Salon post: January 18

[jenett]

Good morning!

Topic of the week
What thing have you learned or done recently that's brought you joy? (Or at least a certain amount of pleasure. Doesn't have to be a peak joy experience.)

Alternately, related to what I'm up to, do you read Tarot? (Or use them in other ways?) Do you have a favourite deck? What's your approach? (Other oracle methods also welcome. We are an inclusive discussion here!)

Not interested in either of those? As always, whatever other topics people want to talk about very welcome. Start a thread, see who joins in.

A useful tool
melannen put together a bookmarklet (based on one by astrolat) that allows you to quickly share links on Dreamwidth and that will check to see if you're linking to a locked DW post. Instructions on the bookmarklet over here It'll create a new DW post, autofill the subject line, and then you can edit or add other commentary.

What I've been up to
Unpacking. I got all my books on bookshelves last Sunday, labelled them a couple of days ago (and now I need to go through and update my locations in LibraryThing. That's a longer project).

Tonight is for finishing tidying up the living room and cleaning before I have witchy students over tomorrow. (For a class on Tarot.)


Useful notes
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House rules:
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Comments

[finch]

Also, it's possible that I buy my decks based on how much I like The Star.

For me it's the Hanged Man, but yes.

[muccamukk]

Why is the Hanged Man card so significant to you?

*loves hearing about this kind of thing*

[cjsmith]

I'd say that goes for chile, too, and cinnamon, and cilantro, and... It ALL depends on what you like and who you're feeding. But recipe writers only do the cop-out for this one particular ingredient!

Intellectually I totally grok that a dish won't always be right the first time. My hangup is that I really really really hate throwing things away. I think my unwillingness to get things wrong has been a major reason why I haven't cooked for so long. (Well, one major reason. There are some others, and they are doozies.)

Baking, now! Here is my (usually-controversial ;) ) view. Baking starts with ingredients that will all taste good in virtually all proportions. I mean, okay, you can't swap the amounts of sugar and salt, but other than that, flour sugar butter maybe egg and maybe some sweet spices or other is a pretty good palette. You might get a texture you didn't want but you're going to get something yummy. YOU CAN'T GO WRONG! YAY BAKING! :) :) :)

This ends CJ's simplistic view of the kitchen. :)

[cjsmith]

Amen to that.

[finch]

One of my goals for this year is actually to finish my freaking Oracle Deck, finally. I don't think I have any major publishing goals, but I might put it up on Gamecrafter. I just want to say I did it, you know?

When I need a tarot deck I usually pull out my Archaeon tarot, but if I'm not using my deck I'm just as likely to Calvincard it with my collection of random cards. XD

[warriorinside]

You know what? If free time is a thing, but you want to cook? Get yourself an Instant Pot or a crockpot, depending on what you like and what your lifestyle looks like. Crockpots are a blessing for single people like myself - and there are books and books of crockpot recipes EVERYWHERE. Throw it all in the crockpot and out you go, and when you come back that night, dinner is hot and ready.

There are some rules for what works well in a crockpot and what tends to screw up, and not everybody who writes these recipes knows the rules!

1. The one way you can burn it is to not include enough liquid. Doesn't take a huge amount but there has to be some.
2. Veggies go on the bottom, then spices, then meat, then liquid.
3. Speaking of spices, crockpots amplify dried spices. This is especially true of hot spices. Consider cutting hot spices in half the first time you make that recipe in a crockpot.
4. Some things should be added with no more than an hour left to go in the cook time. These include: pasta, anything dairy, and fresh herbs and spices. (Dried can go in at the beginning.)
5. Personal recommendation: because canned goods are already cooked, they tend to get mushy in a crockpot. Fresh is your best choice, then frozen. Yes, you can throw dry beans in a crockpot, and no, you don't have to soak them first! Just add double the liquid they call for because the beans will absorb it.
6. There is NO! number 6. ;)
7. You can do roasts and pulled meats for BBQ in a crockpot, but if you do, you need some fat, otherwise it will go stringy and tough. If working with a super lean meat like game, add say a quarter pound of bacon for every pound of meat you're working with.

Hope this helps and gives you an avenue!

[warriorinside]

I did at first, and then I discovered the wonder that is a Crock Pot.

[muccamukk]

Ha. I got a different job.

[finch]

Starting in college I used to get the Hanged Man all the dang time, (letting go: not my forte) so it started out as just knowing I'd see the card a lot and so I wanted to not hate it, but as I got deeper into my... let's say 'freelance contract" relationship with Odin the symbology became more important too. (For example, the Hanged Man in the Archaeon deck has two crows, just in case Stabby McEyepatch is feeling particularly subtle.)

[warriorinside]

Well, many diets exclude added salt, and I know one person who eats her food so salty nobody else can stand it. She likes it, and her blood pressure is normal because she has a diagnosed sodium deficiency. She'll get sick if she doesn't do that. *shrug* Takes all kinds to make a world.

The reason they cop out here is because all other spices balance with each other. Salt is its own thing and affects the taste buds directly instead of indirectly via scent.

I feel you on cilantro, though. My taste in cilantro is leave that thing out of my food, tyvm. (I'm in that 10% of the population that think it tastes like soap.)

[warriorinside]

I feel you. I did away with my 2 hour one way commute :)

[carbonel]

I'm not much of a cook, though I'm perfectly comfortable following directions.

Since last April, I've subscribed to Hello Fresh, and learned a lot that way. (Hello Fresh is one of several services where you get ready-to-cook meals with all the ingredients, and full instructions (with photos) as to how to put them together. It's kind of cooking with training wheels.

I like it because it provides an interesting variety of menus, and the thing I'm particularly bad at is meal planning. Left to my own, I'll default to a hunk of protein, steamed cauliflower, and a baked potato -- or, more likely, fast food or a frozen pizza. So having these bags of food that I know I need to cook while they're still fresh is a great incentive to do real cooking. Tonight is a new one to me -- a Mexican rice and beef dish that looks the real thing that just-add-beef boxed meals are based on.

Re: Happy things

[senmut]

I want to do a ReBath, and have the tub removed downstairs, install a shower cabinet with bench, handles, and dual shower head options (stationary and wand). Then ReBath the upstairs one to have a GOOD bathtub (still with proper showerheads).

[senmut]

Phenom!

Re: Tarot

[senmut]

Oh the Robin Wood deck was so gorgeous. A shame the artist had health issues that took art away for so long.

[senmut]

I grew up with houses that have three-point driveways? A straight piece with a usually car-sized branch at a near 90 degree angle. They became popular in areas where neighborhoods were on very busy thoroughfares, and cities passed ordinances against backing into traffic. Meant losing a piece of your yard to have it poured, but made for turning around to get back out!

[senmut]

Way to go on the cooking!

[senmut]

I think I learned a few trivial facts this week, but no skills.

As to my Tarot practices, I do use it on occasion, usually to nudge my subconscious.

This Egyptian Deck was my first deck, a modified Rider-Waite one. It is still, to this day, the deck I will not get rid of. Even though I call it the A-hole Deck, or the Captain Obvious Deck. Namely because it tends to fall in line with WHAT I ALREADY KNEW so easily.

Heart of Faerie is my Oracle deck, and while I have no spread I like to use it for, it is handy for one to three card pulls that I can meditate on.

[adrian_turtle]

I disagree with you about baked goods being based on things that will mix happily in all proportions. Doubling the flour leads to terrible cookies. I've found that soup is much more accepting of different proportions.

I'd say that goes for chile, too, and cinnamon, and cilantro, and... It ALL depends on what you like and who you're feeding. But recipe writers only do the cop-out for this one particular ingredient!

Recipes almost always seem to have ground pepper "to taste." And salt is sometimes "to taste," and sometimes "1/2 teaspoon" is listed in the recipe and "correct seasoning" at the end. (Occasionally "1/4 teaspoon salt, or more to taste."

Some of my cookbooks have what you call "the cop-out" for many different ingredients. I don't think it's a cop-out. I think it's a valuable acknowledgement of where the recipe is flexible. (Or where the writer knows it's flexible.)
"If you prefer this soup only slightly spicy, reduce the cayenne to a few dashes."
"1.5 tbsp caraway seeds (optional)"
"2-4 cloves garlic, finely minced."
"Stir in a little more broth if it is too thick." (Especially after giving very exact amounts of everything else.)
"Add nutmeg to taste."

[cjsmith]

Thank you for those notes! I would never have thought there was a correct layering for stuff in a crock pot.

I have one soup I can do well in the crock pot. :) (I do find I have to soak AND boil the beans ahead of time, but I have Bad Gut Reactions to beans that haven't had all the life cooked out of them.)

I am laughing so hard at number 6 right now. :) :)

[batrachian]

This is going to sound silly, but how did you find somewhere to get involved? I've been vaguely itchy to do theatre things, but the last time I participated was in high school, and...yeah.

[cjsmith]

Yeah, I can think of specific reasons to cop out on many of the others, but basically it all boils down to "most people don't care that this one quantity isn't given". Since I'm the one who does care and I am in the minority, well, I won't use those recipes by myself until I get the Magic Knowledge everyone is supposed to have.

My sympathies on the cilantro soap thing. I have the brassica bitter thing. Broccoli, cauliflower, all that stuff please do not go in mouth.

[cjsmith]

It's true that if one exerts undue force on the proportions, even a baked goods recipe can turn out yucky. Forgetting the flour entirely, for example, is often memorably not good. :)

Anywhere someone says merely "to taste" is also an acknowledgement that they don't care to provide at least a starting point for someone who doesn't at all know what they're doing. In which case, cool -- that recipe (and oh so many others) are Not For Me. Did I mention I don't cook? Here's one of the many reasons why.

[cjsmith]

Thank you! ♥

[cjsmith]

Nice! Next time I have both money and time, I may do the Hello Fresh thing. (I'll watch over someone's shoulder for a little while first. I can follow simplified directions, not directions for someone who knows how to cook.) Those kinds of services have intrigued me for a while. I like your take on it: it's an incentive to cook with those ingredients while they're there and fresh!