sylke

I'm working on my photography site, and currently my portfolio is just a huge table of small thumbnails. I want to put larger samples of my work up, and I'm soliciting opinions on what kind of format would be most helpful.

[Poll #1123957]

If you've seen anything you really like or, even better, really *don't* like, or just want to expand on an answer, please leave a comment! :)

While looking up what makes Pumpernickel so brown (long, slow baking causing a Maillard reaction), I ended up stumbling upon the Society for Flavor Chemists. They have regular symposia through the year, and the schedule for the latest one was available on their webpage. Possibly because it was a 50th anniversary, there was a strong focus on the history of flavor. I think my favorite was "Vanilla: Past, Present and Crystal-Ball", particularly where they said it was a "hands-on session". And the speaker? I totally want to have a title like "Director of Vanilla Technology." They have Lunch, Dinner, and a Cocktail Hour listed as part of the program. I have to wonder how much pressure is on the folks catering (or choosing the caterer) for that gig. These people are professionals in the world of taste--are you just going to serve them any old average Yellowtail or spring for the really nice wines? I wonder what lunch was. I hope it was something interesting, at least.

Fabric Mart Fabrics is having a sale, $5/yard for wool gabardine and wool crepes.

http://www.fabricmartfabrics.com/controller/catalog.php?cat_id=163

I just wish I was in the market for wool. :/

From skreidle
Mario level that plays itself:
http://my.break.com/media/view.aspx?ContentID=359313

There are some impressive tricks and timing. Comments imply this isn't the original game but a hacked ROM, and I gotta say the physics don't quite match up with how I'm used to playing the game, but it sure looked pretty cool.

Monday morning, I weighed myself to see how I'd done over Pennsic. Often, folks lose weight at Pennsic because it's so freakin' hot, we have no appetite. This year, it was pretty rainy, we had lots of snacks available at camp, and there were a couple evenings of not-usual-Pennsic eating (steak night and a town run). I've been weighing in at 160 in the mornings for quite a while now, probably a year or so. Monday morning said 163. Maybe I ate late. Maybe my body was adjusting to being in air conditioning. Maybe it was water retention. Whatever the reason, 160 is already a little heavier than I'd really like to be, so this was my impetus to start doing something about it.

I joined Weight Watchers online since I had success with it the last time I wanted to lose weight. Flex plan, because I'm much better at eating smaller amounts of whatever I want than I am at eating primarily from a restricted food set. Back to the world of counting points for everything and making tradeoffs and calculations and being a touch obsessive. At least it's something I'm comfortable doing. :) So, tonight I made chicken soup with barley and mushrooms since it's usually filling and healthy, and ended up with a meal that was 7 points per bowl. Real-people bowl, not like "one cup is one serving" style. With that and a slice of sourdough bread, I'm actually pretty full and I still have a couple points left for the day if I want a snack before bed. :)

7-point Chicken-Mushroom-Barley Soup
(serves approximately 6, depending on how much water you use)

1 lb chicken thighs with bone (remove skin)
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium carrots, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 small stalks celery, sliced
1 cp uncooked pearl barley
8 oz mushrooms (I used the "exotic blend" of oyster, shiitake, and crimini)
salt to taste
garam masala to taste

Boil the chicken thighs until just cooked and you have a light chicken stock. Remove the thighs.
While the chicken is boiling, sautee onions in the olive oil until softened.
Bring stock back to a boil, and add the barley, softened onions, carrots, celery, and mushrooms.
Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
Break or cut the cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces, and add the pieces back to the pot.
Season to taste.


This ended up being actually pretty darn tasty. Now, I did make the stock with the chicken skin. If you just used boneless, skinless thighs, this would be a 5-point dinner, but you wouldn't get a very good stock. Also, there may be more pointage than 7 per bowl because while I didn't eat the skins, I did boil some of the flavor out of them. I usually sautee the whole mirepoix (onion/carrot/celery), but not bothering with it didn't seem to negatively impact the flavor or texture. Same with mushrooms, I usually sautee them as well, but they had a bit more body just putting them in raw.

Okay, this is kinda cool:

Ancient human-sized penguins

Life continues. Attending a couple upcoming weddings, my grandfather turned 80, I turned 28. More upcoming travel, busy summer ahead!

Need a smile or three?

http://dailypuppy.com/

Now, the kitten-break site got desperate sometimes and posted pictures that were decidedly *not* of kittens. There's more quality/age control on this site, though, and ooooh those are some cute puppies.

/dies of teh cute

This one's meant more seriously. (thanks skreidle)

Alanis covers "Crazy" by Seal

While the last one was just funny (but painfully stupid to some), this sounds like a pretty decent cover. It's not her usual style, it sounds a lot like the original, and I like it.

Video is worth watching. I totally called it about halfway through. ;)

The birds found the feeder this morning. I put it up a couple days agi, takes a bit for them to clue in that that hanging thing has food in it.

The squirrels, on the other hand, got a rude surprise. I can see one climbing the poll, and creeping down the feeder cautiously, but I haven't seen him get spun off yet. I did look down for a moment and have my attention drawn up because the feeder was swinging wildly...

(no squirrels have been harmed by this feeder, unless you count their pride)

*flex* I started a publicity stunt rumor inadvertantly, go me!

Abay is NOT closed. The Caribbean place is next door, it has not replaced Abay. We apologize for the misinformation previously reported in this journal.

Blame amdiranifani, he drove past it and saw the Caribbean place and told me. ;)