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Growth is Never Endless
R. is heading to his family on Wednesday for his mom's 70th birthday, so he spent this weekend doing the things he won't be able to while he's there -- playing Final Fantasy XIV, watching shows with me and K., that sort of thing. That made it a fairly chill weekend, and for that I am grateful.
On Saturday I made the lemon-blueberry cupcakes I bought as an extra Blue Apron recipe. It was pretty fun, though the learning curve was steeper than I thought it would be. One thing that always throws me about baking is how...sticky the dough tends to be and how much it resists being moved from one place to another. I'd love to get to the point where I know all the tricks and can make things neat anyway, but I'm nowhere close. All that I can do is keep practicing!
They turned out all right. The cupcakes were *very* moist, which I think were more down to the sour cream we included in the batter than anything else. The frosting was a simple mix of lemon curd and marscapone, which was interesting. It felt like the marscapone was mainly there to give the curd a "frosting-like" consistency because it didn't cut the flavor at all. Sharp and citrus, but cut with sugar so it tasted more like a lemon bar than anything. I think if I had to do it over again, I'd make it a bit more tart but creamy -- lemon cream cheese.
I'm not sure how they were received, but my DM appreciated the gesture anyway. The game itself was pretty fun! The DM is a huge mythology nerd, and his homebrew world takes place in the far future where the remnants of the last realms are slowly being drawn into the void. We've recently learned that our little patch of heaven has been walled off from the rest of what's out there, though that barrier is weakening enough that bad things are slipping through. The first, a corrupted topaz dragon, has been threatening Saltmarsh (the de facto capital of our chunk of land) and we've finally reached its lair in the Shadowfell with an aim towards killing it.
My character is a Jackalope eldritch archer, the third son of a noble Rabbitfolk family. Every once in a while, a jackalope is born and taken as a harbinger of great change, so he knows he has some kind of destiny but no idea what it is. At first I was playing him a bit angsty and unsure of whether he could live up to his calling, but over time it's clear that the other Rabbitfolk in the party -- R.'s character -- is meant for something glorious! We've quickly decided that we work better as family than fuck-buddies, so as far as my character is concerned he's kind of the herald of this amazing rabbit. :)
Next session will likely see our big boss battle with Rakudra, and I'm expecting it to be very very difficult. We'll see how it turns out!
I've been a little slack on cleaning, to my great detriment. The drain flies that have plagued our kitchen this summer are bouncing back a little, and I'm not sure if its our kitchen or the sudden temperature spike that did it. We have old pipes that are constantly troubled, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's a colony somewhere in the shared lines that will just come up and terrify random folks. I've doused the sink drain with boiling water and a solution of salt, baking soda, and vinegar. Hopefully that'll see them diminish over the next few days.
I fell off with discipline towards the end of last week, and I'm hoping I can stretch it a little longer this time. With R. off in Arkansas there's no excuse not to use my time well, but I also don't want to be an absolute slave-driver about everything. My plan is to carve out at least an hour every day dedicated to cleaning the place up in some way. On the weekend I could even install the window blinds so we can rearrange the home office a bit more easily! I'd also like to take a moment to thoroughly scrub the floors in high-traffic areas so they look just a little brighter, but we'll see if I have the stamina for that.
Overall, I just want to put concerted effort into being the kind of man I want to be. Thoughtful, conscientious, generous. That's the aim for the week.
On Saturday I made the lemon-blueberry cupcakes I bought as an extra Blue Apron recipe. It was pretty fun, though the learning curve was steeper than I thought it would be. One thing that always throws me about baking is how...sticky the dough tends to be and how much it resists being moved from one place to another. I'd love to get to the point where I know all the tricks and can make things neat anyway, but I'm nowhere close. All that I can do is keep practicing!
They turned out all right. The cupcakes were *very* moist, which I think were more down to the sour cream we included in the batter than anything else. The frosting was a simple mix of lemon curd and marscapone, which was interesting. It felt like the marscapone was mainly there to give the curd a "frosting-like" consistency because it didn't cut the flavor at all. Sharp and citrus, but cut with sugar so it tasted more like a lemon bar than anything. I think if I had to do it over again, I'd make it a bit more tart but creamy -- lemon cream cheese.
I'm not sure how they were received, but my DM appreciated the gesture anyway. The game itself was pretty fun! The DM is a huge mythology nerd, and his homebrew world takes place in the far future where the remnants of the last realms are slowly being drawn into the void. We've recently learned that our little patch of heaven has been walled off from the rest of what's out there, though that barrier is weakening enough that bad things are slipping through. The first, a corrupted topaz dragon, has been threatening Saltmarsh (the de facto capital of our chunk of land) and we've finally reached its lair in the Shadowfell with an aim towards killing it.
My character is a Jackalope eldritch archer, the third son of a noble Rabbitfolk family. Every once in a while, a jackalope is born and taken as a harbinger of great change, so he knows he has some kind of destiny but no idea what it is. At first I was playing him a bit angsty and unsure of whether he could live up to his calling, but over time it's clear that the other Rabbitfolk in the party -- R.'s character -- is meant for something glorious! We've quickly decided that we work better as family than fuck-buddies, so as far as my character is concerned he's kind of the herald of this amazing rabbit. :)
Next session will likely see our big boss battle with Rakudra, and I'm expecting it to be very very difficult. We'll see how it turns out!
I've been a little slack on cleaning, to my great detriment. The drain flies that have plagued our kitchen this summer are bouncing back a little, and I'm not sure if its our kitchen or the sudden temperature spike that did it. We have old pipes that are constantly troubled, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's a colony somewhere in the shared lines that will just come up and terrify random folks. I've doused the sink drain with boiling water and a solution of salt, baking soda, and vinegar. Hopefully that'll see them diminish over the next few days.
I fell off with discipline towards the end of last week, and I'm hoping I can stretch it a little longer this time. With R. off in Arkansas there's no excuse not to use my time well, but I also don't want to be an absolute slave-driver about everything. My plan is to carve out at least an hour every day dedicated to cleaning the place up in some way. On the weekend I could even install the window blinds so we can rearrange the home office a bit more easily! I'd also like to take a moment to thoroughly scrub the floors in high-traffic areas so they look just a little brighter, but we'll see if I have the stamina for that.
Overall, I just want to put concerted effort into being the kind of man I want to be. Thoughtful, conscientious, generous. That's the aim for the week.