Disbelief, suspension thereof / therein
Aug. 8th, 2025 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azurelunaticSuspension of disbelief = I will not start verbally poking holes in the physics of this action movie until we are out of the movie theater
Suspension in disbelief = a frozen state of constant WTF
Suspension in disbelief = a frozen state of constant WTF
(no subject)
Aug. 8th, 2025 11:45 amgool_duckI got invested in the characters in the comedy and the new episode put them in situations so it took me two days to watch one hour of television.
The comedy is k-drama 'My Girlfriend is The Man' in which a woman is transformed into a man in her sleep - it runs in the family, it's temporary, she knew it might happen. She still has to deal with it and it's weird. it's also about her romantic relationship with her boyfriend. and about sexual-attraction based romantic relationships.
Also in episode 5 the boyfriend is shown seeing the girl when he's looking at the man-shape she currently is. and seeing the girl when he expects & wants her to show up, when it's a different girl who is actually there, and it takes him a moment to realise and see who it actually is. Which is a more accurate-to-my-experience depiction of face-blindness than people having blank spaces where their faces ought to be.
The comedy is k-drama 'My Girlfriend is The Man' in which a woman is transformed into a man in her sleep - it runs in the family, it's temporary, she knew it might happen. She still has to deal with it and it's weird. it's also about her romantic relationship with her boyfriend. and about sexual-attraction based romantic relationships.
Also in episode 5 the boyfriend is shown seeing the girl when he's looking at the man-shape she currently is. and seeing the girl when he expects & wants her to show up, when it's a different girl who is actually there, and it takes him a moment to realise and see who it actually is. Which is a more accurate-to-my-experience depiction of face-blindness than people having blank spaces where their faces ought to be.
['cause] it's boiled [and] fried so
Aug. 6th, 2025 05:35 pmursamajorI have found THE WAY to make crispy firm tofu that I will now do forever more (or until I get bored and wander off to my next food obsession): brining it. It takes no longer than pressing it, is less messy, and the results are unbelievably crispy, even still a little crunchy after overnight refrigeration of the leftovers and then microwaving it, neither process designed to encourage that. And far more successful than any baking or cornstarch-dredging that I've tried before; will never go back. Noting here for my memories:
- Bring 4 cups water with 1/4 cup of salt (or, ratiowise, 1T salt for every 1 cup water needed to cover your tofu) to a boil, then turn off the heat
- Plop your cut-up tofu into the brine - the video did sliced planks, I did cubes so I didn't have two separate cutting steps, it came out fine
- Let it sit for 10-15 minutes
- Pan-fry the tofu in a little oil, flipping around the 3-4 minute mark; repeat until tofu is crispy enough to satisfy you.
As for silken tofu, for quick breakfasts/solo dinners, I've been nuking it with butter and soy sauce and a little bit of chili crisp, then topping it with a scallion that I chopped while waiting for the microwave. Maybe grating a little ginger over if I'm feeling fancy, or now that the lemons are slowly starting to come back, squeezing a little lemon over. It's like a hot hiyayakko, and might be more so if I ever remembered to pick up katsuobushi at Yaoya-San, heh.
*
In the meantime, our neighbors had been texting us while we were away about the annual plumpocalypse, and we came home to a carpet of purple underneath said plum tree, despite the neighbors coming by and picking up the excess while we were gone. Right now, we have enough to fill our entire dutch oven, withdozens hundreds more dropping daily. I really need to set up some kind of net situation to catch them before they hit the ground, I have made refrigerator jam literally every day for the last week and a half, and we are not keeping up. (Right now, our total jam despite our attempts to chip away at it fills my second-largest glass storage pan - 11 cups!)
But because my method so far looks like:
* sweep plums into a pile
* scoop plums of various softness into our largest kitchen bowl
* fill plum bowl with water and let it sit (hyounpark says in case there are worms?!)
* sort plums - only the intact ones make it through
* cook plums until just soft enough to pit
* pit
* weigh the puree, add 40% sugar
* cook, skimming off scum, until it passes the spoon test
* cool
* find a storage container to put the jam in in the fridge
* put on yogurt and toast ad nauseum because I have not committed to buying the whole kit for Proper Jam Making that would let the jam last longer than a few weeks in the fridge
At least our neighbors are equally meh about Proper Jamming so I feel less bad about not doing it, LOL. Still, I did take a cup and a half of yesterday's puree and turned it into a plum version of my favorite roasted applesauce cake for yesterday's block party, and it went smashingly; I was barely able to snag a piece for H and I to split!
Between the cake success and the tofu triumph and lovely August tomatoes marinating in a pool of olive oil and mint and salt and their own juices, I'm proud of these recent food feats. Now to figure out what I'm doing with the pork belly (for dinner tonight). Probably something that can get topped with some of the plum jam, heh.
- Bring 4 cups water with 1/4 cup of salt (or, ratiowise, 1T salt for every 1 cup water needed to cover your tofu) to a boil, then turn off the heat
- Plop your cut-up tofu into the brine - the video did sliced planks, I did cubes so I didn't have two separate cutting steps, it came out fine
- Let it sit for 10-15 minutes
- Pan-fry the tofu in a little oil, flipping around the 3-4 minute mark; repeat until tofu is crispy enough to satisfy you.
As for silken tofu, for quick breakfasts/solo dinners, I've been nuking it with butter and soy sauce and a little bit of chili crisp, then topping it with a scallion that I chopped while waiting for the microwave. Maybe grating a little ginger over if I'm feeling fancy, or now that the lemons are slowly starting to come back, squeezing a little lemon over. It's like a hot hiyayakko, and might be more so if I ever remembered to pick up katsuobushi at Yaoya-San, heh.
*
In the meantime, our neighbors had been texting us while we were away about the annual plumpocalypse, and we came home to a carpet of purple underneath said plum tree, despite the neighbors coming by and picking up the excess while we were gone. Right now, we have enough to fill our entire dutch oven, with
But because my method so far looks like:
* sweep plums into a pile
* scoop plums of various softness into our largest kitchen bowl
* fill plum bowl with water and let it sit (
hyounpark says in case there are worms?!)* sort plums - only the intact ones make it through
* cook plums until just soft enough to pit
* pit
* weigh the puree, add 40% sugar
* cook, skimming off scum, until it passes the spoon test
* cool
* find a storage container to put the jam in in the fridge
* put on yogurt and toast ad nauseum because I have not committed to buying the whole kit for Proper Jam Making that would let the jam last longer than a few weeks in the fridge
At least our neighbors are equally meh about Proper Jamming so I feel less bad about not doing it, LOL. Still, I did take a cup and a half of yesterday's puree and turned it into a plum version of my favorite roasted applesauce cake for yesterday's block party, and it went smashingly; I was barely able to snag a piece for H and I to split!
Between the cake success and the tofu triumph and lovely August tomatoes marinating in a pool of olive oil and mint and salt and their own juices, I'm proud of these recent food feats. Now to figure out what I'm doing with the pork belly (for dinner tonight). Probably something that can get topped with some of the plum jam, heh.
[Daf Yomi] Maseches Avoda Zara, perek 3 Kol HaTzlamim
Aug. 6th, 2025 07:09 pmlannamichaelsWhat images are used as avoda zarah, and can you benefit from things that have previously been used for avodah zarah? If so, what sorts of things and what needs to be done first, and who has to do them. Still a fun time!
( Read more... )
wychwoodIt's weird being away from home without being on holiday. My computer set-up here is working pretty well, although I haven't been exactly my most inspired work self; it's been a quiet week so far anyway, very few meetings or anything. But I'm very much missing my accustomed evening entertainments, or at least the ones I don't have with me (...I can read the internet as readily as ever), and cooking two sets of dinner takes up a surprising amount of the evening, even with a dishwasher (somehow full every day! for two people!) instead of having to do the washing up myself.
But Dad's back in the morning, so I get to go home at lunchtime! Very much looking forward to that. Although I will have to go straight into laundry and unpacking and then repacking for the office on Friday as usual, and I have a video call in the evening, so it'll be a busy day.
Still, it's been OK. I've been able to do my work and also supply such support as Mum actually needs (mostly it's just assembling straightforward meals and looking after the dishwasher, with an occasional small chore thrown in). I managed my M*A*S*H watching with Miss H (Radar just left! Am finding it hard to handle the concept of M*A*S*H without Radar) and have eaten most of the food I brought with me (and also the big bag of pistachios left over from Easter that my mother thought perhaps I could eat although probably not as fast as I did...). And tonight and tomorrow morning I need to pack my things back up into hopefully fewer than the "large rucksack, three big shopping bags, big monitor" that I arrived with, ready to escape.
But Dad's back in the morning, so I get to go home at lunchtime! Very much looking forward to that. Although I will have to go straight into laundry and unpacking and then repacking for the office on Friday as usual, and I have a video call in the evening, so it'll be a busy day.
Still, it's been OK. I've been able to do my work and also supply such support as Mum actually needs (mostly it's just assembling straightforward meals and looking after the dishwasher, with an occasional small chore thrown in). I managed my M*A*S*H watching with Miss H (Radar just left! Am finding it hard to handle the concept of M*A*S*H without Radar) and have eaten most of the food I brought with me (and also the big bag of pistachios left over from Easter that my mother thought perhaps I could eat although probably not as fast as I did...). And tonight and tomorrow morning I need to pack my things back up into hopefully fewer than the "large rucksack, three big shopping bags, big monitor" that I arrived with, ready to escape.
Purchase declined: Wrong virtual card
Aug. 4th, 2025 07:41 amlannamichaelsOn the bright side, the advantage of using one-store-only virtual cards lets me know exactly which online restaurant ordering site (orderonlinemenu.com) has the leaky data security, and my credit card automatically denied the fraudulent charge.
Oy.
At least it was just a virtual number stolen, so from the email, it seems like maybe my credit card won't decide to cancel this number and give me a new one if I report the fraud. After the Really Absurd Number Of Times my card number got stolen last year, I had to make a list in a spreadsheet of which card and which virtual numbers on which cards were used on which sites, so I could update them. So even if not, this process is easier than it was. But the email just says to lock the virtual card number so it can't be fraudulently charged. Which it already has been.
This is just so annoying.
Dovi Diaries: New Kid by Yeshaya Suval (2024)
Aug. 3rd, 2025 06:09 pmlannamichaelsA Diary Of A Wimpy Kid knockoff published by Artscroll, and is exactly what you'd expect given its bona fides.
Dovi is a 4th grader at a new school and is having problems fitting in, except we have no reason to believe he's not fitting in, because that's told and not shown in any way, so it's not clear why his teacher sends him to the school therapist rabbi to be told to keep a diary. He misses his old school but we are never given any specifics about his old school or his old friends. Specifics? What specifics?
We don't even get a good idea of how many siblings he has and the age spread (his oldest brother -- probably -- went off to yeshiva in Israel, except considering the age spread of the kids, that's likely high school, but why mention any details?)
He does a lot of unspecified learning, including running a chavrusa program. He gains friends. He has no real problems and is not a wimpy kid. The shenanigans are generic and probably very boring to the target audience, who are used to the many books in this genre already, and except certain things from a confessional diary of a 4th grader at a new school who has to see the school therapist because he's not fitting in. Those things are not in this book.
Overall, I found it very bland. And that's probably the biggest problem.
Because the thing is, I don't like Diary Of A Wimpy Kid. It's better than Captain Underpants, but most things are better than Captain Underpants. All these Wimpy Kid books and that entire segment of midgrade -- I don't like them.
I'm not supposed to like them. They are written to appeal to a midgrade audience, not to the parents of the midgrade audience.
Dovi Diaries was written to appeal to adults.
But you know what? I've read worse from Artscroll.
back on mum duty for a few days
Aug. 3rd, 2025 04:04 pmwychwoodI think I might be a little bit cursed today. This morning I walked down from Mum's house to the corner shop to get her newspaper, and my left boot completely untied itself twice in less than ten minutes, with no previous signs of loosening or jolt from me treading on a lace-end. Then when I got there at 08:55 it was closed, even though the website said it opened at 08:00 on Sunday. Fortunately someone arrived to open up at 09:03 so I did at least get the paper, and made it home without any more mysterious knot failures.
Then my phone developed a number of interesting alternative responses to me trying to scroll webpages - scrolling part of the distance I asked for, then jolting back up most of the way to the starting point; zooming in; moving sideways; really anything and everything except just, you know, scrolling. It's been behaving slightly more reasonably this afternoon, so I'm crossing my fingers that I'm not going to have to replace it...
On the other hand, my family apparently enjoyed me being in more-or-less the same timezone as everyone else on the crossword call, rather than lagging three seconds behind like I do at home, so it's not all bad. And I've set up my work laptop with a second monitor and a mouse and keyboard (although the mouse wheel is weirdly and upsettingly... sticky... enough to leave my finger sticky afterwards!).
One day down, four to go until Dad's back, and then I can go home! It's amazing how much longer Sunday is when I don't have any computer games to play. And my parents are very nice and their house is fine, but it's just not the same. I've been living alone too long.
Then my phone developed a number of interesting alternative responses to me trying to scroll webpages - scrolling part of the distance I asked for, then jolting back up most of the way to the starting point; zooming in; moving sideways; really anything and everything except just, you know, scrolling. It's been behaving slightly more reasonably this afternoon, so I'm crossing my fingers that I'm not going to have to replace it...
On the other hand, my family apparently enjoyed me being in more-or-less the same timezone as everyone else on the crossword call, rather than lagging three seconds behind like I do at home, so it's not all bad. And I've set up my work laptop with a second monitor and a mouse and keyboard (although the mouse wheel is weirdly and upsettingly... sticky... enough to leave my finger sticky afterwards!).
One day down, four to go until Dad's back, and then I can go home! It's amazing how much longer Sunday is when I don't have any computer games to play. And my parents are very nice and their house is fine, but it's just not the same. I've been living alone too long.
Wrong Guesses
Aug. 2nd, 2025 08:49 pmyourlibrarian1) Just a quick follow-up note to the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
sunshine_revival's Challenge 6 which asked about gaming. One thing I started doing earlier this year was crosswords. I'm rather surprised I never did them as a kid given how much I read and how verbal I was, plus I liked puzzles. I guess no one ever introduced them to me, though I suppose puzzles for kids was a less discoverable publication.
And trying them now I can see that even stuff labeled as "for the whole family" would have been too hard. One definitely needs to learn the conventions and accept that some clues are not only unguessable but the creators sure take a lot of license with words used. ( Read more... )
2) Have started posting photos of our stay in Agate Beach atcommon_nature
3) Back in December I began having arm pain centered around each elbow which would radiate down to the right hand sometimes. I brought it up at my annual checkup in April, at which time I had already been doing PT exercises for it for months, wearing braces on both hands to sleep, to exercise and to type at the computer, and yet it wasn't any better. ( Read more... )
sunshine_revival's Challenge 6 which asked about gaming. One thing I started doing earlier this year was crosswords. I'm rather surprised I never did them as a kid given how much I read and how verbal I was, plus I liked puzzles. I guess no one ever introduced them to me, though I suppose puzzles for kids was a less discoverable publication.And trying them now I can see that even stuff labeled as "for the whole family" would have been too hard. One definitely needs to learn the conventions and accept that some clues are not only unguessable but the creators sure take a lot of license with words used. ( Read more... )
2) Have started posting photos of our stay in Agate Beach at
common_nature3) Back in December I began having arm pain centered around each elbow which would radiate down to the right hand sometimes. I brought it up at my annual checkup in April, at which time I had already been doing PT exercises for it for months, wearing braces on both hands to sleep, to exercise and to type at the computer, and yet it wasn't any better. ( Read more... )
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