Posts Tagged ‘#365Ways’
Grandma, Smiling Down
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, family, inspiration on August 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »
No Shame in Shortcuts
Posted in Likes, Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, C-3PO, creativity, design, inspiration, problem solving, Thoughts, Venus de Milo, yay on August 26, 2021| 2 Comments »
So long as you go about it ethically, I don’t see any shame in shortcuts. On a general note, most of what has given us as a species an edge could reasonably be categorized as such. And personally, I am particularly in favor of techniques, tools and strategies that help me fill in gaps of time or talent.
I’ve mentioned drawing, and how I can’t. Oh sure, I used to be able to draw an almost perfect circle freehand and once drew the world’s most beautiful eye while I was supposed to be studying verb conjugations in high school French class, but that’s about the extent of my talents in that department.
That doesn’t stop me from wanting to do more. If only my fellow monkeys had developed some tools that could help me make up for such deficiencies!
Cue computer drawing programs, yes, but then what? There’s still the difference between what I see in my mind and what comes out on the page or screen.
I came across this tool the other day: the Da Vinci Sketch Addon for Photoshop.
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Ooh, I said to the cat (who paid as much attention as usual, which is to say none), that is exactly the sort of art I like, part beauty, part craft, part epistolary exploration. Too bad I had to move away from Photoshop. Now what?
First, despair! Cue gnashing of teeth and rending of garments (just kidding, that’s wasteful and I really hate to shop).
Then it was time to get to work.
I decided to see if I could replicate some version of this technique in Affinity Photo. After forum diving, video watching, and a visit to The notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, I produced this:
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Not bad, aside from the fact that it took forever and could use some real hatching and more dramatic outlines and the shading crashed the program about a dozen times. Still, it was progress I felt ok about.
Working through that puzzle also gave me time to think, and in that time I realized a couple of important things:
- my computer is not the only computer in this house, and while the desktop upstairs has had the tech equivalent of a stroke and can’t be trusted with anything not backed up, I did manage to rebuild it into a functional system and it is now running a deprecated OS,
- six bucks is not a lot of money, and
- don’t I still have the disks for CS5, which includes Photoshop, kicking around somewhere?
True, true, and yes, yes I do.
Cue exciting graphic adventures!
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I may have also sprung for a couple more tools from the same developer. Still affordable, and still worth it. This is what the Da Vinci Photoshop action produced, plus several other versions:
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Have I been having fun? Yes, and here’s my absolute favorite so far:
Shortcuts can be terrific so long as they don’t impede learning. In this case, I got the mental workout of deconstructing and rebuilding an effect, plus the practicality of pre-built actions.
Also C-3PO:)
Work, It Could Be Worse
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Diabolical Plots, Fiction, Fireside Magazine, free fiction, genre fiction, sff, writing on August 25, 2021| Leave a Comment »
How about a bit of free fiction today? I’m still on day job vacation but had to take a meeting. Thankfully, my work day was nothing like this piece by David Shultz over at Diabolical Plots:
“Boom & Bust” by David F. Shultz
Kondo barked his orders. “Rocco, cover the east window. Valiant, you’re on ammo detail. Pepsi, keep an eye on market changes. Luna, get me a full asset list.”
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Bonus fiction:
Sounds like those workers could have used a union. Maybe Alexa can fix them up;)
Alexa, Play Solidarity Forever by Audrey R. Hollis
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I Think Two Years is Probably Long Enough
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, CovidHair, prognostication, stupid Covid, Thoughts on August 24, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Our region is doing ok Covid-wise but Delta is starting to make its move and Fall is shaping up to be less than great.
After examining the viral forecast, analyzing daily case counts, counting the weeks since my second vaccination shot, confirming my provider’s vax status, checking my KN95 mask, and consulting a Magic 8 Ball,* this afternoon I am going to get a haircut.
I mean, heck, it’s only been two years;)
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* We do not have a Magic 8 Ball, but sometimes it feels like it might come in handy.
Projects In Progress
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, design, inspiration, quotes, Thoughts, writing on August 23, 2021| Leave a Comment »
“Just because things hadn’t gone the way I had planned didn’t necessarily mean they had gone wrong.”
― Ann Patchett
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High Time for Pie Time
Posted in Food and..., tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, #dangIlovemesomepie, creativity, food, lemon, lemon meringue pie, pie, recipes, triangulation, yay on August 22, 2021| 1 Comment »
Mr Man requested lemon meringue pie the other day. Do I have a recipe for it? I do, that’s not the problem. The problem is that I have too many recipes, taking many paths to the same destination.
And so I set out to make the pie, but also to reduce the stack of notes, hand-written adaptations, and other modifications into the One.
Here’s a snapshot of just some of the recipe pile:*
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So here we have it, the One Pie To Rule Them All (if you like lemon, that is).
The recipe looks a bit complicated but it’s really just a quick crumb crust, a batch of lemon curd, and whipped egg whites.
This works for me, and uses ingredients I can easily access. (I also do things like ignore milliliters and weigh everything in grams.) If you aren’t as into tangy citrus or can’t find Biscoff, modify at will!
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Lemon Meringue Pie
Ingredients
Crust
- 250g Biscoff or graham cracker crumbs
- 57g butter, melted
* If using graham crackers, you can boost the flavor by adding a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and a pinch of salt.
Filling
- zest of one lemon, chopped v. fine (optional)
- juice of ~6 lemons, 200g
- 50g water
- 25g cornstarch
- 175g superfine or caster sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 25g butter
Meringue
- 4 egg whites
- 112g superfine or caster sugar
- 1/4 t. cream of tartar
Directions
Crust
- preheat oven to 350F
- crush Biscoff into fine crumbs with food processor or rolling pin
- mix in melted butter
- press into 9” pie plate (the bottom of a cup measure works well)
- bake for ~18 minutes, remove and lower oven to 325F
Filling
- mix lemon zest, juice, water and cornstarch until smooth
- stir sugar and egg yolks together in a non-reactive pan, place over medium-low heat and add cornstarch mixture and butter
- stir frequently until it just simmers and thickens like custard, about 5 minutes for me (taste and add another teaspoon+ of sugar if you fear the tang)
- pour into crust and top with meringue
Meringue
- combine sugar and cream of tartar in a small bowl
- in a larger bowl, whip egg whites to soft peaks
- add sugar mixture one tablespoon or so at a time, whipping between, until stiff and shiny
- spoon or pipe over filling, touching meringue to crust edges to prevent shrinkage
- bake 15 minutes until golden
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Bonus: Lemon Syrup
Because I had organic lemons, I was also able to use the peels for this lemon syrup:
Stop Throwing Lemon Rinds Away! Make This No-Cook Syrup Instead
I let it steep for about four hours. I don’t have a great citrus press so I strained the peels, then put them in a plastic bag and used a rolling pin to extract the rest of the juice. The result is sweet with a touch of bitterness to ground the flavor, and perfect with seltzer and fresh mint on a hot afternoon.
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* I have attributions for some of these recipes but not all. That can happen when I’m away from home and trying to put together a recipe for the in-laws on the fly, with a kitchen and equipment not my own. Thanks for ideas for what to do (and not do) go out to Stella Parks, Mark Bittman, Alton Brown, and many bakers and commenters online.
Books Neverending
Posted in Entertainment, Likes, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Applescript, creativity, Fiction, fun, inspiration, libraries, Thoughts, Writers on August 21, 2021| 1 Comment »
In my roles as a writer and as a person, I read a lot. Some books I purchase, but many I access through my local library. How great is that?*
So I just spent a non-zero amount of time writing a little AppleScript to automagically run a search in any of the four area library systems that share e-book resources.
Was it necessary? No. I could click through my library portal and into each separate library system for every book I want to check, one stodgy button at a time. Ho hum.
Does this script save time and my wrists and open up new worlds of possibilities?
Yes.
Was it fun to make?
Also yes:)
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* I love books, and I’m lucky enough to live in a society that supports public libraries. In fact, I made a modest donation to my local library the other day, and hope it helps bring just a little more literacy and knowledge and enjoyment to my city.
Coffee Ice Cream
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, custom fooding, ice cream, recipes, summer on August 20, 2021| 1 Comment »
I’ve loved coffee ice cream since before I drank coffee, but it’s one of those flavors that doesn’t appeal to everyone. We don’t buy a lot of ice cream and when we do, something like vanilla is more flexible.*
I’m still experimenting with our borrowed Kitchenaid ice cream maker and coffee sounded good. I modified Mark Bittman’s egg-free recipe again, and it worked for me. Perfect for a hot and sticky summer day!
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Coffee Ice Cream
Makes ~1 quart
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 C. milk (2% worked)
- 1 C. heavy cream (35%)
- 1/2 C. coffee
- 1/2 C. sugar
- 2 T. cornstarch
- 1/4 t. salt
- 1/2 t. vanilla extract
Instructions
1. Stir the cornstarch with 2 T. of the milk make a smooth slurry.
2. Put the remaining milk, cream, coffee, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan and whisk to combine. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture nearly comes to a simmer. Whisk in the cornstarch slurry and vanilla and continue to stir until the mixture thickens a bit, 2 or 3 minutes.
3. Strain the mixture into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until completely cool, at least 2 hours and preferably overnight. Transfer to an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s directions.
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* Alone, with pie, with grape juice, with orange concentrate and chocolate shavings, with caramel, with peanut butter and chocolate, with bananas and pecans, with pomegranate seeds, with lemon curd, with… you get the idea.
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The Devil’s Crutch
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, drabble, Drabble Dabble Do, family, Fiction, ghost stories, inspiration, the past, writing on August 19, 2021| Leave a Comment »
My father is going through old boxes of photographs and other memorabilia and sent me a story, one of my first, called “The Devil’s Crutch.” I couldn’t write or (as you’ll see) grasp the intricacies of grammar, geography, or complete sentences, but I dictated it to my mother.
First we have the story from when I was, what, maybe three years old? I‘ve changed since then (I can even hold a pen all by myself!), but I tried to understand at least a little of what might have been going through my head that day. Then for fun, I turned it into a drabble.
(My father seemed particularly taken by the word “smitchey.” I no longer know what it means but I kept it.)
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The Devil’s Crutch
Once upon a time there was a old, old house up in the south pole. There in the house there is a little room in the playroom and in the room there was a lot of dust. In the room there was a lot of dolls. The dolls didn’t have dust on them because a little smitchey girl had been playing with them. The house was haunted. And this couple moved in the haunted house and every night a ghost came out at twelve o’clock and every night when the ghost came out the couple woke up and saw the ghost and the ghost disappeared whenever the couple saw the ghost. The ghost disappeared. One night the father and the mother was sleeping on the sofa and the devil’s came instead of the ghost. And the owner of the crutch came to the house with the crutch and the owner of the crutch was the devil.
The End
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Once there was a haunted old house way up in the South Pole. It had a playroom of dusty dolls, a grandfather clock and a crutch like bleached bone.
A family with a smitchey little girl arrived. Every midnight the towering clock cried out. Even when the mother stopped the pendulum, and the father hid the key.
The girl saw a little ghost waving from inside the clock.
She slept huddled under the playroom table. The dolls said it was safer that way.
One night the clock stayed silent and the ghost hid.
And the owner came for his crutch.
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A Silver Lining
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, family, home, Thoughts, weather on August 18, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Thanks to the dynamics of heat, humidity, and Tropical Storm Fred muscling his way up the East Coast, most of my family members down South were under a tornado warning today.
My father texted to say that they were in the basement because tornado. Cue a round of frantic texting to make sure my hard-of-hearing mother had, in fact, heard the warning. Half an hour later the danger had passed and thankfully, everyone was ok.
Those of you living in places like Tornado Alley, the Caribbean, tsunami-prone coastal region, anywhere currently under a fire warning or similar hot spot may not be impressed, but this is one of the first times my family has had to head to the basement for safety, hunkering down like Neolithic ancestors in caves. I doubt it will be the last. Extreme weather and other such events are on the rise. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that unlike our ancestors, we have first responders, health care workers, disaster preparedness centers, and we can see it coming.
- Plan Ahead for Disasters | Ready.gov
- Prepare! Don’t Let Severe Weather Take You by Surprise
- Preparing for dealing with extreme weather – Canada.ca
Stay safe! I’m off to back up my hard drive. And to celebrate with homemade pizza and ice cream, because who doesn’t appreciate a silver lining?
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