So... Completely, utterly forgot about this thing over my Fall semester. Well that's shitty. Sorry about that. I'm going to have to try a little harder, eh? I guess that's one of my resolutions. Not that I REALLY have any. I didn't make any this time. I'm bad at that. (What bad is that I'm totally wasting $15 at the moment because I keep forgetting to play World of WarCraft!)
I added a new link, called Atelier-Rose. It's by the same lady that did CIAS Confidentials. She's my bestest friend! <3
Anyways, I'm going to continue my Dexter marathon and hope that, for once, I'll remember to do something.
Oh... And damn, I didn't take any photos of my truffle making. I should have done that. Well, I'm into chocolatiering now. Surprise! So I'll hopefully have a bunch of stuff up about that at some point. I have Andrew Garrison Shotts book on beginning artisan chocolates. It's awesome and delicious. Atelier-Rose says that my 73% truffles were delicious and wonderful. I think I agree. Also, I received some of Fred's ice-cube trays. They're wonderful! Although the Titonic ones are a little hard to pop out, due to the smoke-stacks. The T-Rex one worked beautifully.
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Friday, 1 January 2010
Saturday, 28 February 2009
On Writing
I figure that Kelly and Kiwii are right about a lot of things. Mostly that I should pursue what interests me most. Kelly said that she always saw me as a journalist. I was pretty well on my way for it, 'till the random literary meltdown a few years ago.
So I decided to list some projects I wanted to finish:
1. Dominus Caedere
2. Metamorphosis (Art project, really)
3. The book about spices (Short stories based on various spices, with an art piece to go with each)
4. Dreams (First project I ever started, traveling through to dream world, accompanied by art)
5. Kitchen Stadium Quartlet (About a race to become a 5-star restaurant split into 4 books)
6. 7 Wanderers (Novel, about 7 damned to wander for all eternity)
7. The Sacrifice (A quartlet about Cain and Abel)
8. Sad when you forget the title to your own story? About a failing journalist who heads into a highly messed up theatre and regains his sense of muse. (Comic)
9. Fine-tune some short stories (Particularly "Foxes"), possibly to send to a magazine
Some of these I can't finish here and now--no art supplies (or artist?), no scanner, or no notes (such as #8, which I created extensive notes for, at home, of course). I really want to scan in some of my Metamorphosis pieces. I'm deathly afraid of inking them. I still like the praying mantis one the best, I think. Of course only Misha knows what I'm talking about! Damn!
So I decided to list some projects I wanted to finish:
1. Dominus Caedere
2. Metamorphosis (Art project, really)
3. The book about spices (Short stories based on various spices, with an art piece to go with each)
4. Dreams (First project I ever started, traveling through to dream world, accompanied by art)
5. Kitchen Stadium Quartlet (About a race to become a 5-star restaurant split into 4 books)
6. 7 Wanderers (Novel, about 7 damned to wander for all eternity)
7. The Sacrifice (A quartlet about Cain and Abel)
8. Sad when you forget the title to your own story? About a failing journalist who heads into a highly messed up theatre and regains his sense of muse. (Comic)
9. Fine-tune some short stories (Particularly "Foxes"), possibly to send to a magazine
Some of these I can't finish here and now--no art supplies (or artist?), no scanner, or no notes (such as #8, which I created extensive notes for, at home, of course). I really want to scan in some of my Metamorphosis pieces. I'm deathly afraid of inking them. I still like the praying mantis one the best, I think. Of course only Misha knows what I'm talking about! Damn!
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Water!
Over Christmas/Winter break, my grandmother's house flooded (she's dead, but Misha and I stay there a lot, partly to keep care of it).
This is the First burst:
The Second one:
Same pipe, but it burst at both ends. About 50 years back, it had burst in the exact same place (but of course, different pipe). There's a thermostat that's behind the refrigerator, but NO ONE remembers that. We all use the two obvious ones, but everyone forgot to turn up the third, which lead to the burst. So it's sort of all our faults.
I WISH I took photos of the house when water was POURING down everywhere. The ceiling was sagging, due to waterlogging, the stairs were drenched and were like a waterfall, the kitchen was like a swamp, and the art studio was damp (the water stopped RIGHT at the studio, so no paintings were harmed).
It was uh... Fun. It all happened at about 4am and I had to call my dad over, who was relatively sleepy, to turn off the water. Misha and I went to bed by 7am while my aunt (who owns the house) and my dad called plumbers and insurance.
Thankfully, Misha and I were there, otherwise the insurance would not have covered the damage (about $50,000, or was it $500,000?).
(Oh, and this was a heating pipe.)
This is the First burst:
The Second one:
Same pipe, but it burst at both ends. About 50 years back, it had burst in the exact same place (but of course, different pipe). There's a thermostat that's behind the refrigerator, but NO ONE remembers that. We all use the two obvious ones, but everyone forgot to turn up the third, which lead to the burst. So it's sort of all our faults.
I WISH I took photos of the house when water was POURING down everywhere. The ceiling was sagging, due to waterlogging, the stairs were drenched and were like a waterfall, the kitchen was like a swamp, and the art studio was damp (the water stopped RIGHT at the studio, so no paintings were harmed).
It was uh... Fun. It all happened at about 4am and I had to call my dad over, who was relatively sleepy, to turn off the water. Misha and I went to bed by 7am while my aunt (who owns the house) and my dad called plumbers and insurance.
Thankfully, Misha and I were there, otherwise the insurance would not have covered the damage (about $50,000, or was it $500,000?).
(Oh, and this was a heating pipe.)
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
More Cooking
Edit: I did return Sadnra Lee's Really Bad Cookbook. The cashier made a big fuss about how terrible that book was and how glad she was that I returned it. (She then showed me some better cookbooks.) I still have yet to cook anything. How aggravating! As for the dragon puzzle, I never got it. Both clerks there are a little weird--the guy we talked to was obviously a little off, but when we went back, I think we had the pleasure of meeting his mother. She was HORRENDOUS. She asked a question, and I was unsure of the answer (couldn't remember the name of the puzzle), looked at Misha, and the clerk's response was to look over at the other clerk and say, loudly, 'Help these two who have no clue what they're talking about.' I can assure you that we have yet to come back to that store. (We relatively promptly left after that.)
I just went out to the Borders, at the Columbia mall, and bought the Bon Appetit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook and Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade Desserts 2. I ordered this dragon puzzle while I was there (different store, they were out-of-stock, it looked COOL), so I'll be returning there some time soon. The Bon Appetit series looks like a very good book. Nice layout, relatively typical, with some good hints, and a nice selection. I've been looking at recipes, trying to figure out what to make first. I'm thinking possibly an Indian feel. Naan, possibly cheese naan, chicken curry with dried apricots, and mango lessi. I'm thinking I might want to brine the chicken. It makes it nice and salty, and flavorful! It's wonderful for turkey, especially, which is very flavorLESS.
Sandra Lee's looks TERRIBLE. I didn't realize it was a SEMI-HOMEMADE cookbook, which pretty much means product placement and cheap recipes. Her recipes look VERY sugary (as she herself says that she learned to add more and more sugar to her cooking as a child) and, frankly, really bad. While I may be at college, I like GOOD food when I'm making it. If I'm to make it, as no matter what it'll be relatively expensive for me to make, then I want to be damn sure I'm going have a tasty snack. (If you look at the cover, yea, it looks a little bad, but when I looked at the recipes at a quick glance, they looked fine, just that she looked like a happy bimbo, and therefore ignore her.) Her recipes remind me of the super-death sugary sweet 50's cupcakes slathered in icing. I may just go and buy Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food: Food x Mixing + Heat = Baking. I KNOW it'd be wonderful and helpful (and scare Misha).
I just went out to the Borders, at the Columbia mall, and bought the Bon Appetit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook and Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade Desserts 2. I ordered this dragon puzzle while I was there (different store, they were out-of-stock, it looked COOL), so I'll be returning there some time soon. The Bon Appetit series looks like a very good book. Nice layout, relatively typical, with some good hints, and a nice selection. I've been looking at recipes, trying to figure out what to make first. I'm thinking possibly an Indian feel. Naan, possibly cheese naan, chicken curry with dried apricots, and mango lessi. I'm thinking I might want to brine the chicken. It makes it nice and salty, and flavorful! It's wonderful for turkey, especially, which is very flavorLESS.
Sandra Lee's looks TERRIBLE. I didn't realize it was a SEMI-HOMEMADE cookbook, which pretty much means product placement and cheap recipes. Her recipes look VERY sugary (as she herself says that she learned to add more and more sugar to her cooking as a child) and, frankly, really bad. While I may be at college, I like GOOD food when I'm making it. If I'm to make it, as no matter what it'll be relatively expensive for me to make, then I want to be damn sure I'm going have a tasty snack. (If you look at the cover, yea, it looks a little bad, but when I looked at the recipes at a quick glance, they looked fine, just that she looked like a happy bimbo, and therefore ignore her.) Her recipes remind me of the super-death sugary sweet 50's cupcakes slathered in icing. I may just go and buy Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food: Food x Mixing + Heat = Baking. I KNOW it'd be wonderful and helpful (and scare Misha).
Sunday, 1 February 2009
College vs Food
So, I've been reading several food blogs lately. My dearest Misha, my boyfriend, can attest to that. Perhaps on the verge of insanity (he actually probably thinks I'm just really bored and clicking on the internet, but he's wrong. I'm processing information. Computing. Like a Mentat.)
JUST before college started again (Jan 25th), I made heart-shaped red velvet whoopie pies. They were good. A little sweet (and this was a general consensus from Michael, my dad, and my own opinion) but they were cool looking. I was worried I was using too much red dye, but it turned out beautiful (I wanted them RED, not that faint pink that you sometimes find with red velvet. I want my red velvet RED).
So now I've been looking around and trying to stake out places to cook. I asked an RA, who has been known to be kind and helpful, and he pointed out the basement kitchen, which has an oven. Before I thought I was purely tied to just boring old stove-tops and never able to bake a cookie or cake until I got home (which when I reached there, not done anything at all, lol). This has spurred me to make a food blog. In which I take a hint from other food blogs and do a twice-a-week thing. Of course, I probably won't have the tools for that for a while. I first need to buy things... Like pots. And pans. Damn. (I've been mildly tempted to take cooking lessons at the Williams-Sonoma store in Annapolis.)
I may decide to do this. I may not. RIVETING.
JUST before college started again (Jan 25th), I made heart-shaped red velvet whoopie pies. They were good. A little sweet (and this was a general consensus from Michael, my dad, and my own opinion) but they were cool looking. I was worried I was using too much red dye, but it turned out beautiful (I wanted them RED, not that faint pink that you sometimes find with red velvet. I want my red velvet RED).
So now I've been looking around and trying to stake out places to cook. I asked an RA, who has been known to be kind and helpful, and he pointed out the basement kitchen, which has an oven. Before I thought I was purely tied to just boring old stove-tops and never able to bake a cookie or cake until I got home (which when I reached there, not done anything at all, lol). This has spurred me to make a food blog. In which I take a hint from other food blogs and do a twice-a-week thing. Of course, I probably won't have the tools for that for a while. I first need to buy things... Like pots. And pans. Damn. (I've been mildly tempted to take cooking lessons at the Williams-Sonoma store in Annapolis.)
I may decide to do this. I may not. RIVETING.
Sunday, 19 October 2008
Friday, 22 August 2008
B-Day and Fremen
So my birthday is on Aug 27th, but because I won't be with my family on that day, my dad and boyfriend went out for dinner on the 21st. It was pretty nice, really. At least until Michael and I got home and had to take some Pepto Bismol. Michael's never had lamb, and he said it wasn't on his top list. I had jambalaya, which wasn't too spicy, actually. We both have Southern tongues and use a lot of hot sauce. It's wasn't too bad (I like calamari, which was in the jambalaya). I was hoping it'd be a little spicier, a sort of birthday challenge of eating something a little hot, but having fun in a strange masochistic way. But it wasn't. Oh well! (There's another place I want to try that has Southern food.) I had my creme brulee also, which is delicious.
My dad's presents won't arrive in time, more than likely, to hand out before I go back to college. However, as soon as Michael got back from his house, he made me open my presents (not that I minded, really, it's just cute). He got me a set of the Dune series (and I don't count the BH-KJA collaborations), which is really nice, Shadow Hearts (the first one this time!) and another word search book (300 puzzles!!). Of course he had the nice presentation of a Borders bag. His mother gave me (wrapped in a LOT of tissue paper) four Izze pomegranate drinks and the Jurassic Park movie set. (She's a bit of an odd woman; like remembering about the Izze drinks... I drank them when I stayed there. I thought she was going to give me chocolates). Apparently we forgot to tell my aunt, but she has something for me too. I figure that Doug, Annie, and mum don't really have much, which is fine. It's sort of gotten so that we don't give each other birthday presents.
...
http://www.vampfangs.com/Dune-Sclera-Lenses-p/dnesclera.htm
Yea, I know the iris seems a little too dark, but I have seen a photo of someone else wearing these contact lenses and the entire lenses is this dark blue, sclera, iris, and pupil. I plan on being a Fremen for Otakon next year and will need to collaborate with Mikhail to actually design what the outfit looks like (as that boy knows a lot more about Dune than I do). I plan on having a working water system and tying my boots in the Fremen fashion. I will need a tailored suit (more than likely WILL have to wear the stillsuit in Fremen style, as authenticity is nice and I am obsessive about that) and a cloak (One of those Arabic styled ones; my dad has one but I don't like the color and it's too long for me, by a few inches or so). I will want to also have a crysknife, although I don't know how I shall obtain one (I've found a supplier of the Dune 2000 and Children of Dune for a crysknife, although I don't know if from them or what). Also I will need miscellaneous Fremen objects, which I will need to question Michael on; which would matter on WHEN I was a Fremen from.
My dad's presents won't arrive in time, more than likely, to hand out before I go back to college. However, as soon as Michael got back from his house, he made me open my presents (not that I minded, really, it's just cute). He got me a set of the Dune series (and I don't count the BH-KJA collaborations), which is really nice, Shadow Hearts (the first one this time!) and another word search book (300 puzzles!!). Of course he had the nice presentation of a Borders bag. His mother gave me (wrapped in a LOT of tissue paper) four Izze pomegranate drinks and the Jurassic Park movie set. (She's a bit of an odd woman; like remembering about the Izze drinks... I drank them when I stayed there. I thought she was going to give me chocolates). Apparently we forgot to tell my aunt, but she has something for me too. I figure that Doug, Annie, and mum don't really have much, which is fine. It's sort of gotten so that we don't give each other birthday presents.
...
http://www.vampfangs.com/Dune-Sclera-Le
Yea, I know the iris seems a little too dark, but I have seen a photo of someone else wearing these contact lenses and the entire lenses is this dark blue, sclera, iris, and pupil. I plan on being a Fremen for Otakon next year and will need to collaborate with Mikhail to actually design what the outfit looks like (as that boy knows a lot more about Dune than I do). I plan on having a working water system and tying my boots in the Fremen fashion. I will need a tailored suit (more than likely WILL have to wear the stillsuit in Fremen style, as authenticity is nice and I am obsessive about that) and a cloak (One of those Arabic styled ones; my dad has one but I don't like the color and it's too long for me, by a few inches or so). I will want to also have a crysknife, although I don't know how I shall obtain one (I've found a supplier of the Dune 2000 and Children of Dune for a crysknife, although I don't know if from them or what). Also I will need miscellaneous Fremen objects, which I will need to question Michael on; which would matter on WHEN I was a Fremen from.
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