An Exploit: My New Hero

My night in my box would not be complete without these items.

1. My jute recycle bag filled with books and cd's
2. My jute star bag filled with snacks and munchies
3. My excellent green hard hat
4. Safety glasses
5. Gloves
Not pictured: My laptop



Here's what I've found lately perusing the Internet between surveys:

Amazing cupcakes, and so much other stuff. This woman is my new hero, she makes the most beautiful creations, takes fabulous pictures of them, and has done all of this while finishing med school. This picture is my favorite because it's almost the one I draw for my sister, Cupcake.



Oh, P.S. her blog is annies-eats.com

Another cool blog that Claire (Cupcake) told me about was Cupcakes Take the Cake. I found this picture on their blog.

Isn't it fun? And it's on a Vinyl! Note to self: get a stocked kitchen, some cool baking tools, and go to town. I need to learn a lot of patience to make stuff like this!

Also, I'm going to start posting my favorite pictures along the left side of the page, under my categories segment.

An Exploit: Sand Bar

This morning, after my run, I went down to the water with the intention of doing some Yoga. I did a few push ups and sit ups, and then decided that I was more interested in taking some pictures. Here is what I saw:

This one was from the other night. Claire and I were comparing how long our hair was. It's my work box, and my work jumpsuit. YAY, blue nomex with my name.

Part of an old pier. This shore is rather marshy, lots of grass.

I intended to get out earlier, there's a sand bar a few inches under water here. I thought it would make a good picture, but I was too late, and the tide started coming in.

Looking through the planks.

My footprints. The little blobs are from oysters, little air holes. When they push the water out they push the sand into little lumps.

The rest of these are just views that I found interesting. A lot of pipe and stuff was left to rust and corrode and waste away.

Orange Moon: Puddng Cookies

This morning I saw an amazingly orange moon when walking from the work box to the sleeping box. I'm starting to believe that the constant clouds are actually haze from the refinery. I did get to see 2 stars this morning, though. And it makes for a pretty cool moon.

I went into town this afternoon to the grocery store. I had found a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that I wanted to try. I ended up forgetting my list, and thus forgot to buy butter. I did have about half what the recipe called for, and fortified the rest with oil.

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

1 c Butter

1/4 c Sugar

3/4 c Brown Sugar, packed

2 Eggs

1 t Vanilla

2 1/4 c Flour

1 t Baking Soda

1 (4 oz) package Instant Vanilla Pudding

1 (12 oz) package Milk Chocolate Chips

What I used:

1/3 c Butter

1/4-1/2 c Vegetable Oil

1/4 c Sugar

3/4 c Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

2 1/4 c Flour

1 t Baking Powder

1 (4 oz) package Instant Vanilla Pudding
1 (12 oz) package Milk Chocolate Chips

Sift together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, pudding mix. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Add oil as necessary so that the batter will roll into balls without sticking to your hands. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Bake at 375* for about 10-12 minutes.

They turned out fairly well (very vanilla-y). Now I'm off to make friends with the roughnecks.

The DD said these were the best cookies he's ever had, and repeatedly asked me to make them again.

An Exploit: Breaking Dawn, teeheehee

I took some pictures on my way back from the work box to the sleep box. Here's what I came up with. It's still dark when I leave the box, but it gets light pretty quick.





Lights across the bay, there's a refinery over there. The lights extend all the way across the view we have from our little alcove.




Some pipe stacked out of the way.




The rig with all the lights on.

I took some more pictues tonight. I like how the moon looks on water. And how the lights turn the clouds orange.

This is my work box. Inside are 2 chairs, a bench that doubles as storage. A desk that holds 6 computers (mine included) and various other equipment (most of it I'm not entirely sure what it does).

This is where all the activity is. The stairs lead up to the rig floor (the blue box is their office). This is where the pipe is added or taken off, as needed to keep drilling or take the bit and tool out of the well.

Just when I thought I had a friend Pancakes

I've made breakfast the last couple days, and shared it. So I thought I'd do the same today. Turns out, they already ate. No one wanted my pancakes. I was very disappointed. Just when I thought I had a friend, they go and have CEREAL. I'm crushed.

Gramma Geneil's Pancakes

2 c Flour
2 T Baking Powder
2 T Sugar
2 c Milk
1/4 c Oil
1 Egg, beaten

Mix the flour, baking powder and sugar. Beat the egg, add the oil and beat together. Add the milk and mix well. Pour wet ingredients into dry, and mix until moist. The batter should be lumpy.



I definitely need more, better, pictures. I'll be back soon.

Biscuits and Gravy

It took me a long time to start liking biscuits. I'm still really picky. Those ones that come in the pop open cans? They have a bad after taste. The ones that are dropped onto the pan, instead of rolled out and cut? Not so much. But I do like the ones my mom makes. The ones that come from her ancient cookbook, that used to be Gramma Geneil's. I made them yesterday and shared them with my new room mates. I grudgingly put gravy on them, too. Even though I only like them with Jam or Honey.

Biscuits

tba, I left the recipe in the other box. The one I sleep in, not the one I work in.

OK, here it is:

2 c Flour

3 t Baking Powder

1 t Salt

1/4 c Shortening

3/4 c Milk

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Cut in the shortening. Add milk and mix until flour is moistened. Don't kneed these, they'll be more flakey if you leave them. Roll out to 1/2 inch thick, and cut rounds with a cookie cutter. I use a small glass, they're a little bigger, but not too big. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 450* for 10-12 minutes.

YAY JOHNNYCAKE!

I made some cornbread this morning for breakfast. So I had to make some Johnnycake for later. I'm on the night shift right now, so I guess this would be a true "breakfast" for me, and the cornbread was dinner, but we don't need to go into that.

Johnnycake

1 c Cornbread, crumbled

1 Egg, beaten

Mix until cornbread is wet. The mixture should hold its shape when molded into a cone.

Press into a frying pan over medium heat, a fork works well, or a spatula. When the bottom is golden brown, turn over. When cooked through, remove from heat and ENJOY!!! You can eat these with butter, salt and pepper like Gramps used to, or you can use something sweet like Caro Syrup, Chokecherry Syrup, Peanut Butter, Jam, Powdered Sugar, whatever you like. I personally like them plain! No butter, no nuthin'.

An Exploit: From the Kitchen to the Rig

My mom, I think, told me I should do a "kitchen to field" entry. At least until I get a kitchen again. Turns out that I will be living in apartments or double wide trailers for the next 3 months, at least. So, you'll be hearing a lot about rigs. Or maybe not a lot about them, because I have almost no time to myself. Right now, we are waiting and I should be studying, but who wants to study?

Anyway I am at my first job. It is a rig near Portland, TX. And it is ON the beach. Not sandy, but very nice, from my point of view. It was rather brown yesterday, because it was SO windy. Amazing coming from a Wyoming girl, right? I'm not complaining, it made it seem not so hot, but it made the bay kind of a nasty brown color.

Looking across the bay, to the north, I believe what I see is a refinery. Looked a little bit like Sinclair. Also, one of the gentlemen here told me that you could cross a bridge and go to a beach. I'll have to go explore if I get a chance.

My exploration last night took place fairly close to the rig. This is what I see about 30 yards from my "house".

These boards are very intriguing, I wonder what was out here.

And there's the rig. If you look carefully, you can see more of the bay behind the rig. the other pictures are looking off to the right.

This is my little perch. I can step down, and have a little seat and put my feet in the water.

The sand bar, it's only about 20 feet across. The rest of the beach is more clifflike.

My home for the next 2 weeks, or so.

Well, time to get back to studying. Wish me luck!