(no subject)

[infryq]

On my winter vacation I:

• Read about 900 pages on the 14 hour train trip to West Hartford
  
• Spent a lot of time reading, sleeping, and wandering through shopping centers
  
• Helped make a pretty epic oxtail stew with figs, roasted vegetables, and some red wine from Chile I didn't recognize, to go over cheese and polenta for Christmas dinner
  
• Put together a collection of sweets for stockings, since P's family typically doesn't do them and stockings are awesome.
  
• Read about 600 pages on the 14 hour train trip back to Pittsburgh (and if you know 5+-th graders who like reading bechdel-approved fantasy let me know; this series is nifty and I'm happy to offload my copies)
  
• Made cardamom shortbreads, half of which I rolled in chopped almonds instead, which was a fantastic idea
  
• Learned to temper chocolate. What a pain in the ass.
  
• Made mushroom meringues, using the ingredients and mixing method from the America's Test Kitchen (which uses cornstarch and goes much quicker) and aesthetics and assembly from Maida Heatter (because chocolate beats frosting any day). I wound up baking them on very low for another six hours and then letting them cool overnight; I think next time I'll use Maida's baking instructions which use a slightly higher heat.
  
• Made a mitten! and have most of the cuff done for its twin. Thank you, How I Met Your Mother, for not really requiring much attention at all.
  
• Started rereading Brust. Going back to Jhereg after having read the romantics is very educational.

And I have plans for tiramisu, there are 4 more egg whites in the fridge if I want to make more meringues (come eat these meringues, we have so many meringues) (...maybe I'll make a pavlova), P has plans for bread (we got some really lovely cheese yesterday) and for a panetonne, which I've almost certainly misspelled. At some point this winter I want to make marmelade, too. And a duck. Oh gosh and we're out of beer and should make more.

Not bad, I think.

Comments

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

sounds good!

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[qiika.livejournal.com]

There are some readers of YA fantasy in my house. If we don't already have the series, we'd probably be happy to be next owners.