Recent Adventures #3

More exploration this weekend: It was a day of various mounts - Mount Lookout, Mount Washington, and Mount Adams.

Sunday was gorgeous, so we finally went to Ault Park, which is supposed to have one of the best views in Cincinnati. I can't really argue with that assertion. I think Mount Lookout is the hill the park is on, and you can see across the valley to Kentucky pretty much. The trees have finally burst into color, so seeing them from above was really neat.

After that, we checked out a comic shop in Mount Washington. It had that classic dusty smell, and was full of old school issues in long-boxes and plastic. The clerk/owner looked kind of defeated, and it made me a bit sad. It can't be a very profitable business to be in these days. The store had mostly the big name Marvel/DC/Dark Horse fare that's easy to find anywhere, though there was a hardcover Firefly/Serenity book I would have liked. I wish there were a store in the area to find smaller independent comics, and printings of webcomics. I suppose if you're going to be cutting edge in the comic business these days, you have to first of all be doing business online, and also with print-on-demand places like Lulu and such for special orders and small online comics. Even then, I imagine there's not an awful lot of money to be made in the business these days.

After Mount Washington, we made our way back up to Mount Adams, which we finally discovered on Friday. I'm still kind of giddily excited about that neighborhood. It reminds me so much of a small east coast town--maybe old-school Vermont or Maine, with narrow hilly streets, and pretty, ivy-covered old buildings all nestled together. We ate at the place that used to be the Rookwood Pottery Factory. It still has the giant brick kilns and chimneys in place. In fact, there are tables within each of the three huge kilns--they're pretty much private rooms now.

It's blurry, but it was a nice view!

I was glad to get the chance to take some pictures, since I've been wanting to try my hand at putting together some HDR photos. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, and I guess the simplest description is that it's a compilation of several identical photos of different exposures, which uses the best exposed bits of the image to create one more like what the human eye sees. At the same time as being more like what we actually see, they're also a bit bizarre because they can be ultra vivid, and crisp in ways we don't often see photos. HDR photos can also be tweaked into utterly surreal, gorgeous images. Er... I'm still getting the hang of the whole "gorgeous" part here. Here are a a couple attempts at HDR images. I'm not using RAW files like I should be for these, so they're pretty grainy and "noisy" at times. Ah well. Fun all the same. This one is from out front of the uber art deco Union Terminal Museum Center. It's a bit on the surreal side, but I think it's interesting to look at, and it's not so boring a photo as it was.


Here's the pavilion at the top of Ault Park. A little more realistic. The sky was actually that blue.


These are a couple from a bridge up on Mount Adams. The city view was pretty fantastic. We could see all the way to Union Terminal on the other side of town.


Anyway, after a bunch of rain last week, we're being rewarded with some days of gorgeousness. It's Halloween today, and although we don't bother celebrating it, it's fun to see how excited the kids walking home from school are. It was chilly yesterday, but today I stepped out onto the patio to find it was sunny, in the high sixties, and our entire neighborhood smelled of freshly made waffle cones. Huh? I have no idea. I did hear the school marching band in the distance not too long ago, so perhaps there's a festival-type function happening? Anyway, I've opened all the windows (mmmm....wafflecones....) and I'm expecting small people in costumes to come seeking sugar any minute now, so I'd better go.

Eureka!

The author of XKCD has just solved a persistent problem for the boy and I.

Behold!

Rawk n' Bawk

So we just had an exceedingly delectable dinner of chicken, and I thought I'd share the recipe in case anyone wants to give it a shot. It was actually pretty low-key in the time you actually spend making it, which is always a massive plus in the kitchen. I kind of compiled several recipes and this is what happened. Please excuse my not having precise measurements. The kitchen might as well be a lab with all the experimenting that happens in there.

So, without further adieu... Preheat your oven to 500 F. Yes, I know. HOT. But you turn it down later. It just gets things crispified.

Stuff you'll need:

• Chicken, duh. We used a whole one, though I could see this working well with chicken breastses.
• Roasted cashews. Lots of them. The ones I used were salted, which was fine.
• fresh basil - a good handful of it. If you don't have basil, parsley might work, as well as (shudder) cilantro, which I hate. Don't worry about stems and such.
  
• two cloves of garlic, or two decent dollops of pre-minced garlic
• soy sauce
• lime juice. I actually used lemon because I didn't have any lime, but I think it would be even better with lime.
  
• Olive oil. You could also use one of the lighter oils like grapeseed oil or walnut oil.
• fresh jalopeños, diced - I only used one, and was a little sad I didn't use two. I like things fairly spicy, but I would recommend one for people who aren't sure how spicy they'd like it. Careful when you're cutting these suckers up. That oil is pretty hard to get off your hands, and it stings like a mother when you rub your eyes.
  

So. Get out an instrument that will make something into a mash. I had to use our lame blender, but if you have a food processor, that would be ideal. Into the blender or whatever, dump:

a cup and a half of cashews - Make sure there are some left for later
the garlic
some soy - I probably used a couple tablespoons?
all the basil or whatever herb
a blop of olive oil
lime juice - couple tablespoons here too, maybe?
sea salt
fresh ground pepper
the jalopeños

The idea is to blend all this stuff into a paste. You can use the soy and lime juice to control the wetness of it, etc. I kind of went by smell as well. you don't want one thing to be overpowering.

If you're using a whole chicken, put it into a baking pan that has some room around it, and stuff it with whole cashews and a bunch of the paste you just made. You can also rub a bunch of the paste all over the outside of it.

Stick the chicken in the oven and turn it down at once to 350 F. Then, walk away and do other things for about an hour and a half, depending on how big your chicken is. Time varies according to weight, so you'd have to figure out the appropriate amount.

All that's left is pulling it out when it's done, and digging in!

It turned out to be nutty and savory with a tad of spiciness as well. Just lovely. We're thinking we'll probably try this on our thanksgiving turkey, since we can't have bread stuffing. I bet that some baby portabellas would be good chopped into the stuffing, too.

Let me know if you try it, and what you think!

How do I love thee?

I can only think of a a couple ways, but that's a-ok. I'm talking about Arnica Gel, people. It's my product of the month. According to wikipedia, Arnica is in the same family as the common sunflower, and has been used for ages as a salve for bruises and aches.

Warning: Frou frou girly-type topics ahead!

Aside from the advertised uses, which I haven't tried, here are my discoveries:

Puffy eyes - It actually works really well when you don't get enough sleep and have puffy eyes, which I manage to get on occasion. The fact that the gel base is witch hazel can't hurt, I'm sure, though witch hazel on its own is just too strong for me. I'd been told hemmorhoid cream would do the trick so when E. and I were at the drugstore once I took a detour to grab some. She seems a little nonplussed, so I explained I was going to try it for reducing eye puff. At that point, another lady walked into the aisle and caught only the last part of the conversation, which was me standing there with Prep-H in hand, and E. exclaiming, "Cool! You've got to tell me how it works, and I might try it!" Anyway, the point is that Arnica works as well as Prep H, and doesn't sting at all.

Post waxing - my poor legs are never happy after having the hairs ripped forcefully out. The gel does a pretty nice job of soothing and making the red go away.

Burns - This is what inspired me to post on Arnica Gel. Last night I was making a caulifower dish and it was boiling away merrily, and I was cooking merrily, until I stupidly popped the top off the pot with my thumb exposed to the crack, and got a wicked steam burn. Those of you who haven't had a steam burn, imagine, if you will, some of your flesh being boiled. Yum. In any case, I cannot over emphasize enough the importance of putting ice immediately and for a long time on burns. I realize this may seem obvious, but I think in the past I've only kept the ice on for a bit, and ended up with a burn that stung for days. I wrapped my hand in a bag of frozen peas, and oh-so-bravely finished the dish, which, by the way was pretty yummy. After a couple hours and a couple change-outs of ice, I tested not having anything cold on it, and it felt basically like someone was sawing my hand off. Awesome! that was when I thought of the Arnica Gel, which I slathered on generously. It cooled it nicely, and within a few minutes, the pain was pretty much gone unless I bumped my thumb on something. Today, it doesn't feel like anything, though there's a vivid red mark there. So next time you get a burn, give it the old one-two: fast and long ice application, and then blob something along the lines of Arnica onto it.

I'm not saying there's nothing that could replace Arnica or do what it does, but I do think it's a handy multipurpose thingy to have around.

_____________________


I know cauliflower doesn't top everyone's list of delicious vegetables, but it's actually quite good this way:

1. steam until it falls apart when you poke it with a fork. if you have leeks, add a bunch and steam them along with it.
2. stick cauliflower and leeks into blender or food processor with the following:
- salt & pepper
- nutmeg
- garlic
- dab of cream

3. blend until the consistency of mashed potatoes, and add cream if it's too dry. Basically treat it like mashed potatoes from here on out. Serve with a pat of butter, etc.

It makes a good replacement if you're eating low carb and really miss having a pile of mushy white stuff on the side of your plate. I hate when people say things like "It's juuust like mashed potatoes!" because it's not. It's quite good though, and I really like the subtleness of the nutmeg. Don't compare the two and you'll find it stands pretty well on its own.

Hah!

So... another format change because: When I was messing with the settings on my template a few days ago, I thought, "hmm.. I like this look, but it somehow seems familiar... ." It was bugging me, until I went over to Sojourn North and realized I had copped that look exactly, right down to the photo replacement for the header. Heh... Apologies, Woman North! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or the sincerest form of me being an oblivious dork.

Did you hear that?

"Back in the Day," I think the internet was easier to simply bumble around, discovering things. People built ugly pages just jam packed with information about obscure things, just for the sake of bestowing their knowledge upon the world wide web. One found these pages via search engine, or links from said interesting page, to another interesting page. While the awful flashing gifs and such were hard on the eyes, (and the aesthetic sensibilities), it seems as though it was easier then to stumble onto new things. Nowadays, (insert old lady voice), one searches, but gets redirected to commercial sites, linked to ads, and barraged with cookie requests more often than one finds something truly new and interesting. And git off muh virtual lawn!

In order to reacquaint myself with the internet of old, I stuck the StumbleUpon toolbar into my browser. It's not one of those awful and intrusive "Find a deal!" toolbars that I so detest. You specify what types of pages you're interested in "stumbling upon," and a click of the button sends you to a random site fitting those specifications. You're able to give a thumbs up or down to the page you reach, making it more likely that StumbleUpon will send you someplace you're interested in being. You're also able to submit a new page, if you so desire, by simply giving it a thumbs up or down and filling out the subsequent little form describing what it is.

The only thing that annoys me about it is that it asks to set cookies for the next page in line before you actually see the page you're stumbling to.

Anyway, the point of this post is that I recently found a neat site that could be an interesting resource: A page full of sounds. Ever wonder what a pheasant sounds like? Or curious about what a sounds Geiger counter makes? This is your page. Neat stuff.

Prettier than your average documentary

The Boy with the Incredible Brain is a documentary that follows the mental magic of Daniel Tammet, who is able to do insane mathematical calculations in his head with seemingly no effort.

The subject matter is intriguing all on its own--a young man who can recite twenty thousand numbers of pi by memory, who can learn languages ridiculously quickly, and will never need a calculator for anything--ever, unless it's for someone to check the fact that he's right.

However, I'm impressed at the prettiness of the documentary as well. It's beautifully put together, the music is lovely and the overall look if the thing is much more interesting than the usual fare.

More Low-key Adventures.

It was in the 70s today, which made running errands a pleasure. I am happy about the fact that I literally "run errands." Well, technically, I walk errands, but whatever.

Here's a view from a bench in Old Town Center - I mentioned posting this a couple days ago.



This is the bell tower I was also talking about. I try to time things so I'm nearby when it rings noon or six. We can hear it from our house, but it's fun actually see the bells go (deafening, but fun). I have no idea what one does to actually play a carillon. Will have to look that up.



There are several trails of various lengths that start at the (completely landlocked!?) old stone boathouse. I poked around in the woods for a while, and though you're really not that far from civilization, it feels like a gentle sort of forest wilderness. The trails are mostly in a valley, while the roads and houses are up above, so the noise of cars and such doesn't make its way in.



In other news, this is the favorite thing I have on my desk. J made it a while ago, and I can't stop inspecting it. So many little things to see. You must click the photo to make it big enough to get a good look.

Recent Adventures

I try to go walking around our neighborhood a lot so I don't go stir crazy in the house.

Is it a holiday of some kind? Perhaps some sort of flag competition I was unaware of?

There's a neat old church a block over. One gets to it by passing through the super-secret slate-roofed portal.



I like mission style lights, and I approve this arbor.



"I'll meet you at the cemetery gates. Keats and Yeats are on your side, while Wilde is on mine." A Smiths quote is almost always appropriate. Almost.





Quite a lot of grave markers from the 1800s. RIP, Sarah Jewett. She was younger than me when she died, yet she was a wife and a mother several times over.



This house across the street was begging to be sepia toned.



Walking through this area makes me feel almost as though I were in the Lake District. This neighbor has the "romantic English garden" down pat. I adore it.



As small as the village is, I still find new and interesting things almost every time I go walking. More to come: I was going to take some pictures of Old Town Center, which the church and these houses cluster around, but there was a lady sitting by the fountain eating lunch. I didn't want to bother her. Next time.

It's Official

I have the most adorable niece and nephews (plural now!!) EVER. I keep pictures of them handy in order to have a sudden dose of cheer when I need it. Here are the feet of the most recent addition to the unbearable cuteness (as of the end of September):


I can not stop staring at all his pictures. I can not wait to meet him in person.

I made a thing a while back before he was born, and recently worked up the courage to send it. For some reason, after looking at a project long enough when I'm working on it, I lose all sense of whether it's stupid or not. Ah well. It's fine, though I always feel like I could make it a million times better next time. It's a bird mobile with the birds sewn out of felt. Here are the first three:



And for some reason I didn't take any pictures of the fourth when it was done, but here's its little unstuffed body.



I made a leaf kind of thing for the middle of it.



The crossbars were made out of some dowel stained with coffee and sealed, and I left the ribbons uncut so they could be adjusted for height and balance, then trimmed.

I was kind of hoping for a fifties sort of feel for the whole thing, which I'm not sure I achieved. I love the felt toys of that era. I think in that regard, maybe the little green bird worked out best? H.A. has asked me what the names of the birds are, so she can tell them to the Tiny. Hmm... Anyone have any ideas? I kind of think they'd be names along the lines of what you'd find in Beatrix Potter books, or some-such.

It was fun to break out the sewing machine again. I'm looking forward to having a permanent setup for it. Now to work on Christmas ideas...

So sweet it may cause tooth decay.

True story about an orphaned maccaque whose best friend is now a pigeon. Aww.