Valentine Idea - Chocolate Snack Cake

I like to read cookbooks like regular books.  There is no plot, but the reading is compelling all the the same.  As I was reading through my Betty Crocker's Cookbook, I ran across a recipe I have not used in some time.  This cake is good, warm or cold, with and without frosting.  If you want to get a little fancy you can make your own fruit syrup to drizzle over it.  I cut up about 4 cups of frozen strawberries and placed them in a pan with 1 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar.  I let it simmer for a couple hours.  As a bonus the apartment smelled like strawberries all afternoon.

From page 95 of The Big Red Cookbook printed in 2000:
1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour - *Do not use self-rising flour.
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup cold water

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of cake pan with shortening, lightly flour.
2. Mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in medium bowl.  Mix oil, vinegar and vanilla.  Vigorously stir oil mixture and water into flour mixture about 1 minute or until well blended.  Immediately pour into pan.
3.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 15 minutes.  Serve warm or cool with ice cream. 

Happy Valentine's Day from this terms house elves.

P.S.  Please note this recipe has no milk or eggs in it, so if you know who is a vegan/vegetarian or lactose intolerant AND they like chocolate -  this is a good cake for them. 

Twenty Five Years Ago Today....

I was a 16 yr old high school student who had a hard time showing up for class.  On that day I did.  First period was unremarkable.  I do not even remember what class that was.  Walking into 2nd period was like walking into a museum it was so quiet.  The radio was on and we just sat there; most of the day was spent moving from class to class and then listening to radio updates. Except of course for Algebra; the math teacher shocked everyone with continuing her scheduled lesson plan.  She acknowledged that the Challenger Disaster was tragedy for the families of the crew, but did not see why that should delay a pop quiz.

Hello from House Elf Liason Vilkasie

It only took two days (after being asked for my email address) to realize that -oh yes!- I need to log into my email and accept an invitation to post.  I would like to blame the itchiness of this towel but that would not be very elf-liason appropriate. (sigh)

This is the official blog call for recipes.  You can PM either myself or LadyPinky.  We are asking that you let us know if you have ever tried the recipe you have submitted; how it was received by those who ate it, and if you ever tried any variations of it.

If you have ever made your own lotions, cremes, shampoos, perfumes,  laundry detergent, or created your own dye - we would like to have those recipes too.  Please add any variations you have come up with and note how well your creation was received.  Submissions will be happily accepted until the end of the first week of March. There is a reason for that, but as we are not required to tell you - we won't!  You'll just have to wonder...

January Group Projects

Hi everyone! It's that time again. Group projects are live! I've updated the Group Projects Page with the current unity themes going on in January.

I'm not actively playing this term, so I may miss some projects in the house threads. If I don't have your project listed, send me a pm (volkat) with a short write up, and I'll get make sure it's posted.

Happy winter term, everyone!

Winter Term Movie Weekend Schedule

January 7, 8, 9 Howl's Moving Castle
January 14, 15, 16 Hope Floats
January 21, 22, 23 P.S. I Love You
January 28, 29, 30 Pearl Harbor

February 4, 5, 6 The Dark Knight
February 11, 12, 13 The Little Mermaid
February 18, 19, 20 The Incredibles
February 25, 26, 27 The Bourne Identity

March 4, 5, 6 Spartacus
March 11, 12, 13 Star Wars, the original trilogy
March 18, 19, 20 Strictly Ballroom
March 25, 26, 27 Mrs. Doubtfire

Hufflepuff Favorite Movies

For everyone who wanted to see the entire list of movie favorites, here it is, with duplicates removed. I'd say our very favorite movie is "The Princess Bride", because it was listed 8 times!

10 things I hate about you
13 going on 30
A cinderella story
A Knight's Tale
About A Boy
Across the Universe
Akeela and the Bee
Alice in Wonderland
Australia
Avatar
Batman Begins
Bend It Like Beckham
Blind Side, The
Bourne Identity, The
breakfast at Tiffani's
Breakfast Club. The
Bride and Prejudice
Bringing Up Baby
Camelot
Castle in the Sky
Catch Me if you Can
Center Stage
Chicago
Chicken Run
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Chocolat
Cinderella (Disney version)
City Slickers
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Corporation. The
Dark Crystal, The
Dark Knight, The
Defending Your Life
Dirty Dancing
Duchess, The
Duets
Eight Below
Elizabethtown
Enchanted
Escape to Witch Mountain (1978)
ET
Ever After
Fantasia
Fantastic 4
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ferris Beuller's Day Off
Fever Pitch
Fever Pitch (2005)
Fifth Element, The
Finding Nemo
Forrest Gump
Freaks
French Kiss
Funny Girl
Galaxy Quest
Gone With the Wind
Groundhog Day
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Hairspray
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Hell House
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Holiday Inn
Hope Floats
How To Steal A Million
Howl's Moving Castle
Incredibles, The
Iron Giant
Iron Man 1
Iron Man 2
It's a Wonderful Life
Jesus Camp
Julie & Julia
Juno
Just Like Heaven
Kiki's Delivery Service
Labyrinth
Ladies in Lavendar
Lake House, The
Lakehouse, The
League o fExtraordinary Gentlemen, The
Legally Blonde
Legend of Bagger Vance, The
Letters to Juliet
Life After Tomorrow
Lilo and Stitch
Little Mermaid
Little Mermaid, The
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Loser
Lost In Austen
Mamma Mia
Mean Girls
Men in Black
Milo and Otis
Mirrormask
Miss Congeniality
Miss Potter
Monsters Inc
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Mother
Moulin Rouge
Mr and Mrs Smith
Mrs. Doubtfire
Much Ado About Nothing
Mulan
My Fair Lady
My Neighbor Totoro
Night at the Museum
Ocean's 11 (George Clooney version)
Ocean's 12 (George Clooney version)
Ocean's 13 (George Clooney version)
P.S. I Love You
Painted Veil, The
parent trap
Pearl Harbor
People Will Talk
Pirate Radio
pride and prejudice
Princess Bride, The
Producers, The (2002 Musical Version)
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raising Arizona
Real Women Have Curves
Rent
Replacements, The
Robin Hood (Russell Crowe)
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves
Robots
Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrman version)
Rudy
Sandlot, The
Saved
Secret Garden, The (1993)
Secret of Roan Inish, The
Serenity
Seven Years in Tibet
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Singing in the Rain
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The
Some Like it Hot
Spartacus
Speed Racer
Spellbound
Spirited Away
Star Trek (2009)
Star Wars - Original Trilogy
Stardust
Stargate (the movie, obviously.not the show)
Strictly Ballroom
superman: the return
Sweet Home ALabama
sydney white
The Matrix - Trilogy
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Three men and a baby
Time Machine, The
Timeline
Top Gun
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 3
Triplets of Belleville, The
Twilight
Unbreakable
Unconditional Love
Up
Victor Victoria
Walk the Line
Wall-E
War of the Buttons, The
Wedding Singer, The
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
While You Were Sleeping
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (Gene Wilder)
Witches, The
Wizard of Oz, The
Word Wars
You've Got Mail
Zulu

Movie Weekend #13 Nov 26, 27, 28

The last movie weekend of the term! It will be Thanksgiving weekend in the US, which means a 4-day weekend for a lot of people! It can also be a very busy weekend between holiday festivities, family activities, travel, and the "official start" of the holiday shopping season - "Black Friday".

I've got two movies that take place on Thanksgiving, and two movies with food as their central theme - hopefully, something for everyone! As always, movies indicated *** are available for instant viewing from Netflix.

Julie & Julia ***

Ratatouille

Home for the Holidays

Miracle on 34th Street (1959 version) ***

Leave a comment with your choice, and I'll add them up and post the results on Wednesday. This is one day earlier than usual because of the holiday.