Blueberry Muffins and Power is Out

Big storm today. Power has been out for 2 hours. Luckily I had already eaten dinner. Dinner was fried chicken, red potatoes with scallion butter, and green beans. I had an Asian pear on the side. I try to have fruit with every meal.

Josh and I were right in the middle of watching I Am Legend when the power went out. Ironically, it was during the scene where he was caught in the trap and the sun was setting. I read the book years ago, but have yet to see the movie. The thing that struck me first was how young Will Smith still looks.

I made these blueberry muffins before dinner. Since I’ll be in KC this weekend I didn’t want the blueberries to go to waste.

I also cleaned the whole fridge out today. Like a boss.

Here’s the recipe for the muffins, which are crunchy on the top and totally moist on the inside, with a proper crumb and lots of fruit.

Blueberry Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

6 tablespoons melted butter (salted)
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
⅓  cup  sugar
1 large egg
¾  cup greek yogurt
⅛ cup whole milk or half and half
1 lemon worth of lemon zest and half a lemon of juice
1 ½  cups all-purpose flour
1 ½  teaspoon baking powder
½  teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t bother defrosting)
turbinado or raw sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 375°F (convection oven). Grease a muffin tin. Mix together butter, oil, sugar, egg, yogurt, milk, and lemon juice. Mix together the flour, zest, baking powder, baking soda. Take a spoonful of the flour and add to the blueberries and mix until covered (this keeps them from sinking in the batter). Fold the wet into the dry and when half way incorporated, throw in the blueberries. Mix until just incorporated, DO NOT OVERMIX. Fill the muffin tins up most of the way, and redistribute to make even. Top with a generous amount of turbinado sugar.

Cook for about 15 mins or until tops are golden brown and toothpick comes out clean. Take them out and let them sit a few minutes and then carefully take out of the tin and let cool. If you don’t know what to do with them next, you might need to see a doctor about that.

Store in an airtight container at room temp and they should keep 2-3 days. Keep about a week in the fridge.

The Move

Brandon, Josh, and I (along with two young dudes my parents hired for the heaviest stuff) managed to pack and arrange all of my parents’ belongings they wanted to take out to Washington. Everything else was garage saled, given to me to sell on commission, or just given to me to have. Ella house was already chock full of stuff, now it’s stuffed. It’s pretty hard to move through the space now. Brandon says it’s going to get better, and it probably will, because he’s right about most things, but it’s pretty stressful for me right now. I can’t work in my studio again, because it’s filled with boxes. I also really miss my parents, especially Dad. I’d gotten so used to seeing him at least once a week, crashing at his house when it was too loud or dirty at Ella. And now he’s gone and I don’t have anywhere to be except here, which intensifies my feeling of being TRAPPED.

Staying in Kansas is hard for me. Most of the people I’m friends with have left. I have a few people I like hanging out with in town and they are great people, but when someone leaves, it opens that wound of being LEFT BEHIND. At times I feel like everyone else is getting on with their lives and I’m just stuck. I know this is false though because:

1) Just because your leaving Kansas doesn’t automatically mean you are now in the REAL WORLD and doing IMPORTANT THINGS. Additionally, REAL WORLD and IMPORTANT THINGS are false constructs.

2) I’m not stuck. I’m doing lots of things: Two Crow Press, MXTW (though that just ended which is it’s own kind of sadness), first anocratic improvisation in STYROFOAMLAND, etc.

Things are very complicated at the moment between all these new objects moved into Ella house, multiple job possibilities, the Flinn California house being sold (I have to go out there one last time, I love that house and the land out there, I’m pretty sad my father and uncles have decided to sell it–but I have no claim to it–though I dread in my gut I’ll never set foot in a house that nice again), my business, etc. Trying to figure out the logistics and budgeting of possible flights and living arrangements is really tiring.

At least there’s oolong tea and curried chicken salad to eat for lunch…

Snow on Redbuds

THE NEXT BIG THING CONTEST

If you like my blog, my art, or my letterpress cards, please vote for me in K-State’s Next Big Thing Contest.

You can vote once a day for the next 5 days. The winner gets an automatic pass to the finals, and a chance to win between $100 and $4,200 for their business.

In the Printmaking Studio in March

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What I was working on in Advanced Printmaking back in March.