Commercials and cookies.

So 2 nights ago I had a dream that my best friend Steph and I either baked cookies or brownies (by the time I woke up I had forgotten), so I really felt the need to bake some myself.  I found this recipe which is great, but I changed it a little.  First of all, I couldn't find baking soda here, but here's the thing.  The baking powder I found had sodium bicarbonate in the ingredients, and that is what baking soda is, but the box said it was baking powder.  I assumed the ingredients were telling the truth so I treated that as my baking soda and ignored the powder.  There is a possibility that it was all blended into one, but I wasn't sure. 

Then, the recipe called for a cup of peanut butter.  I changed that to half a cup of peanut butter and half a cup of Speculoos, which those of you at home will probably recognize if I put it in this format:

They're the Dutch Windmill Cookies.  They're mainly cinammon, ginger, nutmeg, pepper, cloves and cardamom.  They're DELICIOUS.  Anyway, it comes in a spreadable format too, which roughly has the consistency of peanut butter so I put half that stuff and half peanut butter.  The final result - amazing, truly divine cookies.  Here's a picture.

I realize they just look like cookies, but they're soo good!  The best part is that they stay squishy and soft even after they've cooled down.  So I experimented with the last 6 of the batch and put a little chunk of chocolate in the middle of them just before I baked them.  That was a decision I wasn't about to regret - they were baked, eaten and loved in about 5 seconds.  As such, I don't have a picture of them :)

Yesterday, I had another commercial!  This one was for a French insurance company.  This was a bit different than the first one I did.  This commercial was a much bigger production.  They had 2 makeup tents, 1 wardrobe tent with lots and lots of clothes, and as always - WAY more people behind the scenes than you would ever imagine. 

I got there early because I truly detest being late.  I drank a coffee, was greeted by the casting director and met some people I'd be working with.  Then I was shooed off to hair and makeup.  This part was cool.  They didn't do that for the other commercial.  I sat down in this chair in front of one of these things:

I think I had 2 people working on my hair and one girl putting make up on.  She just put some powdery stuff on my face and that was that.  I think it was to take away the shiny on my face that was created because it was SO hot in that building.  Anyway, then they used some cool gel in my hair.  It looked like baby powder or icing sugar or something.  They sprinkled it into my hair, then moved it around and it turned into gel!  So cool!

After that I went to the wardrobe tent:

This is where they decided what I'd wear.  I guess I should explain the scenes.  We did 3 scenes.  The first was an airport in 2011.  That was easy, they just asked me to wear my own clothes that I had brought with me.  The second was at a swimming pool in 2011.  I had to wear a bathing suit (which in Europe means SPEEDO !) but it was fun because I got to go swimming and I got paid for it.  Actually, it was tiring at the end because we did that scene over and over from I think 4 different angles and it took 3 hours!  The last scene of the day was set in an airport in the 1980s and that's where I had to wear this outfit:

It was all quite fun again.  Unfortunately, this time the food wasn't as good.  I am still thankful that they give us free food though, it saved me a days worth of money!

That's all.  I haven't had any other offers yet for more commercials, but I'm sure they'll come in again.  I like doing them, it's fun!

Next bit of news - tomorrow I'm going to Versailles with a friend Annick and her students.  I haven't been there.  In fact the first time I went to France was just when I went to Strasbourg, so this will be fun!  Of course, I'll have pictures!