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Nutmeg fruit candies?

  • Jul. 14th, 2009 at 5:32 PM
Does anyone know where in town I can find candies made from the fruit of the nutmeg plants (as opposed to the seed we use for spice)? I think it's called manisan pala.

next week at Comic-Con

  • Jul. 14th, 2009 at 7:53 PM
I'm on one panel and moderating two others! Here's my schedule:

THURSDAY, JULY 23

10:30-11:30 AM, Room 8: Science Fiction That Will Change Your Life. I'll be appearing alongside the staff of the excellent science fiction blog io9 and some other special guests, talking "about science fiction from the last year that does more than blow things up. It might also blow your mind. What science fiction should you be reading and watching if you want your brain to grow so big it pops out of the top of your skull and starts throbbing and shooting lasers? The panelists have some tips."

FRIDAY, JULY 24

1:30-2:30 PM, Room 10: After the First 1,000 Pages. It takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at something. Art teachers say that you have to make 100,000 bad drawings before you can make a good one. I'll be moderating a conversation with Gene Colan (Tomb of Dracula), Becky Cloonan (Demo), Zander Cannon (Top 10), Roger Langridge (The Muppet Show Comic Book) and Matt Kindt (Super Spy), discussing how they've developed as artists since their early work and the creative breakthroughs that took them a while to reach.

SATURDAY, JULY 25

1:30-2:30 PM, Room 4: The One-Panel Panel. A single image can hold an entire world in miniature. I'll moderate this panel with Charles Vess (Stardust), Hope Larson (Chiggers), Michael Allred (Madman) and Larry Marder (Beanworld), each showing and discussing one particularly meaningful panel from their own comics--how it came together, and where it led them.

Hope to see you there!
In a strange twist of fate, I now find myself facing many days with time to kill in that other city, Saint Paul. Where can I find a good coffee shop in which to whittle away my days reading and writing in peace? It need not actually be a very quiet location. Music is a plus, and in downtown is a double-plus.

TIA.

SV: End of the World News

  • Jul. 14th, 2009 at 2:24 PM
I actually made most of this vid, um, before I had children.  I finished it because it seemed silly not to do so and because it matched the "worst-case scenario" cliche bingo prompt.  Also, it is ridiculously large for a 3:42 vid (81 M); clearly I'm exporting improperly. 

End of the World News: Clark POV: I'm not the one wasting my time.

good cobblers?

  • Jul. 14th, 2009 at 8:10 AM
I have a pair of pretty cute pumps, and the actual heels are still intact on both, one of the "soles" (that little traction pad) has disappeared, so now there's just a metal nub. Is there a (preferably cheap) place that you guys know about where I can get replacement heel-bottoms?

I'm near the Mac-Groveland area, so nearby would be great, but anywhere in the cities is fine. =) Thanks!

good for guests but vows need re-writing

  • Jul. 14th, 2009 at 8:12 AM
The registrar made a face over our choice of readings, but accepted them anyway. Our write-in vow, though, apparently belongs to the church and we must write another one. We can send it in by email, so that'll be wednesday, along with checking for occult vegetarians -- nearly there!

Had guests round to the new place yesterday and it functioned well; six boxes remain in the living room but I'm tackling them, day on day. Speaking of day, the day bed is in my studio now, closed up to its narrowest setting and shoved between the desk and the shelves. Yay! Teasel celebrated by disappearing for hours; I found him curled up on it, camouflaged against the black and white disturbance pattern fabric that covers the matress, purring with his paws over his head. I understand, fluff. It is a nice place to lounge. Though, right now -- not if you're tall!

At moment it looks a bit like someone set the room up as a set ("Jeremy Dennis's studio") rather than the place in which I sit and work but I'm sure a thin layer of dust and the remaining three boxes of playmobil and dinosaurs will take care of that.

P.S. For the first time, educated crow and little plastic owl are in the same room. I've put them at opposite ends of the topmost glass shelf of the desk, but they're still looking at each other funny. "I could take you" (flap) "no, dear ... um (it is hard to tell with little owls) ... I think you'll find that I am the one who will take you... back to school! Cawcawcawcaw!". Oh dear.

Used Book Stores?

  • Jul. 14th, 2009 at 12:10 AM
I would like to expand my library so I'm looking for recommendations for used book stores that have good quality books, reasonable prices, and some sort of organizational system - I hate browsing through books that are just piled every which way. I'm mostly looking for fiction, but I might be going with a friend that is very into math and loves math books, so a selection of those would also be welcome.

Oh, and anything downtown or in the north suburbs would be great.

Thanks!

sketchbook #19: Indigo Kelleigh

  • Jul. 13th, 2009 at 9:43 PM
Indigo Kelleigh is a local hero in the Portland comics scene, and the creator of "Ellie Connelly," a sort of Victorian Tintin web-comic; he's also the founder of the Stumptown Comics Fest. A nice guy, a fine cartoonist, and, as you can see here, very, very funny.

Indigo Kelleigh

green beans with pecan/ginger/miso sauce

  • Jul. 13th, 2009 at 3:23 AM
Like it says. I adapted this from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian," having no walnuts on hand but plenty of pecans, and it came out kind of amazing. I've made it twice this week, the second time with some flat beans from the farmer's market. A plus plus, as they say.

Trim and cut into whatever size you like:

1 pound green beans (or flat beans!)

Dunk them in boiling water for just a couple of minutes, until they're not raw any more but are still crisp. Then drain and shock them by running cold water over them until they're room temperature-ish. Drain and set aside.

Combine in a food processor or blender:

1 tablespoon or so chopped or grated ginger

3 tablespoons miso (I think it was a bit better with red miso, but your mileage may vary)

1 teaspoon soy sauce

a couple of tablespoons of water

1/2 cup pecans

Blend (or process) until they're a relatively consistent sauce--pourable more than scrapeable, if you see what I mean. (There will probably be some scraping-down-the-side involved.) Add a bit more water if you need to. Then pour the sauce over the beans and stir to coat them, and you're done. SO GOOD.

no longer in storage

  • Jul. 12th, 2009 at 10:58 PM

As I write, I'm watching Jeremy Clarkson being blown up by soldiers.They're right up his trumpet, apparently. But if they'd been really trying he would be dead by now. Television, full of lies.

Today was IKEA. I have shelves. Yaris tetris be praised. We returned gingerly through Bletchley, fingers white on the flatpacks, ill-advised impulse purchases rattling against improvised padding made from [info]timscience's trendy jacket. We didn't break the car or get stopped by the police, but we did annoy two young men in red joyrider cars. From the hand gestures, they planned to have sex later; I hope it was the regular type, rather than crash-style.


returning house of leaves
Originally uploaded by Jeremy Dennis.

The picture is from [info]waistcoatmark's copy of House of Leaves, which I finally returned to him, shortly before I moved house. I'd filled the book with little scribbled notes, on scraps of paper. I should probably get my own copy. Um, when we have more shelves, the current lot are full.

Last night I was pulling similar little bookmarks out of another book while [info]timscience editidied a couple of pieces of music. Tomorrow we take them to Heather the registrar. Wow.

whales, woodman’s, wilco

  • Jul. 12th, 2009 at 4:39 AM

Nathan and Jessie and I spent the morning on a whale watch with Grammy and Kevin, had lunch at the place that says it invented fried clams, and– rather than dinner– had something better than dinner: a rock show at the Lowell Spinners field, with K and W (friends), and with Conor Oberst, whose work I still love, and Wilco, whose new record is just fine. We are having a summer!

During the brief interval of inaction at home this afternoon Nathan lay down in a dark room on a “beach” made of pillows and told me, and then told Jessie and Grammy, all about the African hawk seagull, whose friends are regular seagulls, but who is different from the regular seagull species: the African hawk seagull is purple and orange, has a light in the tail like a firefly, eats blowfish which it finds by diving into blowfish schools, and lives on the moon. I hope this sort of imagination persists into adulthood. Or else I hope for something very like it.

Jul. 11th, 2009

  • 3:43 PM
Do you guys know if you can buy basilica block party tickets at the door?

Jul. 11th, 2009

  • 3:43 PM
Do you guys know if you can buy tickets for the Basilica Block Party at the door?

SV: beyond the rain

  • Jul. 11th, 2009 at 8:49 AM
Beyond the rain
Summary: Someplace where there isn’t any trouble. Do you suppose there is such a place?
Prompt: medea_aries: What if, in Ruat Caelum, when Lex sends the message about being kidnapped by the Justice League, Batman does go ahead and handles it himself?
Warning: character death; otherwise PG. 
Clark/Lex.

I can cause accidents, too )

Comments on DW; comments on LJ.
link here. Very very few available but there will be tickets available on the door y'see.
Mighty fine comic strip about Charles Babbage, with a side order of Ada Lovelace too.

(via BoingBoing)

Tags:

works hard for a living

  • Jul. 9th, 2009 at 11:44 PM
I spent an invigorating hour this afternoon watching the database majestically migrate across nominal space from one server to another, doubtless in the same, humming, overcooled room. Not that I'd know, it was on the other end of the phone, where a man called Stephen reacted to my having a series of quick tests ready to run while he listened in with faintly bewildered surprise. Maybe people just usually don't bother checking, and spend the rest of the month ringing back and shouting.

It safely dodged the crocodiles, so I went back to the vast read/research list which hopefully will bring me up to stage on IAG and checking the information schedule for the next few months. Which was when I found out that National Samaritans Day is on my birthday. I mean, I don't begrudge them and the whole 24/7 thing makes it an obvious choice, and yes, OK, but nevertheless it was a real Saturday's child moment.

Got home to discover that we'd achieved wall and Handy Andy the Indie Builder came round with some beer to regale us with tales of backstage boosh and relieve us of some of our savings. Upstairs, last night's sealant fit had made the shower uglier but less inclined to wash water down the wall. Me last night: I thought the black stuff between the tiles was dirt, not gaps! More learning from last night; check how to get silicon sealant off your hand before your hands are covered with the stuff.

I harvested my first aubergine. Tim used it to bulk out a kedgeree. It was delicious.