The dance is sweeter than the song
Monday, April 22nd, 2013 08:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Today is all about the errands, including a physical therapy session, a stop at the library to return books, at Staples to drop off used ink cartridges, and at Goodwill to drop off Various and Sundry. Deliveries may happen; in particular, delivery of my replacement trackball. There's also a phone call to make, but that may wait. I'm in phone-avoidance mode, and it's not an emergency phone call, after all.
Also, somewhere in there I ought to do some writing.
The weather has reverted, slightly -- down to 30F/-1C on the overnight, and slow to warm this morning, though it's nice and sunny; should be a good day for running around.
For those who care about such details, I'm re-re-re-re-re-&c-reading Hellspark by Janet Kagan, because -- comfort book.
What're y'all reading?
no subject
Date: 2013-04-22 01:54 pm (UTC)Before that, Emilie and the Hollow World by Martha Wells.
To Be Read Pile just got bigger
Date: 2013-04-22 02:15 pm (UTC)HellSpark is getting added to the TBR pile. Now I just have to find one of my copies.
This is one of those books that always makes me sad when it's over because she never did a sequel.
reading
Date: 2013-04-22 02:24 pm (UTC)Besieged by Rowena Cory Daniells (nook)
no subject
Date: 2013-04-22 03:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-22 03:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-23 02:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-22 03:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-22 05:37 pm (UTC)Sam
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Date: 2013-04-22 05:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-22 10:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-23 02:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-23 03:20 pm (UTC)Hellspark
Date: 2013-04-28 03:40 am (UTC)http://product.half.ebay.com/Hellspark-by-Janet-Kagan-1988-Paperback/1318025
Hellspark
Date: 2013-04-28 03:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-22 03:28 pm (UTC)I'm trying to get through Daughter of the Sword. I'm having trouble sympathizing with the main character.
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Date: 2013-04-22 10:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-22 11:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-22 03:32 pm (UTC)By the way, I enjoy finding out what you're reading, so thank you for posting that info.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-23 02:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-22 04:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-22 05:02 pm (UTC)I just finished Martha Wells's new steampunkish YA fantasy Emilie and the Hollow World. As with all of Wells's work, the worldbuilding and nonhuman civilizations are marvelously complex, believable, and fascinating. Emilie is a wonderful heroine who meets her inadvertent adventures with great sense and courage and meets some fascinating people (some all of them human) along the way. Plus, dirigibles and a submarine. Highly recommended.
I'm not sure what I'm reading next. I want to get the new Mary Robinette Kowal. I also have sitting on a corner of the piano A Turn of Light by Julie Czerneda, Siding Star by Christopher Bryan, and Cascade Effect (sequel is to Fighting Gravity) by Leah Petersen.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-22 07:08 pm (UTC)I've just finished reading Carol Berg's The Soul Mirror. Impressive stuff, I was so caught up in the story I had to block off more time than my usual snippet-at-a-time pace to see how it ended.
I am of course, saving Necessity's Child for the right time to read it.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-22 07:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-22 10:34 pm (UTC)Bahn Mi topping!
Date: 2013-04-23 02:33 am (UTC)If you can't find a recipe for it on the web, I can provide mine.
Re: Bahn Mi topping!
Date: 2013-04-23 02:40 am (UTC)Re: Bahn Mi topping!
Date: 2013-04-23 03:37 am (UTC)Re: Bahn Mi topping!
Date: 2013-04-23 02:16 pm (UTC)Re: Bahn Mi topping!
Date: 2013-04-23 03:42 pm (UTC)Do Chua (Vietnamese Daikon & Carrot Pickles)
• 1 1/2 c. white vinegar (5% acidity, for safety in canning)
• ¼ c rice vinegar (Unsweetened, Unflavored)
• 1 1/4 c. water
• 1-2 tsp. freshly grated ginger
• 1/2 c. + 2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 lb. carrots, julienned (many mandolines have a julienne setting)
• 1 lb. daikon radish, peeled & julienned to the same size as the carrots
• ¼ tsp. whole coriander seed PER JAR (use 1/8th tsp if using ground coriander seed) – a little less for 4 oz jars.
Prepare canning jars, lids, etc as normal: this makes roughly 2-3 pints (16oz) depending on how you cut the daikon and carrots, but I usually make it in half pint (8 oz) and small jelly (4 oz) jars; processing time is the same for all three sizes. Think about the size of your jars as you prep your veggies: don’t want 3” long julienne sticks with a 2” tall jar! Place the cut vegetables into a large bowl and sprinkle with salt and 2 tsp. sugar; use your hands to knead the salt and sugar into the vegetables for 2-3 mins. to remove some of the excess water. Really get into it – don’t be timid with the kneading! Drain them in a colander and rinse well under cold running water; set aside to drain more, you want them as dry as possible.
In a non-reactive saucepan, combine the vinegar, water, sugar and ginger; bring to a boil and cook just until sugar is thoroughly dissolved. Keep this hot. Working quickly, one jar at a time, measure coriander into the bottom of a hot jar and then pack it full with vegetables, pressing down gently but firmly until the jar is filled. Ladle boiling hot brine over the vegetables, leaving 1/4″ of headspace. Use a non-metallic spatula to release air bubbles and check the headspace again, adjust as needed. Wipe the rim and put on the lid, following good canning procedures. Repeat until your jars are filled. Process in a water bath for 10 mins.; remove from the water bath and set aside, untouched, for 24 hours.
Do chua should sit for at least a week before eating; it gets better and better with age, like wine.
If you don’t know how to can, you can put everything into a big non-reactive container in the fridge (a glass or plastic container is best) and let it sit for a week, then eat. If you use this method, the Do Chua should be used within a month or so.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-22 10:50 pm (UTC)To make things more complicated, the books written by Teresa Grant take place (so far) before the ones Tracy Grant wrote about Charles and Melanie Fraser.
I see that Barnes & Noble has got some of the Tracy Grant books, including some Romantic Suspense titles I haven't read yet, listed for 2.99 each right now.
I think it might be time to pull out Hellspark again. It's definitely one of my comfort books, and since we're getting ready to move back into our newly renovated library, comfort reading sounds like a good thing.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-23 02:31 pm (UTC)That's just...wow. What a stupid concept. I'm not even sure if it would have occurred to me to agree to something so dumb, in Ms. Grant's place. I'm glad it's working out for her, but I can't imagine what was in the new publisher's mind.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-23 11:01 pm (UTC)Reading/listening
Date: 2013-04-22 11:39 pm (UTC)So where am I getting my story? Liaden audio books, actually. :) I'm in the middle of Fledgling at the moment, and champing to get to I Dare, but enjoying the fact that I haven't read the Theo books as often as the others, so there's more I have forgotten.
Stephanie
replacement trackball
Date: 2013-04-23 02:23 am (UTC)Just finished Protector by Cherryh and Magnificent Devices and Brilliant Devices by Adina. They were all awesome.
Now I'm reading Fated by Benedict Jacka. So far so good.
Re: replacement trackball
Date: 2013-04-23 02:25 pm (UTC)Re: replacement trackball
Date: 2013-04-24 01:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-23 03:09 am (UTC)What I'm reading
Date: 2013-04-23 03:17 am (UTC)"Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History" by Florence Williams
"Stolen Words: The Classic Book On Plagiarism" by Thomas Mallon
"Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements, From Arsenic to Zinc" by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Shifter
Date: 2013-04-23 12:46 pm (UTC)Comfort books...
Date: 2013-04-23 03:52 pm (UTC)