Defeated.

[sydni_64]

Well, for the first time in a while, I just feel really horribly down. :-(

As I was saying to elmyraemilie earlier today, I'd been getting a lot of television channels in my cable package for free. Well, Monday night, the cable company seems to have caught wise because I am now down to just the nine or so channels I pay for. ::sigh::

Well, somehow I got it into my head that this might possibly be a good time to do something about the sheer quantity of reality television I've been watching. I watch reality shows when I'm feeling down, tired, bored, sad, sick, you name it. It would be nice to scale that back a bit.

So, I need things to fill the newfound free time. I get a lot of work done during the day, but I'm talking about the hours when I'm just too tired to do my academic research or prepare a lesson plan, but not tired enough to sleep.

Today, after working for hours and becoming too tired to go on, I decided to make a South Indian dessert I'd heard about online: mysore pak. Bizarrely, I actually happened to have some chickpea flour sitting in my pantry, so it was a go.

I made the clarified butter, then toasted the flour, mixed in the simple syrup, used vanilla and pumpkin pie spice to flavor it because I didn't have any cardamom, and stirred and stirred and stirred until it was time to pour it out into a greased dish to cool. I tasted a bit of it. It was pretty damn yummy! I figured I'd have a piece and take the rest in to work tomorrow.

To speed up the cooling process, I stuck the dish in the fridge. Well, that's where it all went wrong. The dish wasn't perfectly balanced, and it toppled out of the fridge, fell, and shattered on my kitchen floor.

:-(

Bah! I feel defeated and depressed.

Comments

[eggblue.livejournal.com]

Ack! Dessert tragedy!!!! I'm sorry. It would have been good (sounds like it!), but you can always try again.

I know what you mean about the cable - I had free secret cable for awhile too. Check online for some shows you might want to watch instead. I used to watch marathons on TLC when I felt down, and now that it's gone, I don't miss it at all. Watching an 8-hour wedding dress marathon seemed reasonable at the time...

There's always another escape!

[sydni-64.livejournal.com]

Your comment really helped shed a glimmer of light on my horrible evening! I do exactly the same thing; when I feel down or bored or tired, I watch marathons on TLC, Bravo, Oxygen, Discovery Health Channel, Food Network... you name it. Hulu and downloading will help, but the thing is that those shows are the *good* shows that I watch when I actually have the energy to sit up and pay attention. For better or worse, finding episodes of "Say Yes to the Dress" is more of a challenge!

I think I will try the dessert again, maybe this weekend. I forgot to mention in my post that I actually *was* going to start over, until I realized I'd already used all my unsalted butter to make the first batch of clarified butter. That's when the defeatedness *really* sunk in! ::sigh::

Well, your comment gives me hope that I will be able to get that reality monkey off my back, after all, even if tonight is not exactly going how I planned. Thanks!

[eggblue.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I adore 'Top Chef' and 'Project Runway' and yes, 'Say Yes to the Dress' but they're all unavailable online. But I have found 'Dr. Drew Sex/Celebrity Rehab' and 'RuPaul's Drag Race' and 'Hoarders' in their full glory online! If you really don't mind spending a little extra dough, even shows like 'Top Chef' and 'The Soup' can be downloaded on iTunes. But I usually realize that they're not worth the $1.99 price tag, and so maybe I don't need them that much to begin with. Also, I think Google has increased their file storage size, so it might be even easier to download things in the near future. I don't really download stuff, so others can be more helpful than I am.

TLC is the worst. They even had me watching the Duggans and Jon & Kate. But it's surprisingly easy to live without knowing what will happen to Chumley on 'Pawn Stars' or what new restaurant Guy Fieri has discovered. As long as you don't have access ;) Man, I was obsessed too.

Hey, and because I haven't mentioned it before, I am impressed by your thrift store fu and your ability to make clarified butter. I've never even tried to make Indian food!

[southpaw526.livejournal.com]

Aw, sweetie. *hugs* At least you did get a taste of it?

[sydni-64.livejournal.com]

I did get a tiny taste before the awful crash. It was nummy! Way tastier than I thought a chick pea dessert could ever be.

[elmyraemilie.livejournal.com]

Aww, that sucks. So sorry you lost your consolation prize. ::pets you::

[sydni-64.livejournal.com]

Right? Even the consolation prize!!

Ack.

Thank you for the sympathy, E.E., I am feeling pretty miserable and like I could use all the pity I can get right now! I think it's time to call it a day and get my ass to bed.

[sara-merry99.livejournal.com]

::hugs amd pets:: Sorry you've had a shit day, hon.

The dessert sounds totally tasty--I'm interested in hearing how it is when you make it again.

[sydni-64.livejournal.com]

I tried again! And it came out pretty tasty! The funny thing is that even so, I had to throw most of it out. I made it on a Friday so I couldn't just take it into the office next day, and since the recipe involves 1 cup clarified butter, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup chickpea flour, I couldn't eat that all myself!

But it really did undo a lot of the frustration to make the dessert again and have it come out and be yummy.