Hmmmmmmm...
Am stealing this meme from , who is fluffier than I thought (juuuust kidding, Meg. Maybe.):
Five Weird Habits of Mine
1. I like to write things in green. Dunno why; I think I have at least three green writing-pens at home and one in my purse. The IMPORTANT things get written down in green.
2. Every morning I set the alarm for 15 minutes before I really have to get up, just so I can wake to it, reset it for 15 minutes later, and lay basking in the lovely I-don't-have-to-get-up-yet,-neener-neener glow for a quarter-hour more. I've done this since I was a kid.
3. Compulsive doodling during meetings and other boring things; the oddity lies in what I draw, which tends towards elaborate medieval scroll-type decorations and capitals complete with amaranthus leaves and so forth. (My SCA friends are probably going "so WHY don't you go to Scribe's Night and help out, huh? The answer is that they aren't necessarily good scrollish things.) Occasionally I also draw fangy faces with slitted cat-eyes and nasty grins.
4. Trays. I love trays. I only really started using 'em this past year, what with the chemo and all, but given the chance I will put my breakfast, lunch or dinner on one of my trays and carry it to whereever I happen to feel like eating it at. I don't mean like restaurant-waiter-trays; mine have sides and are rectangular, made of wood or brass.
5. If I learn a new recipe, I tend to cook it repeatedly (night after night sometimes) until I tire of it. For instance, I have had Mitarashi Dango three nights running now (but I think I'm just about done; got it RIGHT!) What's dango? A faintly sweet Japanese dish, sort of a munchy-snack-thingie; 'mitarashi' dango gets eaten with home-made teriaki sauce, which is amazingly easy to do. Aaaaand here's the recipe for one or two people:
Mitarashi Dango (small)
Sauce: 1/2 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp mirin, 1/2 tbsp brown sugar, 1/4 cup dashi, 1/4 tsp cornstarch
Mix all but the cornstarch in a small pan; simmer about 10 minutes, then add the cornstarch mixed with a bit of water. Stir hard; remove from heat and allow to cool.
Dango: 1/2 cup rice-flour, 1 tbsp white sugar, a bit less than 1/2 cup hot water
Set a pot of 3"-deep water to boil. In a bowl, mix all together and knead well; keep a wet paper-towel nearby to set the dumplings on as you make them. Divide dough into 12 even balls (about the size of a logroller marble), wetting your hands to keep it from sticking. Drop the balls into the boiling water and let them simmer until they float (less than 5 minutes). Fish them out and put them back onto the wet towel to drain; then dump them onto a plate and drizzle the sauce over. Eat!
Notes: If you're really ambitious, skewer the dango 4 each onto wooden sticks before you put the sauce on 'em and then grill them over a fire; then add the sauce and eat. Either way is tasty. Also, 'mirin' is Japanese sweet cooking-wine; the 'dashi' is 'dashi no moto', sort of Japanese soup bullion, based on smoked fish (really. No, *really*. And yes, you need it to make the sauce taste right. Trust me, it works). You can find both of these easily at any asian grocery, and the powdered dashi is okay. Don't use the vegetable dashi; it doesn't taste right.
Mmmmm, dango... They're massively good and hideously addictive. Maybe I *will* make more tonight... Anybody out there got recipes for other sauces? I've heard you can use chocolate sauce and yam sauce and so forth, but I don't have any recipes. Help?
Other stuff: I am now in possession of some beautiful medium-violet wool, yards and yards of it, given to me by my friend Devora; gonna make NICE garb from that stuff, it feels so soft... Been working on projects while watching eps of Yu-Gi-Oh, gods help me; never thought I'd get hooked on that series (**swats Icka and Dogmatix with a rat-plushie**), but it sure is better with subs instead of the chopped-up crap on Cartoon Network. When are they gonna get to the Egyptian bit, though? **sigh** And I may be getting two more ferrets to keep mine company (maybe; not sure yet); they need playmates. Cori was dancing around with a toy mouse in her teeth this morning, trying to initiate a game of ChaseTheWeasle, and I felt bad about having to leave to go to work...
Looks like my OLDER sister may be coming for a visit now; I got an email from her the other day, saying that possibly she'd be passing through in February during the gem-show. **wild cheers** Donna is crazier than I am in her own distinct way; I would love to see her visit, though we'd have to keep the physical activity fairly minimal (she's the *other* cancer-victim in the family, only hers is ongoing instead of past). My weird older sister... and my big brother hinted the other night that he'd love to come out too. ?????
So: Anybody else want to play the meme game?
Five Weird Habits of Mine
1. I like to write things in green. Dunno why; I think I have at least three green writing-pens at home and one in my purse. The IMPORTANT things get written down in green.
2. Every morning I set the alarm for 15 minutes before I really have to get up, just so I can wake to it, reset it for 15 minutes later, and lay basking in the lovely I-don't-have-to-get-up-yet,-neener-neener glow for a quarter-hour more. I've done this since I was a kid.
3. Compulsive doodling during meetings and other boring things; the oddity lies in what I draw, which tends towards elaborate medieval scroll-type decorations and capitals complete with amaranthus leaves and so forth. (My SCA friends are probably going "so WHY don't you go to Scribe's Night and help out, huh? The answer is that they aren't necessarily good scrollish things.) Occasionally I also draw fangy faces with slitted cat-eyes and nasty grins.
4. Trays. I love trays. I only really started using 'em this past year, what with the chemo and all, but given the chance I will put my breakfast, lunch or dinner on one of my trays and carry it to whereever I happen to feel like eating it at. I don't mean like restaurant-waiter-trays; mine have sides and are rectangular, made of wood or brass.
5. If I learn a new recipe, I tend to cook it repeatedly (night after night sometimes) until I tire of it. For instance, I have had Mitarashi Dango three nights running now (but I think I'm just about done; got it RIGHT!) What's dango? A faintly sweet Japanese dish, sort of a munchy-snack-thingie; 'mitarashi' dango gets eaten with home-made teriaki sauce, which is amazingly easy to do. Aaaaand here's the recipe for one or two people:
Mitarashi Dango (small)
Sauce: 1/2 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp mirin, 1/2 tbsp brown sugar, 1/4 cup dashi, 1/4 tsp cornstarch
Mix all but the cornstarch in a small pan; simmer about 10 minutes, then add the cornstarch mixed with a bit of water. Stir hard; remove from heat and allow to cool.
Dango: 1/2 cup rice-flour, 1 tbsp white sugar, a bit less than 1/2 cup hot water
Set a pot of 3"-deep water to boil. In a bowl, mix all together and knead well; keep a wet paper-towel nearby to set the dumplings on as you make them. Divide dough into 12 even balls (about the size of a logroller marble), wetting your hands to keep it from sticking. Drop the balls into the boiling water and let them simmer until they float (less than 5 minutes). Fish them out and put them back onto the wet towel to drain; then dump them onto a plate and drizzle the sauce over. Eat!
Notes: If you're really ambitious, skewer the dango 4 each onto wooden sticks before you put the sauce on 'em and then grill them over a fire; then add the sauce and eat. Either way is tasty. Also, 'mirin' is Japanese sweet cooking-wine; the 'dashi' is 'dashi no moto', sort of Japanese soup bullion, based on smoked fish (really. No, *really*. And yes, you need it to make the sauce taste right. Trust me, it works). You can find both of these easily at any asian grocery, and the powdered dashi is okay. Don't use the vegetable dashi; it doesn't taste right.
Mmmmm, dango... They're massively good and hideously addictive. Maybe I *will* make more tonight... Anybody out there got recipes for other sauces? I've heard you can use chocolate sauce and yam sauce and so forth, but I don't have any recipes. Help?
Other stuff: I am now in possession of some beautiful medium-violet wool, yards and yards of it, given to me by my friend Devora; gonna make NICE garb from that stuff, it feels so soft... Been working on projects while watching eps of Yu-Gi-Oh, gods help me; never thought I'd get hooked on that series (**swats Icka and Dogmatix with a rat-plushie**), but it sure is better with subs instead of the chopped-up crap on Cartoon Network. When are they gonna get to the Egyptian bit, though? **sigh** And I may be getting two more ferrets to keep mine company (maybe; not sure yet); they need playmates. Cori was dancing around with a toy mouse in her teeth this morning, trying to initiate a game of ChaseTheWeasle, and I felt bad about having to leave to go to work...
Looks like my OLDER sister may be coming for a visit now; I got an email from her the other day, saying that possibly she'd be passing through in February during the gem-show. **wild cheers** Donna is crazier than I am in her own distinct way; I would love to see her visit, though we'd have to keep the physical activity fairly minimal (she's the *other* cancer-victim in the family, only hers is ongoing instead of past). My weird older sister... and my big brother hinted the other night that he'd love to come out too. ?????
So: Anybody else want to play the meme game?