Showing posts with label Zombies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zombies. Show all posts

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Carmela's Food Blog: "Zombies" Valentine Dessert

Finished Zombies! 
A marriage between chocolate chip cookies & brownies!


I came across a photo of these “Zombies” on a tweet posted by one of our bloggers, Jane Springfield. They are a marriage between a chocolate chip cookie and a brownie. I tested the proportions first and I came up with a fail safe way to make these easy and quickly. I don't know anyone who isn't a fan of brownies or chocolate chip cookies, so these are definitely a sure way to your lover’s heart. These cookie cups, that I have appropriately named Zombies, are sure to be a favorite. The name Zombies was taken from Jane and since I added nuts to the recipe, the name Zombies stuck well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
This recipe will make exactly 2 muffin pans (24 Zombies)

Brownie portion:
Make any favorite brownie mix.  Spray your muffin pan generously with pam and divide the brownie batter equally into the 24 muffin spots.

Toasted Walnuts:
In frying pan (sprayed with pam)  or in a  toaster oven; add 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts and toast. Set aside.


Toasted walnuts


Chocolate Chip Cookie:
You can use any  pre-made chocolate cookie dough,  but I have an easy recipe for homemade cookies:
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of butter softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup of chocolate chips

Mix flour, baking soda and salt together. Set aside. In another bowl, beat together the soft butter, egg, both sugars and vanilla till combined and creamy.  Gradually add the flour mixture and beat together. Add in the chocolate chips and stir.

Form into flattened cookies covering 1 side of the cookies with the toasted nuts. Place the cookie - toasted nut side down -on top of the brownie mix in the muffin pan.

Cookie over brownie


Bake for 25 minutes @ 350 degrees. After cooled they will pop right out. Serve for Valentine's Day or make them for yourself to eat during Mob Wives. Mob Wives will air at it's new time tonight: 10PM ET/9C!

Follow me on Twitter @CarmelaCorleone and let me know how your Zombies came out!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

"The Walking Dead: Sick" S3 EP Recap

The episode starts off with the holed up prisoners looking onwards in shock at Rick, Daryl, T-Dog, Maggie and Glenn as they tend to Herschel to save his life and prevent him from going into shock. Daryl keeps his crossbow out and ready as one of the prisoners draws a gun at him. Daryl keeps his aim at them while Glenn gets the medical supplies and a rolling table to put Hershel on to roll him back into C-Unit to the rest of the crew. T-Dog opens up the door as he slaughters a zombie prison guard and the rest rush to take Hershel out. The prisoners are left dumbfounded at what they just saw. The group rush through the dark hallways, slaughtering zombies that stand in their way. The prisoners slowly walk out of the cafeteria to follow Rick and the crew.

From the left: Big Tiny, Oscar, Axel, Andrew andTomas
Rushing to save Hershel's life
Rick and the rest, sensing that they are being followed, looks behind to see the (human) prisoners trailing behind them but their main focus is Hershel’s life. The group rush Hershel to C-Unit and place him on one of the bunk beds.  Carol commands the group to get towels and more supplies. Daryl stands ready watch with his bow ready at an open gate, where he waits for the prisoners to show up. The prisoners walk into C-Unit, wondering what has happened as they see the array of blood and remains of their fellow prisoners throughout the premises. The prisoners aren’t taking it to well and Daryl and a prisoner named Tomas are having a heated exchange of words (Jane’s notes: I didn’t like that guy the moment he opened his mouth to my husb....I mean, Daryl. I personally felt Daryl should’ve just shot him in the leg and be done with him). T-Dog rushes in, handgun pointed at the prisoners while Tomas is barking at Daryl that this prison is HIS house. Rick rushes out, with Carl locking the door behind him so the prisoners wouldn’t get to where the women, Glenn and Hershel were. One of the prisoners asks why not take Hershel to the hospital. Rick asks how long they’ve been locked in the cafeteria.

They said that they’ve been in there for 10 months. “We heard about dudes gone cannibal and rising back from the dead and walking up. A guard comes in, throws in a pizza and says to stay in…that’s the last we heard from him”, Axel explains. Big Tiny says that was 292 days ago and that they were hoping the Nat’l Guard or the Army would show up. That’s when Rick explains to them that there was no government, no democracy, no police and it was all a complete chaos. “What about our moms, our kids, our old ladies?” Big Tiny chirped in. “Can’t we call them?” Rick has to break the bad news that there are no phones, no computers and that half the population has been wiped out, even more than half possibly. Rick tells the prisoners to see for themselves. The prisoners go outside, powered by the sunlight they’ve been shielded from for almost a year and they see the slaughter of blood and zombies. Rick and the group talk about how they got in and took control over each part of the prison before getting into C-Unit. Daryl explains too how they are all infected. Tomas, being the eloquent gentleman that he is, doesn’t believe Rick and his crew killed them all and once again, pulls out his gun. Daryl pulls out his crossbow (and again, doesn’t use this as a chance to shoot him in the leg) as a warning to Tomas. Tomas is antagonizing Daryl while Axel tries to convince the men to lay down their weapons and see if something can be figured out.  

Breaking the bad news
Tomas says that if Rick and the crew can take all those zombies out, then Tomas and the group of prisoners can have a cell unit to themselves. Rick and the crew agree to clear out a unit full of cells in exchange for the food in the cafeteria…and to leave each other alone. Rick warns that if any of the prisoners go within their crew or worse, in C-Unit, Rick will kill him on the spot. 

Back in C-unit, Carol, Lori, Maggie, Glenn and Beth decide what to do next to provide medical attention for Hershel, who is still out cold. 

Meanwhile, Tomas leads the crew to the area where there are food items like canned goods and bags of rice. Rick opens the walk-in fridge to see that the prisoners used it to relieve themselves.

Back in C-Unit once again, Maggie and Glenn console each other as Maggie opens up about how she fears losing Hershel. She is also concerned about how he will manage to maneuver with only one leg. Glenn consoles her that Hershel has her and Beth and that it will take more than a bitten, infested leg to keep a man like Hershel down. Maggie goes to Beth’s cell to warn her to prepare her for the worst. Beth wonders why Maggie would dare give up on her father but Maggie tells her that while she’s not giving up, she has to come to terms with the reality of the situation. 

T-Dog and Rick walk in with bags and boxes of food. Hershel at this point is breathing, but his pulse is down. Rick orders Glenn to take his cuffs, which he does.  Rick tells Lori they will tell the prisoners that they are going to clear a cell for them but really, Rick feels that one option is to kill the prisoners. Lori says that although she’s a “shitty wife and not mother-of-the-year”, she tells Rick that he’s not a killer and he can come up with a better option.  She reminds him to do what he must but to ensure he does it with a clear conscious. 

Daryl and the group of prisoners go over the plan to clear out the cell with Rick telling them  to stand together in one unit so they wouldn’t get caught in the middle of the zombie fest . Daryl reminds them to aim their weapon to the walkers’ brain. Meanwhile, Glenn handcuffs Hershel to the bed as a “precaution”. Maggie and Carol overlook. Maggi asks for some alone time with Hershel so Carol and Glenn respect her wishes and leave the cell. Maggie whispers to Hershel to not worry about her and Beth and that they will take care of each other. Maggie sobs to her dad that he can go and leave and rest at peace.  

An unlikely crew taking on walkers
Rick and the group are walking down a hallway when they spot a group of prisoner walkers going towards them. The group of prisoners decide to unleash hell and take out their anger on the zombies as Rick, T-Dog and Daryl look on, not knowing how to react with the way the prisoners were going all “prison riot” on the zombies (then again, I don’t know what I would do if I was pent up in a hole for 10 months with 4 other felons so I saw the attack as an unleash of VERY much pent up frustration). 

Back in C-Unit, Carl comes in with a case full of medical supplies from the infirmary. Lori confronts him about sneaking out to the infirmary by himself. Carl tells her he killed 2 walkers by himself on the way. Lori is furious that Carl put himself in danger and Carl talks back that he was fine and that he was just trying to help. Beth steps in to tell him to respect his mother. 

Daryl leads the way as the walkers come and each of the group takes turns  taking swipes and shots at the walkers. “No more prison riot crap!” warns Rick. Big Tiny slowly walks away to take on walkers on his own. One of the walkers breaks his cuffs and grabs onto Big Tiny and scratches him. Tomas steps in and shoots the zombie. After the area was cleared, it was dead silence.  

Carol tells Glenn to come out for a private talk. Glenn resists at first but follows Carol’s orders.

The crew checks Big Tiny to sees if he’s scratched or bitten. Out of the blue, Tomas bashes Big Tiny's head repeatedly with a crowbar, with blood splattering on his face and Big Tiny’s head completely gone…

Bringing out the worst in man
Carol and Glenn walk out the gated walkway when they see a zombie woman. Carol has an extreme idea to use a zombie to practice C-Section with for when Lori goes into labor. Carol pokes the zombie in the eye and opens the gate to retrieve the body as Glenn distracts the group of zombies so Carol can retrieve it. Daryl confesses to Rick that he doesn’t trust Tomas (enter me doing this) and that if he makes one move, to give him the signal to kill him.  Rick says to open a door but the prisoners opens two as moaning zombies gather around the other side. During the zombie infestation, Tomas purposely pushes a zombie into Rick and the zombie is trying to tear at Rick. Daryl immediately saves him and after the zombies have all been slaughtered, Rick decides to give Tomas a piece of his mind (no pun intended) in the form of a machete straight down the middle of Tomas’s head. T-Dog and Daryl take hold of Oscar and Axel as Rick chases Andrew, who runs off. Andrew goes out into a yard full of walkers….but Rick decides he’s had enough of the prisoners putting himself and his team in danger and he locks out Andrew with the walkers, warning him to run for it. He shuts the door and Andrew’s last screams are ringing in Rick ears….

Armed and ready to slaughter!
Back in C-Unit, Hershel’s heart stopped beating and Beth is crying for someone to help. Lori rushes in and begins CPR. As Lori is trying to breathe life into him, Hershel jolts awake and grabs a hold of Lori, causing the girls to scream and pull her back. Carl draws his gun in case Hershel attempts to show behaviors of a walker but Hershel seems very disoriented and perplexed. 

Axel tries to convince Rick and the men how the Big Tiny was his friend and that while he liked his pharmaceuticals, he wasn’t a killer and pleads for his life. Rick turns his gun over to Oscar. “I never pleaded for my life and ain’t about to start now so you do what you gotta do,” he tells Rick as Rick rests the barrel of his gun to his forehead. 

Rick spares the prisoners their lives and takes them to the cell unit they cleared out. Axel and Oscar are horrified as they see the bodies of their fellow inmates slaughtered and are wondering why Rick and the others would leave them in a place like that. Daryl reminds them that they have it good compared to what’s outside. Daryl also tells Axel that he’s sorry that he lost his friend. T-Dog advises the prisoners to take the bodies outside to burn them. 

Back in C-Unit, Carl tells Rick and the men that Hershel stopped breathing and Lori saved him. The crew look onto a breathing Hershel when he slowly opens his eyes. Rick unhooks the handcuffs from Hershel’s hand. Hershel reaches his hand to Rick’s. Rick guides both Maggie and Beth over to Hershel as they embrace him. 

Carol is still outdoors experimenting on the female zombie on conducting a C-Section.  
In a private moment, Rick and Lori talk about cleaning up the area when Rick reassures Lori that she’s not a bad mother. But she acknowledges she’s a bad wife. Lori said it was a good day because they had food and Hershel is alive. Rick tells Lori it was because of her that she saved Hershel and that the day was good. Lori gives the credit for Rick’s fast thinking. Before Lori can say anything else, Rick tells her “We’re awful grateful for what you did,” before taking off....

Picture Credit: AMC

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Question of the week: What would your weapon of choice be to take on the walkers? Leave your answer in a comment

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

"The Walking Dead" Season Premiere Recap EP 301

Janes Notes: As Season 2 of "Paranormal Witness" draws to a close, Mob Mistress asked me if I wanted to recap AMC's "The Walking Dead". I honestly have never seen the show but after hearing what it was about, I was ready to jump on it! So you think the thrills and scares are over? Well, think again! After doing some zombie homework, I'm looking forward to tuning into this show every Sunday at 9pm! Without further ado...


Rick comes upon a potential sanctuary and pushes the group to secure the area

WARNING: This show is rated TV-14 but does contain an excessive amount of violence, blood and slight gore. I leave the reader up to their own discretion. 

The eyes of a zombie are looked upon. Rick once again leads the way armed with a firearm as his son Carl follows suit with T-Dog and Daryl marching behind armed with spears and a crossbow, ready to secure the residential home. The crew, including the adolescent Carl, have no hesitation taking out zombies standing in their way (and live owls for food courtesy of Daryl). Following the four are Maggie and Glenn. The house is cleared of zombies and the rest of the crew (Lori, Beth, Hershel and Carol) follow suit. The crew huddle around in the entryway, wondering what to do when T-Dog spots a herd of zombies approaching. The crew set out and go in three separate vehicles while Daryl sets out on his motorcycle (At this time, somewhere in California, Jane Doe is falling in love with Daryl).  

The crew drives off and park in the middle of a rural road. Maggie unrolls a map and the crew plans on what area to go next while Carl and Beth stand on guard. Rick suggests the group suggests going westward instead of going from house to house. Meanwhile, Hershel’s main concern is Lori due to her healthy and pregnancy. Rick and Daryl decide to go through the woods to see what they can discover. They walk alongside a train track when they see a prison in the distance…along with zombies sprawling the prison yard. The group then joins them and they break into the gates prison walkway, killing zombies in their way. Glenn and Rick secure up the cut gate and walk through the passageway, zombies approaching the gate and clawing at them. The crew reaches a dead end when Rick sees the main gate into the prison.  Rick comes up with a plan to secure the prison yard perimeter.  He suggests Maggie, Beth, T-dog and Glenn distract the zombies one way (as they are the fastest) while Daryl, Hershel, Carl and Carol secure the towers and set up a shooting spree on the zombies below. Meanwhile, down below, Maggie, Beth, T-Dog and Glenn are on a zombie slashing spree. Lori opens up the main gate inside the prison as Rick sneaks around and runs through, killing zombie prisoners. Rick successfully gets in one of the towers as the crew continues to shoot and slay zombies. The whole crew kills off the zombies and secure the jail perimeter. The crew leaves the tower and head towards the prison (but not without Glenn taking a last shot at a zombie’s head for the finale). 

Home sweet home?

Its night time as Daryl guards the secured perimeter, with Rick walking around the perimeter and the rest of the crew enjoy a campfire in the middle of the yard. T-Dog and Hershel suggest digging a canal under the prison for fresh water and to plant seeds such as tomatoes for food. Lori mentions this will be a good, safe place to raise the baby. Meanwhile Carol talks to Daryl and confesses that she was surprised that Mike took them as far as he did. She mentions her shoulder hurts from the rifle. Daryl caresses it and Carol jokes how he’s romantic and they should screw around. (At this point, Jane Doe becomes possessed temporarily by this newfound love for Daryl and yells “hands off my man, girlfriend!”) 

Back at the campfire, Hershel wants the girls to sing old campfire songs. Beth resists but ends up singing a song from the past. Maggie joins in; it’s a haunting tune that is soothing and yet eerie as the zombies gated in the prison wander around in the background. Rick, Carol and Daryl walk back to the sound of the girls’ singing. Rick insists that while they had a great victory, they need to rest so they can raid inside the prison which is a “gold mine” full of beds, food and water, medicine and other necessities. Hershel mentions how ammo is scarce when Rick suggests then the crew go “hand-to-hand” with the zombies and encourages them, reminding them how far they’ve reached. In a private moment, Lori confides in Rick about staying outside the prison yard for a few days. Lori’s baby is about to arrive and Lori is worried about hers and baby’s health. Rick feels annoyed that Lori is being demanding to him after all he’s done. Lori apologizes and Rick goes back on watch. 

Wondering what the future holds around a campfire
In another scene, zombies linger inside a two-story building when Michonne makes her appearance, roundhouse kicking the zombie into a bookshelf before decapitating it. She stabs and decapitates two more zombies, leaving an array of blood and severed zombie heads in her mist.

"Larry, which one did you say had the donuts?"
Meanwhile, back at the prison, Rick opens the gates as Mike, Glenn, T-Dog, Daryl and Maggie make their way in and Hershel shuts the gates. The fab five go on a zombie killing spree. The rest of the crew is outside the gates, antagonizing the zombies away from the five to kill them. The five continue to infiltrate inside the prison, with T-Dog picking up a new piece of equipment: a prison riot shield. Rick commands the group to stick together in a unit. Prison guard zombies are now the next enemy to tackle. Defeating the prison guard zombies tends to be a bit of a difficulty due to the extra armor and riot helmets so the crew decides to take off the helmets and stab the zombies in the face. The next mission is a courtyard invaded by prisoner zombies and they discover civilian zombies also must be inside. Rick leads the crew to an entrance in what appears to be an empty prison. Rick goes in the control room and realizes a warden zombie has already been slashed. Rick takes the keys and opens the doors.

Taking Control...
The crew’s first location is C-Unit. More zombie prisoners are found already slashed. 

Rick and Daryl go to the second story where they do see more live zombies in cells and slash them. C-Unit is secured. The rest of the crew joins insides and tries to settle down. Rick’s plan the next day is to invade the cafeteria. The group settles in, with the crew pairing off in cell bunks (with Hershel reminding Carl to get his own once he catches him in Beth’s room). Glenn and Maggie go inside a blood-stained cell and comfort one another. 

Settling in...just another day...

Meanwhile, Michonne is still flying solo, with katana armed. She enters a goods store where she sees two armless zombies chained up. She sees a sick Andrea sleeping in a corner. Michonne gives her medicine with some water and places the water around her face to cool her down. Michonne mentions to Andrea that they should leave the place in a few places. Andrea tells Michonne to go and to let her died because Andrea would slow her down. Michonne tries to give her more water but Andrea throws the water back, telling Michonne to screw herself and to leave her be. Michonne reassures her they will leave in a few days. Andrea wanrs Michonne that she will die if they continue to stay. Michonne then opens a backdoor, takes the chained zombies with her alongside Andrea and leave.

Michonne and her partner-in-crime, her zombie slaying Katana...
Back in the prison, the men find a room full of equipment used by the prisons guards from flash grenades to batons and helmets. Carol walks up and asks the men if Hershel is there. Meanwhile, Lori is telling Hershel that she feels she lost the baby and couldn’t feel it move. Hershel tries to comfort her as Lori is thinking of worst-case scenarios. Lori expresses her last wishes that if anything were to happen to her and the baby, that the men would put Lori and the baby out of her misery. Lori is terrified that her baby is infected and will tear her apart. Lori is thinking about the worst-case scenarios in terms of the delivery and makes Hershel promise that if her life and baby’s life is at risk, to give her a “mercy murder”. Hershel convinces her that she’s suffering from serious exhaustion and malnutrition and just needs to rest. 

Downstairs, the men and Maggie gear up to infiltrate deeper into the prison. 

Operation Prison Seize....
Rick tells Carl to stay behind and be the “last man standing”. Carl closes the prison gate behind Rick, T-Boy, Daryl, Hershel, Maggie and Glenn as they march on. Nighttime is falling as the six, armed with flashlights, go throughout the rest of the prison to secure it. They find that there are corpses of slayed zombies and pools of bones and blood with every turn. Glenn spray paints arrows on the wall to serve as signs for the crew to follow if they need it. Around the corner is a group of prisoner zombies. The group backs up and runs away. But as they are walking down a hallway, a group of prisoner zombies surprise attacks the group, causing Glenn and Maggie to separate from the rest.  Rick, Daryl, Hershel and T-Boy are fortunate to find a small empty closet to lock themselves in for Plan B. They decide to search for Maggie and Glenn before continuing on. The four walks out as Hershel passes a dead zombie….except the zombie is still alive, springs back up and takes a nasty chunk out of Hershel’s leg. Maggie and Glenn hear Hershel’s screams and join the rest of the team as they take Hershel’s body, run through a group of zombies and lock themselves in the cafeteria. Rick pulls out his belt to serve as a tourniquet, takes an axe, and severs off Hershel’s leg from the knee down to prevent infection. Daryl then notices a group of zombie prisoners looking through from the cafeteria and tells the group to duck. 

A picture of Jane Doe's future husband (he just doesn't know it yet)
Daryl walks forward and realizes that as one of the prisoners exclaims “holy sh*t”,  that they aren’t zombies but surviving human prisoners….

Picture Credit: AMC/Gene Page

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