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jakebeIt's Cyber Monday! I'm sure there are all kinds of great deals happening out there, but I am not in the market for them. With the financial situation being what it is, I don't have a whole lot of disposable income -- even for deals. I'll be trying to do something about that this week.
We're back from Thanksgiving in Grass Valley, which was honestly a blast. A friend of ours owns a big house on a mountain -- within shouting distance of other furries, in fact, because that's just how CA is -- and invites several folks in his friend group for a weekend party. Thanksgiving dinner and a movie on Thursday, a ripping acid trip on Friday, recovery day on Saturday, and usually some barbecue or smoked meats on Sunday. It's a very good time, a highlight of my year.
This year I was invited to be part of house staff, one of now three people who help clean things, provide the guests with anything they need, etc. I have a thing for butlers, so being able to step into that role amongst friends felt really nice. I spent most of my time in the kitchen helping folks with their dishes for Thanksgiving, cleaning dishes, and working on my own desserts. Honestly their kitchen feels like a home all to itself and I can tell that in a big manor house I would definitely be one of the kitchen staff.
I made the butterscotch apple pie and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for Thanksgiving dinner, toffee chocolate chip cookies for the acid trip, and triple ginger cookies for the recovery day. The pie was decent! A friend recommended adding nutmeg to the pie for some added depth and he was absolutely right; next time I'll have to include some in the mixture before baking. I forgot to add vanilla to the cake batter, which is a legitimate bummer. I even sprung for some (McCormick) small batch vanilla to give it that extra kick. It's fine, but you can definitely tell it's missing something. I've also learned that I should aim for the low end of the cooking time for that pan; I took it out after minimum recipe time and it tasted like I was a minute or so too late.
The toffee chocolate chip cookies were probably the best in show over the weekend. The chocolate melts into this perfect goo, and the Heath toffee I used bakes down into this delightful chewy, caramelly bit hidden in the dough. If I had to change anything, I'd say maybe a hint more salt (or using salted butter in the recipe) to give it more of a buttery flavor. The triple ginger cookies were good, but a *little* disappointing. I want a strong enough ginger punch that it warms the tongue, and these didn't have that. Still, the crystallized ginger really comes through in the cookies. I think I'll need to mince the fresh ginger a little less finely for that to hit the way I'd like it to, though.
All in all, I'd say that cooking has cemented itself as a legitimate hobby/passion of mine. I love making and sharing food, and even learning new techniques for things to test the science of what's happening. Learning how to rely more on the senses -- touch, taste, smell -- to know when something is where it ought to be has been a wonderful grounding activity. I even think I could do something like this as a job and love it, though I'd seriously have to get better with my speed and technique before I could get paid enough for it. At any rate, now I'm thinking I might bake cookies for Christmas presents this year, just to really get the hang of it.
I'm still synthesizing the acid trip in a lot of ways, but it felt like a...settling, a fine-tuning more than anything. It feels like it's taken a few years to settle into this...new version of myself. I don't know how true it is that every cell in your body is different after seven years, but it feels like a good framework to categorize eras in your life. If you're lucky, you get ten refreshes or so; I started my Sixth Era last year, and it feels like I'm settling into more of an elder role, a caretaker who helps people sort things out over a cup of tea. Beyond that, I'm developing an appreciation for those old ways, the things that feel more or less human over our entire history. Like tea with honey. It's a simple delicious drink that we've enjoyed for thousands of years. It's amazing to me how ubiquitous, ancient, modern, and personal something like that can be. Taking my place in a long line of folks who've baked bread or prepared tea grounds me in the human experience, connects me to a (probably imagined) tradition that I really like.
More on that a bit later, but...this Sixth David feels complete and content, and ready to engage with the world on confident terms.
We're back from Thanksgiving in Grass Valley, which was honestly a blast. A friend of ours owns a big house on a mountain -- within shouting distance of other furries, in fact, because that's just how CA is -- and invites several folks in his friend group for a weekend party. Thanksgiving dinner and a movie on Thursday, a ripping acid trip on Friday, recovery day on Saturday, and usually some barbecue or smoked meats on Sunday. It's a very good time, a highlight of my year.
This year I was invited to be part of house staff, one of now three people who help clean things, provide the guests with anything they need, etc. I have a thing for butlers, so being able to step into that role amongst friends felt really nice. I spent most of my time in the kitchen helping folks with their dishes for Thanksgiving, cleaning dishes, and working on my own desserts. Honestly their kitchen feels like a home all to itself and I can tell that in a big manor house I would definitely be one of the kitchen staff.
I made the butterscotch apple pie and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for Thanksgiving dinner, toffee chocolate chip cookies for the acid trip, and triple ginger cookies for the recovery day. The pie was decent! A friend recommended adding nutmeg to the pie for some added depth and he was absolutely right; next time I'll have to include some in the mixture before baking. I forgot to add vanilla to the cake batter, which is a legitimate bummer. I even sprung for some (McCormick) small batch vanilla to give it that extra kick. It's fine, but you can definitely tell it's missing something. I've also learned that I should aim for the low end of the cooking time for that pan; I took it out after minimum recipe time and it tasted like I was a minute or so too late.
The toffee chocolate chip cookies were probably the best in show over the weekend. The chocolate melts into this perfect goo, and the Heath toffee I used bakes down into this delightful chewy, caramelly bit hidden in the dough. If I had to change anything, I'd say maybe a hint more salt (or using salted butter in the recipe) to give it more of a buttery flavor. The triple ginger cookies were good, but a *little* disappointing. I want a strong enough ginger punch that it warms the tongue, and these didn't have that. Still, the crystallized ginger really comes through in the cookies. I think I'll need to mince the fresh ginger a little less finely for that to hit the way I'd like it to, though.
All in all, I'd say that cooking has cemented itself as a legitimate hobby/passion of mine. I love making and sharing food, and even learning new techniques for things to test the science of what's happening. Learning how to rely more on the senses -- touch, taste, smell -- to know when something is where it ought to be has been a wonderful grounding activity. I even think I could do something like this as a job and love it, though I'd seriously have to get better with my speed and technique before I could get paid enough for it. At any rate, now I'm thinking I might bake cookies for Christmas presents this year, just to really get the hang of it.
I'm still synthesizing the acid trip in a lot of ways, but it felt like a...settling, a fine-tuning more than anything. It feels like it's taken a few years to settle into this...new version of myself. I don't know how true it is that every cell in your body is different after seven years, but it feels like a good framework to categorize eras in your life. If you're lucky, you get ten refreshes or so; I started my Sixth Era last year, and it feels like I'm settling into more of an elder role, a caretaker who helps people sort things out over a cup of tea. Beyond that, I'm developing an appreciation for those old ways, the things that feel more or less human over our entire history. Like tea with honey. It's a simple delicious drink that we've enjoyed for thousands of years. It's amazing to me how ubiquitous, ancient, modern, and personal something like that can be. Taking my place in a long line of folks who've baked bread or prepared tea grounds me in the human experience, connects me to a (probably imagined) tradition that I really like.
More on that a bit later, but...this Sixth David feels complete and content, and ready to engage with the world on confident terms.
