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Posts Tagged ‘#365Ways’

A Good Tuesday

Today is Giving Tuesday, which is a reminder for me to support groups doing good work on issues I care about. For me, that usually means local animal charities like the one that rescues neighborhood kittens, food banks (for people and animals), and other groups that help people who need it. If you’re able to donate but aren’t quite sure where to start, this article might help:

Giving Tuesday: How to donate with purpose and intention

Cash is always helpful, of course, but donations can also be goods, time, service or support. And while I can’t save every kitten or cure every cataract or buy every child a book or feed every family, I can join others who care about those issues to help the groups who do.

And that’s what I call a good day.

“I’m convinced of this: Good done anywhere is good done everywhere. For a change, start by speaking to people rather than walking by them like they’re stones that don’t matter. As long as you’re breathing, it’s never too late to do some good.”

— Maya Angelou

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Obligatory picture of ridiculously cute kittens! Photo by The Lucky Neko on Unsplash

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Still working on that mushroom soup recipe.

Here’s the thing: My default recipe is a little complicated.

I don’t mean that in a bad way, but in a creative sort of way. The truth is, the recipe for this soup is straightforward. Here, I’ll lay it out for you:

  • mushrooms, lots
  • chicken stock, lots
  • sherry, ehhhh, fine, lots
  • soy sauce and pepper
  • beurre manie, more than seems reasonable (I usually use this much: 224g butter, 144g flour)
  • also but optional: onions, garlic, herbs

The devil is, of course, in the details. I wrote out the whole recipe and discovered two things. 

One, I have a hard time doing a thing the easy way. Well, that’s not entirely true. I tend to take a recipe, strip it down to the basics, then build it back up again so that it has what I consider the essentials of taste and texture. This leads to a basic recipe with many, many caveats.

And two, my memory for little things like quantities is not great. Both of these factors are further complicated by the fact that I never quite make a recipe the same way, and the point is to hand this off to people who want it to taste the way it did at a certain time (2023) and place (the wilds of northern Ontario). 

So… stay tuned!

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Photo by Christine Siracusa on Unsplash

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This image is a snapshot from my early career as a book reviewer. I was probably… eight?

Not sure why I found the word “flat” as interesting as the word “forbodes”, but I was right, I did read more Tolkien.

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Thankfully, my handwriting has improved.

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Exactly This

My mom sent me this quote and while I haven’t found a reliable attribution, it’s been around for years. So it’s not new, but it does capture my feelings about so much.

I want a simple life. I want to get up late, drink tea, and read old books. I also want a spaceship and a pet dragon.

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Photos by Joni Ludlow on Unsplash; Matthew Ball on Unsplash

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Yeah, so, it’s like this. Yesterday, Mr Man and I decided that time is fluid and also history is a human construct and why not just do Thanksgiving dinner on Friday? 

So forget what the calendars say, tonight is Thanksgiving.

And also, why is it that any time a recipe says something like “Stir constantly to reduce by 50%, or approximately half an hour,” it always ends up taking at least twice the time? Seventy-five minutes, in this case. Now I’m a little cooked from all the stove time and very behind on my schedule, but at least I don’t have to caramelize any onions.

But uh oh, I’m all out of cream.

Hmm. Maybe Thanksgiving should be tomorrow?

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Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash

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Today is work and dentist and vax and flu boosters and oh yes, Thanksgiving! 

Don’t tell him, but I got the crazy idea to make one of Mr Man’s favorite cakes. Which is complicated. And I’ve never made before! I anticipate fun.

via Giphy

While you wait for your turkey to cook, here are some helpful or at least entertaining links to help keep the conversation going:

Have a wonderful day!

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Photo by Monika Grabkowska on Unsplash

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Oh, right, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I tend to forget holidays because, paradoxically, I have two sets of them to track.

Thanksgiving? We’ve already done that, haven’t we? Yes, but no.

So today I am prepping a list of holiday-related food to make, along with a series of Plan Bs in case holiday-specific foods are not available.

Because why, Canadians might ask, would anyone look for fresh turkey or cranberries in November?

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Photo by Food Photographer | Jennifer Pallian on Unsplash

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Ever had a work day where the bottom just seems to drop out beneath you, and things spiral from bad to worse? Of course you have, everyone has, but probably few have had a day like the folks in this story:

Lake Peigneur: The Swirling Vortex of Doom

Early in the morning on November 20, 1980, twelve men decided to abandon their oil drilling rig on the suspicion that it was beginning to collapse beneath them. They had been probing for oil under the floor of Lake Peigneur when their drill suddenly seized up at about 1,230 feet below the muddy surface, and they were unable to free it. In their attempts to work the drill loose, which is normally fairly easy at that shallow depth, the men heard a series of loud pops, just before the rig tilted precariously towards the water.

Here’s hoping your day is a swirling vortex… of awesome.

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Photo by Kaleb Dortono on Unsplash

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All of history in an hour? Amazingly, yes. And if you’d like to know more, I recommend  A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

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Photo by Venti Views on Unsplash

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Lazy Sunday

“Well, imagine if we only ever did what we were supposed to…”

― Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club

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Photo by Kristina Kristina on Unsplash

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