Monthly Archives: September 2008

Rich Food… Too Rich?

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Caitlin made me the richest most illness inducing (in a good way) cake I’ve ever had I think. It’s a chocolate cake using — I’m guessing — about two dozen Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups chopped up and stuck to the icing. Intense to say the least.

Seriously, damn!

That was yesterday. Today she had to work through supper, so I cooked a meal that Nefarious and I love, but Caitlin despises — OKRA. In this case, okra and shrimp and brown rice (and a few assorted veggies) in a fig sauce. I also cooked blueberry and currant muffins because I found out today that it’s my day to provide snacks at Nefarious’s school — I guess I’m one of the parents that they know they can pretty much always rely on for last minute tasks (which I don’t mind at all).

Time to relax now with some mindless TV… I watch far too much television I think, enjoying Terminator, Heroes, House, Survivor, and 90210, and when the seasons start, add Dexter and Big Brother (as well as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report of course)… If there’s a good show that’s not on that list, seriously, seriously, please don’t tell me. I’m better off blissfully ignorant.

That said, the TV that I’m most looking forward to this week is most definitely the Vice Presidential debates on Thursday. Please oh please let it be as hilarious a trainwreck as I think it will be. I’m sort of thinking though that they’re going to toss Palin off the ticket at the last moment and swap in Liberman or Romney and somehow pull a believable win out of their hats rigged voting machines.

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Snake Animation

Monday, September 29, 2008

Kind of silly and lame, but I love doing flip books…

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Improving with age? Hope so!

Monday, September 29, 2008

A year ago I was penniless, locked out of my own life’s work, and about to be involved in a series of ultra-unpleasant legal actions — with the help of a lot of friends and some good luck and good judgment, I made it through it and came out ahead after every obstacle. Now, on my thirty-fifth birthday, to my surprise I’m comfortably retired — will I really make it through my entire life without having had a job? …seems so! — and living with my daughter, and my girlfriend with whom I’ve been with in one way or another for nearly fifteen years, slowly working toward the goal of sailing circumnavigation and building a homestead as I write a few more books. I’m extremely fortunate to have been so lucky — I truly do pinch myself sometimes in amazement that this euphoric cloud I’ve lived in is real — and am so extremely thankful at all the adventures I’ve had up to now.

Being at about the “half way” point in my life, I’ve got to get to planning some new adventures. Life is unbelievably wonderful and I am thrilled at being able to experience so much of it. Thank you!

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Word on the Street

Sunday, September 28, 2008

We all went out to the Word on the Street book festival today. Nefarious mostly hung out at the TVO Kids stage, but afterwards we went around getting as many helium balloons as we could and then tied them to a stick. We kept tying on more until the weight/lift had equalized, so our construction was able to hover… Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) the weather changed — I guess pressure went up? — and suddenly it shot up to about 200 feet and just sort of hung out there, to our both amusement and horror. It was fun watching everyone notice it…

This is her at the Anne of Green Gables tent. Caitlin took this picture and there’s another from the day on her site as well. Nefarious also really liked the show put on by Tapestry New Opera — at five she has more patience for opera than I do at (as of tomorrow) thirty five…

We also set up my PS3′s webcam so that Nefarious can have video chats with her mother (which other than a stressful burst when the sound was muted worked well for them this afternoon). Speaking of the cam, I downloaded the The Trials of Topoq game, which is sort of like a modernized body-controlled Marble Madness and have had lots of fun playing it on the PS3 Eye as well.

Also cooked a another yummy supper, starting with crazy delicious salad with chopped onion and quartered mandarin tomatoes (I think that’s what they’re called) with a dressing of lime, worcestershire sauce, sweet sushi vinegar, sea salt, olive oil, and pepper… So, so, so good!

The main dish was noodles with a veggies (asparagus, shepherd pepper, orange pepper, zucchini, broccoli) in a lime and really mild coconut curry sauce, as well as jumbo scallops (cooked separately but in the same sauce because Caitlin is not a fan of this stringy-but-gelatinous-texturally-offputting delicacy). It all turned out extremely well I think. You can never go wrong with good food.

I had some of the locally produced Great Lakes Pumpkin Ale with it, which I think was a good match for the meal although it really didn’t taste anything like what I expected (no obvious pumpkin or pumpkin pie aura, at least not how I had imagined — I think the nutmeg was the clearest addition to the beer’s flavor)… And, now to see how the new Simpsons and Family Guy seasons begin!

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Which came first… the chicken or the egg?

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Weather was bad today which for some reason kept people out of the (indoor) pool, so Nefarious and I had that to ourselves for the afternoon to mess around… We also made this flip-book animation — the bird is her design. I actually had another version of this with more detail and color but photoshop crashed and I don’t really feel like redoing it.

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