On family
Everyone is doing fine. The kids will be wrapping up their school year with standardized testing next week, the baby is past her spitting-up phase and well into her teething phase, and the husband and I continue to pursue our various hobbies and interests.
On going back to school
I bit the bullet and signed up for a summer math class at the local community college. I will at some point try to sanitize my previous class history by importing it into my student record, but I’m not counting on that. Hence the stint at community college before even thinking about university.
On work
So unmotivated. I have been trying to wrap up projects that are important to me without alienating everyone involved because I am just so pooped. Summer’s early arrival isn’t helping.
On hobbies
I recently picked up wire wrapping as a jewelry technique and have been playing around a bit with copper, glass, and seed beads. Once Matthew has finished making a lightbox, I’ll start uploading them to Etsy. If web is work, this is definitely hobby.
On Six Apart and Livejournal
Wow, what a clusterfuck. For a company that makes communication tools, their communication skills are… limited. I’ve been saying this for years now, but… wow.
Open invitation to the LJ-flist
I’m in the NoVA area. If anyone is interested in going to DC museum/attractions, local events and festivals, or having an afternoon crafting session, give me a ping. Kids optional.
Matthew, on Alone in the Dark: “It’s like somebody died in the middle of production, and they lost the script, and they just kept shooting and shooting and then went, ‘Oh, crap, we have to make a movie out of this’.”
Back in the old days, we called them car bombs. Now, of course, they’re VBIEDs, that is, vehicle borne improvised explosive devices.
I’ll take another useless acronym for $200, Alex.
Long story very much abbreviated…
I ended up killing time at Borders with Madeline while Matthew, Marcus, and Rebecca caught Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the local movie theater. On my way out, I impulsively picked up Judy Blume’s Superfudge series from the clearance racks.
Marcus ran off with Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing as soon as we got home, so I sat down with Superfudge. Three-fourths of the way through it, I was nastily yanked from my stroll through memory lane when I read this, emphasis mine:
Dear Santa,
Please bring me one or more of the following items. A clock radio, a remote-controlled model airplane, a laptop computer, an MP3 player and six CD’s.
To which I say, bah and humbug. I am very much unamused.
After a brief (very brief) discussion of how pearls are made:
Rebecca: So people who wear pearls are wearing oyster spit?
Me: Yes…
Rebecca: So why did you make Aunt Maryanne a pearl necklace?
The children heartily approve of the cake batter for Bette Hagman’s gluten-free Chocolate Pound Cake. The mixing bowl, beater, and spatula have been licked clean with much gusto. The cake is in the oven; I was afraid of the pan being too small, but apparently gluten-free cakes rise less than their counterparts.
I’m a little dubious about the chocolate chips, as I like my chocolate evenly dispersed in the batter rather than in little melty dribs and dabs. Still, it is chocolate, and it is a cake, so Marcus should be quite satisfied on his birthday tomorrow.
I am bad, I am very bad. Every time I hear about General Petraeus, I think, “Doctor Zaius!”.
On my way home from class today, I stopped by the Manassas School of Dance and enrolled Rebecca in Ballet I. Drove home, unloaded the groceries from Costco (I was so well behaved, I only got milk and eggs and butter and half-and-half), nursed Madeline, and then threw everyone back into the car to get Becca her uniform leotard and tights and ballet shoes, oh my!
I do not think that there is a way to remove the pink stain from my soul. The dancewear shop… so… pink. And frilly. And full of pointe shoes and tutus and little girls’ dreams and satin ribbons, oh my dear God!
Source: Recipe: No-Knead Bread, New York Times
Ingredients
- 3 C all-purpose or bread flour
- 1/4 ts instant yeast
- 1·1/4 ts salt
- 1·1/2 C water
- additional bench flour
Instructions
- Mix flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Add water and stir until thoroughly combined; this will produce a very sticky dough. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise at room temperature (70F) for 12-18 hours.
- When the surface is dotted with bubbles, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Fold over itself once or twice, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
- Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to you, shape it into a ball and place seam-side-down onto a generously floured pastry cloth. Cover with another cloth and allow to rise for two more hours.
- Half an hour before the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 450F with a 4-6 quart heavy covered pot inside it. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven. Sprinkle the bottom of the pot with cornmeal or flour to aid in release. Turn the dough out into the pot, seam side up. Cover with the lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake an additional 15-30 minutes. Cool on a rack.
Notes
16 September 2007
3 quart Lodge Logic chicken fryer caused cosmetic indentations on the top of the loaf from the self-basting lid. Baked at 500F for 30 minutes, removed lid, continued baking for 5 minutes. Produced a dark brown crust.
Today is full of fail.
I was only 24 minutes late to class. Bah.