Food, Flooring, and I'm still not clearing out the library

[neadods]

Fandom
For them who haven't seen it: Saturday's Teefury T-shirt is an Abbey Road knockoff with Doctors Ten, Seven, Nine, and Four walking across the zebra crossing. I'm very tempted, but I've got drawers full of T-shirts and all the big American Whocons are in winter. (I froze my butt off at Gally. Sunny California my icy ass.)

Renovations
House renovation wise, I have come to a conclusion about the floors. The bad news is, it's going to mean I need more measurements taken. The good news is, when it's all done, it's going to be stunning! Living room and library floors will be refinished to the dark oak that matches the molding. In the center hall, I'm not just going to replace the carpet, but rip up the linoleum in front of the door and have all that area refinished to match the molding.

Then (when I can afford this, because it won't be cheap, so it may take until 2012) I'm going to lay down permanent ceramic tile to create "landing pads" by the front and side doors where shoes can come off, umbrellas can drip, etc. This will not only protect the floors and be, IMO, beautiful, it will deal with the issue of the random bit of lino in front of the front door that matches the kitchen and nothing else.

I'm supposed to be clearing out the library right now in preparation for them to come in and refinish that (God willin' and the crick don't rise gummint don't shut).

I am not in the library at the moment. *ahem*


Food/Cooking
I've been flailing a bit for a new history of food book, and I've just started The Edible History of Humanity, but I may put it down for the intriguing joys of the "Square Meals" cookbook I picked up at Book Thing. I love the philosophy of the book, which was created not in a test kitchen, but by mining community fundraising and product placement cookbooks from the last 50 years:

The point was that the right product could make the cook charming or patriotic, ladylike or butch - whichever quality was most highly prized at that time. Recipes are not arbitrary formulas for appetizers, entrees, and dessert; they are affirmations of values and cultural priorities. The authors go on to point out that this is why the book is divided into concepts - Ladies' Lunch, Lunch Counter Cooking, Sunday Dinner, Victory Dinner, Suburbia - rather than into "meat, fish, veg." It isn't remotely politically correct - there are recipes with names like "Hindoo sandwiches" and "Ming Dynasty Cassarole" which I'm a bit nervous will be as culturally sensitive as a Rabbi's Despair sandwich (don't ask. They haven't been called that for years). And the idea of "Shrimp Wriggle" simply terrifies me. But I'm still intrigued by the book.

Comments

[queenmaggie.livejournal.com]

Rabbi's despair? I'm familiar with one called the 'Imam's despair', or 'the Imam wept' essentially that's an eggplant sautee' that just sops up the (expensive) olive oil. What's your sandwich about?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Ham & cheese on bagel. Not politically correct, to say the least...

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what I had guessed, given the name.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm tempted by that shirt, too, even though I also have entirely too many T-shirts.

To be absolutely fair, it was uncharacteristically chilly at Gally this year. Other years I've been there, it's been at least warm enough for the Brits to go swimming in the hotel pool.

[jigglykat.livejournal.com]

This. My mom had been gloating about the beautiful 70 degree weather they were having the week before. Southern CA is totally allowed to have weather other than sun, and I can't complain anytime it rains there because the water is so needed.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but like most conventions, "outside" is a concept you only deal with for breakfast. Inside was where I was dying of the cold - would the hotel itself have its air conditioning set any lower next year?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Even if it were warm outside, though, it was so refrigerated *inside* the hotel that some days I really wish I'd brought my fleece jacket.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

I do recall my first Gally being cold enough in LA in general that I ended up buying a hoodie in Santa Monica, but yes, the hotel hasn't usually been cold enough that I nixed the idea straight off the bat of playing "Feyde". (Fortunately my other costumes - Red Eight and a Red Kang - had plenty of layers.)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I'm bound to have a coat *with* me, as I'll be coming from MD, but the only day I didn't shiver in the hotel was when I wore the winter-weight top I'd brought to travel home in.

[redpanda13.livejournal.com]

"The Edible History of Humanity" sounds like the subtitle of "To Serve Man"....

[neadods.livejournal.com]

You'd think, but it's a fascinating look at how food has shaped politics and to some degree evolution.

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

Long sleeve shirt under t-shirt, layered with a cardigan? Or with a thermal shirt under the long sleeve shirt?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Can be done, although it's never a look that I've liked. I might wear it to the local cons, though; Shore Leave's in the middle of July.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

For cold-weather cons, I've always been fond of a T-shirt worn over a turtleneck. IMO the turtleneck makes it look less haphazard than a plain long-sleeve shirt.

[maypanic.livejournal.com]

I have that shirt! Have done for at least two years, the artist was selling it on redbubble. Dang it, I paid twice that amount for mine. Now I'm tempted to buy another as a backup copy for when it wears out.

My cons are in Atlanta at the beginning and end of summer, and are always scorching. At DragonCon you end up spending a fair amount of time outside, trekking between the 5 hotels.

[tchwrtr.livejournal.com]

But...have you BAKED?!?

Make bread tomorrow. Please.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

If I find yeast - they keep switching the Giant around. Besides, am still eating last week's bread!

(I'm trying to decide if I'm coming to the Yarn thing tomorrow. It would be a ton of fun, but I'm getting over a cold; don't want to spread it around.)