Posted in Food and..., Holidays, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, fish, Groningen, journal, learning@lunch, maps, Netherlands, travel on April 14, 2021| Leave a Comment »
It’s lunchtime and I’m snacky, so for today’s post I bring you an excerpt from my European travel journal, featuring the delicious and mysterious (not really) zalmforel!*
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* It is a trout that looks something like salmon, but isn’t (despite what the nice lady told me at the time) an actual cross. Still very good, and isn’t it nice to learn new things?
Posted in Entertainment, Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, 2063, peace on Earth, positive future, star trek on April 6, 2021| Leave a Comment »
So somehow I missed First Contact Day. You know, the day Vulcans pass by Earth just as Dr. Zefram Cochrane makes the first human warp flight in the Phoenix.
As recorded in the historical document Star Trek: First Contact.
Right. Anyway, I missed it. The good news is that the real thing won’t take place until 2063. We still have time for benevolent alien species,* a future of livable space ships, the Federation, currency-free economy, and peace on Earth.
What do you say we get started:)
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* Granted, there are a lot of ways this could go: String theorist Michio Kaku: ‘Reaching out to aliens is a terrible idea’.
Posted in Food and..., Holidays, Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, #bunnybutt, baking, cake, Easter, someday this will make sense on April 4, 2021| 1 Comment »
Happy Easter!
What with no travel or outside family, this isn’t a great year for giant eight-layer cakes, so today I’m revisiting my one and only Easter dessert, the Bunny Cake.
It was fun to make. Will I do it again someday? Maybe, maybe not, but techniques like the meringue mushrooms, grass, and fondant were interesting to do.
Also, chocolate and bunnies are delicious:)
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, family, green, Ireland, St. Patrick's Day on March 17, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We won’t have a night out at the pub or parades but Chicago went ahead and dyed the river green to cheer people up. Good for them.
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I’m remembering a family trip to Ireland, all of us crowded into a van that barely fit on most of the roads. It rained half the time, it was cold, and I’m never going to like blood sausage, but that paled in comparison to the overall experience.
Driving down tunnels of arched trees and rolling landscapes of the brightest, most verdant greens. Hiking through castle ruins, watching the ocean from Dingle’s shores, sleeping in a convent, the people, the music, and of course, the beer.
So here’s to my Irish relatives! Thanks for letting us share your charm, humor, stories, and of course, beer;) We’re the lucky ones.
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Posted in Food and..., Holidays, Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, #PiDay, pie, Travis McGee on March 14, 2021| 3 Comments »
Everyone and their uncle will be talking pi/e today, so I’m just going to leave it at a wish for a happy day, and pie.
It’s cold again today, with gusty winds and a bright clear sky that feels like winter will never leave. Still, Spring is near, I just picked up the first Travis McGee book again and my reader mind is in Florida with lemon and lime trees around every corner. Today I’m thinking of warmth and lemon meringue.
Will I make it? Maybe, but taxes are calling. Either way, it is a delightfully sweet, citrus-scented dream.
Whether you’re in it for the math or the sugar, here’s hoping you have a very Happy Pi Day, folks!
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Posted in Holidays, Reviews, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, history, NASA, Octavia Butler, perseverance, Terminator, Women's Day on March 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Today is International Women’s Day, and I’m feeling fine. If you’re interested in learning more about the sorts of women who are often shunned by history, check out this sampling of women who dared greatly:
Historical awesome:
And in a bit of modern-day awesome, NASA has named the Perseverance landing site after Octavia Butler. How cool is that?
Speaking of NASA:
Inspiration much? Yes, thanks!
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In related news, we finally watched Terminator: Dark Fate and enjoyed the heck out of it. I’ll admit to avoiding it, a bit. Lackluster reviews, messed-up timeline issues (which earlier movies were we supposed to ignore and which not? oy), plus the “Yeah, you’re not the threat. It’s your womb” series concept kept me from watching it sooner.
Now that I have, what did I think?
Let’s just say that the ladies kick ass.
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Posted in Food and..., Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, biscuits, recipes on February 20, 2021| Leave a Comment »
I lost my biscuit recipe the other day. You know how it goes, you dig through your cookbooks, go online, pick a selection of recipes that looks promising, triangulate ingredients and techniques, make adjustments, then test and sample and retest until you come up with a recipe that works for you. Then you lose the piece of paper you scribbled it all on.
So there I was on Valentine’s Day, all ready to make chicken pot pie with biscuits (one of Mr. Man’s favorites) but I was short one biscuit recipe. I cobbled together a replacement but it was an imperfect substitute. Good news? Mr. Man was still happy. More good news? I found my original recipe!
I like this one because it’s quick, easy, uses the kefir we always have, and the melted butter with cold milk trick results in a lot of well-distributed butter bits without all the hassle of cubing and cutting in.
I am hereby committing it to these pages for posterity, and for Valentine’s Days to come.
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Buttermilk Drop Biscuits
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* It’s easy to overwork biscuit dough. Ask me how I know!
** I’m experimenting with dropping the temperature to 425–450F for the last ten minutes of the pot pie to keep the edges from scorching, but that’s still in the trial phase. And I might add a bit more salt and sugar. And baste the top with butter when done, but only if they aren’t on top of the already buttery pot pie. And this is how I roll in the kitchen.
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Posted in Entertainment, Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Star Wars Wins Everything on February 15, 2021| 1 Comment »
So yesterday we were looking for something to watch post-Valentine’s Day dinner, and it got me thinking about my favorite movies for the holidays.* I’m a pretty average person from a particular time and place (here, now) who is also a sci-fi /action movie lover with a high tolerance for pew pew.
This is my current list:
Feel free to argue:)
And if you’re interested in learning more about writing screenplays (a fairly specialized incarnation of the craft), check out Go Into The Story for extensive blog posts, free screenplay download links, The Black List, and (much, much) more.
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* This is not the same thing as actual “holiday movies,” as you’ll soon see.
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Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, quotes, ray bradbury, Valentine's Day on February 14, 2021| Leave a Comment »
May you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.
— Ray Bradbury
Posted in Holidays, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, birds, Europe, family, journal, OnceUponATime, travel on January 30, 2021| 1 Comment »
In general, I like being home but these days I’ll admit, at times my thoughts stray to travel. As in, “Oh yes, once upon a time we used to go places and see things” and “There was a whole world out there, remember?”
And then I ran across scans of an old travel journal and had the fun of paging through the journey. Visiting the Swedish royal palace, discovering my brother’s previously hidden talent as a navigator, outrunning a swarm of mosquitoes, champagne in Stockholm, eating fish cheeks, taking tea in a converted windmill.
It was all lovely, even the insecty bits. And I’m pretty sure I’m not just saying that because travel has become one of those mythical ideas, like unicorns and shaking hands with strangers.
At the very back of the journal I rediscovered my father’s bird list. I think it was made after the trip, and there’s something precious about our layered handwriting, anchoring our shared memories to the page.
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