2010 – The Year of the Tweet-ups

If you know me, and let’s face it you do or you wouldn’t be reading this, then you know that I love Twitter. Some might even say I am thoroughly addicted to Twitter. Thought in my defense, I have done the online quiz from @oatmeal and I am only 86% addicted to Twitter.
But Twitter has been an important part of my life in 2010 and so, as a way to re-cap my year, I am going to tell you about my Tweetups and the Tweeples I met at them.

The first, best, and most important Tweetup of the whole year was when I flew to Scotland to spend Spring Break with @GeekyMae. I had met her a couple of years ago on the Facebook wall of our mutual friend @aberforth. And even though we have had a very good friendship develop from that, we had never met in person. Not until the moment I saw her at baggage claim at Edinburgh airport. We had a great week, despite (or maybe because of) the freakish weather. I met lots of interesting people, saw all the interesting sights, and have loads of quirky stories to tell with each and every photo. To me, that’s the best kind of vacation. Mae and I found out that we are just as good IRL (that’s “in real life”) friends as we are Twitter/Facebook friends. Isn’t that the best when that happens?

My next Tweetup was much later in the year, in July, after ComicCon. I learned that @HellenaHeavenly was going to be in California for a while after Con so I invited her to stop in Burbank for lunch if she passed through. Which she did. It was my first time meeting someone I only knew through Twitter. But she was so much fun and we had lots to talk about over tacos.

Next, I had a coffee date with @katerz1. Kate lives fairly close to me, but it was the first chance that we had to meet in person. We had such a long chat that day that I was afraid that her hubby would be annoyed with me. We also had a lunch date several weeks later. And we are planning more fun things to come!

Next, I met @rebisCA at Wootstock at Largo, also accompanying me were @faffertime and her boyfriend. I didn’t get much chance to chat with Renee because the show was going on, but she will also be included in future plans with @katerz1. In fact, we already have a tweetup planned for January!

My last tweetup of the year was to #stlcttu in St. Louis. This was an awesome major tweetup!! It was there I met @beautifulmind1, @devtony, @watchout4snakes, @_amylw_ @angellio, @TheOtherEstevez, @TheKillerShrew, @DataLoreB4, @HollyHollows, @incognito117, @aura322 and @triefy. We saw the Cinematic Titanic show, did some sightseeing, stayed up all night drinking. It was great fun!! If you want to guarantee a good time, these are the people to invite!

So, if you are on Twitter, you should follow all of us, including me, @anastasiam. If you’re not on Twitter, you should think about it. I have 245 followers (today anyway). They live all over the world. We have great fun. We send each other silly presents. We watch sporting events and films together and tweet while we’re doing it. We give each other moral support through tough times. And sometimes we get to meet in person.

And that’s what it’s all about.

Oeufs En Cocotte

For those of you who are vegans, or otherwise don't eat eggs. You might as well stop reading right now.

This post is about eggs.

I have always loved eggs for breakfast, especially poached eggs. When I was little, my favourite breakfast was either a soft-boiled egg with toast soldiers or toad in a hole (my mother's version was an egg fried in bread). On special occasions, I would get oeuf en cocotte - an egg baked in a ramekin with butter & cheese.

When I was married, I sometimes made toad in a hole but I made oeufs en cocotte a lot. My then-husband also had his grandmother's egg poacher which we used quite a bit.

Since I've been divorced, I've made soft-boiled eggs, and toad in a hole, but I had not made oeufs en cocotte. Until today.

I began reading "Julie & Julia" which my aunt had given me for Christmas several years ago (while it was still on the NYT bestseller list) but which I had just not gotten around to reading. Since the movie is coming out, I decided that I had better get to it.

Of course, Julia Child loved eggs, butter, cream, and cheese which are exactly the ingredients of Oeufs en Cocotte. Julie Powell, the author, makes them frequently in the book, calling them the perfect dish.

And then this morning, I was inspired to make them when one of the people I follow on Twitter complained that no matter what he tried to do with eggs, they always end up scrambled. I found an easy recipe and tweeted the URL back to him. Then I proceeded to the kitchen to make them myself. Because if there's something I nearly always have in my kitchen, it's the ingredients for Oeufs en Cocotte.

Here's my recipe:

Preheat oven to 450 F

In a ramekin, place 1 tbsp of butter (if your ramekin is large enough for two eggs, use 2)
On top of the butter, crack 1 egg (or 2)
On top of the egg, put 1 tbsp of cream, creme fraiche, 1/2 & 1/2 or sour cream (or 2)
On top of the cream, put 1 tbsp of grated cheese of your choice (or 2)

Place ramekin in another baking dish, fill the outer dish 1/2 way with hot water. Place in hot oven and bake for at least 10 minutes or until the eggs are done to your taste.

Remove ramekin from baking dish and place on serving plate. Salt/pepper/parsley to taste. Serve with toast. Makes one serving per ramekin.

Easy Peasy!

It was delicous btw.