cluegirl:
(No, don't ask me to pronounce it. I have more respect for the language than to try.)

I have a snake in my bathtub, soaking her skin off while her sister considers the nicities of snake metabolism, and hunger.

I have cats which I have not yet drowned in the aforementioned bathtub (through no lack of provokation on their part, I assure you.)

I have no more feliway spray left.

I do, however, have new, sparkly bookses.

I have leftovers from a celebratory lunch of which aquila_dominus and I partook today, which we shall be revisiting for dinner, most likely.

I have a sore ear, and tonsil to match on the left side.

I have a party approaching this saturday, for which I have neither cooked, nor cleaned a single thing.

I have an exercize machine leering at me from the other room, and a slice of cheesecake (shared,) to justify before I settle for the night.

And all of this falls to the wayside in the face of today's ACTUAL triumph:

I HAVE CLAPBOARD ON MY HOUSE!!!!!

It isn't painted, and the caulk may well take another week to cure in these temperatures, BUT IT'S UP! And despite the fact that the shoe room looks like a warzone from the inside, it no longer feels like Dis Pater's left nutsack in there! In fact, ironically enough, it's actually just a touch warmer inside the closed off room than elsewhere in the house. Which means we did the insulation, at least, right.

*High5's the Effin WORLD!*

And now? Octopi hijacking coconut shells. Because it's cute, is why!

cluegirl:
So our moggies have been particularly decorative recently.

Sirocco rocks the bow-head look...


But she also rocks the Kilroy look.


You must understand -- Sirocco loves this blankie. She chases it about the living room, and wedges it into various corners before burrowing under it to snooze and purr thunderously. Like this:

A kitty and her binky. A love story...

Cyrene brings Teh Cute.


Mithril brings Teh Ebil.


Hilfy and Godric have decided to have nothing whatsoever to do with the festivities this year, we have been informed. The Management remains unconvinced, and plans to keep the happysnap close to hand.

cluegirl:
1. Elaborate on your default icon.
It's the Yule Mother-- the Goddess who will give birth to the Sun God on the Winter Solstice night.

2. What's your current relationship status?
Married in sin. (What a great way to describe it, Bela!)

3. Ever have a near-death experience?
Yes.

4. Name an obvious quality you have.
I'm stacked. That's kind of hard to miss.

5. What's the name of the song that's stuck in your head right now?
Satisfaction -- the Rolling Stones. I have No Idea why.

6. Name a celebrity you would marry.
I already have my husband, thanks. Poligamy just gets folks arrested around here. Now shagging rights, or dating? There's a list of those -- two for me, actually, given my proclivities, -- but marrying? I have a hard time imagining me living with anybody but Dominus.

7. Who will cut and paste this first?
Prolly nobody.

8. Has anyone ever said you look like a celebrity?
There's an apple farmer at our local farmer's market who addresses Dominus and I as "Hello, Celebrities! How are you today?" I guess that counts, eh?

9. Do you wear a watch? What kind?
Wear? Nope. I can't afford a watch that's THAT well shielded. I carry a pocket watch though -- it's my birfday present, and even IT needs to be tweaked so that it doesn't lose time through the day. (I am just a timeless individual, you know.)

10. Do you have anything pierced?
Yep!

11. Do you have any tattoos?
Three. A dragonfly on my sacrum, a feather pen on the inside of my right wrist, and my knotwork cats as an armband around my left bicep.

12. Do you like pain?
Situationally, I can see the attraction, but at that point, it's stimulation, really, more than pain. True Pain, though, as in, broken bone, monthly cramps, belly ache, migraine pain -- of course not. That kind of pain is MEANT to be loathed, and therefore avoided.

13. Do you like to shop?
I can enjoy it when the mood takes me, but I have a strong aversion to holiday crowds, and a tendency to fall into WalMart Psychosis when surrounded by too many shopping meatsacks. It's not safe sometimes, for me to be shopping at the same time other people are...

14. What was the last thing you paid for with cash?
Take away lunch last weekend.

15. What was the last thing you paid for with your credit/debit card?
Hmm... with MY debit card? Groceries, I think.

16. Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone?
The mum. She needed to castigate me for having destroyed her watch from three thousand miles away. By just thinking about it.

17. What is on your desktop background?
An artist's fantasy landscape rendering of the ruins of a seaside, clifftop city.

18. What is the background on your cell phone?
Blackness. Thick... dark... and pendulous.

19. Do you like redheads?
Long as I don't have to render their pubes in colour, I like em just fine.

20. Do you know any twins?
One set of which I am aware. Although I know one of another set, the fact that I don't know his brother means I guess I know one and a half sets of twins.

21. Do you have any weird relatives?
I AM the weird relative. Ergo, to me, all my relatives are weird.

22. What was the last movie you watched?
King Arthur, cut to incomprehensibility on AMC.

23. What was the last book you read?
Just rolling up on the end of Michael Rossi's Things That Never Were now, so I'm gonna count that as it. And by the way? I SO reccomend this book to anybody who's a fan of weird stuff, cryptohistory, and conspiracy theory-gone-mad. It's cracktastic in the best of ways.

darkrose:

Happy First Night of Hanukkah to everyone celebrating! May the love and light last the whole year.

cluegirl:
This appears to be a 'what fandom tropes have I trodden?' sort of meme. And, loving to talk about myself as I do, how could I resist?
(  but when <b>I</b> did it, it was ART! )

telesilla:
Happy Chanukah!!

cluegirl:

Disclaimer: I have had an Ice Bear, and thus am comfortably tipsy. Any errors in spelling, maths, and/or grammar, I blame entirely on the vodka. What's more, I will probably have another. So there.

So tonight, we made Comfort Food. And what's more, we made it good!
The back-story:

I have had Goulash. I have also had Goulaz. The two are QUITE different. The second bears a closer relation to such dishes as Boeuf Bourguignon, and braised sirloin tips than to the macaroni-and-ground-beef poverty-class staple that any American would expect to see hit the table when threatened with goulash. I had the first, to my horror, all too often when my mum, Cod bless 'er, tried to make it. Ketchup was involved. It really was horrifying. The second, I encountered when aquila_dominus' girlfriend and I went to the Czech Republic, and ordered dinner in a little bistro in the town square of Czesky Krumlov. (Where the waiter and I went through 6 languages before realizing that we simply could NOT communicate with each other. He spoke neither English, French, nor Japanese! Imagine!)

In Czesky Krumlov, the Goulaz came with dumpling. Note the singular. 1, and only 1 dumpling, which was roughly the size of my HEAD. It was like getting a loaf of bread thunked into the center of your brothy beef soup. I think I managed to eat about half before I just gave it up and called for the Oompa Loompas to roll me home.

So, when the cold weather hit, and our package of sweet Hungarian paprika arrived in the mail from Auntie Arwen's Spice Supply company, (plug) I knew what I had to do. And thus, was fusion cuisine born! MWAHAHAHAHAAAAA!

Here's what we started with:
1 lb of ground beef. (In future recipes, we have decided, we will supplement this with 1/2 lb of ground turkey.)
1 chopped onion.
1 chopped pepper -- I used a cubanelle, but you could use anything from a Romani, to a Hungarian Wax, to an Anaheim, or even a Bell, if that wouldn't send you or anyone you love to hospital.
5 med cloves of garlic -- minced (quoth aquila_dominus, who did the mincing, "5 medium cloves of glaric... glaric, huh? What IS glaric?" he's had an Ice Bear as well, I shouldn't need to mention.)
1 med red tater -- chopped on scale with the pepper and onion. (Cause red taters you can reason with, but russets? They's just plain mean!)
1 1/2 c uncooked macaroni. (For the gluten sensitive, there are brown rice based macaroni that are really quite yummy, and not-toxic to you.)
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce + 1/4 Can of water
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes. (About 3 whole large raw tomatoes, depending on size, if you're strangely loathing of tinned tomatoes.)
4 T Hungarian sweet paprika
2 T Hot paprika.
Black pepper
2 bay leaves
1 T salt.
1 T olive oil + 1 t sesame oil (you know, like I always do when I cook. Or you could use lard if you want to be authentic. Your choice.)
Sour Cream to garnish.

Here's how.

Start with the garlic, potato and oil in the pot, doing a little browning.
Meanwhile, pre-cook the macaroni for a few minutes. You want it on the crunchy side of al dente, but NOT really cooked. It will need to be able to take up some of the liquid in the pan. Once you can eat it, but it's still decidedly crunchy, drain the water off, and set the macaroni aside to wait for you.
After the macaroni is done, add the onion, pepper, and ground meat to the potatoes and garlic in the skillet. Saute until the meat is cooked and crumbling, do not drain fat. (you should be using a low-fat content beef anyhow, so there oughtn't to be all that much fat TO drain off this.)
At this point, put in the salt, pepper, bay leaves, and paprika. Once this is mixed in evenly, add the tomatoes, sauce, water, and macaroni. Cover, and simmer covered until the liquid is mostly taken up by the potatoes and pasta. (On our stove, this took about 15 minutes. But we have decided to try a variation of this recipe wherein the pasta will go in uncooked, and we will use tomato juice instead of sauce + water, and cooks longer on the stovetop, to see if it's better in any marked way. We'll let you know.)
Once the time has elapsed, and your deep skillet is looking more or less goulashy, turn the heat off, and let the mixture settle for about five minutes.

Serve with whole grain bread, butter, and a big dollop of sour cream on top of each bowl.
And if you don't have Ice Bears, serve it with a salad, and a good Dunkelsbier. Or a German lager, at the very least.

And as always, please do let me know how this comes out when you try it in your own kitchens!

telesilla:
You didn't give me your name, but I want you to know that the note you wrote meant a lot to me and made me tear up just a little. Thank you!

And yay cast iron frying pan! Corn bread! Pan Seared Rib Eyes!!

Thank you again.

♥

sorchar:

• 23:14 @oshunanat Well, it's not like the information is top secret. I know it, and I'm not even a cook! #

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telesilla:

Just one tonight:

From the 2009 Yule LE Line:

Sol Invictus -- "A radiant blend of solar oils: golden amber, saffron, heliotrope, hibiscus, citron, frangipani, frankincense, tangerine, mock orange, and orange blossom."

It's a somewhat heavy floral with just a touch of ambery spice under it. Mostly what I'm getting is the frangipani and the orange blossom grounded by the amber. I'd say this is an almost tropical floral for people who don't like florals. In other words, me. :)

telesilla:

...replace the milk the cheese sauce for baked macaroni and cheese with mostly heavy cream (I thinned it with a little milk)?

Don't.

God, I think I'm gonna die.

Thing is, other than that the fact that it was insanely rich, it was incredibly good. Half sharp cheddar, a quarter jack and a quarter blue cheese made for a nice mix of cheesy taste and melty goodness.

Oh also? It had bacon in it.

Die, I tell you. I'm gonna die.

telesilla:

cluegirl:
Only in the chilly house, all cats are white. And in a pile, right beside me on the sofa.



Godric was there first, then Cyrene decided he needed a cuddle, so she came in and sat on his head. Then Sirocco realized that the triumverate of white kitties was incomplete without her, and climbed on top.

The tolerance is... kind of alarming, actually. I've been able to get up and sit back down twice without anybody realizing they'd been busted tolerating the rest, and lashing out. This cannot last... but until someone runs off cryin, I'm going to enjoy the cute overload.

cluegirl:
CONTRACTORS AT LAST!!!

Okay. That's enough of Capslock Clue for today.

The point being, that at fucking LAST the damned missing sill plate is going to be repaired/replaced! They're down in my basement right now, scavenging our lumber supply to build the temporary support wall that will take up the weight from the jack. Sirocco is, as usual, supervising. This is mainly because I refused to let her escape through the basement door while they had it open to bring tools in, and so she's frustrated at her lack of snow-romping. She will also, I believe, survive the emotion.

In other news, Godric has officially lost his fucking mind. Even on the calming drops as suggested by a friend, he STILL sprayed last night... are you ready for this shit?... ON THE KITCHEN COUNTER!!! I swear, I'm gonna have to talk to the vet about catheterizing him permanently or something if he can't be made to stop this! Ouf... lookit all those damned exclamation points. Must do better.

So I had an unintentionally racist moment yesterday that's still bugging me today. In Tempus Fugitive, I rolled across a brief comment where I found myself in need of a Hebrew slang word that might be used to express utter and complete disgust with a creature one couldn't even consider sentient. Something like the Norse word "Nithing". This was complicated by the fact that the person speaking is a 700 year old vampire, and wouldn't use modern slang all that much. But somehow in the asking of the question, I managed to come across as though I were referring to Jews as some alien species who needed anthropological explanation for any Goy to understand. *Facepalm* The slight, it was unintentional, but the apology, it is genuine. Offense wasn't what I meant to give, and the co-chatter was generous as to not take it, but I still feel an apology is warranted for my clumsiness. And so, I'm sorry, truly.

...Aaand the banging begins. This is the part that's always somewhat freaky. I really hope they don't break that window they're working beneath.

In other news, my black rubber rain boots are, apparently, garbage. I got them because they were the only ones that weren't overly twee, but have had them less than three months, and they have begun to leak. The rubber's split in not less than three places, and all where I can't get to it on the inside without ripping out the lining. Duct tape to the rescue! I'm seriously considering cleaning the whole foot area up, and then covering the boot from toe to top with the stuff, just to stave off any further disappointments. Wouldn't be the first time I've worn silver boots in hard weather. (For those who aren't of the Rennie persuasion, I managed to get a pair of metallic silver Doc Martens approved for Queen Titania's rain costume one year at Hawkwood. It was a silly place.)

And now I am out of babble for the nonce.
Ergo, I go.
AVAUNT!

zillah975:
This is an interesting idea... Pictures2Words, a new big bang where the artists sign up to create art and the writers sign up to write stories based on the art. They're limiting it to Supernatural, Leverage, and RPS of those shows (and crossovers among those three categories), but anyway, it really makes me wish I were one of those writers who could always manage to write. The ones who do writing roundups every month of like twenty fics they've posted and are still all "woe, such writers block omg! I've hardly written ANYthing!" But I can't sign up, I know I wouldn't finish (or probably), but still! What a cool idea.

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sorchar:

• 21:35 Western Culinary Inst. being sued by grads who are pissed off that they still have to start as line cooks out in the real world. Douchebags. #
• 21:57 @mamadeb1963 yes! You have to do it to learn. #

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telesilla:

*dances* SGA Santa is done and off to the beta!! Only chibi!John can express my glee!

telesilla:
Seen all over my flist...

If I came with a warning label, what would it say?

cluegirl:
So: If I came with a warning label, what would it be?

(Post this in your journal if you want to play along. It looks pretty fun, actually.)

telesilla:

So dinner tonight was all kinds of win.

I made the Bacon Potato Leek Soup with a few changes* and it was utterly fantastic. I just served it with some nice sourdough rolls, but it'd be good with a salad or as the soup course in a larger meal.

It was insanely easy except for the part where the only potatoes I had were baby gold and let me tell you, peeling enough baby potatoes to make four cups of diced potatoes is a big pain in the ass.

And! I got to play with my stick blender! Wheeeee! I think it's my new favorite kitchen toy in terms of sheer fun. In terms of practicality, the chopper still wins.

Also, I meant to say that you don't really need a stick blender or any kind of blender. It would have been good if I'd mashed with my trusty potato masher.

*I forgot to get fresh thyme at the store and for some unknown reason I don't have any dried. Also, we have no cognac and I didn't really want to spend the money for some just to cook with.