Category Archives: Kerfluffle
Foraying into the Twitterverse
I just re-read my blog entry from June 2009, The Future of Twitter. In that post, I did my usual round of horrible and smug predictions for the future (honestly, I think the only thing I can predict with any accuracy is the Redskins’ future. And that generally isn’t pretty), culminating in the belief that once Corporate America realizes the usefulness of the service (mini-press conferences on demand) that it will earn a place with staying power. I was, of course, wrong about a lot of things – including my assertion that I would never be on it (fool!). I also used the word celebutard a lot for some reason. I must have been vexed at one for some reason. Probably Ashton Kutcher. Isn’t it quaint that back in ’09 you used to hear about him? God that was CENTURIES ago. Read the rest of this entry
A Good Weekend
It was a good weekend, but one that didn’t last quite long enough (not that they ever do). I hadn’t mentioned it here before (I don’t think, anyway – continuity is hard), but Lady Aravan and I have put our house up for sale. That means that every weekend and some weeknights, we have to scrub the house down, gather our beloved pack of pooches, and get out of sight so people can look at the house. We got an offer that we’ve been countering and going back and forth over the last few days, so we’re hopeful that it sells soon. We are looking for a rural farmette in PA, or failing that, just a private location with some acreage. Yes, I hate people that much, and yes, it will be key during a zombie invasion.
Priorities.
Some Random Things
Busy at work (my main blogging time, when waiting for printouts and email responses and whatnot), so still not keeping up here as much as I want. So, I will throw out some things that have been on my mind the last few days.
I got a rejection letter from Permuted Press for The Curse of Troius. They’d requested the manuscript in September of 2010, and they said that it made it to the “final round”, whatever that means. I like the way it sounds, anyway, that it was good enough to get that far at least. It means that I am just shy of being marked for respectability! That’s good enough for me. I mostly appreciate getting the email since it provides me with closure over the whole thing. I don’t have to worry about trying with Legacy Publishing anymore. Read the rest of this entry
The eBook Adventure Begins in Earnest
When I published The Curse of Troius through Createspace, I was excited for two things: I now had an actual printed book that I wrote in my hands, and I could look at Amazon.com and see my book for sale across the country. I felt good about it, to see all those hours and days and months that added up finally resulted in an actual tangible result. I suppose it was a shadowy imitation of the experience of having a child (I wouldn’t know for sure, but in my imagination it is): something unique that only you could have created, now in the world. All I know is, Lady Aravan probably thought I’d lost my mind as I sat holding it, giggling and shaking my head in sheer wonder. Read the rest of this entry
Some Thoughts on Self-Publishing
Recently, a friend and fellow-writer-stymied-by-the-ridiculously-impregnable-world-of-publishing sent me a link to a blog post. Since it was about self-publishing, which I have done and my friend has not, he thought it would be of interest to me.
Boy, was he right. Read the rest of this entry
Adventures in Cooking
I am not a foodie in the food snob sense, but I do love food, no question. I’ll try anything at least once – and this after a childhood so picky that my name might as well have been “No Potatoes and No Beans”, my response whenever I was asked what I wanted for dinner – and I’ve experimented a lot more in last 6 months, making hummus and homemade mayo and stuff like that. This past week, though, I did some pretty cool stuff that I ended up really happy with. Read the rest of this entry
Tracing My Bongo Burgers: A Day on the Farm, Part 6
This series of posts describes my recent trip to Bobolink Dairy Farm. I decided to break it into chunks because I apparently have a lot to say about it. Today’s entry finishes up the visit.
With our cheese in its molds, it was time to turn our minds to lunch. We were having pizza, cooked in Bobolink’s brick-oven (which you can monitor the temperature of and watch a webcam of from their website – which is pretty cool, and reminds me of a friend that used to have one installed in his Coke machine). In the episode of No Reservations that visited the farm, Jonathan and Nina made an amazing-looking pizza with veal and other toppings. He tells that ever since, people have come in asking for pizza. They don’t make them to sell; the cost would have to be too high, he tells us. The only way to get one is to bring a camera crew, he jokes – but luckily for us, if you take the cheese-making class, you get one as well. Read the rest of this entry
Tracing My Bongo Burgers: A Day on the Farm, Part 5
This series of posts describes my recent trip to Bobolink Dairy Farm. I decided to break it into chunks because I apparently have a lot to say about it. Today’s entry finishes up the cheese-making process.
As the milk starts curdling, Jonathan draws on his engineering background and draws the exponential growth rate over time on a makeshift graph, illustrating the point of the curve that we are going to add our final ingredient, which will stop the milk from turning into yogurt and instead make it draw together to form cheese. It’s a special enzyme, we learn, one that comes from the stomachs of calves (and all mammals): rennet. This enzyme will cause the proteins to coagulate and separate into curds and whey.
It’s all well and good to draw graphs and whatnot, but there is no way to know exactly when the right time to add the rennet really is, according to a clock. Instead, we have to once again rely on our senses. We smell the milk, looking for sour notes, and taste it, looking for the same thing. After twenty or so minutes, we can all smell it, and the flavor is different, acidic, and we’re ready. In goes the rennet. Read the rest of this entry
Tracing My Bongo Burgers: A Day on the Farm, Part 4
This series of posts describes my recent trip to Bobolink Dairy Farm. I decided to break it into chunks because I apparently have a lot to say about it. Today’s entry chronicles the finer points of milk and cheese.
While Lady Aravan is gleefully milking cows and scratching cow heads and hearing stories, I begin my education in cheesecrafting. I have my little cheesemaking hat on (see yesterday’s picture) and don an apron. There’s all kinds of stuff all over this little room, but the important things are a table in the center, and a rack next to it. On the rack are several round smaller cheese wheels, a handful of cheese pyramids, and a larger wheel. Later on we’ll learn the names (the small wheels are Amram, the pyramids are something I can’t remember, and the larger wheel is Baudolino), but for now we learn that those cheeses were made two days ago, and they are headed to The Cave. Lulu takes them away while Jonathan promises we’ll see them later. Read the rest of this entry
Winter in Derenemyn 