Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Likes’ Category

Everyday Brownies

Posted in Food and..., Likes, tagged , , , , , , , on January 17, 2014| 2 Comments »

Just in time for the weekend, here is my favorite brownie recipe. It’s quick and delicious. It’s also in metric, because once you get a scale and get used to the routine, the weight method is indeed easier and more consistent. Making fewer dirty dishes is an added bonus. Also, cocoa powder means no waiting around to chop and melt chocolate bricks. I have a double boiler but yeah, no.

Brownies

Time: 30-40 minutes
  • 142 grams butter
  • 42 grams cocoa powder
  • 200 grams sugar (I use brown sugar or half brown and half white for a nuttier flavor)
  • 2 eggs
  • 60 grams flour
  • Dash salt
  • ½ t. vanilla extract
1. Preheat the oven to 350F (175C). Line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper (or grease with butter, but parchment paper makes for fantastically easy clean up).
2. Melt butter in the microwave on low (30% works for me). Use a whisk to stir in cocoa powder until smooth, then add sugar, eggs, flour, salt and vanilla, mixing after each addition. The batter will resemble quicksand, only tastier.
3. Pour into the pan and bake 20 minutes, or until set in the middle.* Let cool and cut.
*Note: This recipe can be doubled with no trouble, use a 9×13-inch pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.
…
P.S. Upon reflection, I feel bad for those of you without a digital scale. Here you go:
  • 10 T. butter
  • ⅓ C. cocoa powder
  • 1 C. sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ C. flour
  • Dash salt
  • ½ t. vanilla extract
Enjoy! I know I will:)

Read Full Post »

Pass It On

Posted in Likes, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 8, 2014| 2 Comments »

We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.

— Richard P. Feynman

Read Full Post »

Right and True

Posted in Likes, tagged , , , , , on January 1, 2014| Leave a Comment »

The following is from Neil Gaiman’s Journal: My New Year Wish in 2011, and is, as far as I’m concerned, about as good a guide for the coming year as I can imagine:

…for this year, my wish for each of us is small and very simple.

And it’s this.

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.
…
Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.

Make mistakes, and pat yourself on the back when you do. Then get up and try again.

In related news, I just spent the past hour ice skating. I don’t skate:)

Read Full Post »

2014!

Posted in Holidays, Likes, tagged , , on December 31, 2013| 1 Comment »

I’m surrounded by snow, wolves howl in the night, and the Earth continues to turn. What could be better? Wherever you are, I hope you have a wonderful and very happy new year, all!

Read Full Post »

A Night and a Sky

Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged , , , , , on December 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.
— Vincent van Gogh

Read Full Post »

Today’s Quote: 12/14/13

Posted in Likes, tagged , , , , on December 14, 2013| 1 Comment »

 

I was thinking about all the things I have to do and the diminishing time in which I have to do them when I came across this lovely quote from “psychiatrist, neurologist and Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl” at the Root Simple blog:

The pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calendar, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing day. On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back. He can reflect with pride and joy on all the richness set down in these notes, on all the life he has already lived to the fullest. What will it matter to him if he notices that he is growing old? Has he any reason to envy the young people whom he sees, or wax nostalgic over his own lost youth? What reasons has he to envy a young person? For the possibilities that a young person has, the future which is in store for him?

No, thank you, he will think. Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and of love loved, but of sufferings bravely suffered. These sufferings are even the things of which I am most proud, although these are things which cannot inspire envy.

I think I’ll choose optimism:)

Read Full Post »

A Little Inspiration

Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on December 4, 2013| 1 Comment »

You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.

― Maya Angelou

As an addendum, I posit that you don’t have to start out loving your work to be good at it. Pay close enough attention to a thing for long enough, and its beauty becomes clear.

Read Full Post »

I Like: Practical Shoes

Posted in Likes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on October 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I like practical shoes. They don’t have to be ungainly, or ugly, or orthopedic* but I do like it when shoes are sturdy yet still attractive, appropriate to the task, and preferably waterproof. A help rather than a hindrance.

Sadly, women in TV Land do not often get all of those things. Or even some of those things.

Let’s take a non-random sampling of TV shows as one small example. One of the very first things I noticed** about the private detective show King & Maxwell was that Maxwell, played by Rebecca Romijn, wears practical shoes. Finally! I said to myself (and Mr. Man and the cats, none of whom care much about shoes but should), a show that does not feel the need to undermine its own plausibility by putting its female star in impossibly impractical footwear. Who chases bad guys in stilettos? Who can possibly sneak up on a secret lair in clompy clompy shoes? No one, that’s who.***

Now, I love Castle. Love Nathan Fillion (of course, and may Serenity fly forever, but he’s carved out a nice new niche for himself… one in which he gets to wear practical shoes:p), love the writing, love the humor, but Beckett (played by Stana Katic) should get an Emmy just for being able to walk in the shoes those costumers put her in, much less run and chase and fight and snare baddies.

A frikking Emmy.

And that’s my “thing I like” for today.
.
.
*  Updated because I just received an objection to this bit because the commenter likes their orthopedic shoes, which is fine, I’m just saying that shoes can be practical without being medical. So enjoy your posturally and otherwise functional footwear, people, whatever type they may be!

** Well, after I noticed the kick-ass intro they used for the premiere, complete with great music and a car chase and a man in a furry suit. Sadly, it was followed by the snooze-inducing actual intro which, while stylish in a sedentary way, should be updated as soon as possible. Why put your audience to sleep before they have a chance to appreciate the show?

*** Well, maybe RuPaul, but she’s just that fabulous.

Read Full Post »

Secret Worlds

Posted in Likes, tagged , , , , , on October 21, 2013| 1 Comment »

It’s Monday, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be magic:

“Everybody has a secret world inside of them. All of the people of the world, I mean everybody. No matter how dull and boring they are on the outside, inside them they’ve all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds. Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands maybe.”
— Neil Gaiman

And as ruler of my very own imaginary worlds, I hereby abolish Mondays!

Read Full Post »

More on Why Science Needs Fiction

Posted in Likes, Science!, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

As a followup to my last post on Reading for Generation Mars, I’d like to reference this piece by Becky Chambers at the Tor.com blog. She wrote it after meeting a (real! live!) astronaut and realizing that what she does is important to science and progress too, and not in an abstract way.

The fact is that if space exploration—in whatever form—is going to continue onward, it needs all the support we can muster. We need public outreach, like what the astronaut was doing, to be aware of the work that’s already being done, and to spark the next generation to follow in their footsteps. We need quality education, and a larger emphasis on scientific literacy, both in the classroom and beyond.

And we need science fiction. Now, more than ever.

We need to consider which futures are worth pursuing, which ideas we’ve outgrown, and what dangers (both practical and ethical) could be lurking along the way. Science fiction is the great thought experiment that addresses all of these things, and there is no branch of it that is not hugely relevant today. We need stories based around existing technologies, to help us determine our immediate actions. We need near-future stories that explore where our efforts might lead us in our lifetime. We need stories that take the long view, encouraging us to invest in better futures for distant generations. We need space operas, to remind us to be daring. We need apocalypses, to remind us to be cautious. We need realistic stories, and ridiculous stories, and everything in between, because all of these encourage us to dream (perhaps the ridiculous ones most especially). We need all of it.

I found this to be a really nice summary of so many of the reasons why fiction, and science fiction in particular, is important. Sure, it’s just one element in a matrix of education, outreach and exploration, but it’s in there.

Now I’m going to go write something:)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »