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| On a Roll |
On a whim, I tried my hand at making my own hamburger buns last night (thinking, "heck, we don't need them that often--why not just find a recipe and make them myself on those occasions when we do, rather than buying a package?").
Well, amidst getting the dough together, trying to fix dinner, and attempting to make some cookies at the same time, an essential egg sort of forgot to make its way into the mix. As it turns out, though, there really are happy accidents. Though they're too heavy to serve as hamburger buns, they were assuredly not a failure. On the contrary, we found out they make marvelous dinner rolls.
I shall in the future try to make the buns again (this time with the egg), but it looks as though we managed to get two recipes out of one, which ain't a bad thing. |
Jelly Pinched Wolf 8:44 AM
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| 21 July 2004 |
| Le Geek, So Chic! |
There aren't too many shows in the history of television that would make me geek out. Buffy, Firefly, and a host of shows that lasted but a season or less (The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and Strange Luck, for example). But in the last year or so, we've seen just about every show imaginable hitting dvd. Not necessarily a good thing, since many shows are cancelled before finishing their first season for very good reasons (like being really, really bad). But this recent boom in dvd releases does have it's rewards.
And one of them (at least for this geek) comes about on August 3. Not two weeks ago, I noticed that Quantum Leap had finally been released (and verily, that doth rock). It was then I lamented that Sliders had not yet become available. Prayers are answered. August 3rd, a combined set of the first two seasons'll out and ready for purchase (details are here). Woo hoo! Oh, but it was such a wonderful show! Okay, sure, it went a little off track when it hit the Sci-Fi Channel, but it was still pretty good, and the first three seasons were terrific. Sigh. If only we could afford this set.
But that's okay. The Wolf turns another year this September, so mayhap some generous soul will be ... um ... generous.
'Scuse me--I need more coffee. |
Jelly Pinched Wolf 9:16 AM
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| 20 July 2004 |
| Quoth the Wolf* |
*I've decided I like the title, and reusing it every time I throw up a movie quotation means I won't have to waste time coming up with a new title (which, like coming up with the perfect character name, takes me forever).
Somewhat easier one this week. There're several of you I can think of that might get it before anyone else has a chance to even read it. But we shall see. Anyhoo, here goes:
I think this building should be condemned. There's serious metal fatigue in all the load-bearing members, the wiring is substandard, it's completely inadequate for our power needs, and the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone.
**Again, no looking up. If you know it, good. If not, just sit back and wait. Thankee-sai!
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Jelly Pinched Wolf 7:18 AM
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| 15 July 2004 |
| Query Me This, Batman |
As a writer and lover of horror stories, you'd think that, having often contemplated the nature of evil, I might have some clue as to just how terrible evil can be. Alas, you'd be wrong. You see, I've found a new depth to evil, and it's far more horrible than I'd imagined.
It came to me in the form of an agent query letter.
Having finished the novel, it came time to seek out an agent so I can get this blasted thing published. I'd already had an agent picked out (should this one not work out, I shall throw my net wider and appeal to many, many more), and so all I needed to do was write up a quick query letter to see if I could pique interest in myself, the writer, as a commodity. Simple, right? Wrong. Fiction is sooooooo much easier. The whole point of the letter is to grab the agent's attention right away, and make them want to read the story (which should, of course, be good enough to make them fall over themselves trying to take you on as a client). I think I'd have been far happier if I could just say, "Wicked cool story here. Please be my agent." Sigh.
Well, after several weeks of smacking my head against the wall, I managed (with a goodly bit of help from kashi) to come with something that I feel to be pretty darned good. A mite bit pretentious, but then, my fiction has occasional overtones of pretense, so at least the letter's got a taste of things to come. It helped a bunch once I started looking at it as something akin to a critical essay. Turning the opening of the letter into a thesis statement made things so much easier (especially since I've always tended to write my essays with at least half my fiction voice anyway).
Last night, I got it cleaned up and submitted. Now it's time to just sit back, wait, and pray. At least I've begun Novel Number Two already (for those privy to the previous #2 idea, Molotov Ferguson's been shelved--not sure he can carry a full-length novel)--something to keep me busy through the long wait. And of course, your prayers would be very welcome and very appreciated. |
Jelly Pinched Wolf 7:24 AM
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| 14 July 2004 |
| Making Dough |
In an attempt to cut grocery expenses, I started experimenting a few months ago with making my own bread. I've yet to determine if it's more cost effective than just buying a loaf every week, but it's certainly more rewarding in just about every other aspect.
It's really amazing the difference between a home-baked loaf of bread and the store-bought variety. The cheaper brands have always made me vaguely ill, and being a one-income household at the moment excludes Roman Meal from the shopping list. Homemade, though, does not have this problem at all, tastes a million times better, and is far heartier. Sure, it's more demanding on time, but after the initial mixing and kneading, you can do plenty of other things while waiting for the dough to rise. And there's at least this on the cost side--for $2.79 at Costco, you can buy enough yeast to last a century (more or less).
If anyone's interested, they've got some great recipes over at Fleischmann's.
I highly recommend the honey wheat.
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Jelly Pinched Wolf 7:51 AM
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| 12 July 2004 |
| Quoth the Wolf |
I've got a terrible memory. Remembering things I did yesterday is usually something of a trial. And if an event occurred a couple of years ago? Forget it. For some reason, though, a couple things stick. Important dates in my life never seem to shake out (which is good, since kashi can't usually remember dates of birthdays and anniversaries to save her life). And just about anything revolving around movies I've seen. The year they came out, the actors who starred in them, and, if a film was a particularly good one, the quotations--they all stick. Not exactly useful information, alas. At least 'til now.
Since I started this blog, I had planned on throwing up the occasional random movie quotation--whatever happened to occur to me that day. Alas, there was the Slack, and I never got around to it. Well, no time like the present, says I. After all, I haven't had much to blog about lately, nor the time to blog it if I did. This'll be quick and easy and fun--at least for me. So, plan on sporadic quotations (I'd like to do one a day, but realistically that ain't gonna happen--I will make a commitment to at least one a week, though), some easy, some not so much. No prizes for guessing right--heck, I don't even care whether you guess or not. Again, fun for me, which has always been the primary point of this here bit of wolfish rambling.
Right. Onward with the first:
"You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow."
**By the way, no cheating by Googling the quotation. I'm looking for honest guesses here. |
Jelly Pinched Wolf 9:39 AM
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| 06 July 2004 |
| Back |
Made it back from vacation yesterday, and had another day off to prepare for the necessary evil of going back to work on the morrow. Sigh. Someday, my job will be writing from home--that is the consolation that makes it bearable, right there.
Anyhoo, not much to say. I hope everyone had a fine Fourth, and all that. Will post more later on in the week, but for now, I leave you with a rather lovely prayer I happened across recently. It's very poetic, and happens to be appropriate in light of a few things going on in the world right now.
Prayer to Our Lady of Good Counsel
Composed by Pope Pius XII
O Holy Virgin, to whose feet we are led by our anxious uncertainty
in our search for and attainment of what is true and good, invoking
you by the sweet title of Mother of Good Counsel, we beseech you
to come to our assistance, when, along the road of this life, the
darkness of error and of evil conspires towards our ruin by leading
our minds and our hearts astray.
O Seat of Wisdom and Star of the Sea, enlighten the doubtful
and the erring, that they be not seduced by the false appearances of
good; render them steadfast in the race of the hostile and corrupting
influences of passion and of sin.
O Mother of Good Counsel, obtain for us from your Divine Son a great
love of virtue, and, in the hour of uncertainty and trial, the strength to
embrace the way that leads to our salvation. If your hand sustains us,
we shall walk unmolested along the path indicated to us by the life
and words of Jesus, our Redeemer; and having followed freely and
securely, even in the midst of this world's strife, the Sun of Truth
and Justice under your maternal star, we shall come to the enjoyment
of full and eternal peace with you in the haven of salvation.
Amen
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Jelly Pinched Wolf 11:00 PM
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