...fighting off a cold.
...blearily not sleeping enough.
...writing about global investing.
...trying to keep up with her gym routine.
...fitting in reading chapters of The Gathering Storm whenever possible.
What are you doing this week?
October 2009 Archives
Hello, and welcome to the boringest blog on the planet.
I find I have very little to say these days. My insomnia has flared up recently, which leaves me less creative than usual. Stupid insomnia.
I am still doing stuff, of course. I saw Zombieland (funny, and not very scary. I only had to look away a couple of times) and keeping with the "--land " theme, also saw Adventureland, (sweet and also funny at times. Not a bad movie at all).
My book club is doing exactly what I like book clubs to do, which is getting me to read stuff I probably would never have gotten to on my own. This month we read The Book Thief. At first I really didn't like the way it was written, but then I got sucked in to caring about the characters. That was kind of a mistake, as the book is set in WWII Germany and is narrated by Death. Let's just say they don't all make it, and I cried a lot.
And then there's the house, which I love more every day. We still have some work to do, but it is coming together nicely.
See? Boring. And now I have to go to work, so I have no more time to spend on de-borification. I'll try again tomorrow.
Given my love of Victorian-style boots and filigree, my fascination with Jack the Ripper stories and my enjoyment of alternate history stories, you might suppose that I'd be a big steampunk fan. You would be supposing incorrectly, however. At some point I picked up a steampunkish novel, hated every poorly plotted confusing minute of it, gave up a couple of chapters in, and wandered away from the whole genre - or is it a subgenre? - entirely.
The other day I mentioned I was reading Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. Now, if this had been my first steampunk novel, I might have been more enthusiastic. This book is fun! I ordered it on a whim because I'd stumbled across a mention of it somewhere a couple of weeks ago, and it sounded interesting. I guess I caught an early reference to it, because now I feel like I'm seeing it everywhere I look. Anyway, the story is that an inventor had one of his machines go (possibly) rogue and plow through an underground chunk of downtown Seattle. It hit a vein of toxic gas that started turning people into zombies, and the powers that be ultimately ended up having to wall off the city to contain the gas and the undead. The main characters are the inventor's widow, Briar, and her teenage son Zeke. Zeke gets it into his head that he can clear his father's name by going into the walled-off part of the city, and Briar goes in after him after she learns where he has gone, and the story really gets moving from there. There are dirigibles and mad inventions and adventuring through ruined streets of Seattle, and of course, zombies!
Cherie Priest's writing is crisp and clean. Her descriptions pull you into the setting without being over the top, and the pacing pulls you through the story at breakneck speed. I actually read this book while brushing my teeth because I couldn't stand to put it down. Most of all, it was the characters that really made the story for me. From the main characters down to the minor ones in walk-on roles, I thought each one was well sketched out and multi-dimensional, even the ones who were deliberately mysterious.
Boneshaker was a fast read and very enjoyable too. I definitely recommend it. Now I've got to go check out the rest of Cherie Priest's books and see what else she has to offer.
I have spent a ridiculous amount of time lately dealing with the de-caulking and re-caulking of two of the bathrooms at our townhouse. First there was the endless chiseling, poking and scraping off of the old caulk. Then everything had to be washed with bleach and water to prevent molding. And finally, the application of the new caulk, which really seemed like it should have been easy, but which took me forever instead. The fumes left me with a headache that it took two Excedrin Migraine, two Advil and a Coke to defeat, and on top of that, I seem to have sprained my right index finger squeezing the caulking tube(s). Don't ask me how I managed that, because I have no idea. It is making typing a bit of a challenge though. By the time I stumbled home this afternoon, I felt so awful I was reduced to mumbling incoherent insults at the Redskins from the couch while I waited for the medicine to kick in. At one point I yelled something along the lines of "Mmurph...suck?!" which roughly translates to "what the fuck, a safety? Why the hell do you guys suck so much?"
Anyway, the whole process left me feeling like a moron, because I really should be able to handle such a simple DIY project, but never again. As God is my witness, the next time I have a tub that needs re-caulking, I'm going to figure out who you can pay to do this shit, and then I will hire them. And it will be worth every single penny. I have many, many skills. I've decided I'm ok with not mastering this one. So Caulking Council? Caulker's Guild? Whoever? You've got my business for life.
That's not to say that I had a bad weekend. I took a lovely fall hike with my friend Deborah in Little Bennett Park. That got off to a rough start because I forgot that the exit off the highway says it is for 121 Clarksburg Road, but you actually have to turn left and then right to get to Clarksburg Rd. So I may have gotten a wee bit lost before I figured out where I was going. Once I actually found the park and the parking lot, all was well. They have a bunch of nice, not crowded and not too difficult hiking trails. Back at home I baked cookies and hung out with my loved ones and enjoyed my house in the country. And I started reading Cherie Priest's Boneshaker, which I'm really enjoying. I haven't read many steampunk novels, but if they are all as good as this one, I might have to start.
And how was your weekend?
So I come back, write two posts and wander off again. Whoops. I guess my focus still needs a little work. Let's blame the new TV season, although, honestly, I haven't even started watching any new shows. I'd kind of like to try that Flash Forward show, but I've missed the first couple of episodes, so I have to get caught up on that one.
Another area where I've been slacking is working out. Some days I was working late, other days I had house-related stuff that had to get done, and then other days I just didn't feel like going to the gym. Except that what I forget is how much happier I am when I do go to the gym. So Internet, guess what? You get to be my workout buddy. I'm going to give setting goals and publicly naming them a shot. You get to hold me to them.
This week, my goal was to try to get back into my routine. I made it to kickboxing and abs on Wednesday, survived a return to spinning last night, and I have every intention of going to kickboxing tonight. A decent start, right?
Next week's goal: Add working out with weights back onto the schedule. I'm really more of a cardio person, but every single study says that weights are important too. Time to stop avoiding them.
I stumbled across this recipe last summer while trying to find a recipe for these lemon cookies I used to have as a kid. They were kind of a cakey cookie, like Mexican wedding cakes, but they were lemon flavored. I loved them, and I have never found a lemon cookie recipe that even comes close. But I did find this recipe and it quickly became a favorite of mine.
The first time I made it, I served it with a blueberry sauce on the side. Every single person asked for seconds of the cake, but no one wanted seconds of the sauce. The cake is that good on its own. It is time consuming to make, but worth every single minute of the effort you have to put into it. I got this from Smitten Kitchen, who said she got it from the Barefoot Contessa.
Lemon Pound Cake
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
2 ½ cups sugar, divided (I have forgotten to divide this a couple of times. The cake's not bad with an extra ½ cup of sugar in it)
4 large eggs at room temperature
1/3 cup lemon zest (this is the grated skin of 6 to 8 large lemons)
3 cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¾ cup + 3 ½ teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (see, you get to use up all those zested lemons)
¾ cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8 ½ by 4 ¼ by 2 ½ inch loaf pans (I think this is the standard size) and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Alternatively, you can use this recipe to make a Bundt cake, although I never have.
Cream butter and 2 cups sugar in mixer with paddle attachment for about five minutes, until light and fluffy. Mixing at medium speed, add eggs one at a time. Then add the lemon zest.
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together into one bowl. In another bowl, combine ¼ cup of the lemon juice, the buttermilk and the vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the butter/sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour.
Divide batter evenly between the two loaf pans, smooth the tops and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. That's what the recipe says. I always end up cooking mine for longer than an hour. I cook them for about 45-50 minutes, and then cover the edges of the cakes with tinfoil so that they don't get too brown while I wait for the middle to completely cook. This is a dense cake. Just keep an eye on it, and keep testing the middle until your tester comes out clean.
A furry chef's helper can keep you company while you wait:
Combine ½ cup sugar with ½ cup lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves. This makes a lemony syrup.
Now comes the tricky part.
Set your cooling rack up on top of a baking sheet with a lip. When the cakes are done, let them sit for a couple of minutes, and then pop them out of the pans. I run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake, and then invert it against a plate, tapping on the bottom of the pan. If you've done a proper job with your greasing, flouring and parchment papering, you should be fine. Set the cakes up on the cooling rack. Next, you want to top the cakes with the lemon syrup. There are a lot of different ways to do this. Some people pour the syrup over the cakes. Some people poke invisible holes in the top of the cakes so that the syrup can get into the cake. What I've found works best is to brush the syrup on the top and sides of the cake with a pastry brush. I have a silicon one that does the job perfectly. Some of the syrup will run off the sides of the cake, which is why you'll need the pan under the cooling rack.
Let the cakes cool completely.
For the glaze, combine the confectioner's sugar and the remaining ¾ of tablespoon of lemon juice in a bowl, whisking until smooth. Pour over the top of the cakes. It will harden as it sits.
And then,get ready for the yummiest lemon cake you've ever tasted!
