the girly who shall end all girls

Made this fajita traybake for dinner tonight. Only change we made was to use panca (the spicy kind) instead of chipotle paste because it’s what they had at El Mercado. Very easy, surprised at how well the sweet potatoes work, will make again. Would be easy to skip the chicken.

picked this up on Tumblr, where I think you're supposed to have people pick the questions but meh. I like this list better than the classic questionnaire I've used before

End of the year Asks

1. Song of the year? I Don’t Wanna Dance with Nobody by Sub-Radio
2. Album of the year? I don’t think I listened to a full album that was new-to-me this year. I feel like singles are bigger than ever, and between that and my not being particularly connected to drivers of new music (other than Spotify) I just don’t discover or listen to albums end-to-end.
3. Favorite musical artist / group you started listening to this year? I think I technically discovered Sub-Radio last year, so it would have to be Kishi Bashi. I went to his film Omoiyari at SIFF Docs Fest, kind of on a whim, and it was quite good.
4. Movie of the year? Recency bias, but god damn Godzilla Minus One is amazing. Crying at a monster movie over a dude with PTSD was definitely not on my bingo card for 2023.
5. TV show of the year? Oof. There were all the queer love stories - Our Flag Means Death, Good Omens, Interview with the Vampire. The one-two punch of Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks (and the crossover!). There was my indoctrination into dropout.tv. I think, in spite of being uneven overall (no, the musical episode wasn’t good) it would have to be Strange New Worlds.
6. Episode of tv or webisode that defined the year for you? Probably the one that’s been quoted constantly in my house since it first aired: Lower Decks “I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee”. Moopsy!
7. Favorite actor of the year? While not technically a 2023 joint, I watched it in 2023 - Eric Bogosian in Interview with the Vampire was a favorite performance.
8. Game of the year? Jedi Survivor. It’s always good to be a Jedi, and the storytelling in this one was top-notch.
9. Best month for you this year? This year was complicated. It might have been January, when I went to Disneyland with mimerki.
10. Something that made you cry this year? Well, my best friend died and that generated a lot of tears both before and after. My runner-up for “movie of the year” is Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. I encourage folks to watch it, it’s sweet and funny. But if you have seen it: I saw it after mimerki had started palliative care, and the end absolutely wrecked me. (I do not recommend ugly crying in an n95 mask, it gets hard to breathe.) And she died the next day, so yeah
11. Something you want to do again next year? If I can find the time and money, I’d love to do a quick trip to Disneyland and get C to Galaxy’s Edge. It’s really not hard to do from here and I love how walkable it is inside and out.
12. Talk about a new friend you made this year Not something I managed: first I was being very covid-cautious, then I was very sad (and busy), then I was just busy.
13. How was your birthday this year? Dismal. I had covid and lost my sense of taste for a couple weeks.
14. Favorite book you read this year? The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard. On the one hand, it’s a fantasy novel about implementing UBI, and burnout, and friendship. It’s also about someone who leaves home and is successful in ways that aren’t meaningful to their family of origin. (While I think it could have used a ruthless edit, I also think that might have stripped out most of what is good about it. It’s just a long warm bath of a book.)
15. What’s a bad habit you picked up this year? Buying coffee and a pastry way too often (because neither of us could manage to consistently plan for breakfast).
16. Post a picture from the beginning of the year [the Millennium Falcon in a spaceport setting with rock spires in the background]
17. Post a picture from the end of the year
    [the view from Kerry Park in Seattle, featuring the Space Needle and Mt Rainier]
18. A memorable meal this year? Our anniversary was a significant one and we kind of forgot about it, then managed to snag a last-minute reservation at The Herbfarm a few days after. They were absolutely brilliant with C’s dietary needs. It’s totally worth the money.
19. What’re you excited about for next year? I remembered our anniversary earlier this time, and we finally snagged a reservation for a cabin at a resort on the Pacific Coast that’s well-known for being dog friendly. Looking forward to walking the beach and/or watching the waves roll in by the fire.
20. What’s something you learned this year? When you die in the US, you become a business for tax purposes. The SSN is retired, and the estate gets an EIN just like a business.
21. What’s something new about your place of residence (room, home, or general location) now vs the start of the year? My whole place of residence is new! I am sitting in front of my fireplace right now, looking at the lights of the cityscape out my window. It’s awesome
22. Favorite place you visited this year? Galaxy’s Edge. If you love Star Wars, it's a delight. (yes, I really liked Disneyland)
23. If you could send a message to yourself back on the first day of the year, what would it be? You always feel better after you get some exercise, don’t skip it.
24. Did you keep any New Year’s Resolutions? I don’t think I made any
25. Did you create any characters (in games, art, or writing) this year? Describe one Currently playing Worlds Without Number with the Friday group. Our party is all from a somewhat isolated coastal island and we’re slowly exploring the wider world. I rolled randomly for pretty much everything and then crafted a character based on the stats. So he’s Buck, the butcher’s apprentice; he’s strong and kind but not very bright. I found a picture of a rugby player that I really like for him - square-headed and plain with a great smile.

five questions returns! request five from me in comments and you shall receive!

from sara:

1. Is there anything you've done to your living space in the last while that you found particularly pleasing?
in the late 90s our favorite local bookstore was a dealer for Windstone Editions, and we are a certain kind of nerds so we own several dragon and gargoyle functional pieces - bookends, candle holders, a pair of sconces. the sconces have been gathering dustsitting on a bookshelf since we moved into this apartment. as part of welcoming in-person gamers back into our home we moved some bookcases around and finally mounted the sconces on either side of the door into our bedroom and put little LED candles into them. i think we waited to put them up because we thought they were too heavy for command strips (rental rules) but they are not. i love them.

2. Do you have any morning (or waking-up-time) routines, and if so, what are they?
weekdays: stumble to kitchen, pull overnight oats from fridge. eat oats and take pills while getting dressed. due to time zone fuckery i've had to stop going in to the office, so go to desk, throw down padded mat, lift to standing height, move the keyboard plug and throw the monitor switches to move from personal to work computer. around the time i finish reading my emails and switch to catching up on Slack messages C has placed a hot caffienated beverage by my right hand.

weekends: wake up when i wake up. if early enough, walk dog with C and get breakfast along the way. (otherwise C walks dog on his own and causes breakfast to appear.) since restaurants first reopened and we wanted to intentionally support local businesses, we've gotten takeout from neighborhood bar Hattie's Hat every Saturday. on Sundays it depends - if i'm meeting varina8 at the pool i wake up, eat some cheese, throw my pool stuff together and go. if i'm home it's pastries and what-have-you from the Sunday Farmer's Market.

3. What is the best dessert?
my Mom's apple dumplings - her flaky pastry with butter and cinnamon and Northern Spy apples, preferably with some whipped cream and a cup of tea. setting aside the love and associations it's hard to say; i'm a sucker for citrus and so far i've never met a lemon bar or key lime pie that i didn't like.

4. What are you reading this weekend?
a popular history of Victorian home life by Ruth Goodman. i have the new Freya Marske but i've been dithering about starting it because i suspect i should reread the first one.

5. If you were going to buy a new pair of shoes, what kind would they be?
comfortable shoes that have a sense of style or something unique about them.

i just bought a pair of waterproof breathable pull-on chelsea boots to replace the role of my waterproof hikers with the worn-out (therefore leaky) soles. of course it has not rained since i got them so i have no idea if they are actually fit for purpose, but they are certainly comfy and look like part of a near-future SF costume.

the shoes i want to buy are the John Fluevog Starfleet boots, which are part of the uniforms for Strange New Worlds. delta on the ankle! i've been waiting to go to the store downtown to try a pair on - historically my calves have been too chonky for their tall boots but there's a stretch panel in the back and reviews on the calf sizing are inconclusive enough that i have hope.

I had a lovely morning today: I met up with mimerki and just_cris for dim sum and it was exquisite. I'm sure part of it was not having any for over a year, but everything was fresh and a perfect expression of its dish. Normally I don't really like the hairy deep-fried balls of shrimp with mayo sauce but damn if they weren't perfectly crispy on the outside and the sauce was fatty and tangy and just so. I am a sucker for sweets and the cart with the bao and sesame balls and egg custard everything* came first ❤️❤️❤️
I am so used to going with a big group that I hadn't registered that most plates come with three pieces; just perfect.

I am worried about the restaurant. It was very empty, especially for a weekend. In the before times it was wall-to-wall families.

I broke my journey there downtown and had time to walk around before getting the train. The business district has really suffered in a way the neighborhoods have not. I remember our coffee shop (which is a tiny in-city chain) said ours was the last to close/first to open around lockdowns because they still had traffic when everyone was working from home. anyway, lots of boarded up storefronts and no people away from the orbit of Pike Place Market. I walked through Post Alley and saw some people had added masks to the gum wall.

After dim sum I killed time at Kinokuniya and the park with the daleks until it was time for the Sounders game. The game was okay (being there was fun, feels like it will end again any moment, not a good result). On the way out my phone went off with a message from Mom: my brother-in-law is dead, and the kids found the body. (they're young adults, my sister isn't in the picture.) Spent the bus ride home chatting with family and recovering from shock.

As I said to mimerki:
Anyway Pat's dead and the Sounders lost but I did get this cute transit card holder wallet that looks like a Shiba Inu

We got home in time to order the kids some grocery gift cards, then get online for continent-spanning D&D. We defeated the angry ghost and it was a good way to wind down.

I was originally supposed to be at a picnic at the time when the death notification came through. I felt bad about fucking my schedule and letting people down, but so glad I didn't have to be in the middle of freeform social interaction when this came down.




*okay, they didn't have the ones that seem to be the Chinese version of filled mochi. I'm not sure if I love the egg or taro ones of those more. Most of the staff don't speak a lot of English so I don't know the actual names of most things or what is in them. Not for anyone with food allergies

Just got a ham for $.67/lb.

If you have a way to store big hunks of beast, now is the time to get them. (We had decided to be lazy and have a fancy holiday meal on sale instead of on Christmas and I knew it would work but wow I was not expecting that steep a discount.) Feeling a bit sad about the warm weather/lack of a big freezer.

i got a tiny waffle iron and it is a delight. if you have warm feelings about eggos or about institutional belgian waffle makers, i recommend it.

Lords of Waterdeep last night to cover for a traveling GM, dinner with friends tonight, both lovely.

i've been doing this for several months now and promised varina8 i would share. recipe is mostly from Make the Bread, Buy the Butter with my observations added. i love the results - it's high-end Greek yogurt for the cost of milk. it takes a long time to get the end product but the hands-on time is pretty brief. (if my household were still eating bread i would use the whey from this in a no-knead bread recipe. similar ethos.)

1/2 gallon milk (whole is best but you can use reduced fat and skim. i have only used whole.)
1/4 cup yogurt or whey (store bought yogurt with live cultures, homemade from a previous batch, or whey from a previous batch. i use the whey because i would rather eat all the yogurt.)

read the whole thing before you start, you may want to follow my method for creating a warm place for incubation (the note in step 3).

1. In a large saucepan over moderate heat, warm the milk until it is on the verge of a boil. You can either stir constantly to prevent the milk from sticking to the bottom of the pan, or spend five minutes scrubbing when you're through. Your call. (I don't scrub, I put oxyclean and hot water in the pot overnight. the milk skin will lift out, often in one piece.) The target temperature is 180F/82C, i just put a food thermometer in there and set its alarm at 180. this step does something to alter the milk protein and is supposed to make thicker yogurt.



2. Remove from the heat, pour the milk into a bowl, and let cool to lukewarm. It should be between 110 and 115 degrees F / 43-46C to activate the cultures. If you don't have a thermometer, you should be able to put your clean finger in the milk and hold it there for 10 seconds, but still feel heat. You can speed this cooling up with an ice bath, but i find letting the bowl stay warm will help hold the optimal culture temperature longer.



3. Stir the starter yogurt or whey into the lukewarm milk. Cover with a clean, damp dishtowel and leave the mixture undisturbed in a warm place overnight. Don't get hung up on the temperature of the warm place. You can just turn the oven on for a few minutes, turn it off, and put the yogurt inside. note: I use the oven as my warm place - I set it to Hold Warm with the pizza stone inside while i'm doing the initial heating on the stove and then turn it off when the milk comes off the burner. If the ambient temperature of the oven is warmer than 115F/46C by the time you put the yogurt in, it seems to be no big deal as it takes a long time for the liquid to heat from outside.



4. The next day, you will have about a half gallon of yogurt. If you like runny yogurt, you're done, but if you prefer thick Greek-style yogurt, you'll need to drain it. Put a piece of cheesecloth or white cotton, such as a clean old pillowcase, in a sieve set up over a bowl. I use a colander lined with muslin but originally used damp coffee filters. Scoop the yogurt into the sieve and drain for a few hours at room temperature until the yogurt is as thick as you like it. i will scrape down the sides every once in a while to get more yogurt in contact with the draining surface. Depending on the fat content of the milk and how long you let it drain, you'll have between a quart and a quart and a half of yogurt. I like my yogurt really thick and so my yield is more like 3 1/2 cups. The whey keeps for up to 10 days in the fridge and can be used for a variety of things; mine gets used as an additive to dog food (Leela loves it and it's a good probiotic) and sent to mimerki for breadmaking. Scoop the yogurt into a jar, cover tightly, and refrigerate. It will keep a week or so.

Notes:

• i like to start it before bed and let it incubate overnight, then put it to drain when i wake up. i find i want it to incubate for at least six hours, and then drain for a similar amount of time.


• use yogurt you like as the starter. mine is based on Fage and tastes like Fage.


• sometimes it gets lumpy in the draining process. if you don't like that, a few pulses with an immersion blender will clear it right up and make it look like very fancy commercial yogurt.


• i tried doubling the recipe, but the hands-off heating doesn't work with larger volumes of milk. there was secret burning and that lead to a smoky-flavored batch of yogurt and more work to clean the pan. also, it did not really double the output. so i just stick with the 1/2 gallon and make it more often.


• my routine has it down to one pot, one bowl, the colander, and one piece of muslin. pour from pot to bowl, use the muslin as the "damp towel" covering. when incubation is done, line the colander with the muslin and set it in the sink, scoop in the yogurt. make sure nothing's left sticking to the bowl, put the colander on the bowl to drain.


• i have screwed up the temperature and killed the culture. i have then successfully brought the batch of milk back up to temp in the oven (more food thermometer with a temp alarm) and added more culture and had yogurt come out fine. i'm sure this is not good food handling but my household ate all the resulting yogurt and we're still alive. please don't take that as medical advice.

it was freaking 75F here today. I took mom on a the level route I found to Fifth/Forbes (the two one-way arterials that are the heart of the Oakland neighborhood's business district) and bought her Thai for lunch and then went to Dave & Andy's for ice cream. my favorite flavor happened to be in rotation today, so that was pretty great.

Dad was bright-eyed and chatty (for him) when we arrived at the hospital this morning, but his occupational therapy session of placing blocks and pegs with his bad hand tired him out completely. like, that session was great. and apparently he was great before we got there - his morning OT starts with "ADLs" (Activities of Daily Living) like washing up and getting dressed. but then he was groggy for his speech therapist and for his physical therapist. *sigh* his PT was very understanding and put him down for a nap before his next session. (I feel a little odd saying it that way, but it does take two people to get him into bed.)

last night he got a beard trim and a shave (needed; Dad has had a beard all of my life but he keeps after his cheeks and neck) and today he was wearing jeans and a polo shirt and his socks. Mom knits his socks. they were admired by all.

my sister arrives tomorrow. fingers crossed.

via andrewducker:
wherein a priest experimented with improving communion

food! blasphemy? inevitable disaster!