User:	sams_cafe
Date:	2009-11-29 13:05
Subject:
Security:	Public

I went over to R's yesterday afternoon, to hang out and watch the Notre Dame-Stanford game and eat lots of takeaway. We had a good time, but if there were any especially quotable moments I've forgotten them. We also watched a film called Kandahar, about an Afghani journalist returning to Afghanistan after years of absence to try and find her sister, who sent her a letter saying she would kill herself during the next solar eclipse. The journalist has three days to get from the Iranian border to Kandahar to save her sister, traveling incognito under a burka.

R fell asleep about halfway through and I finally gave up when the significant pauses between characters and the incredibly repetitive dialogue got to be too much for me. He texted me this morning to ask if I survived it and I told him no. Apparently you never get to see if the journalist makes it to Kandahar to save her sister. On the one hand I get it: the journey, the experience of Afghanistan under the Taliban, is the important message. On the other hand, seriously, that was a really boring film with no apparent climax or denoument. I'm positive there are better ways to document the cultural wealth and material poverty of Afghanistan.

ANYWAY. This post is just to say that I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth.

I will admit that the peanut-butter-and-apple pie tastes better the day after it was cooked; apparently it really needs to be served cold.

I have to go back to work tomorrow. I like my job and all, but I really like staying in and watching movies while eating mediocre pie, too.

	User:	annathepiper
	Date:	2009-11-28 16:10
	Subject:	Songs about horses falling through ice!
	Security:	Public

solarbird asked me if I had the chords to two of the ditties off the mighty GBS album The Hard and the Easy: “Tickle Cove Pond” and “Concerning Charlie Horse”. I’d pulled “Tickle Cove Pond” off the OKP at one point but did not have chords for “Charlie Horse”, and so I’ve spent a chunk of my afternoon with my guitar, working those out!

“Charlie Horse” is a fun ditty in no small part because it changes keys, which is unusual for a Great Big Sea song. So in order to accommodate the key change and the key they recorded it in, I had to figure out what would work best for chord transcription. This led me to do two sets of chords, a set with the capo on 3 and modulating from D to E in the chords, and a set with the capo on 5 to modulate from C to D. Persons way more comfortable with the key of F than I am could go completely capo-free, since the ultimate goal here is to get from F to G.

Anyway, here are some chords! Enjoy!

Tickle Cove Pond

Charlie Horse Capo 3

Charlie Horse Capo 5

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.

	User:	ponderosa121
	Date:	2009-11-26 21:51
	Subject:	oh hell yes, I have a Snuggie
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	touched

We went down to Salinas to J's sister's new place, and holy crap is it huge. It's got a nifty layout, and infinitely more space than their old house. We hadn't seen Natalie since before she was walking so it took a while for her to stop giving J and I the suspicious eye, but by the end of the night it was lots of carry-me arms, and where Sophie is usually all about her Uncle J, somehow this time I ended up with her hanging on me more often than not. I suspect it was that I was wearing a pink shirt so that boosted my coolness rating. It's interesting to see the ways her personality has changed now that she's a big sister. Sometimes I wish we lived a bit closer in order to visit more often.

Anyway, we hung out, ate food, played with dolls, tried to devise a plan to steal their adorable pug, and at the end of the evening I got the bonus of belated b-day gifts. See subject. I have also increased my fuzzy scarf collection by one, so I should probably put out some of the ones I don't wear often out onto the curb.

The drive was nice, and J and I talked a lot about the ways in which we'd like to focus on our projects for school and general creative things. I'm back to having a solid idea of where to go with my current assignments so I'm feeling very rejuvenated about them. Which is good, as I need to be doubly-focused this weekend, since I didn't actually get any extra days off, and the lab is closed tomorrow which is typically my dedicated time to go in and work all day on my homework!

	User:	annathepiper
	Date:	2009-11-26 23:07
	Subject:	New and unusual guest at Turkey Day tonight
	Security:	Public

So we’re having us a lovely Turkey Day at the Murkworks tonight, and among other folks, we’ve got ypawtows, dpawtows, and epawtows as guests. They brought an extra friend this year, though. And Fred is NOT AMUSED!

Fred Vs. Robot

There’ll also be video of both cats reacting to the robot as soon as I can figure out how to post it!

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.

User:	sams_cafe
Date:	2009-11-26 17:06
Subject:
Security:	Public

New season of QI starts tonight! Stephen Fry's looking fit, isn't he? Well done him.

I didn't make pie today, the turkey kind of wore me down, but I was a CLEVER LAD and bought a pint of ice cream when I last bought groceries, then HID IT behind something in the freezer. And just rediscovered it, so. QUITE INTERESTING AND ICE CREAM.

And then I will sleep forever.

User:	sams_cafe
Date:	2009-11-26 14:30
Subject:
Security:	Public

THAT



WAS AMAZING.

OH YES IT WAS.



You can see a couple of things -- one, NOTHING ON THE PLATE IS TOUCHING. Mock me not, I was a picky child.

Two, the herb rub is a little visible on the done turkey and definitely visible on the plated turkey. It's delicious -- like a light relish. It does make the skin more moist, though, so you don't get that lovely crackly skin.

Three, the fried stuffing was awesome -- I definitely recommend adding walnuts -- but I need a fryer basket, as one of those is visibly mangled. Still ate well.

Thee A, well, there's no sauce for the turkey. I didn't think to make gravy and if it had come out dry I would have just put a bit of bbq sauce on it, but it was so moist it totally didn't need any. It just about fell apart in my fingers, very much like properly smoked turkey will. I didn't even bother with cutlery. Because FOOD GOOD.

On the other hand, I cooked an eight pound bird and now have seven and a half pounds remaining. I've stripped off what I could -- I'm waiting for it to cool before stripping the rest -- but seriously I'm going to be eating turkey for the rest of my life.

Or until R gets back on Sunday.

I DECLARE MYSELF KING OF THANKSGIVING.

User:	sams_cafe
Date:	2009-11-26 12:14
Subject:
Security:	Public

The turkey is in the oven!

I have thoroughly violated it. I washed it in cold water, rubbed herb paste under its skin, shoved apples and onions up its arse, laid it out on a rack, and oiled it all over before pushing a probe thermometer into its breast.



This is either going to be awesome or totally inedible. If the latter, well, it was art while it lasted, and I have the delivery number of an open-on-Thanksgiving sushi place.

( Aromatics and Herb Rub )

User:	sams_cafe
Date:	2009-11-26 10:51
Subject:
Security:	Public

I had potato oyaki for breakfast! Which...I did not photograph, first my hands were starchy and then I was too busy eating them. It's a bit like eating a hand-held shepherd's pie.

I got the original recipe here, but I rewrote it slightly as I do most of my recipes and I want it archived here anyway.

( Potato Oyaki )

User:	sams_cafe
Date:	2009-11-26 08:54
Subject:
Security:	Public

On this day, citizens of the United States gather to give thanks for turkey, for the Blues, for the sanity to stay home on Black Friday, and for our foreign neighbours, who peer curiously and a little indulgently at us from across the borders. Today I'm making Tarte aux pommes et beurre de cacahuète à la Chicago, though I'm only calling it that to tease la_rainette, who objected strongly to French and Peanut Butter ever mixing. :D

I am still thankful, but I am also thankful for a job I like, a boss I like who likes me, my beloved Bigger On The Inside flat, a gas cooking range, an electric blanket that works, public transit, my family, my family being several states away, and this FIVE DAY WEEKEND OH YEAH.

In the way of attempting to cause a Thanksgiving Miracle: violetisblue contacted me yesterday (sorry this post is late, Violet!) about adopting an ITTY BITTY TORTIE KITTY. I'm not financially in the position to adopt a cat right now, plus R's allergic, so I thought I'd put out a call on the cafe.

Is there anyone in the Chicago or Northern Indiana area who is looking for a cat? She's two years old, spayed, feline leukemia negative, all her shots, no behavioural problems. Her foster mum says the shelters in their area are full and she can't keep her because her own cat has problems; she's willing to deliver her to someone who's reasonably local to the area. If you're interested, get in touch with her at violetaugustine at gmail.com. Suggestions for no-kill shelters that will take cats from across county lines are also appreciated.

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

	User:	annathepiper
	Date:	2009-11-25 23:04
	Subject:	Sorry, Nanowrimo, just not happening this year!
	Security:	Public

For the record: it’s pretty clear to me at this point that I’m not hitting that 50K, especially after not having written a word since this past Friday! A good chunk of the cause for this is of course because I scampered off to see my favorite band perform this past Saturday, and that blew any chance of getting any work done right out of my head! And for various reasons, I haven’t written anything since, either.

Tomorrow is of course American Thanksgiving, so it’s highly doubtful I’ll get anything done tomorrow, either. I shall see about resuming work on Bone Walker over the weekend, though, once we get past Turkey Day. I’m about to the point anyway where I need to take a step back and update the outline, and figure out how what I’ve written so far will affect the next several chapters.

Those of you still plugging away at Nanowrimo, good luck to you! Those of you who’ve crossed the finish line, congrats! And to all of you celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, may your companionship be fine and your dinner tasty, whatever that dinner may be!

Mirrored from angelakorrati.com.

User:	sams_cafe
Date:	2009-11-25 21:48
Subject:
Security:	Public

It's remarkably hard to mash potatoes without a potato masher. I keep flashing back to the Potato Ricer scene in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "How can you not have a potato ricer? What IS a potato ricer?" "We will just use a fork, like the pilgrims did."

Anyway, the turkey is brining (the brine is very green. I worry this is going to be a repeat of the curry-marinated Neon Chicken incident) and the stuffing is chilling in balls, waiting to be fried on the morrow. The oyaki dough is cooling in a tupperware on the counter. R is safely off to play Blues all night and then drive home for Thanksgiving at 3 in the morning. I have Hot Fuzz and To Catch A Thief and The Thomas Crown Affair (the original AND the remake) on DVD.

LET THE GIVING OF THANKS AND VIEWING OF COPS AND ROBBERS FLICKS BE FORETOLD.

As florahart reminded me, of the many things I am thankful for this year, health insurance is very near the top of the list. If I could, I would put you all on my plan.

User:	sams_cafe
Date:	2009-11-25 20:46
Subject:
Security:	Public

R came over tonight. It was a very literary night!

R: So, I'm doing gigs with [That girl who once bought us hamburgers] in Boys Town like, last week and two weeks in December.
Sam: Are you becoming a star?
R: Yesterday I was walking down Belmont and two guys stopped me and said they loved seeing me play.
Sam: You're the toast of the gayborhood.
R: You know who loves me? Gay guys and bluesmen.
Sam: Catchy title for a book.

[one pizza later]

R: If I had five hundred dollars I would throw a HUGE party. We'd have a DJ. And gumbo. I'd get a soupiere to come in.
Sam: A soupiere?
R: Like a soup chef.
Sam: Seriously?
R: It's gumbo, man. I have to take it seriously.
Sam: With soupieres.
R: Yeah. For bisques and such. Hey, that's a catchy title. You gotta write a book called Bisques And Such.

So apparently I'm writing a book called Bisques And Such.

I suspect lobstermen will be involved.

I'm pretty sure soupiere is not a word for a soup chef. But only pretty sure.

	User:	annathepiper
	Date:	2009-11-25 15:04
	Subject:	Faerie Blood once again super-cheap on Fictionwise
	Security:	Public

I’d be remiss if I didn’t invite you folks to pop over to Fictionwise and partake of their shiny Black Friday sale, going on all week, in which all MultiFormat books are 45% off and all Secure format books get you a 45% Micropay rebate. This means, ladies and gentlemen, that until Friday you can score a copy of Faerie Blood for $3.82 if you’re not a member of the BuyWise club, and $3.25 if you are!

And of course all other Drollerie works in the Fictionwise database are included in this same sale, so this would be a lovely time to get not only my book but choice selections by my fellow Drollerie authors as well. Our latest releases, including the Defiance anthology, aren’t up there yet–but you can score a bunch of our earlier stuff. Go check it out, folks!

Mirrored from angelakorrati.com.

User:	sams_cafe
Date:	2009-11-25 13:17
Subject:
Security:	Public

It might look like a bowl of pond algae to you...



...but to me it's a delicious brine for tomorrow's turkey!

For an 8-pound bird (multiply as appropriate, but my bird's 8 pounds):

8 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon black peppercorns
3/4 teaspoons allspice berries
3/4 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
(For those last two, I substituted a little powdered ginger and a few cloves)
8 cups heavily iced water

Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

To brine the bird, combine the cooled brine and ice water and place the thawed bird in the brine. Soak overnight o for at least 6 hours in a cool place. Rinse, pat dry, and rub with oil before roasting.

(I am also putting an herb rub on the turkey, under the skin, the recipe for which I will post when I make it :D).

User:	sams_cafe
Date:	2009-11-25 09:22
Subject:
Security:	Public

The starting pistol for the COOKING MARATHON has been fired. First out of the gate is: HOT CHOCOLATE ON A STICK.



Original recipe here, but it's very talky, so I condensed it:

Hot Chocolate On A Stick
8 oz. chocolate, preferably high cocoa-fat, like 70%. I didn't have that, so I tempered chocolate chips with a lot of butter.
1/4 cup cocoa (not hot cocoa mix, but baking cocoa, the powdered kind)
1/2 cup confectioner’s/powdered/icing sugar
pinch of salt

Melt chocolate over a double boiler (tempering if necessary). I never bother using a double boiler, I just melt the butter in the pan, turn off the heat, stir in the chocolate, and if necessary use low heat to get it fully melted.

Add cocoa, sugar, and salt and continue to stir until combined. It should be the texture of frosting. Pour chocolate into a ziplock bag and clip off the corner. Pipe the chocolate into your chocolate mold. In my case, it's an AWESOME IKEA ICE TRAY. Add a stir stick, which should stay upright with no trouble (I did some of mine tilty just for laughs). Place in fridge to firm up.

To use, heat milk or cream in a saucepan, pour into cups, and place one stir-stick in each cup. Stir until melted. OM NOM.

	User:	annathepiper
	Date:	2009-11-23 15:04
	Subject:	Great Big Sea in Bremerton, WA, 11/21/09
	Security:	Public

This past Saturday was my second Great Big Sea show of the year, and stands out for being the first time I’ve ever seen them in the Admiral Theater in Bremerton–which is very possibly the most aptly decorated theater for a GBS show it’s ever been my pleasure to visit. And since this was in Bremerton, mamishka, technoshaman, jennygriffee and I actually went over and back on the ferry, which was kind of fun!

Picoreview of the show itself: the crowd was fairly heavily laced with GBS regulars, but there was also a big presence of older folks who were clearly not part of the fanbase. The B’ys were in high spirits, though, and highlights of the show include Séan discovering Cosmos, two brand new songs, a rendition of “Gallows Pole” that knocked me nearly dead, and “Old Brown’s Daughter” coming back to finish me off.

Let’s do this thing then!

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.

User:	sams_cafe
Date:	2009-11-24 20:02
Subject:
Security:	Public

Sam's Really Only Three Things About NCIS!

Spoilers for 7.09, ( Child's Play )

3a. Much as I love NCIS, I couldn't even come up with a 3a. It was just...there. A perfectly good episode but not especially entrancing this time round. Eh, we all have off-days. Last year's Christmas episode was genius, though, so I'm sure they'll pick up again.

User:	sams_cafe
Date:	2009-11-24 09:48
Subject:
Security:	Public

Last day of work before a five-day weekend for me. HOORAY!

juniper200 linked me to a New York Times article this morning about finding help for mental/emotional issues when you don't have health insurance. It's a difficult subject, mental illness, and the article makes what might be considered some mild mis-steps, if only in perception, but overall it's useful. (I loled a little at "seek out the child psychologist at your child's school". I'm guessing this person has not sent a child to public school in quite a while.)

For those who are lucky enough to have insurance, you can also check out this article on getting treatment and the Mental Health Parity Act.

Anyway, it reminded me of some links I wanted to share from the last HR mailing that I got (the same one that recommended the webinars and caused the webinar plague of Canada).

One Day One Job: A blog about entry-level jobsearching for college grads.
Careers in Nonprofits: Because nonprofits are awesome!
Alltop: Everything ever about careers.
Vistaprint: offering free business cards, though you pay postage and they try to sell you everything else in creation while you're ordering. Still, the designs are neat. I got a set that proclaim me to be "Research, Administration, and Design" :D

How did the job fair go, anyway? Anyone get any bites from it?

User:	sams_cafe
Date:	2009-11-23 15:04
Subject:
Security:	Public

I have very few kinks, compared to most of fandom, but I will admit this: I have a thing for drunken sex. I don't know why. Not nonconsensual sex, eurgh, and it has to be a very specific type of drunk!sex, but when it's done right I am all over it.

AND THEN FOXY WROTE ME SOME. For me! So I'm recc'ing it. I'm recc'ing it hard. :D (Also I beta'd it, and it's a rule!)

Title: Pub Fiction
Rating: R
Summary: Jack makes sure Ianto gets home. Because he just can't drive in that state.

There's a cabdriver named Fozzie in it. Go on, you know you want to.

	User:	annathepiper
	Date:	2009-11-22 23:43
	Subject:	Yet another book roundup post!
	Security:	Public

Yes, folks, it’s time for another book roundup! Titles recently purchased by me include:

Print books: Lilith’s Brood, by Octavia Butler. SF. Because I had me a 20 percent off coupon from B&N, and I have a sad relative lack of Butler in my library, and this is a nice big volume of three of her novels.

E-books (a whole mess of ‘em, a good number of which were because Fictionwise did an indie publisher sale and I wanted a bunch of Juno’s harder to find books):

• Written on Your Skin, by Meredith Duran. Romance. Because of a post by sarahtales over here that referenced this book, and which made me LOL.
• Black Hills, by Nora Roberts. Romance. Because apparently I just don’t own enough of this woman’s books yet.
• Soulless, by Gail Carriger. Fantasy. Because I’ve heard all sorts of good things about this one.
• Nights of Sin and Blood Magic by Matthew Cook. Fantasy.
• A Mortal Glamour, by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. Fantasy/Horror.
• Beyond the Hedge, by Roby James. Fantasy.
• Wind Follower, by Carole McDonnell. Fantasy.
• Riversend, by Sylvia Kelso. Fantasy.
• Jade Tiger, by Jenn Reese. Fantasy. (This one’s actually a re-buy of a print book copy I sold to Third Place. Liked it well enough that I wanted to keep an e-copy around.)
• New Tricks, by John Levitt. Urban fantasy. (Another re-buy of a print book in e-form.)
• Gordath Wood, by Patrice Sarath. Fantasy. (Another re-buy in e-form.)
• The Drowning City, by Amanda Downum. Fantasy. Because I’ve heard good things about this one too.
• Apricot Brandy, by Lynn Cesar. Fantasy.
• House of Whispers, by Margaret Lucke. Fantasy.
• Wraith, by Phaedra Weldon. Urban fantasy. Re-buy in e-form.
• Spectre, by Phaedra Weldon. Urban fantasy. Re-buy, not read yet, trading off for e-copy.
• Once a Wolf, by Susan Krinard. Romance, but a historical paranormal involving werewolves. Saw it linked in off the Fictionwise homepage and thought it sounded fun. ;)
• Shadow’s End and Grass by Sheri S. Tepper. SF. Mostly because I wanted to check her out, and Grass got recommended to me ages ago.

This brings me up to a grand total of 159 books purchased this year. I hope I just paid a few more publishing industry employees’ salaries!

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.