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Jan. 3rd, 2036 03:37 pm
infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)
Everything prior to 2010 has been dumped into private. If you're looking for a particular entry from back then, drop me an email.

Also, Photobucket drank the "let's sell our user uploaded content to data miners" kool-aid, so I deleted my account... which probably broke all my img hotlinks. If there's something affected by this that you're particularly sad about, drop a comment.
infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

Busy weekend, and this week I’m off work, so update time!

Friday I met Rm in person for the first time; he was in town stirring up (good) trouble in the Pittsburgh biotech community. We talked about some of the trickier aspects of Delphi and the magic of the “third path” that is being technical staff in academia.

Saturday P and I worked independently in the kitchen to make a batch of ma’amoul and halva respectively, which is always a comfort. I scorched the tahini but it was a serendipity and now I have to figure out how to do it on purpose. I’ve been riffing off P’s recipe (it’s on his website) with less sugar, higher sugar temp, and a quarter teaspoon of cardamom. In the evening F&A dropped by to deliver a peach blueberry crisp and chat briefly masked on the porch. It was good to see them.

Sunday we went to the farmers market and got jam fruit in addition to the usuals. Sunday afternoon we went to an Olin summer party, after a brief rain delay. I met (re-met maybe?) E, who is at CMU doing a robotics masters. Caught up with M&B. Met the host’s daughter, a rising sophomore, and talked FWOP and summer internships and insufficiently well targeted research projects and GoS.

Yesterday P had a job interview and I prepped peaches for jam and a variety of fruits for oatmeal, somehow managing to pack it all into the fridge. P made yogurt in the sous vide.

Today is jam day.

infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

Over the weekend, I was possessed by a small cleaning spirit and applied it to the stove and exhaust hood. P did the grates, which are now back to factory surfaces in most places. Sunday morning we combined our powers to blow whatever fuse controls both the bathroom and sewing room outlets, and put in some time in the afternoon to label the breaker boxes in the basement and second floor. As a fun surprise, some lights go through as many as three of them, which seems excessive. We did the laundry and hung it out on the line; we went to the farmers market and got peaches, little red plums, blueberries, mushrooms, cider, rhubarb, red frisée, a cucumber, yellow zucchini, mint, and cutting celery; I made the rhubarb, plums, and half the blueberries into sauce for oatmeal(grits, lately) this week. I finally remembered to re-load the market CSA account.

infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

Hello again! I may start doing weekend summaries; we’ll see how it goes. Over the weekend I finished laying out six new handkerchiefs on fine linen using drawn threads. I haven’t decided whether to draw more threads for hemstitch work or just press the hems before felling them.

Sunday was busy; we went to the farmers market and got blueberries, pluots, sour cherries, peaches, rhubarb, snap peas, zucchini, broccolini, parsley, kale, and hummus. We did the laundry and hung it out on the line. I made fruit sauce for oatmeal using the blueberries, rhubarb, and some of the pluots, in an attempt to reproduce last week’s amazing combo and write more details down this time for posterity (1 pint blueberries, 4-5 stalks rhubarb, 3-6 apricots or pluots, 6T sugar, macerate a bit to release some juices, bring to a boil covered without adding water, remove solids with a slotted spoon, reduce liquids, return solids, simmer 3-5 minutes). I made a batch of lentils, switching from Mexican-ish to herb and mushroom, which will be worth some more exploration. P made bread dough for the 4th, and went over to F&A’s for some masked outdoor social time after dinner.

Yesterday afternoon P assembled the pita kit (cutting board for rolling, rolling pin, tava, the magic spatula, flour sifter, basket, towel), I made some emergency mujadara, and we headed over to C’s for a cookout. It was fantastic, few enough people you could hear everyone and believe in the ventilation. Had some good conversations, a splash of good wine, a bourbon-soaked cherry also enjoyed vicariously by people temporarily forbidden alcohol, and made a shitton of pita in spite of the misbehaving gas grill.

I’m currently shopping for new wireless earbuds, as the Know ones are starting to get unreliable in their charging. I have P’s rejected Sonys as a stopgap but they are a bit big for my tiny tiny ears. Two candidates: one that uses UV-curing polymers to literally mold to your individual ear, but which has suboptimal audio in the vocal range; one which has better audio for vocals and still high comfort ratings on a thorough “for small ears” review list from last fall.

infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

Last full week of vacation! I go back to work on Thursday.

Tuesday and Wednesday were writing days, then I sent the draft over to P for his additions. Thursday I did the laundry, drew illustrations, made a paper model of the weird salwar/sarawal pattern I’d found online, and followed up with a wee fabric prototype. There are only two seams and they’re both on the straight or cross grain but the geometry is complicated so I’m not certain I’ll stick with it. Friday I had therapy, scanned in all the drawings, and cleaned them up digitally. Saturday I finished cleanup, then adapted the layout and content based on P’s edits and added in the images. Sunday I made a cover and did print tests, although I might go with professional printing this year since it looks like our printer is again having problems with toner ghosts and skipping pages. Unfortunately it looks like “sixteen-page half-letter booklet” is not something anyone makes easy to specify, especially for black-and-white printing.

infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

Vacation log part two!

Tuesday I finished the hems, and we played the best damn game of scrabble of our lives to date with a board score of 822.

Wednesday P went out for a last grocery run before Christmas.

Thursday I made two more attempts at butter tarts, the second successful. They need a little bit of blind baking, just not as much as I did the first time. Cornstarch makes for a better texture than roux.

Friday we did a porch swap with F&A to relieve them of some mistaken lamb and chicken wings, and got bonus cinnamon pastries. We opened gifts (Rejected Princesses from P, a nice marble mortar and pestle from D, the best hoodie I’ve ever worn from M; the socks for P were a hit).

Saturday we did a video chat with P’s folks, then with mine, and P made fesenjan (a sour Persian meat stew with nuts). T sent me progress photos from the infinite lizard torus puzzle so that seems to have been a win as well.

Sunday I woke up with mega neck pain, so spent most of the day propped up on pillows, doing gentle exercises on a timer. I made a start at the annual zine.

Monday was better. P helped me make another batch of lentils and grits, this time with a parsnip thrown in, an excellent addition.

I started a workout plan on the 20th called “Couch to Crushing it” and it’s going well so far.

I’ve been reading Kill The Farm Boy by Delilah S Dawson and Kevin Hearne. It’s a bit like Shrek in its frenzied comedic tone but otherwise standard D&D theater. Enjoyable enough to finish but I wouldn’t bother recommending it unless you are hard up for lesbian representation in sword and sorcery.

infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

This past week off work has been full of much-needed rest! I’ve been on a pattern of doing something semi productive in the morning or early afternoon, then playing Factory Town or napping until dinner. Although lbr it’s mostly Factory Town. Very sticky.

Wednesday we went to the coop and got baking ingredients and some fresh vegetables. A lemon, an orange, bell pepper, green beans, rice flour, sorghum flour, almond meal, brown sugar, candied ginger, coconut oil, vegan butter, hazelnut milk, and coconut-almond creamer.

Thursday I had a cavity filled.

Friday I made a gf flour blend from the rice and sorghum flours and corn starch, then made pie crust.

Saturday I made mince pies and attempted Canadian butter tarts. The orange and lemon peel went into the mince finely shredded, plus some of the juice, diced candied ginger, a pile of spices, toasted pecans, and the dregs of the bottle of wild ferment cider we’d been working through. Simmered until gloppy. Lined muffin tins with pastry, ran out of dough, made more. Filled and baked. Used the rest of the pastry to line mini muffin tins. Made butter tart batter with gf roux instead of the egg, and half brown sugar half maple syrup. The batter is ridiculously delicious so I’m a bit miffed I overbaked them into sortof toffee tarts instead, still edible but I want to try again. The mince pies are 💯, and I froze most of them so anxietybrain doesn’t freak out about their moist contents.

Sunday I washed my hair and did laundry, and clicked buttons to help N fix the survey machinery for work.

Monday I rescued some of the botched intermediate survey results from Sunday, and documented the process for N to complete. I took down the hem in P’s wool pants, which have shrunk by over two inches in the wash over time. I may decide to put the rest of the yardage through a warm cycle before making another pair. Anyway he tried them on to mark a new hem and they were still borderline too short, so I added a band of fabric to the bottoms. I made a new leather thimble (the other I’d made too small) for the finishing work.

Today I plan to complete the new hems and make paper snowflakes.

infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

Over the weekend I made a batch of lentils and grits, showered, and played large quantities of Factory Town. Two more days until break!

infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

Over the weekend I wrapped gifts for my folks and packed everything into boxes for P to ship today. Flipped the mattress, did most of the laundry, and started playing Factory Town, a really cute game on Steam about logistics. It’s pretty sticky though so I’ll have to be careful about play time. I ordered nuts and fruit for the holidays from a new place in Texas; we’ll see if they’re any good. P is now researching nut cracking equipment as most of these places offer interesting varietals but only in-shell.

infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

Over the rest of break, P made popovers and ma’amoul to drop off at C’s for thanksgiving, I made a stuffed pumpkin for the day after (successfully, finally, and the squash itself is really good so I’ve saved the seeds), we took a nice day trip to a new independent bookstore for our anniversary, had video calls with our respective parents, and otherwise took it very, very easy.

infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

I am off work all this week! Over the weekend I did some pleating tests for a curtains sewing project. Cartridge pleats look the best with this fabric, but unfortunately they’re a lot of work so I’m thinking about alternatives. I’m also thinking about trying to make my own header tape but that also seems pretty fussy so we’ll see. Sunday was busy: the last farmers market of the year (potatoes, apples, onions, peppers, kale, carrots, mushrooms), I got my flu shot and COVID booster, then we spent a nice afternoon with the Ws and taught them Fluxx and Scopa. Yesterday I was completely out recovering from vaccines (moderate fever, aches) and P got his booster. I did however land on the perfect ratios for Persian-style mujadara by accident; I’ll have to try it again while actually measuring.

infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

Last week was my birthday, and I took the day off and spent it sewing, having a long bath with chamomile, and reading under piles of blankets. I put back pockets on P’s brown wool pants, reinforced the corners on the front side pockets, and patched a rip in his twill pants.

Over the weekend I made myself a new leather thimble, sewed a snap onto a cloth pad that had lost one, and made another batch of lentils and wild rice. At the farmers market we picked up a case of cider, and she threw in a bag of fresh marsh mallow roots. I sliced them up and put them in the dehydrator. If you’ve never had them before, they’re mucilagenous like okra, and smell gently of horseradish and turnips… which is why marshmallows (the confection) were invented, since you couldn’t get kids to eat them unless you drowned out the flavor with sugar. Marsh mallow is good for dry coughs, sore throats, and urinary issues, just be sure not to take within three hours of any prescription meds, since the mucilage coats your GI tract and can interfere with drug absorption. Some sources also say not to mix with diabetes meds, but I couldn’t find one that explained why. Otherwise marsh mallow is very safe, even during pregnancy. You can also use it topically as part of a poultice, since the mucilage dries into a flexible but supportive air barrier: instant bandage! As always, don’t sub herbal medicine for seeing a doctor, and always let your doc know what you’re using.

infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

We’re on a hard sprint so I worked most of the weekend. P was lovely and made me another batch of lentils and wild rice, and took my list to the farmers market.

I finished Murderbot up through the end of Fugitive Telemetry, finished Magicians, watched one episode of Bakineering (too much pizzazz, not enough support, the pairings are interesting but I spent the entire time comparing it to Bake-off).

infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

I gave myself a five day weekend! I finished the seersucker shorts for P, did some mending, trued and washed some fabric I bought for linings, and roasted a pumpkin (dubious succes; this batch of wild rice takes ages to cook and the pumpkin itself was disappointing). I finished Not Your Average Hot Guy (meh, skip it), read For The Wolf by Hannah Whitten in its entirety (lovely reimagining), and started rereading the murderbot books. Caught up on sleep too, and I’m working on resetting my sleep schedule for winter.

infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

Over the weekend I finished the second pocket on the wool pants for P, and they are complete for now. I cut out some seersucker sleep shorts (it required some piecing so I gave them a side panel with a small diagonal stripe of doubled up black voile) and sewed all the panel seams and then the center front and back. We went to the farmers market and got three kinds of apples, maple syrup, mushrooms, a new cider (still, bittered with tulsi), beans, sweet potatoes, a pie pumpkin, peppers, a tomato, and fresh onions. Had some of the cider with dinner prep and it was intense; P doesn’t not-like it but it has enough dill seed overtones that my palate immediately labels it as an inferior pickle shot. Bummer.

I had a call with my Olin mentee, and one with my GoS mentee. For the latter we resubmitted her paper to JEI, her first time responding to reviewer feedback, milestone reached!

I’ve been watching The Magicians, which is fine, and reading Not Your Average Hot Guy, which is clearly trying very hard.

infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

Over the weekend I spent some time remembering how to do welt pockets, and installed one into the wool pants for P. The rayon I ordered for lining them arrived, but I didn’t get around to unpacking it. P made ma’amoul, and I made another batch of lentils and wild rice. We went to the market and got apples, pears, beans, peppers, bak choy, sweet potato greens (!), zucchini, and honey. I finished watching Shadow And Bone and started alternating The Magicians with Ada Twist to counteract the gore in the former. Mood’s been shitty but I suspect hormones.

Last night I watched Twitter explode with the news that Frances is the Facebook whistleblower. We’ve lost touch, but I couldn’t be more proud of her.

Lining TBD

Sep. 27th, 2021 08:16 am
infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

This weekend, we had drinks with F&A over at their new house, flirting with the rain. I finished all major seams, waistband, and hem on a pair of brown wool pants for P; remains inserting pockets. I’m thinking of using a remnant from the mauve/grey skirt for the welts and facing just to make them easier to get round the right way. The White has been sewing like a champ, and the narrower presser foot actually makes a bunch of stuff easier.

infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

Last weekend I finally got the White sewing! I had to shim the needle/presser bar assembly to get the needle alignment right, and I added another washer to the top tension adjustment knob so it would compress the spring washer properly. The set screw is working for now but if it works itself loose I may need to have Dad drill and tap the hole in the face of the knob that’s meant to hold it snug. At some point I’ll take all the knobs off and put markings on them; for now they’re just “you know what you’re doing, right?” knobs. I watched some videos to figure out I had the needle clamp on backwards, and that the top thread had to go through the tension disks before the takeup lever (which I should have guessed; the other Brother does it that way). I reviewed a PDF of the manual to get that the flat side of the needle goes to the right, then everything worked! I’m so pleased I didn’t have to adjust the timing, that would’ve been a bear. I did have to drop the bobbin tension to get a good stitch but it should be all set now.

On Labor Day we had lunch in the park with F&A and it was wonderful. Then I went home and ruined a batch of crispy roasted fava beans 😭. Hypotheses include under-boiling and overdoing the alkali. Snacks this week will be bean-less, alas.

Noooooooo

Aug. 28th, 2021 08:29 am
infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

This week at work we reviewed everyone’s goals for fall. A fixed the convex solver for the day-of-week adjustments for the doctor visits signal, but we haven’t figured out how to install it yet with M still away at her internship. One of our cases and deaths providers changed the URL of their dataset without telling us, and made it so that pandas requests got routed to 403:Forbidden, which was annoying. It did give us the chance to start archiving the raw data files though, so, silver linings. I met with a pile of folks from Amazon to start the process of seeing if Redshift will be a good choice for us. I pair programmed with G for a couple hours and together we developed the SQL syntax for some of the queries the API server will need to run on the interim system. Next is figuring out how to make the existing query builder generate that syntax, which could be tricky. I got A started writing a new indicator to track vaccination data published by the CDC. I led the all-hands meeting, which was short since we didn’t have a Big Picture talk scheduled.

In the kitchen this week the best news is that I opened the white grits I ordered from Anson Mills and, wow. The texture is irregular and amazing, creamy but gently toothsome. Fantastic in chili. Doesn’t take as long to cook as they claim, either, though that may be because I prep a container with the grits in it that also contains damp ingredients like diced nectarine and green beans and tomatillos, so it has a chance to hydrate a bit before cooking. Second best is that if you par-cook brown rice using the pasta method on the same day you make soup, you can use the drained-off starchy rice liquid in the soup, and it’s a very good idea indeed.

The new desk is excellent and lets me sit in way more different positions than before. It is commensurately less sturdy though, so my second monitor bobbles when I jog the table. I can live with that though.

I’ve been watching the new season of Wynonna Earp. There’s gore, but it’s largely avoidable and there’s plenty of comic relief. Relationship drama may cause a mild allergic reaction but it looks like a lot of it is going to resolve soon.

P has been doing better on the new meds, but still in it.

Weather hot and humid. We’ve both been spending most of our time in the AC.

Some creature ripped up a bunch of the staples holding the garden fence in place, and had a party with their whole family, so there’s not much left of the garden. The squash has one leader left so is likely to recover, but the beans and kale won’t. The cucumber vines are still small and largely escaped the carnage, some flowers but no fruits yet. Wellp. It was a good run.

infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)

Over the weekend, I finished clearing out the sewing room(well…enough), vacuumed, took apart the spare work table, then P helped me move the sewing cabinet back in there. I assembled the new wee desk for me to work at, and it is pretty and lightly industrial. We went to the farmers market and I meant to just get fruit since the veg drawer is packed full of squash and beans and peppers, but they had gorgeous gigantic okra and tomatillos and I managed to fit it all in there somehow.

Fried okra is unbelievably delicious. Wash, dry thoroughly, slice into rounds about half as thick as the pod is wide, then fry in a bit of oil with a touch of salt until crisp and brown on both cut sides, about six minutes total. The texture contrast of dry caramelized outside and soft unctuous inside is wonderful, and the small pieces and dry cooking method prevent sliminess.

P’s folks weathered the dregs of Henri alright, just the usual amount of water in the basement and no major damage to the house. The challenge will be electricity, since the power company is saying they won’t have everything back online for a week, and it’s meant to be excessively hot on Tuesday. They are considering their options.

I had a nice chat with A about window-shopping as a coping mechanism for cooling areas of psychological risk. Was good.

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infryq: Kitchen scene at dawn, post-processed to appear as if painted (Default)
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