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
Consider tracking this post to get notifications of new comments. Select the bell icon (or the words 'track this'). More help over here, and more about notifications in general here.

Comments are welcome whenever you get a chance - even if that's hours or days later. Feel free to jump into whatever sub-threads intrigue you. More discussion is the point of the salon posts!

Got a question you're trying to sort out, or a thing you'd like to discuss? Lots of thoughtful interesting people with a wide range of interests show up here! Feel free to ask about things you're thinking about or trying to solve, as well as other kinds of chat.

House rules:
This is a public post, feel free to encourage other people to drop by, just note the 'if posting anonymously, include a name people can call you in responses' rule.

1) Consider this a conversation in my living room, only with a lot more seating. I reserve the right to redirect, screen, and otherwise moderate stuff, but would vastly prefer not to have to. Keeping conversations SFW is appreciated.

2) If you don't have a DW account or want to post anonymously, please include a name we can call you in this particular post. (You can say AnonymousOne or your favourite colour or whatever. Just something to help keep conversations clear.)

3) If you've got a question or concern, feel free to PM me.

Comments

Happy things

[jenett]

Getting all my books on shelves!

Also installing a new shower head. (With a handheld wand! To go with my shower bench. If I have to have a shower only instead of a bathtub, it is going to be a shower with many options.)

[warriorinside]

What thing have you learned or done recently that's brought you joy?

Finally participating in a musical theater production for the first time in my adult life. It was only an ensemble role, but as that's all I had time to commit to, I was fine with that, and I learned a great deal about myself and what I want from life and from the people around me.

Oh, and that I want to continue doing community theater.

Tarot

[jenett]

As you can probably guess by the fact I'm teaching about it on Saturday, Tarot is a thing I do.

I am very much a 'I think it's a tool for figuring out some options in what's going on' rather than being amazingly predictive. I think it tells us about right now (or more to the point, our reactions to the cards tell us a lot about right now), and some about 'if nothing changes, here's a possible future', but of course the simple act of asking questions about options can change the things we're seriously considering.

Also, many Tarot cards are gorgeous!

My primary deck these days is the Shadowscapes Tarot by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law.

I have a copy of the first edition of the Spirit Keeper's Tarot by Benebell Wen that I'm looking forward to digging into (it's designed for a specific kind of spiritual work.) The first edition is sold out, but she's working on a second edition that is done in sepia, rather than black and white, and some other differences. Subscribe to her mailing list for updates and preorders.)

I pull a card (electronically) every morning (since I have the app with me, and often don't manage to do the card until I get to work) from the Shadowscapes app.

I started with the Robin Wood deck (which I still like, and occasionally pull out), and I have a handful of oracle and other divination-but-not-Tarot decks.

[muccamukk]

I recently was writing people prompt ficlets and drabbles for more joy day and (though anyone who knows me heard the screams of WHAT ARE WORDS!? How even this prompt!?) really enjoyed it. I got about half of them done, and ppl seemed to enjoy them.

Man, my mom had my cards out the other day, and it reminded me that I haven't done a reading in aaaaaages. I've had Sacred Circle tarot since I was a teen and know that deck best, though it's neo celtic and changes the order of the major arcana and some of the meanings. I also have the Llewellyn deck which I mostly have because the art is STUNNING. That's a lot closer to Rider White.

ETA: Sacred Circle, Llewellyn. Also, it's possible that I buy my decks based on how much I like The Star.

[jenett]

Oh, that's really awesome!

(My father was a theatre professor, so I have a great respect for the art form, but got my 'I want to do this thing' out of the way early in life.)

Re: Tarot

[malgrin]

I positively adore the Shadowscapes Tarot! Her artwork is extraordinary. I don't use it as my primary deck anymore (the deck I've been using most of late is The Paulina Tarot because it has a sort of dark whimsy that matches where my brain lives these days).

I always look at the Fool card first in a deck because it's a special favorite of mine (I named my home Fool Haven). The Fool card in the Shadowscapes deck is breathtaking.

I have far too many Tarot decks, but I generally only read from one at a time (usually one deck for quite a few years). I love Tarot art.

I was gifted with a deck last year that I want to spend some time with. It's called The Pagan Otherworlds Tarot. The art is delicious and it adds an additional Major Arcana card (The Seeker) and also five Lunar cards (with moon phases). It's going to take a bit of a brain warp for me to clue into it, but I'm fascinated by the way the additional cards change the overall dynamic of the deck.

These days, I tend to do a reading about 4 times a year unless something is particularly needing my attention. I do them at the cross-quarters to get a general feeling for that turn of the wheel up to the next cross-quarter.

[quinfirefrorefiddle]

I do use Tarot, though as you can imagine I don't talk about it in many places. For me it's not divination, it's about revealing patterns in my subconscious- things I know but I don't yet realize I know, or don't want to admit to. It's been very helpful that way, but currently my deck is locked in our storage unit, along with most of our other things. It's a classic Rider-Waite deck, with added colors.

One of the things that brings me joy is looking at real estate listings- I've done this ever since I was a kid, with my mom, and the apps out there make it easier than ever. It's fun to look at places and think "how do they get the groceries to the kitchen?" Or, "what kind of teensy car do they drive to be able to turn around in that driveway?" And then of course there's the wild decorating choices- lots of really expensive houses have that one room that's truly horrific, or a guest bathroom that's clearly designed to get people in and out fast (bright red everywhere, including the ceiling). An old fave was a Texas mansion mostly decorated in 80s Laura Ashley pastels, except for one room in the basement that was no less than six clashing plaids. People are weird. But it's fun to explore, "what would have to be different about me for this to be my life?"

[cjsmith]

One thing startled me in your real estate notes. Do people actually ever turn around in driveways?

[cjsmith]

Bringing me joy:

I’m learning to cook, a tiny bit. I am mostly still hopeless at it. (Though I can bake you anything!! I love baking!) I recently learned to make a simple (or so I am told) chicken curry, and I did it once completely without help, and it came out well. I called this “passing my checkride” (a la the FAA flight test for pilots) and was inordinately pleased about it. ♥

[warriorinside]

There's certainly a lot of silly drama involved, and a good portion of it happens off the stage. I got a kick out of doing it, but I can't do it all that often because of time constraints.

Re: Tarot

[warriorinside]

I also have certain cue cards for me. If I see the High Priestess or its equivalent in a reading for myself, that's a cue to stop and shut up, because I will know what is right when the time comes.

[warriorinside]

I'm a fan of the Celtic Dragon deck from Llewellyn. Man is that deck blunt sometimes, but I like it that way. I understand that some people don't, and that's okay.

[warriorinside]

cjsmith (reply fail, sorry) I'm sad that you used the word "hopeless" here. That says that you don't really think you can do it, and that saddens me, because the rest of your post says that you can.

You know how I learned to cook from a mom that taught me how to use the tools, but never taught me anything but recipes? I got to know the flavors and scents of herbs and spices, and what they go with. Knowing this, I can monkey with what is compatible and what is not, and come up with new things.

First things first is recipes, though. Have you ever gone wandering through websites like Yummly or Epicurious or AllRecipes and said "I wanna make that?"

[quinfirefrorefiddle]

If it's a twisty one that's unusually long and involves a hill, often. Backing out of those would suck. But there's rarely room at the top to turn around. Rich people cut the weirdest corners.

[cjsmith]

Oh nifty! Thanks! I’ve had twisty ones (with no room) and hilly ones (with no room) but not both, and never long ones; but then, I’m hardly rich, and I’ve been suburban / urban a lot. :)

[cjsmith]

Awwww, thank you! :)

No, I’ve never gone browsing for recipes to try, and to me it would be absolutely terrifying to attempt it. (Though now that I think of it, I do it all the time for baking! When I’m not just making up my own!)

Perhaps once I’ve spent a bucketload more time on the whole thing. I suspect that’s really a key point. Experience. It’s just so darn intimidating! The thing that’s helping lost edit: most right now is having a cooking buddy - someone who is right there in person and can tell me that no, the chicken is NOT cooked yet, or no, much as I love cloves, they don’t go in omelets, or no, it would not be faster to mix all those ingredients on the left hand side of the page at the beginning, or whatever. This saves me from a lot of throwing things away, which I hate. :)

[jenett]

I didn't learn to cook until I was mostly adult. I had friends who taught me a few things in college, but the cookbook I found amazingly helpful is called Help! My apartment has a kitchen by Kevin Mills (just post college at the time) and Nancy Mills (his mother) (Here is the newer edition)

What I loved about it is that it explains a lot of the stuff no one tells you about (things that make it easier) and explains the recipes in detail. They range from extremely easy to easy. Some steps, but as minimal as possible, and I found I ended up with a lot of skills I could then use for more complex recipes.

(Which means that now, when I have the energy for it, I cheerfully try the challenge of some of the more fiddly Smitten Kitchen recipes and turn out awesome food.)

[muccamukk]

My wife learned to cook as an adult, and now she's really good at it. I spent years buying her encouraging cookbooks with titles like "everyone can cook!" and it turned out that free time and a decent kitchen was what tipped the balance. She now makes half the meals in the house!

[muccamukk]

I found Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution was quite helpful. Basic recips that work, lots of pictures.

[muccamukk]

The confusion of Llewellyn publishing a deck called Llewellyn!

I don't mind blunt. I do like when the descriptions include what the symbols on the cards mean so I can draw from that too. Mom had a deck called Enchanted Tarot that was really good for that.

[(Anonymous)]

I got Meera Sodha's Made in India as a holiday gift. I've done a lot of Indian cooking already, but this is a really good cookbook for me. It's not vegetarian, but the author's grandmother was, and she would serve three vegetable dishes for dinner, plus dal and some yoghurt and rice. So I'm making all the vegetable dishes in the book. They have all been really tasty, but the nicest discovery is a salad called kachumbar, which is finely diced tomatoes, cucumbers, and shallots or sweet onions with lemon juice and mint or cilantro or both, and optionally some crushed red pepper or diced green chiles. It's a lovely fresh addition to hot curries, and it also instantly makes a grand raita if you put it into yoghurt along with some black pepper and cumin. I eat yoghurt for breakfast as a rule, but plain unsweetened soy yoghurt is hard to find, so I tried lactose-free cow's milk stuff, and it actually is okay for me to eat. So I'm eating my new savory yoghurt for breakfast, which is a lot better for my blood sugar than my much-loved mango-peach or strawberry stuff.

Her mother likes to twit her about how when she was a child she would only eat Heinz tomato soup or shrimp, and the shrimp recipe is in the book. It's easy and very good. We call it "Kid Shrimp" and I expect to make it whenever shrimp is affordable.

Meera Sodha also makes various Indian breads sound really easy to make, so I'm eying those, although I don't have a good working place for rolling a lot of stuff out. We'll see. It give me pleasure just to contemplate, anyway. And I did order a bag of chana dal for the making of savory pancakes, which don't need rolling. I always find pancakes challenging to flip, but David asked for a very very wide spatula for making grilled sandwiches, and I realized that it would be useful for flipping pancakes too, so I got him one and got another one for the upstairs kitchen. He would let me use his, of course, but trekking up and down the stairs between kitchens can get old.

P.

[cjsmith]

Such a book might be quite useful. One thing that consistently trips me up is that the vast majority of recipes I've encountered will presume a certain baseline of vocabulary and skills. Saute' this, steam that, salt to taste. My cooking buddy recently bought me a copy of Essentials of Cooking and already I can tell it is going to help a TON.

("Salt to taste" never fails to frustrate me. HELP ME OUT, FOLKS! If I knew how much of everything to put in, I wouldn't be reading a recipe!)

[cjsmith]

Mmm, yeah, free time... that's definitely also a sticking point! :)

[warriorinside]

That's just the trick. Salt to taste is different depending on what you like and who you're feeding. When it says that, it literally means that. You may have to experiment with how much salt you add, but go easy at first. You can always add more, but you can't take it out once it goes in, and too salty is ACK not to mention health problems some people have with salt.

Remember this: a dish will not always be right the first time you make it. It's not always you that makes the error. Some recipes just plain aren't workable without modifications. If you're thinking about making a dish for company, make a test run first. Make sure that the recipe is actually any good :)

[muccamukk]

For real. I grew up in a cooking household, but when I worked 7:30 to 5 five days a week? I sure ate a lot of take out sushi.