The Marvel Trumps Hate auction has started. I am offering the Infinity Gauntlet and Iron Gauntlet pictured below (auctioned separately) as well as a podfic.





There are also many other great items up for auction to support a wonderful group of organizations.

Go check it out!

I was too busy or distracted last New Year to post a book poll, so this one covers two years.
( Read more... )

For the past two years I've been hoping someone would make a Sherlock video to the song "Aha!" by The Backyardigans. This weekend I decided to try doing it myself. Here is the result:

Meme from nwhyte:

Bold the ones you have and use at least once a year, italicize the ones you have and don't use, strike through the ones you have had but got rid of.


I wonder how many pasta machines, breadmakers, juicers, blenders, deep fat fryers, egg boilers, melon ballers, sandwich makers, pastry brushes, cheese boards, cheese knives, electric woks, miniature salad spinners, griddle pans, jam funnels, meat thermometers, filleting knives, egg poachers, cake stands, garlic crushers, martini glasses, tea strainers, bamboo steamers, pizza stones, coffee grinders, milk frothers, piping bags, banana stands, fluted pastry wheels, tagine dishes, conical strainers, rice cookers, steam cookers, pressure cookers, slow cookers, spaetzle makers, cookie presses, gravy strainers, double boilers (bains marie), sukiyaki stoves, ice cream makers, fondue sets, healthy-grills, home smokers, tempura sets, tortilla presses, electric whisks, cherry stoners, sugar thermometers, food processors, bacon presses, bacon slicers, mouli mills, cake testers, pestle-and-mortars, and sets of kebab skewers languish dustily at the back of the nation's cupboards.


I don't have a lot that I don't use, although a few just barely make the once a year cutoff. I've gotten lazy and used bottled garlic for a while, but with what I have leftover from my CSA I may have to dig out the garlic press. It's possible I gave away the tortilla press. It was a gift I think I tried using just once.

Not on this list, but just used once a year, is our trifle dish. But that's because chocolate trifle at Christmas is a necessity!

This year I read 115 books. Only fifteen were nonfiction, fewer than the nineteen Doctor Who related works I read. The best fiction were The Kite Runner and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Zombies vs. Unicorns was a close runner up, but, much as I liked the stories, I found the intra-story fake-rivalry annoying.

Life After High School: A Guide for Students With Disabilities and Their Families was probably the best nonfiction I read. It will be handy in the next few years.

( 2011 book poll )

This year I read 70 books (15 nonfiction, 55 nonfiction) and listened to 29 Doctor who audios (lots of long walks and commutes). The most memorable works of fiction were My Most Excellent Year of Love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park and Julian Comstock. My favorite works of nonfiction were The King's Best Highway and Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years with honorable mentions to We've Got Issues and How I Killed Pluto and Why it had it Coming.

Below is the list of all the books I read in 2010, roughly in reverse order of reading and split by category. I also ask for recommendations from the list of books on my shelf and those I don't have but have tagged as interesting.

( Here's the poll! )

I really don't write very much. I had to go back to 2004 to find a sample of any length, just to find out that






I am so uninspired.

This is a really cool interactive graphic showing the different scales things large and small in the universe.

This year I read 72 books and listened to another 12. They comprised 65 fiction (including 35 sf, 10 historical, 8 fantasy), 18 nonfiction (including 5 parenting, 4 science, 3 memoirs), and 13 young adult.

Einstein's Telescope was probably the best of the nonfiction, though The Writer's Tale was the most fun. The City & The City was the best fiction, with Far North a close second.

( Poll under cut )

I tried making cranberry orange relish for the first time, knowing that I'm probably the only one in my family who will eat it. The recipe made nearly a quart, so I decide to get inventive. And I was hungry.

Cranberry Relish Pancakes

3/4 cup white whole wheat flour (regular wheat or white is ok)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/5 teaspoon baking soda

1T ground flaxseed (optional)


1 egg

3/4 cup milk

1 tablespoon butter, melted


3/4 c cranberry orange relish

2 tablespoons chopped walnuts


Mix dry ingredients. Mix egg, milk, and butter, then pour into dry ingredients. Add relish and nuts. Mix just enough to combine all ingredients. Cook on griddle.

Makes about 10 pancakes. Leftovers can be frozen if your kids don't like the pancakes any more than the plain relish.

I ate these plain, but I bet they'd be really good with orange syrup or orange marmalade.

Happy Thanksgiving!