Archive for the ‘Likes’ Category
Welcome, Fellow Weirdos!
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts on November 13, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Today’s Perk Me Up
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, cats, creativity, inspiration, making stuff, Thoughts on November 9, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Did we think about building an elevator for our elderly and arthritic cat? Of course we did! Here’s someone who actually pulled it off:
* Note: Our elevator design would have required an indoor vertical lift with weight-sensitive call functionality, so a little different. Still fun to think about though!
Time Travel(ish)
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, inspiration, Motivation, Thoughts, time travel, writing on November 4, 2021| 4 Comments »
Some of what I do in this blog is about leaving notes to myself, because I want to remember a recipe or an idea or an event.
Don’t have a blog? Continually misplace your diary? Wish Post-It notes were harder to lose? Want to give Future You a pep talk or notes on a brilliant idea or the memory of the most beautiful thing that happened to you today or a reminder of why you should stick with that challenging long-term goal?
You’re in luck.
FutureMe: Write a Letter to your Future Self
Does what it says on the box.
Decide what you want to write, when to send the letter and whether to make it public or keep it private. I sent myself a little NaNoWriMo encouragement for next year. Not sure what to say? Check out some of these public letters.
Is this time travel? No, but it’s the closest thing we have at the moment so I’m making the most of it!
* * *
Purrassic Pawrk
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, fun, inspiration, photo compositing, sff, Thoughts on November 2, 2021| Leave a Comment »
It’s Tuesday so busy busy, but I still made time for a little cat-related fun.
You’re welcome:)
* * *
Looking Ahead
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, Thoughts on October 30, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Between house stuff and criss-crossing the city for errands I haven’t had time to do anything special today. I did finish up a reread over breakfast, one I knew would satisfy, so I’m feeling pretty good. (I’m one of those people who enjoys rereads. It’s like ordering your favorite meal, knowing that you’ll love it.) The fact that this book is one in a long series is even better.
Isn’t it nice to have something to look forward to?
* * *
Practice Better
Posted in Likes, Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, environment, inspiration, remix on October 15, 2021| Leave a Comment »
You know how sometimes you see a thing and it sets off little creative sparkles in your brain parts? Well, that’s what happened when I spotted this striking piece of art:
Giant “Faucet” Spewing Single-Use Plastic Urges Us To Reconsider Our Plastic Use
When I saw this my first thought (after “Ok, that’s insanely cool”) was “How can I do that?
Lucky me (and you, if you’re so inclined), the artist has not only created this installation* but turned it into an interactive opportunity. Just as I was visualizing the steps needed to trim a tap like that and build a fountain of plastics, I spotted this:
If you are an artist or creative that would like to participate, join us in creating a remix of the Giant Plastic Tap
— This three story tall giant art installation is leaking plastics into different environments – Von Wong Blog
Don’t mind if I do! If you want to join the fun, all files needed to remix your very own giant plastic tap are available here:
Remix the Giant Plastic Tap – Photoshop Challenge! – Dropbox Paper
Check out this post for more details on usage.
* * *
I’m practicing new photo processing techniques and thought this was a good place to start. Lots to learn (ugh, lighting and color balance! I was in a hurry, but still) and this challenge is a great way to do it.
* Von Wong’s mind-bending original project was sponsored by the Embassy of Canada in France. Because Canadians are awesome. Every single one!
What Is This If Not Magic?
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, Fiction, inspiration, J.R.R. Tolkien, Thoughts, Writers on October 1, 2021| Leave a Comment »
I vote for this as one of the feel-good stories of the year. Because what’s happier than real-life hobbits?
‘What is this if not magic?’ The Italian man living as a hobbit
“I decided that I wanted to live my hobbit life to the fullest… I wanted people to enter my mind, my fantasy. Many make fun of us. Some think I am trying to escape from reality. Far from it. I am living my dream, my adventure.”
— Nicolas Gentile, hobbit
* * *
Good for you, Italian hobbit man, good for you.
Look, Up In The Sky
Posted in Likes, Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, family, meteor shower, NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day on September 28, 2021| 1 Comment »
Today’s Astronomy Photo of the Day is a video, two and a half minutes of the Perseid meteor shower as seen from the Indian Astronomical Observatory in Hanle, India.
* * *
Watching this takes me back. We would wake up at three in the morning and head to the back yard to watch meteors burn through the atmosphere. I’d anchor myself on Orion, my first and still favorite constellation, then watch the sky for the next magical streak of green.
* * *
Pegasus Is My Patronus
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Affinity Photo, creativity, harry potter, patronus, things with wings, yay on September 19, 2021| Leave a Comment »
If you are familiar with Harry Potter then you know what a patronus is. (If not, check out this explainer.) I like the books and the concept, but also the imagery. So I decided to see if I could work out how to do the glowing-semi-translucent-super-cool-flying-animal effect in Affinity Photo.
I used a modified version of this Photoshop tutorial, and while the instructions don’t exactly translate to Affinity it was close enough to get me in the ballpark.
And of course now all I can see are the bits I’d like to change,* but isn’t that always the way? Next time!
* * *
Rosie Sun on Unsplash, and Wing Angel Swan on Pixabay
* Seriously, those wings are way too small. It’s so weird that a mythical Greek creature swapped into a magical wizarding world refuses to obey the laws of physics.
Fruit Torte
Posted in Food and..., Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, baking, inspiration, roadtrip, yay on September 12, 2021| 3 Comments »
Yesterday: a pretty fall day + road trip + Les Fruits du Poirier pick-your-own fruit farm = fun 🙂
This particular farm has the usual apples, pears, raspberries, etc. but they also specialize in the less usual. Not everything was in season, but they also grow fruits like haskap, sea buckthorn, gooseberries, and northern kiwi. Yes, that kiwi! The northern variety is smaller than the imported variety you find in stores, but it is sweeter, with thinner skin and no fuzz, which means it doesn’t have to be peeled.
We had to look up half of what we saw, either because we didn’t recognize the plant or because we’d never heard of it before (jostaberry?). We used a click to ID app called Picture This (free to use but you have to navigate a maze of “sign up now!” screens, but I’m sure there are others.
The day was beautiful and it was great to get outside and into the country. Recommended.
* * *
Today: baking.
I had some plums waiting for a recipe, and I ran across this one for plum torte. The original was a wildly popular New York Times recipe that ran for years. This version is slightly modified and includes comments to help triangulate your own changes.
Best Plum Torte Recipe – How to Make Marian Burros’ Purple Plum Cake
It’s easy and delicious. There’s a little magic involved. The fruit starts on top but slowly sinks into the batter and turns into a delicious, jammy treat. Of course I added a few minor adjustments.
I made a plum version a few days ago, and today I made a plum with cinnamon, a peach with cinnamon and cardamom, and two mixed berry* tortes with cinnamon and just a splash of Grand Marnier. They also freeze well.
* * *
Fruit Torte
(by way of Food52’s adaptation of Marian Burros’ Purple Plum Cake)
— makes one 8″ or 9” layer
Ingredients
- 120g / 1 C. all-purpose flour, sifted
- 5g / 1 t. baking powder
- pinch salt
- 150g / 3/4 C. sugar
- 115g / 1/2 C. butter, room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 t. vanilla (or somewhat more Grand Marnier)
- ~ 150g of fruit (see note)
- ~ 2 t. sugar and ground cinnamon for sprinkling
Directions
- Heat the oven to 350° F.
- Prep an 8 or 9-inch cake pan. I used a round of parchment paper and buttered the interior, then dusted bottom and sides with a mix of sugar and cinnamon to avoid sticking.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
- Cream the sugar and butter until very light and fluffy, about 5–7 minutes with my mixer. I recommend mechanical means unless you want to be there all day.
- Add the dry ingredients, eggs and vanilla all at once, and beat until combined, scraping down the sides a couple of times.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Arrange the fruit on top of the batter. Sprinkle the top with sugar and cinnamon.
- Bake 40 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake in its pan for 10 minutes, and then remove. Invert onto a cooling rack, then flip back onto another rack to finish cooling.
Notes
— The recipe called for a springform pan but they aren’t my favorite. (Although it would make cooling easier.) I used a 9” cake pan.
— Fruit options: this recipe has worked with every kind of fruit I’ve tried so far. Plums, peaches and pears are all very good. Pit and quarter lengthwise if small or chop into smaller pieces. Berries are also excellent, and I’ve had great luck with frozen blueberries although starting from frozen added a few minutes to the baking time. For any of these options, if the flavor’s flat then season with a little lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon to taste. Grand Marnier is also very good with berries. Just saying.
— One batch of batter weighs ~475g, in case you’re doubling the recipe.
* * *
* In addition to pints of red raspberries, yellow raspberries, pears, apples, and kiwi, we picked up a haskap pie (no judgement, they were baking and it smelled amazing), and a frozen bag of haskap, red and white currants, raspberries, gooseberries, and Saskatoon berries.
* * *
-
Recent Posts
She Said, He Said
-
-
Favorite Posts
Archives
Categories
It’s All So Random
What I’m Reading
You must be logged in to post a comment.