posts are like omnibuses
Oct. 4th, 2015 04:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkit1) Baked some biscotti yesterday. They turned out well, but it has made me realize that I just don't like biscotti enough to want to go to the effort--and it isn't even that much effort--of baking them. Ah, well, that leaves several thousand other kinds of cookies/biscuits to bake.
2) Also yesterday, used my new soup pot for the first time. I made some chili, because for about two weeks I've been craving it. And not proper Tex-Mex chili, which is made with just meat and chiles and absolutely NOT beans. No, I wanted midwestern chili, made with ground beef and kidney beans and tomatoes, mildly spiced. Like my mom used to make, only better, because my mom wasn't much of a cook really. In the end I did a few slightly fussy things--I used ancho chile powder (because I couldn't find whole dried anchos) and a couple of whole, toasted, soaked, chopped up guajillo chiles, and freshly-ground cumin seed and Mexican oregano, and I added a bit of espresso powder and cocoa powder for depth, and some worcestershire sauce because it needed a certain something, and beans I'd previously cooked and frozen instead of beans from a can--but I got the result I wanted. And now I have lots of leftover chili in the freezer. I like having food in the freezer. Convenient + anxiety-easing.
3) Have finished watching Rejseholdet. Am pleased with highly slash-friendly ending. Am wondering if slashiness was deliberate on writers' part, because WOW. Am amused that around the middle of S3, the cinematographer discovered the blue filter and the whole look of the show changed, and also all the characters started wearing all black all the time. Still recommend it to those who like police drama, strong m/m slashiness, nuanced female characters, and strong female friendship with slashy potential; all previous caveats apply, however.
Definitely requesting it for Yuletide.
4) Two of my Yuletide nominations (Grantchester and The Thrilling Adventure Hour) have been approved. Still waiting on approval of the Bake Off.
5) Speaking of the Bake Off, I'm very happy with the finalist line-up of Ian, Nadiya and Tamal. No matter what happens, an excellent baker will win. I can't help supporting Ian, especially since he's gotten a fair amount of undeserved hate. But now Tamal has come out, and my heart is torn between the guy I have the slashy daydreams about and the guy who is actually gay. Then again it would also be nice if Nadiya won. Can't they all win, please?
I think I'm going to end up requesting gen in this fandom for Yuletide, because I know it would be bad form to ask for Paul/Ian. Not so much because someone might not want to write it--I always give gen options in my request anyway--but because Yuletide is so public and RPS about someone who isn't a professional entertainer or other public figure is so sketchy. I do have several gen ideas I'd be happy with, fortunately.
(I still might write some Paul/Ian myself, locked to protected the innocent. But the idea has transformed in my head from a cracky PWP into this long involved thing about internalized homophobia and coming out and divorce and tabloid media and how baking is actually Serious and Meaningful, and I'm scared of it now.)
2) Also yesterday, used my new soup pot for the first time. I made some chili, because for about two weeks I've been craving it. And not proper Tex-Mex chili, which is made with just meat and chiles and absolutely NOT beans. No, I wanted midwestern chili, made with ground beef and kidney beans and tomatoes, mildly spiced. Like my mom used to make, only better, because my mom wasn't much of a cook really. In the end I did a few slightly fussy things--I used ancho chile powder (because I couldn't find whole dried anchos) and a couple of whole, toasted, soaked, chopped up guajillo chiles, and freshly-ground cumin seed and Mexican oregano, and I added a bit of espresso powder and cocoa powder for depth, and some worcestershire sauce because it needed a certain something, and beans I'd previously cooked and frozen instead of beans from a can--but I got the result I wanted. And now I have lots of leftover chili in the freezer. I like having food in the freezer. Convenient + anxiety-easing.
3) Have finished watching Rejseholdet. Am pleased with highly slash-friendly ending. Am wondering if slashiness was deliberate on writers' part, because WOW. Am amused that around the middle of S3, the cinematographer discovered the blue filter and the whole look of the show changed, and also all the characters started wearing all black all the time. Still recommend it to those who like police drama, strong m/m slashiness, nuanced female characters, and strong female friendship with slashy potential; all previous caveats apply, however.
Definitely requesting it for Yuletide.
4) Two of my Yuletide nominations (Grantchester and The Thrilling Adventure Hour) have been approved. Still waiting on approval of the Bake Off.
5) Speaking of the Bake Off, I'm very happy with the finalist line-up of Ian, Nadiya and Tamal. No matter what happens, an excellent baker will win. I can't help supporting Ian, especially since he's gotten a fair amount of undeserved hate. But now Tamal has come out, and my heart is torn between the guy I have the slashy daydreams about and the guy who is actually gay. Then again it would also be nice if Nadiya won. Can't they all win, please?
I think I'm going to end up requesting gen in this fandom for Yuletide, because I know it would be bad form to ask for Paul/Ian. Not so much because someone might not want to write it--I always give gen options in my request anyway--but because Yuletide is so public and RPS about someone who isn't a professional entertainer or other public figure is so sketchy. I do have several gen ideas I'd be happy with, fortunately.
(I still might write some Paul/Ian myself, locked to protected the innocent. But the idea has transformed in my head from a cracky PWP into this long involved thing about internalized homophobia and coming out and divorce and tabloid media and how baking is actually Serious and Meaningful, and I'm scared of it now.)
no subject
Date: 2015-10-05 06:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-05 10:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-05 07:49 am (UTC)When it's all over, I think Ian should start a business for his baking construction gadgets. They're really ingenious. Maybe everyone will be making chocolate wells.
Is Rejseholdet the one with Mads Mikkelsen? Is it very handheld? I like my moody police dramas, but sometimes they're too handheld for
Did you try Hannibal? Unless you've mentioned that you're squicked by cannibalism, in which case, sorry to have brought it up. It's just such a foodie show. The food is so beautiful.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-05 10:37 am (UTC)I'm probably going to give Hannibal a try soon, because most of what I've heard about it has appealed, and because I want to see more of Mads Mikkelsen's acting.
I like your idea about Ian. He clearly loves the architectural side of baking, and making his own molds and things. (Does it still happen that lots of Bake Off contestants end up trying for professional baking careers? I watched the very first series a while back, and at the end in a little "where are they now" segment almost every single contestant was mentioned as opening a baking business. Even the ones that probably shouldn't have. And the winner was trying to find a job as a pastry chef, which made me wince a little because of how easy the first series challenges were compared to real pastry chef work. The later series, from what I've seen--S6 and bits of S5--demand something much closer to a professional standard.)
no subject
Date: 2015-10-05 10:55 am (UTC)It does, but more in the semi-professional sphere, which I think has expanded hugely in the time that Bake-Off has been airing - a couple of contestants started a artisan market style business, some have been celebrity teachers, some are bloggers, a couple got snaffled by Jamie Oliver's YouTube channel. There was one who actually went to France to train professionally, some were working in cafe kitchens. I think the hipster from a couple of seasons ago started a bakery of some sort.
It's pretty interesting to see the number of contestants that have twitters etc these days, and how the official Facebook page networks quite well with them. (I find the whole system of celebretising the contestants really interesting, so I track the Facebook page.)
Hannibal is pretty intensely amazing. It's like, really really beautiful. Everyone is beautiful, even the furniture is beautiful. Apart from all the interpersonal stuff, which is fascinating, it's very lovely to watch, even when you want to look away.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-05 08:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-05 11:16 am (UTC)I think maybe I had mentally put it in the category of "not very good" because the chili of my childhood was okayish at best. And then the inexplicable craving came.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-05 07:19 pm (UTC)I don't eat much meat at all and when I hit my head, they found I was anaemic, so I'm trying to eat more red meat and I love it in this form. I'll have to make some slow-cooked stews too.