A bunch of books I've read lately

Jul. 9th, 2025 10:27 pm
aurumcalendula: gold, blue, orange, and purple shapes on a black background (Default)
[personal profile] aurumcalendula
A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft:

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A Treachery of Swans by A.B. Poranek:

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I'd heard of Melissa Scott's Astreiant novels, but hadn't gotten to them until recently. I like the combination of plotty mysteries and slowburn romance. It reminded me of Swordspoint at times, although with more magic and a matriarchal-ish society (it was interesting to notice 'she' being used as default pronoun for an unknown person the way 'he' sometimes used to be, iirc). I'm very fond of the main characters, but I would really like to read something like this with a f/f main couple. More on specific books (I have two more left in the series to read) below.


Point of Hopes by Melissa Scott & Lisa A. Barnett:

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Point of Knives by Melissa Scott:

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Point of Dreams by Melissa Scott & Lisa A. Barnett:

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Fairs' Point by Melissa Scott:

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Spicy Potato Tacos

Jul. 9th, 2025 04:27 am
nverland: (Cooking)
[personal profile] nverland posting in [community profile] creative_cooks
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Spicy Potato Tacos
Servings 6 tacos

US Customary

Ingredients

**For the Spicy Potatoes
2 pounds russet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon ancho chile powder
Pinch cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

**For the Chipotle Sauce
1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water 4-8 hours, drained, and rinsed
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons adobo sauce (from a can of chipotle peppers)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

**For Serving
6 small flour tortillas, warmed
Shredded lettuce
Taco toppings of choice, such as diced tomato, salsa, hot sauce, or shredded vegan cheese

Metric

Ingredients

**For the Spicy Potatoes
0.91 kg russet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
29.57 ml olive oil
14.79 g cornstarch
9.86 g cumin
4.93 g sweet paprika
2.46 g ancho chile powder
Pinch cayenne pepper (or to taste)
2.46 g salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
**For the Chipotle Sauce
129 g raw cashews, soaked in water 4-8 hours, drained, and rinsed
78.86 ml water
29.57 g adobo sauce (from a can of chipotle peppers)
29.57 ml red wine vinegar
4.93 g ground cumin
2.46 g onion powder
1.23 g garlic powder
2.46 g salt
**For Serving
6 small flour tortillas, warmed
Shredded lettuce
Taco toppings of choice, such as diced tomato, salsa, hot sauce, or shredded vegan cheese

Instructions

*Make the Potatoes
Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
*Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover them with salted water. Place the pot over high heat.
*Bring the water to a boil, lower the heat, and boil the potatoes until slightly tenderized, about 5 minutes. They should be pierecable with a fork, but it should take a bit of effort.
*Drain the potatoes into a colander and rinse them with cold water.
*Transfer the potatoes to a large bowl and add the olive oil, cornstarch, cumin, paprika, ancho chile powder, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Stir gently to evenly coat the potatoes.
*Arrange the potatoes evenly on the baking sheet, then place it into the oven. Bake the potatoes until soft on the inside and crispy on the outside, 20-25 minutes.
*Make the Chipotle Sauce
Place all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor fitted with an s-blade, then blend until smooth.
*Taste-test the sauce and adjust any seasonings to your liking. You can also thin it with extra water if you like.
*Assemble the Tacos
Stuff the tortillas with potatoes and chipotle sauce, then top with lettuce and your favorite taco toppings.
*Serve.

(no subject)

Jul. 8th, 2025 09:04 am
seekingferret: Two warning signs one above the other. 1) Falling Rocks. 2) Falling Rocs. (Default)
[personal profile] seekingferret
Starter Villain by John Scalzi

This was slight in the way Scalzi's books often are- he has good storytelling instincts but a reluctance to deeply interrogate his premises.

This has a similar premise to Hench, which I panned as 'morally bewildering.' The moral stakes are much clearer here, which made it easier to enjoy. Our hero inherits the family business, which his late uncle explicitly identifies as supervillainy, but the book doesn't expect you to sympathize with the ideology of supervillainy, merely the poor sadsack protagonist who must navigate this murky world and try to figure out where his own lines are drawn and how to make it out alive.

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Continuing on the theme. This was pitched as The Office in a supervillain's fortress, and it mostly fits the brief, albeit laden down with a slow burn romance between the villain and his personal assistant that I could have done without.

Here there is no question that we are supposed to understand the villain as a Robin Hood standing up to an oppressive king, but that supposed to is doing a lot of work. Maehrer seems caught between prongs of her scenario- for Evie's defection to the villain to be a source of angst and happening at risk of communal alienation, the king needs to be popular in her village. For her to have the moral clarity and belief in her mission required to be an effective assistant to the villain, the king needs to be transparently a tyrant. Splitting the middle here doesn't quite land. I kept waiting for the substantive reasons for Evie's rejection of the king's law to become clearer, but probably we are just supposed to read it as the evolving consequences of her growing love for the villain rather than any sort of political awakening.

That said, the handling of the evil office politics is a delight and I particularly enjoyed a baffling set of small details about 'the interns' because Maehrer never explains why a secret lair has interns, just has them be there and causing trouble in the background. This book made me laugh and that's worth a lot.

Little Starbursts Dishcloth

Jul. 5th, 2025 07:39 am
nverland: (Cooking)
[personal profile] nverland posting in [community profile] creative_cooks
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Little Starbursts Dishcloth

Hook size: 5.0 mm
Yarn: Worsted Weight Cotton
Gauge: Finished main body = approx. 18 cm x 18 cm

Abbreviations:
Ch: chain
Ss: slip stitch
Sc: single crochet
Dc: double crochet
YO: yarn over

Special Stitches:
Starburst: [Worked over 3 stitches] Draw up a loop in same stitch previously worked in. (Draw up a loop in next stitch) 2 times. YO and draw through all 4 loops on hook.

Main Body

To begin, ch 26.

Row 1: Sc in second ch from hook. Work starburst stitch. *Ch 1. Work starburst stitch.* repeat from * to * across. Sc in same ch.

Row 2-24: Ch 1. Turn. Sc in top of sc. Work starburst stitch. *Ch 1. Work starburst stitch.* repeat from * to * across. Sc in same sc.

Edging

Round 1: Ch 4 (counts as first dc and ch 1). Do not turn. Dc in same sc. Ch 1. *Skip next row. Dc in next row. Ch 1.* Repeat from * to * 10 times. Dc, ch 1, dc in first unused loop of foundation chain. Ch1. +Skip next stitch. Dc in next stitch. Ch 1.+ Repeat from + to + 10 times. Dc, ch 1, dc in last chain. Ch 1. Repeat from * to * 11 times. Dc, ch 1, dc in first sc. Ch 1. Repeat from + to + 11 times. Join with ss to top of first dc.

Round 2: Ch 1. +Sc in same dc. 3sc in next ch 1 space. Sc in next dc. Work starburst stitch. *Ch. 1. Work starburst stitch.* Repeat from * to * 11 times.+ Repeat from + to + around. Join with ss to first sc.

Round 3: Ch 1. +Sc in same stitch and in next sc. 3 sc in next sc. Sc in next 2 sc. Work starburst stitch. *Ch 1. Work starburst stitch.* Repeat from * to * 11 times.+ Repeat from + to + around. Join with ss to first sc. Finish off.

(no subject)

Jul. 4th, 2025 11:38 pm
aurumcalendula: Quynh from The Old Guard in a red-ish outfit against a yellow background (Quynh)
[personal profile] aurumcalendula
I'm at the annoying vidding stage where I have an idea but not a song yet (and all the potential ones I've listened to feel not quite right).

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Jul. 3rd, 2025 01:05 pm
aurumcalendula: gold, blue, orange, and purple shapes on a black background (Default)
[personal profile] aurumcalendula
Any idea if the Arrow Video 4K bluray of The Long Kiss Goodnight has color grading closer to the original DVD release or the older blu-ray? I'm thinking about getting (once I check my blu-ray player's specs, but if it doesn't look like the DVD release I'll pass on it (imho the earlier blu-ray omitted color grading from scenes and gave everything a kinda washed out look like the Bourne films).

(no subject)

Jul. 2nd, 2025 11:37 pm
aurumcalendula: Quynh from The Old Guard in a red-ish outfit against a yellow background (Quynh)
[personal profile] aurumcalendula
The Old Guard 2 (2025):

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Cucumber Gazpacho

Jul. 2nd, 2025 04:40 am
nverland: (Cooking)
[personal profile] nverland posting in [community profile] creative_cooks
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Cucumber Gazpacho
Prep Time 10 minutes Total Time 10 minutes Servings 3

Ingredients

2 medium cucumbers, cut into approximately ½ inch slices
15 g (1/2 cup) fresh spinach
40 g (¼ cup) chopped white onion
2 garlic cloves
236.59 ml (1 cup) coconut milk
56 g (1/2 cup) unflavored and unsweetened vegan yogurt
29.57 ml (2 Tbsp) lemon juice
12 g (1/2 cup) fresh basil
15 g (1/4 cup) flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
4.5 g (3/4 tsp) salt, plus more to taste

Instructions

Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
Taste-test the mixture and add more salt if desired. Adjust any other seasonings to suit your taste, then blend again.
Pour into bowls and serve.

Rebuilding journal search again

Jun. 30th, 2025 03:18 pm
alierak: (Default)
[personal profile] alierak posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance
We're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.

Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.

(no subject)

Jun. 30th, 2025 01:06 pm
aurumcalendula: gold, blue, orange, and purple shapes on a black background (Default)
[personal profile] aurumcalendula
I discovered yesterday that the 2023 movie Phantom is now on Viki! (I think it might've been there since Spring, but I only noticed now) It's one of the many adaptations of The Message and the most actiony and texually queer of them.

(no subject)

Jun. 29th, 2025 10:40 pm
aurumcalendula: gold, blue, orange, and purple shapes on a black background (Default)
[personal profile] aurumcalendula
I had fun with Escapade 35.5 even though I mostly just caught the vidshow stuff.

I apparently have a distinctive vidding style. Considering the amount of time I spend pulling my hair out over songs, it was really nice to see multiple people saying nice things about my song choices. Also, I'm delighted that Kandy Fong said the song I used for 'Can't Help Falling in Love' fit the vid so well!
aurumcalendula: close up of Yan Wei and Xu Youyi from the opening credits of Couple of Mirror (Yan Wei and Xu Youyi)
[personal profile] aurumcalendula posting in [community profile] vidding
Title: To Hell & Back
Fandom: 双镜 | Couple of Mirrors (2021)
Music: To Hell & Back by Maren Morris
Summary: 'lucky for me, your kind of heaven's been to hell and back'
Notes: Premiered at Escapade 35.5.
Warnings: quick cuts and flashing lights, violence

AO3 | bsky | DW | tumblr | YouTube

Honey Mustard Red Potato Salad

Jun. 28th, 2025 07:34 am
nverland: (Cooking)
[personal profile] nverland posting in [community profile] creative_cooks
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Honey Mustard Red Potato Salad
Total Time Prep: 20 min. Cook: 20 min. Makes 16 servings

Ingredients

3 pounds baby red potatoes, unpeeled
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 green onions
1 cup finely diced celery
1/2 cup diced red onion
1 medium carrot, grated

DRESSING:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Place potatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a Dutch oven; add water to cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cook, uncovered, until tender, 10-12 minutes. Drain and cool.
Mince white portions of green onions; slice green portions and reserve. Combine minced onions with celery, red onion and carrot. For dressing, whisk together vinegar, honey, mustard, thyme, sea salt and coarsely ground pepper. Gradually whisk in oil until blended.
Cut cooled potatoes into 1-inch pieces, preserving as much peel as possible. Combine potatoes with onion mixture. Drizzle dressing over salad; toss to coat. Top with reserved green onion slices.

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