...with no eggs.

We (my most-awesome girlfriend & I) have been on a bit of a kick with these mug cake things.  These are little individual-sized cakes that you mix in a coffee mug and toss in the microwave for a minute or two. As long as you don't over do the nuking process, you get a decent little mug of cake...nice and moist.  It lacks the browning of a traditional, oven-baked cake but the speed and convenience (and overall tastiness) more than makes up for that.

Most recipes we've found call for an egg in some amount.  This is what makes the cakes...cake-ier. Well, last night we were getting ready to have our evening coffee and realized we had no dessert to go with our coffee.  So a mug cake sounded like the perfect solution.  The only problem was the one, lone egg in the fridge expired 8 MONTHS AGO(!).  So I looked up on the intertubes a recipe for a vegan mug cake (for those not familiar with vegans...eggs are a no-no (so are lots of other really tasty things)).

Here (for my records, as well as for anyone interested) is my version of the recipe for a chocolate mug cake.  My version isn't strictly vegan, so I can not speak to how tasty (or not) it would be as a vegan cake. You wacky* vegans will easily know what and with what to replace to make it suitable for you.

Chocolate mug cake

2 tbsp flour
4 tbsp hot cocoa mix (or 2 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp cocoa powder)
pinch of salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp milk

Mix all the ingredients together...if you want to be all proper about it, mix the dry ingredients first, then add the wet...mix it in a bowl or directly in the mug...or anywhere, anyhow you want.

Nuke it for about a minute...if you didn't already know, not all microwave ovens were created equal...some are really powerful and some are not, so adjust the cooking time accordingly. I'm guessing the oven I used was about 800watts.  You can always add a few more seconds if it's not quite done, but once it's charred...there's no going back.

It will not rise much at all, so feel free to put it in a tiny little mug or use the leftover space in a regular mug to add ice cream or cool whip or whatever, or nothing.  It will be a a lot like a fudge-y brownie (unless you overcooked it...then it will be more hockey puck-ish)

If you still have one, use your imagination...add stuff like chocolate chips, nuts (yuck!), or other things to the mix...experiment w/ different hot cocoa mixes...try some of those instant cappucino, mocha, latte mix things instead of the hot cocoa mix.

Oh, and if you have eggs, you can mix one (or half of one) into the wet ingredients and your cake will magically rise and be more cake-like...if you do add egg, cut back on the milk and oil...probably by at least half...more if it's a big egg.

Even if you screw up, it will still probably be edible and most likely tasty.  Unless you turn it into a briquette.

*I kid. I mean, I do think vegans are wacky...but in the friendly kind of way. Don't lecture me on my food choices and I won't mock you (much) on yours. Can't we all just get along?

...with the end of the world.*

In the span of a week or so we (those of us in the great Commonwealth of Virginia, and elsewhere on the eastern seaboard) have had to deal with an earthquake (of all things!) and a hurricane (which of course means close to a week without power for some of us**)

I, and everyone I know (that I've spoken or corresponded with) survived both and had little to no damage. The earthquake was pretty much nothing but a news event around here. I know in some places there was actual damage and I think I heard or read there was at least one death related to the quake.

The hurricane ("Irene") was also less severe than it could have been or was forecast to be.  Still not a lot of fun to go through since it knocked the power out at 4:00 on Saturday afternoon and it just now came back on at 3:30 on Friday afternoon...so pretty much a full 6 days sans power.  Fortunately I have a very loving and gracious girlfriend who has allowed me to spend my power-less days at her house...my dogs and all (yes, she is awesome and THE best). So my days without power have not been miserable like some who had nowhere to go and had to stay home, in the dark. In fact they've been quite nice.

 Storm Damage

Now I guess it's time to return home and clean up the aftermath of Irene. Mainly a broken limb on my maple tree, a gate that was already mostly broken that is now completely broken, and a couple of water stains inside from gravity-defying, wind-driven rain. Oh, and re-stock the fridge and freezer. Thanks, Irene.***



*Ok, so not EXACTLY the END of the world...but close enough.
**That would be me. 
***Yes, I know it could have been worse and was much worse for many people. I don't take their misfortune lightly. I know my "inconveniences" are nothing. But it's what I've got.

...with boredom at work.

...with stupid drivers.

I have this brilliant (or so I think) idea to solve the problem of stupid drivers. We think everyone else is a stupid driver and we are not...but I have news for you...we are ALL stupid drivers. It goes back to my theory that people are, in general, stupid. When these people get behind the wheel of a car, the stupid-factor goes up by about 10x.

So, what is this brilliant solution? Well, first of all, it's not a simple, inexpensive fix. It's probably not even practical. It is just a figment of my imagination, but if it could be implemented, it would be awesome. Bear with me as I explain this thing.  Here goes...

In the simplest terms, think laser tag for cars. Every vehicle would be equipped with sensors and an emitter. When you encounter someone driving stupid, you can "shoot" them with your "laser." If a driver is "shot" more than a certain number of times there can be one of several consequences. For example let's say that diver A is "tagged" or "shot" 10 times in a 12 hour period...their vehicle may become disabled for a pre-determined amount of time...say 24 hours or so...once they've come to a stop and idled for more than 15 minutes and/or turned their ignition off.  Or perhaps if they are tagged more than 5 times in the span of a few seconds or minutes their vehicle is immediately limited to a top speed of 35 MPH and their hazard lights turned on.

To prevent abuse, one could only tag the same vehicle once in a given period of time...say every 15 minutes or half-hour.  So you couldn't just shoot someone 10 times in a row to disable them out of spite or something. Also, each driver would be allowed a limited number of shots per day so you wouldn't  just drive around tagging everyone you see.

Each shot would be registered with some central database including who was tagged and who did the tagging, and excessive, inappropriate tagging would be punishable somehow.

That's it in a nutshell.  I'm sure there are refinements needed and more thought put behind it than I've given it. Like I said...it's completely impractical right now, but maybe some day.

...with writing a blog.

So here it is...the first post of my new blog. I thank/blame Foo for everything to follow. It was all her idea/fault.

See, my name - Jason Copes - is not just a name, it's a sentence. Jason copes. You'd think that since I've had that name my whole life and even commented on how it's a complete sentence to many people, many times...and I've been around the intertubes since Compuserve, BBS's and 300 baud modems were cutting edge...that this clever little idea for a blog would have made itself known before now.

You'd be wrong...at least as far as THIS Jason Copes is concerned.

Leave it to someone who has only recently come into my life...yet has been just a heartbeat away for a good part of it (life has a way of just blowing your mind sometimes...but that's a whole other post). Anyway, I owe this idea to her. If it ends up a success, it's all thanks to her...I'm solely responsible for ruining a most excellent concept if it fails.

I've dabbled with this "blog" thing before. I think the longest, most consistently updated one I had was a Livejournal blog, last updated almost 7 years ago. I don't recommend it, but for those that are curious, you have been warned. There is also a short-lived, almost as inane Blogspot attempt. Again, do not waste your time.

This one is going to be different. Like the Livejournal effort (at least at it's beginning...it quickly devolved), this blog has a well defined concept with an almost infinite range of topics. The major difference is that the concept for this blog has the potential to actually be interesting and/or possibly entertaining.

Notice I said "potential." This puts a lot (well, some...a little) pressure on me to keep you (whoever you are) entertained enough to continue reading and wanting more. The concept is solid...it's the execution that scares me. In theory this will be the worst post you will have to endure and each successive post will improve as I get used to this blogging phenomenon. Again.

Ultimately I don't know where this thing is going to take me (or you)...all I have now is an idea and a little motivation. Updates will likely be sporadic, at best...especially at first as I get my feet wet. Comments are welcome (be gentle, but honest).