It’s nice to have your friends for dinner

The Second Donner Party at Tuffet Manor was quite fun, indeed. Everyone brought cannibal-themed food, and much whiskey was consumed (though not really by me, I swear). All-in-all, a great night.

The 25th of January is Robert Burns’ birthday, and in the tradition of a Burns Night Supper, I decided to try my hand at a vegetarian haggis.* The real thing is made with oats, onions, herbs, and sheep organs (heart, liver, lungs) all boiled together in a sheep’s stomach. It sounds dreadful, but looking at photos makes it seem far less disgusting somehow. It just looks like an oat-based casserole. I started with this recipe from the Vegetarian Society of the UK. I made the following modifications to fit my tastes and available ingredients:

1. Soybean oil instead of sunflower oil
2. Brown lentils instead of red
3. Cashews instead of peanuts and hazelnuts
4. Omitted the soy sauce
5. Fresh parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme instead of dried thyme and rosemary and “mixed spice” (whatever that means)
6. Omitted the cayenne pepper (only because I forgot to put it in)
7. Assumed “fine oatmeal” meant steel cut oats, which is what I saw as an ingredient in many other recipes; and I only used 7 oz instead of 8, because my measuring device only held 7 oz and I didn’t think it needed the extra 1 oz.
8. Added celery and garlic to the onions
9. EDIT TO ADD: I can’t believe I forgot to mention this when making the list, but I added 1/3 cup scotch to the vegetable stock. Many recipes called for as much as a half cup, but I thought that would be a bit too strong.

Basically you sautee the veggies, add the stock, lentils, oats, and seasonings, and simmer for a while. Then plop the mixture into a dish and bake at 375 for a half hour or so. It was pretty tasty, and I’m definitely going to make it again.

The ingredients for this version look far tastier than their traditional counterparts (emphasis on the “parts”). I do so enjoy being a vegetarian.

The smell of all the veggies cooking away was absolutely amazing. I usually hate mushrooms, but only because of their texture. If they’re cut up small enough, I get to enjoy their flavor without being grossed out. Everything in this dish is to be chopped quite finely.

After the veggies have cooked a while, add part of the stock and the oats and lentils. Blend the kidney beans with the remaining stock, then stir into the pot.

Simmer for a while until the oats and lentils are partially cooked, around 20 minutes or so. Turn out into the oiled baking dish and bake at 375 F for about a half hour.

Boil up some potatoes and turnips, mash and season separately. I used a bit of Earth Balance margarine, salt and pepper, and a bit of nutritional yeast.

And there you have it: vegetarian haggis with neeps and tatties. (This one is a wee bit blurrier than the rest, as I forgot my camera and took these photos with my phone.)

Here’s only a portion of the whole spread: hand-cake (better than face-cake, so I’ve heard), various and sundry meaty things named after fleshy and bony bits, vegan chili (made with free-range vegans), sloppy Joes (made with bits of Joe), and our delicious vegan haggis. NOM!

My favorite dish brought to the gathering was of course, the Spotted Dick and Jammy Balls.

*A sin against God, so it is said.

NYC, Eddie, and Me

… And my neice, and hopefully some Tim Burton jut to keep things extra interesting.

I’m off to NYC tomorrow (well, later today, I suppose) and will be meeting my neice, Serina, in Manhattan just in time for to see Eddie Izzard at Madison Square Garden. I saw him in Boston several years ago, and he was amazingly hilarious. At one point I had been laughing so hard I was unable to laugh any further… I just sort of stopped and stared. It was that good. Anyway, the show tomorrow should be pretty great, or so I’ve heard.

I haven’t been to NYC in years, and never without some sort of guide. Once I’m there it’s sure to be great fun, but getting there and navigating myself around the city has me a little nervous. (Perhaps I should sleep. Or pack. Ugh.) I’m really looking forward to the trip, especially since I get to stay in the Library Hotel. Ever since that opened, I’ve wanted to stay there. And we’re going to try to check out the Tim Burton retrospective at the MoMA on Sunday. The last time I was in NYC was in 2001 for the Giacometti retro at the same place. Should be pretty good.
Coming back in the wee hours on Sunday/Monday. Whew.

Right, so… that’s the plan.

Birthday shenanigans

My birthday is on the 19th of this month. I shall, however, be in Baltimore. New England friends are invited to celebrate with me instead on the 12th.

The party starts around 7pm this Saturday. Our house. Potluck, please (we are sorely broke this year). I was hoping for dinner-type foods (rather than just all party snacks). Our kitchen is open if you need to cook anything.

I do hope you can make it.

I smell an epic weekend approaching.

Thursday: Work all day, then give yarn spinning demo in New Bedford. You should totally come. To New Bedford. Not to work with me. That’d be weird. The demo will be at TL6 The Gallery (100 William Street, New Bedford, MA).

Immediately after the demo, I drive (all night) down to Maryland. Hopefully reaching my parents’ house without incident. Take a nap. Then later Friday morning I head to a funeral for a woman who I knew when we were teens. We sang together in church choir. She was pretty much the sweetest person ever, and it’s really, really sad.

Friday: After the funeral, I head immediately out to Philly to watch the WFTDA roller derby national championships. It’s going to be so great. I’m going to be exhausted. I might miss a bit of opening ceremonies, but hopefully I’ll get there in time to see a bout or two Friday evening.

The tournament goes all weekend, with parties going all night, I expect. Then on Sunday I head back and resume my regularly scheduled programming, returning to work on Monday morning.

Yikes. Pretty sure I’m going to be running on adrenaline, caffeine, and enthusiasm in order to get through all that.

That’s the plan, anyway. I’ll let you know how it goes. Expect internet silence from me until I return to life on Monday. As usual, I’ll be permenantly attached to my phone, so you know, you can text me and stuff.

Wish me luck!

upcoming fun times:

Please mark your calendars with a notation regarding the following upcoming super great fun times of awesomeness:

Friday, November 20, 7:30pm – Arkham Horror game night!

Saturday, December 12, 7pm – A Birthday party for ME! YAY!

And if you’re interested in joining a book club, I’m starting one. The first book we’re reading is Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles, and our first meeting is Friday, December 11, around 8:30 pm somewhere in Providence, most likely. More info on that is forthcoming, obviously.

Let me know if you’d like to come to any of these! YAY!

ctl alt del

Life reboot.

Summer has ended. Fall is nearly over. Winter will be upon us shortly.

My brain is permanently wired to the academic calendar. I was a student until I was 30 and now I work at an academic institution, so September always feels more like the start of a new year than January ever does.

Every fall I get a burst of energy and I have to constantly carry around a note pad because I can’t turn off my brain. (Alas, this renewed zest does nothing for the powers of my memory, hence the note pad.) The cooler temperatures allow my brain to actually engage in thought other than “Dear God, could it get any hotter and could I feel any more disgusting?” I’m finally able to accomplish things that had previously only been vague plans. The summer is always so busy what with parties and derby business and such, that I never get the time to work on any of my other fun projects.

The fall is actually even busier for me, but somehow everything seems easier than it does any other time of year. Fresh perspective, ideas, adventures, parties… it all seems to fit together so much better than in the spring or summer. I usually just feel overwhelmed with all of my obligations, but during the fall, I feel like I can accomplish it all and still maintain my sanity.

I have a zillion and one things going on as per usual, but I think it can still be managed. All it takes is planning. And stamina.

The last year has been very busy and still managed to have a flavor of stagnation about it. It’s been a very disorganized year, to the point where I have felt disconcertingly out of control at times – as if I were treading mud – wearing myself out and not really getting anywhere. It’s been an especially non-crafty year, too. I’ve had the odd project here and there, but I haven’t spent this long away from craftiness… ever, I think. I’m finally getting my crafty mojo back, about which I’m very happy, indeed. The same with reading.

Actually, it’s been more than just this past year. Maybe the last two years. I’ve been out of grad school, and playing roller derby. Two major events (one ending, and one starting), never mind the grueling (and seemingly never-ending) job search, so it’s no wonder it’s taken me a long while to figure out a good rhythm for my life. I use my commuting time to catch up on sleep, instead of reading and crafting as I had done before. Oh, and the place is a wreck, so nothing I need for various projects is within easy grasp. My default is to just zone out on the computer rather than to actually accomplish anything useful at home.

But I’m beginning to (slowly) get my life resembling some sort of slightly organized mess. Anyway, here’s a list of what’s been going on in the recent past, and what’s planned for the near future:

1. Rollah Derby, Hey! It was a great season. The Old Money Honeys made it to the home championship, but lost to the Rats. No worries, though, because I won MVP for my team. It was a pretty sweet moment. I wasn’t able to play in the last two Bees bouts (against Rochester and Pioneer Valley), so my season ended a wee bit earlier than everyone else. We’re in the off season now, tidying up the loose ends for this season and planning for the next. We’re in the height of recruiting at the moment, and I’m on the recruiting committee. It’s been crazy. I’m answering derby-related emails at least two or more hours each day. We’ve got over 100 people on our recruiting list, and at least 40 of them have been coming to our recruiting events, and will most likely stick around for tryouts in January. Yes, we’re having tryouts this year! We’ve got so may people interested that we can’t possibly take everyone. That means that only the most motivated will stick around, which is pretty sweet. I’m definitely looking forward to the 2010 season. I’m also going to Philadelphia for the National Championships. It’s going to be so much fun!

2. Work – MIT has hired me nearly full-time (still a no-benefits part-timer, but it’s WAY better than before and I’m breathing a little easier for having the extra hours). I’m now doing more collections-type work, in addition to the reference assisting (which consists mostly of photocopying for researchers). I get to help with new accessions and some processing. So far the learning curve hasn’t been that steep, but it’s been a little wonky due to shifting work-flows and what not. The short version is that I’m really enjoying it and get to use my brain. I’m also there five days a week, and I’ve got my own desk in a cube with a big window. In other work-related news, I survived my first SeptOber working King Richard’s Faire. It was tremendously fun. I met some really great people and made a few new friends. I’ve even been invited to work at a few Cons next year (steampunk and sci-fi), which is probably one of the coolest and geekiest things ever. I plan on documenting those adventures in a photoblog of sorts.

3. Craftiness – After ages and ages of non-knitting, I’ve finally got projects on the needles (on which I’m actively working) and I’m finally back at the wheel. I ordered a bunch of fiber from Cranberry Moon Farm (a few different wools as well as a wool/alpaca blend) and have been getting back into the groove. I’ve been invited to do a spinning demo at AHA Night next week. On Thursday, November 12, from 6-9pm I’ll be at TL6 The Gallery (100 William Street, New Bedford, MA). If I get enough spun I’ll have a few skeins to sell (though I doubt I will). Maybe I’ll have some other things done up to sell (gnomes and mushrooms, perhaps?) The details are still loose at this time, but I’ve been invited to sell my stuff there, and I’ve got to put myself on a production schedule, because I’m absolutely useless without deadlines. I also borrowed a sewing machine and can therefore get caught up on some of the derby-related clothes I’ve been trying to make these last few months. I still haven’t gotten my screen printing stuff together, though, so they won’t be ready for sale until I get that all set up. Soon, though, especially now that I’m getting my work space a bit more useable. I sense an intense house-purge very soon. We have too much crap. We also have a ton of awesome stuff, which tends to get lost among the clutter. And Christmas will be upon us very soon. Luckily I’m only knitting for a few people, so it shouldn’t be too terribly taxing (she says with much trepidation).

4. Currently reading – Andromeda Klein (Frank Portman), Juliet, Naked (Nick Hornby), as well as a few others that I’ve picked up and put down in recent weeks. The first two, though, are ones that I’m actively reading. So far I love both. Portman is responsible for one of the best books about high school kids ever, King Dork. While KD was told from a teen boy’s perspective, AK has a girl protagonist, and I love her. It’s also got tarot cards, ghosts, and other spooky things. Plus it’s wicked funny. Juliet is great, too. Hornby does what he does very well, with the music and the characters and what not. I just have to remember to actually one of them on the train with me so I can actually finish reading them. I’m also starting a book club with a friend, so that’ll keep me reading. The first pick is Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles. It looks like an interesting read. And if I hate it, at least I’ll have something to talk about at book club. (We’re also most likely going to be a rather boosey club, seeing as how the members thus far are fellow derby gals. Perhaps I should use one of the clever names I had on reserve for my non-existent booze blog? How about the Literale Society?)

5. Socialite – I have no unplanned weekends from here until after the New Year. It’s been that way since Labor Day. It’s insane. But I love it. I am much better about keeping my calendar and planner up to date these days to keep up with all the parties and stuff. Halloween was a blast! I’m so glad so many people made it to our party. I didn’t really know how many to expect, since there were birthday parties and other Halloween parties going on the same night. The next event Chez Nous will be a game night. I want to play Arkham Horror, but if there are more people coming than can play that game, we have a bunch of other games to have several going on at once. Plus, we have darts, too. Mark your calendars for Friday, November 20, 7:30 pm. Potluck. I’ll make a Facebook event invite thingie. I also have plans to travel to Maryland for both Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. I was terribly homesick last year on my birthday and Christmas, so I’m planning ahead this year.

Whew. That’s the news for now. As usual, I have a bunch of pictures from this Fall but have not uploaded any of them to any sort of photo sharing site. I’m lame. I might get to it. Maybe. Pretty sure I need a functioning Time Turner to get all this done, but we’ll see how I do. Oh, and I could use an airship. Some jerk stole mine, and I haven’t gotten it back yet.

Chrononauts AWAY!

Quebec to Maryland

It’s been a busy week:

The Killah Bees went to Montréal. We lost 84-18, alas. But the Riveters beat the Montréal all star team by 100 points, so the night ended well at least. There were fun shenanigans at the after party, and then at the after-after party. None of which shall be divulged here, to protect the not-so-innocent. The drive back to MA was long and arduous, especially considering I had only gotten 5 hours of sleep (total) all weekend. When I got home, I had a couple of hours to pack and get ready for the long trip down to Maryland. We left at 10pm, and JeT drove most of the way. We arrived in Baltimore around 6 am.

JeT and I sat on my friend’s house and cats for a week. Cats were cool, house was awesome. We spent most of our days lazing around the house, and the evenings at local bars. It was too hot and humid to think, so we rarely ventured outside in daylight hours. We did walk The Avenue in Hampden one day, but that was pretty much it. My love of Baltimore has more to do with the people who live there, rather than the place itself. And I have to say, I’ve had more Natty Boh this past week than I have my ENTIRE life. Even when at Max’s Taphouse I started with the good beer, but when my other friends joined us, they kept buying me Boh. It’s cheap and/or free, so I wasn’t complaining.

I’m spending the last week here down in The County visiting my folks. Mum’s still in Canada, but Dad’s here, and I’ll get to see one of my nieces, and hopefully my brothers and nephews. I suck at playing Cruise Director, but I’m trying to plan meet-ups with various friends in the area. I won’t be able to fit everyone in, unfortunately. Even though I have a week here, I just can’t do it all, and I’m trying to not stress out about any potential hurt feelings. Everyone just needs to be on vacation at the same time as me so we can all meet up. Is that too much to ask?

I didn’t take many photos in Baltimore, because my batteries ran out and I forgot my charger, and I kept forgetting to buy new batteries. (And because I’m lame and kept forgetting my camera when going out.) I’ll try to remedy that soon. I’ve gotten a few good ones, though. And since all I’ve been doing is hanging out, a few choice photos are good enough.

I uploaded the photos from my camera (the ones from my phone are forthcoming, as usual) of the trip thus far. (Oh, and there are some photos from Sarah’s BAP in July, too.) Summer 2009

one funeral, a wedding, and some roller derby

That pretty much sums up my weekend.

JeT’s Grandmother passed away and the funeral was on Friday. It was an all-day affair: funeral home, mass, graveside service, reception. It was a long day for the family, but they held up pretty well.

That evening was PRD’s second home-team bout: Mob Squad vs The Rats. The Rats won. I didn’t see any of the game, though, since I was at the ticket table the whole time. I didn’t want to leave the other girl there by herself, and she couldn’t leave me there alone because I was putting out little fires all evening. I don’t think I want to do that again. It was stressful and annoying. Everyone who saw the bout said it was awesome. The Rats win means that we’ll be playing them for the next two home games, which is cool. And thanks to Monsieur Renard for working the bakesale table for the first half. Thanks also to friends who came out to watch the bout; I’ll be skating in the August bouts.
The after-party was, um… pretty awesome. Those of you who were there, or received texts and phone calls from me, or heard about it all the next day, know that it was EPIC. That is all.

Saturday was Laura and Aaron’s wedding, which was really fun. The ceremony was quite nice. The minister had a wicked Boston brahmin accent, they walked in to “Shipping up to Boston,” and the last song was “Dirty Water.” We were lame and forgot the camera. Laura looked beautiful, and Aaron was quite dapper. They all (including the bride) wore chucks with their fancy clothes. Laura’s were satin. We danced, we laughed, it was super great.

It was such a busy couple of days, I feel like I should have more to say about it. I guess I’m still exhausted.

I leave for Montreal on Friday, then it’s off to Maryland for two weeks. This place is a wreck and I haven’t even begun to think about packing. Need to employ some house gnomes to do it all for me.

three good things

Also this past week and weekend:

1. The State DVDs (and limited edition t-shirt) came in the mail. I’ve only watched season 1 and part of season 2, but holy shit funny. I wasn’t sure if it would hold up after all these years, but it really does. Some of the sketches are dated, but most of them are still as spectacular as I remember. And the commentary is wonderful. Oh, and I was instantly reminded of why I have a crush on Michael Ian Black. (But I never noticed before that he kinda had Hitler Hair. Oh, well.
2. AND!!! The State DVD opens with a Daria commercial, announcing that the DVDs will be out in 2010. DARIA! NEXT YEAR!! ON DVD!!! sweet.
3. Alison was in town for the weekend! We met up at Park Street and headed out to Coolidge Corner to meet up with a couple other GSLIS folks at Qdoba. One GIANT burrito (and a stop at J.P. Licks) later, she headed out to the airport for to fly back to Baltimore. A brief visit, but it was so nice to catch up a little bit. I’ll be heading down to B-more in a few weeks, and there will be much more fun to be had.

cake and pie and the fourth of july

In which I attempt to redeem my baking reputation.

The cookie pie incident of the previous week left me a little… shaken, I suppose. I decided to try my hand at these first. Cupcakes. I can handle that. And brownies. No problem. Though the construction requires a bit more effort than my usual cakes, they seemed simple enough. Despite a little problem of tinting my home made vegan buttercream, they came out looking rather nice, I think. BEHOLD!

This is how it all went down:

While watching the Sox game with the in-laws next door (which we lost, btdubs), and in between cocktails (grapefruit soda and vodka, if you’re curious), I ran home to check on the brownies periodically. I used a boxed mix. Shut up. I so do not lose any baker’s cred for that. I just can’t get my brownies to be gooey and fudgey like the boxed mix ones. I don’t remember which brand I used. Apart from being a little too sweet (and wicked oily), they were pretty decent.

The batter:

Out of the oven:

I used a cookie cutter to cut them in to discs for the patty portion of the cupcakes. I probably should have done this just after they cooled, instead of waiting until the next morning, because they were a little tricky to get out of the pan. I only broke a couple of them, so it wasn’t a complete disaster.

The patties are the bits on the right:

After several cocktails and a Red Sox loss, I decided I probably shouldn’t attempt the cakes before bed, so I waited ’til morning. I whipped up a batch of Golden Vanilla Cupcakes from VCTOTW for the buns. They came out a little flat, but that’s probably because I couldn’t find my measuring spoons and merely estimated the amounts of things. And about half way through I realized I had the oven on the wrong temperature. Oh, and I baked them naked in the pan (no liners) and I think I was a little over zealous with the cooking spray. They were a bit oily on the outside.

I had a little trouble with the fluffy vegan buttercream frosting this time around. I heated up the shortening to soften it (as I keep mine in the fridge) and I didn’t let it cool enough before adding the powdered sugar. The fat kept separating from the rest of the mixture. After alternating chilling and whipping (several times) I managed to get it to hold together well enough. I also had a little trouble with the color.

Adding the red:

No matter how much red I added, I couldn’t get it any darker than this lovely shade of pink. I didn’t want it to taste like vanilla flavored food coloring, so I gave up and decided that pink was now going to be a design feature rather than a failure.

Pink ketchup frosting:

Once the vanilla cakes were cooled, I sliced them in half, placed a brownie patty in between, piped on some pink ketchup frosting, and sprinkled some sesame seeds on top. JeT found these cute, plaid cupcake liners. I flattened them out a bit to hold each of the burger cupcakes.*

They were pretty tasty. Nom.

The cookie pie came out pretty well, too, though I still need to tweak the recipe and cooking time and temp. It was a little too doughy in the center. I was good and wrapped the edges with foil to keep them from burning, and I put it on a baking sheet this time. Once I get the recipe perfected, I shall post it along with some proper photos. Until then, here are a couple of teasers:

Batter up:

Looks better than it tastes:

We had a few friends over and played a little horseshoes, badminton, and sat around the fire chatting. It was a lovely, low-key evening. (Though I didn’t see any fireworks this year. I think I’ll have to remedy that soon.)

I hope you had a lovely Independence Day with plenty of food, friends, and family. And I hope you saw some spectacular fireworks.

*Did you ever see Good Will Hunting edited for TV? The scene where they get Kelly’s (I think) is edited beyond hilarity: Casey Affleck repeatedly says “gimme my fucking sandwich!” which is edited to “gimme my burger sandwich!” over and over and over. So now I have “gimme my burger cupcake!” in my head, with Casey Affleck’s voice. Which is awesome.