Sarcasm and Baking
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RiceVermicelli's LiveJournal:
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| Thursday, July 9th, 2009 | | 3:53 pm |
That Second List
Lace knitting: I dug Juno Regina out of hibernation yesterday, found and corrected the extra stitch that had cropped up, and got through one and a half lace repeats. Two lace repeats to go! Then a lot of fairly plain knitting (nearly 3 feet of it) before I get all lacy again for the other end. I'm very pleased. Farmers' market: I went to the farmers' market at Lower Mills, which was small but very nice. Came away with fresh bread, pie, corn salad for lunch, and a conviction that if I can't find cheaper tomatoes, there's no point at all to canning tomato sauce. I mean, yes, my sauce is better, but if tomatoes continue to go for $3.75 a pound (highway robbery), it's just a summer only thing. However, it's not really high season for tomatoes yet, and it's still possible the prices will fall to something more reasonably in the $1-1.50 a lb. range where home canning isn't just an expensive way to get hot and tired. The farmers' market also had vendors selling organic meat (beef and pork) and fresh lobster, and I am suddenly tempted to find something to do with one of those things. This is ridiculous as (a) I am the only person in my house who eats beef, and (b) I don't even like lobster all that much. But the ingredients are there and the quality is good... I also got a guide to agricultural fairs in MA. I may have to bring Danger Lad! to one this fall and fix the fact that he's never seen a cow up close. Sand toys: Acquired at grocery store and stashed in back of car, to be revealed at the beach. Yay. | | 9:15 am |
Sometime yesterday, or maybe late the day before, I suddenly stopped being afraid of FAR. I don't know what will happen, but it will be okay. I'll get through it. The problem is that my motivation to study vanished along with my fear. Now I'm left contemplating the testing fees for motivation. It's less effective. Things I still need to study: Non-profit and government accounting (what are the darn financial statements called again?) Non-monetary exchanges Accounting for stock options Hedges (just a little) Dollar value LIFO Things I prefer to think about: Lace knitting Farmers' markets The acquisition of a pail and spade to bring to the beach with Danger Lad! this weekend. | | Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 | | 1:46 pm |
Nice to Hear
Today's midwife appointment was kind of fantastic. The midwife is planning to run the same marathon as ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) danceboy in October (so honey, if I do go into labor while you're racing, track her down and bring her with you). Everything medical checked out fine. She still wants the Level II ultrasound at 30 weeks, but says that if I'm not bleeding, it's probably not a complete previa, go ahead and get attached to the hippy crunchy birth plan. And they gave me a bottle of prescription strength orange soda to drink before the next time I come in. | | Monday, July 6th, 2009 | | 10:10 pm |
I have had my eye on this turtle for years. It's cute, and my existing kid stole my teddy bear, and the new bean will need a lovey sometime, so I took a look for the pattern on Ravelry. Loads of people have knitted Sheldon. They have knitted pirate costumes for Sheldon. Also, superhero, cowboy and policeman costumes. And bat costumes. And bumblebees. They have made baby blankets with special pockets in them to hold Sheldon. It's enough to give one a mild case of the vapors, really it is. I'm so delighted I can't hardly stand looking. (I will not recreate The Village People in knitted toy turtles until I have passed FAR.) | | 1:19 pm |
I just took a practice exam, and oh ye gods and little fishes people, if I weren't knocked up, I would be drinking. I can't bear to review the multiple choice questions to find out what I got wrong (lots). There's still time! I tell myself. But mostly, I think it's time for lunch. | | Sunday, July 5th, 2009 | | 1:00 pm |
Questions
Do any of you fine people know anything about making and canning your own tomato sauce? I have recently discovered that, when I make my own tomato sauce, I like the results a heck of a lot better than I like the results of buying tomato sauce. When I am done making tomato sauce, I am willing to eat the results, whereas a jar of store-bought sauce requires extensive doctoring before I am willing to consume it. If I could lay hands on ten to fifteen pounds of tomatoes, I am fairly confident that I could process them into sauce I could then put in Bell jars and keep handy, resulting in a net savings of aggravation and cooking time. However, the only thing I have ever canned in my life is five pints of raspberry jam, and I'm not convinced that things work exactly the same with tomatoes and raspberries. The cooking process is certainly very different. The key questions I have right now are: 1. Peeling tomatoes. The quickest way to peel a single tomato is to stick it on a toasting fork and rotate it over a flame until the skin cracks and peels and the tomato screams for mercy. Then let it cool, and rip the skin off. This seems cumbersome for large quantities. Could similar results be achieved by sticking a bunch of tomatoes on a baking sheet under the broiler for 3-5 minutes, then flipping them over and putting them back for another 3-5? Or is there a better way to go about this? 2. Canning itself. What precautions should be taken in preparation, and what should be done to the jars to ensure complete seals and reasonably safe results? (Sidebar: The tomato sauce I have made thus far is the pizza margherita sauce from The Bread Bible. The pizza was ambrosial. We doubled the recipe, and made two ~9 inch pizzas margherita, with bell peppers. We tripled the recommended garlic, since we like the stuff and we weren't planning to kiss anyone we hadn't eaten with. I highly recommend letting the dough sit in the fridge for 36 hours or so before cooking.) | | Friday, July 3rd, 2009 | | 10:20 pm |
The Answer to Your Question Is November 9th
My younger sister has selected bridesmaids' dresses. In early January, I will be standing up in an aubergine, a-line, strapless, corset-backed dress, which must, due to the vagaries of manufacturing, be ordered at least three months in advance. You may as well all begin laughing now. The alterations should be interesting. I welcome advice on foundation garments. I told danceboy that he can sign up for the Bay State Marathon (October 18th), but I cannot promise that he will actually be able to run it. Should I have to call up a race official to get my husband pulled off the course because I am in labor, by god, I am going to blog it. I may have to blog it even if it doesn't happen. | | Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 | | 2:13 pm |
| | 9:44 am |
We had a doctor's appointment at Children's Hospital yesterday. Someone, or a committee of someones struggling under a fierce misapprehension, has gone out of their way to make the lobby look and feel as much like an extension of the Children's Museum as possible. Which is a problem, actually, because while we're on our way up to radiology, we don't necessarily have time to watch the funky Rube Goldberg sculpture do its thing, or to play in the fountain. (The boy currently has three speeds, as described by his godfather: Carry Me!, Hurry!, and Science! Science! is like a dead stop, but messier.) When we were left alone in a room with a computer, he asked if we could watch helicopters. "No helicopters," I said. "Sorry." So he asked instead for kitties. | | Monday, June 29th, 2009 | | 10:42 am |
Shiva Rea Kicks My Ass
Today is the day that I listen to my last Becker lecture ever. Presuming that I ever manage to get started. It's raining, the kind of rain that means I am unlikely to make it out for a walk of any meaningful length, so I dug out Shiva Rea's yoga DVD. If I am going to do yoga, which I don't much care for, I might as well at least have a hot girl to look at. And large portions of the DVD were filmed on a beach. I cannot keep up with Shiva Rea, not no way no how. I stuck with the beginner flow, skipped the backbends, and ended panting. I took a shower. I have made myself the most elaborate salad possible without leaving the house. ( danceboy: I am getting us a gosh darn salad spinner. I don't know why I didn't crack and do it ages ago. I am really tired of wet lettuce.) I have a cup of apricot tea. The lectures are about four hours, all told. But they are the very last ones. | | Friday, June 26th, 2009 | | 3:02 pm |
Oh I just can't. I have one twenty minute lecture section left and then I'll be finished with chapter 8, but I can't, I just can't. I'm sleepy and bored and grumpy and I've already had lunch and taken a walk and my belly hurts and I haven't absorbed a word anytime in the last twenty-four hours screw it I am taking a nap. | | Thursday, June 25th, 2009 | | 10:23 am |
| | 8:23 am |
Lunch?
I need sanity, and some things from Harvard Square. Anyone want to meet me for lunch? Pho Pasteur changed its name, but not its menu - I have cravings. | | Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 | | 3:03 pm |
Termination of Services
(This is likely to make sense to maybe one person, but it needs to be said anyway.) Dear Peter Olinto, This is to inform you that your services as social director of my life are no longer required. Indeed, they never were required. I find no record of requesting your assistance in these matters, so I am mystified by your continued suggestions for my Friday and Saturday nights. Please shut up now. Kthxbye. RiceVermicelli | | Monday, June 22nd, 2009 | | 9:22 pm |
Observed
The whole "Have juice, Mouse! Have juice, Robot!" thing is not as cute as it might be when the mouse and the robot are on your shirt and the sippy cup leaks. | | 8:34 am |
ISO
Wanted: Mortal remains, one (1) fieldmouse. Gray. Last seen under attack by two black kittens. Obviously, I need to clean the kitchen, I'd just really like to find the puir beastie before I run the vacuum cleaner over it. | | Friday, June 19th, 2009 | | 9:08 am |
Grumble
One of the jobs I sent my resume off to from Craigslist turns out to be a scam. As in scam scammity scam. They put out an ad for a part-time accountant, and it turns out they want someone to process on-line payments for Swiss watches and forward them to off-shore accounts. They ask for a host of personal info "so we can get started." Suck. | | Thursday, June 18th, 2009 | | 9:07 am |
Danger Lad! had the loveliest of times with his cousins yesterday. There was running and jumping and shrieking, so I assume a good time was had. As a result of all this fun, he woke up tired this morning, and decided to experiment with snuggles as a way to avoid getting dressed. Good strategy. I'm a sucker for snuggles. So I got hugs, and kisses, and taught the boy to rub noses, and it took approximately a year and a half to get his trousers onto him. Sorta like a lot of guys I've dated, actually, although much more G-rated. | | Monday, June 15th, 2009 | | 8:09 pm |
The bean has been doing barrel rolls all day. In general, I don't feel much kicking (because the placenta is firmly anterior), but barrel rolls feel really odd - parts of my belly get rock hard, and then go soft as the baby flips underneath them. These acrobatics are puncturing my mental image of what this baby is doing all day. I have been studying a lot, and I imagine the fetus studying too, reading the books that fetii read ( Physics Problems for the Very Young, Empiricism: Investigational Techniques for Sceptics, Getting to No: Early Language and Negotiation Skills). Instead, it appears that the baby is obsessed with somersaults. | | 12:56 pm |
Reporting In
Today, I am on something of a cooking binge. You know that thing where you don't want to ever have to cook again, and you believe if you can just cook a ton one day, you won't have to? It tends to come crashing down some time 'long about day four, but it's pretty good for the intervening time. I have made cookies. I have done the necessary prep cheffing for enough roast chicken to generate leftovers. (And, by the way, the cats known as Don Lockwood and Jean Hagan would like me to know that they are starving. Starrrrrviiiing. Because no one has fed them ever. But they eat giblets. They want me to know.) I made buttermilk dressing, and mixed it up in a salad with some of the leftover, rather-too-emphatically spiced chicken tikka, and it's a great salad. (In fact, it is a salad for which I believe I have been charged seven bucks downtown. And hey, danceboy! I'm using the buttermilk!) Tomorrow, I am planning to be at Diesel. I am also planning to call recruiters, study, and file my tax returns. On Wednesday, in commemoration of a battle that wasn't fought on a hill which no longer exists, my daycare is closed. Danger Lad! and I are going to the middle of nowhere to spend the day with Danger Lad!'s cousins, and with graceo. I plan to neither call recruiters, nor study. I have seven more minutes of lecture to get through, and then I have to answer a metric fuckton of multiple choice questions. ("Fuckton" is a technical term.) And I should probably do some simulations, because it's been several chapters since I did. |
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