Books
Spent two days trying to read The Phantom of the Opera. Oh my god, no wonder that book went out of print a few times; it is impossible. Too bad, it's such a fun concept...I like Erik even better after finding out he is a master architect on top of being an ex-gypsy sideshow singer songwriter murderer extortioner emo-extraordinaire with a trapdoor fetish. Guess I'll just stick to the movies/musical :c
Been poking around with Dance with Dragons. Still with the no Brienne, no care. Tonight I just went ahead and skipped over to Jaime's (only!) chapter to see if she'd pop up. I wish they'd hurry up and put the mass market out; I can't tote around something with this size:interest ratio.
Just general ugh at the prominence of the Greyjoys. THEY ARE SO BORING. I dislike them on a visceral level what with their "We Do Not Sow" motto. Being a parasite is not something to be proud of. But they're on hard times now, so I think I'll read to see if Theon gets kicked around a bit. God I hate him. (eta: okay I just spoiled some parts of his story arc and UHH DAMN...that's a bit much, Ramsay.)
I've been picking up some (very) rudimentary Japanese, mostly inspired by this cookbook, ISBN 978-4-569-79533-1. It is so beautiful! I'm kind of enjoying parsing out the katakana and hiragana (do you just refer to them as kana?) and learning the patterns to the kanji. At least learning to recognize the radicals. Recognizing the characters is like a more satisfying, less punny, anagram. Right now I'm mostly getting a lot of joy out of deciphering the katakana borrowed words because I don't have the vocabulary/grammar skills to do much else on my own, as in, I cannot even tell where one word starts and ends in the paragraph-text at the moment. But I plan on getting there! Or past it. It is fun; I think I'll stick with this.
This site lets you search for kanji by radicals and it is the best.
Regarding the book itself, I think the recipe proportions look promising. Simple usually ends up the best. Not sure why a sponge cake needs a sugar syrup (seriously, why?) but as far as I can tell it's more for sealing the cake than baking.
I've been doing a bit of research on feasting. The ostentatious elements can get a bit gross. One guy wasted a 140 lb sturgeon just to show off a 180 lb sturgeon and to not insult the half of his guests who would be served from the smaller fish. Also, the have-have-not hierarchy stuff is pervasive and annoying. Just give me some bread and gravy (and also a pie, please) and shut up already. Story of my life: not while I'm eating, thanks.
But I enjoy reading about the logistics, when that information is available. Pope Clement IV's coronation feast used 14,000 eggs. I wonder how they managed that? That stuff wasn't interesting enough to record so apparently information is scanty (I guess everyone else had to make do without eggs for a few weeks. It's not like you get a new pope every year. Maybe they put out a premium to the surrounding countryside?) but imagining the scale of their kitchens is also pretty interesting.
Also, I'm having trouble with the fast/fish element. Wouldn't it have just been simpler to relegate meat fasting to the holiest days of the year, i.e. what we do now, rather than expect a populace that needs the damn protein to work to abstain from meats half the year? They might still have beavers in Europe if they'd done it that way. Maybe there was a logistical element, like not overtaxing the "true" meat availabilities, or maybe it was just something that accrued over the years until it got ridiculous.
Also, beautiful art over here!
Been poking around with Dance with Dragons. Still with the no Brienne, no care. Tonight I just went ahead and skipped over to Jaime's (only!) chapter to see if she'd pop up. I wish they'd hurry up and put the mass market out; I can't tote around something with this size:interest ratio.
Just general ugh at the prominence of the Greyjoys. THEY ARE SO BORING. I dislike them on a visceral level what with their "We Do Not Sow" motto. Being a parasite is not something to be proud of. But they're on hard times now, so I think I'll read to see if Theon gets kicked around a bit. God I hate him. (eta: okay I just spoiled some parts of his story arc and UHH DAMN...that's a bit much, Ramsay.)
I've been picking up some (very) rudimentary Japanese, mostly inspired by this cookbook, ISBN 978-4-569-79533-1. It is so beautiful! I'm kind of enjoying parsing out the katakana and hiragana (do you just refer to them as kana?) and learning the patterns to the kanji. At least learning to recognize the radicals. Recognizing the characters is like a more satisfying, less punny, anagram. Right now I'm mostly getting a lot of joy out of deciphering the katakana borrowed words because I don't have the vocabulary/grammar skills to do much else on my own, as in, I cannot even tell where one word starts and ends in the paragraph-text at the moment. But I plan on getting there! Or past it. It is fun; I think I'll stick with this.
This site lets you search for kanji by radicals and it is the best.
Regarding the book itself, I think the recipe proportions look promising. Simple usually ends up the best. Not sure why a sponge cake needs a sugar syrup (seriously, why?) but as far as I can tell it's more for sealing the cake than baking.
I've been doing a bit of research on feasting. The ostentatious elements can get a bit gross. One guy wasted a 140 lb sturgeon just to show off a 180 lb sturgeon and to not insult the half of his guests who would be served from the smaller fish. Also, the have-have-not hierarchy stuff is pervasive and annoying. Just give me some bread and gravy (and also a pie, please) and shut up already. Story of my life: not while I'm eating, thanks.
But I enjoy reading about the logistics, when that information is available. Pope Clement IV's coronation feast used 14,000 eggs. I wonder how they managed that? That stuff wasn't interesting enough to record so apparently information is scanty (I guess everyone else had to make do without eggs for a few weeks. It's not like you get a new pope every year. Maybe they put out a premium to the surrounding countryside?) but imagining the scale of their kitchens is also pretty interesting.
Also, I'm having trouble with the fast/fish element. Wouldn't it have just been simpler to relegate meat fasting to the holiest days of the year, i.e. what we do now, rather than expect a populace that needs the damn protein to work to abstain from meats half the year? They might still have beavers in Europe if they'd done it that way. Maybe there was a logistical element, like not overtaxing the "true" meat availabilities, or maybe it was just something that accrued over the years until it got ridiculous.
Also, beautiful art over here!