Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Madrun's LiveJournal:

[ << Previous 20 ]

Thursday, July 9th, 2009
8:45 am	[sca] Why do we play this game? (entering A&S) As many of you know, I am very interested in the KMOAS job. Eventually. The new KMOAS of Trimaris happens to be in my Barony (as was the last one) and so when she took over the office I wrote to her and offered to be her dogsbody and general lackey for the duration of her term as I knew I can't be her deputy. (Only Laurels can be KMOAS, a policy I support) Tuesday night was my first opportunity to sit down and talk with her about it. She is revising the A&S judging rules and so we discussed the process in depth. At one point, a guy who had joined us for dinner was asking about the motivations for entering, and he assumed that the motivation was eventually to get a perfect score on an entry. I realized that this is not my motivation at all. The reason I enter A&S is really just an excuse to play. I know I will never get a perfect score because I rarely enter projects more than once and even more rarely do I enter similar projects. I am not doing this to perfect any one technique. In my research, which tends to be rather butterfly-like, I just come across something that calls out to me. Usually it's a particularly interesting medieval dish I want to play with, or a cooking technique I want to try, or some historical tidbit related to my persona that I find fascinating. This is how I preserve my own personal joy in doing this. Without that joy it would become a bitter and resentful exercise. But I am also competitive with myself. I need the feedback I get from judges. Eventually getting elevated is definitely part of the motivation. I like the exposure and the word-fame that comes from entering interesting projects, and I know they are necessary parts of that path. Having enough humility to offer up your creations for judgement and criticism is an important life skill and a trait the SCA wants in a Peer. I *get* that. I have never sat down and laid out these thoughts before. So, my question is: what motivates you to enter? What keeps you from entering? What is your ultimate goal? (15 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
8:48 am	More painting I gave up and painted the next few coats in the night stands in the living room last night. It was amazing how much faster the paint dried. Now both night stands have been flipped over and the bottoms painted, the drawers have two coats of paint each, and the tops are both done. Hopefully I can get the designs started tonight! We are currently camera-less, but I'll make sure icbhod takes some pictures with his phone. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, July 6th, 2009
12:35 pm	painting, dusting, feng shui We got so much done this weekend... and it's all my fault. It all started with a coffee table and a flickr slideshow. I have somehow lost the trick of sleeping in, so Friday morning I was up bright and early. Yoshi, the Great Warrior Boston Terrier, and I walked up to Starbucks to get the blood moving. Then I headed to Lowe's with an Indian painted tray and a plan. I emerged an hour later laden with primer, paint, brushes, more houseplants, and a better plan. Then I decided to wander over to the big thrift store next to Lowe's and found the PERFECT coffee table, which we desperately needed. Best part... it was $4. I headed home to grab icbhod and drop off the plants. We ended up hitting several thrift stores and finding another craft supply organizer for Elizabeth, bought the great coffee table, and some wall art for Elizabeth to repaint for her room. Then icbhod left for work, and I commenced tearing apart the entire living room. I threw away piles of old school papers, rearranged furniture, dusted, hung curtains, vacuumed around and underneath and behind, and harassed the kids into helping. Did you know that little girls actually enjoy dusting? Saturday was night stand painting day, or at least it was supposed to be. Again, there was no sleeping in for me, so I left early to hit the farmer's market and do the grocery shopping. I will admit, I love grocery shopping, and grocery shopping alone is fun every once in a while. I did the whole thing at my own pace, only going where I wanted to go, and formed a meal plan based on what caught my eye at Ward's and the market. Then home to put away food, then priming the night stands, the cooking the food for the potluck before fireworks, then painting first nightstand, then finishing cooking... I was tired and cranky by the time we left for the party but we had a great time anyway. Yesterday was more rearranging, painting, sanding, laundry, painting, sanding, bathing the dog, and cleaning out of closets. The high humidity made the paint slow to dry. The boys were a huge help fetching and carrying, and I barely lifted a finger for dinner, icbhod made smoked and grilled chicken and we ate leftover pasta salad and sliced cucumbers. The paint turned out the perfect oxblood red, not bad for eyeballing the mixture and mixing it in yogurt containers. I can't wait to start painting the details. The house feels different already. We had some ugly congested corners and those received extra attention with garbage bags and vacuum cleaner. Icbhod cleaned out the utility room which I was starting to avoid. There is one bad corner that faces due east but it's very awkward. I had been using that as a sewing/craft storage corner and it was just all bad. I cleared the whole thing out to bare. I think that corner needs something alive in it, a tall plant and some bright pictures. We never use our dining room because of this bad energy corner, I am just convinced. I need to go root out my feng shui books. I am tired but triumphant. (15 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, July 4th, 2009
11:26 am	Fourth of July work party, meal planning So this evening is the 4th of July party out at Ruby's lake house in Melrose. I bought a truly ridiculous amount of produce at the farmer's market this morning, and then went nuts again at Ward's. I want to make plenty of food to bring with us to the potluck tonight, then we can eat leftovers for lunches. I'm definitely making So F*ching Good orzo salad, herbful pasta salad with mushrooms, and a lemon buttermilk pudding cake. It's field pea season here, so I bought a pound. The kids don't like field peas cooked the traditional way- cooked with ham hock and onion- but they liked them just fine in chili last week so this week I'll try them in dal makhani. We bought a bunch of water buffalo meat including a big package of short ribs. I love gal bi in restaurants and keep seeing great looking recipes so I'll definitely try that this week. icbhod's class is over so he'll be cooking dinner the rest of the week. I can't wait to see what he creates out of our now-overflowing fridge and pantry. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
1:20 pm	#24-26 of 50 book challenge ( 1-23 ) 24. Diplomatic Immunity- Lois McMaster Bujold Last of the Vorkosigan series. 'Nuff said. Can anyone please tell me why these books are so controversial? 25. Pretender's Crown- CE Murphy I could not have been more disappointed in this sequel. I liked the first book very much and Murphy just ruined the whole sequel (and any more she might write for the series) on the first page. I couldn't even finish the book. Fail. 26. Dead and Gone- Charlaine Harris Maybe it's been too long since I read the last book but I'm finding this one a little scattered and the dialogue a little flat. Just how many sub-plots can there be about how many supernatural races in one tiny Louisiana town in one book? (2 Comments |Comment on this)
8:35 am	Shoes, redux I have changed to a different bus in the morning to get more exercise. Now, instead of 2 brisk 10-minute walks and an hour bus ride to get to work, I have a brisk 35-minute walk and a brisk 10-minute walk plus a 20-minute bus ride. I bought new more comfortable work shoes last week (a pair of black leather flats and a pair of low wedges) because walking that distance in my well-broken-in heels was a Bad Idea. They are perfectly comfortable for all day in the office and the few blocks I walk at lunch, but not for any longer distances than that. This morning I wore flat toe-ring sandals, just barely nice enough for work, that I thought would be comfortable enough. I could feel the blisters forming before I even got out of my neighborhood. I walked the rest of the way barefoot. No blisters, but not advisable even on suburban streets. Sneakers seem the obvious choice, except that I find sneakers hot and uncomfortable. I hate the idea of carrying an extra pair of shoes around but dammit, my feet hurt. Tevas and chacos and other hiking/walking sandals seem to be the way to go. I've always balked at the price, but my consolation is being able to wear the funky high heels I love at work... if I have alternate shoes for walking there's no reason not to! (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, June 29th, 2009
8:34 am	[sca] Res Urbanus, nefarious plans Res Urbanus was a good event. My first class (Cooking with Chyqart) went well, there were only 4 of us but two of the attendees were already experienced cooks and so it turned more into a comparison of methods and sources. I found it reassuring to talk to other cooks who believe in medieval feasts, I just wish they would get to cook at more events. After that class I was hosting the Indian persona social, which turned out to only have two Indians- me and lalitadasa - but several other people joined us and we had a good chat and lots of Sneaky Hindu. I was disappointed that the "new Indian" who contacted me off-list didn't show. My second class did not go so well. All of the classes were held in one cafeteria. It was extremely noisy and stuffy. Lalita suggested I hold my class outside under the trees, and I am so thankful for that suggestion, as I ended up with about 15 people. That many people would never have fit in the small class cubicles, and the ambiant noise was gone, and I could get up and move around. All that was good. Unfortunately my class outline went out the window as soon as I realized that none of the participants knew anything about India. This was a 202 level class, and I ended up with a 101 audience, and I babbled incoherently trying to unpack complex ideas about the differences between Muslim and Hindu haram practices. I didn't even get to the cool stuff! It was frustrating to me and to them. After my teaching was over for the day I was able to relax and just chat, and that was fabulous. Had long talks with lalitadasa , thalassak , and many others. Met a lady from down south who I really connected with, I hope I can work with her soon. After the event was over a whole group of us heading to a local's house to change clothes and get cleaned up, and then we went out to one of the best Indian restaurants I have ever been to. Seriously. Taste of India in Brandon, FL. I was very happily surprised. I drank... a lot of rum punch but not much else that day. And was very glad for it because it kept me calm and gregarious through the day. Thankfully it was hot enough and I was running around enough to never get tipsy, just viciously headachey by the end. thalassak and I chatted and made nefarious plans all the way back to Gainesville, and I collapsed. A long day and a good event. (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
6:14 pm	[sca] Holy bead prices, batman When did beads get so expensive? Or have they always been, and I just haven't noticed? I went to my neighborhood bead shop to price beads for the mekhala design-in-my-head. The beads I wanted added up to over $100... let's see. My hips are 38". If each strand is only 15" and I need enough beads for three strands around my hips... that's a lot of damn beads. Plus spacers. Plus the swags, and whatever I end up using for a front clasp.  Back to the Great Bead Search!   (18 Comments |Comment on this)
8:28 am	[sca] Cramming on the Haram in India So last night I started cramming on the haram in India. I like attacking new areas of focus this way... just dive in and try to get the widest view possible, get a feel for the shape of the ideas and theories, and then narrow down. I'm excited about this class I'm teaching Saturday, it's providing an excellent excuse to delve more deeply into persona studies. I am disappointed as always in the wealth of sources about Mughal women's lives and the dearth of information on the Rajput courts in the same century. History is written by the victors, indeed. I am trying to keep my focus to within SCA limits, but some really fascinating stuff started happening right around 1750-1800 and it's always challenging to sort through the information when the author's span is roughly 1526-1850. The Big Picture that's starting to form is that the Mughal women actually lost a great deal of power and freedom between the royal family's move to India and the end of the 16th century, and that narrowing of their influence continued inexorably through to the end of the dynasty. The Timurids were not a matriarchy by any means, but those women had real power and freedom of movement, especially the senior women past childbearing. I do not want this class limited to the Mughal courts, and I am thrilled that I found a source on the Hindu courts of the early medieval period. I haven't done anything but skim that book yet but it has a chapter devoted to the women's court lives that looks promising. lalitadasa , there's some good stuff in there for you too, I think, it goes as far back as Gupta. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 21st, 2009
1:30 pm	pizza, beach, blood sausage: my weekend thus far Friday was Chicago style pizza night. I've never attempted an actual Chicago style pizza, it was a learning experience. I made one the "traditional way" with sliced fresh mozzarella cheese on the bottom, then spicy Italian sausage and mushrooms, then crushed tomatoes, then minced oregano, marjoram, parsley and basil from the garden, then parmesan cheese. Then I made another with grilled eggplant and roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, leftover smoked chicken, herbs, and asiago cheese, but no sauce. I was so paranoid about the crust cooking properly under the sauce and toppings I let them go an extra 10 minutes and the crust was burned on the bottom. I really liked baking the pizzas in cast iron skillets though... next time with the temperature high to start with, I think I can nail the crust baking correctly. I like using all the leftover bits of veggies and meat to make pizzas, and of course the kids loved it. Yesterday we drove up to Little Talbot Island State Park. It wasn't just hot yesterday, it was harsh. Now, I am a Florida girl, my optimal outdoor temperature is 85 degrees and my favorite season is summer, and even I thought it was hot and glaring on a white-sand beach. The water was warm, we collected a huge amount of shells, ate sandy BLTs and grapes, taunted seagulls with bacon rinds, and we rescued a jellyfish. And of course because we stayed out frolicking for 3 1/2 hours with no shade at mid-day, we all sunburned through our slatherings of sunscreen. My parents are coming over for dinner tonight and some culinary experimentation. I found morcilla at the local bodega/carniceria so of course I had to buy it. Tonight I'm going to make morcilla-stuffed squid on the grill and Spanish red beans with morcilla and peppers. Icbhod will make steak and shrimp on the grill, we stopped at a road-side fishmonger in Jacksonville and bought three pounds of $6 per pound HUGE whole white shrimp, which are the best for the grill since they self-baste with the shrimp fat inside their pointy little heads. Maybe I'll make up some remoulade for the shrimp. Mmmm, remoulade.  (1 Comment |Comment on this)
7:42 am	Movie reviews: Drag Me to Hell, The Outlander, Terminator 4 I have actually been to see a few movies recently, which is usually a quite rare ocassion, so I wanted to log that here. Drag Me to Hell was PERFECT. I loved all of the Evil Dead movies. Loved them! This movie carries on the spirit of those movies perfectly. I was so afraid Raimi was going to ruin it somehow, try to make it serious or lofty, get a big head along with the big budget. Somehow he resisted. I will say that someone on that crew has some seriously weird fetishes.  The Outlander was a good surprise. We were looking at pay-per-view movies on cable and just happened across it. A sci fi monster flick with Vikings? Oh hell yes. The special effects were good, the Iron Age setting was believable (though their costumer should be strung up by his or her toes) and the monster was unique and creative. This movie deserves more recognition. Icbhod and I saw Terminator: Salvation last night. My reaction was mixed. As a straight action flick, you can't ask for better. As a part of the Terminator universe... I don't know.  (Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
2:36 pm	My kids are awesome I went home to bring icbhod the van at about 10am. While I was there I started a loaf of bread in the bread machine since we were out of bread, and the kids regard being out of bread as Famine Is Imminent. So they just called a bit ago to tell me that the bread machine had beeped, and they were hungry, and how do they get the bread out of the bread machine, Mommy? Alex put me on speaker phone so I could coach them through this. After a few whacks, the bread came out of the baking can, but then I had to tell them that they couldn't slice the bread until it cooled. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth until I added they were welcome to just tear the bread into chunks and eat it, but that meant no sandwiches. After some back-and-forth over the contents of the fridge and their relative levels of starvation, they decided on a lunch of fresh hot oatmeal bread dipped in olive oil, olives, hard boiled eggs, and sliced cucumbers. And there was much rejoicing. (16 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 14th, 2009
9:20 pm	#15-23 of 50 Book Challenge ( 1-14 ) 15. Ethan of Athos 16. The Warrior's Apprentice 17. Brothers in Arms 18. The Vor Game 19. Mirror Dance 20. Cetaganda 21. Memory 22. Komarr 23. A Civil Campaign The entire Vorkosigan series, save the first two books. I love this series with big pink floaty hearts. I have read in several places that one of Lois McMaster Bujold's influences was the Horatio Hornblower series... I loved the movies but never read the books. I'm seriously tempted. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
6:58 pm	Report from Summer ArtSci Summer ArtSci went extremely well. The field test of the new choli design was informative, and I know how to fix the problems. Good "face time" with new people, my project scored extremely well, I got to spend time with greetpg , thalassak and peteyfrogboy , meet greetpg's mom, and pounce on a new Indian. I am very pleased with how my project scored. I thought the quality of entries was very good, though it was a small number of entries. Someone made kumiss, from scratch, actual fermented mare's milk churned in a leather bag. I was IMPRESSED. Did I mention how happy I am with my project score? In two weeks I am teaching two classes at Res Urbanus. Fortunately only one class is brand new, so right now I am trolling worldcat for the next set of ILL's. Tomorrow I return a large stack to order the next set. The new Indian I met yesterday is into jewelry so I want to bring lots of books about medieval Indian bling. It's all about the bling, baby. (32 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, June 11th, 2009
9:33 am	[sca] Nailed it, research, display I nailed the redaction. Finally. I raced home from work early Tuesday and cooked the dish again, this time concentrating on the parsley/marjoram/mint/onion combination as dominant, the sofregit itself, and the sweet/sour flavors. And it WORKED. This is why research is so important in redacting medieval dishes... you just can't redact in a vacuum and end up with something authentic. I raced with the finished dish to the Baronial meeting. The entire thing was gone in 10 minutes flat. I received good advice on transporting, temperature control, and display. Unfortunately only last night I untangled the agras/agror linguistic puzzle, and I was wrong, and it's too late to change anything. I just can't afford to re-test the recipe, and I don't have time anyway. I think I explained my substitiution sufficiently in my docs. Tonight all I need to do is wash and pack all of my display stuff, make the little cards for the ingredients, finish the bibliography and tighten up the process explanations. I found some nice silver covered dishes for my display at a garage sale... I hope they parse to people who might know a lot more about medieval Spain than I do. (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
9:13 am	Dad, cow pool, clothes My father was put in the hospital Monday, he has pneumonia in both lungs. He is, thankfully, recovering quickly, and is already off oxygen. He should be out of the hospital today if they can get his blood sugar under control. I hung out with him for several hours last night and we made many evil plans. I am the new "communications" officer for the Gainesville Cow Pool. A cow pool is a way for a group of people buy meat directly from a butcher, since they cannot buy the meat directly from the farmer. I hope I mesh with these people a little better. The office co-op is going well, I'm organizing a water buffalo order also. I wish my parents had room for a chest freezer, we sure don't, and our participation in these buying cooperatives is going to be limited until we have more storage space. I have gained enough weight that my work clothes from last summer are too tight. I am down to four outfits for work that I feel really good in. I've gained about 10 pounds from my lowest depression weight last summer. It's funny, though... I like my shape right now. I feel like I have an ass again. I have to decide whether to trade in all of my clothes and buy new clothes, or suffer until I lose the weight again. That I'm not sure I want to lose. Buying all new work clothes wouldn't be too onerous as I buy all my clothes at consignment shops and goodwill anyway. I may seize on this as an excuse to really gut my wardrobe... I still have most of my Nashville winter clothes, and my suits from working at the hotel. (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, June 8th, 2009
10:55 am	Yesterday is fired Alex's garb that I've done so much work and spent so much energy on? He's decided to go to a Warhammer tournament instead next weekend. 12 fewer things to do I guess. He is going with me to Res Urbanus instead. I dropped the big beautiful proofing bowl I bought yesterday on the tile kitchen floor. It was, of course, full of bread dough I was pulling out to make pizza. I had to throw away both bowl and the entire batch of dough. My brain was going in 12 directions at once and I couldn't settle down anywhere and be productive. I pulled out all my jewelry and tools to do some jewelry repairs, never actually completed any of them. Wrote three different documentation outlines. Had to take apart 1/3 of the choli, alter it, and put it back together again. It fits better now, and the hand-sewing is almost done, but argh.  I did have a good visit with thalassak , and signed up to teach at Res Urbanus, and icbhod and I made a yummy dinner, and I had some more time alone. And now work has exploded again. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 7th, 2009
10:21 am	Figs, pond, bread We broke down yesterday and bought another fig tree. It's a different type of fig than the one we have and already covered in fruit. We also bought a beautiful yellow native canna for the pond. No peaches this weekend, I just don't have time to process peaches.  The pond is settling so well. The water is crystal clear, and so far not a single mosquito larva to be seen. The fish are definitely doing their jobs well. Naturalizing was the right decision. I can't wait for it to start filling with tadpoles! I feel like setting out a little pink neon sign saying "frog orgy here". I finally started my Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day kick. We happened across a huge bowl suitable for bread dough at a garage sale, so yesterday afternoon I started enough dough for four loaves. This should last us the week. I'll use some of the dough later for pizza crusts. I can't wait to test this method.  (3 Comments |Comment on this)
10:01 am	[sca] choli, braies, research Behold! I have acheived choli! I'll take a photo and post as soon as I finish all the seam binding. The seam binding is too wide I think, it's 1/2 inch wide finished, but it will be nice and strong and won't stretch out of shape. I'm flat-felling the inside seams and making them much narrower than I've ever done before. Finishing the seams this narrow is making a big difference in fit, I never would have expected. I am also pleased by how much faster this is going.  I waited to sew together Alex's braies until he got home last night and I was tired, so of course I sewed one leg inside out. Of course. I was so disheartened I put them down and worked on Alex's tunic instead. I'm going to take the braies all apart next and try to put them back together again and then Alex will be hemming them himself. The research part of the octopus paper is going slowly. The ideas are still stewing around... connections to the French sources especially. They're there, just not sure how to arrange the information in this new format. "For the populace", ha. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, June 5th, 2009
10:52 am	Pond, garden, peaches My younger son graduated 5th grade this morning. It is storming again. I'm thrilled with the rain... our garden looks amazing. I'll badger icbhod into taking pictures this weekend. The pond in particular is thriving. The pickerel weed is doing very well, so we're adding some duck potato and golden canna this weekend, and more predatory freshwater invertebrates and mosquito fish. We're also going rock-hunting on the way back from picking peaches this afternoon for more landscaping rocks. 12 pounds of whole peaches + 4 cups raw sugar + about 16 hours = 4 jars of peach butter- about 8 cups. Peach cobbler was a huge hit for breakfasts. Still working on ultimate peach bundt cake recipe, to find things to do with peach butter. 1 bucket of peaches =12 lbs. I still haven't worked my nerve up to actually can the peaches, they're in the fridge. This weekend I have no plans, and I have lots of plans. If all works out, I won't have to leave the house except to do a bit of shopping Saturday morning. (1 Comment |Comment on this)