Have you noticed that I like Halloween? I made some more Halloween-themed mazes. I felt like doing a haunted house and a graveyard. My drawing skills have waned, I need more practice. Third book? Maybe. I have sold 10’s of copies of the others so far. If you try these mazes out, be sure to post your solution on your social media of choice, and tag me. I’m @AiXeLsyD13 just about everywhere. You can even listen to one of my Halloween playlists while you do it… or the monster playlists, or the newest one: Halloween | Certified Bangers 💀🦇🕸️🕷️
The wood came from a recently town-down old swing set. I didn’t like the two pallets I had on hand for this. I had an old rattle can of black paint that I used to just barely darken it up & kind of make it look more aged.
I got the one skull & forearms/hands from Giant Eagle. I got the other skull, hands, chains, lights, & netting for the back at Dollar Tree. All-in, I think I have around $20 to $25 in this? I swapped the hands for the skulls because the sizes made more sense to me.
After letting the pallet dry, I stapled the lights into the bottom, then I stapled a weird grey ratty cloth under that. Then, I just picked a spot, positioned the skulls, arms/hands, & chains, then plugged it in. OH yeah, I put a weird motion-sensor screamy thing in the one corner too, because it was super-annoying everywhere else.
Do you like to put a DIY spin on Halloween or other holiday decorations? Show me what ya got!
Here’s a few to do for free, and you can get ’em on some stuff at my TeePublic & RedBubble Stores! As always, if you try ’em, please share your solution & tag me on social media. I’m @AiXeLsyD13 on just about everything.
I drew this one quickly & did some color on it today. I really could have leaned into the pumpkin patch theme had I planned it out a bit better. What should I do for my next book? Holidays? Spooky stuff? Just mazes? Simple stuff? A mix?
I wanted to do some simple ones for merch, the food ones seem fun, and I wanted to do some more Halloween mazes.
Seriously, check this stuff out on all the merch! You can get it on a variety of things, and customize a lot of the colors.
Is there anything you’d like to see made into merch? Any of my mazes I have drawn, or have an idea for one?
Also… for the artists… Ever have a hard time drawing something simple? I could not settle on a bat shape for the maze. I worked up sketches, which I rarely do. I worked through a bunch of stuff & shared it on Instagram.
It’s cheeseception. I wanted to try that cheesy beer bread in some grilled ham & cheese sandwiches… and I needed some soup for the side, right? Why not up the cheese level with my old broccoli cheese soup or my potato soup? I thought the fiber from the broccoli may be beneficial. 😆
Roasted Broccoli Cheddar Soup and a Cheesy Beer Bread Grilled Ham & Cheese Sandwich
I probably should have stuck with a traditional tomato soup to combat the absolute decadent richness, but this soup was pretty damn good. I want to try to make a roasted butternut squash soup eventually too… but not sure that would pair well with this sandwich?
I did spice-up my original broccoli cheese soup recipe. This could be a full meal, or a side to a nice turkey or roast beef sandwich. Recipe down below. That’s what I did this time. I’ll probably make it slightly different next time. Everyone does that, right?
As far as the sandwich, I just cooked some lunchmeat ham for a few seconds on the panini grill, sliced up the cheesy bear bread, buttered the outsides with softened butter, and stacked it with some individually wrapped cheese slices… cooked on high on the countertop grill to sear & melt it all at once. I should have gotten a side view, but I was hungry.
Fresh real bacon would be incredible here, maybe more of it… or even bits of cubed ham.
You could skip the beer & do 1½ cups of water with the ham bullion or Better Than Bouillon. I like to use Straub Amber to cook too.
I wonder if a red bell pepper would be good in this too?
This makes a large pot, so hope you like leftovers.
My apologies to vegans, the lactose-intolerant, and the dairy-allergic.
🥦🧀🥣
OK, so how would you make your broccoli cheddar soup? Can I call this broccoli cheddar when it also includes other kinds of cheese? What are your thoughts on the roasting? Would you try this? Do you have a broccoli cheese soup go-to recipe? How about any tips & tricks?
Apparently beer & cheese have been on my mind lately. I saw a post by @swampmuse on threads of some cheesy beer bread and it looked awesome. She was cool enough to share her recipe. That got me thinking about beer cheese dip because of the shared ingredients. I was in a cooking mood last night. I’ll definitely be making the bread again, and the cheese dip would be great for pretzels… so maybe new years or a cold October night?
They were good together. I wonder if beer cheese bread in beer cheese dip is meta, or merely going hard?
I hardly drink any more, and the big bird was out of Yuengling bottle six packs & only had Straub Amber can 15 packs… so, I ended up with 2 big-ass 24 oz. cans of Yuengling Traditional Lager.
Brush additional melted butter on top @ 35 minutes.
Notes: I’m a dumbass, I left all the butter for the end when I should have mixed it in. Next time! I may have went heavy on my pinch of salt, too. I did brush all the butter on at 35 minutes, & it went for another 15 minutes, & was perfect. I think I will also sprinkle some additional shredded cheese on the top at the 35 min. mark… because, I mean… why not?
My 10 year old said he “thought it was going to be gross because it looked all bumpy” but was an immediate fan upon tasting.
Thank you so much to @swampmuse for the original post, the inspiration, and the recipe!
Beer Cheese Dip 🍺🧀
I had this on my mind, looked at a bunch or recipes online, and just winged it.
Ingredients:
1 16 oz. block of Velveeta
1 8 oz. block of cream cheese
1 cup beer
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
1 cup shredded Gouda
ground mustard to taste
white pepper to taste
yellow mustard to taste
Instructions:
Cube up the Velveeta & cream cheese, put it in a crock pot on high.
Toss on the mustard powder & white pepper to taste, add a dollop of yellow mustard.
Stir it every 10 min. or so until it’s melty.
Add in the beer, stir.
Add in the shredded cheese, stir.
Stir.
Be incredibly patient.
Stir.
Notes: It takes longer than you think & looks weird until it hits that “just right” point. This is probably a different time estimate for every appliance. You could obviously do this in a sauce pan or double boiler if that’s what you’ve got. The mustard is an emulsifier and helps with smoothness. I picked white pepper over garlic or hot sauce as other recipes noted. I also skipped Worcestershire sauce as some recommended as it can contain anchovies, and weirdly anchovies can trigger shellfish allergies. Dropping some jalapeño or poblano from the garden into this also would have been pretty killer.
Overall, these recipes are just a guide, and you can go all anarchy on them. What kind of beer do you like to cook with? What kind of cheese or spices would you add or swap out for? And, what would you dip in it? Would you did the cheesy beer bread in the beer cheese dip? Got any recommendations on either recipe?
🍻🧀🍺🍞🍻
While you’re making or eating these, consider rocking out to these playlists…
I’m posting to everything via email thanks to Posterous… just checking it out to see what it’s all about. Apparently, you can throw anything at it via email attachments, and it deals with it on its own… and I’ve set it up to post to Twitter, tumblr, Facebook, WordPress, YouTube, and Flickr on its own.It’s really easy. all I’m looking for is some consolidation. I’d ask for MySpace support if anyone used that any more… but Photobucket support would be cool… as well as importing UrbanSpoon reviews – although, that may be there and I just haven’t found it yet.
Perhaps this out to be the way that Fast Food Fail is handled?
I’m going to attach some totally unrelated stuff, just to see what happens with it.
I wonder if it handles formatted text better than WordPress?
It will apparently even embed video from YouTube if you just provide the URL…
…and all kinds of other crazy stuff.
.seitilibasid gninrael fo nuf ekam ot ynnuf ton yllaer s’tI
I never got a reply from McDonald’s going any farther than the original “we’ll forward it to the appropriate party” email. So, I decided to reply. Nothing to lose, right? Well, I couldn’t directly reply, because of the incredibly blunt “No ‘replies’ can be received through this mailbox. If you wish to contact McDonald’s Customer Response Center again, please visit our website at www.mcdonalds.com” part of their email. So, back to the McWebform I went! I even included the fancy ref#:6502666.
Well, it apparently worked!
From: McDonalds.CustomerCare@us.mcd.com
To: me@my.email.address
Sent: Wed, December 9, 2009 5:09:19 AM
Subject: Message from McDonald’s USA
Hello Eric:
Thank you for taking the time to re-contact McDonald’s Customer Service Center. I’m sorry you have not yet received a local response regarding your recent McDonald’s restaurant experience.
Please know we take your comments very seriously. I will immediately re-contact the franchise owner of the restaurant you visited and request that he or she follow-up with you as soon as possible.
Please be assured your complete satisfaction is our top priority. Thank you for your patience and for taking the time to re-contact McDonald’s Customer Service Center.
Jimelle
McDonald’s Customer Response Center
ref#:6521333
————————————————————————————————————–
Please do not “reply” to this email response. No “replies” can be received through this mailbox. If you wish to contact McDonald’s Customer Response Center again, please visit our website at www.mcdonalds.com
————————————————————————————————————–
Are you finished with your holiday shopping? Even the person with everything gets hungry. An Arch Card makes a great holiday gift. For more information visit your local McDonald’s restaurant or our website at http://www.mcdonalds.com/archcard.
You wrote:
Hello,
Regarding my last message from Ashley at McDonald’s customer service… ref#:6502666
I was told not to reply to the email… hopefully that reference # can refer you to my earlier message.
I think it’s a very poor setup that you have… not being able to reply to emails.
Your message to me said “Because most McDonald’s restaurants are independently owned and operated, I have forwarded your comments to the franchise owner or local representative for follow up at the restaurant you visited. Please be assured that your comments will be investigated and, if appropriate, corrective action will be taken.
Secondly, although we did not completely meet your expectations, please know that our restaurant employees strive to maintain the highest standards of quality, service, cleanliness and value and it’s certainly nice to know that their efforts are appreciated. We want to recognize your complimentary comments and thank you for your kind words.“
Was anyone at that McDonald’s contacted?
Will I get a reply?
And, then, it was followed up by this…
From: Sandra Jaeger sandra.jaeger@gmail.com
To: me@my.email.address
Sent: Wed, December 9, 2009 7:07:00 PM
Subject: Fwd: Follow up of e-mail for the West Liberty Avenue Restaurant
From: Sandra Jaeger sandra.jaeger@gmail.com
Date: Wed, Dec 9, 2009 at 7:02 PM
Subject: Follow up of e-mail for the West Liberty Avenue Restaurant
To: [complete@misspelling.of.my.email.address]
Dear Eric
I am the Customer Service Representative of the West Liberty Avenue Restaurant. I unfortunately did not receive your first e-mail. Please fill me in on the situation. I am located in the Pittsburgh area and will address all issues to the supervisors of this restaurant.
Sincerely,
Sandra Jaeger
How cool is that? Ha ha ha. An actual response! Funny that it “didn’t get through” the first time. Very funny. Also funny that it went to a complete misspelling of my email address, those of you who have it will find it amusing. There was a “.” where a “_” should be as well, as a few incorrect letters. (Not transposed, incorrect.)
So, of course, I had to write back…
From: me@my.email.address
To: Sandra Jaeger sandra.jaeger@gmail.com
Sent: Wed, December 9, 2009 10:00:58 PM
Subject: Re: Fwd: Follow up of e-mail for the West Liberty Avenue Restaurant
Hello Sandra,
Thanks you for the reply! I have always wondered if the emails that you get in reply to webforms at sites like the McDonald’s one are anything more than a standard form letter. In reply to my first message, the response said “I have forwarded your comments to the franchise owner or local representative for follow up at the restaurant you visited.” I had wondered if this really was the case… Apparently not, until I took the time to reply with a second message asking if it had really gone any further. I’m glad I took the time to follow up!
I find it amusing that my original comments did not make it to you. It makes me wonder how many emails remain unanswered daily when filtered through the McWebform. This is not your problem though, as you are obviously concerned and addressing this issue now.
My original comments were regarding a visit that I had over a week ago now, in an evening stop at the McDonald’s on West Liberty Ave. in Beechview or Dormont or whatever the neighborhood may be there.
November 29, 2009 – Doesn’t like it – Small crew tonight, decent night-time crowd, stopped for a late dinner, was served relatively quickly… fries were a perfect golden color and hot… burgers were OK, super-greasy but it IS McDonald’s. We were out at an event earlier, on the way home… had to use the facilities… but they were trashed. Stall #1 had no TP dispenser, the roll was on the back of the commode, and the bowl was chock full of the stuff. Stall #2 had a broken doorknob/lock mechanism. One hand dryer was stuck on, the other didn’t work, and both urinals were full of urine. I know they can’t control flushing… but periodic checks/cleanings and some repairs might be in order. Just when I thought this place had their stuff together for once… My advice? When stopping here, use the facilities somewhere else.1 person likes this review
…and these are the photos referenced:
I understand that the fact that at that time of night, there’s perhaps a smaller than usual crew, and that the West Liberty Ave. location is seemingly always busy. I have been through the drive-thru at this time of night before, and it always seems slow, though it’s thankfully not as slow as the Wendy’s right down the street. Those people have a whole different set of issues. My friends and I call it “The Slow Wendy’s”.
I was just wondering what kind of cleaning & maintenance policies that you have in place? Does management or ownership do any kind of inspection or follow-up? Do inspections my the corporation ever occur? I mean, surely you can’t think the photos above are an acceptable presentation of your restaurant chain?
I don’t know about you, but when I “gotta go”, it’s urgent! The urinals looked filthy, si I opted for the stalls… one was stuffed, and one had a door that wouldn’t close. I like to do my business in private, no interruptions. Closing doors are a good thing! Also… the lack of a TP dispenser, & the roll just being on the back of the thing… I cannot imagine what would have happened had I needed to use that. I mean, how uncomfortable would it be to reach behind yourself like that after… Well, after doing your thing?
Thank you for your time, and the follow up. I appreciate the fact that you took the time to inquire about the issue.
Sincerely,
-Eric
Maybe I should have included a link to the Wendy’s incident? Not yet, my friends. Not yet. I can’t wait to see what kind of response I get this time. I love when it gets down to a real live person in charge of something.
World (and Lunar) Domination 