Our crazy snow dog/porpoise.
Music: Shira Kammen, “Le Brandevin – Holly and his Merry Men – Angelus ad Verginem” used under a Creative Commons license.
Also, the bundt cake atop our picnic table:
Archives for 2009
The great Julekake lamination of aught-nine.
December 14, 2009 by
As with last year, I made Julekake this year. Â The big difference is I got off my hind end and decided to experiment. Â My grandmother’s recipe makes five full-size loaves at one go. Â This is a quantity of dough that swamps my stand mixer and, in the words of my mother, “You don’t knead it, you hug it.” Â In other words, it is an incredibly daunting prospect to contemplate for any amateur Julenisse.
Modifying baking recipes is not something I’m qualified in any way to do. Â My friend Linsey is an expert in such things, and from reading her blog I know there is seemingly endless trial and error in these experiments. Â But I wanted cardamom and dried fruit in a lovely, slightly chewy, perfect for breakfast toast sort of way. Â And so I fired up a spreadsheet and commenced to calculate.
My first experiment (five loaves down to three) was actually very successful. Â Not enough cardamom, but I was (I believe) understandably cautious: cardamom is pretty pungent. Â But the texture was perfect. Â And I could get the bulk of the kneading done with the stand mixer and finish by hand.
We stored two of the loaves in the oven. Â John’s idea, and not a bad one. Â But it is a bad idea to preheat the oven without checking to see if there is anything in there first. Â And so, preparing to roast a chicken, John essentially laminated two loaves of Julekake.
So I made two more batches. Â Nine total loaves is proof of concept, I think. Â And I think I’m finally getting the cardamom calibration correct.
I still won’t make the mistake of thinking that I did anything other than get lucky with my first attempt at modifying a baking recipe. Â But it’s nice to have a more manageable version.
Newton. That bastard.
December 2, 2009 by
In the last month or so, I have:
- Gotten a ridiculous amount done at work
- Written two papers for school and the outline for a third
- Done I-don’t-know-how-many homework assignments
- Managed (in tandem with John) to keep the house from exploding (no small feat when it is also home to four furry critters)
- Thrown our big household party of the year
In the last month or so, I have not:
- Written a short story
- Photographed anything of note
- Blogged meaningfully
- Done any significant amount of knitting (we shall not speak of the spinning which has not happened, nor the designing)
In other words, the work, the school, and the life stuff have taken over – seemingly permanently, and while I still may rebel to stand and shout, “There are four lights!” I feel that the creative part of my little corner of the world is… crumbly. Â Perhaps crispy. Â It certainly isn’t lush and vibrant just now. Â I have only my internal assurance to know that it even exists.
And I have what may amount to a hubristic faith in that assurance. Â So thanks for sticking with me.
“Oh, you’ll hate that.”
November 29, 2009 by
I have this funny, perverse mental habit. Â When someone tells me, “You HAVE to watch X. Â You will LOVE X,” I immediately find myself averse to ever looking at such a thing.
My mother is a very smart woman.
She now precedes all recommendations with, “So – you will HATE this. Â You don’t want to watch/read/listen to it.” Â For some reason, this actually works.
Funny little thing, brains.
Laughter, drifting down from on high
November 23, 2009 by
This week is one of those funny, stubby weeks – a few days of work, a few days off, John is picking up my mom from the airport and working an odd, late day tomorrow due to a faculty senate meeting.
As a result, we have that semi-giddy, let-off-the-leash feeling you get when life is off kilter. Â We watched Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch this evening – growing up in Red Sox Nation, we felt both the hero and the heroine’s pain. Â And also their triumph. Â It was a surprisingly nuanced movie. Â If you like sport, or love someone who likes sport, I can recommend it.
I’m not ready to go to bed yet, and I can hear John upstairs laughing at Milo. Â It’s a good sound. Â Hearty and loud. Â It makes me look forward to the holiday weekend.
Overheard at our house, sci fi edition
November 20, 2009 by
“Is that the guy from the hive thing?”
“‘Every sci fi show has a hive of some kind. Â Can you narrow that down for me?”
Overheard on a recent visit to friends, Silicon Valley geek edition
November 18, 2009 by
“You know, as we were driving up to your house, we almost couldn’t find your exit?”
“Really?”
“Yeah – it’s 404.”
…
…
groan.
In case there was any doubt…
October 25, 2009 by
…yes, I may be officially crazy.
Because, in addition to my commitments at school, work, and home, I seem to have helped craft a new writing project idea for November. Â You may have heard of NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. Â The idea behind this is kind of crazy, kind of compelling: write a novel-length piece of prose in the 30 days of November. Â Conceptually, I can see how this might get me past my, “I want to write a novel-length piece of prose, but what if it’s crap?” problem. Â Because the idea isn’t to write a good novel, just something that is that long. Â Once convinced of your idea that yes, you can string that many words together about one story, perhaps then you can get out of your own way and proceed crafting something of a decent quality.
It may work, it may not – but I do have one friend who turned the concept into a book contract. Â There are probably others.
But procrastinating about writing is more than a common occurrence – it’s a cliche. Â So many of us who like to write, like stories, like to read, and want to tell our own stories end up putting it off indefinitely. Â Thus it is so that I have about a zillion pieces of ideas around a novel-length piece of prose and have only committed a few of them to pixels. Â The rest of those ideas keep rolling around in my head like laundry on an endless tumble-dry, going nowhere. Â Perhaps shrinking. Â Perhaps I’m letting this metaphor get out of hand.
Enter an idea that sort of bounced around among Rana of Frogs and Ravens, Amanda of Household Opera, and me: NoNaShoStoWriMo, or Not-National Short Story Writing Month. Â Instead of committing to a 50,000 words in the next month, we’re shooting for the more modest, achievable goal of about 7,500 words. Â I’ve decided to use the ideas/concepts that have been doing the tumbling and spinning and see where I get with it – perhaps that will get me enough of a start so I can use it as a springboard to an actual long-format work.
Anyone with us?
ETA:
And yes, the name does sound like something in Judoon, for all you Doctor Who fans…