Here there be monsters...
^__^........ but NICE ones. Heh. Been reading the entire run of Girl Genius, a magnificent online comic by Phil Foglio; damn, but I had forgotten how much I like his stuff! Mad scientists, Jagermonsters, talking cats, mad scientists, the Heterodyne Boys, airships, humongous fights, mad scientists, robots, cool outfits, perfect coffee... did I mention that it has mad scientists? Oh, right; I did. **grin** And
edwired, being a wonderful person, up and sent me a pair of Girl Genius goggles! In 'nefarious black', as the order slip said. Wanna see? Okay, here you are! (and yeah, that's me in there.) Thanks ed; enjoy the Sonic Screwdriver I sent you, okay? Us Mad Geniuses have to stick together. ^__^ Oh, and here's a little sketch that I particularly liked, not from the comic proper but from the rough drawings posted on the site; yeah, I have days like that.
EDIT: For some reason, LJ won't insert my damn links. When I look at the link I get something about 'javascript void'... Meh. Anybody know how to fix this? Oh well, here y'all go--
Girl Genius: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php
The Goggles: http://picasaweb.google.com/TheYsabet/Goggles
The Sketch: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/gallery/sketch.php?date=20061210
Kind of tired; I had a very, very... concentrated kind of day, working on a project my boss came up with that involved mortality rates among mental health patients going back to the beginning of 2005, compared against current patient enrollment data per 1000... and y'all don't want to know this crap. Never mind; suffice it to say that my brains were ready to melt out of my ears by the time I finished the last graph. Aaaagh... and tomorrow I have to dig up MORE stuff that's relevant to the data... but hey, it's job security. -__- I guess it's better than doing the other 90 gazillion things I should've been working on today. Despite the exasperating nature of today's project, I'm-- I dunno, kind of contented about it; I did good work, complicated work, work that I had to think hard about and that my boss trusted me to design and layout an interpretation of that was readable and useful. So it was hard, so what? That's why they call it 'work'. I earned my pay today.
Bidding ended on the
livelongnmarry community; I *almost* got a necklace and earring set I wanted, but somebody sharked me at the very last minute-- literally; their bid went in at 12:01, and I tried to outbid them but mine landed at 12:02, and bidding ended at 12:01. Dammit. But I'm negotiating to get something similar anyway; I liked the maker's style. My own two sets of items to be bid for (three herbal sachets and a handful of catnip mice, all handmade and personalized) went for $25 and $27 respectively; so I done good. XD This was a wonderful grass-roots thing and I can't wait to see how much was raised; think I'm gonna propose on the
breastcancer list that we do the same thing next year. If it works for one worthy cause, it should work for another; the winning monies aren't sent to the makers of the goods, they're donated directly to one of several fundraising sites and confirmation is sent to the person offering the goods; neatly done. I feel pretty good about my little sachets and mousies, even though the $52 I raised plus whatever I pay for the necklace isn't much-- it's still something.
Tonight, I cooked. My love for asparagus raised its head again and demanded Cream Of Asparagus Soup, what with the veggie being on sale a lot just now, so... I made a big pot of it and it's lovely; I even got the onion I used right out of my own backyard garden. Here's the recipe; it's pretty simple, but you do need a food-processor or blender to do it right:
2 lbs. fresh asparagus
6 cups chicken broth
1 onion, sliced thinly
salt & pepper to taste
3-4 tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 tablespoon lemon juice
1. Cut off 1/2 inch of all the tips of the asparagus; put these aside. Chop off about 1 1/2 inchs from the bottom and toss that bit. Now, cut up the rest of the stalks into 1/2 inch pieces.
2. Using a large pot, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter; add the sliced onion and simmer, stirring frequently, until it's nice and soft. Add one more spoonful of butter and the chopped asparagus stalks (not the tips; don't use those yet!) and cook the lot for about 5 minutes, stirring until everything's well-coated in butter. Add 5 cups of the chicken-broth and bring to a simmer for about a half hour (or until the asparagus is nice and tender.)
3. While it's simmering, bring a small pot of water to a boil and mix in a large tablespoon of salt; add the reserved asparagus tips, and boil for 5 minutes. When done, drain them carefully and set them aside again-- you'll need them at the very end.
4. When the asparagus is tender, it's time to get your food processor out and puree ever bit of the broth-asparagus-onion soup. ALL of it, extremely thoroughly-- noooooooo lumps! Then put it all back into the pot.
5. Now add in the cream and taste it; it'll need some salt and pepper at this point. Add this in to taste and bring the pot slowly up to a rolling boil, stirring frequently to keep the damn stuff from scorching. I did say 'slowly', right? Good. When it boils, it'll thicken just a bit; if you want it thinner, use the remaining cup of broth to thin it out (or leave it as is; I like mine thickish.) Turn off the heat, whisk in the last tablespoon of butter, add the asparagus tips and the lemon juice, give it a really good stir and EAT!
Mmmmmmm..... sooooo good! Did y'all know that asparagus is supposed to be an aphrodesiac? Well, it is. Does it work? Why don't y'all experiment and let me know, hmm? XD
Think I'll go get some dessert; I earned it today, I think. **happy**
LATER EDIT: Pics of my handmade mousies are up! They're here: http://picasaweb.google.com/TheYsabet/MousiesForLivelongnmarry
edwired, being a wonderful person, up and sent me a pair of Girl Genius goggles! In 'nefarious black', as the order slip said. Wanna see? Okay, here you are! (and yeah, that's me in there.) Thanks ed; enjoy the Sonic Screwdriver I sent you, okay? Us Mad Geniuses have to stick together. ^__^ Oh, and here's a little sketch that I particularly liked, not from the comic proper but from the rough drawings posted on the site; yeah, I have days like that.
EDIT: For some reason, LJ won't insert my damn links. When I look at the link I get something about 'javascript void'... Meh. Anybody know how to fix this? Oh well, here y'all go--
Girl Genius: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php
The Goggles: http://picasaweb.google.com/TheYsabet/Goggles
The Sketch: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/gallery/sketch.php?date=20061210
Kind of tired; I had a very, very... concentrated kind of day, working on a project my boss came up with that involved mortality rates among mental health patients going back to the beginning of 2005, compared against current patient enrollment data per 1000... and y'all don't want to know this crap. Never mind; suffice it to say that my brains were ready to melt out of my ears by the time I finished the last graph. Aaaagh... and tomorrow I have to dig up MORE stuff that's relevant to the data... but hey, it's job security. -__- I guess it's better than doing the other 90 gazillion things I should've been working on today. Despite the exasperating nature of today's project, I'm-- I dunno, kind of contented about it; I did good work, complicated work, work that I had to think hard about and that my boss trusted me to design and layout an interpretation of that was readable and useful. So it was hard, so what? That's why they call it 'work'. I earned my pay today.
Bidding ended on the
livelongnmarry community; I *almost* got a necklace and earring set I wanted, but somebody sharked me at the very last minute-- literally; their bid went in at 12:01, and I tried to outbid them but mine landed at 12:02, and bidding ended at 12:01. Dammit. But I'm negotiating to get something similar anyway; I liked the maker's style. My own two sets of items to be bid for (three herbal sachets and a handful of catnip mice, all handmade and personalized) went for $25 and $27 respectively; so I done good. XD This was a wonderful grass-roots thing and I can't wait to see how much was raised; think I'm gonna propose on the
breastcancer list that we do the same thing next year. If it works for one worthy cause, it should work for another; the winning monies aren't sent to the makers of the goods, they're donated directly to one of several fundraising sites and confirmation is sent to the person offering the goods; neatly done. I feel pretty good about my little sachets and mousies, even though the $52 I raised plus whatever I pay for the necklace isn't much-- it's still something.
Tonight, I cooked. My love for asparagus raised its head again and demanded Cream Of Asparagus Soup, what with the veggie being on sale a lot just now, so... I made a big pot of it and it's lovely; I even got the onion I used right out of my own backyard garden. Here's the recipe; it's pretty simple, but you do need a food-processor or blender to do it right:
2 lbs. fresh asparagus
6 cups chicken broth
1 onion, sliced thinly
salt & pepper to taste
3-4 tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 tablespoon lemon juice
1. Cut off 1/2 inch of all the tips of the asparagus; put these aside. Chop off about 1 1/2 inchs from the bottom and toss that bit. Now, cut up the rest of the stalks into 1/2 inch pieces.
2. Using a large pot, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter; add the sliced onion and simmer, stirring frequently, until it's nice and soft. Add one more spoonful of butter and the chopped asparagus stalks (not the tips; don't use those yet!) and cook the lot for about 5 minutes, stirring until everything's well-coated in butter. Add 5 cups of the chicken-broth and bring to a simmer for about a half hour (or until the asparagus is nice and tender.)
3. While it's simmering, bring a small pot of water to a boil and mix in a large tablespoon of salt; add the reserved asparagus tips, and boil for 5 minutes. When done, drain them carefully and set them aside again-- you'll need them at the very end.
4. When the asparagus is tender, it's time to get your food processor out and puree ever bit of the broth-asparagus-onion soup. ALL of it, extremely thoroughly-- noooooooo lumps! Then put it all back into the pot.
5. Now add in the cream and taste it; it'll need some salt and pepper at this point. Add this in to taste and bring the pot slowly up to a rolling boil, stirring frequently to keep the damn stuff from scorching. I did say 'slowly', right? Good. When it boils, it'll thicken just a bit; if you want it thinner, use the remaining cup of broth to thin it out (or leave it as is; I like mine thickish.) Turn off the heat, whisk in the last tablespoon of butter, add the asparagus tips and the lemon juice, give it a really good stir and EAT!
Mmmmmmm..... sooooo good! Did y'all know that asparagus is supposed to be an aphrodesiac? Well, it is. Does it work? Why don't y'all experiment and let me know, hmm? XD
Think I'll go get some dessert; I earned it today, I think. **happy**
LATER EDIT: Pics of my handmade mousies are up! They're here: http://picasaweb.google.com/TheYsabet/MousiesForLivelongnmarry