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food

Help understanding American recipe?

I would like to make this cake recipe. What does it mean when it says "1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided" in the ingredient list? First I read it as "one to one half a cup", but that doesn't make sense. Is this in fact an American way of writing "one and a half"? And why does it say "divided"? Also it's a mystery to me why it says in the instructions that you should use "1-1/4 cups flour" instead of "1-1/2 cups flour". I can't see anywhere else in the recipe that uses flour. It does say "test kitchen approved", so I assume it's tested and proofread...

Current Mood: drained

barely here post but I couldn't resist

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What I'm Doing Wednesday: birthday edition

birthday
Sunday was my birthday & I had a nice time visiting the family.

( books: Abulafia, Tierney, Painter x 3, Abulafia )

media
sloooowly, I'm catching up on Murderbot. I know, it's been weeks, and yet the reading kick is (still) defeating my viewing obligations. Also on the watch list: the new season of Strange New Worlds, all of Lower Decks S5, um. Something else I've forgotten. But the Tumblr set shots of S3 Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat are feeding my soul. <333

dirt
for my birthday, I got a Buddha's head planter, which I intend to put spider plants in to give him green and white spiky hair. Very fun!

#resist
Monday, 9/01: Workers over Billionaires (#5051)
In Texas, there are lots of local protests, esp in Austin, re the gerrymandering thing. Freaking GOP. :(

I hope all of y'all are doing well! <333

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writing theory

Writing meta: What Middles Are For

Context and disclaimer: Most of these thoughts are not the kinds of things I take into account when I'm drafting. I'm hoping that looking at them in the abstract will a) train my subconscious in useful directions, and b) help me un-stick some WIPs.

I’ve mulched a bunch of Writing Excuses podcasts and Brandon Sanderson's Youtube writing lectures over the years, which have deeply influenced this random crop of ideas. I made some of it up myself, but I'm not claiming any kind of authority or even experience.

What Middles Are For

Arguably a story consists of 1) promises, 2) progress, and 3) payoff (cf Sanderson, Youtube). The promises are "here's what you're in for", including main characters, setting/genre/tone, goals and stakes. Most of that gets set up at the start. The payoff happens at the end, obviously, as all of it comes to fruition or failure. But middles can feel a bit formless. What does "progress" even mean?

Here are some thoughts about what the middles of stories are for.
( Many bullet points beneath the cut. )

Anyway, all of this has been swirling around my head for a while now. What do you think? Do you get stuck in the middles of stories? Do you have other ideas about what middles are for (other than putting some space between the beginning and the end)? Does thinking about it in these kind of terms help you, or do you prefer to frame your writing in other ways? If you look at your current WIPs or just-finished stories, what broadly/structurally are the middles of those stories "doing"? Do you think all this is different for fanfic, where you can assume a certain amount of reader pre-investment in the characters, at least, and where backstory is often canon?

Mandalorian finale SPOILERS

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Update (mostly about fannish projects)

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Current Mood: awake

Season 2 The Mandalorian SPOILERS

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Current Mood: annoyed

GRRR

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My google fu has failed so I turn to you.

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Current Mood: awake

Mandalorian S1 Finale, spoilers.

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Legend of Yunxi

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fic covers

Some experimental fanfic covers

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What I'm Doing Wednesday

( books (Hodgson, Greene & Arroyo, Rudhyar, Tyl, Gillig, Al-Rashid. Abulafia) )

yarning
I went to yarn group Sunday and learned one of our members is moving away next week. That is sad. I finished sewing together a bunny and started a new one, and my shoulder didn't protest too much, so that was a nice surprise. I finished the eyes and faces of 2 bunnies yesterday and need to take photos and list them. It felt good to be crocheting again.

healthcrap
I'm so worried about my parents and various other things that it's affecting my sleep. I always have trouble getting into Deep sleep, and lately the fitbit is registering single digit minutes in deep, and I've been having stupid insomnia. I need probably to start doing yoga nidra again, but I'm blocked about it for some reason. Like I'm blocked about Yoga and Pilates. Except that is at least partly due to it being so damned hot. There is little I can do about the things I'm stressing over, and yet. It's so frustrating. ( cut for discussion of weight loss )

house
I've done a fair bit of cleaning/chores today to counteract the worry. And hopefully the insomnia.

astrology
Mercury stationed direct in the wee hours of Monday, so communication and travel snafus are diminishing over the course of the week.

#resist
Monday, 9/01: Workers over Billionaires (#5051)

I hope you're all doing well! <333

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murderbot

Murderbot rec

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Current Mood: awake

Victory is mine

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Current Mood: pleased
Current Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Current Music: "Christmas Song" Nat King Cole

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Due South Story: Z Is For Zoo

Title: Z Is For Zoo
Series: The Due South Alphabet Series
Author: Grey/Grey853
Fandom: Due South
Pairing: Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski
Rating: Explicit
Tags: male slash, Alternate Universe-Canon Divergent, explicit language, implied sexual content, Christmas fic, casefic
Word Count: 50,274
Summary: Ray has to help Fraser solve a case of exotic animal smuggling. It's Christmas in Whitehorse.
LinK
https://archiveofourown.org/works/69171186

Snippet:

"That’s what I need from you, Ray. If I’m not allowed to do this officially and Inspector Paris won’t let me assign any of my men, you’re my last hope.″

Ray formulated a quick plan. ″Okay, I’ll do the checks, get as much info as I can on Bailey and anyone who’s working with him, but to get what we really need, I should go inside the camp.″

″But that’s dangerous.″

″I’ve never met Bailey. You said he breeds and sells sled dogs, right?″

Ben got there before he said it. ″You want to go undercover as a buyer.″

″I could pretend to want a dog, maybe even a whole team, but I could feel him out for other possibilities. I might be able to sneak back in later and get pictures.″

″It’s too risky.″

″Breathing is risky some days.″

″I know, but you sneaking in as you call it isn’t legal.″

″Neither is killing or stealing valuable animals. I mean, I might not get what we can use to arrest him, but it could give us a chance to know exactly what he’s up to. It’s a starting point, not an end game.″

″I can’t let you go in without back up.″

Ray shook his head. He couldn’t have that. ″You can’t go in with me, Ben. You’d lose your job if you got caught.″

″What about you? You could get arrested for trespass or worse.″

″Well, then it’s a damn good thing that I’ve got a great lawyer on standby.″

″Do you think we should tell Gus the plan?″

″Nope. He’d advise against it.″

″Which is probably wise.″

″We’ll just have to play it by ear, Ben. I won’t do anything illegal unless I have to. But first things first. Tomorrow I’ll do a complete background check using all our resources. I’ll track down every known associate I can. He has to be getting the animals from other people in the ring. I’ll also want to talk to some of the people who’ve made complaints or reported him. They might know more than they’re saying. The more information I have, the better we are before I try to actually meet the guy or infiltrate. You’ve just become my number one client.″

Ben reached out and took Ray’s hand. ″Thank you.″

Ray grinned. ″You want to know the terms for my retainer?″

Ben closed the folder and stood up, drawing Ray to his feet. As he led him to the bedroom, he teased. ″I believe I can guess.″

″Smart Mountie.″

Current Mood: porny
Current Location: near the lake they call Michigan

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Fannish 50 Challenge 2025: Post # 24: Annual "Bring Back The Porn" Day

The Challenge: On September 1st, post something porny to your journal or favorite archive. This can be fic, art, icons, meta, your favorite porny recs, a dirty limerick, et cetera. All fandoms and also original work are welcome. All kinks, all types of pairings -- anything goes, as long as there is some sort of smut factor -- explicit, raunchy, taboo, vanilla, subtle implication, Any And All The Smut.

Note that this fest only collects links: you must host your porny contribution elsewhere and put just the link on the fest page at Bring Back The Porn on DW.

Banners, posting rules, posting template, and AO3 Collection details are also at Bring Back The Porn on DW.

More Mandalorian

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food,
the farm

Status update + delicious recipe

I'm doing well! I've been home for a few days now, after spending a week at the family summer place with my parents, my sister, and her kids. A good time was had, with no family quarrels! \o/

Before that, I had a visit from

exeterlinden and her two kids. We had not met in person for eight years (because kids), and had very little contact during that time, but we just reconnected instantly. It was lovely. <3

Current delicious produce from the garden: potatoes, swedes, young beets and carrots, cabbage, chard, leek, onions, garlic, herbs, broad beans, green beans, green peas, zucchini, aubergine, tomatoes, and chiles. I LOVE just going out and harvesting what I need for cooking! We just took up all the onions, and they are now drying in the sun. I think they will be a substantial portion of our yearly consumption.

Today I got one of the ducks to eat from my hand, by means of lying down prone on the grass and stretching out my hand with food on it. They are such ridiculous little duck-billed dinosaurs. Edvin who was previously one of our favorites has unfortunately turned into a schoolyard bully, perhaps because the males from the first group of ducklings from the spring are now old enough to be seen as a threat to his fragile masculinity. The second group of ducklings are now almost full-sized, and we can see their adult colors, though not yet what sex they are.

I hardly ever buy cook books, but a while ago I bought two by the same author, which fit my current needs perfectly: the first one has chapters on various vegetables, and the second on various fruits and berries, so if you've got a particular vegetable/fruit/berry, you can get recipes and inspiration as to what to do with it. They are in Swedish though. He's big on using fruits and berries in savory cooking, and here's a delicious recipe I made yesterday: ( Read more... )

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Covid jab

For the record, I had my 11th Covid jab today. (I'm only posting about it because this is where I look when I'm checking dates. :-)