various desserts. i've heard a lot of people say blue raspberry, which is a completely artificial construct (raspberries are not blue), as well as a vote or two for 'sour berry'. i've heard people say blueberry. That one absolutely fits. i personally think coconut, from a childhood in south Texas heavily influenced by the local culture and the fact that raspberries and blueberries do NOT grow in south Texas (and i killed many in youthful optimism).

Breaded cats?!

With apologies, gentle readers... in conversation over ice cream/coffee today, the topic of poo-pourri came up. It's apparently a odor-eliminating product used before defecating in a public place. Lily had seen the admittedly hilarious youtube advertisement for it, and had questioned whether or not it was an actual product or just a parody. i remember reading something on the Pioneer Woman's blog regarding a product made by that company a while back, and could confirm that it was, in fact, a real product.

Bryan and i had a conversation regarding shotgun hulls (the spent shells) and how to reload them. You can recycle both the brass as well as the hulls, and lots of places sell equipment and supplies for reloading them yourself. There are also associated craft projects, as seen here.

i made apple butter this weekend. Ultimately, it ended up being about 8-10lbs of apples, cored and quartered but not peeled, which i placed in a large stock pot, just covered the apples in water (some folks use cider), and boiled until the apples were soft. i then cooled them, pureed the apples in a blender (the one that came with a complementary pimp hat from my friend LZ, and has been riding around in my truck for about 2 years), put the puree through a mesh sieve, and boiled down. About 3/4 c of brown sugar and a tablespoon (probably more, i have a bad habit of not measuring) of cinnamon was added to the puree, too. This was boiled until reduced in volume by about half, and thick enough to not slide around on a tilted plate. Hot water processed it in half-pint jars for 5 minutes according to the guidelines from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. Hmm. Not terrible, and was left with 5 half pints.

How is it October?
(an exchange with the beautiful, clever Holly)
me:  i have tied up two small paper bats in the center of my apartment

and am referring to it as my bat-mobile

 Holly:  is your apartment rushing to the scene of a crime?

 me:  if the crime is being awesome and cluttered, then yes