it may be a round of kitchen confessions. i got in a little over my head with this last round of baking. i had the kitchen to myself, and hocked up on sugar and corn syrup, i worked myself into quite a late-night frenzy saturday evening. with a liquid concoction bubbling on the stove and me reading the recipe under a dim light 15 feet above me, i see the sekret recipe calls to boil said ingredients until they reach 270 degrees F. ok. i can do that. except my thermometer only reaches 220 degrees F. thankfully, in my sugar-induced, semi-sleep deprived state, i marched along positively, pulling the cooled substance until, around midnight, i had thirty pieces of lime oil-infused taffy (awesome kudos to the exploratorium, the san francisco children's science museum, for this recipe)! this version comes out more like laffy taffy, and boyajian's lime oil from sur la table added a citrusy punch to the stretchy and sweet pieces of pure caloric joy. 

monday evening, the a's battled it out with the giants over in oakland. during the second inning, i nabbed russ springer and handed him a box of taffy. no one left the game with a missing tooth or cracked crown, and the entire team, highlighted by the swift pitching staff, played a great and exciting game. the fans cheered, some spilled their beer (like the guy behind me who doused my purse and brand new j.crew work pants with his budweiser), and most everyone wore a's or giants gear. the most enjoyable part was the amount of positive energy surging throughout the coliseum all evening, something that rarely surfaces these days. maybe it's because a certain owner is pulling a major league, what with paltry and boring advertising, no attempts to increase attendance, and a lack of bay area fandom. he may want to think about ways to harness and sell this rare yet amazing electricity back to the grid because there's nothing better than renewable energy, and it's something this team and its devoted fans need and deserve.

last week, we took the cat in for his weekly cast change. katrina, one of the awesome vet techs, asked if i had any cast color preferences, and i piped up and said no purple, pink, red, etc. but blue, green, yellow, or even a combination would be great. fifteen minutes went by, happily spent petting a 200 lbs. chocolate brown newfoundland puppy (how can a dog this big be just 10 months old?), and out comes katrina, with a one-of-a-kind kitty cast attached to the furball. big thanks to her and cesar, the nurse assistant, for their oakland a's-centric creativity! and now i have an entry for this year's "dress your pet" contest...

last wednesday's game against the twins may have been a slight bummer on some counts (my bullpen's era ballooned; current era to be calculated at a later date), but the delivery left me (introvertedly) elated. with a handoff to brad ziegler, i delivered homemade twinkies with a little note to (b)eat those twinkies. witty, probably not. but totally appropriate, especially when brad said, "hey, twinkies! ah-right!" it made my heart quiver oh so slightly...

twinkies (the edible kind, not the joe mauer version. although he might be tasty in a figurative sense...) are something i've been wanting to try for quite some time, but i had to align my stars just right. first, i had to plan in advance. none of this picking-a-recipe-out-of-the-air-three-days-before-a-game stuff. it's really hard to find the old hostess twinkie-authorized pan, but i thankfully found norpro's cream canoe set on amazon. second, i had a knock-it-out-of-the-park recipe from jennifer over at shmooed food (and did i mention the recipe is vegan?). third, after calling every semi-to-fully natural grocery store north of daly city, i found the ever-important barley malt powder at rainbow, one of my all-time favorite groceries. coincidentally, my pantry is now stocked to the brim with oat milk, black quinoa, and five different kinds of seitan. i'll be back at thanksgiving, rainbow, be prepared. and  lastly, i had to put these suckers to the most important taste test, and they passed. yummunchyummunchyummunch.

a few notes about the twinkies themselves:

• i used hazelnut milk in place of soy.
• my oven must be off, because i had to bake these 8 minutes longer than the recipe calls for.
• in the filling, i used earth balance in place of margarine.
• the filling is incredibly tasting and could be used in sandwich cookies, cupcakes, and over ice cream. 
• the recipe says to chuck the filling plunger, but this norpro one rocks. keep it, use it, and bow down to it's plasticky presence.
• last, these twinkies will dry out if left open in the fridge or on the counter. keep them in an air-tight container and ideally leave them in a cool place, either the fridge or counter. but they're just so darn good that i doubt  they'll make it to the tupperware stage.

last night, a little boy and his dad sat a few seats to our right. during the seventh, the 4-year-old turned to his dad and said, "dad, if the second fielder moves over that way, does he become the first fielder?" with the way this game was going, this was just the perfect thing to liven my mood. dad then proceeded to explain the difference between the words "center" and "second."

also, the fantastic ladies over at oakland a's days posted about their recent dot race sighting, and for those of you who haven't seen this massively adorable red, white, and blue face race, well, here ya' go (select hq for the young mc overlay ). baker delivery details to follow later today or tomorrow!

over the past year, i've gotten hooked on etsy, a website that features crafty, homemade items. last year, i found my mom a cute houseplans purse (she's a realtor), and i've purchased a few other smaller items for gifts and such. but i've found that etsy isn't just about exposing your inner martha stewart; there's baseball-related merchandise, too! here are a few of many...

with the bullpen in constant flux and a lack of solid play-on-name puns, last friday's delivery was A's-centric. and by that, i mean chocolate covered A's-pricots. i started making these a year or so ago, when i found the base recipe in a magazine (at my physical therapy place, no less). since then, i've tweaked it, adding hawaiian black sea salt and using guittard dark chocolate chips, which have an unbelievable consistancy compared with other chips, and this time i even switched out the pistachio pieces for glazed pecans (i prefer the pistachios, though, so that's what i've included in the simple, even-a-guy-could-make-them-while-watching-the-NBA-finals recipe). the handoff to brad ziegler came quickly; his response, "hey, chocolate covered apricots! yeah!" and while the A's added another L to the column, my bullpen still has a 0.00 ERA. hip hip, hoor-A's!


chocolate-covered apricots with pistachios and sea salt

ingredients
1/2  cup  finely chopped pistachios
3/4 cup  dark chocolate chips (Guittard is preferred; whole foods sells them in the bulk section and by the 12 oz. package)
24  dried large apricots (not the Turkish ones; use the very orange, squishy ones)
sea salt (black, pink, red, lavender, whatever floats your boat)

directions
1. line a baking sheet with waxed paper.

2. put pistachios and salt into separate shallow bowls.

3. melt chocolate via double-boiler (preferred method) or microwave. remove from heat.

4. holding apricots from one end, dip them 1 at a time into the chocolate, turning to coat about 3/4 of the apricot. place apricot on baking sheet and repeat with remaining apricots.

5. sprinkle  nuts and salt over the chocolate.

6. chill in refrigerator until chocolate is set, about 1 hour. store in an airtight container between sheets of waxed paper in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks..

way, way back in the day (may 6th), i saw the a's battle it out with the rangers for an unfortunate 3-2 loss. with barely anyone in the stands, i sat in the 3rd row, which gave me a great view of the bullpen munching on my homemade gran' ol' a's crunch (get it? granola?) while also ducking for cover as foul balls whizzed over my head (one woman caught two separate balls. she had some speed!).

for the granola, i used dried dates, mango, and cranberries, and instead of cutting the mix up into bars, i cracked it into smaller pieces. with the leftovers, i found the mix pairs well with greek yogurt, fresh fruit, and even ice cream. oh, and i added a tiny pinch of salt to the granola for a slightly savory feel. 

i never made it to last tuesday's game b/c my cat fell out of our 4th story window. the details are quite sketchy, as i don't speak meow, rwow, werr, or coo, but a totally sweet and amazing neighbor found him the next day (i was literally in tears the previous 24 hours, so this was a huge relief). after tons of veterinary care and orthopedic surgery, he's starting to heal, both emotionally and physically. but with everything happening, i just haven't had the head or the heart to post about the last game, which i'll try to do tomorrow before the matchup with the diamondbacks... oh, and tomorrow night's delivery will be centering around dried fruit--yum! 

i'm living out of boxes next door while the floors in the apartment get redone (yippee!), and my laptop at work won't recognize my camera's memory card (this has been a common occurrence ever since my platform was reinstalled a few months ago); this means that i can't upload photos from wednesday's game.

in the meantime, i'd like to cheer on dan giese for performing admirably in his (potentially temporary) promotion from the bullpen to starting pitcher.

but geers go to the concessions peeps who, during the sixth inning, informed me that, after i waited in line for 15 minutes, they had run out of veggie dogs because of the large crowds demanding dollar dogs. um... right. those massive crowds. at a game where the attendance wasn't even announced because it was so palty (my guess: 5,497 max). but why does the availability of $3.50 veggie dogs, made of no meat products whatsoever, have any relation to the handfuls of a's fans who are racously demanding beef franks? receiving only blank stares and offers of "10 dollar dogs for $10," which i obviously didn't want, i scoured the only other stand that sells them, leading todd and me to share the very last tofu wiener, complete with a rock hard bun, the coliseum had to offer. coliseum folks, please remember to feed the vegetarians. we're pretty friendly until we're really, really hungry.

dear billy and bob,

i've got two magic words for you:

andrew bailey

note that they aren't "dana eveland."

b.