You guys, I am obsessed with a new show. I'm almost afraid to talk about it because I haven't finished what's aired and I'm afraid of being spoiled, but I'M GOING TO TRUST YOU GUYS.
Before I left for my LA vacation, I had finished Orphan Black S2, but I hadn't written about it yet. It seems like eons ago now.
While in LA,
adelagia and I ate all the things and did all the things (except go to the Griffith Observatory), and she is working up a detailed post that I'll probably just re-post when it's ready, like I did last time. Though she can't post until I have the photos ready, and I don't have the photos ready because I AM OBSESSED WITH A NEW SHOW.
And thus we have come full circle.
( Details! )
Before I left for my LA vacation, I had finished Orphan Black S2, but I hadn't written about it yet. It seems like eons ago now.
While in LA,
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And thus we have come full circle.
( Details! )
12% of my brain is able to focus today
May. 30th, 2012 10:10 amI tried McDonald's sweet iced tea for the first time last night and oh my giddy god is it SWEET. I don't know how it compares to the sweet iced tea found all over the South that I read about in Jane and Michael Stern's Roadfood, but if it's anything like that, I have to tell you I cannot take it. I felt an onset of diabetes just from the one sip I had. O.o I went home and watered it down by 100% and IT WAS STILL TOO SWEET. It's like drinking syrup! Plus there was no taste of lemon, and I like my iced teas very lemony.
jade_okelani is going to be here in ONE WEEK. How is that possible?! Eeeeeee! I still have a lot of cleaning and organizing to do, for my own sanity, because Jade has already said she doesn't care.
Now that it's the end of May, all the TV shows are wrapping up, and I have sooooooooo much to catch up on. It's exciting and overwhelming at the same time. Over the long weekend I managed to finish all of Fringe S4. ( Spoilers! )
I'm also halfway through Glee S3! ( More spoilers. )
I've also seen the first 8 episodes or so of Parks & Recreation S4. ( Yep, spoilers. )
Also, of course, there's the latest Game of Thrones episode, 2x9 'Blackwater.' ( You guessed it, spoilers. )
Did I mention that I finally received The Walking Dead compendium from the library? I would have loved to have gotten it even a month ago. Now with my Avengers obsession I really couldn't care less. >< Sigh. And I've waited SO LONG for it.
Finally finished reading The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley. It was recced to me by K's friend C, who LOVED it, and it's also got plenty of other accolades. I was totally underwhelmed by it. It's a work of historical fiction with two tepid (to me) romances, and far, far too much of the novel is pages and pages of dialogue describing some historical event! Horrible. I don't know how a novel like that could even get PUBLISHED, much less given praise. I can't believe it's compared to Diana Gabaldon's writing, because as much as DG gets far too into the history for my taste, at least her novels are complex and full of showing, rather than telling. Nearly all the characters and the plots of TWS left me cold or rolling my eyes. I hate to tell C what I really thought of it, though. She loves everything I've ever recced to her, and I know she really wants me to like it. Siiiiiiiiiigh.
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Now that it's the end of May, all the TV shows are wrapping up, and I have sooooooooo much to catch up on. It's exciting and overwhelming at the same time. Over the long weekend I managed to finish all of Fringe S4. ( Spoilers! )
I'm also halfway through Glee S3! ( More spoilers. )
I've also seen the first 8 episodes or so of Parks & Recreation S4. ( Yep, spoilers. )
Also, of course, there's the latest Game of Thrones episode, 2x9 'Blackwater.' ( You guessed it, spoilers. )
Did I mention that I finally received The Walking Dead compendium from the library? I would have loved to have gotten it even a month ago. Now with my Avengers obsession I really couldn't care less. >< Sigh. And I've waited SO LONG for it.
Finally finished reading The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley. It was recced to me by K's friend C, who LOVED it, and it's also got plenty of other accolades. I was totally underwhelmed by it. It's a work of historical fiction with two tepid (to me) romances, and far, far too much of the novel is pages and pages of dialogue describing some historical event! Horrible. I don't know how a novel like that could even get PUBLISHED, much less given praise. I can't believe it's compared to Diana Gabaldon's writing, because as much as DG gets far too into the history for my taste, at least her novels are complex and full of showing, rather than telling. Nearly all the characters and the plots of TWS left me cold or rolling my eyes. I hate to tell C what I really thought of it, though. She loves everything I've ever recced to her, and I know she really wants me to like it. Siiiiiiiiiigh.
Update on Talis's eye situation: So we went to see the specialist, who was super nice -- loved her. The good news is that it's not serious. ( Details, plus a couple of photos. )
I didn't even know there was a new Temeraire book out until yesterday! And I've even got
naominovik on my flist! Guess she's not as good at updating as
grrm is. Then again, since she publishes more regularly, maybe it's good that she spends less of her time LJing and more of her time actually writing. Go Naomi! If you guys haven't read the Temeraire series, it's fabulous. Don't wait for Peter Jackson's TV series or whatever it is he's doing. I thought I'd be the last person who would be interested in a fantasy series about a man and his dragon, but I WAS WRONG. The general premise of the series is a reimagining of the Napoleonic Wars with an air force of dragons. Trust me, it's awesome.
When I was in SoCal, in my sick bed, I perused the shelf of books in "my" room, which doesn't really have much of my stuff in it anymore. I noticed a very old cookbook from 1968: Marguerite Patten's Every Day Cookbook. I assumed it was my mom's, but she doesn't have much interest in cooking and certainly not from recipes; she denied all knowledge of the cookbook. I have no idea where this book came from. I flipped through it, assuming it'd be outdated and irrelevant, but found myself actually pretty impressed with it. I did a search for it on the internets, and it came up at Amazon UK with seven 5-star reviews. Those people like it because it's so sensible and easy to use, and still extremely useful for cooking today, and I have to say that I feel similarly about the content, just having read through a bit of it. It's very comprehensive, with tips and tricks on common things (like gravy) that people either get way too complex with in modern cookbooks, or leave out entirely, assuming you know how to do it. It's not just 1960s casseroles and what not (though the CorningWare blue cornflower dishes do make an appearance!); it has recipes for beurre blanc and gnocchi and more complex dishes, though very matter-of-factly detailed. It's pretty darn awesome. The photos are horrendous; it's amazing how far food photography has come. But the content, the recipes, are still extremely relevant -- it really drives home that all of the cool technique and what not that's admired today isn't really all that different from what it was 43 years ago. In fact, what struck me is that apparently, this all used to be fairly well-known stuff to home cooks; what changed is that people stopped knowing how to cook, so when all that stuff came back, it seemed like some amazing thing. Another interesting detail is that people used to eat a lot more offal than we do today -- there are recipes for preparing tongue, sweetbreads, hearts, etc. You'd be hard pressed to find that in a modern cookbook unless it was a cookbook specifically about offal. So that's definitely disappeared from the modern table (unless you're in the gourmet food world, where offal is prized). But what was scarce back then that's incredibly common today -- avocados! In fact, the cookbook refers to them as "avocado pears." I had to read through a few recipes to make sure that it was, in fact, just an avocado and not some special other fruit that used to be eaten. I giggled when I read that we should be careful if serving it, because they're "an acquired taste." So yeah, I love the cookbook because it's practical and useful, but also kind of like a history book!
Life is short. I've purchased a meat slicer and an indoor smoker. REAL HOMEMADE SMOKED BACON, HERE I COME.
Did anyone watch Extras with Ricky Gervais? I don't know why it took me so long. It's BRILLIANT! Everyone on the show makes an asshole of themselves, including the big celebrities who guest star. Kate Winslet is obsessed with winning an Oscar, Patrick Stewart just wants to see tits, Orlando Bloom is in love with his own looks, Chris Martin tackily promotes Coldplay everywhere. I'm so sad that there were only two seasons of the show.
Now that I'm caught up on The Walking Dead, I've finally started watching Caprica. Again, don't know what took me so long since I love BSG. It's so good! I've only seen three episodes, but I LOVE the origin story of the Cylons and Zoe Graystone. Now I'm sad it was canceled.
I also attempted to watch the first episode of Babylon 5, which is a show Jade loves. For the first five minutes of the pilot I kept waiting for the screen to zoom out and show the 'real' characters watching this silly sitcom-like show about space/aliens... and then I realized that it WAS the show. I don't know how/if I can go on. I mean, other than looking like a sitcom, it also does that thing that I hate about so many fantasy shows/novels -- it totally throws you into the deep end of the pool with regard to the alien 'verse and the politics like you're supposed to know what's going on. Maybe if I just have it on in the background while reading my 1968 cookbook, I'll eventually get into it. O.o
I didn't even know there was a new Temeraire book out until yesterday! And I've even got
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When I was in SoCal, in my sick bed, I perused the shelf of books in "my" room, which doesn't really have much of my stuff in it anymore. I noticed a very old cookbook from 1968: Marguerite Patten's Every Day Cookbook. I assumed it was my mom's, but she doesn't have much interest in cooking and certainly not from recipes; she denied all knowledge of the cookbook. I have no idea where this book came from. I flipped through it, assuming it'd be outdated and irrelevant, but found myself actually pretty impressed with it. I did a search for it on the internets, and it came up at Amazon UK with seven 5-star reviews. Those people like it because it's so sensible and easy to use, and still extremely useful for cooking today, and I have to say that I feel similarly about the content, just having read through a bit of it. It's very comprehensive, with tips and tricks on common things (like gravy) that people either get way too complex with in modern cookbooks, or leave out entirely, assuming you know how to do it. It's not just 1960s casseroles and what not (though the CorningWare blue cornflower dishes do make an appearance!); it has recipes for beurre blanc and gnocchi and more complex dishes, though very matter-of-factly detailed. It's pretty darn awesome. The photos are horrendous; it's amazing how far food photography has come. But the content, the recipes, are still extremely relevant -- it really drives home that all of the cool technique and what not that's admired today isn't really all that different from what it was 43 years ago. In fact, what struck me is that apparently, this all used to be fairly well-known stuff to home cooks; what changed is that people stopped knowing how to cook, so when all that stuff came back, it seemed like some amazing thing. Another interesting detail is that people used to eat a lot more offal than we do today -- there are recipes for preparing tongue, sweetbreads, hearts, etc. You'd be hard pressed to find that in a modern cookbook unless it was a cookbook specifically about offal. So that's definitely disappeared from the modern table (unless you're in the gourmet food world, where offal is prized). But what was scarce back then that's incredibly common today -- avocados! In fact, the cookbook refers to them as "avocado pears." I had to read through a few recipes to make sure that it was, in fact, just an avocado and not some special other fruit that used to be eaten. I giggled when I read that we should be careful if serving it, because they're "an acquired taste." So yeah, I love the cookbook because it's practical and useful, but also kind of like a history book!
Life is short. I've purchased a meat slicer and an indoor smoker. REAL HOMEMADE SMOKED BACON, HERE I COME.
Did anyone watch Extras with Ricky Gervais? I don't know why it took me so long. It's BRILLIANT! Everyone on the show makes an asshole of themselves, including the big celebrities who guest star. Kate Winslet is obsessed with winning an Oscar, Patrick Stewart just wants to see tits, Orlando Bloom is in love with his own looks, Chris Martin tackily promotes Coldplay everywhere. I'm so sad that there were only two seasons of the show.
Now that I'm caught up on The Walking Dead, I've finally started watching Caprica. Again, don't know what took me so long since I love BSG. It's so good! I've only seen three episodes, but I LOVE the origin story of the Cylons and Zoe Graystone. Now I'm sad it was canceled.
I also attempted to watch the first episode of Babylon 5, which is a show Jade loves. For the first five minutes of the pilot I kept waiting for the screen to zoom out and show the 'real' characters watching this silly sitcom-like show about space/aliens... and then I realized that it WAS the show. I don't know how/if I can go on. I mean, other than looking like a sitcom, it also does that thing that I hate about so many fantasy shows/novels -- it totally throws you into the deep end of the pool with regard to the alien 'verse and the politics like you're supposed to know what's going on. Maybe if I just have it on in the background while reading my 1968 cookbook, I'll eventually get into it. O.o