Long weekend
Dec. 28th, 2004 11:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidtsunami
It's too big a disaster for me to comprehend, really. 44,000 and counting. Just too large to deal with. Horrible, both in the immediate devastation (people killed, property destroyed, islands moved), and likely afterward, too. CNN has a list of organizations working on disaster relief.
This morning, there was article about how a third to half of the people killed were kids. Which is horrible, definitely. However, when they later say that at least half of the population in southeast Asia is kids, well, that means that they weren't statistically more likely to have died, no matter what the headline is trying to say.
I feel so heartless, writing coldly about statistics...
skating
Friday I went skating at the Frog Pond, the first time in well over a decade. I wasn't sure how I'd do, but I managed not to fall, finding my skating feet pretty quickly. Not that I'm a good skater, barely adequate, but it's fun. Er, when my feet don't hurt, that is. I'd forgotten how the outside edge of my feet hurt in pretty much every pair of skates I've ever worn. The ankles are fine, just the feet. Odd.
I'd like to go skating again sometime this year (growing up, we only seemed to manage one trip a year, which is why my skating is so basic). Maybe I'll even get (used) skates; the rentals at Frog Pond are $7 a pop, which can add up fairly quickly. Plus I'd be able to go to some of the rinks that don't have their own rentals (any of which would have more ice surface, a good thing). Props to Queue for organizing the outing, too.
food, glorious food
The last few days have included a lot of fun in the kitchen.
Friday I made my first beef stew ever. I looked over a couple of recipes, but in the end, threw things that seemed right into the pot, and hoped. This included: onions, garlic, carrot, potato, sweet potato, sunchokes, mushrooms, beef cubes, red wine, and black pepper, plus a little flour for thickening. I let it simmer a bit longer than ideal, I think, since the potatoes started to break down. It tasted good, though if I do this again, I'll likely leave out the orange vegetables, since they sweetened the stew enough that it was more tzimmes-like than stew.
Sunday I roasted chestnuts. They're yummy, but such a pain to peel. I forget how much of a pain in between times. I wish the whole jarred ones were kosher.
Last night I made up a couple of dishes. I decided that I wanted to make little not-spanikopitas with the three kinds of mushrooms, so I stopped off to get puff pastry, which the store didn't have. I had to settle for phyllo dough instead. I sauteed a minced onion, then added the three kinds of mushrooms, chopped, and let them mingle a while. Towards the end, I added a touch of red wine and a little flour to absorb the mushroom liquid. Then I wrapped spoonfuls of it in phyllo dough, which I was too lazy to brush with oil on each sheet. The verdict: decent, but too much dough/filling. Since I think puff pastry would've worked better, I'm debating whether I really need to use less dough, or grease each sheet. Either would be better. Not that they were bad, but the mushrooms were too overwhelmed, which was disappointing.
On the plus side was dessert, which was a last-minute addition to the menu, since I'd originally been planning to have fresh fruit. I'd been rooting through one of the cabinets, and found a jar of honeyed figs I'd canned. The label was from 2002, and I remember just when those figs were gotten: at a craft sale on the outer bank of NC, at the family reunion. I hadn't been interested in the things, but someone was selling the fresh figs they'd picked from their tree... I don't remember how I brought them back on the plane, but they survived. The strange part is that I'm not particularly fond of fresh figs (too used to dried, I suppose), so I didn't want to eat them straight. So I boiled them in honey, and still didn't know what to do with them. So they sat, until last night. I mixed the figs with walnut meal, the nuts absorbing the honey, then put that into a pie crust, and baked it. And it turned out excellently, in an English holiday dessert sort of way. I hadn't expected it, but the pie crust really balanced the other flavors and textures.
Still planned: a batch of mango-cranberry-ginger chutney.
earplugs
I've used the minty-fresh earplugs, and they worked well, though I felt a bit self-conscious wearing them on the T. I could hear the announcements, but the high-pitched squeals of the trains on the tracks didn't bother me. Yay! Two notes, though: (1) cold ear plugs are harder to roll into shape, and (2) wearing them emphasizes my tinnitus, which I'm not used to ignoring during the day.
friends
Thanks to all the people who've found time to get together recently.
It's too big a disaster for me to comprehend, really. 44,000 and counting. Just too large to deal with. Horrible, both in the immediate devastation (people killed, property destroyed, islands moved), and likely afterward, too. CNN has a list of organizations working on disaster relief.
This morning, there was article about how a third to half of the people killed were kids. Which is horrible, definitely. However, when they later say that at least half of the population in southeast Asia is kids, well, that means that they weren't statistically more likely to have died, no matter what the headline is trying to say.
I feel so heartless, writing coldly about statistics...
skating
Friday I went skating at the Frog Pond, the first time in well over a decade. I wasn't sure how I'd do, but I managed not to fall, finding my skating feet pretty quickly. Not that I'm a good skater, barely adequate, but it's fun. Er, when my feet don't hurt, that is. I'd forgotten how the outside edge of my feet hurt in pretty much every pair of skates I've ever worn. The ankles are fine, just the feet. Odd.
I'd like to go skating again sometime this year (growing up, we only seemed to manage one trip a year, which is why my skating is so basic). Maybe I'll even get (used) skates; the rentals at Frog Pond are $7 a pop, which can add up fairly quickly. Plus I'd be able to go to some of the rinks that don't have their own rentals (any of which would have more ice surface, a good thing). Props to Queue for organizing the outing, too.
food, glorious food
The last few days have included a lot of fun in the kitchen.
Friday I made my first beef stew ever. I looked over a couple of recipes, but in the end, threw things that seemed right into the pot, and hoped. This included: onions, garlic, carrot, potato, sweet potato, sunchokes, mushrooms, beef cubes, red wine, and black pepper, plus a little flour for thickening. I let it simmer a bit longer than ideal, I think, since the potatoes started to break down. It tasted good, though if I do this again, I'll likely leave out the orange vegetables, since they sweetened the stew enough that it was more tzimmes-like than stew.
Sunday I roasted chestnuts. They're yummy, but such a pain to peel. I forget how much of a pain in between times. I wish the whole jarred ones were kosher.
Last night I made up a couple of dishes. I decided that I wanted to make little not-spanikopitas with the three kinds of mushrooms, so I stopped off to get puff pastry, which the store didn't have. I had to settle for phyllo dough instead. I sauteed a minced onion, then added the three kinds of mushrooms, chopped, and let them mingle a while. Towards the end, I added a touch of red wine and a little flour to absorb the mushroom liquid. Then I wrapped spoonfuls of it in phyllo dough, which I was too lazy to brush with oil on each sheet. The verdict: decent, but too much dough/filling. Since I think puff pastry would've worked better, I'm debating whether I really need to use less dough, or grease each sheet. Either would be better. Not that they were bad, but the mushrooms were too overwhelmed, which was disappointing.
On the plus side was dessert, which was a last-minute addition to the menu, since I'd originally been planning to have fresh fruit. I'd been rooting through one of the cabinets, and found a jar of honeyed figs I'd canned. The label was from 2002, and I remember just when those figs were gotten: at a craft sale on the outer bank of NC, at the family reunion. I hadn't been interested in the things, but someone was selling the fresh figs they'd picked from their tree... I don't remember how I brought them back on the plane, but they survived. The strange part is that I'm not particularly fond of fresh figs (too used to dried, I suppose), so I didn't want to eat them straight. So I boiled them in honey, and still didn't know what to do with them. So they sat, until last night. I mixed the figs with walnut meal, the nuts absorbing the honey, then put that into a pie crust, and baked it. And it turned out excellently, in an English holiday dessert sort of way. I hadn't expected it, but the pie crust really balanced the other flavors and textures.
Still planned: a batch of mango-cranberry-ginger chutney.
earplugs
I've used the minty-fresh earplugs, and they worked well, though I felt a bit self-conscious wearing them on the T. I could hear the announcements, but the high-pitched squeals of the trains on the tracks didn't bother me. Yay! Two notes, though: (1) cold ear plugs are harder to roll into shape, and (2) wearing them emphasizes my tinnitus, which I'm not used to ignoring during the day.
friends
Thanks to all the people who've found time to get together recently.
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-28 08:53 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2004-12-28 10:55 am (UTC)The trick to not having the potatoes break down is to put them in later than the meat and carrots.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-28 11:11 am (UTC)I'll have to remember about the potatoes. I'm always worried that they won't cook enough, which is definitely worse than overcooked. Plus I'm lazy, so I tend to want to throw all the veggies in and be done with it. Obviously, I need to change this for stew...