{"id":782,"date":"2010-11-28T13:24:41","date_gmt":"2010-11-28T19:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/?p=782"},"modified":"2011-08-09T16:38:27","modified_gmt":"2011-08-09T21:38:27","slug":"half-baked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/?p=782","title":{"rendered":"Half Baked"},"content":{"rendered":"
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28. A photo of something you cooked or baked. 11\/25\/2010. A batch of crackies.\u00c2 <\/p><\/div>\n

Some of you want the recipe. Others of you want to ban me from dessert. Some of you fall into both camps, and I’m not so sure what to do with you. Here it is anyway.<\/p>\n

Fudgie Scotch Squares (Crackies)<\/p>\n

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
\n1 cup butterscotch morsels
\n1 can sweetened condensed milk
\n1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 18 squares, if you’re making your own crumbs)
\nIf you like nuts in your sweets (I don’t) you can go with some chopped walnuts as well. Coconut also works nicely.<\/p>\n

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients. Press into a well-greased and floured 9″ square baking pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Let cool for 45 min, cut into 1.5″ squares. Let cool completely, cut again, remove from pan.<\/p>\n

You’re going to want to eat them right away, but trust me when I tell you that they’re infinitely better on their second day.<\/p>\n

Wordcount: 45,868. Today’s excerpt is based on a conversation I actually had recently, and have related a couple times to various people. Getting to the point where mining real life is all I have left in the tank….<\/p>\n

\n
\n

I approached her desk. She nodded me into a chair. I sat.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153…that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flawed,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said into the phone. Her anger was palpable. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I explained it already…. No, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cheaper…. What don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you understand?…. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re replica Muslim prayer rugs…. So, devout Muslims leave an obvious flaw in each rug they make because only God can be perfect…. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true, I asked a Muslim guy at my gym…. Fine, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get you his number…. Fine, bye.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She hung up the phone.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That flaw thing is bullshit, and if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s incredibly asinine.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care what you think, Arthur,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Seriously, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all a marketing ploy by Muslim prayer rug weavers. Some tourist was pissed because the quality of the souvenir prayer rug he had bought wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t up to his incredibly high standards and complained about it. Rather than just swapping out the rug for one that didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a flaw, the guy just fed the tourist that incredibly ridiculous line. Can you imagine if everything they did they did like that? It makes no sense.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I paused. Kelly was barely listening. I went on anyway. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really have anything better to do. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But check this out, the flaw in the whole story is the idea that unless the rug makers deliberately leave a flaw in the rug, that it would be perfect which is just not true, since not only is God the only one around who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s allowed to be perfect, He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also the only one that can actually be perfect. Even if the rug maker doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t leave the flaw, his prayer rug wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be perfect. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d just be a prayer rug of some certain amount of quality.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

I stopped, thought it about some more.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Are you done?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Kelly asked after a moment or two.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Not really,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I said, for I had considered another angle. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What the hell is a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcperfect\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 prayer rug anyway? Is there some Platonic ideal prayer rug out there? Is perfection a prayer rug that will perfectly cushion a \u00c2\u00a0supplicant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s knees as he prays? Or one that will somehow expedite the delivery of the prayers from prayer to prayee? Or is it just some perfection of the pattern in the rug, some ideal design that would make the rug superior to all others?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Please, stop,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Kelly said.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ok, but one more thing: what if the ideal, perfect prayer rug is one that ostensibly appears to be perfect except for one particularly obvious and purposely made flaw? What if by making that flaw, the rug maker is accidentally making the most perfect prayer rug that was ever made?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever stop, do you? And you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever actually have a point.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My point is this: by interfering with the process of making something, by putting something into our creations in order to placate an imaginary friend who lives in the sky, we are limiting ourselves in ways that we shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be. We should all just strive to do the best work we can, knowing that no matter how hard we try, we will never attain perfection, whatever perfection might be, whatever that nebulous concept might be.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcStrive to do the best work we can?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Kelly asked. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That sounds like good advice for you, Arthur.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, without a doubt. My efforts are often paralyzed by the fact that no matter how hard I try, I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll never get it quite right.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153So it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not laziness then?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a big part of it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of you want the recipe. Others of you want to ban me from dessert. Some of you fall into both camps, and I’m not so sure what to do with you. Here it is anyway. Fudgie Scotch Squares (Crackies) 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels 1 cup butterscotch morsels 1 can sweetened condensed milk 1.5 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109],"tags":[267,16,266,230],"class_list":["post-782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nanowrimo","tag-crackies","tag-excerpt","tag-fudgie-scotch-squares","tag-word-count"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}