February High Five: Five Good Things

February is a hard month. Sure it has it’s perks, like fewer days and all of the love that accompanies Valentine’s Day, but it also has it’s downfalls, like less days to get things done and having your single-ness shoved in your face. Not to mention that it’s winter and cold and you don’t get outside or see the sun as much. I find that, for me personally, my mood bottoms out in February. This is the time of year where my anxiety will inexplicably spike. The worse my anxiety gets the more likely it will be accompanied by insomnia, and then I’m left anxious, tired, and understandably low. Going into March I feel like I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel for energy & enthusiasm…which I hate. I don’t want to feel like that. So instead let’s focus on feeling better. Let’s think happy. Let’s concentrate on good things. That’s why for this month’s installment in our High Five series I’m going to tell you a random assortment of Five Good Things.

1. Leo Finally Won His Oscar

Last night was the 88th Academy Awards and Leonardo Dicaprio, after 4 nominations and countless snubs, won his first Oscar. The internet (and Justine) rejoiced. Although I morn the loss of the “Leo pining for an Oscar” memes, I am going to jump on the celebratory bandwagon! (I’ll also be celebrating the Oscars because I won mine & KG’s annual Oscar Winners Predictions Bet)
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2. Pandas

There’s nothing timely about this…Pandas are always a good thing. Sure they can be a bit useless when it comes to mating, but they are sooooooooooooo cute. I had the privileged of seeing pandas live & in person on a trip to the Smithsonian Zoo in Washington DC the summer before last. Justine & I sat and watched them for hours. In case you can’t make it to DC, you can still watch the cuddly mother & cub Mei and Bei Bei with the Smithsonian’s Giant Panda Cam.

?Nom nom. Leaf eater biscuits have vitamins, protein, fat & fiber. #BeiBei & our other pandas love them. #PandaStory pic.twitter.com/mGxKM4VM49

— National Zoo (@NationalZoo) February 25, 2016

3. Cubebot Lives!

Cubebot was in my stocking this Christmas (I think he was a purchase of my fellow-engineer brother-in-law). He now resides on my desk at work where I can flex my thinking skills & introduce him to my coworkers.

cubebot-lives

4. Fuller House is on Netflix

I haven’t had a chance to watch the reboot of my childhood favorite yet, but the first reviews are rolling out & they sound good. I’ve heard such positive affirmations as “The nostalgia is strong”, “I cried a bit…I was just so happy & sad at the same time”, and “Ooooo the shade they throw at the Olsen twins!”. Having a little piece of your childhood around never hurts, especially when it teaches you valuable life lessons!
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5. Inspirational Quotes

Sure they’re cheesy and cliche, but that doesn’t mean they won’t still inspire you! So hit up Pinterest or Tumblr or wherever you think a few good sayings will live and “Don’t quit your day dream” or “Don’t ruin a good today by thinking of a bad yesterday. Let it go.”!

Cheer up all of our special little snowflakes, March is almost here!

Love & Luck,
Kris

Image Sources: Leo – Fuller House –

February 29, 2016 0 comment

Girl Detectives Harry Potter Internet

Girl Detectives: The Secret in the Butterbeer

written by Kris Padget

Welcome to Girl Detectives on My Fangirl Life, where we run investigations on anything we feel needs some mystery solving! From research to experiments to everything in between, we hope that you will join us on our quests for the truth by following this series.

On this episode of Girl Detectives we are investigating another internet mystery! This one is an attempt to make a treat from a modern-literary classic: Harry Potter. Pinterest is full of recipes for the Hogshead specialty Butterbeer. We want to be able to pretend we are also wizards & witches on a break from Transfiguration & Charms classes, drinking a cold one at the Three Broomsticks.

So we decided to investigate whether the internet is telling the truth on this one! See below for our experiment’s method and findings.

OBSERVATION

We first discovered the magic of Butterbeer at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Of course we knew it would be delicious in theory from the books but at the theme park we experienced it for ourselves. We tried it cold, we tried it hot, we tried it frozen. And now we are trying it at home using a recipe from Pinterest.

HYPOTHESIS

We believe we can recreate the delicious beverage we first tried at Orlando’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter at home.

MATERIALS

Cream Soda
Butterscotch Syrup
Whipping Cream
Marshmallow Topping
Bowl
Electric Mixer
Chilled Glasses

METHOD

We used a combination of multiple recipes found online in this first attempt, so there isn’t one in particular to link to. The important thing to note is that we started simple. There are much more complex Butterbeer recipes out there but why go through that effort if a simple one works?
1) For the liquid portion of the Butterbeer, start by pouring cream soda into chilled glasses. Leave room to add topping later!
2) Stir butterscotch syrup into the cream soda until it has a sufficiently buttery taste. Be sure to stir slowly, so as to not get the side fizzing too much.
3) For the topping, start by pouring whipping cream into the bowl and whipping with the electric mixer. Mix until the cream can hold peaks on its own.
4) Once your cream has turned into whipped cream add in the marshmallow topping and a couple of spoonfuls of butterscotch syrup. Mix again with your electric mixer.
5) Now glop that topping on top of your liquid mixture and serve!

RESULTS

Let’s look at the drink in two parts: the topping & the liquid!
The liquid was sweet… sooooo sweet… too sweet. We should have expected it; we literally poured syrup into soda. That being said, there were notes to the taste that did match the theme park version. Cream soda was definitely a good call, as was adding a butterscotch taste. But the only cream soda we could find was pink and the it made the colouring of the finished product completely wrong. As for the butterscotch, it would be nice to add the flavour without the sugar content.
The topping had a great butterscotch-y hint to the taste. It also had a thicker consistency due to the marshmallow topping. But it wasn’t thick enough. The topping semi sunk into the liquid and cause the cream soda to fizz up over top of it.

CONCLUSION

Perhaps it’s time to try another, more complex, recipe. The liquid portion was too sweet & looked all wrong. The topping was closer to the theme park ‘original’. It tasted really close but wasn’t as thick, as demonstrated by it not staying on top of the liquid. It’s off to the internet to find another recipe!
Do you have a favorite Butterbeer recipe? One that you know works? Let us know in the comments!