Jun. 9th, 2010

bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (we were children once)
I think this is my new favorite picture. Susan, so calm! Lucy, so bemused! Edmund, so dubious! The picture above Edmund's head has a lion on it, so subtly!

This picture reveals that the book Susan is reading is...Chemistry for Schools. Oh, Susan.

OMG, why has no one iconed this picture yet? Adamson (ritual moment of silence, followed by the ritual scream of rage) is over on the side, he could be cut out! So could the professor, even! Would probably also make a great desktop!

This picture could almost be a Cair Paravel argument, instead of one in the Professor's house.

And this picture is oddly beautiful. I'm not sure why. I do love the lighting in the England pictures, such a wonderful contrast to Narnia.

I'm in an England mood, I think. How curious. (Especially considering I am currently writing, uh, Golden Age Narnia.)
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (cinnamon and nutmeg (girlyb_icons))
Cut for talk about weight )

A few favorite recipes I just wanted to link to, in no particular order except what showed up first on my Google Docs recipe index:

Snickerdoodle Cake, from My Baking Addiction. This is a great bundt cake with a cinnamon-sugar crust and filling; sometimes the filling ends up falling to the bottom (or what will eventually be the top) during the baking process, but that doesn't really affect the taste. I've made this cake, I think, three times? One of the times was in New Orleans, where I was working with slightly limited resources -- because that was what was available, I ended up substituting some kind of fake butter substitute for the butter, which made it a little greasier but didn't do anything terrible to the texture or the taste, and using brown sugar along with white for the crust. Still tasted amazing. It tastes good out of the oven and good a couple of days later, and freezes well. The time I made it in New Orleans, I ate a chunk of it on my way to my last final. Good, filling, sweet but not too sweet. If you like snickerdoodle cookies (and if anyone has a good recipe, throw it my way), you'll like this cake.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies, from Joy the Baker. My ability to make regular chocolate chip cookies aside, I've never had a problem with this recipe. I don't tend to like chocolate chip cookies because I find them boring, but the whole wheat flour makes this pleasantly nutty and filling. I always use regular whole wheat flour rather than white whole wheat flour.

Oatmeal Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies from Joy the Baker and Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, and Pecan Cookies"> from Smitten Kitchen. Two very similar but not quite identical cookies; the main difference between the two is that the Smitten Kitchen one uses a touch of orange zest as well, which tastes amazing. Both recipes are good -- again, I tend to find both chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal cookies boring, but the combination is both tasty and filling, and the pecans add a nice sweet, crunchy touch. Don't skimp on the spices!

Maple Oatmeal Scones from My Baking Addiction. I love these. The oatmeal is barely present in the finish product, just enough for a little taste and texture. Make sure you make the glaze -- it's absolutely necessary, since the scone itself isn't sweet at all and in fact only uses two tablespoons of sugar. Besides, glazing the scones is fun! The glaze itself isn't overly sweet; it just adds a lovely, sweet, maple syrup touch to the scones. (Much better than a maple bar, I want to point out.) I generally halve the recipe, since I feel bad about going through an entire pound of butter, and then quarter the glaze recipe, which gives just enough glaze for the scones. (I think a halved recipe turns out about a dozen?)

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins from Smitten Kitchen. Hands-down favorite muffin recipe ever. They sound stupidly healthy and not at all tasty, which is a foul, foul lie. They're wonderful and filling and cinnamon-y -- in fact, the first time I baked them, over winter break this past year, I actually felt guilty because they just smelled so much like fall that it seemed like a crime baking them in summer. And do make sure to read the recipe carefully, because only a quarter cup of the brown sugar actually goes into the muffins; the other quarter cup goes on top! I've never noticed a major difference in the kind of apple used -- I've used Fujis, Pacific Rose, Jazz, and even a leftover Pink Lady once. The only adjustment I'd make is to only use one apple, especially if it's large -- if it's a really large apple, I'd say only use half to 3/4 of it. But seriously. MAKE THESE MUFFINS. (In fact, I baked another batch a couple of days ago, froze them, and ate one this morning for breakfast. I tend to bake these every few weeks or so; aside from the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day master loaf and peasant bread, this is probably my most-baked recipe.)

Brownie Roll-out Cookies from Smitten Kitchen. The only chocolate cookies you will ever need, seriously. They're a little bit of work because they're roll-out cookies rather than drop cookies, but they make up for it in taste. Although the recipe calls for lightly salted butter (or one stick unsalted and one stick salted), I just use all unsalted and add a little bit more salt. I have a salt tooth rather than a sweet tooth, so I like a little bit of salt in my cookies. Makes approximately ten billion cookies; I use little heart-shaped cookie cutters for a one or two-bite cookie. Warning: the recipe calls for you to preheat your oven immediately, but that's unnecessary since the dough is going in the fridge for an hour; just go ahead and preheat when you pull the dough out of the fridge.
bedlamsbard: natasha romanoff from the black widow prelude comic (the mountain (girlyb_icons))
Watching Pearl Harbor tonight -- gods, that's a beautifully shot movie, and gods have mercy, I can't watch it and help but think of how fucking haunted Pearl Harbor must be -- and just as the Japanese are bombing Pearl Harbor, my mom called from Japan.

Is it bad that I find that hilarious?

(Also hilarious, in a sort of terrible way: my friend New York's birthday is December 7 -- Pearl Harbor Day. Last year we'd been talking about going out for sushi for a while, and I said, "Oh! We should go on New York's birthday!" and totally didn't realize that her birthday was Pearl Harbor Day.

Eventually Texas, New York, and Alaska stopped laughing at me. We did not go out for Japanese on her birthday (which also falls during finals, bah).

Other things that I find funny that I really shouldn't: my first ex-roommate's grandfather fought in the German Army during WWII. My grandfather was in the Japanese Navy during WWII.

...we did not spread these facts around. (My grandfather was a teacher, not a fighter, but he had the bad luck to get not one but TWO ships sunk out from under him, and was reported dead to his parents twice. Today is his ninetieth birthday. (He is now a priest.) That's why my Mama's in Japan right now.)

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