miscellany

miscellany & keys

keys

 

I organized my jewelry earlier this week and realized just how many pieces of jewelry with keys I have. Some of them are cast silver but most of them are actual keys, skeleton or otherwise. There are at least three or four more in addition to what’s pictured, plus a very tiny one that has a matching padlock.

I am awfully fond of keys. I sometimes wonder where the locks are that belong to all of these ones.

I am not doing anything official for Book Expo America this year but I spent part of yesterday and today meeting people who are in town and got to meet a lot of bookish lovelies who I only knew from Twitter and they are all actual lovely real live people, so that was great fun.

I will probably be very quiet around the internets for June, lots of work to do. And possible website reworking and other things changing in July, but that’s still a good ways off.

By erin, ago

ice cream

Yesterday when I went to the dentist to get a crown that I was supposed to get back when I had bronchitis but had to reschedule and it turned out I needed a root canal. Luckily my lovely dentist just sent me elsewhere in the same building to another lovely lady who happened to have enough time to do it right then so I got it over with immediately but still, Unexpected Root Canal does not make for the best of Tuesdays.

So last night I decided I deserved a treat and I’d been meaning to try making almond milk ice cream for awhile so I made vanilla toffee bourbon almond ice cream. With coconut. Because I could.

ice cream

I started by looking up almond milk ice cream recipes to get ideas and found this great list of vegan ice cream recipes on Buzzfeed. This is not a real recipe because I was winging it and not really measuring anything, but this is what I did:

I put a lot of unsweetened almond milk in a pot and added about a 1/3 cup of coconut cream, around 1/4 cup agave nectar, a shot or so of bourbon and maybe a tablespoon of vanilla extract. I simmered that for awhile until everything was blended nicely and then I cooled it in the refrigerator for a few hours.

I mixed it some more before putting it in the ice cream machine. I also had a bar of this:

toffee

I put about half the bar of it in a ziplock bag and hit it with a hammer until it was basically chocolate almond toffee dust and added that to the ice cream. I left a bit aside to crumble on top. (This does, I realize, make this recipe non-vegan but if there’s such a thing as vegan toffee that would work, or any candy crumbly something. I’m not vegan, I’m an omnivore with an aversion to gluten who likes to save the dairy in her diet for cheese.)

It is probably the best thing to ever come out of the ice cream maker (though the strawberry prosecco sorbet runs a close second) and still felt light and almost sorbet-ish but the coconut and the toffee gave it a nice richness and I’m sure the bourbon didn’t hurt.

Might try it again with peanut butter cups instead of toffee.

By erin, ago

blossoms & tiny thoughts

blossoms

Last week I managed to get a cold again because 2014 is apparently the year of me being ill, but I’m feeling better this week. I even managed to sit under cherry blossoms in the park. I’m still finding petals in my bag from the cherry blossom rain.

The new Tori Amos album, Unrepentant Geraldines, is beautiful. It reminds me of Scarlet’s Walk. “Oysters” is my favorite track, in that right-song-at-the-right-time way.

I am writing very slowly. I am not where I wanted to be now that it’s cherry blossom season already, but I’m trying to feel alright about that. Things like taking care of myself are taking priority, and there’s a lot of stuff in my head that needs figuring out, fiction-wise.

This tiny post is brought to you by the fact that I needed to post something in between flax-golden tales and I do not have the time or the brain power for a thinky post, and I don’t have enough photos for a proper photo post.

By erin, ago

2 things i <3 right now

cocktails & pandemic

Thing 1:

When I had bronchitis and I was basically useless and after I’d watched Wreck-It Ralph four times I started watching episodes of TableTop on YouTube. I have not been much of a board game person beyond never finishing a single game of Monopoly as a child and an enduring fondness for Clue! but watching other people play newer games was oddly fascinating and entertaining (I think it would be even if you weren’t nursing a fever) and beyond that was a fantastic way to get a sense of the games themselves.

So when I could breathe again I went out and picked up a couple of games that I’d been intrigued by and now I am a little bit obsessed with Pandemic. I’ve never really played a cooperative board game before and really like it and it’s reminded me how much I like strategizing. And swearing at inanimate objects. Also I feel like it’s teaching me better geography.

This is pretty much Wil Wheaton‘s fault, but I have been fond of Wil ever since I watched Star Trek: TNG on a tiny black & white tv and had no idea how ugly Wesley’s sweaters were. True story.

 

Thing 2:

In keeping with the “things I couldn’t do when I was sick” theme, I am back to creative cocktailing and I’m playing with something I was introduced to via Julibox a few months ago: the wine-based cocktail.

Tonight’s experiment was a variation on a recipe they’d sent that I made a few creative substitutions for and ended up with a pinot noir/apple brandy/Licor 43 (which is, by the way, one of my new favorite things)/pomegranate juice/lemon concoction that was really quite lovely.

I’m getting better at creative substitutions. And fixing cocktails if they don’t quite come together on the first try. Also, it’s nice to have options for wine that are sangria-esque without being proper sangria.

 

Both of these things combined are doing wonders for keeping my brain awake and my inner editor distracted, which is precisely what I need right now.

By erin, ago