blythely

One week after our epic drive to charge my car battery, it's flat again, even with the trickle charger installed. I got up early to take it down to the mechanic for its Warrant of Fitness, and nope. (So they came and collected it.)

Update: Apparently a new battery will hold its charge better, so. That. Plus they're going to replace the broken latch on the boot (AKA trunk), which will mean I'll actually be able to access it for things like groceries. Luxury! (Assuming I ever drive again, who even knows at this point.) Anyway.

At this stage it feels like my car is higher maintenance than anything else in my life except for my body. ;-p

musesfool

Yesterday, I made both these and these lemon cupcakes. I did both with a whisk and I liked that they didn't require the stand mixer.

The first ones were quite different than a typical lemon cupcake recipe - they had ricotta and honey in them, and I used this fancy lemon honey I had and I think that was a mistake. The cupcakes domed brilliantly, but had a weird aftertaste I did not like and the only thing I can think that could cause it was that honey. I otherwise used sour cream instead of creme fraiche, and olive oil for vegetable oil, but neither of those things should have caused the weird aftertaste. So maybe I'll eventually work my way back to that recipe (chosen because I have ricotta in my fridge that needs using up) and use clover honey and see how they are.

I think the second recipe is going to be my go-to for lemon for now. The batter is a super weird texture - it looked like curdled custard, or maybe bad cafeteria scrambled eggs - but the cupcakes are moist and lemony, though I guess the real test will be how they taste tomorrow, since if I'm taking them to work, I'll bake them on Sunday and bring them to the office on Tuesday, so they have to be good for that long. I made this strawberry cream cheese frosting this afternoon, but it wasn't stiff enough to pipe (not a euphemism) since I only used 2 cups of powdered sugar (and still think it is pretty sweet), so I just dipped the cupcakes into it. (I also did not make strawberry puree, I used 3 tbsps of seedless strawberry jam instead.) The tang of the cream cheese goes well with lemon and also helps cut through the sweetness of the frosting, so it worked pretty well, I thought. Next week, though, I plan to make strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream, which is much less sweet. We'll see how it goes.

I also tried to make homemade bbq sauce but I did not like how it tasted at all, so I didn't use it. Next time maybe I will try something that has no tomato base at all. Regardless, I cooked both racks of ribs and they were delicious and I will be eating ribs all week. I also made my own cole slaw dressing again, and this time I liked it better because I added onion and garlic powder - it is mind-boggling to me that the recipe doesn't include that and the first time around I just let it go but come on. Season your food!

So this weekend was delicious but so fucking messy - I ended up with egg yolk, bbq sauce, frosting, lemonade, and hot pork juice (not a euphemism!!! the ribs cook for 3 hours wrapped in foil and then for the last hour you take the foil off and it is a precarious situation!) on my shirt, but not all at the same time, thankfully.

*

Current Mood: satisfied
Current Music: Inside the NBA

james

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celli

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selenak

Meanwhile in tv land.

For All Mankind 5.08:

( Spoilers do not want to bounce back from Saturn… )

The Testaments 1.07:

( Spoilers are not supposed to be a spy but a sponge… )

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: on the train

marginaliana

Things:

--Two joggers went past me the other day and all I caught was the phrase 'the touch grass doctrine.' I love the idea of it being a doctrine, like a religious precept.

--Yesterday in the subway station two girls were brainstorming how to convince a friend of the merits of polyamory - which, fine, you do you, but their proposed arguments were a) when you get tired of your boyfriend you can go hang out with your girlfriend and b) hanging out with your girlfriend will make your boyfriend want to hang out with you both because you're both hot, so he will stop being annoying. This seems to me to be... not the best angle to take. Then again, if you're college age, maybe this is convincing reasoning?

--I actually like everyone from this series of Taskmaster. This seems impossible. Usually there's at least one of them that I want to punch. Very weird sensation. No one to root against.

--Relatedly, I was walking through the park the other day and saw a robin with its dinner and mentally went "I found a worm!" in a deeply self-satisfied manner.

--Wrote another little ficlet:

North (478 words) by marginaliana
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sorted (Website) RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ben Ebbrell/Mike Huttlestone, Ben Ebbrell & Mike Huttlestone
Characters: Mike Huttlestone, Ben Ebbrell
Additional Tags: take it as gen or preslash as you like, pretentious metaphors
Summary: Compasses captivate Mike.

celli

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musesfool

Since I know you all enjoy my ridiculous grocery delivery stories, this week boneless pork country ribs were on sale for $3/lb so I ordered 2 lbs for approximately $6. I figured I'd put one package in a pot of sauce on Sunday, and freeze the other for some later date.

Instead, I received SIX POUNDS of baby back ribs for TWENTY-EIGHT DOLLARS. For those of you playing the home game, that made my grocery bill today $22 more than expected. That's just nuts. Also, since I was planning to put the boneless ribs in sauce, I did not purchase any bbq sauce, so now I guess I can try to make my own. I thought about doing Chinese bbq ribs instead, because I do have all the ingredients for that, but the racks are too big to put into a container to marinate. I might be able to cut them into smaller slabs and marinate that way, but that seems like a lot of extra work I was not planning on this weekend, since mostly I planned to test out a couple of new lemon cupcake recipes.

I think I mentioned that one of my co-workers requested vanilla cupcakes with strawberry frosting next time I'm in, and I thought I might also do lemon cupcakes with strawberry frosting since there will be a lot more frosting than cupcakes.

Anyway. I found a bbq sauce recipe that doesn't include ketchup - I tried one that did once and did not care much for it - so maybe I will do that. I also have a bag of cole slaw, so I'll make the dressing for that as well, and see how it all goes.

In better news, the Knicks just went up 3-0 on the Sixers in round 2 of the playoffs. Bing bong!

*

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Mets vs Dbacks on tv

china_shop

I was telling my sister how the Chinese for "New Zealander" is:

新 = Chinese for "new"
西兰 = transliteration of "Zealand"
人 = Chinese for "person"

She pointed out the same is true in French:

Nouvelle = French for "new"
Zéland = transliteration
-aise = suffix for "person from"

In Korean, the "New" part of "New Zealander" is included in the transliteration, and the "er" becomes "인" (person from): 뉴질랜드인

This is all especially entertaining since our "Zealand" is an anglicisation of "Zeeland", which itself, according to wikipedia, 'consists of a number of islands and peninsulas (hence its name, meaning "Sealand")'. Transliterations of transliterations of transliterations!

Anyway, now I'm curious about "New Zealander" in other languages. If you speak another language, how much of the term is translated and how much transliterated?

china_shop

Via

maevedarcy. I changed it a little to suit myself, so maybe take the code from over there. Answers are not deeply considered, and are open to review.

The Characters: Superlatives
Rules: Choose one piece of media (book, tv show, movie, video game, whatever), then answer the questions.

I choose... Guardian

The questions:
Most likely to be unemployed: Sang Zan (if the SID didn't exist) or Da Qing
Most likely to do drugs at work: Wang Zheng
Most likely to get caught breaking the law: I'd say Lin Jing, except that he didn't get caught sneaking around for ages; Changcheng wouldn't break the law (except under orders); Zhao Yunlan, Chu Shuzhi, Da Qing, Wang Zheng and Sang Zan wouldn't get caught; Shen Wei kind of is the law. By process of elimination, that leaves Zhu Hong, but I'm not super convinced.
Most likely to do crime and escape unscathed: Da Qing, especially if the crime involved food, or Chu Shuzhi
Most likely to commit arson: Ye Huo (cheaty answer); Zhu Hong with the power of her fierce glare
Most likely to get scammed: Guo Changcheng
Most likely to lose their cool in an emergency: Guo Changcheng
Most likely to have a threesome: three-way tie between Lin Jing, Wang Zheng, and pre-Shen Wei Zhao Yunlan (but not with each other)
Most likely to sleep with their ex: Wang Zheng
Most likely to forget someone's name during sex: pre-Shen Wei Zhao Yunlan
Most likely to lie to their friends about something they did: three-way tie between Zhao Yunlan, Lin Jing, Shen Wei
Most likely to have a one-night stand: It's easier to list those who wouldn't: Shen Wei, Guo Changcheng, Da Qing
Most likely to get caught having sex in public: Zhao Yunlan
Most likely to marry someone they just met: contemporary Zhao Yunlan, YOHE Shen Wei
Most likely to fake their own death: Zhao Yunlan
Most likely to forget the name of a person they hooked up with: pre-Shen Wei Zhao Yunlan
Most likely to make a sex tape: Lin Jing (for science!)
Most likely to join the Mile-High Club: Zhao Yunlan or Lin Jing
Most likely to bring up astrology to explain literally everything: Wang Zheng
Most likely to have a crush on three people at the same time: Lin Jing
Most likely to win at trivia: Lin Jing
Most likely to know zero memes: Shen Wei
Most likely to start a band just for the aesthetic: Zhu Hong
Most likely to flirt their way out of trouble: Zhao Yunlan
Most likely to end up in a news headline: any and all of them
Most likely to open a PowerPoint presentation about why they deserve the last slice of pizza: Lin Jing (I was going to say Da Qing, but he would consider the ppt beneath him, and just take the pizza as his right.)

petra

There are a thousand spots to sit at home:
Upon the couch, on laundry, not just laps.
But just as all the old roads lead to Rome,
The cat returns to sit on me. Perhaps
She smells the cortisol of stress, and knows
That I'm inclined to stroke her velvet fur --
Once void-black, now specked galaxy, it flows
Softer than kitten fluff. And so she purrs,
Then settles with her head upon my wrist
And tush on laptop keys, immune to shame.
Despite spring air, my little cat finds bliss
In cuddling up and acting nearly tame.
Nine pounds of feline is enough to pin
Me to the couch, and so her reign begins.

Current Mood: purr
Current Music: She is making the rattly noise

stonepicnicking_okapi

1. After eating in the dark for 4 months, maintenance finally came and fixed the lights in the dining area and the boys' bathroom. Huzzah.

2. I survived my 12 hour shift yesterday and have another 12-hour shift tomorrow with the same client. Sadly, my hospice client died so I only had one today so I am doing more collaging, working on the cards for the folks who requested them from my 3Weeks4Dreamwidth offer.

3. I bought myself flowers for Mother's Day. They had so many, many varieties at the grocery store that I knew the boys' father would be overwhelmed and so I picked my own. I wasn't going to do any shopping this week but the boys won't have bread for sandwiches on Monday if I didn't get some.

4. BTS is amazing. They are in Mexico City and they met with the President of Mexico and 50,000 ARMY filled the zocalo to greet them when they stepped out on the balcony of the presidential palace.

Here's one of the collages I did on Tuesday. While collaging today, I am listening to Death at the Sanitorium by Ragnar Jonasson. Icelandic cold case mystery. I tried a few minutes of Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman but noped out of it. A fat widow talking about how difficult much she misses her husband and how difficult it is to get her large posterior in an airplane wasn't the vibe I wanted. Scandi noir for the win!

petra

I recently got a new TENS device intended to stop migraines. The zap cycle lasts 45 minutes and makes it extremely uncomfortable to move one arm. I will report back when I know more.

This morning, the cat jumped on my lap at minute 46, just as I was going to peel off the electrodes. I could've been petting her with the other arm, but nooooo.

She is generally the entity in the house accused of cat-like reflexes, but humans can do it too.

Current Mood: what would anakin skywalker do
Current Music: I'm goin' on a party ride

anais_pf posting in

thefridayfive

These questions were written by

pebbleinalake.

1. What do you consider your current main fandom? (This can include hobbies and collecting. Anything you feel fannish about!)

2. What was your first fandom?

3. Do you have any favorite headcanons or fan theories?

4. Have you ever created fanworks?

5. Are you still active in any old fandoms?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

james

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petra

Time to update your AO3 password. It can now be 72 characters long.

Here, have a website that counts characters.

So far my favorite possible maximal password I won't use is:
Little pig little pig let me in! Not by the hair on my chinny-chin-chin!

(Sorry about the lack of vocative commas, but 72 is a harsh mistress.)

If you like poetry, there's always:
Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though

Bring me your favorite 72-character phrase that you Won't use as an AO3 password!

Current Mood: coded
Current Music: He will not see me stopping here to watch his woods fill up with snow

musesfool

Wednesday reading on a Thursday:

what I've just finished
Saint Death's Daughter and Saint Death's Herald by CSE Cooney, which I enjoyed. The first book is A Lot in terms of both worldbuilding and plot, but it's a fun ride and Lanie Stones is a fantastic character - a necromancer who has an allergy to violence. Her growth as a necromancer is really well done, especially when set against the various members of her family she tells you about over the course of the books. The second book is a lot more straightforward in terms of plot, which I found less enthralling, but the character work and worldbuilding remain fascinating. I couldn't find any info about whether there's going to be a third book, but I would read it if there were!

what I'm reading now
The Last Contract of Isako, the new book by Fonda Lee. I'm only 20 pages in so I can't say much about it one way or another yet, but Isako is a middle-aged lady contractor (possibly also an assassin?) in a far future world. I imagine this is going to be a "one last job" kind of thing? I don't remember the blurb, but I found Lee's Green Bone trilogy* excellent so I have high hopes for this.

*Second world East Asian-style mob story where the made men have what basically amount to Force powers. Very violent and most of the characters are morally gray at best, but I enjoyed it a lot.

what I'm reading next
Dungeon Crawler Carl book 8: Parade of Horribles. Tuesday! I AM EXCITE!

*

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Canes vs Flyers on tv

shivver posting in

tenminutesaday

One of the benefits of being a fanfiction writer is that we can assume that the reader is familiar with the subject: at the very least, they know what the characters and the recurring locations look like. That said, it can also make us lazy writers, because we don't have to describe things or learn how to work those descriptions into the story.

For today's challenge, describe a familiar character or location in a show or movie you know well, but do so knowing that your reader has never seen them before. You do not need to make it entertaining or good prose (you can make it clinical, like "She stood at 5 feet 11 inches, with long red hair, pale skin, and small eyes"), but bonus points if you can work it into a scene.

stonepicnicking_okapi

Until 14 May

pitchblackrenegade is offering a line of poetry as prompt/inspiration from one of their favorite poems. Ask for it here: https://pitchblackrenegade.dreamwidth.org/12309.html

Mine was:

It is enraptured by approaching sleep

—from "Before sunset" by Mirra Lokhvitskaya, translated by Temira Pachmuss

ysabetwordsmith posting in

renew_repair_refashion

During Three Weeks for Dreamwidth, I've been writing about how to become an expert in anything by reading three books about it. Today's topic is Repairing.

Current Mood: busy

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blythely

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Reading

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they're in trouble going forward

Who did what now

roundup!

For all Mankind 5.08 and The Testaments 1.07

the Touch Grass Doctrine

new Heated Rivalry ficlet with associated podfic

especially when the roof is open

Language question

Meme

A cat sonnet

Into the void & Paris collage

Familect word: Cat-like reflexes / Cat-like timing

The Friday Five for 8 May 2026

Old Things

Happy World Password Day!

quick trigger deflected wide

Challenge #570

3Weeks4Dreamwidth: E is for elegy

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth: Repairing

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