Beyond the Bubble

Author: Claire Neilson and Lisie Mehlman

Nothing says J-Term quite like seven trailer girls sprawled out on the broken futon of their modular home surrounded by sixteen mouse traps (there was a rather entertaining first encounter with Peary Little, Mouse We Murdered Number One) watching nine straight hours of the latest "America's Next Top Model" marathon (Thanks, VH1. Like we really needed further incentive to not do anything all day long). As the holiday decorations will continue to adorn the walls of our fine home until commencement, Claire spent the day finishing off residual Hannukah gelt (she's multicultural, and darn good at dreidel). When we finally decided to cut ourselves off, and by that we clearly mean that the season had ended (for those interested, what Tyra taught us is that the Arian look is in. We're thinking of going blonde.), we decided to embrace J-Term in all its glory.

Unfortunately we were unable to go snow shoeing or cross country skiing as we had "hoped" to, and while we attribute our lack of activity to inclement weather, let's be honest, Claire's milking her "pneumonia" from three months ago for all it's worth. And Lisie is fine with that, as the last time she engaged in an outdoor activity with Claire she wound up collapsed in a "yard sale" position on the top of the Snow Bowl.

Instead, we decided to take advantage of the uncharacteristically warm weather and spend the remainder of the day indoors baking. To our credit, we did think about going to Dunmore. Lisie even performed a "Let's Go To Dunmore" dance. Claire noted that it was not to be repeated, ever, sort of like Lisie's "What Am I Gonna Wear?" dance.

In purchasing supplies for what Lisie insists on referring to as the "Big Bake" (Thank God there's no dance), we got into a wee bit of trouble. Apparently the toy car shopping carts at Hannafords are actually only intended for use by children under the age of five. Store Manager Judy berated us - perhaps parking outside the liquor section gave us away as being too old for such antics.

Having "baked" with Lisie before, Claire recognized the important role alcohol would play in her surviving this domestic pursuit. It is a well known fact that Lisie can, and usually does, mess up even the simplest of basic cooking tasks. Take Easy Mac, for example. While most wouldn't even consider boiling noodles cooking, Lisie's attempts necessitate close monitoring. Therefore, even though Claire is morally opposed to (and espouses her moral views frequently) baking from a box, she knew baking from scratch was out of the question. After much deliberation (Betty v. Pilsbury), we went with the classic - funfetti. And matching fetti frosting.

Aside from trying out preferred stirring methods, the baking itself was predictably uneventful. We mean, how much can really go wrong when the instructions only call for three steps? Claire, like an obliging mother, let eager little Lisie have her turn stirring, but kept the oven off limits. It was for her own good.

Despite Claire's doubts about fake-caking (a staple phrase in the Nielson household), the delicacy was actually quite delicious. Although, strangely, Claire and Lisie didn't get to eat too much of their Big Bake product. While it would be nice to blame Peary Little's furry friends, in truth, we suspect it was the roomies. It's understandable though, the Hanukkah gelt was tapped. Thanks, Claire.