I'm your little gray cloud today.
May. 10th, 2010 10:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
I. am. EXHAUSTED. I think it's from a general lack of sleep as well as the big Indian feast last night. I have to admit, I didn't much enjoy it. Everything came out pretty well -- especially the aloo gobi -- but the experience just wasn't enjoyable for me. The semi-forced nature of it (instead of it being something I was enthusiastically wanting to do) coupled with being the one who had to do all the planning and shopping, plus all the dietary restrictions just kind of made it more blah than I wish it'd been. I made 2 dishes plus chapati before I even got to K's (to save time and hassle), and had to bring all the other ingredients. They ended up having some of them, which means I could have saved myself the trouble of buying/bringing them, but it's practically impossible to coordinate with them beforehand and I had to bring everything just in case. I guess, like with most things, I have more fun cooking when it's something *I* want to do, rather than an obligation.
Anyway, so what I ended up making was: aloo gobi, palak mattar, raita, chapati, chana masala, Bombay-style chicken with masoor dal, and a dal that was a mix of moong and masoor dal. K. couldn't eat the palak mattar or raita due to dairy, and D. couldn't eat the chicken due to his being a pescatarian. To his credit D. totally helped me with the last 4 dishes, but really the most stressful part was planning the whole thing and having to take into account their various dietary requirements. I'm obviously not a fan of having to limit myself when I cook. He also went and bought some vegan ice cream -- mango and chocolate -- which was great, except for that I had asked him to make mango lassi as part of the Indian theme. And yeah, I get that it's tiring to take care of their kids all day and I didn't quite remember that lassi has yogurt in it so K. couldn't have any -- but in that case, just TELL me that. Don't say you're going to make it and then don't. I'm tired too. I had better things to do during the weekend than plan and stress over this meal, you know.
After dinner, we played Bananagrams, which is a variation of Scrabble in which everyone does their own individual crosswords. I actually like it better than Scrabble, which I suck at, even though I love almost all other word games.
I'm looking forward to tonight, because at long last, it's time for our long-awaited fried chicken dinner at Spring Hill. Yes, K. is going to break her dietary restriction for this one night because we have been planning this for so long. You can only get this dinner by reservation, and it's intended for 4. We have: me, my mom, and K., then D. and the kids will count as our "fourth" because between all of them they'll probably eat one person's worth, since the kids don't eat much and D. won't eat the chicken.
Weather wise it was really lovely this weekend, and my indoor seedlings shot up. It might have been too late for my outdoor plants; even the tomato starters are looking iffy, and the basil is long gone. If the tomato plants die I will have to go back to Flower World and get more, because I really would love to have Sun Gold tomatoes. The weather's gone back to being crappy though, and according to weather.com's 10-day forecast there are still a lot of clouds and showers in the future, sigh, so who knows when I can actually plant any of the seedlings in the bed.
I know about the big shitstorm about fanfic resulting from some posts I guess Diana Gabaldon made in her blog, and following that, GRRM's comments, which I've actually read. I have a lot to say about it, but don't know yet how to put thought into words. I'd like to respond in a coherent manner that might actually bring SOME understanding for what is, to them, completely inexplicable. I enjoy both of their work (well, I enjoyed DG's Outlander, but the sequel to it left me rather indifferent to the rest of the books) and though it shouldn't, the idea that they're both out there reviling fanfic bothers me. Maybe because, in the case of GRRM, I fear that he'll be even LESS motivated to finish ASoIaF, if he's resentful of/wigged out by the idea of people taking his characters and universe and making it their own. Most importantly, it's a reflection on ME as a fanfic writer. If I don't say anything, if I can't articulate why I think it's a perfectly legitimate form of expression, then it'll be like I agree that it's wrong and yet I do it anyway. I DON'T think it's wrong. I don't think it's necessarily cool to do if an author has expressly said that they don't want people writing fanfic of their universe(s) -- I would say to respect those wishes -- but that still doesn't mean it's inherently wrong. I just don't think that authors who oppose it, especially those who oppose it as vehemently as DG and GRRM do, really understand it or why people do it.
Anyway, so what I ended up making was: aloo gobi, palak mattar, raita, chapati, chana masala, Bombay-style chicken with masoor dal, and a dal that was a mix of moong and masoor dal. K. couldn't eat the palak mattar or raita due to dairy, and D. couldn't eat the chicken due to his being a pescatarian. To his credit D. totally helped me with the last 4 dishes, but really the most stressful part was planning the whole thing and having to take into account their various dietary requirements. I'm obviously not a fan of having to limit myself when I cook. He also went and bought some vegan ice cream -- mango and chocolate -- which was great, except for that I had asked him to make mango lassi as part of the Indian theme. And yeah, I get that it's tiring to take care of their kids all day and I didn't quite remember that lassi has yogurt in it so K. couldn't have any -- but in that case, just TELL me that. Don't say you're going to make it and then don't. I'm tired too. I had better things to do during the weekend than plan and stress over this meal, you know.
After dinner, we played Bananagrams, which is a variation of Scrabble in which everyone does their own individual crosswords. I actually like it better than Scrabble, which I suck at, even though I love almost all other word games.
I'm looking forward to tonight, because at long last, it's time for our long-awaited fried chicken dinner at Spring Hill. Yes, K. is going to break her dietary restriction for this one night because we have been planning this for so long. You can only get this dinner by reservation, and it's intended for 4. We have: me, my mom, and K., then D. and the kids will count as our "fourth" because between all of them they'll probably eat one person's worth, since the kids don't eat much and D. won't eat the chicken.
Weather wise it was really lovely this weekend, and my indoor seedlings shot up. It might have been too late for my outdoor plants; even the tomato starters are looking iffy, and the basil is long gone. If the tomato plants die I will have to go back to Flower World and get more, because I really would love to have Sun Gold tomatoes. The weather's gone back to being crappy though, and according to weather.com's 10-day forecast there are still a lot of clouds and showers in the future, sigh, so who knows when I can actually plant any of the seedlings in the bed.
I know about the big shitstorm about fanfic resulting from some posts I guess Diana Gabaldon made in her blog, and following that, GRRM's comments, which I've actually read. I have a lot to say about it, but don't know yet how to put thought into words. I'd like to respond in a coherent manner that might actually bring SOME understanding for what is, to them, completely inexplicable. I enjoy both of their work (well, I enjoyed DG's Outlander, but the sequel to it left me rather indifferent to the rest of the books) and though it shouldn't, the idea that they're both out there reviling fanfic bothers me. Maybe because, in the case of GRRM, I fear that he'll be even LESS motivated to finish ASoIaF, if he's resentful of/wigged out by the idea of people taking his characters and universe and making it their own. Most importantly, it's a reflection on ME as a fanfic writer. If I don't say anything, if I can't articulate why I think it's a perfectly legitimate form of expression, then it'll be like I agree that it's wrong and yet I do it anyway. I DON'T think it's wrong. I don't think it's necessarily cool to do if an author has expressly said that they don't want people writing fanfic of their universe(s) -- I would say to respect those wishes -- but that still doesn't mean it's inherently wrong. I just don't think that authors who oppose it, especially those who oppose it as vehemently as DG and GRRM do, really understand it or why people do it.
