Friends

Not much has been happening for the last few days, which is just how I like it.

Today, I got to play with many, many small children. This makes me happy. I think it makes them happy, too. Sometimes it even makes their parents happy, which is just a general bonus.

I've been doing some gaming, seeing friends, and even went to see a movie in theatres this weekend. (Though I didn't pay for it). Avatar was everything I expected: predictable plot, 2-dimensional characters, stunningly beautiful and innovative in the 3D medium. Oh, and the main bad guy was bad-ass awesome.

Tomorrow I've got a party at Eric's and then I've got no plans until next Tuesday. I still have no idea what I'm doing for New Year's. Anyone know what's going on?

Yesterday, I made an aspic in miniature... basically just playing with the broth that came from dinner (pork roast) cooked the night before. If I were going to seriously go about it, I would likely boil down stuff on the bone with a nice bit of cartilage... like... ohhh calves feet :P I did encourage it will a wee bit of isinglass though.



As you can see, it is pretty small and I only put the liquid through a fine sieve but didn't bother with a cloth. I took this picture to show how firm it is as it has been cut through, it is still sitting on the same plate (after tasting of course... wasn't bad btw) and it has not changed in shape a bit at room temp. over 24hrs.

Even if nobody ate them, they would make for a pretty cheap table ornament, though in that very case, would stick to using feet and scrap (better than that sounded) than using good broth that would better be appreciated in soup.

 been waiting a bit, possibly putting things off... SCA-wise actually! I tend to be much worse with putting off things SCA related than other things...

now to finish a few other things, maybe, possibly... semi-sca related-ish, I think...


Ryan and Shannon are presently playing the wii together, earlier it was with his new martian matter stuff. He didn't get a crap-load of stuff, just a few quality-fun things.
I got crap loads of veggies in the oven, my body will like me :) Seems lately I've been mostly liking meat as a flavouring but not so much as a main dish.

I'm getting duelling Christmas carols on the piano, one from the apartment above me to the left, one from the apartment directly above me. Obviously, neither can hear the other, so it's not like they're in sync or playing the same song or anything.

Now all we need is for the guy downstairs to start playing his bass and we'll be all set.

Wrapping presents, of course. What else would one do on Christmas morning? *grin*

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it. To those who don't, Merry Warrenmas. (It's Warren's birthday today, and that's something we can *all* celebrate!)

To My Queen.

 I think I now live in a ghost town!

Hard to notice during the day but at night, it is really dark considering the number of houses about :-O


Seems I always have food on the mind...

Tomorrow I attempt to make a really nice meal out of what we have around the house. As it stands, we have loads of meat and starchy things, some from our first grocery here, yet very few vegetables. I think I may be worsening the situation by cooking even less as we run out in an effort to try and stretch it.
NOTE: don't let people who won't be cooking, do the shopping!
Can't wait till spring, will be able to make the walk to the grocery store again

I am so craving vegetables!!!
After a year of having to live on a low income diet, I don't feel it has changed much, it only costs more and am feeling unhealthy because of it... I'm guessing this is in contrast with Shannon's going from a deep-fried diet to craving what he perceives as comfort food (meat, bread, noodles and cheese).

Merry Christmas to all of my friends and family!

I haven't posted an update to LJ in such a long time I can't remember what I last posted :)

As of late I've been feeling a lot better. I was diagnosed with an inflammation of the stomach back in September after almost six months of on again, off again abdominal pain, as well as depression. I've been taking meds for both and have been feeling a world better since ... it probally also helps that things have eased up at work and we're settled into our new place (if not unpacked yet lol)

Halloween this year saw us move from our old place into an upper level duplex. Being an older building, it has it's unique charm as well as some *warts*, like stairs that need some fixing and some problems with the windows. All in all though me and Nat love it, although we haven't had much chance to properly set things to order as of yet ... definately something to do after the holidays :)

The only drawback to the new place (besides the minor fixes it needs) is that it means I'm up and out twenty minutes earlier than our previous place, as I now have added a bus and a couple more metro stops to the morning commute :(

Holidays this year we're again making a lot of our own gifts for people. Nat is making another batch of her yummy "everything but the kitchen sink" fruit compote, as well as bath salts, dip mix and bar-b-q spice mixes. She's also making apple butter again, but with a twist this year: she added pears to the mix, and due to lucky accident it ended up being caramelized ...yum! We also bought some gifts as well to round things out, so all in all everyone should be happy this year.

Five minutes past midnight and Nat wanted to open her Christmas gifts :) Since it was technically Christmas day at this point I saw no reason why not :) Needless to say we all loved what we gave to one another, and the cats had fun with their gift as well as all the wrapping paper on the floor :)

Anyhow, enough rambling for now ... off to the kitchen to can some fruit compote! :)

Due to circumstances beyond our control, Marc and I suddenly found ourselves this morning with an unexpected free day. So we did what any good-thinking couple would do with a whole lazy day stretched out ahead of them, we made pancakes. We used this recipe and added a tsp of vanilla (I love vanilla). We don't have a sifter, so we whisked it instead.

Final verdict: oh, so tasty. Definitely a keeper.

In fairness to my regular reader who are no doubt wondering "where's the monstrous calamity that usually accompanies Julie's adventures in cooking posts?", I say that Marc did all the actual pancake cooking. If it were me, there would no doubt have been a groan-inducing anecdote right around now. Wait for it. There's always next time.

I'm a bad person. Somehow, I broke Marc's coffee machine. I cleaned it with water and vinegar; well and good. Ran the first rinse through (just plain water, for goodness sake!) and when I went to switch off the machine, the toggle switch wouldn't work. It just sort of bounced back and forth instead of, y'know, toggling.

So now we're using the backup coffee machine that takes forever. (Yes, foolish people, of course we have a backup coffee machine!) Despite the apparent warning from God, we're cleaning this one too. A new coffee machine has suddenly been added to our shopping list.

On the other hand, the apartment is much cleaner.

Marc and I decided to set aside today for cleaning (much as it might shock my mother). We've been at it for a good two hours now, maybe three. I have just declared the living room finished, except for my desk with is another job entirely. I even moved the couches to clean behind them and everything, and I didn't even destroy the display case while I was at it. (It was a near thing.)

Marc's still working on the kitchen cupboards: taking everything out, washing, vacuuming. (Yes, vacuuming.) I don't think he's even gotten to the counters yet. I've got a good boyfriend.

Next is probably gonna be the hallways or maybe (gasp!) the bedroom. I'm officially taking a break. Whew!

Just recently noticed a multi-kingdom interest in sauces...

well, there have been interest in them for years now but there seems to be a bit of a reemerging of interest in their use...

I'm just curious as to why this is.

 Today amattempting a crostata... with 16th century instruction... this is in no way seems to compare to what we would consider a traditional or old fashioned crostata, seems far fancier and more modern... go figure!

Doing an Apple and Cheese Crostata ...back... fresh out of the oven My take on this based on the instructions given for the pastry from about 3 different recipes since the Apple Crostata recipe was rather vague on the set up of the paste.

Looks like a pretty typical pie really...

The bottom is built up from a thicker layer of paste (being the flour/butter/cold water/egg type), buttered and layered with thinner layers (this is laid in the pie pan and the edge is twisted paste), over this the provatura, then the apples

prepared thus: thinly sliced raw, or as I did... baked/cooked apples... done with butter and white wine or madeira (I used sherry) and sugar.

Over the apples, sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar, then the provatura. Also, with this, is supposed to be dotted with butter and the additions of raisins, while I was not skimpy with the butter, I did forget the raisins... woops! :-O

What I wasn't sure is if it were covered and if covered, by what sort of layering. It could have been a solid layer with strips over top or a solid cut to look like strips and so on... I chose to layer strips on this one, making alternate slits in them... looks kind of cool but it was no more than guess work at that point.

Can't say how it tastes, though the individual parts tasted quite well as it was being made Still waiting for it to cool down and likely won't dive in until after supper.

If there is to be made more in the future, I'd likely give it a whirl without a top shell of pastry and just go with what the top layer of cheese gives.

FarmVille eats my brain. I say this as a tried-and-true LJer who has never used Facebook for anything other than event notices and occasional "I forgot your email address" contact.

But, yeah, FarmVille eats my brain. Thank goodness it's likely only going to be a temporary obsession. I hope.

(Must refresh page. Must see if any animals need to be rescued. Must harvest crops... Zombie Farmville Julie is zombified.)