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This week's Resolution Recipe: Another way to cook a bulb of kohlrabi.
I accidentally posted this briefly last week. It was meant to be this week.
( Take the CSA vegetable and try a period recipe. )How I'm feeling:  blah |
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My shaver died yesterday. Apparently they don't make the relatively basic model I like anymore. I may have to buy something with seventeen blades.How I'm feeling:  bitchy |
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Longer post about the weekend later. For now: cat report, because that's what the intarwebz are for. The upstairs neighbors clearly did a great job keeping Galen fed; he was noticeably heavier than when we left. I suspect he gorged on crunchies. I guess it's an improvement that he saved up stress vomiting until after we came home... although repeated middle-of-the-night cat barfing is not fabulous.How I'm feeling:  exhausted |
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May. 25th, 2012 @ 07:35 am
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After a twelve-hour wait in the emergency waiting room, a doctor finally took the time to inspect the wife. His verdict: "We would have let you go after four hours' observation. Go take ibuprofen."
...
Neither of us got much sleep last night. She's in worse shape than I am, obviously. We'll see how she's doing in a few hours. Packing has been put on hold (not that there's a ton).
What I'm reading: Daniel Suarez, DaemonHow I'm feeling: exhausted |
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Slight change of plans: I left my work laptop at the office, so now I will be driving in for half a day. This is mildly annoying.
The wife tripped on the sidewalk and bruised her forehead and eye. Just outside the hospital. She was feeling dizzy and it was swelling quite a bit, so she went to the emergency room. Where she has been sitting for four hours, because they are dealing with more serious trauma cases - in some ways I suppose that's good. Apparently the swelling has gone down somewhat, but we're not sure if she's going anywhere this weekend.How I'm feeling:  uncomfortable |
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May. 20th, 2012 @ 09:14 am
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For the record: a Reuben sandwich with house-made rye bread, house-cured pastrami, and house-made sauerkraut is spectacular. Now I just need Swiss/Emmentaler from the curvy upstairs neighbor, and maybe figure out how to make Dijon mustard...How I'm feeling:  accomplished |
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Plans for yesterday got slightly derailed. I ended up watching most of the Giants game yesterday rather doing than some of the many things I had planned. I forgot to read the pate recipe ahead of time, so I was surprised by the "marinate overnight" part of it, and couldn't make the recipe. I also jarred up the gallons of sauerkraut - glad I did it, but that took several hours. It's a decent, but to my taste overly mild, sauerkraut.
Those are all choices laid at my feet rather than at the universe's. Then the wife suffered (thankfully) mild food poisoning, presumably from a bad piece of crab. I was unaffected. So no Hangtown Fry and mimosas this morning.How I'm feeling:  moody |
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Instead of going to Investiture, we went to the farmers' market today. It was gorgeous out and not yet too crowded. We split a Dungeness crab breakfast burrito (mmmm) and splurged on Cap'n Mike's smoked oysters, which are going into a Hangtown Fry for tomorrow's brunch. With mimosas. I got some good compliments from different meat vendors on my latest batch of lonza.
Today I have pastrami braising; it spent yesterday afternoon in the smoker and now needs to finish cooking. I don't believe in boiling it, because that drains away much of the flavor. I need to check on the gallons of sauerkraut, which may be ready to jar up. And I may watch baseball with a beer or two.
So far it's been a good day.How I'm feeling:  good |
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May. 17th, 2012 @ 09:25 am
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Today is the anniversary of the day that Heloise was buried alongside Abelard. I tried to find the clip from Being John Malkovich where John Cusack performs a marionette scene of their love letters - but I couldn't in the brief time allotted. Maybe I'll have to watch the opening tonight instead.How I'm feeling:  impressed |
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This week's Resolution Recipe: Meyer Lemon Almost-Souffle.
"This flavor-intense interpretation of a lemon meringue pie dispenses with extra padding, e.g. the meringue and the crust."
( It's not lemon curd. So I dodged my curse. )How I'm feeling:  pleased |
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May. 13th, 2012 @ 04:30 pm
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Yesterday I fed 'nduja to someone who loathes liver. I didn't tell her what was in it and she loved it.
Perhaps I should feel guilty... but I don't.How I'm feeling:  devious |
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"Why is the coffee maker in the fridge?"How I'm feeling:  awake |
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I checked out book #5 in a series, discovering when I got home that I have not read #4.How I'm feeling:  shocked |
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This week's Resolution Recipe: To make a sausage.
( Read more... )How I'm feeling:  indifferent |
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That was a good event.
We had a really good-looking joint encampment with St. Calixtus - lots of period pavilions with a nice courtyard. I didn't see a lot of them during the event, but there will be other times to hang out.
I gave my standard peerage speech to Artos (now boiled down to less than 30 seconds, with the moral). We got to the vigil before the rush and the escort/guards weren't there yet. It wasn't clear to me where to go and I fought off the temptation to yell "Artos... Polos!"
The Saluminati meeting was inspirational and fun. Huge amounts of good cured meats, pickled veg, cheeses and bread. I was glad I brought arugula and radishes - they made nice sandwiches with the meat. Many compliments on the fish sausage of Bologna; that's one I plan to keep made at all times. We're having a salad tonight, though.How I'm feeling:  sleepy |
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All packed for Beltane, with enough room in the car that I triple-checked to make sure I hadn't forgotten a major box or three. I still have to slice charcuterie, prep some veg, and so forth. But there's plenty of time for that. I'm glad I didn't go into the office today.How I'm feeling:  relieved |
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May. 3rd, 2012 @ 08:25 am
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Ugh. Rain is threatening, which always makes event packing thrilling. Especially tying the poles and table to the car roof...How I'm feeling:  annoyed |
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This week's Resolution Recipe: Fat Hen Soup.
( Fat Hen is a tasty weed, not an animal. )
What I'm reading: Elizabeth Bear, Range of GhostsHow I'm feeling:  mellow |
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Apr. 29th, 2012 @ 09:26 am
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We watched the Muppets re-make last night. It was all right; not the travesty I was afraid it might be, and while we laughed at times it's not really worth re-watching. The cameos, songs, and breaking the fourth wall were gratuitous - and perfectly in character with the original Muppet Movie.
I thought the whistling act should have been "Flight of the Bumblebees", though. The character could have been gradually swarmed by bees, which would have been more like the original show. Along with an exploding penguin or two.
What I'm reading: Kelly McCullough, Broken BladeHow I'm feeling:  okay |
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Apr. 26th, 2012 @ 07:22 am
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I went to Fatted Calf's pork happy hour last night. I needed some more back fat for sausages, which admittedly was mostly an excuse. I didn't stay that long but had some decent chattage with the guy carving up the pig head.
I parked by Smuggler's Cove, reminding me that we should go back there sometime.How I'm feeling:  quixotic |
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This week's Resolution Recipe: Caldo Verde.
( Read more... )How I'm feeling:  disappointed |
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This week's Resolution Recipe is a re-do to make it conform to the actual period recipe: Fish sausage of Bologna.
( I've been making it for 10 years, but as a hot-smoked fresh sausage rather than a cold-smoked cured sausage. )
What I'm reading: Joe Haldeman, StarboundHow I'm feeling: accomplished |
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I had a reluctant epiphany: I should convert all my sausage recipes to grams. That way everything is listed as a percent of the base meat, making scaling incredibly easy.
But damn, that's going to be an annoying thing to do. The meats are currently listed in pounds and most of the spices are standard US volumes.How I'm feeling:  resigned |
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We went out to dinner with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2) etaine_pommier and J! Since we were in Mtn. View, we went to Cascal - a slightly fusiony tapas place that's pretty good. Good food and chattage. No booze, since we had all had champagne and/or cider during the reception and needed to rehydrate.
Sunday Zanobia came over and we exchanged bacon class for sauerkraut class. We put 5 lbs of pork belly into the cure, took the 5 lbs out I started last week and smoked it, and chopped six heads of cabbage which in a month will become two gallons (!) of sauerkraut. Followed by a roast chicken dinner upstairs for our weekly homeowners' meeting.
All in all, a good weekend.How I'm feeling: good |
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busy