08.23.09
Posted in Cooking at 2:22 am by kyrias
I read this piece which discussed packing tools for cooking on vacation and giggled over what other people chose to bring along with them.
Personally, after cooking in three kitchens not my own this past summer, I’ve come to appreciate my own tools that much more.
Considering that it is vacation and part of that is a certain devil-may-care attitude and foraging to see what’s good to eat in the place we’re vacationing, I don’t think I’d go so far as to pack my own spices and soy sauce.
On the other hand, it’s really only asking for frustration to have to try to cut things up with a dull knife. Or cook without a decent pot.
So, I think my list of things I’d take along with me on a trip where I know I’d have to cook is:
- A good, freshly sharpened chef’s knife.
I cannot even begin to describe how much more frustration I have when I try to cut up things with a dull knife now — especially root vegetables. No, let’s not even go into the realm of dicing onions with a butter knife.
- A large plastic cutting board.
All I can say is: You’d be surprised at how many places don’t stock this in the kitchen.
- A wok with cooking spatula.
Yes, I know I’m aiming for lightweight — but again, you’d be surprised at the many kitchenettes that don’t even have a pot with a lid.
- Vegetable peeler
I don’t eat unpeeled root veggies unless they’re organic.
And I think that’s it for now. Perhaps a teapot if I feel like it and it’s chilly out.
I love the comments about how recession-unfriendly this post was. The question could have applied to anyone who travels extensively for business, who is thinking about cooking in someone else’s house whilst visiting, or any number of scenarios where the person in question isn’t living the life of luxury up in the Hamptons.
Sheesh.
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08.20.09
Posted in Entertainment and hobbies tagged Facebook frivolity at 1:53 pm by kyrias
…I’m German.
How very amusing. Here’s the blurb:
You are precise yet romantic, efficient yet dreamy, friendly yet somewhat suspicious of others. You rarely smile, but when you do it’s very meaningful. You like it best when there is a group consensus, and yet you are easily annoyed by the slowness and/or stupidity of others. Sometimes you think that if only you could live on an island or move to some wonderful place far away, everything would be better, and if you can’t realize this dream you often lose yourself in books/vacations/recipes/sports — anything for an escape! All in all, however, you make your peace with life, and have many old friends.
Not too bad for an online quiz.
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08.18.09
Posted in Books tagged Erotica, Lisabet Sarai at 12:01 am by kyrias
Synopsis given:
Divine temptation lies in wait in an ancient and mysterious land.
In their first years together, Priscilla and Jonathan enjoyed a marriage based as much on physical passion as on love. However, the travails of business and the tribulations of the Great War have taken their toll. When Jon’s father dies in faraway India, the couple travels to the father’s isolated Assamese tea plantation to settle his affairs. Far from the bustle and distraction of London, left alone to endure the monsoon rains while Jon struggles to complete the final harvest, Priscilla realises how much she misses Jon’s touch.
Anil Kumar arrives with business documents for Jon to examine. The charismatic native enchants both Priscilla and Jon with his god-like beauty and charm. In separate incidents, each of them succumbs to Anil’s lustful attentions. Will the illicit desires excited by the handsome Indian be the final stroke that destroys their marriage? Or the route to saving it?
Plot? There was none.
I realize that this was a short story for an anthology, but that doesn’t really excuse any of the problems that I saw.
Asides from my previous complaint that there was no real plot, I was also really put off by how implausible the entire sexual situaiton unfolded. The strange, almost mystical sexual attraction that just seemed to spring up out of nowhere and which — this is the really disturbing part — seemed to spring almost entirely from the fact that he was exotic and a native.
Entirely setting aside how disturbing, almost racist, and wrong that portrayal was, I didn’t like how both Priscilla and Jonatha just fell in lust with Anil and started doing entirely inappropriate things with him without even a convincing reason for it. Then there’s how Anil had little to no characterization except descriptions about how exotic he was and how he was oddly elegant and well-dressed for a native and apparently is very comfortable with just getting hot with a married couple like that.
All other problems aside, the sex wasn’t even that good.
I was not entertained, and actually ended up fairly repulsed and disturbed by this story. I’ve read a good deal of Lisabet Sarai’s works and I have to admit to being pretty horrified and surprised at her handling of this story. I will probably give her work another chance, however.
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08.17.09
Posted in Books tagged Erotica, Kimberly Zant at 12:01 am by kyrias
Synopsis given:
How bad could it be, Nicole Martin asked herself when she discovered her options were to take the role or face criminal charges with her ‘big’ sister, Brandy? Actually, it didn’t sound nearly as bad as she’d expected once the producer/blackmailer explained. The filming would be done in low light situations. No one would ever get a really good look at her face. And it was just acting anyway, right? They weren’t actually going to do all those things ….
Interesting idea, but I felt like it flopped.
The sex could have been interesting, but I really felt that a lot of the sex was lacklustre and I was really distracted by the incessant whining about how “small” Nicole was. There seemed to be a lot more description and discussion devoted to how small she was than there was hot sex. If there was any sizzle, it was pretty much doused by the amount of stress over sizes.
Nicole and Brandy’s relationship was interesting and it could’ve been played up more to pump up the plot. However, their relationship was never really clarified in the entire story, which was a pretty big letdown. The wierd fascination that almost all of the men had for Nicole was also never, ever explained or even built upon. Brandy’s villainization seemed to be a bit too easy, bit too pat so make it plausible that all the men were after her — which was not interesting.
Lastly, the whole four men being pseudo-married to one woman thing? I would have loved for that to have been played out a bit more. I really felt that the story could have been much richer and well plotted but it was just a letdown. When even the sex fizzles out — I’m not quite sure what to make of it.
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08.16.09
Posted in Books tagged Erotica, Fiona Vance at 10:15 pm by kyrias
Synopsis given:
Lady Juliet De Mar is a confirmed bachelorette and a member of the exclusive London Literary Club, a secret sex club for the more libidinous of the London ton. After taunting her childhood friend and wealthy sea captain, James Wakefield, with the club’s bondage games, she finds herself once again longing for him to be something other than he is—a prude with no interest in sex. At least not with her. Tired of his annual visits that always end in rejection, Juliet decides to kidnap him and bring him to his knees—and to the altar—or end their acquaintance forever.
But her plan backfires when she’s kidnapped herself and taken to the docks. Blindfolded and shackled, she becomes the property of a notorious pirate, the murderous Captain Black, purchased for his pleasure. When her deepest, erotic fantasies become a dangerous reality, will Juliet be forced into submission? Or will she learn what she needs to know to master James?
This is a short and rather interesting read, but there were some rather glaring inconsistencies that really just jumped out at me and ruined the appreciation of the story.
First of all, I found it somwhat implausible that Juliet would be a member of a sex club. That aside, I thought that it was slightly more improbable that she would have been so footloose with no one to interfere with her life and without any fear of pregnancy.
That could possibly have been overlooked if the plot and sex could have been more distracting — but those fell a bit short as well. It seemed like the plot would be picking up when Juliet thought of kidnapping Wakefield, improbably as that was, but then she was counter-kidnapped.
Then, that could have picked up the pace of the story, except I felt slapped in the face with more implausibilities.
Juliet had no idea it was Wakefield, hence I found her responding to his sexual advances really strange and even a bit off-putting. If she had some inkling that it was he and decided to play along — that would have been something to go with. However, when she was really getting into it even without knowing it was him, I couldn’t help but just sit there and shake my head.
I feel that the story could have been much better if it had been longer and the author had worked things out a bit more. It felt like an interesting idea with failed execution, so I’m not writing her off just yet. Besides, this could be one of those fluffy things to read right before bed.
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08.14.09
Posted in Uncategorized tagged ADD at 11:10 pm by kyrias
I’ve often been told that I should be orderly.
As of right now, I’m saying fuck that.
Yeah, you heard me. Fuck that shit.
I am currently recovering from a frenzy borne of not being able to find my keys.
I distinctly remembered that I got home on Wednesday, took the chain they hung off of off my neck, and hung it somewhere safe so I wouldn’t lose it.
…
More than 48 hours later, my useless brain could not remember where the fuck I put them. I only remembered that I put them somewhere safe.
This is not the first time and I doubt it will be the last time.
Fuck orderly. I’m just going to do, in this case, as I used to do and just keep the damn things in my pocket and go hunting through all the pockets of all the clothing I previously wore.
At least that’s a finite number of places.
As opposed to the number of places my Swiss cheese brain might deem safe.
See, the thing is, I keep having the best of intentions to create a habit of putting my keys somewhere safe. I’ve been told that it only takes 30 days for a habit to form.
Well.
The only problem with that is: my Swiss cheese brain simply forgets every single day where the previous safe place was and so I find another safe place to put ‘em.
See the dilemna?
Just fuck this shit. Honestly.
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08.13.09
Posted in Environment tagged stupid big companies, water filters at 6:18 pm by kyrias
I am currently in the market for a table-top water filtering system. I’d love to buy a rig that hooks up to the sink and deals with it — but considering we’re likely to be renting for the foreseeable future, I don’t think that’s particularly plausible anytime soon.
So, I was trying to decide between a Brita filter or Pur.
From the Amazon reviews, it appears that the Pur products are better designed and filters out more stuff than the Brita filters do. Think pitchers that don’t leak and other such wonderful selling points.
On the other hand, Brita filters can be recycled and Pur filters can’t. Double whammy kicker is that I don’t even need to wonder about the amount of postage necessary to mail my filters in to be recycled — apparently the filters are getting recycled right here in MA.
Guess that pretty much cinches the deal.
I just find it hysterical that Brita and Pur were jumping on the bandwagon about how bottled water was bad for the planet and yet they didn’t offer recycling options for their filters, which are made of plastic. Brita’s gotten with the program and finally started recycling here in the US but Pur still seems to be holding out.
I wonder how long it will take them to realize that if you’re going to slap people in the face about how un-green they are with using plastic water bottles, it’s going to come back and roost sooner or later when people realize that your competitor allows the recycling of their filters and you don’t?
As for the question of why it’s necessary to filter the water — it really isn’t, I suppose. I just hate the taste of chlorine in my water and when I can taste it, I tend to want to filter it out.
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08.07.09
Posted in Environment, Ethics and morality at 11:54 pm by kyrias
I was watching Renovation Nation on TV tonight and came across some rather interesting things.
For one, there’s an couple in California who built a huge house and is claiming that it’s green.
Righto.
This monstrosity is something like at least 3,000 square feet if not more, has only 5 bedrooms, boasts 5 bathrooms, and a fully automated toilet. Granted, it’s a toilet that only uses 1.2 gallons per flush — but still.
Supposedly, between materials and whatnot, these people went from being 12 LEED points in the hole to being 12 points over platinum, which requires 80 points.
To be honest? I was not at all impressed.
Sure, it seemed that they had made a sincere effort to be as green as possible in terms of building materials and whatnot — but I honestly felt like that much space with only five bedrooms was ridiculous, even if they were talking about having a large family. I also thought that it would have been much more admirable if they had spent their money on being carbon neutral like that other couple in Colorado who had solar energy, solar thermal, and geothermal systems going instead of that ridiculous remote controlled toilet and huge-ass rooms.
I think I read somewhere that someone doesn’t really consider any huge house green at all and I think I have to more or less side with that person on this one.
Now, if they had 10 bedrooms and planned to fill them all — that’s another story.
But does a home really need a separate bathroom for each room, and that much space per person?
Personally, I like a smaller living space both because I find that easier to clean and because I hate rattling around in houses.
If I ever got to design the ideal home, it’d have enough insulation to keep the house toasty warm in winter even without much additional heating, solar thermal and solar power for everything else, and possibly some geothermal thrown in for good measure.
It’d also have three stories up and at least one basement floor — but then I’m intending on living with a ton of people, so I’m not at all abashed of how much space this place is going to be.
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08.02.09
Posted in Renting with friends at 12:01 am by kyrias
…without wanting to either kill them or dissolve the friendship, and never the twain shall meet style. Of course, I’m talking about living with more than one housemate, so your mileage may vary.
Dishwasher:
Do not, and I repeat, do not move in with friends or anyone really, unless there is a dishwasher in the house. Azora’s parents’ concept of people being dishwashers will not and cannot apply here. I believe that having a dishwasher saved us a ton of drama and having people move out in a huff.
For one thing, I load the dishwasher fully at least once a day with five people in the house. There are often days when I load it twice. We go through a lot of dishes, especially if we’re having people over. I believe there was more than one occasion when we had 7 people in the house.
For the second: people will leave dishes in the sink despite their best intentions. For the matter, people will leave dishes lying around the house. You can either choose to color-code people’s dishes and mandate that they may only use their own dishes for easier tracking of who keeps leaving dishes in the sink — or you can do as we did and just designate someone’s chore as loading the dishwasher.
Personal fridges/freezers:
This is almost a must - have.
Let me put it this way. Once upon a time, people were lovely and generous and often told their friends that they had ice cream in the freezer and it was up for grabs for everyone. Often, someone would buy a half-gallon of ice cream, have a single bowl, and open the freezer to discover that there was less than 6 oz of ice cream left in the container — if any at all.
So. Multiple problems with this scenario, as you can see.
Firstly, there is no room in the average fridge for everyone to have their own container of ice cream, unless you’re intending to store nothing in there but ice cream.
Secondly, there is no way that everyone will be able to store their frozen food in the freezer without being attacked by food tumbling from the freezer when you open it. In fact, even with the previous scenerio, people will still be unable to store enough food in there. For the record, frozen pizzas take up a lot of space. Frozen meals even more space.
Lastly, you probably really want some place to store your beverages and if you’re trying to chill everyone’s milk + juices + soda + yogurt + kefir + water … not enough space. Not nearly enough space.
Not having one of your own probably won’t kill relationships, but it will certainly add to the drama.
Having a comprehensive set of rules and agreements:
This seems painfully obvious — but really, it needs to be done, even with and especially if you’re moving in with friends. What helped us was that we did portion out most of the chores in a semi-sensible fashion.
Couple of key points:
- quiet hours and acceptable noise levels
- agreements about guests / visiting hours
- boyfriend/girlfriends/ relatives sleeping over / moving in / etc
- chores
- level of clutter allowed, and what gets to live in public spaces
- bathroom usage and length of showers ( three people wanting to shower at the same time is not optimal)
- kitchen time (if more than one person is cooking, you’ll probably want to talk about times)
Really, what is even more key is refusing to live with passive-aggressive people. Everything is negotiable, or should be, but things tend to grind to a halt when people refuse to communicate clearly.
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08.01.09
Posted in Renting with friends at 1:17 pm by kyrias
Azora and I were talking about what we might do next year in terms of housing. Personally, I really liked 136 Perkins and it was a great starting point — but I think we’re ready for something new.
Nora and Dochola have both mentioned that they might be up for living with us, and so we’ll need a bigger place. Of course, we’re finding 136 Perkins a bit cramped in terms of storage anyways, so it fits right in with what we had been talking about previously.
List of must-haves for new apartment will follow. It’s a far cry from the very, very short list we had when we graduated. 
List of 2008:
- 3 bedrooms
- hardwood floors
- good natural lighting for all rooms
- large kitchen
- laundry in-house
I think that was it. Short and sweet, isn’t it?
Now that we’re spoiled silly and have a better idea of what we want and need…
List as of 2009:
- 4+ bedrooms
- hardwood floors
- large well-lit, well-ventilated kitchen with adequate cabinetry, counter space and storage space (pantry desired)
- good natural lighting for all rooms
- laundry in-house
- dishwasher
- storage space period. Having a linen closet or something similar would be fantastic
- cat friendly, better if all pets are allowed
- good electric wiring that allows our electronics without tripping the breaker constantly
- decent stove with enough BTUs
- well-lit, well-ventilated bathroom, preferably with a proper bathtub that isn’t gross
- half-bath or second bathroom
- within 10 minutes walking distance to the trains but preferably not right next to it
- better delineation between sleeping areas and public areas
- place to take shoes off before entering the house proper
Preferred but not required:
- garden
- spare bedroom for guests / study / den / Azora’s sewing
- enough direct sunlight for my plants indoors
- slightly larger bedrooms so desks can be put in
Azora and everyone else who might be in on this venture should feel free to add comments / requirements.
What is lovely, is that a cursory glance through Craigslist tells me that we can find 5 bedroom rentals from between 2k to 5k. If we can find a good place for 2k, we’d be living in a cheaper place than we are currently, with more friends and more space.
Wicked lovely, innit?
I think our price range is going to be around $500 per bedroom — effectively coming out to capping rent at about $2500 or at most $3000 if we’re looking for a five bedroom house.
We’ll see…
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