Monday, October 19, 2009

OM NOM NOM

Today, victory is ours... for we have successfully made Gooseberry pie in high altitude using a recipe for, well, not high altitude.

For those of you that don't know, Gooseberries are famously tart. I LURVE me some tart berries. We paired it with a graham cracker crust this time and ohhhhhhhhh. Just... ohhhhh. I think I had a pie-gasm while I was eating it. Seriously, you guys need to find you some Gooseberries and make a pie.

This isn't the pie I made but it's a picture that looks the most similar. Just imagine it with a graham cracker base and no top crust.



Drooling yet? I know I am. I'm resisting the urge to go up there and eat the whole damn thing.

Here's the original recipe. Since we're at mile high we added another 1.5 tablespoons of corn starch and a teaspoon of flour. (We did this last year using the original recipe and the filling never thickened... it was basically soup in a pie crust. Still tasted good, but very soupy.)

Gooseberry Pie

2 cans OregoN Gooseberries
1/2 to 1 cup sugar (more or less to taste)
2 to 3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
Pastry for double crust 9-inch pie

Preheat oven to 400 F. Drain syrup from gooseberries, reserving 1/2 cup of the syrup. Combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Mix the reserved syrup into the dry ingredients and cook until thickened. Remove from heat. Gently stir in gooseberries.

Pour into pastry-lined pie pan and dot with butter or margarine. Adjust top crust, seal, and vent. Bake for 30 minutes or until crust is brown.

You may choose to add 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, or mace for extra flavor.


Well? Go on! Go make a pie already and celebrate with me.



~Sass~

Friday, October 16, 2009

Indecisive Sass Is Indecisive

So, like normal, I've decided to toss out the current NaNo idea and go with something else. Namely, this chica from a past writing challenge (the topic was "cyborgs"):

"So... um... how do I work?"

I lifted my arms, careful not to touch anything. They felt heavy. Mechanical noises in my shoulders followed the movement as I extended one arm and then the other. As I shifted my footing for balance I felt my ghost foot ache with the pressure. A quick glance down let me know my left leg was really just metal from the knee down.

"There's 'nuff weaponry in them arms to take out a small country. Just think what you need and it'll pop out," Rod said, fiddling with the toothpick in his mouth.

My new metal ribs stretched the scar on my side as I took a deep breath. I bent my elbow to take a closer look at my hand. It certainly looked like real skin. Felt like it, too. Amazing.

"Is there a manual or something? I don't want to go for pistol and have my arm manifest a bazooka."

He laughed. "No manual, sweetheart. I could tell ya whats in there and how'ta fix it, but I ain't yer maker. Only Clive knows that junk."

A walking weapons arsenal. I liked it. Maybe this time I'd actually get to kill that asshole arms dealer. Maybe with some of his own product. I'd have to find out exactly what was built into me and how to use it so I could light up his ass six ways to Sunday. Visions of smoking ash piles made me smile. Oh yes, he'd regret tearing me limb from limb.

I tried a few defensive stances and punched the air. A bolt popped off with a loud "zing" and a small puff of air escaped my elbow. Something made an ugly grinding noise.

Rod raised one bushy eyebrow. "Hmph. That ain't good."


Yes, it's rough. I pulled it outta my tail about 20 minutes before I posted it. But oh the potential. And I don't really have to put as much effort into coming up with a storyline for her. She already has a background.

Plus, my hillbilly ancestors are loving Rod and Clive and their old skool mechanic skills. Overhaulin' y'all. Cyborg style. And yes, that is Summer Glau in the picture. Males may now commence drooling.

However, I was discussing both NaNo ideas with Crankypants (aka a friend from Cali) and I mentioned that I still liked my villainess from the other NaNo idea. We agreed it would be possible to mix the two. Picture this: bloodlust girl finds a new toy, one that bleeds but has mechanical parts to explore. Of course Crankypants had an entirely different scenario in his head involving what I'm sure was oil or a tub full of jello or a pit of mud or something, to which I replied that fantasy would likely happen in bloodlust girl's head. Only, yannow, involving more blood. What I'm trying to work out is whether the arms dealer mentioned in this blurb is involved with bloodlust girl, or if the antagonists need to have antagonists. Arms Dealer vs Bloodlust Girl vs Cyborg Girl. It just screams NaNo.

We'll see if this idea sticks. I hope it does... cyborg girl sounds fun.


Today's moment of zen:




~Sass~

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Updates

I know, I did it again, I disappeared off the face of the earth. At least it wasn't for 3 months though, eh?

So I haven't thought a lot about my NaNo in a few weeks. School and life are pretty much kicking my ass. However, I did decide how to work in Greek mythology. (I did this a couple of weeks ago, actually. I just haven't had time to blog!)

Zeus, aka the most ancient of manwhores, allegedly has an affair. I know, don't faint. But he does it with Eric's sidekick -- Preggers. Guess how she got that way??? Oh yes. I did in fact just pull a sekret bebbe move here. It's corny and juicy and you know it... especially when Hera (Zeus's wifey and a perpetually menopausal goddess) shows up in search of the little bastard. NaNo fodder at its best. But I've kind of decided that rather than being all vengeful with the killing and such, Hera might just sit down and have a civil conversation with Preggers (when and if Hera finds Preggers). Ideas for that convo, I has dems.

At this point you might be asking where Eric fits into all of this. He is, after all, the main character. Don't worry. I've got plans for him. I also know how to tie in my bloodlusting villainess. This is the part where you imagine me behind my keyboard pulling a Mr. Burns. Excellent, Smithers.

On a personal note -- holy crap I think I had the first little movements this week. I'm not entirely sure it was baby somersaults, but I have a very strong suspicion. Time will tell. At this point I'm in the middle of week 16 so it's not quite at the point where I'd expect to feel movement. Still exciting. Now if only I could find a comfortable position to sleep in...

Expect the posting to be sparse for a bit longer. This weekend I start my weekend intensive class for the semester. It's three credits and only lasts two weekends. 8ish to 4ish on both Saturday and Sunday. Lots of writing. Heavy emotional stuff. The class is called Death and Dying. It goes over how different religions and cultures deal with death, and we also go over ethical issues related to death (physician assisted death, euthanasia, pulling the plug on vegetables, etc). I hear the final project is to either write a big ol' research paper involving attendance in a hospital or old folks home, or get your final affairs in order. Yikes. I'm a bit wary about taking this class while pregnant... it would be super embarrassing to burst into tears or something equally emotional in the middle of class. I think I should be fine as long as we aren't watching any videos. Seems like conversation doesn't bother me and I don't think reading would bother me (reading is done outside of class anyway I think), but based on my recent movie-watching experience, videos might do me in.

Did I tell you about that? Yeah. We were watching Big Fish. I had already seen the movie, so I already knew what happened, but damn if I didn't start balling like a little kid twenty minutes before the end. Sobby hiccups and all. I was like WTF? I've seen this. Adventures in pregnancy.


Anyways, I'm out. Got stuff to do and all that. Happy October!

(Yes, the aspens do look like that here.)





~Sass~