After the rant, something positive

[oloriel]

... or rather "somethings", but that's ungrammatical, so.

* The date for next year's Drachenfest has been announced and against all odds it's not at the same time as the Mittelerdefest, but a week later! I've been waiting for - and dreading - the announcement because it was pretty likely that both events would fall around the same weekend and then I'd have had to decide for just one (that is, for the MEF...). As I'm already missing this year's DF for obvious reasons, that'd have been very sad. So yay for actually being able (time-wise; anything else we'll see) to do both! \o/

* Five of my stories have been nominated for this year's MEFAs. To be sure, with the majority of them I'm pretty much certain they don't stand a chance - one might just get lucky, it's got Fingon in it and contains no overly complicated or controversial concepts, which always makes for crowd-pleasers - but it's still nice people liked them well enough to nominate them. Of course, as in past years, there are some stories where I'd secretly hoped someone would nominate them and nobody did (I tell myself that of course people loved them but didn't remember just now because they're old stuff :P), and as I despise self-nomination and fail at self-advertising, I'll just have to suck that up. Ah well. Five noms is still awesome, particularly as I've been a very unproductive fanficcer these past months.

* Today I managed to catch up with my gardening plan for the kitchen part of the garden, i.e. I managed to finish weeding all nine veggie patches and sow everything that had to be sown by June. As it's still June (if just barely), I consider this a splendid success. We'll see whether I'll manage to take care of the rest of the garden soonish, too, but there's less pressure - although all those spreading weeds are a pest, they're not interfering with anything important. Now I just have to harvest and use up the redcurrants and blackcurrants, as well as all those ripe woodland strawberries. And figure out what to do with my surplus tomato plants - this year, I actually have too many. (When you sow tomatoes, you bring out at least twice as many seeds as you want plants, because usually at least half of them won't grow anyway. This year, all of them grew, and two so powerfully that I had to take slippings, and these slippings in turn all took root, and then I got another plant from the uphill neighbour which I couldn't politely refuse, so now I have rather more plants than I bargained for -- which I guess is good, but I have to re-think my initial plans to make room for all of them.) Eh well, if they all manage to bring me ripe tomatoes, I shan't complain further!

* Am having an "actionism!" phase. Unfortunately it's neither typical nesting ("CLEAN ALL THE THINGS!") nor fannish actionism, but rather (mostly LARPish... it's that time of the year) creative stuff for which I lack the materials or skillz or both. Might nonetheless be tempted to try. At any rate, motivation is a good thing, even if it's kinda pointless motivation. Particularly if it's motivation for something other than sewing (current creative project of choice is "Pimp my cheap IKEA nursing bag!", which will result in something reasonably awesome, but my sewing finger is pretty raw by now, so I'll need a break after that). So there we go.

* Oh and I made carrot cake yesterday, with some variations from the original recipe (WTF what kind of crazy person puts ground apricot kernels into a cake? Don't those contain, like, Prussic acid?) and from my first attempt at the recipe (which was tasty enough but kinda dry). Added more baking powder, replaced apricot kernels with sweet almonds (I just trust those more, 'k?), replaced maize grits with just more "normal" flour (well, wholemeal spelt flour, but that's still more normal than maize grits :P), added chopped apple. Refused to mess around with the eggs as the recipe demanded (in the original recipe, you're supposed to separate the whites from the yolks, beat the whites, beat the yolks and mix them with all the other ingredients, then put the beaten whites back in. I assume this is supposed to make the cake fluffy or something, but as I said it was pretty dry nonetheless. So this time around I just put the eggs in whole from the start (I mean, without the shells, clearly, but whites and yolks together, yes?) because I hate separating eggs and certainly won't do it if it doesn't serve some sort of point. And I even used less eggs than the recipe called for because I only had two eggs left and our uphill neighbours' chickens had an unproductive week. AND IT WAS AWESOME. Not the least bit dry, instead sweet and fruity and juicy. Despite the spelt flour, too! Screw you, absurdly complicated recipe with your weird ingredients. I MADE YOU SIMPLER AND BETTER.

And that concludes today's random joyspam. Not a "Five things that made me happy" meme participant, but it might as well be...

Comments

[barbardin.livejournal.com]

Macht man nicht Persipan aus Aprikosenkernen? *kopfkratz*

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Pfirsich- oder Aprikosenkernen, ja - allerdings werden die vorher "entbittert". Aber vertrauenswürdig als Kuchenzutat wollen Aprikosenkerne mir trotzdem nicht sein. Außerdem: Ich kauf doch nicht extra Aprikosenkerne (oder esse Unmengen an Aprikosen ;)), wenn ich eh Mandeln im Haus habe und nicht mal weiß, ob die Aprikosenkerne geschmacklich ein Bringer sind. Vor diesem Möhren-Giersch-Kuchen sind mir die noch NIE in einem Kochrezept untergekommen!

[cowboy-r.livejournal.com]

Germany has much cooler LARP events than the USA. Even considering the abundance of SCA stuff around Arizona, Germany's seems so much cooler. I think the actual castles have something to do with it....

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

The grass is always greener... etc. ;) Although in this case I happen to agree - but then, our LARP scene is what I'm used to, so the American way of LARP looks kinda weird to me. *ducks*
SCA events have (from what I hear) very little to do with LARP, though, they seem to go more into the re-enactment/pseudo-medievalism line (although that line gets blurred on occasion, of course). And I'm not sure the actual castles really have that much of an impact - all the big cool LARP events don't take place at castles, but on fields somewhere, otherwise there wouldn't be room enough. The MEF is located between two castles, that's true, but then it isn't a LARP (nor a Medievalism thing), "just" a huge Tolkien geek party. Castle LARPs tend to be more small-ish and private. (Although they can still be awesome, of course.)

[cowboy-r.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, you're right. Technically, the SCA is not a LARP event, though if LARP events had been around when Diana Paxson earned her Ph.D., it might well have been.

I may have mentioned that I was an exchange student in Göttingen when I was younger. Years after, I had an email exchange with one of my friends from there, and he said he'd met his wife at a LARP event. I've always been vaguely jealous.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

I dunno how it is over there; over here, many re-enactment people strictly don't want to have anything to do with LARP. Of course, that's probably a PR problem (coupled with the occasional encounter with people in t-shirts and cheap black leather armour with badly-glued on elf ears who think they're cool LARPers ;)) mostly - these days, many people who do LARP put just as much effort into their garb and gear as re-enactment people do, so the only dividing line are the fantasy elements in LARP. And as their are low-fantasy (=pseudo-history) and historical LARPs as well by now, it's sometimes hard to explain where the difference is!

I have a couple like that on my flist. ^^ On the other hand, I have yet to succeed in dragging my husband to a LARP event. *sighs*

[independence1776]

Congrats on the noms!

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Thank you, and congratulations on yours as well!

[chili-das-schaf.livejournal.com]

Even I have excessive tomatoes and I'm just a balcony gardener. And I thought I was way, way too late with sowing them. But last week they all went OMG FREEDOM because of the weather.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Yup, 2011 will go down into history as The Year The Tomatoes Went Wild. As a balcony gardener you probably have the huge advantage of not having to worry about excessive rain, too ^^

[leaf-light.livejournal.com]

Hi, I was exploring a little and found your journal and this entry. Apologies for commenting without introducing myself, but I've seen you on a mutual friend's journal.

Congratulations on the MEFA nominations, all that gardening and sowing and on improving the cake recipe, which sounds much improved I have to say.

Since I don't speak German you may already be discussing this in your first comment, but in case you aren't there are two kinds of apricot kernels, the kind in most eating apricots (except hunzas which have tiny but delicious kernels) is as bitter as sin due to the high cyanide content and only very small amounts can be eaten safely. But the other kind is sweet and nutty and very delicious, I can highly recommend them. Just in case someone offers you some one day and you worry they're trying to poison you *g*. (Almonds also come in bitter and sweet varieties, but generally only the sweet are sold). I'm a fountain of useless information. The cake sounds great the way you made it though.

And yes, it's The Year The Tomatoes Went Wild here too, everyone is trying to give everyone else their excess. Very amusing to watch.

Love the blue flower in your last icon. Is it borage? If not I'd be very interested to know what it is as I'm addicted to finding new blue flowers to grow.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Hi there, you're kind of introducing yourself right here, so that's perfectly fine! :)

Nah, in the first comment we were just talking about persipan/parzipan, for which apricot kernels are used but only after they've been especially treated to make them less bitter. I had no idea there were different kinds of apricot kernels - I never came across them in the context of cooking until I discovered that cake recipe! I only knew about sweet and bitter almonds.

Yes, that's borage - nothing new this time, sorry! So you're "collecting" blue flowers?

[leaf-light.livejournal.com]

I'm now curious about persipan, is it related to marzipan or something completely different?

Yes I have an obsession with flowers of a certain blue, although generally my garden is planted with 'bee' flowers, and to a lesser extent 'butterfly' ones. I don't keep bees as I've now read you do but I particularly love bumble bees and have a large variety of them in my garden, (and honey bees from nearby hives visit me in the autumn for the sedums) so the violet blue that they love best predominates. However that borage type blue just fascinates me and i collect it wherever I find it (all too rarely, sadly).

While I'm at it good luck with your imminent arrival. Childbirth is one of those experiences unique to everyone but I hope it goes easily and problem free for you. It certainly doesn't have to be a terrible experience, mine wasn't.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

It's basically marzipan, but made with peach or apricot kernels instead of almonds. It used to be a lot cheaper though.

Do you have Echium and cornflowers? (You probably do, but just in case...) They're pretty much the same blue, and bumblebees love them. We have insane amounts of bumblebees of all sorts around this year - the dry spring was good for them, I think...

Thank you! I do hope the birth will be as the pregnancy has been on the whole. I admit I'm a bit nervous, though, but that's probably natural...

[leaf-light.livejournal.com]

I have Echium, and one day will succeed with cornflowers. I noticed with interest in one of your earlier posts that your comfrey was nearly over in early May, but mine has just gone on and on, even though the few storms we've had has flattened it to grow horizontally, but the bees don't mind. Yes it was a hot dry spring indeed. My bee population doesn't seem to be any larger than usual, but I'm always happy to know they're doing well anywhere. Wild marjoram is more loved by them than any other plant I've ever come across, but you may know that.

I loved your flower/garden photos from earlier in the year, do you have any from now? And I've been pondering your nine vegetable beds, that's certainly impressive.

I imagine persipan would be delicious if it was made with sweet kernels to start with, but a lot more expensive than marzipan.I'm not too sure about the idea of treated bitter ones though. Does it taste similar?

I think it'd be more surprising if you weren't nervous about the birth, but it's like doing anything new, there's a tendency to worry a little first. I found it much better than I was expecting it to be, and I hope you find the same, no reason why not. It's a wonderful new adventure you're about to embark on. I envy you being at the start of it.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Yes, after cutting out the whithered comfrey, I discovered that there were new leaves and flowers coming from within-- I have them staked up so they don't cover the entire flowerbed, so the new shoots didn't get enough light, being in the middle, but after the dead branches were removed they grew up happily. Currently, our bees are most excited about the St John's wort, though - but then, the oregano is only just beginning to bloom.

I have a few, but not enough yet for one of my infamous "picspams" - you can have a look at July last years (http://oloriel.livejournal.com/421697.html#cutid1) if you're really curious, though! Or just wait for the next, but I have no idea when that will be.
The nine vegetable beds sound more impressive than they are! Actually it's just a field of about 3x4 meters that I partitioned into nine different patches, so nothing all that big. I'm experimenting with intercropping this year so it doesn't look exactly orderly, either! Although it's highly systematic, last winter I spent days checking lists and planning where and when to plant what. Of course, I've already had to ignore half of the plans...

I have to admit that I never ate persipan pure -- only as an ingredient in confectionery! So I can't honestly tell what it'd taste like on its own. In Stollen or chocolates, I didn't really notice a difference to marzipan. But then I'm not a big fan of marzipan in the first place. ^^

Heh, yeah, I think it'd be quite worrying if I weren't at least a little nervous. Adventures, after all, can be scary too! But it's mostly the excited kind of nervous. :)

[leaf-light.livejournal.com]

Excited kind of nervous is good. You don't have long to go now do you?

I've never been a huge fan of St John's wort but maybe I should reconsider.

Marzipan is what it is, it's never been a first choice of mine whereas I really love apricot kernels, especially toasted, so I thought maybe they'd taste better than almonds in a paste.

Intercropping is a good thing, and however big or small your beds I'm impressed at the planning, even if the plans haven't quite worked out - when do they ever? What are you growing apart from tomatoes?

I would have loved to look at your last July 'picspam' but sadly Frank the Goat stuck his tongue out at me and told me access is denied. I'm guessing that with your new baby due so soon the next picspam will be either right now or next year, lol, but I'll keep a watch out.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

One week if the baby sticks to the due date! Which I know he probably won't, but it's still a useful guideline.

Really? Aw, it's got such nice bright flowers. And it's useful, too! And then (in my case) there's all the childhood nostalgia about midsummer and spotting the little oil dots and "fairy blood"...

Well, I like toasted almonds, but wouldn't say they taste much like marzipan. So I don't know whether that'd work any better with apricot kernels! In a paste, I think the sugar kind of overrides the lovely nutty taste.

Loads of things - carrots, peas, beans, kohlrabi, beetroot, onions and shallots, pumpkins (in different spots though), lettuce, mustard, zucchini and cucumbers, potatoes and all sorts of herbs. Later on, fennel, parsnips, leek, broccoli, celery, brussel sprouts and cabbage, if they choose to grow, and of course spinach. In spring I had radishes, turnip tops, field salad, rhubarb and orache.
This year I'm only really trying to figure out what things like to grow on our soil and what things need too much encouragement/looking after, hence the chaos; next year I'll probably have less different veggies. Or maybe I'll expand the veggie part of the garden. We'll see!

Ah, I forgot that I had that one under friendslock after a bout of paranoia... fixed it, so now it should work! (Although I could just add you to the flist, come to think of it...)