This year's culinary experiments started out with me making a cake -- for the first time in my life. I made it for Ray's birthday by loosely following my mom's and sister's cake recipe. Mom used to make this type of cake for most birthdays and holidays throughout my childhood, and my sister took over that tradition. But you can't find the same (or ( Read more... )

One might say only a dumb American would go to Paris and eat fast food, but sometimes you have no choice. For example, you might have underestimated how long it takes to get from one place to another, and you really want to get into the Arc de Triomphe before it closes for the night, and realize there's not enough time for a leisurely dinner. So, ( Read more... )

Back to "what I did on my summer vacation" series. It would be unthinkable to go to Paris and not try the food, but being on a tight budget, we got to taste very little of French cuisine. We lived mostly on my mom's cooking, which is not any worse than in a typical Parisian cafe or bistro, if the two we sampled were any indication. That's not to ( Read more... )

If you grew up behind the Iron Curtain, you associate certain folk songs and dances with the occupants and their culture, that was force-fed to you in childhood through official media channels. Decades later, you go to an Eastern European festival in a little town in the conservative heart of Texas... and you see those dances performed there. Only ( Read more... )

Writers' workshop went as usual, which is to say, not bad. I workshopped the same story as in the ApolloCon workshop. I didn't have time to finish a new one, because the deadlines for the two workshops were so close. I had only 3 days to fix my story before submitting it to the ArmadilloCon workshop. The comments I got on my story at ArmadilloCon ( Read more... )

Thank goodness for UNIX command history. Otherwise I would never remember "generate scaffold" syntax, as it's been months since I used it. #

My lack of artistic talent makes children cry. My 4-year-old is unhappy with everything I drew at her request, even after four tries. #

At dinner with Saturday Dining Conspiracy. Connected to one guy's AT&T ( Read more... )

September 30 is #blasphemyday ! I'll do my part: "Jesus walks into an inn, hands the innkeeper 3 nails and says: 'Put me up for the night'". #

Surprised no one has tweeted it yet, but Borders will give out free WiFi: bit.ly/vJH0J #

A truly international Soup Night at @shana_e's house. Too bad my Erika ae hardly any soup or salad. #
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The super-easy chicken manicotti from cooks.com came out pretty well, despite (or because of?) their simplicity Even the child ate them. #

So what did I do to reward myself for culinary success? Went to CiCi Pizza. The strangest item here: pizza with macaroni and cheese topping. #
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I like high-cocoa % dark chocolate, but, turns out, only to a point. 90% cocoa is too far on the far side. Doesn't taste like chocolate. #
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RT @zumayabooks ArmadilloCon fen: What did you like this year? What could have been better? Send to armadillocon32 [at] me.com #

My child, I, and 15+ atheists are heading to dinner with Russell and Jenny Blackford - freethinkers and SF/F writers from Australia. #

RT @laraeakins Excellent @krelnik: Not mine, but I like it: A pizza with the radius 'z ( Read more... )