Supernatural 8x12 "As Time Goes By"

That time travel, she is one fickle mistress, as we seem to learn over and over again. I do appreciate the fact that they don't ever seem to be able to change anything when there is time travel involved, which is the only thing that really makes sense when involving time travel. That it all already happened this way, in some kind of cosmic loop thing. Uh oh, this is getting brain heavy. Let's just get into the recap, shall we?

Awkward family dinner?

Back in the late '50s, a mystery man, who we'll come to know as Henry, is kissing his son goodnight. He's off to complete some sort of initiation at some kind of cult-looking place, with full on hooded robes and strange symbols and whatnot. Only, the sexy lady who is also supposed to take part in this ritual is really a demon, and kills all the other brotherhood types. Henry manages to run into a room with all sorts of weird stuff and does some kind of blood sigil spell that sends him away...

Tumbling right out of the closet of our very own brothers Winchester. They are, of course, rather perturbed that some dude just stumbled out of their closet. Particularly when said dude starts asking if one of them is John Winchester. And just why would he be asking such a strange and jarring question? Because that blood sigil spell from earlier was supposed to take him to his son. That's right, this dude is Henry Winchester, doing some time traveling. Turns out, though, he's not alone in his travels, because that demon from earlier has followed him through the portal, and guess what! The magic demon knife can't kill her! Dun dun dun!

They wouldn't be Winchesters if they didn't dig up some graves.

But why? That demon knife should be able to kill any demon, right? Well, no. Because this particular demon is Abaddon, apparently one of the first demons, and perhaps the last of her kind. That doesn't mean it's going to be any easier to get rid of her. And just why did she kill the brotherhood folk in the first place? She wanted some mystery box that one of them gave Henry before he hopped his blood sigil Delorean.

Henry is convinced that his order, the Men of Letters, should still be around, and that Sam and Dean, his grandsons, and as such legacies, should be part of the group. Alas, it is not so, as John never saw his pop again after that fateful night. This does not bode well for Henry's future, clearly. It also gives Dean some ample material to angst over, as apparently John hated his dad because he thought he walked out on him as a kid, and we all know how Dean feels about family. Super important, yo. More important than mystical brotherhood legacy group things, for sure. Sam is more tolerant, per usual. It was sort of nice to hear Dean stand up for John, though, because for a while there he was pissed at him for how they were raised. Anyway!

Henry gets worked up after reading John's journal and realizing the life his son was forced to lead, and wants to go back and fix things. Dean heads him off at the pass while Sam goes off to try to find out how to get rid of Abaddon and just what the mystery box is, as it turns out one of the dudes from the brotherhood didn't actually die, just pretended to and took over someone else's identity. Now, Sam is a bit of an idiot when he goes and talks to this dude, just divulging information even though there's something clearly shady about said dude's wife. Like, when he eagerly asks if you have the box? Don't just go ahead and say yes, Sam! Sheesh. Rookie move. Because that wife lady is really Abaddon in disguise.

There are sure some handsome men in this family, right?

Abaddon calls up Dean to offer a trade: Sam for Henry and the box. Oh, we did find out the box has a bunch of supernatural knowledge in it, apparently, and that's why it's such a hot commodity. The brotherhood dude tells Sam to get rid of it for good, yada yada. Anyway, Dean is all ready to go in guns hot to get Sam back, and manages to convince Henry that this is the right thing to do as well. We're led to believe in a dumb fakeout that Dean was going to just hand Henry over easy peezy lemon squeezy, but come ON, he wouldn't do that, no matter how annoyed he may be with his gramps.

Henry carves a devil's trap into the tip of a bullet like a boss, and shoots it into Abaddon's brain. While it doesn't kill her, it does trap her, but not before she stuck her hand in Henry's gut. Uh oh. The Winchesters never can catch a break. Death, death and more death. It's just their lot in life. Ha. Death. Life. Sorry. I'm tired. Anyway, Dean chops off her head, and the plan is to basically bury her in cement forever. Even though she'll be alive, she won't be able to do anything.

Alas, though, Henry is not long for this world. He dies in the arms of his grandsons, who must bury yet another parental figure. No hunter's burial for him, I guess, as he of the "hunters are brutes!" mentality. They end up with the box, but are headed to get rid of it at the end of the episode, like the brotherhood dude pleaded.

Random Thoughts:

- Are you really able to break out a car window with your elbow?

- I'm a little fuzzy on the workings of that blood spell. Like, why did it choose 2013? Why not send him to a time when John was still alive? Or just across town to him in his present time? And why do the blood spell in the first place to get out of that situation? I guess if it's the only thing you can think of, sure...

- It was pretty awesome that Henry was able to get out of the handcuffs and get them on Sam and Dean without them being the wiser. Nice moves.

- I liked how they tied it back into the whole thing about their bloodline being super important, combining hunters with these men of letters folk. Brains and brawn, as Sam called them.

- I always wonder why they don't try to call up Cas in these situations. Like, couldn't he have healed him? I mean, I get it, he was meant to die, it would screw up the timeline, but why don't they even think of trying it?

Quotes:

Dean: So you're like Yodas to our Jedis. ... Nevermind, you'll get there.

Henry: You're also Winchesters. As long as we're alive, there's always hope.

Dean: All I see in our family tree is a whole lot of dead.

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

Supernatural 8x11 "LARP and the Real Girl"

One of these things is not like the other.

I don't know if any of you have seen or heard of this new reality competition show, King of the Nerds, but it seems rather serendipitous that this episode aired right when that show has started. Also? It's kind of awesome, particularly if you have any nerd tendencies. And if you watch Supernatural, I think you might. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, no sir.

After the events of last episode, Dean thinks they should relax a little and have some fun, but Sam is all work and no play. It helps that Garth calls them up with a job nearby, otherwise what excuse could he have had? Anyway, some people are being killed in rather old-timey ways, after a mysterious tree appears on their arms. The boys question one of these dudes before he's killed and find out he's part of this LARPing group, Moondoor. And who else happens to be part of this group? None other than our favorite hacker girl, Charlie (returning guest star Felicia Day). The chances?! I mean, really.

Of course, Charlie is less than thrilled to see Sam and Dean show up in her new life, since she had to go completely underground and basically get herself a new identity after she last had them come into her life. Though Dean suggests she get out of dodge while they handle whatever is going on, Charlie decides that since she's the queen of the fictional realm, she can't leave her subjects behind to be killed. Ah, heroism.

Smoldering stare? Puh-lease. That's easy.

While Sam tries to find out more about the mystery tree symbol that keeps appearing on people before they die, Dean (who has to dress the part of someone of Moondoor) and Charlie go around with a photo of it, and find out that it's the shadow orc king's symbol. Of course it's the shadow orcs. I mean, shady. Dean sends Charlie back to find Sam for back up before they encounter said orcs, but Charlie ends up getting captured by a totes creepy looking figure in a black outfit and some kind of bone mask thing. I don't know about you, but that thing was totally freaking me out.

Sam and Dean hook back up and realize that Charlie's missing, so they enlist a captured shadow orc and the help one of the queen's dudes, Boltar or something. They track down Charlie to this random tent in the woods, where she has been hanging out with the shadow figure. Said shadow figure has turned out to be a fairy who's been imprisoned by someone using a book of dark magic. In order to free her, they must destroy the book. But who could be the person controlling her?

Suits or chainmail?

In what should have been obvious but somehow wasn't to me, it turns out to be her squire or whatever, the Boltar guy, who was just a little too into wanting to be the king in the game. There ensues a tussle, wherein Charlie must become the hero of the hour and stab the book of dark magic. It was all actually rather easy, but nonetheless entertaining.

With Boltar taken off to fairyland to pay for his crimes, Charlie decides to stick around rather than assume another new identity. Sam also agrees with Dean that they could both use a little bit of fun, and in the most hilarious part of the night, they go full Braveheart in the final battle for Moondoor. I feel like they must've been laughing a lot during the making of this episode, right?

Random Thoughts:

- Interesting how Dean thought the LARPing thing looked cool instead of lame. He's really just a nerd at heart.

- Horribly coincidental that Charlie happened to be involved with this particular LARPing group, or do we pretend that Garth knew she was involved all along when he told them about it? He does seem to be rather all-knowing.

- Was anyone else as creeped out by the black getup and skull? I may have nightmares about it. Anytime a person just stands there and does not interact is creepster extreme anyway.

Quotes:

Sam: It's bad enough you've been tracking us, but it's even worse when you say "You've been Garthed."

Sheriff: These kids today, with their texting and murder.

Lance: They were from me, but they weren't from me me.
Dean: Did you really think that sentence was going to clear things up?

Sam: Nice outfit.
Dean: You love it.

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

Supernatural 8x10 "Torn and Frayed"

Well, kids, hiatus is over. For me it really flew by, but I'm sure some of you were chomping at the bit, much like a leviathan, for new episodes. There was a whole lot going on in this episode too. Really it should've just been called "breaking up is hard to do." Also a quick shout out to the writer of this episode, Jenny Klein! Great work!

Let's get to the business. I have to tell you, I am practically falling asleep right now, so if this isn't up to usual standards, apologies up front. Okay!

I am very serious about finding these sigils, you know.

In case you'd forgotten, Dean and Sam are in a bit of a tiff with each other because of their big man feelings being hurt. Sam still doesn't trust Benny and wants Dean to cut ties with him. He's also still mad that Dean made it seem like Amelia was in trouble. Dean actually pretty much cops to being somewhat of a dick on that front, but it's not to be all sunshine and salt circles just yet, because it's unclear whether Sam maybe does want out of the life.

I mean, we know that's not going to happen, but let's ponder it for a bit longer I guess. Amelia comes to see Sam and they basically both admit to still being one with the lovey dovey feelings for each other, but it's all so very complicated. So they decide to take a couple days to each think about it, and if they want to go for it, they'll meet back at the motel. Alas, poor Amelia, I think we all know what's going to happen. At least you're not going to burn up on a ceiling.

Castiel can use pens!

Elsewhere, poor angel Samandriel is being tortured by Crowley and his minions. He manages to get a signal out during a brief respite, and Naomi calls up Castiel to heaven to give him his new orders - find Samandriel and get him out of there. But, again, he has to think this was his own idea, he's not supposed to remember that someone is giving him orders. He ends up calling upon Dean for help, as the demons have their anti-angel mojo up all over the place. Eventually they figure out which particular abandoned factory Samandriel is being held in, but it's crawling with demons. Too many, especially since Cas can't just boop in and out. You know, anti-angel stuff and whatnot.

They decide to find Kevin, since he knows how to make some demon-killing bombs. Kevin's all holed up, trying to decipher the demon tablet, which is apparently not going particularly well. He's also said farewell to Mama Chan for now, as she is distracting and whatnot, which is all just a hint to Dean that the vampire who called him up to whinge about how he could use some help in not eating people should probably also be kicked to the curb. Anyway, Cas goes to collect the stuff for the bombs, and ends up bringing Sam back too. Because Sam is totes a demon-killing weapon too, you know. That sounds like a joke, but it's actually true.

What if they ever lost that knife?

Sam and Dean infiltrate the factory and work to get rid of the sigils that are blocking Cas from getting inside. They really need to hurry, though, because Crowley and his torture minion have found a particular pressure point in Samandriel's head that unlocks enochian angel instructions, and subsequently ends up telling Crowley that there is not only a demon tablet, but also an angel tablet. Dun dun dun. They may have been able to stop Crowley from getting that info, but Cas started to have flashbacks to Naomi seemingly sort of torturing him, poking something in his eye to make him obey, I presume, so he was no help in knocking down the big door containing the poor angel kid.

Nonetheless, they do manage to get him out, but Naomi calls Cas up to heaven and orders him to kill Samandriel for telling Crowley about the angel tablet. Though Cas does not want to, it he currently cannot disobey direct orders, and ends up killing the poor kid. Naomi then orders him to lie about why he did it to the brothers Winchester, and bring Samandriel back to heaven for inspection. Interesting.

The brothers are rather concerned about Castiel's odd behavior, particularly when they notice a drip of blood running from his eye, but they of course don't know what's going on about that yet. And they've still got some of their angst issues to deal with anyway. Namely, Sam must decide whether to stay or go, and Dean has to give up being Benny's friend. They both decide to break up these relationships, because we all know it's the epic love story of Sam and Dean anyway.

Random Thoughts:

- It almost feels like the tablets could be an end game for the show. What happens if you do everything on the tablets and there are no angels or demons anymore? What if there's also a monster tablet? Have they said how many tablets there are? It's possible they have, but I don't remember.

- How long until Cas is able to start fighting the orders? He's starting to remember bits now, and especially now that Sam and Dean know something for sure is up, I imagine it will come to a head soon.

- Do you think this is the last we'll see of Amelia and Benny? Do you want it to be, or do you want them to come back? Personally not sure what else could be garnered from their stories, but who knows.

- Why didn't Cas heal the dude who got burned by that bush? I mean, he did just heal that baby. Also, why did that woman not freak out about some random dude talking to her and knowing all this stuff? I think too much, clearly.

Quotes:

Dammit, Cas. How many times I gotta tell you, it's just creepy. - Dean, regarding Cas standing there waiting for him to wake up

Dean: You saw nothing.

Cas: That's his serious face, yes.

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

Homemade Butterfingers

Can I be honest? I'm not an expert candy maker. Anything to do with making chocolate-dipped things look pretty is really not my forte. Taste good, sure. Look good? I'll work on it. If I care enough. And do I? Do I really?

Probably not.

But, let me tell you a not-so-secret secret, I like to try to come up with thoughtful gifts for people, whether for Christmas or birthday or just something I see that reminds me of someone at a random time. I know, cheeseball for sure. But it comes from receiving a buttload of gift cards to places I never went to back in the day, and so now it is my mission in life never to give gift cards if I can help it.

These I made for my stepdad for his birthday, because butterfingers are his fave, and I wanted to do something more than just buy some butterfingers. Now, these don't taste exactly the same, moreso in texture than in taste, but it's the same idea.

You may see recipes for these elsewhere on the internet that tell you to just use candy corn for the middle candy part, and sure, you can do that, or you can be crazy like me and make the middle part from scratch too.

Homemade Butterfingers

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup salted butter
• 2 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup powdered milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
• orange food coloring
• 24 ounces milk chocolate

Cooking Directions

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the powdered sugar and powdered milk. Set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the granulated sugar, corn syrup and butter. Bring to a boil on high heat, stirring constantly, you don't want it to start sticking. Once it starts to boil, reduce the heat to medium and continue stirring for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the vanilla and remove from heat.
3. Add the sugar/powdered milk combo and stir well until incorporated and smooth. Add in the peanut butter and stir until smooth. Add in orange food coloring (entirely optional) until you get it to the orange color desired.
4. Pour into a parchment-lined 8x8 pan and let cool completely, about an hour and a half. Remove from the pan and cut into 2x1 inch pieces using a sharp knife.
5. In a medium bowl, melt the chocolate in the microwave for 1 minute (or you can do this in a saucepan if you're into that), then stir. Continue in 30 second intervals, stirring in between each, until the chocolate is smooth and creamy.
6. Dip your candy pieces in the chocolate. You can stab them from the bottom with a fork or maybe corn-on-the-cob skewers, or maybe try a sturdy toothpick. Coat completely, then set on a wax-paper-lined baking sheet and allow to cool completely. Once you have them all done, you can stick that in the fridge for about 30 minutes to set.
7. Store in a sealed container in the fridge or at room temp. It's candy, after all.

In photos:

Powdered sugar and powdered milk together. Sifting together is a better option than sifting the powdered sugar and then adding in the milk, because that sort of defeated the purpose of sifting in the first place. Just my two cents.

Combine granulated sugar, butter and corn syrup and bring to a boil on high heat.

Once it starts to boil, take it down to medium and stir occasionally for 5 minutes, then add in your vanilla.

Next, add in your powdered sugar mixture. If you had properly sifted, yours would not have those little white balls. Live and learn.

Add in your peanut butter and your food coloring. I only had red food coloring, so mine doesn't look super orange like a butterfinger actually would. Whatevs!

Pour that into your parchment-lined pan and let it cool for at least an hour and a half.

Once it has cooled, it will be one big bar of sugary, peanut buttery goodness.

Cut that up into 2x1 pieces. You can make them exactly square if you're a perfectionist, which I am not when it comes to this sort of thing.

Melt up your chocolate and get to dipping those babies. Line them up on a wax-paper covered baking sheet (enables easy removal later).

After they've cooled, you've got yourself some slightly messy, homemade butterfingers! They're not as crispy crunchy as store-bought real butterfingers; they're much softer in the center, but I am assured the taste is similar (personally, I'm not a butterfinger fan! I know!).

Pumpkin Pie Bars

I know what you're thinking. Another pumpkin thing? But the holidays have passed! I mean, I know. I meant to post this much earlier, but things such as life and work and vacation kind of got in the way. Or I got lazy. You never know with me.

And maybe you didn't get enough pumpkin stuff over the holidays. It's still cold and wintry out, you can still enjoy yourself some winter-spiced stuff, such as these pumpkin pie bars. Or not. Whatever suits you.

I made these bars for a work dessert potluck of sorts. I only have one quibble with them, and that is this: the bottom crust part was really, really hard to cut up. I'm not sure if it's because I should have cut them up earlier on and not after leaving it in the fridge overnight or not. It's entirely possible that is the case! Nonetheless, they were still tasty, tasty treats. Maybe not if you don't like pecans, but I imagine you could totally take out the pecans and you'd still have a winner.

Pumpkin Pie Bars

Ingredients

• FOR THE CRUST:
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
• FOR THE FILLING:
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg white
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 9 roasted pecan halves, for topping

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F with a rack in the center. Grease an 8x8 inch square pan with butter or shortening. Line with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt and oats. Add cold butter and quickly break the butter up into the dry ingredients. You can use a pastry cutter or use your hands to get the butter into sizes variously the size of peas to oat flakes. Add the chopped pecans and toss thoroughly to combine.
3. Remove about 1 1/2 (to 2 cups) of the mixture to a separate bowl and place in the refrigerator (this will be the crumble topping).
4. Put the remaining crust mixture into your prepared pan and, using your fingers, evenly press into the bottom of the pan. Place this in the fridge while you prepare the filling.
5. For the filling, place the softened cream cheese into your electric mixer and beat at medium speed about a minute until smooth and pliable. You don't want chunky cream cheese here.
6. Add in the pumpkin and sugar and beat on medium speed. You may need to stop the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is combined well. Add in the egg and egg white and beat to combine, about 1 minute. Add in the spices, salt and vanilla and beat to combine again. The original recipe also calls for 1/8 tsp all spice, but I didn't have any. Feel free to add it in for an extra spiciness.
7. Remove your crust and crust crumbs from the fridge. Pour the pumpkin filling over the pressed crust and then sprinkle generously with your remaining crumbs. Top that with your pecan halves. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the center no longer gets jiggly when you move it. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing from the pan and slicing.
8. These are best kept in the fridge since they have cream cheese in them, for up to four days.

Recipe via Joy the Baker

In photos:

Whoops. This picture is blurry. Sorry! It's just the dry ingredients about to get mixed up with some cold butter.

Once you've got your crust stuff, remove 1 1/2 to 2 cups to the fridge. The rest, press into your pan like so, then stick that in the fridge too.

The cream cheese, pumpkin and sugar mix together.

And then you add in your egg, egg white and spices.

Dump your pumpkin stuff on top of your prepared pan of pressed crumble, and then sprinkle the rest of that crumble on top.

Add your roasted pecans (I didn't roast mine, whoops!) for pretty decoration, and then bake that baby up.

Since the top does not really brown, you want to make sure the middle of the pan doesn't jiggle anymore before you take this out of the oven. Otherwise you will have a goopy middle section. No one wants a goopy middle section, in baked goods or in life.

Alive? YES!

I've been a bit incognito here, I know, but I was up in Oregon enjoying some family time and some snow time. Also, some freezing time, because damn it's cold up there!

But, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who hangs around my little corner of the web. I promise to have some real posts soonish. Or maybe I'll just be playing a lot of Just Dance 4 and get too distracted to make anything from my three new cookbooks? NO! I will!

Promises, promises. But I do. Promise.

Happy 2013!