Made famous by the TV show “Lie to Me”, microexpressions are split second facial expressions that we make without even knowing it. In the TV show they use them to solve crimes (of course) by using them to tell how a suspect truly feels about the story he is telling. Of course the expert on the show can recognize all kinds of microexpressions immediately, and I’ve always wondered how easy it would be to do in real life. If you’ve ever wondered that too, there is an online test you can take here to see just how good you are. I was pretty good at some and not at others, but I think it does show that you can learn to recognize the different expressions if you know what you are looking for.

We haven’t posted that much on our life lately, and that’s probably because our life is so exciting that we just don’t have time to post. It’s certainly not because Devon studies constantly and I spent most of my day at work, on the bus or cleaning something. Nope, that’s not it at all. Just to prove how exciting we are, here is what we did the other night.

Yep, we baked cookies. Devon wanted to try making fortune cookies, and I wanted to try my hand at macarons, those little French meringue/nut cookies. Here’s the only half decent picture that I could get with both of us in the same shot:

One really smart thing we do is read our recipes right off our computers. In fact, we set our laptops right on the counter by the flour and the liquids. It’s really smarter than taking three seconds to print out the recipe, especially when you have to page down with greasy hands.

I don’t have a picture of Devon’s fortune cookies because both recipes he tried stuck like glue to the cookie sheet. The bits we could get off tasted good. The macarons turned out pretty. They are supposed to be sandwiched around a filling, which I never quite got around to.

It’s Ben and Jerry’s Free Cone Day today! If you are lucky enough to live near a Ben and Jerry’s scoop shop, head over between 12 and 8 PM and get a free cone. Awesome, huh? It’s like a holiday! 

 PS – Thank you Ben, for reminding that it was today. No thank you, Marla, (she-who-works-at-the-main-Ben-and-Jerry’s-factory) for trying to keep it a secret.

Let me tell you about me and ebooks. I love them. Love love them. I remember maybe six or seven years ago my brother was visiting and he braggingly showed me that he had the latest Harry Potter book on his palm pilot. It was like a light bulb went off in my head. He had an entire book in that little thing? And he could just carry it around with him all the time? It was amazing to me. I asked for a PDA for my birthday a few months later so I could carry around hundreds of digital books, too.

I got a Sony Clie and loved it. It wasn’t always easy to find digital books. In fact, I think some sites that I found them on were illegal because often they weren’t there when I went back to download more. Oops. There were a few different file formats and I had to download programs to convert files to a format that the Clie could read. Still, it was a bunch of books that weighed next to nothing, so I loved it.

My Clie eventually died and I started reading books on my iPhone.

 That was a step up, for sure. It took a while for a decent e-reader program to come out. I waited and waited, but Stanza is pretty good. There’s probably something even better than that but my iPhone is stuck in version 2.0 so I can’t download new apps. I’m not a very hip iPhone user. Anyway, this is what I had been using to read books on the bus ride to and from work.

I say had been using because my sweet husband got me a nook for Christmas.

 It’s the Barnes and Noble version of Amazon’s Kindle, but with a color touchpad, no bulky keyboard and running on Google’s Android operating system. The Android thing doesn’t mean a whole lot to me right now, but it makes Ryan and Devon drool a little because it means people can easily write programs for it. Well, as easy as it is to write a program. I’ve been using the nook for a few months now and I love it. People who sit with me on the bus often ask my opinion of it, so I thought I’d post on it because I love it. I think ereaders are amazing, and the Nook is an especially good one. Here’s why:

1) It’s amazingly easy to get books, even free ones. So far it has recognized all the formats I’ve put on it, too. It has free wireless connectivity and it’s fast.

2) I love the digital ink screen. One huge downside of the iPhone and Clie was that they were backlit and after a little while of reading on them my eyes would hurt. It’s like staring at a computer screen for a while. Also, when the sun would shine on the screen it would be hard to see. As in impossible. The digital ink screen doesn’t have any glare problems and it’s so gentle on my eyes. They don’t hurt at the end of the commute anymore. The bad thing is that I can’t read in the dark anymore, and that it’s not in color. The good news is that there are booklights, and most text is black and white.

3) There’s a music player so I can tune out the guy on the bus who wears headphones and sings along. No kidding, he sings the whole ride. He’s not very good, either.

4) It’s so pretty and light. There are keys to turn pages right where you would want them. Good thinking, Nook design team.

Things I’m not crazy about:

1) Speed. I think this is the only drawback. It’s slower than death to start up. Once it is started I usually leave it in sleep mode, so it’s not a big deal. Turning the pages occasionally takes up to five seconds if I’ve come to the end of a chapter and need to start a new one. That’s way slow. The software update a month or so ago made this a little faster, so I can only think it will get better with future updates.

So, in summary, the Nook is pretty darn cool. If you don’t have one, you should get yourself a husband to buy you one. It’s awesome.

These little yellow mangos are one of my new favorite fruits. They are sold under several different names, such as champagne mangos or honey mangos, and they only seem to be around during the spring and fall. I first noticed them right after we moved here, but it could be that I had overlooked them in Minnesota since they’re no more native here than they would be there.  They are slightly smaller than regular mangos and a deep yellow color when ripe. They are sweeter than regular mangos and less stringy. In fact, I think they’ve ruined me for regular mangos now. The big ones just seem bland in comparison. I saw them for the first time this year when I was grocery shopping on Saturday and bought six. I’ve already eaten three by myself. Devon loves them, too, but I think the idea of chopping one up deters him. I should be a nicer wife and chop one up for him, but I’m also a little selfish and they really are delicious.

For people that have always wanted to try mango but aren’t sure how to cut it up, here’s a nice tutorial on how to do it. The sides of the ataulfo mangos are a little smaller than the regular mango they show, but the rest is the same.

Okay, maybe you’ve seen this before, but I just tried this online color career counselor quiz expecting it to be completely stupid and it was eerie how correct it was. This is what it said about me after I answered a few questions about colors:

You’re a RESEARCHER

Keywords

Independent, Self-Motivated, Reserved, Introspective, Analytical, and Curious

The investigative types gather information, analyze and interpret data, and inquire to uncover new facts. They have a strong scientific orientation, enjoy academic or research environments and prefer self-reliant jobs. Dislikes are group projects, selling, and repetitive activities.

RESEARCHER OCCUPATIONS
Suggested careers are College Professor, Physician, Psychologist, Pharmacist, Chemist, Marketing Research, Inventor, Sales Forecasting, Project Engineer, Dentist, Identifying Consumer Demand, Chiropractor, Dentist, Medical Technician, Optometrist, Research & Development Manager, Respiratory Therapist, Real Estate Appraiser, Chiropractor, Veterinarian, Geologist, Physicist, Science Teacher, Medical Technologist, and Author of Technical Books.

RESEARCHER WORKPLACES
Task-oriented careers where you can become absorbed in the job, be original and creative, and not conform to rigid company rules will work best for you. Unstructured organizations, for example, that allow you to sail your own ship are vital.

Suggested Researcher workplaces are universities and colleges, home office positions, medical facilities, computer-related industries, scientific foundations and think tanks, research firms, and design laboratories.

Ummm, that’s me! All it does is ask you which colors you prefer to look at. I wonder how many different occupations it tells you about. Anyway, if you want to try it and see how it does for you, the link is here.

Although we know it’s a tradition, Devon and I did not keep the top tier from our original wedding cake to freeze and eat on our first anniversary. I knew there was no way that Devon would eat something that has been sitting around in a freezer for a whole year, and we had heard from other people that their own cakes tasted pretty “freezer-ish” at the one year mark. I didn’t think much of this until I started making rolls for our anniversary dinner on Sunday and came up with the bright idea that I would make a mini wedding cake for us to eat. It sounded simple in my mind; I would make an almond cake with raspberry filling just like we had at our wedding. I had a cake mix and raspberry preserves I could use for the fill layer. Except oops, once I take out the cake mix I see that it is expired. No problem, I think, I can make a cake from scratch. A glance in the fridge showed I had one egg, and that was reserved for the rolls. No problem, I can google. I’ll find a recipe for an eggless cake from scratch. I found a few recipes that got good reviews on Allrecipes, so I gather all the ingredients and realize that the key sweetener is sweetened condensed milk. Normally I have this on hand, but of course I don’t right then. Googling again (no, I haven’t given up yet) I find that you can heat 1/3 cup of evaporated milk with a cup of water and a few tablespoons of butter and use that as a substitute for sweetened condensed milk. (It really tastes just like it.) I made the cake and it turned out surprisingly light and fluffy. It held together fairly well without any eggs. After it cooled, I whipped up some seven minute frosting, since to be honest I really don’t like buttercream that much. I frosted the cake liberally with huge waves of glossy white frosting. It really was beautiful. Unfortunately, neither of us had any room for it after dinner, so we set it aside to eat the next day. I thought about taking pictures of how pretty it was, but figured that was something that could be done the next day as well. Well, this is what we came home to the next day:

The frosting deflated overnight and pooled near the bottom of the cake. Tasty. I ate a bite just because I didn’t want all my work to be wasted, but the rest of the cake went in the garbage. The lesson is, if you decide to make a cake and don’t have ingredients on hand, just stop right there. Do you really need a cake anyway? Do yourself a favor and go out for dessert.

One year ago today, Devon and I were married. It’s been a fabulous year for us, and I think a lot of that is due to our wonderful families who helped us become the people we are and who gave us so much support throughout the year. This year would have been very difficult without that support, so we thank our families with all our hearts as Devon and I begin year number two together.