tag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203hudebnikhudebnikhudebnik2023-12-31T14:47:16Ztag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:1120843Da Weekend2023-12-31T14:47:16Z2023-12-31T14:47:16Zpublic1Friday: house-cleaning, grocery shopping, pre-cooking, printing sheet music for music party on Saturday. One of the four people (plus one greyhound) invited reported a COVID exposure, and bailed on the music party.<br /><br />Saturday: more house-cleaning, more cooking. People started showing up a little before 11:00. Walked dogs in the park (<em>three</em> greyhounds rather than the usual two). Emptied, filled, and ran dishwasher. Served lunch: lentil soup with smoked turkey (the latter of which had been in the freezer for a year, and this was a delicious way to use it up), garlic toast. Got out recorders, viols, lute, and played various Christmas-y music for several hours. Walked dogs again, played a little more Christmas-y music. Served dinner: roast turkey, turducken hand-pies (with turkey left over from Thanksgiving, duck left over from Christmas Day, and chicken to make sure there was enough, seasoned with ginger, dates, and dried cherries), carrot slaw. Set out a plate with ~five each of six or seven different kinds of homemade cookies, and sent guests home with packets of cookies. Emptied, filled, and ran dishwasher. Put away leftovers. Decompressed. Watched animated Christmas specials. Walked dogs again.<br /><br />Sunday: Buy bubbly for midnight toast and breakfast mimosas. More house-cleaning. Walk dogs in the park. Give away a bunch of money. More cooking -- single-serving Beef Wellingtons with potatoes and either green beans or Brussels sprouts for Sunday dinner, not sure about Monday. Package and deliver boxes of cookies to neighbors. Watch Christmas-y stuff? Play shawms on the front steps at midnight?<br /><br />Monday: More house-cleaning? Walk dogs in the park? Watch Christmas-y stuff? Watch non-Christmas-y stuff?<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=1120843" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:1111712Weird health thingie2023-11-30T12:42:13Z2023-11-30T13:50:25Zpublic4Last night I made fried rice, with mixed veggies and Chinese sausage, for dinner. Within a minute or two of starting to eat, <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> said the epithelial cells in her mouth were doing something funny, and her sense of taste was off. I replied "Me too: I'm not noticing taste problems, but it feels like there's something stuck to the insides of my gums, yet when I try to scrape it off, nothing comes off." After a few minutes, including swishing water around in our mouths, the weird gum sensation went away.<br /><br />Neither of us had any subsequent gastrointestinal distress, so it wasn't the sort of food poisoning that makes you sick for 24 hours.<br /><br />I imagine it was an additive in the Chinese sausage, which was a different brand than we've bought before. But has anybody else encountered this particular symptom?<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=1111712" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:1110062Cooking, post mortem2023-11-24T18:58:36Z2023-11-25T12:25:22Zpublic0Heritage turkey, roasted on a bed of caramelized onions, came out lovely, moist, and flavorful.<br /><span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span>'s ancestral sausage stuffing came out well (although I forgot to put in the parsley, and it baked a little longer than usual as I waited for the turkey to be done).<br />Green bean casserole (from a NYT recipe in which you cook half the green beans until brown, mix the cooking liquid with roux and cream to make a white sauce, then add the other half of the beans in still-green state and bake) was delicious.<br />Our traditional "mulled-wine-flavored" cranberry sauce, from <em>Bon Appetit</em> twenty-mumble years ago, was delicious as always.<br />We hadn't planned on potatoes, but we had a bag of smallish potatoes that were starting to get soft but not yet mushy, so we boiled them and mashed them, skins and all; very tasty, although they got a bit cold waiting for the turkey.<br />We had planned on roasted carrots, but just plain forgot about them. We'll probably make them over the weekend: they're not much work.<br /><span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> always makes the gravy, in the turkey roasting pan as soon as the turkey is out and resting, and that went well; this time, for variety, she added a bit of the potato water as well as giblet broth and cider.<br />Both pies (the cranberry curd tart and the chocolate-pecan) were delicious.<br /><br />Brunch today: stuffing waffles. Beat 1-2 eggs per cup of stuffing, mix in the leftover sausage stuffing, and cook in a waffle iron for 2-3 minutes; top with gravy (of course).<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=1110062" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:1109330cooking2023-11-23T15:00:32Z2023-11-23T15:04:23Zpublic4Monday:<br />Mid-day Trader Joe's run, no line to check out. WFH FTW. ✓<br />Made cranberry sauce Monday night. ✓<br /><br />Tuesday:<br />Mid-day grocery run, no line to check out. WFH FTW. ✓<br />Made cranberry curd tart Tuesday night. ✓<br /><br />Wednesday:<br />Acquired heritage turkey. ✓<br />Bought and installed chest freezer ($200 for a 7-ft<sup>3</sup> freezer, top-rated by CR.), which we've wanted for years but which is especially appealing during leftover-generating season. ✓ <br />Made chocolate pecan pie Wednesday night. ✓<br /><br />Thursday:<br />Mass slaughter of onions has begun.<br />Anointing turkey with butter and sage before cooking.<br />Next up: sausage stuffing, green bean casserole, roasted carrots, gravy.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=1109330" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:1108642Begun the pre-cooking has2023-11-21T11:43:45Z2023-11-21T11:43:45Zpublic0Went to Trader Joe's on Sunday, but walked out when I realized that the checkout line stretched all the way around the store's perimeter, starting about twenty feet from where it ended. Went back mid-day Monday and the store was busy, but no checkout line at all. WFH FTW. Bought Merlot after dinner and made cranberry sauce last night. Still need to do a regular-grocery-store run before more pre-cooking; maybe do that mid-day today. Picking up spatchcocked heritage turkey mid-day Wednesday.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=1108642" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:1106213Cooking brown basmati rice2023-11-15T04:11:37Z2023-11-15T04:11:37Zpublic0I am not wise in the ways of Indian cooking: I've probably eaten food from an Indian restaurant a few dozen times in my life. But I like basmati rice, and I generally try to eat less-processed, higher-fiber versions of things when I can. Fortunately, my local grocery stores carry 10-pound bags of brown basmati rice.<br /><br />So for the past year or two I've been making brown basmati rice in an Instant-Pot, following directions I found on the Web: 1 cup of rice, 1-1/2 cups of water or broth, the "rice" setting followed by 20 minutes of "keep warm" before serving. And it's been OK, but not the fluffy, separate-grains texture I expect of basmati rice from a restaurant.<br /><br />The latest 10-pound bag came with cooking instructions: rinse 1 cup of rice, soak for 90-120 minutes, drain, add to 2-1/2 cups boiling water, cook uncovered until the water is absorbed, then cover and let sit for a few minutes. And the rice did come out fluffier and more separate, and with a nice aroma ... and WHITE. No hint of brown in sight. Huh? What happened?<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=1106213" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:1105620Dream journal2023-11-12T12:50:57Z2023-11-12T12:50:57Zpublic1I was in a library, and a nebbishy young guy sitting at a table asked me "What's a mode? I keep hearing about them in music; what are they?"<br /><br />I have taught a two-hour class on the theoretical side of "what's a mode", and taken a week-long hour-a-day hands-on course about what each mode "feels" like and what's distinctive about each one, and I really didn't want to get into that much detail while whispering in a library, not to mention I had my own stuff to do there. But I started on the few-sentence explanation, involving playing only white keys on the piano.<br /><br />At which point a female friend of the nebbishy guy (slender, probably in her 40's or 50's) walked over and said "And why can't he find any books about sets?"<br /><br />Umm... there are LOTS of books about sets, and one can spend semesters or years of one's life studying them, but I wasn't about to get into that. So I said "Well, it helps if you text-search" [I mimed typing on a keyboard] "rather than asking aloud, or people will think you're looking for something else." About which there are even more books available.<br /><br /><br />Probably inspired variously by attending my friend Alec's "medieval music jam" last Thursday, at which he taught a little bit of "what's a mode", and by my visit to the farmers' market yesterday where I asked "What kinds of apples do you have?" and the young guy standing next to me said "There are different kinds of apples? I thought they were all just apples."<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=1105620" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:1094600Da Weekend2023-10-01T12:03:10Z2023-10-02T11:42:25Zpublic2When it stopped raining yesterday, we went outside and planted some bulbs. And I edged the front edge of the yard with decorative bricks. And replaced the low fencing around the front sublawn. There are more bulbs to be planted, and there are still some gaps left behind by the front-walk construction, so I think we need to buy a couple of bags of topsoil, and probably some mulch -- I hope we can find some that aren't water-saturated, after the past few days of rain. And I need to bake bread today.<br /><br />[UPDATE: we planted most of the bulbs yesterday, and bought mulch, and topsoil, and potting soil, and sand (which I used to fill gaps between the brick edging and the sidewalk). The rest of the sand may be used for annealing ferrous-metal clinch nails, or something like that. Baked a loaf of sourdough bread. Picked raspberries, and turned them into a mixed-berry smoothie with yogurt and tofu.]<br /><br />I want to attach about a hundred loops to the shoulder of the tent roof, and toggles to the top of the walls, to hang the walls from the loops. Ideally, the toggles and loops would be equally spaced (in the 6"-9" range) around the perimeter, so the walls can be attached equally well wherever you start. I'm not sure that'll work, since the tent is oval rather than circular, but even if it were circular, there's another problem: how do you measure the length of a tent edge, and the distance from one toggle to the next, with sufficient accuracy that the latter divides an integer number of times into the former, with no remainder? I can measure them both in such a way that the <em>quotient</em> is whatever I want, and it'll come out pretty close, but the <em>remainder</em> is much more sensitive to measurement error. On the divisor side, the Law of Large Numbers works in my favor: if each one has an error bar of 5%, their mean has an error bar a factor of sqrt(n) (<em>i.e.</em> about ten times) smaller, or 0.5%, so the quotient is fairly predictable. But if the <em>dividend</em> has even a 1% error bar (which is quite optimistic -- it's almost 50 feet of length, measured on a heavy mound of fabric that can't be laid flat), the remainder can be literally <em>anything</em> from zero to the distance between toggles.<br /><br />Perhaps the answer is to set up several checkpoints along the way, dividing the perimeter <em>a priori</em> into halves or quarters, and reset at each checkpoint. This way each quotient is only about 25 rather than about 100, so I can have as much as a 4% error bar in the dividend before having no control whatsoever over the remainder. And if one of them comes out horribly off, I can fudge that checkpoint <em>a posteriori</em> and try to correct it gradually between that checkpoint and the next.<br /><br />About Sept. 14 or 15, I noticed a scratchy throat. On the 16th, I started coughing. It's over two weeks later now, and I'm still coughing. Two different kinds of COVID tests both reported negative, and it doesn't feel like flu (no fever, no general body aches, little or no nausea, no "my hair hurts"), but it's lasting longer than a cold usually does. Yuck. I'm due to see the doctor again on Tuesday.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=1094600" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:1014565culinary wins and losses2022-12-16T12:49:43Z2022-12-16T12:49:43Zpublic0<span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> called from work saying she wanted mac & cheese for dinner. There were a few ingredients we needed to pick up, so I went to the grocery store. No Dreamfields pasta, and she's been allegedly on a low-FODMAP diet for a few weeks, so I got two kinds of non-wheat pasta, of which the less-weird seemed to be the brown-rice fusilli. Instructions on the box say to boil for 12 minutes, not the 10 minutes typical of wheat rotini, but I was doing the Mollie Katzen recipe in which the pasta cooks in a casserole dish for 45 minutes in the liquids from the rest of the recipe rather than being boiled separately in water, so I just followed the recipe. After 45 minutes I pulled the casserole out of the oven and dolloped some onto plates, but we both concluded the pasta was really underdone, so I dolloped it back into the casserole, added a bit more buttermilk, and put it back in the oven for another 15 minutes. At which point <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> was too hungry to wait any more; the pasta was slightly less underdone, but she ate it anyway. I added some ordinary milk and put it back into the oven for yet another 15 minutes, after which the pasta was adequately done. Still not the best mac-and-cheese I've ever made.<br /><br />Also baked sourdough bread yesterday. The loaf came out of the oven gorgeous, and after only a few minutes' cooling I cut a slice to eat with butter... at which point I realized I had forgotten to add any salt to the dough, so it wasn't as flavorful as usual. Good texture, though.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=1014565" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:1013042culinary wins and losses2022-12-12T04:54:10Z2022-12-12T12:40:29Zpublic0My culinary goal for the weekend was to get the Thanksgiving turkey carcass out of the fridge. So <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> made the beginnings of a stock (water, clove-studded onions, onion skins, celery leaves, carrots, stuff like that), I segregated the remains of the carcass into white, dark, and garbage, then threw the last of these into the stockpot and boiled for an hour or two. The house smelled heavenly.<br /><br />Then I put the contents of the stockpot through a strainer, put the unctuous, delicious-smelling liquid back into the stockpot, and set it back on the stove to reduce some more.<br /><br />Time passed. <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> came up the stairs saying "Do you smell something scorchy?" Now that she mentioned it, I did. I ran downstairs to the kitchen, looked in the stockpot, and saw not unctuous liquid but a souffle-like dome of brownish black. The lovely stock was clearly ruined. I turned it off and started adding water in hopes of at least soaking the stuff off and rescuing the pot. As I added water, the dome belched at me, let out a last gasp, and collapsed into the water.<br /><br />Well, at least I salvaged the remaining meat. There's enough white meat for a couple of sandwiches, and lots of dark meat. And I completed a shopping trip for not only staples but the unusual ingredients necessary for this year's round of Christmas cookies.<br /><br />Around 9:00 the light shower of rain that had been going on all afternoon became a light shower of snow -- the first of the year -- so we had hot chocolate. Which was <em>not</em> burnt. The snow isn't sticking to the wet ground yet, but car rooves are turning white.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=1013042" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:978377Pennsic prep2022-08-01T12:04:13Z2022-08-22T12:49:01Zpublic0I made eleven Paris-pie hand-pies yesterday morning, and we split the leakiest one for lunch. Note to self: at 350°F, the pies leak a bit onto the cookie sheet, and the leakage solidifies and curdles. At 375°F, the same leakage scorches and blackens.<br /><br />I also braided a lacing cord for <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span>, about 49" long. Started with FFF beading silk, looped five times around two clamps attached to the dining-room table 60" apart; tied a slip knot in the middle, used its loop as an anchor to braid one half of the cord, then untied the slip knot, and used the loops at the braided end as an anchor to braid the other half of the cord. The only difficulty was finding the five loops after undoing the slip knot, because they had tangled around one another while I braided the first half. Perhaps if I put them on a comb, or put a weight on each of them? Still need to attach an aiglet to one end of the cord. She has some commercial aiglets of silver or silver-gilt, which would be cool, or I could just make one of sheet brass.<br /><br />I also made and attached a neck facing to a linen shirt that we just converted from one of D's smocks, and that appeared to be splitting a bit between the shoulder blades.<br /><br />I also finished machine-sewing the new valence to the tent roof, then went around the bottom of the valence with pinking shears to give it a crenellated effect. I don't want to put too much work into this 25-year-old tent, because I very much hope to have the new tent finished by next summer.<br /><br />I discovered yesterday that the trailer's registration hasn't been renewed since 2019 (a <em>lot</em> of things haven't happened since 2019!), so I probably need to go to the DMV today to renew it.<br /><br />[ETA: Went to the DMV, and it went pretty smoothly. They grumbled a little about me not having the title to the trailer, but it wasn't a blocker. They refused to let me keep using my current license plate, but handed me a new one, and don't appear to have charged me anything extra for it. Trailer is now legal. In and out in under an hour.]<br /><br />And I did some practicing on the noodly line in the Faenza piece we're doing in our concert next week. I've got it mostly off-book, but there are several passages that are <em>almost</em> the same in the A and B sections, but go different places, and I get them mixed up. I plan to perform with music in front of me, but the more memorized it is, the more fluent it'll sound.<br /><br />Meanwhile, <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> finished putting sleeves and gussets on the wool gown that she just repurposed from one of her dresses, and attached a collar. I think we'll want to put a linen lining on the collar, both for comfort and to help the collar stand up straight. She also patched some braes and smocks.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=978377" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:977544Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue2022-07-30T11:05:03Z2022-08-22T12:46:45Zpublic4Last night after dinner <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> brought a couple of pieces of wool into the dining room and asked me to stand up so she could try something on me. The "pieces of wool" are in fact an old, pale-blue GFD that no longer fits her. She cut off the bodice section and the sleeves, put shoulder seams in the skirt where the waist used to be, put arm-holes in the skirt where the hips used to be, and fit the sleeves back into the new arm-holes to make it a Greenlandish-style gown for me. Part of the bodice section is being recycled as upper-arm gores (since I have more muscular upper arms than <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> does); the lower arms, with their buttons and buttonholes intact, seem to work as-is. All terribly efficient, appropriate to "a dying colony on the edge of the civilized world". And it's old, new, borrowed, and blue, all in one item.<br /><br />Before we leave for Pennsic in a few days, I need to do a bunch of narrow-work: one or two new dress-lacing cords for her, and several hose-points for me. I need to finish attaching a new valence to our extremely-old tent. And we need to pre-cook a bunch of meat-pies for lunches, and tartlets for breakfasts. It would be nice to make some wafers, although that's lower priority. We need to write and copy a program for our concert at Pennsic. And make sure we each have enough undergarments, hosen, shoes, and outer garments for the time we're there. And check instruments for strings, reeds, etc. And pack everything we need, and nothing we don't.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=977544" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:953352Da Weekend2022-04-16T13:00:21Z2022-06-05T12:20:27Zpublic0To do:<br /><ul><br /><li>Go through set list for next week's living history show and identify pieces that need work. Maybe do a complete run-through for timing. ✓</li><br /><li>Build new music stand top.</li><br /><li>Buy groceries. ✓</li><br /><li>Find Duco cement and fix some shawm reeds.</li><br /><li>Make another harp tuning peg</li><br /><li>Easter decorations ✓</li><br /><li>Play Easter hymns on shawms on the front porch to entertain the neighbors</li><br /><li>Declutter something ✓</li><br /><li>Vacuum something</li><br /><li>Mow lawn (the parts that haven't been converted to flowers yet) ✓</li><br /><li>Plant more things in front yard ✓</li><br /><li>Start more seeds in egg cartons</li><br /><li>Pay bills</li><br /><li>Make Easter dinner (lamb-and-prune tagine, couscous, some veggie) ✓</li><br /><li>Consume mass quantities of chocolate ✓</li><br /></ul><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=953352" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:942907Today2022-03-11T17:32:20Z2022-03-12T17:22:33Zpublic0My Benevolent Employer has declared a "global reset day", <em>i.e.</em> a day off for most of its employees. I happen to have a (relatively low-demand) on-call shift this week, so I'm not entirely off, but I'm not supposed to do anything work-related other than the urgent on-call stuff. What else shall I do with the day (and, I guess, the weekend)?<br /><br /><ul><br /><li>Lift weights ✓</li><br /><li>Buy groceries ✓</li><br /><li>Make beef jerky ✓/2</li><br /><li>Bake bread ✓</li><br /><li>Taxes</li><br /><li>Pay bills</li><br /><li>Scan photos & realia from <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span>'s family photo albums</li><br /><li>Plan what to do with the bag of <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://hudebnik.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://hudebnik.dreamwidth.org/'><b>hudebnik</b></a></span> Juvenilia my mother gave me on a recent visit (high school term papers, elementary school term papers, pre-school stories I dictated to her...</li><br /><li>Install mini-fence around sublawn (which has historically been a lumpy rectangle of crabgrass, but now it has a cherry tree in the middle, surrounded by lots of bulbs that should come up Any Week Now)</li><br /><li>Ask City about the paint blazes on the aforementioned cherry tree: are they going to cut it down for the crime of having been planted without a permit?<br /><p>ETA: Called 311, got transferred to somebody who allegedly knows about street trees, and she didn't know anything about blazes like this. She suggested talking to Parks & Recreation, for which she unfortunately didn't have a phone number. I looked them up on the Web, and they don't <em>have</em> a phone number -- nor an e-mail address -- which must save them a lot of staff time answering questions from the public. The Web site suggests calling 311. Or writing to them on paper. ✓/2</p></li><br /></ul><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=942907" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:923386Happy Christmas, Sunny Solstice, and Shabbat Sholom!2021-12-25T14:00:34Z2021-12-25T14:00:34Zpublic2Yesterday: made two batches of cookies, a batch of "June-bug" chili (with whole almonds playing the title role), and a loaf of sourdough bread. Watched a Festival of Lessons and Carols from York Minster. Watched "Rudolph". Got to bed close to 1 AM after watching Christmas Eve service from the National Cathedral. Up at 2 AM to walk a sick dog. Up again at 8 AM to walk a sick dog. He'll probably be over it by tomorrow, but today bodes ill.<br /><br />I dreamed that I had written a filk song (to some Simon & Garfunkel tune) and was premiering it before an audience, with some anxiety over whether they would get it and laugh at the right places, and I discovered that if you use the wrong word <em>here</em>, it confuses the audience so they don't get the joke <em>there</em>.<br /><br />Today: make and eat our traditional Christmas-morning poffertjes/aebleskiver. Open prezzies. Make sausage stuffing, make some kind of green vegetable, heat a smoked turkey and eat that for dinner. Walk dogs a couple of times. If it stops raining, play some medieval Christmas music on shawms from the front steps. We have out-of-town friends coming over for dinner tomorrow night, so there will need to be cleaning and grocery-shopping, of which the grocery-shopping can probably wait until tomorrow.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=923386" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:918120From the Cultural Appropriation Desk...2021-11-29T11:51:58Z2021-11-29T11:51:58Zpublic1... we had the traditional Hanukkah potato latkes, with a moderately-high-protein side of Thanksgiving stuffing (made, of course, with pork sausage).<br /><br />As far as potato pancakes are concerned, we're a mixed marriage: <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> is firmly in the sour-cream camp, while I lean towards applesauce. We seldom have either in the house, so we usually use full-fat Greek yogurt. This time not only did we have actual sour cream, but we also had cranberry-apple-jalapeño salsa left over from Thanksgiving, as a stand-in for applesauce, and it worked surprisingly well. We also had leftover Thanksgiving turkey-pan-drippings gravy, which <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> suggested for the stuffing, but I tried some on a latke (hey, it's potato, right?) and that worked pretty well too. And for afters, a slice each of cranberry-curd tart in an almond-meal crust.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=918120" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:916946Culinary post-mortem2021-11-26T12:57:49Z2021-11-26T13:00:03Zpublic0We were invited to a friend's house for Thanksgiving dinner, but neither of us was particularly up for socializing this year so we declined, and planned a relatively-small, relatively-simple Thanksgiving dinner for two. We were both working Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, so the only thing that got pre-cooked was the roasted green beans with red onions, garlic, and balsamic vinegar.<br /><br />About ten years ago we got a heritage turkey from a farm at the Greenmarket, roasted it for Thanksgiving, and were astounded by the flavor. Ever since then we've been pre-ordering a turkey from a farm at the Greenmarket, and they've been good but not OMG-wonderful-didn't-know-it-could-be-like-this. And it turns out they haven't been heritage-breed: they're pretty much the same turkeys you would get at the grocery store, just slightly better fed and more-humanely raised. So this year we switched suppliers and made sure to get a heritage-breed turkey, which I drove into Brooklyn to pick up on Wednesday. The butcher offered spatchcocking for no extra charge, so we took that option. Dry-brined it Wednesday evening (all the recipes say "at least 24 hours", but I figured late was better than nothing). The bird weighed in at a little under 11 pounds, so I figured the cooking time would be less than recommended in our usual recipe for a 15-16-pound turkey, but I wasn't sure how much less. I turned on the oven about 10 AM, roasted some sliced onions in the pan (sliced thicker this year so they wouldn't scorch as easily) for an hour, applied butter and sage leaves under the skin of the bird, and added it to the roasting pan on top of the onions around 11:30 or noon.<br /><br />And somewhere in there I browned some sausage, added onions and celery and peppers and seasoned croutons and broth, and put the stuffing in a casserole dish.<br /><br />After the bird had half an hour at nominally 425°F (according to the oven thermostat; the two third-party oven thermometers usually agree with one another that it's about 50°F below what the thermostat says), we turned the oven down to a convection-aided roast at nominal 350°F, added a cup of broth, set the timer for two hours, and I walked to the grocery store for the traditional Thanksgiving-day One Missing Essential Ingredient And If You're Going To The Store Anyway You Might As Well Get All These Other Things Too. It was a gorgeous day for a walk, even with a bag of groceries.<br /><br />Somewhere in here <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> mixed up ingredients for cranberry-jalapeño-apple salsa (a change from the usual mulled-wine-spiced cranberry sauce, because for Reasons we had about two dozen apples of various varieties in the fridge), and I washed some baby potatoes, poured them into a small baking pan, sprinkled them with ground salt and pepper, and dabbed them with duck fat.<br /><br />The stuffing went into the oven on the rack above the turkey when there were about 20-30 minutes left on the timer, followed a few minutes later by the potatoes. The timer went off, I pulled the turkey out, stuck an instant-read thermometer into the thigh, and it already said 175°F. In another place, it said 185°F. And similarly in a couple of other places, so I announced the bird was done and dinner would be at least half an hour earlier than planned. I cleared and set the table while <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> made gravy from the pan drippings and giblets and the bird rested at room temperature.<br /><br />Verdict: the turkey was more flavorful than usual, but some of that was salt -- perhaps insufficiently-absorbed rub because it hadn't had long enough to dry-brine? It wasn't as moist as we would have liked, but OK, and we've certainly had drier turkey-breast many times in our lives. The salsa was a hit. The gravy was good, if a little on the salty side. The green beans were OK, although I think they should have had more time to come back to room temperature. The sausage stuffing was as good as it has been every year of our married life. We split a bottle of "Hotspur" cider (from Trader Joe's?) (<span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> had used another bottle of the same in the gravy), and that was tasty.<br /><br />After dinner we put away the leftovers, started the dishwasher, and took the hounds for a walk in the park. Dessert was raspberry-crumble bars (to which we had added a layer of chocolate because we could, and which had been in the fridge for weeks) with vanilla ice cream.<br /><br />There are a lot of Orthodox Jews in our neighborhood. I don't know how many of them celebrate Thanksgiving, but it occurred to me that Thanksgiving is basically the same as most Jewish holidays: "They tried to kill us; we survived; let's eat!". Although the "they" for early-17c European settlers in North America was not a malevolent enemy but a morally-neutral combination of starvation, disease, and weather.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=916946" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:914924Da Weekend2021-11-20T14:15:51Z2021-11-21T01:19:56Zpublic0To do:<br /><ul><br /><li>Plant remaining bulbs in sublawn ✓/2</li><br /><li>Buy stuff at farm stand in Forest Park ✓</li><br /><li>Clean some part of the house</li><br /><li>Plan Thanksgiving dinner ✓</li><br /><li>Use up stuff in fridge to make room for Thanksgiving</li><br /><li>Christmas shopping</li><br /><li>Play medieval music (towards Sooper Seekrit Project)</li><br /><li>Walk dogs in park ✓</li><br /><li>Make warm coat for Archie (who arrived in summer; he can wear Luna's if need be, but it's not his colors)</li><br /><li>Pay bills</li><br /><li>Fix somethin ✓</li><br /><li>Pick raspberries ✓</li><br /><li>Buy groceries ✓</li><br /></ul><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=914924" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:877469To Do with What's Left of the Weekend2021-07-11T14:40:57Z2021-07-12T10:54:30Zpublic2The raspberry bushes have been producing 2-4 cups of berries per day, which is a problem. Yesterday I threw out about 5 cups of raspberries that had gone moldy in the fridge (and <em>now</em> I see <a href="https://www.bonappetit.com/story/berry-storage-tips">this article on how to keep fresh berries</a>), turned another 4 cups into a batch of raspberry crumble bars, and made a batch of raspberry turnovers (with filling left over from the previous batch of raspberry turnovers, which inexplicably ran out of dough long before running out of filling). Also started a batch of bread dough, which has been rising overnight and is probably ready to turn into a loaf now. And picked up a batch of stuff from the CSA yesterday, including a double cheese share to make up for a week we were out of town, so the fridge is pretty tightly packed. We know what to do with the salad greens, and have ideas for the feta, red scallions, and green garlic. Need to think of things to do with the fennel, and the kohlrabi, and the radishes. <br /><br />Still to do:<br /><ul><br /><li>mow the lawn ✓</li><br /><li>refresh moth traps and/or parasitic wasps on quince trees ✓</li><br /><li>bake bread ✓</li><br /><li>some $TECHJOB work: I'm not on pager this week, but on a shift that needs some things done over the weekend ✓</li><br /><li>clear the dining room table</li><br /><li>vacuum some part of the house</li><br /><li>contact book-rehoming people to arrange a donation</li><br /></ul><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=877469" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:865049Scientific Progress Goes Splort2021-05-20T11:31:18Z2021-05-20T11:32:33Zpublic3The last few batches of bread have taken a long time to rise. They all did eventually, but last weekend's bread showed no activity at all for about 24 hours, and it was about 48 hours from start to baked loaf. And the starter jar has been smelling not so much of sourdough as of vinegar. So I looked in the freezer for a frozen backup, and found two. One was completely unlabelled, the other helpfully labelled "sourdough", so I thawed them both, put them in two separate containers, and fed them, alongside the already-running vinegary starter. After 24 hours there was very little activity in any of the three jars, although the other two at least didn't smell vinegary, and I was about to resign myself to mail-ordering a new sourdough starter.<br /><br />Then Tuesday morning I came into the kitchen to see this:<br /><a href="https://hudebnik.dreamwidth.org/file/13149.jpg"><img src="https://hudebnik.dreamwidth.org/file/100x100/13149.jpg" title="three starters" /></a><br />(Note that all three lids were on loosely.)<br /><br />I guess I know which one is active. I threw out the other two, fed this one some more, put a quarter-cup into the freezer, and am ready for this weekend's batch of bread.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=865049" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:821246Dream journal2021-01-03T12:28:54Z2021-01-03T12:28:54Zpublic2I was taking some kind of class from Adam Gilbert [a fabulous early-music teacher currently at USC], in a nondescript white classroom. He left the room to get something from his office down the hall, and while he was away, I turned to Macsen (who was sitting next to me in the class) and tried to teach him some three-against-two rhythm exercises. He was interested until he wasn't. Then Adam came back to the classroom with a loaf each of five different kinds of homemade bread. I pulled out one of my own and joked that I'd missed the memo and only brought one kind.<br /><br />Boy, this entry gets <em>lots</em> of tags that don't normally go together....<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=821246" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:812344A mostly normal Thanksgiving2020-11-27T13:14:57Z2020-11-27T13:14:57Zpublic4Many of my friends and acquaintances have been struggling with doing a much smaller Thanksgiving gathering than usual. But for most of the past ten years, our Thanksgiving dinner has been just <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> and me, so we didn't have any particular struggle. There were only a few slightly unusual twists.<br /><br />We had a CSA farm-share this year. This sounded to me both politically correct and fun: we'd be supporting local businesses, and getting whatever fruits and vegetables were at the peak of their season, rather than getting the same things every month of the year, and this would force us to try some new things. But I'm an INTP. <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> is an INTJ, and likes to know (and choose) exactly what she's getting; the idea of buying groceries without knowing in advance exactly what they'll be or what we'll do with them disturbs her and suggests a lack of moral integrity. For example, she isn't fond of winter squash or sweet potatoes, both of which we've gotten in recent weeks, and we got about twenty apples of undisclosed variety that she wouldn't have bought of her own accord (they're clearly not Delicious, Fuji, or Gala, which we wouldn't have bought, nor are they Honeycrisp, Mutsu, Granny Smith, or Gold Rush, which we might have). But since we had these things in the house, she gamely found a recipe for a baked squash-apple casserole that she was willing to try for Thanksgiving. I baked 2-1/2 "honeynut" squashes (basically single-serving-sized butternuts, with orange flesh; another 1-1/2 squashes had been sitting around too long and were discarded), scooped out the flesh, peeled and cut up about five small apples, fried the apples in butter and cinnamon, mashed all this stuff together into a casserole dish, baked it, and topped with spiced-and-sugared pecans (which we would ordinarily buy at TJ's, but we haven't braved the line for TJ's since March so we made them ourselves), and we both liked it quite a bit. I may have to eat all the sweet potatoes myself.<br /><br />Some years ago <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> had come across a recipe for "schadenfreude pie" -- dark, bitter, and sweet -- and had planned to make some in celebration of Trump losing re-election. But since "Trump losing re-election" hasn't happened at any one particular time, but has instead been drawn out over the course of several weeks, we hadn't found the right opportunity. So we made it two days before Thanksgiving. It's vaguely like a pecan or Derby pie, with corn syrup and eggs playing a major role, plus dark molasses, dark chocolate, cinnamon, and Kahlua. We had a bit more filling than would fit in our pie crust, so I poured the extra into two single-serving custard cups and baked them alongside the pie to try immediately. The custard cups overcooked a bit, so all this sugar produced a sticky-crunchy toffee effect, and our expectations were suitably lowered for the pie. We had 1/16 slices of the pie after Thanksgiving dinner, and were gratified that it wasn't so overcooked, but still, the predominant flavor was molasses, with scarcely a hint of all that dark chocolate. It's OK, not great, not clearly worth all those carbs. We might try it again with less molasses and more chocolate, or we might just go back to the chocolate-pecan pie recipe we made last year, which went over well.<br /><br />I used the bits of it left on <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span>'s plate to bait some mousetraps, hoping that once the mice have stolen a few pieces of it they'd be sufficiently buzzed and jittery to make a false move on the next mousetrap. It seems to have worked: the body count this morning is three (3), with several more traps cleanly de-baited.<br /><br />As usual, we pre-ordered a turkey from a stand at the farmer's market. The first time we did this it was a heritage breed (Bourbon Red, I think) and the flavor was OMG wonderful where-have-you-been-all-my-life. In subsequent years we haven't managed to find a Bourbon Red, just a turkey raised relatively-humanely by a relatively-small, relatively-local farmer, with mostly-organic feed, and the flavor has been quite good. This year we didn't even order a turkey until a week before Thanksgiving, and ended up with the usual supplier. But when I went to the Greenmarket last weekend to pick it up, the lady behind the counter said "They came in big this year." "Oh, dear; it's just the two of us, but leftovers are good..." "I'll give you a relatively small one of our large birds. Let's see... this one is 21.6 pounds...." So fitting it in the fridge for four days before roasting was a challenge, and it took somewhat longer to cook than usual, and fitting it back in the fridge after roasting was a challenge, and fitting the carcass into a stockpot will eventually be a challenge. We also tried "dry-brining" -- rubbing it under the skin with a mix of coarse salt and spices, a day or more before cooking -- and that seems to have worked well, although it made the gravy-from-pan-drippings a bit on the salty side. Anyway, the breast meat came out perfectly cooked, not dry, and flavorful; haven't tried any of the dark meat yet.<br /><br />The other dishes on the table were more traditional: <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span>'s ancestral sausage stuffing, a mulled-wine cranberry sauce, a green-bean casserole with cream-of-whatever soup from a can and crunchy onion things from another can, and cranberry-curd pie, which is on its third year in our house and is now therefore Tradition. And they all turned out well, and we have leftovers of all of them, and life is good.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=812344" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:809515Le Weekend2020-11-15T13:12:30Z2020-11-15T13:12:30Zpublic1I started a batch of sourdough bread dough Friday evening, and was persuaded Saturday morning to use it for croissants rather than bread, so I worked in a stick of butter that wouldn't normally have been in a bread dough. But the croissant recipe I was using as inspiration has <em>four</em> sticks of butter, rolled into a plate, chilled, and folded repeatedly inside the dough. I wasn't convinced I could do the full rolling-chilling-folding-rolling-folding-rolling-folding thing at this point, and it had leaked a lot of butter out the edges the last time I tried, but I sliced another stick of butter into pats, arranged them in the middle of the rolled-out dough, and folded both ends over it, then rolled it out again, rotated 90 degrees, and folded both ends over the middle again for at least an approximation of how they're supposed to work. The croissant recipe also calls for sugar, and I left that out. Eventually I used half of the dough to make half a dozen croissants, and shaped the rest into a smallish loaf, which will presumably be very buttery bread. We'll see how they turn out.<br /><br />Spent an hour or two yesterday raking and mowing the front lawn, and moved a couple of potted plants (one Thai-basil, two Thai chili-pepper) from the back yard to the enclosed porch before it gets too cold for them.<br /><br /><span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> and I hung up a couple of posters in the recently-renovated office. We still have to triage and re-shelve about a thousand books in the office, and there's some wall space still un-covered with artwork, and we still have to install the wooden blinds in the windows (they're just propped up in place now). And we need to get the radiator fixed or replaced, because when I turned it on after the contractors moved it two inches out from the wall (to clear the new window frames) it leaked water on the floor. And while we're at that, we should get the radiator in <em>our</em> bedroom fixed: for at least the last five years it's been very reluctant to heat up, and only one end at the best of times. I sent out a CFP on Angie's List a few days ago.<br /><br />And we had an hour and a half music class yesterday afternoon, on "ornamentation for wind players". We didn't get a lot of specific advice we didn't already know, and we already have Ganassi, Ortiz, Conforto, etc. but the teacher had dug up a lot of fascinating textual references -- people in the 16th century advising one another how to or how not to ornament, describing particularly compelling or offensive performances they'd heard, etc.<br /><br />I spent an hour or so helping with <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span>'s construction of the #capecult Edwardian cape that all the historical-costume-vloggers are doing this year. Having previously gotten at least one piece inserted backwards, she wanted to be reassured that all the pieces were in the correct orientation, and I concluded that the shell pieces were correct (albeit one sleeve two inches longer than the other), but the sleeve pieces of the lining were swapped left-for-right. (This is an easier mistake to make than it sounds, because the sleeve pieces of this cape are basically rounded triangles, almost-but-not-quite equilateral.) Fortunately, they were only pinned in place, not stitched, so I pinned all the lining pieces to their corresponding shell pieces in the ultimate orientations, things matched up pretty well, and she was able to put the thing on with all the pieces as a sanity check. So I think it'll be sewn together by the end of today.<br /><br />This morning I'm scheduled to pick up a CSA farm share, followed by the usual angst about how to fit it all into the fridge, then to donate blood mid-day, then we have a music class at 3, then another music class at 6. It'll be busy.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=809515" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:781246Culinary Note to Self2020-07-31T11:19:29Z2020-07-31T11:19:29Zpublic0An IPA whose label uses the words "homicidally hoppy" and "mortal combat" (in small print) is NOT a drop-in substitute for Bass ale in cooking sausages.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=781246" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2016-12-28:2648203:779746A strange day2020-07-26T12:05:46Z2020-07-26T12:05:46Zpublic1Baked a successful loaf of bread yesterday (the previous batch, made with starter that had been underexercised and underfed due to a week without an oven, was nearly inedible).<br /><br />Also made sourdough croissant dough, which has now been shaped and left in the fridge overnight. This is the second time I've made croissants. The first time was a recipe that's basically pie crust plus yeast (with little cubes of butter cut into the flour before adding a little bit of liquid). I couldn't find that recipe this time, so I used a different one that calls for rolling out the butter on parchment paper, refrigerating it, then wrapping it in rolled-out yeast-raised dough, then folding and rolling several more times. It's much more work; we'll see this morning whether the results are possibly worth it.<br /><br /><span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shalmestere.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shalmestere</b></a></span> and I both spent way too much time yesterday chasing down genealogical links on ancestry.com. I found at least four ancestors who owned slaves, according to either U.S. census records or estate inventories; one early-18th-century estate inventory even included names and genders for most of the slaves (as well as estimated values -- 28 pounds for an adult male, 26 for an adult female, 5-15 for children of various ages). I had always assumed that most of my ancestors, even if they had wanted to own slaves, were too poor to do so or didn't live in a place where slavery was a thing. But no, this guy was a military Colonel, a lawyer, a substantial land-owner, a member of the Maryland House of Burgesses, and the owner of 13 slaves at his death. Anyway, this was sobering.<br /><br />We also spent a while trying to record two shawm tracks of a four-part Renaissance piece (while listening through headphones to the two tracks we'd already recorded). We only have about half a dozen takes in us before we get too frustrated, lip-tired, or overheated (because we turn off the air conditioner before hitting the "record" button), and none of last night's worked.<br /><br />This morning's adventure: I'll shortly take the granny-cart 2/3 of a mile away to pick up our biweekly CSA share, stop at a grocery on the way home, then spend some time fitting things into the fridge. Then probably mowing the lawn and miscellaneous household tidying.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=hudebnik&ditemid=779746" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments