vital functions

[kaberett]

Reading. So many things. Or at least it feels that way. Unsure if actually So Many.

The Challenge of Pain, Ronald Melzack & Patrick D. Wall. FINISHED. And it remained absolutely fascinating and very illuminating, but in a way that's very insight-into-history-of-the-field; I would be wary about recommending it unless either you're familiar with and interested in said context or you're reading it in a structured learning environment where you've got someone to tell you which things are now considered egregiously wrong.

Ouch! Why Pain Hurts, and Why It Doesn't Have To, Linda McRobbie. I have read approximately one and a half pages of introduction on this one, and then put it back down, because I didn't want to have to start taking notes just then. Has not annoyed me so far, in particular by acknowledging that a bunch of its audience might not actually be labouring under Misapprehensions Of Descartes.

Chide the Waves and Seek Sweet Safety, Seanan McGuire. She sure is enjoying getting to write this canonical AU, huh. But visiting with these characters was very soothing, and I'm glad I'd got them stored up. And am contemplating yet another whole-series reread... with bonus notes on continuity errors.

Index, a history of the, Dennis Duncan. Have read approx three whole pages of this particular introduction. Was mildly indignant at

A history of the index is really a story about time and knowledge and the relationship between the two. It's the story of our accelerating need to access information at speed, and of a parallel need for the contents of books to be divisible, discrete, extractable units of knowledge.

... and have not picked it back up since yelling about that because: distracted by cookbooks, and also it turns out hardbacks are still heavy and I still don't love holding them in my personal hands.

Forgotten Fruits, Christopher Stock, Officially DNF. Probably. Unless I get sucked back in. Added to my "maybe consider reading this" tag in Libby; picked up when I was having a not-great night for insomnia. First harrumph was prompted by

Today [Cox's Orange Pippin] is the most widely grown apple world, yet every one of those millions of trees can trace its ancestry directly back to that single seedling, planted by Richard Cox at The Lawns, Colnbrook, in 1825.

because THAT IS NOT HOW APPLE PROPAGATION WORKS, ACTUALLY. Which he indicates knowledge of about three pages later! And then about another five pages after that we get

Britain's love affair with apples started early on. Small, sour crab apples are thought to be indigenous to Britain, and the word for apple (abhal in Celtic and aval in Cornish and Breton) found its way into a number of ancient place-names such as Avalon...

1. no I'm pretty sure you mean ábhal, actually
2. WHICH language exactly is it that we're calling Celtic???
3. because I think you will find the modern Irish is úll, actually!!!
4. would you look at that: wiktionary helpfully provides a full list of cognates.

SO YES if I do succumb to the temptation to continue reading this it will be in the Expectation of Grousing.

The Painted Garden Cookbook, Mary Woodin. Bought from Oxfam in a(n extended) moment of weakness: it had already been indexed on EYB, and none of the recipes looked particularly interesting based on said index, but the conceit, right, is that it's a cookbook... where all of the illustrations are watercolour. And I have such a weakness for botanical watercolour. I have almost but not quite finished at time of writing (might yet finish it before bed?); I am indeed not interested (enough) in any of the recipes to keep it, but the illustrations are gorgeous and I am enjoying looking at them and going BUT HOW THOUGH about the fundamental nature of watercolour, even as I am mildly indignant at the realisation that several of the individual images have been reused at different points in the book, just slightly differently composited.

Blackberry Cottage, Kate Saunders. Subtitle: Cakes with secret ingredients, from aubergine to zucchini. This one I did buy for indexing purposes (I have got as far as cucumber...) but I'm also really tempted to try a lot of the recipes. Or, well, I'm tempted to try a lot of the cake recipes; I'm more dubious about ice cream recipes featuring whole raw egg, though I suppose I could adapt the ones that sound most relevant to my interests. Gorgeous food styling and photography, also.

& I finished indexing Cherries & Mulberries, and that has (as was foretold) gone back to the charity shop box.

And I am now TWO months behind on Dreamwidth. TWO. Ahahahaha.

Playing. Several more rounds of Fluxx.

Tukoni: Prologue, "a point-and-click puzzle adventure" featuring beautiful botanical art. Very very much enjoyed this tiny snippet (a mushroom! that makes it rain! when you pat it!) and am mildly dismayed at the five-year gap between the release of this prologue and the subsequent demo of what will theoretically be a full game...

Cooking. ALSO SO MANY THINGS.

• another recipe from East: chilli tofu
• green beans in tomato sauce with fennel seeds, feta, and toast, loosely inspired by a thing out of the latest Ottolenghi cookbook (in the sense that I went looking for confirmation of my sense that the thing I was thinking of doing would work, found it, and promptly carried on with my intentions rather than the recipe I was distinctly less into)
• smitten kitchen's vegetarian cassoulet, with the addition of Dubious Protein Chunks
• a quince cake, which I made a lot of modifications to, and of which I am dubious, probably because of those modifications (but A seems to like it, so that's a win)
• hazelnut and treacle Welsh cakes, leaving us with two remaining recipes of any interest in the tourist-tat Welsh cakes cookbook (cranberry + white chocolate is a no, as are the two recipes containing bacon; double choc chip is a maybe, and I'm willing to consider that Caerphilly + leek might have merits but A is distinctly more dubious)
• soda bread! notable because (i) not sourdough, (ii) using the buttermilk culture I have successfully kept alive this time around (and have now refreshed), and (iii) I ignored all of the instructions about Handling It As Little As Possible and as a result it achieved Structural Integrity, which I usually do... not manage

Eating. I have successfully worked out how to make Wagamama's current menu provide me with food I will actually look forward to, which is A Great Victory. Located the last of last year's seasonal Dark Chocolate With Raspberry and have been gently nibbling it. QUINCE. And another variety of apple from an abandoned neighbouring plot at the allotment; this one is Very Crunchy and Very Red but not particularly flavours.

(The tree that got planted so as to encroach on my plot is some kind of cooker, unsure which, because my usual approach to cooking apples is James Grieve from my mother's garden...)

Making & mending. I think that, inspired by some helpful answers on reddit, I have got my clicky fountain pen clicking reliably again? It was doing a thing where it wouldn't lock, and it was pointed out to me that probably the issue was going to be located in the knock not at the trap door, so I... wrote the pen dry, rinsed out the ACCUMULATED DUST OF THE YEARS (THANKS DADFORD ROAD), and since then it's been behaving beautifully. Long may it continue.

Growing. There are still tomatoes? Also kohlrabi. I only managed a single flying visit to the plot this week; at some point soonish I'm going to need to get A to take me over with the car so I can retrieve from the greenhouse the various peppers I'm hoping to overwinter. I do not appear to have been issued with a Non-Cultivation Order in this round of inspections, which is a very welcome surprise!

Observing. A has seen the bat! I have not seen the bat because I have been Preoccupied with Other Things (misc). But the bat has not yet put itself to bed for the winter. <3

Comments

[vass]

Has not annoyed me so far, in particular by acknowledging that a bunch of its audience might not actually be labouring under Misapprehensions Of Descartes.

*pauses to admire this sentence*

Index, a history of the, Dennis Duncan.

At least the title's good.

I do not appear to have been issued with a Non-Cultivation Order in this round of inspections, which is a very welcome surprise!

<3

[shanaqui]

I would be curious about Caerphilly + leek, sounds like a classic combo. Though I am Very Dubious about Welsh cakes different from the "standard" recipe I know, as you know...

[pseudomonas]

Tell me about things to do with quince? I came into posession of a couple of kilos of quinces made a https://www.davidlebovitz.com/quince-tarte-tatin/ and it was awesome but I have peeled and chunked and frozen the rest in the hope of another idea.