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May. 3rd, 2020 12:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sorcyressIt Saturday!
It a _really good day!_
Today started with scrambling out of bed as subtly as possible in order to not wake up Austin, then going to the online photography class I'm taking. (Photo class is honestly mostly just an impetus to take more pictures, since that is a thing I actually like in my life, but frequently forget about. But I also get to see lots of pretty photos taken by other people, and I get to see some of my faraway friends, and I do get to listen to someone who is an expert talk about stuff (which is _always_ a good thing!))
After photo class, I went and jumped on Austin so he'd be awake, We had a nice leisurely morning, with lots of Steven Universe and eating breakfast, and doing a yoga. Finally around three we got ourselves together and left the house, to go on a bike-and-hike adventure!
Masks safely on, we went waaaaaay down Trapelo road, basically into nearly Waltham, and did some wandering around a green space that had _shockingly_ few people for how nice the day was. I took a huge number of photos (some of which might even be good for photoclass next week, yay!!!!) and it was a very nice time for the legs.
Also we saw these wildlifes: red-winged blackbird, dark-purple-headed-bird-that-is-otherwise-black, robin, geese, GOSLING!, duckduckduckducks!, duckfuck1, bumblebee, firefly (unlit), fireflyfuck, chipmunks, squirrel, really big seagulls, AND A MUSKRAT!!!!
Also a small mummified mammal of some sort, on the steps to the possibly-haunted-but-definitely-full-of-asbestos abandoned hospital. It's pretty clear that some weird ass-teenagers left it there in a fake satan ritual. It was cool as shit and no I did not touch it.
So long walk around and looking at aforementioned abandoned hospital and also the water tower _covered_ in graffiti, and then we got on our bikes and biked way into Waltham proper so we could go look at train infrastructure. Look, Austin was patient with me while I photographed all the bright coloured graffiti and pointed out every single bumblebee I saw, I was patient with him while we wandered on bits of gravel road and behind buildings because it used to be a train tracks. He and I are pretty good at the buddy system and I am very happy for it.
We biked home along the Charles bike path, and it was only marred by me having weird PrivateSchool feels (we were very close to parts of my commute from a long time ago), and also by it having been _four and a half hours_ since we left and we were starting to flag.
Luckily when we got home, Austin was willing to take point on dinner --I washed dishes and helped sous chef and stuff, but it was really nice to have him in charge of the mental load for that one-- and we made Ash's really wonderful Ethiopian lentil recipe, with added potatoes. Putting the whole thing over rice was an Excellent Decision as well! Gosh that's good. It turns out spices are awesome ;)
And then post dinner we had a really nice time on the couch where I played some Animal Crossing (mom came over! Yay mom!!) and he worked on his secret train project and both of us just...rested together. It was _really_ lovely.
One of the nice things about him coming to visit on weekends is that it really does make them feel like _weekends_, like a chance to get away from the rest of my life and rest and do some things different. Tomorrow we might make a cake (we've been meaning to for ages) and we will probably go outside again for a while. Definitely do yoga, they lied. (actually, we're pretty good when we're both in person and reminding each other to do it, it's just really hard to keep track when we're apart.)
I love you, and I hope your days have had something nice in them, despite...everything else.
~Sor
MOOP!
1: Maybe? It appeared to be one duck humping another duck while they were in the water, but it also appeared to be two male mallards. I am not judging?
It a _really good day!_
Today started with scrambling out of bed as subtly as possible in order to not wake up Austin, then going to the online photography class I'm taking. (Photo class is honestly mostly just an impetus to take more pictures, since that is a thing I actually like in my life, but frequently forget about. But I also get to see lots of pretty photos taken by other people, and I get to see some of my faraway friends, and I do get to listen to someone who is an expert talk about stuff (which is _always_ a good thing!))
After photo class, I went and jumped on Austin so he'd be awake, We had a nice leisurely morning, with lots of Steven Universe and eating breakfast, and doing a yoga. Finally around three we got ourselves together and left the house, to go on a bike-and-hike adventure!
Masks safely on, we went waaaaaay down Trapelo road, basically into nearly Waltham, and did some wandering around a green space that had _shockingly_ few people for how nice the day was. I took a huge number of photos (some of which might even be good for photoclass next week, yay!!!!) and it was a very nice time for the legs.
Also we saw these wildlifes: red-winged blackbird, dark-purple-headed-bird-that-is-otherwise-black, robin, geese, GOSLING!, duckduckduckducks!, duckfuck1, bumblebee, firefly (unlit), fireflyfuck, chipmunks, squirrel, really big seagulls, AND A MUSKRAT!!!!
Also a small mummified mammal of some sort, on the steps to the possibly-haunted-but-definitely-full-of-asbestos abandoned hospital. It's pretty clear that some weird ass-teenagers left it there in a fake satan ritual. It was cool as shit and no I did not touch it.
So long walk around and looking at aforementioned abandoned hospital and also the water tower _covered_ in graffiti, and then we got on our bikes and biked way into Waltham proper so we could go look at train infrastructure. Look, Austin was patient with me while I photographed all the bright coloured graffiti and pointed out every single bumblebee I saw, I was patient with him while we wandered on bits of gravel road and behind buildings because it used to be a train tracks. He and I are pretty good at the buddy system and I am very happy for it.
We biked home along the Charles bike path, and it was only marred by me having weird PrivateSchool feels (we were very close to parts of my commute from a long time ago), and also by it having been _four and a half hours_ since we left and we were starting to flag.
Luckily when we got home, Austin was willing to take point on dinner --I washed dishes and helped sous chef and stuff, but it was really nice to have him in charge of the mental load for that one-- and we made Ash's really wonderful Ethiopian lentil recipe, with added potatoes. Putting the whole thing over rice was an Excellent Decision as well! Gosh that's good. It turns out spices are awesome ;)
And then post dinner we had a really nice time on the couch where I played some Animal Crossing (mom came over! Yay mom!!) and he worked on his secret train project and both of us just...rested together. It was _really_ lovely.
One of the nice things about him coming to visit on weekends is that it really does make them feel like _weekends_, like a chance to get away from the rest of my life and rest and do some things different. Tomorrow we might make a cake (we've been meaning to for ages) and we will probably go outside again for a while. Definitely do yoga, they lied. (actually, we're pretty good when we're both in person and reminding each other to do it, it's just really hard to keep track when we're apart.)
I love you, and I hope your days have had something nice in them, despite...everything else.
~Sor
MOOP!
1: Maybe? It appeared to be one duck humping another duck while they were in the water, but it also appeared to be two male mallards. I am not judging?
duck sex
on 2020-05-03 02:18 pm (UTC)Aside from learning that there is dinosaur + people erotica (how does one get consent? Not surprised that one of the authors is Chuck Tingle), it turns out that we don't know anything about dinosaurs doing it except that eggs resulted. Everything else is extrapolated from what current birds do, because birds are dinosaurs, specifically therapods, originating in the Triassic. Except lots of birds can fly. At any rate, most bird sexual reproduction happens from brief cloaca smashing, but some male birds have penises in their cloaca area, an apparently ducks are the weirdest. Duck vaginas are correspondingly weird (still part of the cloaca), and there is sometimes violence involved. Yuck. So we predict that dinosaur sex was also cloaca smashing, but we don't know for sure.
no subject
on 2020-05-03 11:40 pm (UTC)Congrats on the muskrat!
Is the Ethiopian lentil recipe linkable?
no subject
on 2020-05-04 12:04 am (UTC)This is the version I like best, with split peas instead. Sub them for red lentils, and keep an eye on the broth.
I think I gave Sor a slightly different version, because I tend to write it out differently each time, so it might be good if they posted that version too.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r9teYR1Y7Zn8TXgNXU_oUct43LswKuSbSHd4G4O8uZ0/edit?usp=sharing
no subject
on 2020-05-04 12:12 am (UTC)Also, I never get to cook with fenugreek seeds. (Fenugreek powder... that's ground seeds, not the leaves, right?)
no subject
on 2020-05-04 12:28 am (UTC)Oh, and I really hope you enjoy it! I'm pretty liberal with the spices, especially heat, so if you're not really a fan of that, be cautious.
no subject
on 2020-05-13 05:03 am (UTC)no subject
on 2020-05-13 01:36 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2020-05-13 05:01 am (UTC)Ash's Lentil Recipe
1 c red lentils
1/2 c. niter kibeh (Ethiopian spiced butter. or regular butter. If using regular butter, add the bonus spices)
2 medium onions (very finely diced or pulsed in a food processor)
3 cloves garlic, crushed (more garlic is usually better, but be cautious with this recipe)
1/2 - 1 jalapeno, very finely diced
3 T tumeric
1/2 t. cardamom
2-3 t salt (to taste)
~8c chicken broth (note: Kat used vegetable broth and it turned out fine!)
(bonus spices!)
3/4 t cardamom
1/2 t. cloves
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. allspice
1/2 t. cinnamon
3/4 t. fenugreek
How to:
-Melt the butter in a large soup pan or sauce pot.
- Add onions and garlic, and cook till slightly softened and raw smell goes away
- Add spices (if using bonus spices, add them here too.)
-Cook the onions till they are completely cooked, soft, and completely transluscent (like 30-45 min?)
-Add lentils
-Add enough chicken broth to cover by about 1 inch.
-turn heat to medium
-cook for 20 minutes, stirring occationally
-Add broth, if it's too thick and dry
-Cook 20 more minutes, ditto
- Keep doing this until the lentils are the texture you like
-Add salt to taste
I find that I don't need more than one box (4c) of broth, generally --mine might be thicker and less souplike than the original. Really wants some kind of starch to cut the spice, I tend to use English Muffins or rice. I also have found it's quite good to toss in [arbitrary number] of potatoes cubed and boiled and well salted!
~Sor
no subject
on 2020-05-04 12:31 am (UTC)no subject
on 2020-05-13 04:59 am (UTC)