OYAN Summer Workshop

Now, I know I haven't said anything about this before, so here it is. I'm apart of this amazing online forum called One Year Adventure Novel (OYAN), it's part of a writing curriculum by the same name. You may be noticing the fancy new countdown clock I got. That, my dear friend, is the countdown to the best four days of my life(well, of this year anyways). It turns into more like two half days and four whole days, but that's beside the point. Each year OYAN has a Summer Workshop. And you guessed it, we focus on writing. 

Now you maybe thinking "It's just a writer's conference. Big whoop, who cares?" But this, my dear friend, isn't your average writer's conference. This is OYAN. It's where you throw 80+ some highschoolers (most of whom are homeschooled) into one building. It can't help be different. And all under the conduction of the amazing Mr. and Mrs. S. That in it's self makes it amazing. And I pity all of you who don't know Mr. and Mrs. S. But as of now, I think all of you do xD.

 I went last year, and I must say, it was amazing. It turned out to be the most terrifying, epic adventure of my life.  Now you may be wondering when this epic event is.  It's in June, and yes, I am already getting excited about it. Hey, I was excited about it the day after last years WS. Because that's just how epic it is. If you are in anyway connected with OYAN, I would urge you to go. You may end up being a couple hundred dollars poorer afterwards, but trust me, it's well worth it. Now I know this isn't exactly trivia. Well, maybe it is, but not the kind I said I would do. XD Anyways. This is just a warning is I go off on it randomly so you will know what it is.

So, sorry I haven't written anything in a while, but I haven't come across any really trivial things, which is...weird. Anyways, until next time.

The Best Kind of Homemade Chocolate

Well, it seems that Winter has finally decided to join us.  And that means time for hot chocolate. My mom found this recipe online and it turned out great! It can be a little expensive to make (depending on what chocolate you use), but it's worth it and it makes a lot. So here ya all are.

Vanilla Hot Chocolate Mix

Makes 24-32 servings (10 cups Mix)

Ingredients

4 cups granulated sugar

1/2 vanilla bean, spilt crosswise  (You can save the other half for another batch or something else)

1 1/2 pounds high quality semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

8 ounces milk chocolate

2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

Preparation

Place sugar in large bowl. Split half vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape seeds into a sugar and add pod. Work seeds in with your fingers. Cover snugly with plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room temperature.

In food processor fitted with metal blade, process semisweet chocolate and milk chocolate until finely ground, using 2 second pulses. (process in two batches if necessary.)

Remove pod from sugar. Add ground chocolate and cocoa power to sugar and whisk to blend.

Store mix at airtight room temperature for up to 6 months.

To serve:

For each serving, heat 8 ounces milk in small saucepan over medium heat until scalded. (or microwave 2 1/2 min. at full power.) Whisk in 1/4 to 1/3 cup mix serve with unsweetened softly whipped cream or marshmallows.

Notes:

When processing the chocolate, you really do need to do it in pulses. If you don't the chocolate will heat up and clump. We ended up doing it in a blender at 2-second pulses and then sifted it into the bowl.

(Source http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/drink/views/Vanilla-Hot-Chocolate-Mix-233203 )

An Introduction

Hello all and welcome to my blog! This is my first one ever so we'll have to see how this goes. Now you're probably wondering what this blog is about. So let me tell you. No, there is too much, let me summarize. For as long as I can remember, I've always like trivia, but I never wrote it down or told so I don't remember much of it. But I would love to share off this trivial information with someone, but no one else I know would even be interested in it. So I bring it to you, the world wide web.

Now, as to what kind of trivia, you may ask. I have decide it's going to primarily about my three favorite things. History, food and writing.

For history it'll just be random facts that I find interesting, or things that I didn't know but everyone else did and I'm just now finding it out.

For food, again, pretty much just random. Though, on days I feel

ambitious, you may get a delicious recipes that my mum has recently cooked. And trust me, anything she cooks is wonderful.

Now for the last, but certainly my favorite, writing. Now, be warned, I am a writer of fantasy. Some days I may just go off on something that has to do with writing, or something about something a character did. So yeah, this one may not be so much trivia.

But may it be known, this blog will be filled with trivia.

Here's a little tidbit.  

Writing:

Over the past year I've discovered a lot about writing and books in general. But the reasons why people love to read is what fascinate me the most. Most people love to read books, and some don't know why. They may say it's the characters or the landscapes, or maybe the plots. But really, deep down, people love to see good win. In most adventure stories you read, good is almost always out numbered. The main characters go through horrible things that most of us could hardly imagine going through ourselves. But somehow, no matter how tough it gets, good always wins and evil loses. And if a person can over come so much evil, surely the reader can over come their small evil.