Book Log: The Lost Heart of Asia
Oct. 21st, 2026 04:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scaramoucheI picked up Colin Thubron's The Lost Heart of Asia: An Intimate Portrait of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Kirghizstan, the Five Central Asian Republics because it's a topic I know very little about. The region does come up via my reading about space exploration (thanks to the Russian space program) and history of Islamic empires and some of that new reading about Genghis Khan, but that's not about the region as it is in modern times.
( I thought I didn't have much to say but this got long regardless. )
This book also introduced me to Los ricos también lloran (The Rich Also Cry, but which Thubron translates as The Rich Also Weep), a Mexican telenovela that was so popular in Kazakhstan that he described street activity in Almaty coming to a near standstill when an episode was airing.
( I thought I didn't have much to say but this got long regardless. )
This book also introduced me to Los ricos también lloran (The Rich Also Cry, but which Thubron translates as The Rich Also Weep), a Mexican telenovela that was so popular in Kazakhstan that he described street activity in Almaty coming to a near standstill when an episode was airing.
princes of the universe, time, and space. Mostly time.
Oct. 20th, 2026 08:28 pmlannamichaelsThe thing about time moving is that there's a fic that I started writing in 2009 and never got very far into (because 2009), which was a highlander future fic, and the years in the future fic are 2015, 2016, and 2017. And I likely moved it into scrivener already after 2017.
This post brought to you by "oh damn what fic am I gonna post for October, neither of the two fics I am working on are possibly going to be done soon".
I will definitely take suggestions. Possibly I can craft a drabble around the "they play this on the radio???" wtf that I had last week when I heard the Mountain Goats played on the radio for the first time that I can ever recall. They play the Mountain Goats on the radio???? (indie station)
[Daf Yomi] Maseches Bechoros, perek 1-4
Oct. 19th, 2026 04:11 pmlannamichaelsFirstborns! Firstborns are great, I am so fascinated by firstborns, because you have this MASSIVE cultural value, that what is born first is better and/or separate in some way from what is born later. And then you have in Tanach and basically no one is the firstborn, and Yaakov even gives the firstborn inheritance to a different kid, who he liked better. SUCH TENSION BETWEEN SHOW VS. TELL.
But it definitely, very clearly, is something that is so important to them, and how that all works out in practice for all the stuff.
( Read more... )
Marina / Putri Duyung Marina
Oct. 19th, 2026 01:39 pmscaramoucheDuring my city getaway, I let episodes of Marina play in the background, so I think I made it through maybe a dozen or more over the weekend, since the episodes are under 20 minutes once you skip the opening and end credits. The status quo has changed where I am now (episode 66/188) but throughout at least the first 40, or maybe 50 episodes, it was very cool that the plot for the show was driven so thoroughly and fully by the female characters. Marina, of course, is titular character and there's her mother Esther and Esther's faithful emotional support servant/employee Pilar, and Pilar's mermaid-hating daughter Isabel, and Marina's magical mermaid friend Sheila, and Sheila's witchy mother Dugong, and the main villainous witch Victoria and Victoria's magically-attuned daughter Luna, and the helpful Lorelei (who has her own really cool subplot fighting Victoria in the village). The only exception in this coterie of plot and magic-knowing characters is Esther's ex-husband Elias, but he doesn't really count because he's cursed through most of these early episodes and is kind of just there although he is trying his best. Oh, and there's Pearly, who is Dugong's captured turncoat sidekick, but I say he also kind of doesn't count because he's gay and a character of humour rather than conventional handsomeness.
There are male characters in the show, but most of them are limited in the spheres of the love storylines, either in triangles or unrequited pining or as desired by the female characters. A moment that really drove this home to me was when Isabel was cursed to get a tail and she had a traumatic screaming session as the Pilar, Marina, Esther and Sheila were frantically trying to help her, while the male characters in the resort were all milling about outside having no idea this plotline was going on and being like, where's Isabel? Where's Marina? And they have been like through all the earlier episodes, mostly ignorant to the drama happening elsewhere. That has changed since then, with a couple of the male characters now in the know, but that they kept that going for as long as it did was fascinating.
Marina's love interest Rodge has also entered the show after build-up and with fanfare (though with the way they pronounce it I keep hearing it as "Raj" and picturing a Hindustani romantic lead) but it's fascinating that the majority of his interactions to date are with Luna, not Marina. The show's declaration of him as Marina's "true love" is doing the heavy lifting, because they have not interacted earnestly at all, as he has been under Luna's sincere and then spell-induced-non-con influence since he showed up.
This has clarified some things to me, because when I started the show, I skipped to the final episode's youtube comments to know what to expect, and it's apparently an unhappy ending for Marina because Rodge ultimately ends up with Luna due to body-switching shenanigans, and my immediate response to that was, WHOA what a downer, people must be so mad after following them for almost 200 episodes. But then during my own "watch" I've hit the episodes where Rodge shows up and right now as far as Marina is concerned, Rodge is more a symbol of Marina's freedom, as she needs true love in order to break Victoria's curse and become human again, and she wants him out of a belief of the promise of a happy ending that he represents to her, rather than affection for him as a person if only because she doesn't know him to love him. They haven't interacted meaningfully at all!
And that helped me recontextualise the show, in its being a deeply ensemble story of generational betrayals and love and revenge and redemption, that the romance of the main pairing is just another ingredient in the stew and not at all a priority, which makes the endgame not a priority either. While this may change, it looks to me that Marina's journey living out and perhaps growing past her parents' mistakes is what it's about, though I expect some swerves to come that might make me mad, but we'll see! This also totally explains the mermaid teleseryes that followed in its wake, especially Kambal Sirena, which has the romance so front and center that all other storylines are subservient to it.
Further on from that, since I'm about a third ways into consuming Marina, I figured that it'd be safe enough to start the Indonesian sinetron that is its namesake, i.e. Putri Duyung Marina. Unfortunately I can only find the first episode online and none of the others (so far, I'm going to keep looking), but I did watch that first episode and my immediate response is: this show has nothing to do with the Filipino Marina. This is a mermaid-born-to-humans romance-centric drama where the lead is a gentle soul beleaguered at all sides from people who would take her down, i.e. Dyesebel with some of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid thrown in, what the hell are they talking about this being an adaptation of Marina??? (Again, based on the first episode only.)
There are male characters in the show, but most of them are limited in the spheres of the love storylines, either in triangles or unrequited pining or as desired by the female characters. A moment that really drove this home to me was when Isabel was cursed to get a tail and she had a traumatic screaming session as the Pilar, Marina, Esther and Sheila were frantically trying to help her, while the male characters in the resort were all milling about outside having no idea this plotline was going on and being like, where's Isabel? Where's Marina? And they have been like through all the earlier episodes, mostly ignorant to the drama happening elsewhere. That has changed since then, with a couple of the male characters now in the know, but that they kept that going for as long as it did was fascinating.
Marina's love interest Rodge has also entered the show after build-up and with fanfare (though with the way they pronounce it I keep hearing it as "Raj" and picturing a Hindustani romantic lead) but it's fascinating that the majority of his interactions to date are with Luna, not Marina. The show's declaration of him as Marina's "true love" is doing the heavy lifting, because they have not interacted earnestly at all, as he has been under Luna's sincere and then spell-induced-non-con influence since he showed up.
This has clarified some things to me, because when I started the show, I skipped to the final episode's youtube comments to know what to expect, and it's apparently an unhappy ending for Marina because Rodge ultimately ends up with Luna due to body-switching shenanigans, and my immediate response to that was, WHOA what a downer, people must be so mad after following them for almost 200 episodes. But then during my own "watch" I've hit the episodes where Rodge shows up and right now as far as Marina is concerned, Rodge is more a symbol of Marina's freedom, as she needs true love in order to break Victoria's curse and become human again, and she wants him out of a belief of the promise of a happy ending that he represents to her, rather than affection for him as a person if only because she doesn't know him to love him. They haven't interacted meaningfully at all!
And that helped me recontextualise the show, in its being a deeply ensemble story of generational betrayals and love and revenge and redemption, that the romance of the main pairing is just another ingredient in the stew and not at all a priority, which makes the endgame not a priority either. While this may change, it looks to me that Marina's journey living out and perhaps growing past her parents' mistakes is what it's about, though I expect some swerves to come that might make me mad, but we'll see! This also totally explains the mermaid teleseryes that followed in its wake, especially Kambal Sirena, which has the romance so front and center that all other storylines are subservient to it.
Further on from that, since I'm about a third ways into consuming Marina, I figured that it'd be safe enough to start the Indonesian sinetron that is its namesake, i.e. Putri Duyung Marina. Unfortunately I can only find the first episode online and none of the others (so far, I'm going to keep looking), but I did watch that first episode and my immediate response is: this show has nothing to do with the Filipino Marina. This is a mermaid-born-to-humans romance-centric drama where the lead is a gentle soul beleaguered at all sides from people who would take her down, i.e. Dyesebel with some of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid thrown in, what the hell are they talking about this being an adaptation of Marina??? (Again, based on the first episode only.)
Yuletide 2026
Oct. 18th, 2026 01:20 pmtraykorThanks for writing for me! I love Yuletide and I love treats too.
A few notes to start:
I sure do love a good world build.
I like romance that is present but takes a back seat to friendship, or slow burns. I adore found family, sworn brotherhood, and people being good parents. I like hurt comfort, and people taking care of each other.
Happy endings only please. Do be as funny or as zany as you like. Crack crossovers are a love, but I prefer to know both fandoms.
Do Not Wants:
AUs that change the setting, POVs. or professions--high school AU, Coffee Shop AU types, modern set aus.
I absolutely do no want porn. Romance is fine, fade to black for the sex like you're on broadcast TV. No infidelity.
No non-canon character death.
Please keep sexual violence to aired on TV levels too--in general think 'safe for network broadcast'. No incest.
Do not give any protagonist a problem with drugs or alcohol, or treat narcotic use for pain as bad. Use of drugs or alcohol is fine, just not addiction.
斗破苍穹 | Battle Through the Heavens (Donghua)
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwJAwkKCGfFNY-9gOwREI6-ZEisdx8KP9&si=kV1w9FdheKeAptIJ
All of this series is available, with English subtitles, on YouTube (officially even).
I adore Xiao Yan. I especially adore his relationship with his father Xiao Zhan, and father figures, Hai Bodong and Yao Chen. For characters you can include Xiao Yan and one of the others of your choice instead of all four. While the donghua isn't there yet, I'm familiar with where his story is going as I'm also current on the Martial Universe and Great Ruler animations, including his appearances as Flame Emperor in GR.
I love all the female characters too, I'm just less interested in their romances with him, so if you are going to include romance for Xiao Yan you can take your pick--just not Yao Chen. I'm willing to be sold on his relationship with Hai Bodong going a different way.
I picked the donghua over the novel specifically because of the difference in how Xiao Xiao came to be. I do not want Xiao Yan as a rapist, even with the dub con/sex pollenishness of the novel canon.
武动乾坤 | Martial Universe (TV)
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwJAwkKCGfFNJbcq1RnTG3DRJCLANNNha&si=DiaAgOdR3K_k2kKT
Lin Yan, Little Flame, tiger boy, my beloved. As much as I love his chibi form and Battle Cat form, I'd like any fic to feature his human form. He's such a dork, and I love how he is still pretty confused by humans, but he is so protective and devoted to his adopted brothers. For prompts, Either Lin Yan and Diao getting up to trouble of some sort, or Lin Yan homself trying to figure out parts of being human shaped now. Extra funny would be someone trying to flirt with the poor man. It would go over his head (Diao and Lin Dong would find it really funny though).
I did include Mo Ling in the tagset, as I do also like the prince (and his habit of needing rescue), and I do ship him with Lin Dong if you feel like tossing that in while focusing on Lin Yan.
大主宰 | The Great Ruler (TV)
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvLIVHx3Z2tWjNy7LjeYVQprfqt-BQJgx&si=Wbzzun4OmPWIAvQC
(Season 2 also available from the same channel, all official)
I love the steady devotion between Mu Chen and Luo Li, and definitely don't break them up no matter who you are including, but I also like Mu Chen's rivalry and friendship with his elder students, Shen and Li. Like with BTTH, for characters please include Mu Chen, and at least one of the other three, which ever combo you want.
A few notes to start:
I sure do love a good world build.
I like romance that is present but takes a back seat to friendship, or slow burns. I adore found family, sworn brotherhood, and people being good parents. I like hurt comfort, and people taking care of each other.
Happy endings only please. Do be as funny or as zany as you like. Crack crossovers are a love, but I prefer to know both fandoms.
Do Not Wants:
AUs that change the setting, POVs. or professions--high school AU, Coffee Shop AU types, modern set aus.
I absolutely do no want porn. Romance is fine, fade to black for the sex like you're on broadcast TV. No infidelity.
No non-canon character death.
Please keep sexual violence to aired on TV levels too--in general think 'safe for network broadcast'. No incest.
Do not give any protagonist a problem with drugs or alcohol, or treat narcotic use for pain as bad. Use of drugs or alcohol is fine, just not addiction.
斗破苍穹 | Battle Through the Heavens (Donghua)
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwJAwkKCGfFNY-9gOwREI6-ZEisdx8KP9&si=kV1w9FdheKeAptIJ
All of this series is available, with English subtitles, on YouTube (officially even).
I adore Xiao Yan. I especially adore his relationship with his father Xiao Zhan, and father figures, Hai Bodong and Yao Chen. For characters you can include Xiao Yan and one of the others of your choice instead of all four. While the donghua isn't there yet, I'm familiar with where his story is going as I'm also current on the Martial Universe and Great Ruler animations, including his appearances as Flame Emperor in GR.
I love all the female characters too, I'm just less interested in their romances with him, so if you are going to include romance for Xiao Yan you can take your pick--just not Yao Chen. I'm willing to be sold on his relationship with Hai Bodong going a different way.
I picked the donghua over the novel specifically because of the difference in how Xiao Xiao came to be. I do not want Xiao Yan as a rapist, even with the dub con/sex pollenishness of the novel canon.
武动乾坤 | Martial Universe (TV)
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwJAwkKCGfFNJbcq1RnTG3DRJCLANNNha&si=DiaAgOdR3K_k2kKT
Lin Yan, Little Flame, tiger boy, my beloved. As much as I love his chibi form and Battle Cat form, I'd like any fic to feature his human form. He's such a dork, and I love how he is still pretty confused by humans, but he is so protective and devoted to his adopted brothers. For prompts, Either Lin Yan and Diao getting up to trouble of some sort, or Lin Yan homself trying to figure out parts of being human shaped now. Extra funny would be someone trying to flirt with the poor man. It would go over his head (Diao and Lin Dong would find it really funny though).
I did include Mo Ling in the tagset, as I do also like the prince (and his habit of needing rescue), and I do ship him with Lin Dong if you feel like tossing that in while focusing on Lin Yan.
大主宰 | The Great Ruler (TV)
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvLIVHx3Z2tWjNy7LjeYVQprfqt-BQJgx&si=Wbzzun4OmPWIAvQC
(Season 2 also available from the same channel, all official)
I love the steady devotion between Mu Chen and Luo Li, and definitely don't break them up no matter who you are including, but I also like Mu Chen's rivalry and friendship with his elder students, Shen and Li. Like with BTTH, for characters please include Mu Chen, and at least one of the other three, which ever combo you want.
Two midgrades and a DNF
Oct. 17th, 2026 08:22 pmlannamichaels- Kingdom Unraveled: A Closely Knit Graphic Adventure by Mariana DiMercurio (2026): A very disappointing midgrade graphic novel about an elderly woman who is picked to be a champion to defeat *checks notes* I don't know. This reads like a graphic novel adaptation of a longer story that left out a great deal of information and exposition and plot development for the sake of the medium change, but it's not. It's just incomplete and poorly executed.
And a major complaint, aside from me being confused as to what exactly what was going on: There is much less knitting than you would expect from the title.
Also, look, I imagine we are tempted to blame Tolkien for fantasy's love of giant spiders, but fantasy authors have agency and they can choose not to put them in. It's not a requirement of the genre. You can leave them out. - Millie of the Manor by Karina Evans (2025): via a post that is now locked. A delightful, well-executed midgrade graphic novel about Amy, who has social anxiety and sees a therapist for it but is very scared to actually put into place any of the treatment plan because it's really scary. A girl at school invites her to a murder mystery birthday party with a few other kids. Amy's parents and Amy herself talk herself into going, and she has a great time, first leaning on pretending to be her character of Millie, and then telling her new friends about her anxiety and them reacting well, after she has an anxiety attack. The artwork is fantastic, with the friend's house looking different when they're playing pretend and when they're not, and it's just really well done, without being Too Much.
As midgrade graphic novels that transparently exist to sneak coping mechanisms into the hands of kids whose parents are not sending them to therapy, very well done. Also well done as a murder mystery party, ALSO well done with the author inventing Sherlock Holmes stuff. - The Wolf and His King by Finn Longman (2026): DNF. Does anyone in this book have any goddamn names? I skipped ahead to the back a few chapters in to see if the king's name is ever given and found even more characters who don't have names, including that there's some dude called Bisclavret's cousin who is different from the character previously known by that relationship, so one's a knight and one's a baron, I guess, and I have no idea what happens in this book but I'm not reading an entire goddamn queer romance retelling of a medieval story I've never heard of where only one single character has a name. If they didn't have names in the original, *make them up*.
I really don't feel like it's too much to ask that a POV character and one half of the main pairing have a name. I just do not think that is too much to ask for, at all.
bake anything, take 2
Oct. 14th, 2026 11:13 amblueraccoonI had this whole post written and then DW ate it. Sigh. Let's try this again.
Erin Jeanne McDowell is a food stylist, baker, recipe writer, and generally cool person who I follow on social media and whose cookbooks I collect. She's written four, so far, and I own three of them. The latest, Bake Anything, I had pre-ordered as soon as I heard about it. I got it from Book Larder, Seattle's only cookbook-only bookstore, and they were having an event with Erin on 10/13. By the time I found out about the event they were sold out but I asked to be on the wait list and last week they emailed me. A spot had opened up and yes I did want it thank you!
The bookstore is in Fremont where both parking and light rail are nonexistent, and my original plan had been to take light rail to the "closest" stop and Uber from there. But anxiety was getting to me about being late and getting confused and etc so I just took the hit and booked Uber directly there. And it was great, except for the seating.
Erin is just lovely in person, warm and charismatic and engaging and funny. Plus she's a good teacher. She made three kinds of whipped cream so we learned about that and then we all got to try some of the whipped creams on chocolate cupcakes. Yum. (It actually ended up being my dinner but I wasn't super hungry yesterday so nbd, Morgan if you see this don't yell at me, I'm fine.)
The book has eleven chapters of "building block" recipes, starting with the easiest of sugar cookie dough and ending with the most difficult of yeasted puff pastry. There's an entire chapter on pudding, which I'm very excited by because I love pudding and Morgan loves custard and I bet will love a lot of these recipes. I got the chance to ask a question and asked Erin what her favorite pudding recipe was (she was very, very enthusiastic about the pudding chapter) and she told me it was either the lemon pudding or this strawberry pudding. However neither Morgan nor I are huge strawberry fans, so I might try the lemon, especially since we both love lemon curd.
Erin told us she'd originally wanted thirteen chapters, a baker's dozen, but also didn't want to write a ton of material she had to cut, so she ended up pulling out two chapters. One was on pie dough, which, fair. She's written The Book on Pie, I don't think she needs to make it a chapter in a different book. The other was cheesecake, which she said ended up just not being as versatile as she wanted it to be so she pulled it. I am a little bummed on that one, I have never made a cheesecake, but I'm sure I have recipes in one of my cookbooks.
I didn't stick around after the event to get my book personalized because it was getting a little close in there and I needed some fresh air, plus I wanted to get home. But I sent her a message via her website this morning saying I'd been there last night and had a great time, did a smol bit of fangirling, and asked a question about an old recipe from the NYT I've wondered about for a bit. She has this recipe for a chocolate-peanut butter Bundt cake, and I like it a lot but the cake tends to be a little crumbly/dry out. As written it calls for 1c buttermilk and I asked her about switching that to 3/4c buttermilk and 1/2c sour cream. We'll see what she says, but she was really enthusiastic about "Reach out to me if you have questions! Just don't expect real-time responses."
So yeah, overall I had a great time. The one downside were the horrible small wooden folding chairs; my ass is mad at me today. Next time I'll probably bring my chair just for a more comfortable seat and possibly a better spot; I got there a little late I guess and had a seat near the back, so I had to stand a few times to see the piping demonstrations.
Also, apparently I have a pretty sweet brag, which is that I have the pie beans. Erin created these silicone pie beans as an alternative to ceramic or metal pie weights. They made two thousand sets, sold out in a week and a half, and have not been able to restock because *deep sigh* tariffs. Erin wanted them to cost $50, the same price as equivalent ceramic weights, but for reasons they ended up being $70. She refuses to raise the price beyond that though and due to tariffs it's just not possible to get them right now. So I'm very, very glad I grabbed them when I did. Have I ever baked a pie? No, but I had/have intentions. One of these days I will bake a pie.
Two other books I bought, one I have and one is a pre-order: I got Ma Vie en Rose, a memoir with recipes by Rose Levy Beranbaum. She is an icon in the baking world and has done so, so much for cookbook and recipe standards. I don't own all her many cookbooks but I do own several and would like more. It will also forever amuse me that a woman with that Jewish a name has written an entire series of Bible cookbooks.
(The Cake Bible is in the International Association of Culinary Professionals Culinary Classics Hall of Fame. My copy is very special to me because my friend Antigrinch randomly sent it to me after I'd mentioned wanting it but not owning it. I don't get a lot of presents so the ones I do get are pretty special to me, but this one has an extra special place because she knew my address but not my last name. So the box arrived addressed to Bex Friend and it's been a fantastic joke ever since. Having said that, I'm kiiinda tempted by the 35th anniversary edition.)
The pre-order is The Guittard Book of Chocolate: The Art and Science of Baking with Chocolate by Amy Guittard. They, uh, know a thing or two about chocolate, so I grabbed it. I rely on Guittard for my cocoa powder and my unsweetened chocolate and will use their chocolate chips if I don't have access to Callebaut. The book goes into when to use which kind of chocolate and has all these recipes and I'm really excited for it, but it won't be released until Jan 12.
So yeah, overall a great night although my ass is still mad at me today.
Erin Jeanne McDowell is a food stylist, baker, recipe writer, and generally cool person who I follow on social media and whose cookbooks I collect. She's written four, so far, and I own three of them. The latest, Bake Anything, I had pre-ordered as soon as I heard about it. I got it from Book Larder, Seattle's only cookbook-only bookstore, and they were having an event with Erin on 10/13. By the time I found out about the event they were sold out but I asked to be on the wait list and last week they emailed me. A spot had opened up and yes I did want it thank you!
The bookstore is in Fremont where both parking and light rail are nonexistent, and my original plan had been to take light rail to the "closest" stop and Uber from there. But anxiety was getting to me about being late and getting confused and etc so I just took the hit and booked Uber directly there. And it was great, except for the seating.
Erin is just lovely in person, warm and charismatic and engaging and funny. Plus she's a good teacher. She made three kinds of whipped cream so we learned about that and then we all got to try some of the whipped creams on chocolate cupcakes. Yum. (It actually ended up being my dinner but I wasn't super hungry yesterday so nbd, Morgan if you see this don't yell at me, I'm fine.)
The book has eleven chapters of "building block" recipes, starting with the easiest of sugar cookie dough and ending with the most difficult of yeasted puff pastry. There's an entire chapter on pudding, which I'm very excited by because I love pudding and Morgan loves custard and I bet will love a lot of these recipes. I got the chance to ask a question and asked Erin what her favorite pudding recipe was (she was very, very enthusiastic about the pudding chapter) and she told me it was either the lemon pudding or this strawberry pudding. However neither Morgan nor I are huge strawberry fans, so I might try the lemon, especially since we both love lemon curd.
Erin told us she'd originally wanted thirteen chapters, a baker's dozen, but also didn't want to write a ton of material she had to cut, so she ended up pulling out two chapters. One was on pie dough, which, fair. She's written The Book on Pie, I don't think she needs to make it a chapter in a different book. The other was cheesecake, which she said ended up just not being as versatile as she wanted it to be so she pulled it. I am a little bummed on that one, I have never made a cheesecake, but I'm sure I have recipes in one of my cookbooks.
I didn't stick around after the event to get my book personalized because it was getting a little close in there and I needed some fresh air, plus I wanted to get home. But I sent her a message via her website this morning saying I'd been there last night and had a great time, did a smol bit of fangirling, and asked a question about an old recipe from the NYT I've wondered about for a bit. She has this recipe for a chocolate-peanut butter Bundt cake, and I like it a lot but the cake tends to be a little crumbly/dry out. As written it calls for 1c buttermilk and I asked her about switching that to 3/4c buttermilk and 1/2c sour cream. We'll see what she says, but she was really enthusiastic about "Reach out to me if you have questions! Just don't expect real-time responses."
So yeah, overall I had a great time. The one downside were the horrible small wooden folding chairs; my ass is mad at me today. Next time I'll probably bring my chair just for a more comfortable seat and possibly a better spot; I got there a little late I guess and had a seat near the back, so I had to stand a few times to see the piping demonstrations.
Also, apparently I have a pretty sweet brag, which is that I have the pie beans. Erin created these silicone pie beans as an alternative to ceramic or metal pie weights. They made two thousand sets, sold out in a week and a half, and have not been able to restock because *deep sigh* tariffs. Erin wanted them to cost $50, the same price as equivalent ceramic weights, but for reasons they ended up being $70. She refuses to raise the price beyond that though and due to tariffs it's just not possible to get them right now. So I'm very, very glad I grabbed them when I did. Have I ever baked a pie? No, but I had/have intentions. One of these days I will bake a pie.
Two other books I bought, one I have and one is a pre-order: I got Ma Vie en Rose, a memoir with recipes by Rose Levy Beranbaum. She is an icon in the baking world and has done so, so much for cookbook and recipe standards. I don't own all her many cookbooks but I do own several and would like more. It will also forever amuse me that a woman with that Jewish a name has written an entire series of Bible cookbooks.
(The Cake Bible is in the International Association of Culinary Professionals Culinary Classics Hall of Fame. My copy is very special to me because my friend Antigrinch randomly sent it to me after I'd mentioned wanting it but not owning it. I don't get a lot of presents so the ones I do get are pretty special to me, but this one has an extra special place because she knew my address but not my last name. So the box arrived addressed to Bex Friend and it's been a fantastic joke ever since. Having said that, I'm kiiinda tempted by the 35th anniversary edition.)
The pre-order is The Guittard Book of Chocolate: The Art and Science of Baking with Chocolate by Amy Guittard. They, uh, know a thing or two about chocolate, so I grabbed it. I rely on Guittard for my cocoa powder and my unsweetened chocolate and will use their chocolate chips if I don't have access to Callebaut. The book goes into when to use which kind of chocolate and has all these recipes and I'm really excited for it, but it won't be released until Jan 12.
So yeah, overall a great night although my ass is still mad at me today.
Jigsaw puzzles
Oct. 12th, 2026 12:51 pmscaramoucheIt's been years and years since I'd done puzzles. Hobby interests wax and wane, and there was a period where I was very into puzzles, regular 2D as well as 3D, with some trick 2D puzzles along the way like double-sided ones. I even did little timing challenges to see how fast I could do a 1000-piece, 2000-piece and, finally, a 5000-piece (which did take me longer than I expected). Looking back, that 5000-piece challenge for myself totally capped off that era, though I did still occasionally get those small 3D puzzles every once in a while.
I'd been feeling creatively restless lately, and not interested/able to channel that into writing fic, and I didn't feel like opening a model kit, so I thought I'd do a puzzle. It'd been so long since I went into a puzzle shop, and I picked a 2000-piece of artwork that I would enjoy looking at for extended periods.
I did osmose that the puzzle trends these days were that larger puzzles would presort the pieces into multiple bags so you can work on them in sections if you want, and if you don't, you can open all the bags and mix the pieces together. I did not osmose that puzzle technology had improved since the last time I was into them, that puzzles now could be made out of stronger materials that click really tight despite the cuts not being all continuous (sometimes the joints are at angles) and also do not have those little leftover dust/shavings that make such a mess when you open the bag. This is great! And have made handling the pieces really easy for someone who lives with multiple cats.
On the downside though is that when I lock in, I really lock in and have trouble mentally tapping out unless I pre-set a target for me to stop for beforehand. The other night I kept going even though it was way past my bedtime and I really needed to go to bed because it had been a long day, but I could not until I hit a particular target.
Anyway the puzzle I got was the brand PieceRelax and I'm about a quarter done with it and am seriously considering getting another larger one.
I'd been feeling creatively restless lately, and not interested/able to channel that into writing fic, and I didn't feel like opening a model kit, so I thought I'd do a puzzle. It'd been so long since I went into a puzzle shop, and I picked a 2000-piece of artwork that I would enjoy looking at for extended periods.
I did osmose that the puzzle trends these days were that larger puzzles would presort the pieces into multiple bags so you can work on them in sections if you want, and if you don't, you can open all the bags and mix the pieces together. I did not osmose that puzzle technology had improved since the last time I was into them, that puzzles now could be made out of stronger materials that click really tight despite the cuts not being all continuous (sometimes the joints are at angles) and also do not have those little leftover dust/shavings that make such a mess when you open the bag. This is great! And have made handling the pieces really easy for someone who lives with multiple cats.
On the downside though is that when I lock in, I really lock in and have trouble mentally tapping out unless I pre-set a target for me to stop for beforehand. The other night I kept going even though it was way past my bedtime and I really needed to go to bed because it had been a long day, but I could not until I hit a particular target.
Anyway the puzzle I got was the brand PieceRelax and I'm about a quarter done with it and am seriously considering getting another larger one.
