oyceter: (oyceter 2)
Oyceter ([personal profile] oyceter) wrote2006-01-04 05:59 pm
Entry tags:

Random notes

1. Yay free sushi lunch! I had a Crazy Monkey roll because the name made me laugh. There was also a Sex on the Mountain roll, but I like monkeys better. Uh, not that I am against sex on mountains, but... monkeys!

2. It is sunny today! The sky was blue and clear, and there was sun and warmth and lack of rain and grey wetness!

3. I think I am coming down with a cold. Curses! *shakes fist*

4. I seem to have an inexplicable craving to make things around 10 at night. Before, I would get this sudden desire to start a new knitting project then, only to find that I had no cable needle/stitch holder/stitch market/widget. Now, I have this strange desire to cook in the middle of the night. I cooked curry around midnight of New Year's Eve, and yesterday, I was struck with the sudden desire to make more granola.

My brain is odd. I do not understand its ways.

5. On the plus side, I got to make granola with dried cranberries and blueberries and steel-cut oats instead of rolled oats. They are much crunchier. I like them. Also, molasses and honey and maple syrup mixed together on top is also extremely tasty. I pet my granola.

I have also discovered that if you need to grind spices in the middle of the night via Really Low Tech Way (aka, hammer and plastic bag), hammering the spices on a stool placed on your sofa will muffle the pounding so that the neighbors aren't bothered.

6. Certain places make me comfortable. I flee to bookstores and libraries in times of stress because massive amounts of bookshelves comfort me. This year, I have also added yarn stores to the list. Colors! Soft fuzziness! So many things to pat! The produce section of the supermarket and the farmer's market in general also makes me happy. This week, I have also discovered that the grain and cereal aisles of fancy supermarkets have the same effect.

I wandered about Whole Foods, happily looking at stone-ground corn meal (I got blue corn meal! It will be interesting), steel-cut oats, all sorts of flours made from all sorts of grains, beans, and assorted grains, and felt an immense sense of well-being emanating from the grain bins.

Again, my brain is odd.

7. I also succumbed to [livejournal.com profile] jinian and [livejournal.com profile] loligo's praise of Cook's Illustrated and bought the latest one. It is indeed praiseworthy. Tips and tricks involving hardware store items instead of specialty cooking devices! Also, I flipped through and the advice for tastier meatloaf and flaky biscuits matches Alton Brown's, who is obviously one of my Gods of Cooking (the other one is, eh, [livejournal.com profile] heres_luck. I swear, I am not a stalker). Maybe I will now have a Trinity of Cooking Deities. A full pantheon (pantry?) would be nice too.

8. Fitz-rat attempted to stuff himself up my nose a few days ago. I am scarily reminded of the kitten who tried to stuff himself up Neil Gaiman's nose. Thankfully, Fitz-rat has not attempted this again. While I adore my rodenty pets and spoil them rotten, I firmly believe that their place is not within my sinuses.

9. There needs to be more figure skating on TV. I have run out of things to mock! Woe!

[identity profile] mamculuna.livejournal.com 2006-01-05 04:40 pm (UTC)(link)
So glad you mentioned knitting! Today's the day (one of few each week) my local yarn store's open!

[turns off computer and waves bye]

[identity profile] mamculuna.livejournal.com 2006-01-05 04:42 pm (UTC)(link)
But if you're ever in Oakland, and I wish I were now, go by Article Pract on Telegraph. It has wonderful, lovely yarn, great patterns, and belongs to a friend of my son.