sdorn:
Baaaa! I'm following those who ship tweets...
( Cut for the sanity of those who can't stand more twitter posts )

mia_mcdavid:

Went to Chicago yesterday; had a lovely visit with G2 and R2. Saw the Hinfolk today on the way up to Traverse City. Brother's birthday is tomorrow.

Tomorrow I need to :

Show up.... :-)

ladysprite:

"Williams-Sonoma Breakfast," Brigit L. Binns

I am almost out of Williams-Sonoma cookbooks to use for this project, and it makes me very sad - I've been hoarding the last couple, as rewards for making progress. This was one that I was saving, in particular. It was a gift from my mom, who knows me well and usually gets me one W-S book each year as a holiday gift. I am particularly enamored of breakfast foods in all forms, so I love this one, and it is incredibly sad that I have never used it until now.

It is full of gorgeous, delicious-looking recipes for everything from fried eggs and french toast to polenta with bananas and maple syrup (which I almost made, since it sounds like heaven), but the recipe for Swedish Pancake caught my eye - it looked a lot like a Dutch Apple Pancake, a kind of puffed pancake cooked half on the stove and then baked in the oven, only savory, with ham instead of apples. And since we had some ham left over from making the weird Monte Cristo appetizers, it seemed like the perfect way to use up leftover ingredients.

I am so glad I decided to try this. I've had bad luck making Dutch Apple Pancakes in the past, but this worked perfectly, and the flavors were amazing. I'd make it again in a heartbeat. After I made the polenta.

"Home From the Inn Contented," Roxy Beaujolais

This is another souvenir cookbook, that I bought while I was in London for a week manymany years ago. In fact, I'm fairly certain that all of the souvenirs I got on that trip were books, which probably says something about me. This one, though, promised to be "a cookbook of simple, popular pub food," which sounded fun and interesting and like a good memento of my trip. Also, it cost 99 pence, which was perfect since I had a grad student's budget.

Alas, I brought it home and realized that all of the measurements were in weight and/or metric. Not having a kitchen scale at that time (hey, I was lucky to have a kitchen at all), the book was lovingly read through once and relegated to the bottom corner shelf of Interesting Books That I'll Never Use. Luckily, I have remedied that lack, and was looking forward to using this book.

The temptation to make one of the Dishes Inspired By U.S. Diners was strong, but I decided that, while ironic and amusing, it would be kind of a waste of the book, and wound up looking for something that was more stereotypically English - whether or not it's something that is actually eaten there on anything like a regular basis or not (I'm quite sure that this book is about as accurate as... well, any other reference book that costs less than $2, give or take). So we made Toad In The Hole with Onion Gravy.

Finding English sausages turned out to be the hardest part of this, but Whole Foods eventually came through, and I'm glad they did. The sausages were good, the Yorkshire pudding baked around them was yummy, and the onion gravy turned out to be the best part of the dish. And reading through the book again was entertaining enough to earn it a permanent spot on my shelf.

"Betty Crocker Mexican"

You didn't think I'd make it through an entire entry without at least one glossy checkout lane booklet, did you? This one I bought myself, mostly because Fake Mexican food is tasty, easy, and cheap, and when you're on a grad student budget, those are all very important qualities.

I've used this one at least once, though my plans for making it one of my core cookbooks were mostly foiled by the fact that fake Mexican food is easy enough to make without resorting to cookbooks or recipes. But when I realized it was still on my to-do list, I actually enjoyed looking through it and picking out a handful of recipes that sounded like they'd be worth trying.

Alas, these plans, too, were foiled by the fact that, after my close encounter with Scalprender the Barbecue Tool Of Doom I wound up on antibiotics that seriously messed with my appetite and my ability to eat anything interesting. So instead of tortilla soup or chili or spicy black bean salads, we wound up making nice, safe, semi-bland Roasted Chicken Ranch Wraps. These were about as Mexican as I am, honestly, but given the situation, they were actually pretty good, especially since we wound up making our own guacamole instead of using pre-packaged stuff.

Between surgery in April and antibiotics in November, this project has had a few appetite-killing monkey wrenches thrown into it. I will not let that be an excuse to fail, though....

netmouse:

• 14:11 Celebrating an American tradition: standing in a long airport security line on the way home from thanksgiving. #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

maiac:

November 28 was Allegory Day.

On this day in history:

( Go to The List )

daisy_knotwise:

So, there was this package that I needed to get into the mail today. And I needed to shop as we're having a few folks over tomorrow. The girls had been running around in the yard since it was sunny and fairly mild. They were still rowdy as we visited the Post Office and traversed the Jewel. I bought a bunch of evergreen bows for the Advent Wreath, and Katie picked up a bunch of peach colored tea roses. Since I promised a treat if they were good we also got some cookies (our Jewel has an excellnt bakery.) As it was still sunny and mild I decided to stop off at the cemetery where my parents are buried to say the prayers I didn't get a chance to say on All Souls' Day. The cemetary isn't far, but I managed to be stopped by two freight trains and Katie was getting restless, yelling and trying to unbuckle her harness.
I said my prayers and as an addendum I asked, "Ma, she's making me crazy today, what do I do?"
We did a quick drive-by of my grand parents and Aunt Kathleens's graves and headed home, Katie still complaining bitterly. We got stopped by another freight train and I suddenly noticed it was quiet. I looked over my shoulder and Katie was asleep. This isn't too unusual, but she generally wakes up when we pull into the garage. This time, she barely stirred as I picked her up and set her in daddy's big chair and dropped a throw over her.
Julie, who is slowly becoming resistant to naps, happily followed me upstairs to her room, walked over to the crib ad pointed. I asked her if she wanted a nap and she nodded vigorously.
So, they're both asleep and I am having a greatly needed break.
Thanks, Ma.

GHR

oreouk:

Last week I looked at my diary and realised we actually had nothing in the diary for this weekend apart from the Christmas fete at Alex's school, so I called the mother of Alex's friend from karate and asked her if Morgan would like to come over and spend the night on Friday and hang out with Alex through Saturday (a plan we had originally had during half term but which had been squished then by M coming down with tonsillitis).

Friday night Alex and I picked M up and ran off home with him, and in the best traditions of sleepovers they didn't go to sleep until waaaaaay late, probably about 11.30. And they still woke up at 7am. On the plus side I'd told them that if they did that then they were to go downstairs quietly and get their own breakfast and get Amy her breakfast if she was also up (which was more likely than not and which was actually the case). They did a reasonable job of the being quiet thing, considering what they were getting up for was to play on the Wii.

So I had a moderately lazy day and then took all 3 kids to the fete (we got there right when it opened, which reduced it's usual fete-worse-than-death aspects. Amy came home with 4 new cuddly toys, for a grand total cost of £1.20, and I (lucky me) won a bottle of Dolmio Pasta Bake Sauce and some shampoo. The delights of a school fete and people looking desperately in their cupboards the morning of and grabbing any old thing when they need to pay a bottle of something for their child's right to go to school out of uniform...

Both boys won toy dogs in the hoopla throwing thingy and I bought a plate of cakes and heroically let Alex have the one of my brownies that was on said plate. I had one of those rice-crispy-chocolate thingies of seriously lower quality. Amy of course had to have the pink biscuit. It's all go here, I tell you. All 3 kids went to see Santa (this despite Alex finally reaching That Age this year) and made their wishes known. Amy asked for yet another Bagpuss (she has 3 already!!! Good grief, girl!!!!!) and Alex got way over-optimistic by saying he wanted a Lego Death Star (have you *seen* how much those things cost? I mean, really). When they got home there was much trading of the things they got in their bags from Santa, because the boys thought Amy's wiggly snakes were much better than jumping toys and bottles of bubbles, so Amy made out like a bandit.

Then I took M home and his Mum opined that I was a little mad and I had to explain all over again the maths that says more children equals less work, because really, that's totally true. My kids need me much less when they have other kids here to distract them, so I get to be a lot lazier and self indulgent (in between handing out apples and packets of crisps and so on). It was fun so we'll be needing to do that again sometime.

chirosinger:
Mark your calendars, Riverfolk is playing the Coffee Grounds in St. Paul (corner of Hoyt and Hamline). Visit www.thecoffeegrounds.net for further info.

Friday, Dec 5 at 8 PM;

Sunday Dec 13, noon - 4
Craft Sale (where Bonnie and I will both have our wares available)

Fri Jan 29 at 8 PM.

Hope to see you there.

renniekins:

( Read more... )

filkertom:

AmericaBlog turns us on to one of the stupidest arguments against health care reform yet:

... Let's just not pretend, as some healthcare reformers would have us do, that we can easily get more equality without paying the price in efficiency.

Put simply, the healthcare reform bill would make the United States more like western Europe. That may mean more security about healthcare, but it also means that future generations of Americans will likely spend more time enjoying leisure.

Because goodness knows efficiency is so very much more important than the health of your workers and their being able to enjoy some leisure time. I mean, it was right there in the Declaration of Independence -- "illness, wage-slavery, and the pursuit of efficiency".

Do any of these people ever look at anything in a way that doesn't involve bottom-line, short-term monetary profit?

happyfunpaul:
A while back, I saw the Malcolm Gladwell article "Most likely to Succeed", concerning predicting the performance of teachers and NFL quarterbacks. (I thought I'd linked to it from my LJ, but apparently I didn't). Recently the article was included in a Gladwell book "What the Dog Saw", Steven Pinker wrote a review of the book, and a debate ensued. Me, I'm fascinated by the debate for multiple reasons:

* Gladwell and Pinker are two of my favorite intellectual/cogsci writers, so it's fun to watch them at odds with one another.

* The topics of teaching and football are both near and dear to me.

* Statistics! In particular, some of the (unintentional?) errors of selection bias made by Berri and Simmons, in trying to avoid other errors of selection bias.

* Gladwell uses ad hominem attacks. He dismisses Steve Sailer, one of Pinker's sources, as "a California blogger with a marketing background who is best known for his belief that black people are intellectually inferior to white people." (Sailer, to his credit, responds directly on Gladwell's blog, addressing only the arguments, and ignoring the personal slam and mis-summarizing of his other work.) Gladwell also dismisses the "Lewin Career Forecast" from Football Outsiders (my favorite statistical sports site) and even mis-attributes their research to "Niners Nation". Overall, he responds to Pinker with "But maybe on the question of subjects like quarterbacks, we should agree that our differences owe less to what can be found in the scientific literature than they do to what can be found on Google."
   Well, my impression of Gladwell is now lessened by his attacking the sources (mere racists and bloggers) and not their arguments. I already knew Gladwell had something of a propensity, as a journalist who cannot be expert in everything, to go to a single academic source on a topic, stick with their presumed authority, and fail to critique the argument properly, but I hadn't seen such a cut-and-dried case of it before. I still like his work but I will now be even warier to take it as gospel than I was before.
   What's also interesting is the split among commenters-- some people admonish Gladwell, others go along for the ride. Hey, if a guy's a racist, he can't be worth listening to, right?

Anyway, here are the links to the articles and commentaries:

Malcolm Gladwell's original article in the New Yorker, "Most Likely to Succeed: How do we hire when we can’t tell who’s right for the job?"

Steven Pinker's critique of Gladwell's book

Gladwell's response on his blog

Eric Loken (of Criteria) chimes in

Berri, co-author of the main study used by Gladwell, responds to Pinker

Jason Lisk (of Pro Football Reference) focuses on the Berri/Simmons paper

the Football Outsiders link where I found all the articles since the original one, delightfully entitled "Malcolm Gladwell vs. Steven Pinker vs. David Berri vs. Jason Lisk vs. David Lewin". The comments reference still more sources, such as Brian Burke's on AdvancedNFLStats.com.

ohiblather:

Had a fantastic time at the NCS holiday party last night but a report will have to wait until after I’ve finished NaNoWriMo. I still have 6,000 words to write before the end of the month!

Meanwhile, enjoy this mesmerizing performance by the Aomori University men’s team at the 2009 All Japan Championships. Not surprisingly, they took the gold.

Mirrored from Debbie's Blatherings.

happyfunpaul:

Clearing out more tabs (if only I could clear out my head so easily)...

An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All

Sleep Loss and Weight Gain

Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be (from The Onion)

Tisquantum and a true story of the first Thanksgiving (post by xiphias)

and one more video:
The Aughts in Seven Minutes (with a definite US focus)

deborah_c:
On Friday evening (December 4th), there's going to be a concert in Clare College chapel, starting at 7.15pm. It's a charity concert in aid of Cockermouth, where (as I'm sure you all know) there have been dreadful floods in the last week.

I can't tell you what the programme will be, but it should be varied and lighthearted, I think; right now, I can't even tell you which instrument I'll be playing, actually, but I'll figure that out, hopefully before 7pm on Friday :-)

unclechristo:

Needed a day off - went to Maplins and Staples to buy ink, paper, Cdrs, jewel cases - excting stuff like that. Decided to take lunch in the new Phoenix Square arts cinema cafe.

When I got home I did some website work redesigning the pages for self & Dan and Just Be Real cd incorproating the new Bandcamp widget and making a new banner for us. Was just the kind of nerdy activity I was up for.

In evening went back to Phoenix Square with G to see Coco Avant Chanel - cinema was a bit cold, and so was the film. Pleasant enough, and the music was good. Director didn't make me care enough tho - it all seemed a bit 2 dimensional. Also had similar problem I had with Amelie - ie I didn't find Audrey Tautou's face as fascinating as the director wanted me to. And the fact the director really wanted me to, got tiresome - tho not as tiresome as in Amelie. Still a nice evening at the movies and nice to christen the new arts centre..

Tired today - specially all on the right side - a usual sign of tiredness for me - neck and tendons tend to flare up. Gonna take it easy til tonight which is a jazz duo gig in Bourne, Lincs - 2.5 hours driving, 1 hour hanging around for 2 hours playing .

happyfunpaul:


[via filkertom, among others]

happyfunpaul:

cflute:

Made it to OryCon shortly after noon. Took a couple of hours rest time then launched into the whirlwind: two panels, up to the car to fetch the musical gear, over to the room to do a quick run-through with my band-mates, then onstage in the Oregon room at 7pm. Concert set went mostly okay, I thought. I was relieved that my voice didn't buckle under the strain, but I know it showed some. Short night's sleep and two hours talking in a loud environment with limited water and two hours of panels are the worst possible lead-in to a concert set, alas. Oh well. I survived, and sounded okay, so the hard part of the con is done as far as I'm concerned.

Got to the Art Show reception this evening. A few nice visual pieces, a lot of very interesting bead and glass art, but seems like a less varied selection than usual for an OryCon. Wonder what's up with that.

Like the new hotel (Doubletree Lloyd Center) very much. All the panels and concerts are on the main floor. So is the restaurant - which is staying open later than their usual on the con's behalf, and all of the staff I've spoken with here seem to be enjoying themselves and us. The sleeping rooms (at least in the xx50-and-up group) are quite spacious - and quiet. We happen to have lucked into an odd-numbered room, which means that we have lovely panoramic views of the Willamette River and downtown Portland.

Set list, for anyone who cares, from our Friday concert:

Circle Round
Autumn Leaves
Jack Frost
Blowing Winter In
The Fox
Nemesis
Landscapes
October Country
Really Been There

So, one "anon", three Faber/Hills collaborations, one "trad", three Rivkis/et al collaborations (different tunesmiths on each one), and one Owen/Faber song. Most everything came off pretty well, and both Autumn Leaves and Really Been There got hearteningly favorable receptions.

After our concert I wandered in and out listening to other performers, then wandered off to catch up with a friend from the Tri-Cities whom I hadn't seen in years. Was really nice to be able to catch up with him and his wife and hear how things are going with them - mostly pretty well, though their house sounds like it is as... interesting... in its own ways as what phoenixpdx has reported about her domicile.

Tonight's open filk was bardic-style, and moved rather slowly, but some good stuff was performed nonetheless. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's circle even more, though.

hsifyppah:
I am heading to bedtimeland, but I feel compelled to sing the praises of the new Orycon hotel (Doubletree Portland Lloyd Center) before I drift off. MAN it's the best con hotel I've ever stayed at so far. The rooms are huge and either new or newly renovated - everything is immaculate. The hotel restaurant is cheap and delicious. (It's crazy, I know!) There's a coffee/snack bar in the lobby that was still open at 1:00 AM when I walked by. The staff are cheerful and very amused by/accomodating of the fen. The function rooms are big, there are plenty of them, and almost everything is all on one level. The filk roomS (a panel room and a neighbouring concert/open filk room) are in a little nook separate from the rest of programming and not adjacent to any sleeping rooms, so there's no sound issue. The elevators are zippy, haven't broken yet, and aren't haunted. And Ory has a multi-year contract with this hotel. Calloo, callay, &c.!

I was serenaded about slugs by Alexandre tonight! Jeffrey sang a song promoting Conflikt, which warmed my little publicity princess heart! Other Jeffrey has been singing many hilarious songs that hurt my brain! Char is here AND has been dragged up on stage AND has sung her hilarious gamer widow song! Dixon is ACTUALLY NOT AT BOEING ON A FRIDAY NIGHT! Vixy has reunited me with my postcards and I wrote so many that I ran out of stamps, which actually only means about 15, but that's more than a few. Angelica is here and okay I was about to tell you her room number because it's hilarious but what if I lead her papparazzi stalker fan club minions right to her door and she is buried alive under the weight of her unbearable fame and doesn't sing tomorrow?!! Uh... bedtime, right.

hsifyppah, posting in filk:
Okay well not that you get better seats if you register later, they'll just cost more. Conflikt! January 29-31, 2010 in Seattle! Tom Smith, Andrew Ross, October Country! Mixed in a blender with cranberry sauce! Wait, I just dreamed that part. It's midnight and I'm in a bardic circle and I'm a little punchy.

ANYWAY! If you haven't got your Conflikt membership yet, you have until November 30 to grab one before the price jumps up! If you can't REMEMBER if you got your Conflikt membership yet, or if you're just snoopy, you can check the list of registered members here.

That list will also tell you if you remembered to buy a brunch ticket yet! Which you totally should! It's tasty. Also it comes with a sweet CD with tracks from our guests. I mean sweet in a metaphorical way, it's not in pastry format. Also, did you book your hotel room yet? All the cool kids who don't sleep in pup tents in the parking lot are doing it.

Sleepily,
I remain,
Your publicity princess,
Brooke Lunderville.