(no subject)

[the_rck]

There's no school today. They called about 6:00 to let us know. They called both Scott's cell and mine which is more than a little frustrating. Scott takes a brief nap right before he leaves, and he lost that this morning.

This also means that the talent show has been rescheduled. It'll be next Wednesday, instead. Hopefully, the weather won't interfere with that. Also, hopefully, there will be school tomorrow. I think we've only got one snow day left before they start adding on days in June, and Cordelia and I have to catch a cab from the school. That last is really no fun if the building is closed. I wonder how much extra it would cost to make a last minute change in where we're being picked up?

I expected to have Cordelia's friend and her brother today. I got up and showered and everything, but they didn't come. Their mother eventually responded to my e-mail by saying that she decided to stay home today. She's just back from London, so I can see why she might want to. It just was a great disappointment for Cordelia.

I've e-mailed Scott's Babylon 5 gaming group to see if any of them can come over tonight. It's last minute, so they may have plans, and I have no idea how bad the roads are or are likely to get (it's still snowing). I suppose we'll see.

I should bake bread. Scott's got enough to get through tomorrow without, but tomorrow's a bad time to try to bake anything. Thursdays are like that. I should also bake cookies. I've had the butter softening for two days now. I'm just afraid that I won't be able to use our brown sugar. It's all one giant, rock hard lump. Measuring out a cup from that is pretty much impossible, and it won't mix in with the rest of the dough if I do manage it. (We use brown sugar about three times a year. I hate buying new each time, but the old stuff is so impossible to use.)

Comments

[retsuko]

My brown sugar likes to mutiny in the same way, but usually gives up the pretense when I whack it a few times with the handle of a knife or spatula. Maybe that might work...?

[the_rck]

I doubt I could whack this hard enough to break it up.

I have gotten other suggestions-- One person suggests microwaving the sugar. Another suggests adding water to make a slurry (and then adding extra flour to the recipe if the dough isn't right).

[wyldbutterflies]

This is how we work on hard brown sugar: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-soften-hard-brown-sugar-58602

Works every time.

I seem to remember my great grandmother keeping a piece of crust bread in with the sugar in a container too...she used to swear that it would keep it soft. Though I am not sure how well that works out since I have never tried it.

[the_rck]

Thanks for the link!

I know you can buy stones to put in with the sugar that are supposed to keep it soft. I think you have to soak the stone for a while first or something like that. I don't know if they work.

[booniverse.livejournal.com]

Our brown sugar became boulderized as well so I added some water and made a slurry because I was tired of chasing lumps around. It seemed to work quite well and didn't mess up the cookies as far as I could tell. I added a shake or two extra flour to compensate for the water (basically added flour until the dough looked right in texture).

[sorcycat.livejournal.com]

If you microwave brown sugar a little bit, it becomes soft enough to measure again.

[lady-of-mists.livejournal.com]

I was told this awhile back, never tried it, but the source was reliable!

[jss]

And if the slurry or nuke approaches don't work, you can substitute molasses and white sugar.

[chorus-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

i second the nuke option, nuke it for 15 seconds at a time, poking it with a fork or something between nukes to get it to break up.