Tis the Season to be Baking

Welcome everyone to a delicious entry at The Magical Mystery Blog.

Around this time of the year I do my holiday baking. While I usually make sugar cookies, this year I’ve decided to do something a little different. As mentioned before, I’ll be creating strawberry angel cookies for the Doctor Who special, The Time of the Doctor set to air on BBC on Christmas Day. But for the holidays, I like to bake some other tasty treats. However, as the days to Christmas begin to wind down I find that I don’t have enough time to bake. So I figured I would share my recipes I was going to attempt this year, with you my fellow readers.

Midnight Christmas Cookies

• Follow this simple sugar cookie recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-sugar-cookies/

• When the cookies are finished baking, allow them to cool. While the cookies are cooling down, take baker’s chocolate (any brand will do like Hershey’s, Ghiradelli, or even Nestle), and put it in a microwave safe bowl. Keep the microwave at medium power and stir at thirty second intervals. It takes  about ninety seconds for one ounce of chocolate to melt. It takes approximately three and a half minutes for six ounces of chocolate to melt.

• Once the chocolate is fully melted, dunk half the sugar cookie in chocolate.

• For the final touch, sprinkle ground up candy cane on the chocolate half of the cookie. In the summer time you can use this recipe again but instead of covering the chocolate half in candy cane, you can use orange or lemon zest.

• Allow the chocolate to cool and serve whenever your stomach is hungry for something sweet.

Strawberry Fields Forever Cake

• This recipe works best with a white cake because the color will show better. You can pick up any box of white cake mix at the store and it will have the recipe on it.

• However, instead of using water use strawberry puree.  To make a strawberry puree simply purchase fresh or frozen strawberries and remove the stems. Afterwards, place them in a blender or a food processor and grind them until they are pureed. As a puree, it will act as a liquid which is why you do not need water for this recipe.

• When you’ve mixed all the ingredients together, proceed to bake the cake for thirty to forty minutes. To see if the cake is fully baked, use a toothpick to poke through the surface. If there’s cake on the pick, it’s not done. If there’s no cake on the pick, it’s ready to be taken out.

• When you remove your cake from the oven you will see that it is indeed, not white. Instead, it’s a strawberry red, giving it that iconic Christmas color we've all come to know.

• If you want to put icing on your cake, give it about five to ten minutes to cool down. Icing the cake is always the fun part and since it’s Christmas, you can decorate it with all sorts of holiday cheer. You can put a marshmallow snowman on the top or pipe snowflakes and stars. Have fun with your baking!

What are your favorite holiday recipes? Feel free to post them in the comments below and as always, feedback and followers are welcomed. 

A Crown and Controversies: Our New Miss America

Welcome everyone to another glorious end of the week. It’s time to kick off your shoes, forget about your work, and pop open a beer. This is the weekend, a time for relaxing, partying, and hopefully reading this blog.

Not too long ago, we’ve given a title to someone who rocked our nation. She’s a gorgeous woman crowned to represent America in all its star spangled glory. Her name is Nina Davuluri and she is our new Miss America. Born in Syracuse, New York, she represented her state by flaunting her Bollywood fusion dancing skills during the talent portion, and dazzling the audience in the swimsuit competition. For one night, she showed people something exotic, different, and glorious.

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In the past week, our new Miss America has caused quite a ruckus. The first spark of controversy was a shred of gossip that blamed her for calling Mallory Hagan, Miss America 2013, “fat as (explicit).” However, this rumor was quickly denied by her and she immediately apologized to Hagan.

The second flame of controversy exploded when she was crowned Miss America. What makes Nina so special (other than the title she owns) is the fact that she is not your typical Miss America. Nina Davuluri is the first Miss America of Indian descent. No sooner the crown was placed upon Nina’s head, racial comments swarmed on Twitter like a crowd of bees tackling a fruitful blossom.

Most, if not all of the comments, labeled her race wrongly, and claimed she should not have won because of her race.  She was also referred to as a terrorist, had a connection with Al Qaeda as well as 9/11, and should have been crowned as a queen of 7-11s everywhere. However, the main subject of the remarks is obviously race. For a good while now, race has been a hot button issue in these United States.  In a nation where are we supposed to be united regardless of skin tone we still have hate crimes, racist comments, and stigmatic stereotypes littering our society.

While I am more than happy that Nina Davuluri is our new Miss America, I can understand why people aren't. People claim she should not represent this country because she breaks the mold of the previous winners of Miss America. Some say she is not the face of America based on her appearance.

Growing up, people have adjusted themselves to how Miss America should look. Miss America “should” be a curvy Caucasian girl with a flirty little smile and a die hard dedication to the United States. Yet over the years, we've had this image shattered by those who bore a different skin color, such as Vanessa Williams, who won Miss America in 1984. However, this title for her was short lived when salacious photographs of her were discovered, and she relinquished her crown. 

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Also known as the thing every woman wants to wear. 

Yet here we are, living in the present; a time where anything goes. Some people are all right with it, others are not. Homosexuals are being married left and right, we have an African American for a president, and now we have an American-Indian (she views herself first and foremost as American despite how proud she is of her heritage) as Miss America.

These people and our constantly changing society construct our melting pot of a nation. This is America, the land where everyone from all over the globe, regardless of race and color, comes to for vacation, a new life, business, and many other reasons. Lady Liberty welcomes everyone to this nation and promises a land of opportunity and prosperity. What we receive are more people to fill the crevices of this nation, who blend in with society, and become their own person.

The times and society are never going to stop shifting. Nothing will ever be the same as it was twenty years ago. This is a sign of progress or failure in our nation, depending on how people view it. Some may agree change is good, while others think change is bad, and then there are some who believe change is a combination of both.

As for me, I believe change relies on the situation at hand. For example, our new Miss America is a good change. It shows that the pageant is being more diverse and open to the American people. The Miss America pageant has never judged women based on their race or skin. Rather, it has always judged them on personality, background, talent, and swimsuits. Maybe in the future we will have an American-Cantonese or American-Egyptian win which will promote even more equality throughout our nation.

So what are your thoughts on the new Miss America? Is she as cute as a cheery little chipmunk? Did she win your heart? Leave your comments below and as always, followers are welcomed.