State of the Ferret

I haven't read LJ since Paradise, so if something was important, please let me know.

I had a faboo time at Paradise. I came home with three days of the flu, and the morning after I came home (September 1st), my grandfather died. As of June 1st, I had 4 grandparents. As of September 1st, I had 2. This is still strange to me.

I switched jobs at work, with frustratingly little success at handing off my old duties and a difficult time feeling like I'm getting training at my new duties. But I am staggering on, and reminding myself that my responsibility is to keep asking for information, and I'm doing that.

I survived critique at the writer's group last month just before Paradise, and at Paradise I met a wonderful woman who is a published author, who read a sample of my stuff and said, "Stop listening to people who enjoy picking over every word of their own work and never publish. Get an agent. Now. Don't worry about making it novel-shaped; there are places who *want* novella and shorts, particularly if the author can provide six installments up front." She then gave me some specific advice on what kinds of description I do need to add, and how to include plot exposition so that I can let stories stand independently.

So I'm chewing on that. I'm on the hot seat for critique again on Monday. I'm going to do my best to take their critique with her advice in mind.

I am also in a writing class through September, three hours each Tuesday night. It's terrifying, in the good way, and it's asking me to write on command during class time, which is like, "Ack!" My assignment this week is to eavesdrop on conversations and try to write down cadences and verbatim speech patterns.

I've been anxious, but I think it's under control. It'll be better under control when work straightens out.

I ordered Doctor Who new seasons 1-3 and Torchwood season 1 from The Internet and got bootlegs. I raised hell for almost a month trying to find a refund solution that did not involve sending them back to the bootlegger for resale, but finally mailed them off last Friday. I take some small pleasure in having caused PayPal a lot of hassle and having learned how to file an official report at i3c.gov. (It's not that I'm against a little friendly copying between friends, but when I pay a couple hundred dollars to support the Beeb, I want it to actually support the Beeb.) My favorite typo on the box: "Britsh Broadcasting Corortion." J's favorite: "FROOF OF PURCHASE."

I made a new friend Wednesday night; arjache and I talked for 8 continuous hours, 6pm to 2am. Doctor Who, my writing, her writing, identity politics, good stuff. I felt like I was an undergraduate again, that spontaneous flurry of intellectual connection and not caring how late you stay up. Lordy, did I pay for it in the morning when I had to go to work, but very very worth it.

J and I have been getting better, I think. I got some hard advice at Paradise, and I'm trying to confront the difficulties of my primary relationship again. We talked about it, and... well, we're still talking about it, but we're actually getting stronger as a couple for separating some things out. He's been a lot more affectionate lately, too.

I have been making amazing ice cream. More on that next post.

I think that's the general overview of State of the Ferret.

Mulled wine ice cream

I have made very strange and very tasty ice cream. I am hereby sharing the recipe, and in the interests of science, I am listing it exactly as I made it, even though I think I will make a couple modifications next time. (Cinnamon sticks instead of ground, nutmeg, and adding the fruit elements later in the reduction process.)

( Chianti, orange peel, cinnamon, cloves, apple juice, brown sugar, and custard makes... )

Results: Perfect texture, better than any I'd made before. Amazing and strange flavor, no alcohol aftertaste at all (I'm very sensitive to it). Definitely a nibblin' ice cream, not a gulpin' ice cream. Wonderful subtle stuff.

Cherry ice cream

My cherry ice cream didn't work so good. (I made this in early August, I think.) I didn't let the machine get cold enough first, was part of the problem, but I also made it with too thin a base, so the texture came out all wacky. Tasty flavors, though.

2c half and half
1c whole milk
1/4c hunney
3/4 lb cherries, chopped fine
1/8c chopped almonds

Heat milk and hunney. Let cool 5 min. Add cherries. Chill. Freeze in machine. In last 5 min of freezing, add almonds.

I'd make this recipe with a *lot* more fat next time, probably 2c cream, 1c half and half, and 3 egg yolks like I did for the wine ice cream. (The wine ice cream learned a lot from this experiment.) I still wouldn't reduce the cherries in any way or take out the juice. The fresh cherry flavor was incredible.

Green tea ice cream, ridiculously dark chocolate ice cream

The first ice cream I made was green tea flavored, and the second was very dark chocolate. I've misplaced my notes on the process for those, but ohhh they were good. I'll find them.

The basic procedure for the green tea one in case I never find the notes:
1c green tea leaves
enough boiling water to steep them and extract 1/4 c liquid

Mash the leaves down with a spoon to get out the 1/4 c liquid. It will be dark sludgy green. Mince 2 Tbsp of the leaves. Throw both into a standard ice cream base. (I think I used a custard base with 3c half and half, eggs, and white sugar.)

This stuff was a little chewy because I should have minced the leaves finer, but the texture was otherwise good. I don't actually like green tea, so I can't vouch for the flavor, but the green tea lovers in the house were mad for it. WARNING: It had a caffeine punch, as measured by J who has a pretty high tolerance.

The basic procedure for the chocolate ice cream was adding about twice as much dark chocolate and baker's chocolate as any recipe on the internet called for. I believe it was 4 oz of solid chocolate, plus a scoop of dutch-processed cocoa.

The result was tasty, but I should have used a lighter base. I had used 2c cream, 1c half and half, and eggs. With all the solid chocolate in, it was so creamy it didn't quite taste cold. Next time I'd use half and half and milk instead.