***stardust

The grocery stores have had strawberries on sale almost every week for like a month and a half now, and by the time they're through I'll be able to get local ones. I have been seriously craving some strawberry shortcake.

The main version that sticks in my memory, is the kind my Grandma Antes made. Bisquick (or similar) biscuits, broken into several pieces and popped into a cereal bowl. Pile up some strawberries on top. Drench it all in cold milk. Smush together as desired while eating. It's pretty clearly a backwoods Pennsylvania version, but still delicious in its own right. Kind of like eating Cheerios with strawberries on it, it's a light kind of comfort food.

Tom looked rather bewildered by this description, so I tried describing the classic Better Homes and Gardens recipe, a biscuit-y cake with a few layers of strawberries and whipped cream. Still no-go. "Well what's *your* kind of strawberry shortcake?" "...oh, I don't know, but it's not that...ask my mother."

It slipped my mind for awhile, but I finally remembered - and called him on that, though I doubt he expected I would. The response I got:

"Here is the "official" strawberry shortcake recipe from bisquick...however, if the boy is being a pain in the butt...and wants his "mommy's" version (oh how I went through that too)...below the recipe is my changes (aka Doug's mom's changes...ps: also see if it's on the box)"

Ingredients are the Bisquick ones, but the presentation is totally different. Cook up the Bisquick portion in a square pan, and cut it into squares, which get sliced in half and berries put in the middle and on top. The strawberries get soaked in sugar + their own juices all day in the fridge, which makes a bit of a juice syrup to pour over things. Then scatter a few sliced-up strawberries around/over it all. I have a hunch it is going to be very pretty - I might tackle this sometime this weekend.

...but, I have to admit, I got a little flash of feeling a part of a tradition, and it made me really happy. I'm using the recipe that my boy's mother used, and she used the one *her* boy's mother used... it's very cool. It's making me all happy. :)

(which is good, because today was one of those days where I made every silly little mistake I pretty much possibly could. and that roll of 13oz vinyl is SERIOUSLY out to get me. grr.)

Labels: cooking, family, work

*Ananda Daydream * 10:01 PM * (0) stars grow bright *

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*The military junta running Myanmar (despite a democratic party being elected, oh, a decade or two ago) is trying to put Aung San Suu Kyi into prison. Again. Send an email via Amnesty.

- In other news, Tom and I made a day-trip up to Buffalo, and saw the Star Trek movie. It is AWESOME. Whether you're a Star Trek person or no, it is quite enjoyable. The character continuity is phenomenal, the characters shown in the movie are so perfectly younger (and thus more volatile) versions of everybody. Tom wants to watch it again just so he can memorize more of the "Scotty-isms". It's a wonderfully fresh take on the whole Star Trek universe, and it's been a long time since we've seen that, and god is it great to see. At the same time though, there are still elements to tie it to the previous things - the style of the music, the way certain shots are set up, the vaguely-plausible science, the same cross-screen linear lens flares... Also, the whole intro-bit where Kirk is born, made me cry. Star Trek doesn't usually do that. It was pretty awesome.

- I was going to post a picture of the dress I bought, but I can't find one. Least-painful dress shopping I have ever managed - once I, uh, actually *found* the dress-section in Macy's, the first dress I spotted was the one I ended up with. It's really simple and un-fussy, but very cute and very me. Olive green with dark brown trim, and this intricate geometric pattern in dark brown on the green. And I found shoes to match nearly as quickly! This was all still too long a process for Tom ("Wait... you're not going to try that on, are you?"), but he is a boy and doesn't understand these things. (Though he did luck out, I only went into the dressing room once, since there was a freaking line. The one I tried on was just a *bit* too small, and I could tell going a size up would be perfect, so I just snagged and bought.)

- We also bought more tea! And it is DELICIOUS. Samurai Chai Maté - *awesome*. We love the Maté Vana they sell, and this is similar, but with a slight citrus twist, instead of the more chocolate-nut flavor of Vana. We're finding that herbal teas are too weak, we're tea-wimps and need something with some... depth? to it, something with the substance that coffee and hot chocolate and things have. The two maté teas we've had totally fit the bill. I also got a rooibos chai, which I think is delicious, though Tom's not so keen on. But the boy is freaking adorable - mostly, the tea is my thing, inasmuch as I'm the one who knows how to make it right, and am more interested in reading through all the descriptions and picking things out and whatnot. But Tom wanted to be in on it too, so he made me spreadsheets with allll the different teas they offer (with hyperlinks to the corresponding webpage), and columns for us to rate and put in comments. We are actually kind of considering their Tea of the Month thing - though it seems a little pricey, it actually averages out pretty nicely, given how expensive some of the teas are. Plus, it would be shipped to us. And a good way to sample different things. I'm also considering getting one of their travel tea mugs, so I can have tea at work on days when I'm feeling icky. (Heating a paper cup of water in the microwave and dropping a teabag in feels pretty sacrilegious even to me - and doesn't taste a tenth as nice.)

- It would appear - so far - to be a calmer week at work, which is good. I have a big pile of paperwork still, but I'm waiting for people to send photos on most, and none of them need done before June. (I have most of the layouts done already anyway.) The princess banner, I've been poking at on and off for like a week or two. I made a freaking awesome tiara, but, it doesn't fit into the space I need it to very well, so I'm kind of butchering it now. I may have gotten a layout that works today, but, we'll see what I think of it tomorrow. I am also feeling better after talking with the other girl who does banners the other day. Chad showed her how to use the giant laminator and the cutting machine, both of which I am not at ALL comfortable handling on my own. She, on the other hand, said she'd rather do that kind of thing than the designing. "YES! We are going to ROCK IT this summer!" I'm really enjoying the designing lately, I've got a good handle on our fonts, and every now and again I get a new and interesting idea about how to set things up. Plus I somehow manage to come up with decent graphics under the gun, which is a great feeling. :)

- I am, however, going to lose my temper with a couple of employees in the near future. I got pretty exasperated with one girl today (she was the THIRD interruption while I was on my dinner break - BREAK, people, that means I AM NOT WORKING), and while it's not entirely her fault she doesn't know how to use the fax machine...it still kind of *is* her fault, because the main reason she hasn't been shown is because everyone knows it's pointless because we'll have to show her AGAIN every freaking time she goes to do one. x_____X

- This Tamir Trilogy I'm listening to? Is freaking awesome. This is the kind of fantasy I like - there are no elves dwarves ditzy knights and corseted princesses with swords and really, REALLY cliché storylines. It's a fully-realized world, with believable magic, and believable people who get trapped by circumstances and political machinations and unsought destiny. In some ways, it's like the Earthsea stuff, only more accessible - the oooonly time I felt overwhelmed by weird names and references to things not explained was in the first ten minutes of the first book. That didn't last long. The characters are believable and people you care about. There are some seriously strong emotions all through it. Very vivid ghosts and spirits. And playing with gender roles! Fantastic stuff. I'm halfway through the second book, and it is damned hard to press pause. The writing style is seamless, I haven't even thought about it in awhile, which is a very good sign.

- I just realized what the little silver round thing on the floor is. It's my computer's power button. I have no idea how that fell off, and if I try to put it back on I'm going to turn my computer off. damnit.

- Food! I have made some awesome food again. I fiiiinally made it to the organic food store in town. Dad came down to visit...a week ago? and we actually made a fantastic afternoon of it, going to the organic store, and down by the pier in Dunkirk, checked out the gift shop on the Boardwalk strip that went in last year (allll locally produced goodies! yay!), and had a really nice time. It made me happy. :) Anyway, I FOUND AMARANTH FLOUR!!! So I finally got to make the ginger-amaranth shortbread I've had on my list since Christmas, and it is delicious. (WAY ginger-intensive, which's fine by me.) The flour has a really rich nutty flavor, I'm looking forward to making more with it. I also found several types of seaweed and other odd goodies, and! Tom and I made a trip back a few days later to pick up REAL WASABI. (Well, 45% real wasabi anyway. Which's a vast improvement on the 0% real wasabi in eeeevery other jar of wasabi we've ever found.)

- So, yesterday, I made up a big delicious casserole for the week (Ground Turkey Noodle Bake, which is far more like lasagna than it looks - just throw in more spices and more mozzarella than called for), and then I made us a dinner. I don't usually do more than one dish, since there's just the two of us, but this time I had a gut instinct that a few things on my list would go nicely together.
- Middle Eastern Turkey Dogs: These required me handling raw meat again, but I managed 3/4 of the mixing with a fork, so that helped. These were freaking *delicious*. I popped them onto bamboo skewers, and we didn't actually need any condiments, though I suspect flavored mustards would be good with them.
- Satsumaimo Amani: I spotted "Japanese Sweet Potato" at the organic store, and snagged one on a whim. I got home, and Google gave me its actual name of satsumaimo. From there, I found recipes, and this one looked both simple and *awesome*. Which it was. I did finally make my own dashi, though I kept it simple (i.e., cheap) by just making it with some kombu (seaweed). I have yet to tackle the giant mound of scalded sugar I accidentally ended up with in my littlest saucepan, but oh it was so worth it. Quite like the candied sweet potatoes with marshmellows, only a little less intensely sweet. I nibbled at a bit of the satsumaimo before I cooked it, and it has a *really* great flavor, it has a bit of a sweet spiciness to it.
- And to round things out, I whipped up a batch of rice (holy cow has a rice cooker been an awesome investment for us), throwing in some leftover coconut milk and just a touch of garam masala. It came out a little less flavored than I'd wanted, so I drizzled it with some of the Samurai Chai Maté tea I'd just made, and *oh* was it perfect.
- And it all tasted so good together! I was bouncing off the walls, I was so excited at how well everything complimented each other. I so rarely make full meals, and that one worked out so, so well. YAY.

- Quinoa! That was one of my other new foods. Heidi always uses all sorts of grains and things that I've never tried, so I snagged one to give a shot. I kept it simple for my first try of the stuff, to see how it tastes on its own, so I went with her Delicious Big Bowl of Quinoa recipe. Veggies and olive oil and quinoa. It *is* delicious - the quinoa has a great nutty flavor to it, about the same consistency as rice and couscous, but a little more stable, a little more solid flavor. (Plus, it is super-fun to cook: You start out with these perfect little spheres, which you need to rinse, and it is super-addicting to run your fingers through the stuff under running water. Then, as the perfect little beads cook, they uncurl! And there are little spiral-y bits that show up as they expand! ...I was seriously entertained by all this.) Tom is not a big fan, but I'm pretty sure if I flavored it up like I do with rice, he'd eat it. Put a sauce over pretty much anything and he'll eat it.

- Picked up the latest R.E.M. album, Accelerate, which came out not too long ago. It is GREAT. All of their albums for the past decade or so have been pretty wimpy, each has had like two really great songs, and then the rest very dreary and thin-sounding. This album really does sound more like their older stuff (offhand, I'd say a halfway between Monster and Automatic for the People), it's nice and dense and has their trademark harmonies and there is guitar and volume and it is GOOD. I'm so glad to hear them back again. I've only listened through to it once (and that via my craptastic laptop speakers), so I haven't analyzed anything in depth, but I've heard enough to be happy about it. :)

- And it is time for me to stop putting off washing dishes. booooo.

Labels: activism, books, cooking, life in general, movies, music, printshop, product whoring, silliness, spazz, storytime, work

*Ananda Daydream * 9:58 PM * (2) stars grow bright *

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