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Suspicious soufflés
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Jul. 25th, 2008 @ 03:41 pm
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I ordered a Grand Marnier iced soufflé and, despite the presence of the word "iced" on the menu, was immediately suspicious when it arrived at the table as my first birthday dessert of the day. It wasn't a soufflé as I know it. Eggs may never have been anywhere near it. A very thin circle of white cake base was the foundation for a three-inch-tall cylinder of clean-cut sides and a fun, sweet, crunchy, powdered topping. The "soufflé" itself was almost-but-not-quite too sweet, its infusion of Grand Marnier along with inner cream creating the smooth orangeness of its flavoring. I remain unconvinced that it had any more organge it in than the liquor alone could provide.
The creamy bulk had been whipped in its cooling, but does that make it a soufflé? Is anything with a whipped ingredient a kind of soufflé, and I just never realized it? It seemed like whipped ice cream, but perhaps that's what a recipe like this will produce. My meal at the Brasserie Chez Gerard was reasonably good, but I remain unconvinced by its souffléishness.
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Jul. 24th, 2008 @ 04:58 pm
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I do not own any diamonds. At one point, I thought that when I finished my
PhD I would get a new class ring with a diamond, but at the time I graduated
it seemed foolish to spend that much money on jewelry. A couple years after
that, I lost a lot of weight and had to get my ring from my Masters program
resized so I could wear it again, and I just had the same ring remade with
my other school and graduation date. That didn't cost me anything--the
company probably made money on the gold they took out.
My sister's wedding ring is a sapphire, not only because she wants to avoid
buying confilct diamonds, but because she says she doesn't care for
diamonds. It's very difficult to find jewelry without diamonds in it--even
most rings with a non-diamond main stone will have small diamonds along the
sides. But even if one were looking for non-conflict diamonds, it's very
difficult to find them with any degree of certainty. Plenty of diamonds are
mined in Australia, Canada, and other places besides Africa, but usually
they all get mixed together, so not even the stores know the stones'
origin. The Kimberley Process was set up in 2000 and was supposed to create
a way to track diamonds and make sure they were conflict free.
Unfortunately, it became apparent that not only were there smuggled diamonds
sneaking into certified lots, but it was easy to forge a certification.
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/diamond/2006/11papertigers.pdf
While I do find it disturbing that it's impossible to know whether someone
might have lost a hand to get it out of its native country and if it was cut
using child slave labor in India,
http://ihscslnews.org/view_article.php?id=4
it might bother me more the way De Beers props up the price.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/198202/diamond
They control supply to keep the market from being flooded with what is a
not-all-that-uncommon stone, so the price will not fluctuate with supply and
demand. Essentially, they create the market for diamond smuggling.
Diamonds have virtually no inherant value, since it is almost impossible for
a person to sell a piece of diamond jewelry for anything close to what they
paid for it. "A diamond is forever" really means you're stuck with this
piece forever.
I keep thinking of the cultured diamonds, as described in a 2003 Wired
article.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond.html
In all respects, their diamonds are the same as natural, except they are
colored rather than clear, and they're flawless while natural diamonds
usually aren't. They say there is no resale value to them, but diamonds
don't have much of a resale value anyway. De Beers says "A diamond is
forever," but why would you want your symbol of eternal love to be financing
their cartel?
More stuff on diamonds in this article on Wise Bread.
http://www.wisebread.com/the-greatest-story-ever-sold-is-a-fantasy-covered-in-blood |
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SALE ALERT!
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Jul. 24th, 2008 @ 02:22 pm
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Hells Belles (formerly Siren) on Queen (west of Spadina) had a fire in the upstairs apartment, so there's water damage in the store and they're moving. Which means giant clearance sale! Everything is 60%-70% off until Sunday! Get your butts down there for super-cheap gothy clothes! :D |
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Leonard Cohen concert
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Jul. 24th, 2008 @ 05:50 pm
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He was a miniature on a stage hundreds of meters distant, blown up in detail on the three screens hanging in the air, but Leonard Cohen can command an arena. His voice is rich, deep, commanding, his expressions evocative and amusing, and he thinks about his songs as he sings them. His nine backup instrumentalists and singers were varied and talented, from his co-writer Sharon Robinson and the folksy elegancy of the Webb Sisters, to the lively verve of his multi-instrumental wind player and guitar and organ players.
I was just as glad I only knew two of his albums. Half the songs were a surprise, lyrics vividly communicated; even the ones I already knew were new again in performance. Lyrics I'd never paid attention to caught my attention. "Hallelujah", "Take this Waltz", and "Suzanne" were riveting. For a three hour concert - including three-or-so extended encores - the performers kept my attention throughout. The audience was wonderfully silent, caught in the spell. For the first half, the drunk girls in front of us bopped along to all songs. For a few, the audience sang along - but appropriately.
It might have been the last night of the move, but it was worth the break, worth braving the enormity of the O2 for the first time, for this concert. The only problem with the O2? Leaving it post-concert. It took us an hour to get into the Underground station.
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This Message Sponsored by Penguins
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Jul. 24th, 2008 @ 12:10 pm
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Found this while cleaning, and wanted to share and record it just in case I lose the paper I wrote it on. I thought it was really inspirational.
From The Golden Transcendence, by John C. Wright [p 397]. It's not a self-help book, but a fantasy series - and I do hope this doesn't spoil it if any of you decide to read it; I thought it was very good and quite original. This is book three. Book one is The Golden Age (which is also the name of the trilogy), and book two is The Phoenix Exultant. If you like penguins, you might like the series, as the main character's computer assistant, Rhadamanthus, takes the form of a penguin (which I mention because it makes the quote make more sense). If you do decide to read it, stop reading now and don't read the quote.
( Rhadamanthus' advice )
If any of you read the quote, and are good at icon-making (I don't have any sort of image program on my mac, not even photoshop), I'd love an icon with a penguin with "Dream of Flying" on it. I found a cute image here, but part of me really wants a "cartoon" or "illustrated" penguin looking up at the sky with the words, but I can't find that image (though there's a penguin like that on my shower curtain!).
In other penguin news...
Penguin USB sticks! I want!
Penguins in sweaters!
Apparently it helps keep fairy penguins warm after they've been in oil spills. From the blog which had the pic, which quoted the article which is no longer available:
LDS women in New South Wales have undertaken an unusual service project, knitting sweaters for cousins to the loveable stars of the Academy Award-winning documentary narrated by Freeman.
The smallest breed of penguins, often known as "fairy" penguins, tend to get caught in oil spills off the coast of Australia, which can destroy their natural oils or even kill them. Doll size, tight-fitting wool sweaters can keep the penguins warm during the rehabilitation process, and "stop them preening and ingesting the poisonous oil," according to The Sydney Morning Herald,
The sweaters improve penguin survival rate to about 98 percent, the paper reported.
And a national geographic article about rescued fairy penguins wearing adorable little penguin booties!
So Cute!
...back to cleaning...Current Mood:  busy |
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Book Itch
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Jul. 24th, 2008 @ 03:56 pm
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I knew I'd put the last two books somewhere safe. Somewhere memorable. It was time to leave to go meet ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) a_d_medievalist, but without a book to read on the train, I found myself searching the house for those last two unread books. I knew where the last five I'd read were, but it was too soon to reread any of them. I knew where hundreds of others were, read and unread, but taped away in boxes, they were effectively inaccessible when in a hurry. Eventually, despite it all, I need to go. I took Gaiman's Odd and the Frost Giants, and finished it one stop before my destination.
For years, I've been thinking of myself as a non-compulsive reader. In Toronto, I couldn't afford to be in the middle of unscheduled non-academic reading when I had work to do; my mind would be distracted. At Limehouse, my travels were broken up into segments, five minutes here, ten minutes there. A book was pleasant, but an optional extra. I could spent ten minutes looking at subway posters, or just pondering the world. Sure, I still needed books for longer-distance travel (trains, planes), but they were merely choice distractions; good conversation or an mp3 player would do just as well.
But yesterday, worry of being on the Underground for 45 minutes without a book niggled at me, and a_d_medievalist kindly accompanied me while I choice from a limited selection of bestsellers at a small W.H. Smith (enabling, along the way, my first glimpse of the renovated grandeurs of St. Pancras). I couldn't loiter and I recognized almost none of the books. major_clanger's recent endorsement of Marr's History of Modern Britain swayed one of my purchased, and for my half-price second, I went with a Richard and Judy book list endorsement, Addition, for lighter prose. Worry asuaged, I went on to nab yet another book in the BSFA raffle. I was more than set for my ride home last night, a selection of books weighing me down, and peace in my book-needy mind.
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For Dance Like Nobody's Watching Fans
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Jul. 23rd, 2008 @ 11:32 am
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I stole this from toshimasa. It made me laugh. It's inmates, at a Filippines prison. They must have exciting exercise time, or something. Comments on the youtube page say the "girl" is actually a guy. Makes sense; I was wondering how they'd get a female to join in, as all the rest are male.
In other news, Bank Loan looks like it's a no go, as once you're out of Canada for 6 months you're considered a non-resident and that means you can't have open lines of credit or loans in Canada. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Hello Co-sign? Help please?
This is annoying. More on this later. I must clean up and so something productive before going for ice cream. At least my titers are done and I can mail away that form later today.Current Mood:  amused |
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Fire pit
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Jul. 23rd, 2008 @ 03:45 pm
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Mail-ordering is funny. So many companies offer free shipping when purchases cost more than 15-20 pounds that it's easier to mail-order appliances and have free shipping bring them to our doorstep than to go forth and buy them outside the house. That's how it happened that a fire pit was delivered to the door yesterday morning.
It's one that caught my fancy at this year's Taste of London, a spacious, shiny basin with elegant stand for charcoal or wood, freestanding, with optional extras like side tables and a cover. The visuals are what caught my eye and, for all he effectively made the sale, that salesman there wasn't the one to get the money for it; that went to an online company offering free shipping.
The fire pit doubles as a grill; we figured it would be rather inefficient compared to a made-for-purpose grill, but we were wrong: the shine of stainless steel helped focus the heat upwards, and the sausages cooked efficiently. Indeed, the grill is so large, party grilling is easily immaginable on it. Afterwards we threw on dried-out woody scraps of garden waste, standing around the pit for evening warmth since the ever-efficient stainless steel meant sitting on the ground around it was rather cooler than not. The stars came out, and we caught up with larkvi on his passing visit through, coals glowing, evening hushed around us.
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I need to change something
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Jul. 22nd, 2008 @ 07:16 pm
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I really need to change something about my appearance. I'm just tired of looking in the mirror. The first thing I thought of was cutting my hair. Now, my hair is so long that I can almost sit on it. I really don't want to loose any length, but after watching some hair styling shows (damn you, Shear Genius) I'm tempted to try bangs.
Poll #1227966 Tell me what I like!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: AllSo, how should I cut my hair? What color should I dye it, if I do summon up the patience to do so? Current Mood:  lonely |
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Microwave
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Jul. 22nd, 2008 @ 11:26 am
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My inner gamer is thrilled that our new microwave (our first!) has a button on it labeled "Chaos Defrost".
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Jul. 21st, 2008 @ 09:31 am
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David and I went to go see Wanted on Friday. The theater's hallways were so packed with people waiting around to see the Batman movie that it was difficult to move around. The whole place reeked of a thousand unwashed teenagers. (If you've ever been to an anime convention, you know the smell I'm talking about.) But at any rate, Wanted wasn't horrible, but I'd have a hard time recommending it to anyone. The plot was implausible (and I'm pretty generous with my suspension of disbelief when it comes to action movies), and there was virtually no character development. One of the more interesting things was that it was filmed in Chicago. One of the big fights towards the beginning was at The Egg Store, which is about a mile from my apartment. You can even see the Spindle (a bunch of cars stacked on top of one another in a sculpture), which since the movie was filmed they took down to build a Wal-greens. Because they don't have enough Wal-greens in this town, obviously.
In many ways, Wanted
is about a lack of consequences. Whenever any of the assassin characters are injured, they just soak in a big tub that heals all of their wounds. When the main character told off his boss, he quit his job, so he never actually had to resolve his conflict with her. On his way out, he smashed his "best friend" in the face with a keyboard, knocking out his tooth. When he meets up with the guy later, you can see the tooth is missing, but the guy is happy to see him. I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty pissed at a guy if he did that to me. The police are never a threat, no matter how many people the assassins kill or how much property damage they do. In the beginning of the movie, the main character is criticized for being "a pussy." I think what he was really being criticized for is living in a world where consequences matter. As normal people, we can't say whatever insulting things we want to our bosses because they might fire us. If we stand on top of an L train and smash into a bridge, it will probably kill us. If someone knocks out a tooth, that can be permanent. Wanted lives in a 14-year-old's fantasy world, a video game world where just hitting the reset button makes everything the way it was again. There's nothing new about that idea, but there's nothing much new in Wanted either.
My mom had said that she was going to go see Wanted with a bunch of her friends in the Weavers' Guild, because they had heard that there was a lot of stuff about weaving in the movie. Well, there is some stuff about weaving but none of it is very interesting to someone with any basis of knowledge at all. I mean, I don't know much about weaving, but I still knew more than what was actually in the movie. I just wanted to see a bunch of old ladies going to see a movie about assassins. But in the end, the movie wasn't playing at the theater they wanted to go to, so the old ladies saw Mamma Mia! instead. Nothing very interesting about that. |
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Sights of London
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Jul. 20th, 2008 @ 10:30 pm
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All in the same day -
A picnic in Regent's Park: Lovely, vividly-colored roses, bowing down to our picnic, uncoordinated, but successful. One person brought a blanket, another plateware and cutlery, a few of us brought food, all different, but collectively sufficient, and the weather was lovely, pleasantly warm with clear blue skies.
A walk along the Thames, from Embankment to Westminster: Overcast, dripping skies, looming clouds. We made a quick circuit by Westminster Abbey while we were there, slowed by the crowds and traffic lights.
A touristic cruise with commentary, from Westminster to Greenwich: No rain, dramatic clouds to set off our touristic photos of riverside landmarks. I quietly heckled the guide's oversights to justinsomnia (whose idea the cruise was in the first place), but learned far more than I disparaged. I looking wistfully at the tops of the building I so recently moved out of as we sailed past. We sailed by Canary Wharf, and the guide entirely failed to point out anything on that side of the river. Indeed, he implied it wasn't historical or interesting at all. I disagree.
The Greenwich Foot Tunnel: I'd not walked under the Thames before. A spiral of steps leads down to a long, straight, white-tiled, well-used foot tunnel, leading from the scaffold-and-plastic shrouded Cutty Sark to Island Gardens. We took photos there too, where my second memory card was finally exhausted. I still (temporarily) have no where to empty it too.
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Jul. 18th, 2008 @ 06:02 pm
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I tried to get these posted on Gaia for like 4 hours. Finally I gave up. Grr!
Go ahead and croak! See if I care!
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End of an era
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Jul. 18th, 2008 @ 07:45 pm
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No more windowsills desperately molding.
No more cracks in the wall as the building settles.
No more all-electric heating.
No more excess of furnishment.
No more decorative rocks to account for in the inventory.
No more potpourri for the same.
No more unusably rusty wok for the same.
No more conveniently living in zone 2.
No more surfeit of hallway.
No more vasty light of floor-to-ceiling windows.
No more watching arrivals from the elevator always looking the wrong way first.
No more convenient restaurants and corner shops just downstairs.
No more friendly local dry cleaner, restaurant manager, cornerstore guy.
No more convenience and friendship of concierge service.
The flat's all clean, made back up as a display piece with made beds and all that potpourri and decorative rocks to fill the decorative vases and pitchers. I handed over the keys this morning. I made my goodbyes. As of today, I don't live there any more.
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I want gelato.
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Jul. 18th, 2008 @ 11:34 am
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Speaking of which, to any Torontonian gelato-fiends like myself, the new AMC theatre at Dundas & Yonge may be annoying in its design (take 5 million escalators up to the top of the universe), but there is a FANTASTIC gelato shop in the basement. They have more flavours than I've seen anywhere else!
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Animazement
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Jul. 17th, 2008 @ 10:29 pm
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For my most recent photo shoot, taken last weekend!
Ladies and Gentlemen: fatwetdog as:
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Polaris 22 In Point Form
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Jul. 17th, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
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Because I'm lazy, and getting tired, and I don't feel like writing it all out right now.
I did upload some pics; I have a few videos to go up, still, which means I have to make a youtube account or something.
Click here for Hilarity
Friday: It's Fudge City up Here
- lovely late morning
- picked up miagolare and hit the hotel early
- absolutely Primo parking space
- lots of space in the room
- killed time until the Get To Know You Games Panel
- hilarious game of Evolution ending in the Dominatrix at the top level
- I have/I've never = WIN
- Vampire Social - nice to see people, even if for a few minutes
- oogling sarcasm_hime's put together gothy outfit
- drinks and conversation and crazy disks fun in the hotel room
- hanging with Jesa/kalliope_kheru
Saturday: It's like a Knife Fight in a Phone Booth
- quality time in panels with Peter and elizard100
- Design your Own Superhero with Daryl having fun entrants who really got into and some fun prizes = MORE WIN
- Colony Sweep
- guests; Jadzia Dax actress and the writer of the Dresden Files - both HILAROUS; she's good at avoiding answering the questions, and he had a ton of funny lines
- Masquerade (line up that early, whut?, but fun hanging with people)
- audio issues with skit, but it still went well and the costumes photograph quite well
- photoshoot with stillvisions who indulged us
- dance fun, still in the wig
- not recognizing Jesa, who also didn't recognize me for part of it
- fun with rosemary_ca and catching up with other people who I hadn't seen much during the con yet
- issues with security, but it's been handled by others
Sunday: I survived the Polaris Inferno...3 times
- Fire alarms, 3 times. Less than 3 hours sleep, whee.
- 10am panel, expecting noone to show up, and it had 15 people and turned out great!
- chatting with a lovely couple and their daughter after the panel
- getting to know elizard100 better, which was quite nice
- finding out we won Best Group for presentation and workmanship (accuracy FTW)
- diner at Kelsey's
- writerz_bloc asking if the "goth girl" was a friend of mine (from the dance); we had assumed it was Kevin's friend, but he didn't know either, so it was great fun to say that it was Jesa, and see Writerz_bloc freak out
- quality time with peeps I don't get to talk to IRL often, and enjoying kusanivy's pics from her Hellabration trip to Cali
- dropped off Miagolare, and drove home; seemed pretty quick; made it home safe despite my exhaustion
This was my last con for a few years as I'm off to grad school and won't have time or funds for costuming/cons, and it was great. I loved seeing everyone again, and you all helped make it a wonderful "last" convention for me. Relax-a-con it was, and it rocked. Props to everyone!!
And now, off to bed, cuz I'm tired, and I have to work 4 days in a row now (usually it's just Friday, but I traded shifts so a guy could go to his dad's wedding this weekend) - so I can hardly wait for Tuesday, which I'll get off in lieu (and Wed, as I'm working Sat & Sun for him). Ugh, so tired. And I just remembered I have to call my mom.... I hope I can go to bed by 11.Current Mood:  exhausted Current Music: something on TV |
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ZOMG YAY!!!
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Jul. 17th, 2008 @ 02:24 am
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Yeah, so I'm a little behind; just caught up on the last few weeks of So You Think You Can Dance.
I'd heard that they finally got something new, namely BOLLYWOOD OMG, so was very excited. I've been really getting sick of the same dance styles over and over - various ballroom styles, hip-hop, contemporary, jazz, Broadway and occasionally krumping. (I mean really, krumping? Why that, over anything else?)
Of course they left it to the last number of the night so I was so wired that I was worried it would be a real let-down, although the fact that it's my favourite couple (who haven't done a bad number yet) gave me some faith. And it was GREAT!!!!! *kermitspaz* WHEEEEEEEEEEE I was giggling like an idiot the whole time.
I mean I'm sure there were things that needed some work (the spins could have been smoother for example), but so fun! I really hope this encourages the producers to take more risks with other dance styles. Woo!
Current Mood:  spazzy |
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Movie blather!
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Jul. 16th, 2008 @ 01:45 pm
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Hellboy 2 was freaking awesome. Funny as hell (pun intended) and chock full of cool monsters. Was rather disappointed that the princess' outfits were not as exciting as I had expected; her brother had more interesting costumes and was just more L337 in general. Plus she looked like Ally McBeal and was rather wimpy, and could not get over both those factors.
But damn, the movie was like steampunk up the wazoo. With a little Mononoke-hime thrown in for good measure. XD
In other news, this trailer for The Spirit has eliminated any of my previous interest in the movie:
Wow, it's Sin City 2! Except they're also making Sin City 2 anways. -_-' Which I won't be seeing either, as the first one sent me into FEMINIST SMASH!!! mode.
Frank, Frank, Frank. Do you ever, you know, TALK to women? And I'm not counting the hookers you pick up. I'd love to see him try to write a female character that isn't a vixen/seductress/hooker/etc. I think his head would explode.
(mind you, I haven't read the original Spirit, but this is just so very Frank Miller that I presume he's taken liberties to whore-ify it up a lot)
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Boxes
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Jul. 16th, 2008 @ 05:37 pm
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Reused cardboard boxes accrue interesting labels. My favorite two from this move:
"Space Books - Very Important"
"Fragile Measuring Cups"
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6 (33.3%)
