![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Hey there!
Jul. 17th, 2023 07:55 amI don't think I've logged in to DreamWidth since I got this new computer, which I purchased in August 2022. Or maybe since I got my current job, which started in June of 2022.
I'm not good at the social media thing, or with keeping up with people, in general, via any media.
Anyway, what's up? How are y'all?
I'm not good at the social media thing, or with keeping up with people, in general, via any media.
Anyway, what's up? How are y'all?
computer science
Jun. 10th, 2022 09:36 amhttps://www.joelonsoftware.com/2001/12/11/back-to-basics/
These are all things that require you to think about bytes, and they affect the big top-level decisions we make in all kinds of architecture and strategy. This is why my view of teaching is that first year CS students need to start at the basics, using C and building their way up from the CPU. I am actually physically disgusted that so many computer science programs think that Java is a good introductory language, because it’s “easy” and you don’t get confused with all that boring string/malloc stuff but you can learn cool OOP stuff which will make your big programs ever so modular. This is a pedagogical disaster waiting to happen. Generations of graduates are descending on us and creating Shlemiel The Painter algorithms right and left and they don’t even realize it, since they fundamentally have no idea that strings are, at a very deep level, difficult, even if you can’t quite see that in your perl script. If you want to teach somebody something well, you have to start at the very lowest level.
Vinny (née Coco) the poopy cat
Jan. 16th, 2022 07:50 amNote: If you know of Coco, the new cat (as of June) in our household; I'm talking about the same cat. Coco was her shelter name. We just recently came up with the forever-name "Vinny". No, the cat isn't transgender; Vinny's pronouns are still she/her.
( all about cat poop )
Ugh, I don't know what to do. This is so not clear-cut. She's so cute, she's part of the family. She is purring on my lap right now. But pouring money into putting this cat through medical ick, when we didn't go into this expecting very many years of cat life; crazy?
Vic is at a friend's house this weekend. Earlier we had started talking about end-of-life decisions about pets, but just in the abstract. Ugh, this discussion might get way too real way too fast. Or not, which is almost worse; she might be low-key suffering, but not complaining about it, for a long time, as we flail at trying different foods and laxatives and dither about what to do. Ugh.
( all about cat poop )
Ugh, I don't know what to do. This is so not clear-cut. She's so cute, she's part of the family. She is purring on my lap right now. But pouring money into putting this cat through medical ick, when we didn't go into this expecting very many years of cat life; crazy?
Vic is at a friend's house this weekend. Earlier we had started talking about end-of-life decisions about pets, but just in the abstract. Ugh, this discussion might get way too real way too fast. Or not, which is almost worse; she might be low-key suffering, but not complaining about it, for a long time, as we flail at trying different foods and laxatives and dither about what to do. Ugh.
sums it up....
Sep. 30th, 2021 12:55 pmRecent article in the WaPo sums up worst-case scenario fears regarding Trump. Everyone who said "oh, he won't be that bad" or "we will get through this" or "this will blow over" or "whew, he lost, crisis over" or, the worst, "so what, all politicians suck, don't they? (ugh, Biden)", I would like to bite. Hard. And not in an affectionate way.
Meet Her Royal Highness, Princess Coconut of Macaroons, picture is here.
One of my pet pandemic projects was to have the complete series of weekly allergy shots, now that there's allergy shots for cat allergies. This took about 1,000 years or no time at all (time lost all meaning in the endless March).
About 10 days ago, Vic and I visited the home of a friend with cats, specifically to see whether the allergy shots worked. So, the host did not vacuum in preparation of our arrival, I did not take antihistamine. We sat on the cats' favorite sofa, with their cat-fur-coated favorite blanket, and petted the cats as much as they would stand. I was fine!
Emboldened by this experiment, I was willing to visit an animal shelter, which had just started allowing unscheduled visits, with Vic. I said "we can look at the animals but what are the chances that we bring home a cat today? Very low. Trying to find the right match for a pet from a shelter is like trying to find a boyfriend or an employer. You have to look and look because everyone out there is a crummy match."
So we went to the shelter, and we met Coco. Coco was not what I had imagined as the new addition to our household. She's a small cat (I thought Vic had a thing for big cats). And she's rather old, 14 years old. Before we met Coco, Vic expressed an interest in a young, playful cat, who could perhaps be trained.
But when we stuck our hands in Coco's cage, after sniffing suspiciously, Coco head-butted our hands, demanding to be petted. Coco loves to be scritched behind the ears, where her fur is so, so, so soft, and the tabby-patterned fur hairs are banded so you see fascinating whorls of color when you push the fur around. Vic was instantly in love.
And my allergies seemed to not be an obstacle to being with Coco. We spent an hour in an enclosure at the shelter with Coco, getting to know her, and allergies seemed fine.
So, we went out and bought the basic cat necessities (litter box, litter, scoop, un-tippable food bowls). We tidied up the apartment, because if there's a cat in my home, vacuuming has to happen. And we went back to the shelter a couple of days later to get Coco.
Now there's a furry mammal in my home. It's going well. Cat care has been pretty simple. She mostly sleeps, but sometimes she wants to sit in my lap and be petted. It's vastly amusing, the quintessentially cat things she does: jump on my desk, and step all over the keyboard; sit on things and in things; fold a little pointed ear back in irritation when we apply her medication. So very cute.
One of my pet pandemic projects was to have the complete series of weekly allergy shots, now that there's allergy shots for cat allergies. This took about 1,000 years or no time at all (time lost all meaning in the endless March).
About 10 days ago, Vic and I visited the home of a friend with cats, specifically to see whether the allergy shots worked. So, the host did not vacuum in preparation of our arrival, I did not take antihistamine. We sat on the cats' favorite sofa, with their cat-fur-coated favorite blanket, and petted the cats as much as they would stand. I was fine!
Emboldened by this experiment, I was willing to visit an animal shelter, which had just started allowing unscheduled visits, with Vic. I said "we can look at the animals but what are the chances that we bring home a cat today? Very low. Trying to find the right match for a pet from a shelter is like trying to find a boyfriend or an employer. You have to look and look because everyone out there is a crummy match."
So we went to the shelter, and we met Coco. Coco was not what I had imagined as the new addition to our household. She's a small cat (I thought Vic had a thing for big cats). And she's rather old, 14 years old. Before we met Coco, Vic expressed an interest in a young, playful cat, who could perhaps be trained.
But when we stuck our hands in Coco's cage, after sniffing suspiciously, Coco head-butted our hands, demanding to be petted. Coco loves to be scritched behind the ears, where her fur is so, so, so soft, and the tabby-patterned fur hairs are banded so you see fascinating whorls of color when you push the fur around. Vic was instantly in love.
And my allergies seemed to not be an obstacle to being with Coco. We spent an hour in an enclosure at the shelter with Coco, getting to know her, and allergies seemed fine.
So, we went out and bought the basic cat necessities (litter box, litter, scoop, un-tippable food bowls). We tidied up the apartment, because if there's a cat in my home, vacuuming has to happen. And we went back to the shelter a couple of days later to get Coco.
Now there's a furry mammal in my home. It's going well. Cat care has been pretty simple. She mostly sleeps, but sometimes she wants to sit in my lap and be petted. It's vastly amusing, the quintessentially cat things she does: jump on my desk, and step all over the keyboard; sit on things and in things; fold a little pointed ear back in irritation when we apply her medication. So very cute.
(no subject)
Jun. 21st, 2021 12:15 pmThis is so unsurprising, and pisses me off so much: how much women are sacrificing their careers to deal with an unfairly-distributed burden of childcare. Grr.
(no subject)
Jun. 16th, 2021 10:17 pmThe fact that women earn, on average, significantly less than men is held up as evidence of sexism, since women are no less smart and hard working as men. What else could it be? There's not a lot of jobs anymore where height and upper body strength make a lot of difference.
I have a radical notion: that while it's sexism as the root cause, yes, it's not entirely the sexist attitudes of employers. The sexism that permeates our society (which isn't really the fault of any particular individual employer) is that if you have a child, and that child has any needs, it's much more likely that the buck stops with you if you're the mother. Particularly in the areas of personal care and attention and attending to (as opposed to financial needs.)
Perhaps I am insane to be trying to re-boot my software development career while trying to chivvy my neuro-atypical teen through the high school graduation requirements. But, I was like... Vic is 16!?!??! Nearly adult! Vic can cook! Why does Vic seem to need as much attention now as at age 5?
I need to be three people: the bread-winner, the home-maker, and the student. Sometimes it all crashes into me at once and nearly crushes me. I just turned in the first major assignment for my Analysis of Algorithms class, which got completed during the work week because last weekend we went camping. I don't regret going camping-- it was fabulous-- but came back exhausted and then found that as I unpacked the assignment it had all kinds of extra requirements tucked away in the corners (like "learn UML"!) and too exhausted, overwhelmed, and busy with work to figure out the actual worse-case efficiency of my algorithm until late this afternoon, which was really pushing it way, way too late. (The assignment is due tomorrow morning at 6:00 am. Why 6:00 am? I guess nobody will be working up until the last minute if the deadline is 6:00 am.)
Vic wanted me to take them eye-glasses shopping. I am so, so, so sorry that Vic does not have more than one parent. This one parent did not have enough time for both schoolwork which was required and work, also required, let alone eyeglass shopping.
A more self-motivated kid would walk themselves the two blocks over to Felix's little eyeglasses shop and pick out frames on their own. They can't order glasses without me and the magic credit card, but they could pick out frames. Or at least look at frames. Right? Vic, however, is offended at the idea of going to Felix's shop, since Felix always cheerily greets us as "ladies". Ugh.
This coming weekend:
1) Try to get AHEAD on my schoolwork
2) Vic eyeglasses shopping
3) Buy food
4) Tons of work-work, try to make up for time lost this sprint to camping prep, camping recovery, and schoolwork distraction, so as to not get too badly excoriated at Tuesday's sprint review
Imagine the software I could write if I were not continually just totally scattered.
Tomorrow, in the fucking middle of the work-day, we are supposed to do a "virtual escape room" as some kind of team-building social thing. Participating in the "virtual escape room" is neither one of the sprint goals, nor directly related, as far as I can tell, to fixing any of the project's major flaws. I cannot put this on my resume. I plan to sleep badly and beg off participating by complaining that I feel like crap tomorrow. To this end, I fueled up with coffee to power myself through the last bit of my homework alarmingly late in the day. My algorithm pseudo-code is written with verve; the escape room doesn't get any.
I have a radical notion: that while it's sexism as the root cause, yes, it's not entirely the sexist attitudes of employers. The sexism that permeates our society (which isn't really the fault of any particular individual employer) is that if you have a child, and that child has any needs, it's much more likely that the buck stops with you if you're the mother. Particularly in the areas of personal care and attention and attending to (as opposed to financial needs.)
Perhaps I am insane to be trying to re-boot my software development career while trying to chivvy my neuro-atypical teen through the high school graduation requirements. But, I was like... Vic is 16!?!??! Nearly adult! Vic can cook! Why does Vic seem to need as much attention now as at age 5?
I need to be three people: the bread-winner, the home-maker, and the student. Sometimes it all crashes into me at once and nearly crushes me. I just turned in the first major assignment for my Analysis of Algorithms class, which got completed during the work week because last weekend we went camping. I don't regret going camping-- it was fabulous-- but came back exhausted and then found that as I unpacked the assignment it had all kinds of extra requirements tucked away in the corners (like "learn UML"!) and too exhausted, overwhelmed, and busy with work to figure out the actual worse-case efficiency of my algorithm until late this afternoon, which was really pushing it way, way too late. (The assignment is due tomorrow morning at 6:00 am. Why 6:00 am? I guess nobody will be working up until the last minute if the deadline is 6:00 am.)
Vic wanted me to take them eye-glasses shopping. I am so, so, so sorry that Vic does not have more than one parent. This one parent did not have enough time for both schoolwork which was required and work, also required, let alone eyeglass shopping.
A more self-motivated kid would walk themselves the two blocks over to Felix's little eyeglasses shop and pick out frames on their own. They can't order glasses without me and the magic credit card, but they could pick out frames. Or at least look at frames. Right? Vic, however, is offended at the idea of going to Felix's shop, since Felix always cheerily greets us as "ladies". Ugh.
This coming weekend:
1) Try to get AHEAD on my schoolwork
2) Vic eyeglasses shopping
3) Buy food
4) Tons of work-work, try to make up for time lost this sprint to camping prep, camping recovery, and schoolwork distraction, so as to not get too badly excoriated at Tuesday's sprint review
Imagine the software I could write if I were not continually just totally scattered.
Tomorrow, in the fucking middle of the work-day, we are supposed to do a "virtual escape room" as some kind of team-building social thing. Participating in the "virtual escape room" is neither one of the sprint goals, nor directly related, as far as I can tell, to fixing any of the project's major flaws. I cannot put this on my resume. I plan to sleep badly and beg off participating by complaining that I feel like crap tomorrow. To this end, I fueled up with coffee to power myself through the last bit of my homework alarmingly late in the day. My algorithm pseudo-code is written with verve; the escape room doesn't get any.
Not really happy in my job.
But, discouraged on the job-hunting front. Given my gender, my unusual career path, the fact that it's so hard to accomplish anything resume-worthy when things are such a mess at my current job, and my general ineptitude at talking to people, I think that for me, finding the right job hinges on getting the M.S.C.S. degree. Thus, I've been focusing on my coursework, rather than job-seeking.
Which leads to the question: why not quit the current job, and go full-time on the degree program? The more classes I take at a time, the sooner I finish. The sooner I finish, the sooner I can, perhaps, find a job I'm happy in.
So I did the math, which I will share here, because it's so astonishing. I had to check my work several times over because the result is just so unbelievable.
Simplifying assumptions: This is assuming I am taking 7 more courses, all at the 600+ level. And assuming that if I were to go full-time, I would be able to find 3 or 4 classes I want to take in one semester, and all the remaining courses I would need for the degree the next semester, with no show-stopping schedule conflicts. Also neglecting various fees that full-time students have to pay. Ignoring inflation.
Part-time tuition per credit: $940
Part-time tuition per course: $3,760
7 courses at part-time rate: $26,320
Full-time tuition per semester: $58,560
Semesters required to take 7 courses: ceil(7/4) = 2
2 semesters full-time: $117,120
Cost difference: $90,800
That's... astonishing.
I could perhaps finish the degree a year or two sooner if I were to quit now and focus on finishing it as fast as possible. However, $90K is enough for me to live on for a couple of years. To make that make any sense is a stretch. Let's say I paid an extra $90K to finish the degree a year earlier, and, immediately upon graduating, got a job paying $125K. Would I come out ahead?... Probably not, taking into taxes, plus the hassle and expenses of working.
Nope. Nope. No way.
But, discouraged on the job-hunting front. Given my gender, my unusual career path, the fact that it's so hard to accomplish anything resume-worthy when things are such a mess at my current job, and my general ineptitude at talking to people, I think that for me, finding the right job hinges on getting the M.S.C.S. degree. Thus, I've been focusing on my coursework, rather than job-seeking.
Which leads to the question: why not quit the current job, and go full-time on the degree program? The more classes I take at a time, the sooner I finish. The sooner I finish, the sooner I can, perhaps, find a job I'm happy in.
So I did the math, which I will share here, because it's so astonishing. I had to check my work several times over because the result is just so unbelievable.
Simplifying assumptions: This is assuming I am taking 7 more courses, all at the 600+ level. And assuming that if I were to go full-time, I would be able to find 3 or 4 classes I want to take in one semester, and all the remaining courses I would need for the degree the next semester, with no show-stopping schedule conflicts. Also neglecting various fees that full-time students have to pay. Ignoring inflation.
Part-time tuition per credit: $940
Part-time tuition per course: $3,760
7 courses at part-time rate: $26,320
Full-time tuition per semester: $58,560
Semesters required to take 7 courses: ceil(7/4) = 2
2 semesters full-time: $117,120
Cost difference: $90,800
That's... astonishing.
I could perhaps finish the degree a year or two sooner if I were to quit now and focus on finishing it as fast as possible. However, $90K is enough for me to live on for a couple of years. To make that make any sense is a stretch. Let's say I paid an extra $90K to finish the degree a year earlier, and, immediately upon graduating, got a job paying $125K. Would I come out ahead?... Probably not, taking into taxes, plus the hassle and expenses of working.
Nope. Nope. No way.
The company I work for is trying to hire more software developers into the team I work in. The pay is great, the benefits are great, they mail everyone cakes and little presents and bottles of wine for on-line wine tasting parties all the time. I'm told that once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, the office is beautiful and there will be ski trips and happy hour drinking every Friday at 5:00. If you wanted to be transferred to the Singapore office that could probably happen.
If we hire a sympathetic back-end (Java/Kotlin/Swift/C++) developer, then the new person and I could contemplate staging a coup d'état. This would be bloodless and involve re-writing the program with the really cool algorithms from scratch. That job would probably be fun for both of us.
On the other hand, if there are really no software developers out there, nobody who can program their way out of a paper bag isn't already blissfully happily employed, and there are absolutely no software developers on the market to be hired... What are you going to do if you need to hire one more person? Hire me!
If there's such a shortage of developers that decent developers are impossible to find, then the back-end team I work in is stuck with just the old guys plus me. In that case I don't have sign-off to re-write the super-buggy poorly-done algorithms because I, me, alone, re-writing everything, would take too long. And so the plan is, we are just going to put up with it being embarrassingly crappy, buggy, and wrong, indefinitely. In which case I don't enjoy my job, I don't want to stay there for long, and would like to go work for your company instead.
Which is it? Is there a surfeit of people who can code? In which case send someone my way who can be a co-conspirator. Or is the company I work for so unacceptable? Or is there a shortage of people who can code? In which case send a job opportunity my way. Or am I so unacceptable?
If we hire a sympathetic back-end (Java/Kotlin/Swift/C++) developer, then the new person and I could contemplate staging a coup d'état. This would be bloodless and involve re-writing the program with the really cool algorithms from scratch. That job would probably be fun for both of us.
On the other hand, if there are really no software developers out there, nobody who can program their way out of a paper bag isn't already blissfully happily employed, and there are absolutely no software developers on the market to be hired... What are you going to do if you need to hire one more person? Hire me!
If there's such a shortage of developers that decent developers are impossible to find, then the back-end team I work in is stuck with just the old guys plus me. In that case I don't have sign-off to re-write the super-buggy poorly-done algorithms because I, me, alone, re-writing everything, would take too long. And so the plan is, we are just going to put up with it being embarrassingly crappy, buggy, and wrong, indefinitely. In which case I don't enjoy my job, I don't want to stay there for long, and would like to go work for your company instead.
Which is it? Is there a surfeit of people who can code? In which case send someone my way who can be a co-conspirator. Or is the company I work for so unacceptable? Or is there a shortage of people who can code? In which case send a job opportunity my way. Or am I so unacceptable?
on human time-scale email is like UDP
Apr. 28th, 2021 01:28 pmCommunicating with your cow orkers in person (...or on the phone, but nobody does that anymore) is like a TCP connection. It's a bit more overhead to set up, but once you're in the same space with someone, there's an ongoing connection. I mean, the other party could totally ignore you, sure, but there's a protocol (!!!??!?) which carries the expectation that they won't. There's acks ('uh-huh') and naks ('what was that again? I didn't get that') so that communication is confirmed before going forward. Formally disconnecting (saying "bye") is a thing, and before that there may be some checking in that everyone's OK.
Communicating with your cow orkers via email or Slack is like UDP. You squirt out a message into the void. Did it go through? Who knows? Is the other party going to read it? Who knows? What are they going to do? ??? Should you re-send the message or would that be annoyingly excessive? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ You sent a message hoping that the right thing happens, or that there's some response, but it's merely hope.
So much rage this morning because of foul-ups in communication with cow orkers. My plans got totally screwed up because of 1) me trying to communicate something the "right way" to the office, which was via a Google form which was apparently malfunctioning and 2) mysterious complete ignoring of all my follow-up emails. Still mad about that. Then, confusion in logistics for many-person Zoom scheduling, because of someone's carelessly composed email. In both cases, oh, how much being able to look at someone with puzzlement on my face could've accomplished.
Communicating with your cow orkers via email or Slack is like UDP. You squirt out a message into the void. Did it go through? Who knows? Is the other party going to read it? Who knows? What are they going to do? ??? Should you re-send the message or would that be annoyingly excessive? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ You sent a message hoping that the right thing happens, or that there's some response, but it's merely hope.
So much rage this morning because of foul-ups in communication with cow orkers. My plans got totally screwed up because of 1) me trying to communicate something the "right way" to the office, which was via a Google form which was apparently malfunctioning and 2) mysterious complete ignoring of all my follow-up emails. Still mad about that. Then, confusion in logistics for many-person Zoom scheduling, because of someone's carelessly composed email. In both cases, oh, how much being able to look at someone with puzzlement on my face could've accomplished.
the script
Apr. 15th, 2021 01:36 pmI’ve missed you but I forgot how to interact with people.
(...like I ever knew how to interact with people in the first place, hah)
(...like I ever knew how to interact with people in the first place, hah)
Hedy Lamarr
Mar. 7th, 2021 10:31 amWhy had I not heard of Hedy Lamarr? Had you heard of Hedy Lamarr? This glamorous actress dabbled in a few things in her spare time, like, oh, just INVENTING FREQUENCY HOPPING SPREAD SPECTRUM COMMUNICATIONS. Just a bit of girly crafting, there. Sounds like she had an exciting life; such as, the daring escape from her controlling Nazi-loving husband. I think someone should make a bio-pic.
What do you do when you want gravy, but your cooking is not going to produce meat drippings (or enough meat drippings)? Given that jarred and instant gravy are horrifying abominations. Mushrooms and herbs to the rescue. I tried this recipe, sort of, although I did use chicken broth instead of veggie broth (as trying to be vegetarian was not the point). Pretty good, pretty gravy-like.
same-old same-old
Jan. 10th, 2021 05:19 pmThis week's news is that the democratic government of my country was not violently overthrown by extremists. Funny that it's news; after all, it's been the case every other week of my life that the democratic government of my country was not violently overthrown by extremists. But the news-worthy thing this week is that now it's news that it didn't happen.
I was shocked by the brief takeover of the seat of power by an insurrectionist mob, but not surprised. I'm even more shocked at how many people were surprised. Um... hasn't Trump all along told us exactly who he is? When people tell you who they are, believe them.
In other, um, news, I continue to feel lonely and isolated. Contact with other human beings over electronic means is better than nothing, but really really inferior to actual presence. It exhausts me to try to be social over Zoom and such. Thus, I'm lonely, but I'm ignoring the opportunities I have to be social.
Thus, I'm failing to get excited, in any sense of the word, about Arisia. If Arisia meant going to the hotel for 4 days, that would be so nice. But it's just more stuff at the computer. Last year I took on a high level of responsibility with Arisia and threw myself into it. This year I have a brain-power-type job. I can't stand the idea of helping with Arisia, or doing anything else, if it means touching a keyboard or looking at a screen. This would normally be a good year for me to volunteer at-con by putting together Art Show panels, or restocking corn chips in the Con Suite, or something like that. But volunteering for Arisia at the lowest possible level would probably mean monitoring a Discord channel or something like that. Can't deal. Nor am I showing up for my climate activist groups' things, so, Arisia should not feel uniquely scorned by my fatigue.
I was shocked by the brief takeover of the seat of power by an insurrectionist mob, but not surprised. I'm even more shocked at how many people were surprised. Um... hasn't Trump all along told us exactly who he is? When people tell you who they are, believe them.
In other, um, news, I continue to feel lonely and isolated. Contact with other human beings over electronic means is better than nothing, but really really inferior to actual presence. It exhausts me to try to be social over Zoom and such. Thus, I'm lonely, but I'm ignoring the opportunities I have to be social.
Thus, I'm failing to get excited, in any sense of the word, about Arisia. If Arisia meant going to the hotel for 4 days, that would be so nice. But it's just more stuff at the computer. Last year I took on a high level of responsibility with Arisia and threw myself into it. This year I have a brain-power-type job. I can't stand the idea of helping with Arisia, or doing anything else, if it means touching a keyboard or looking at a screen. This would normally be a good year for me to volunteer at-con by putting together Art Show panels, or restocking corn chips in the Con Suite, or something like that. But volunteering for Arisia at the lowest possible level would probably mean monitoring a Discord channel or something like that. Can't deal. Nor am I showing up for my climate activist groups' things, so, Arisia should not feel uniquely scorned by my fatigue.
vegetarian shepherd's pie
Jan. 2nd, 2021 12:39 pmToday's improvised recipe, which turned out pretty good. Amounts are highly approximate (like I measure anything???)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, minced
1 large portobello cap, cut into small pieces
1 Tbsp butter
Generous pinch of salt
1/2 pound Beyond Beef hamburger substitute
Generous pinch each of cumin, coriander, and random other savory spice
Wee bitty bit of cayenne pepper
1 cup frozen peas
2 cups leftover mashed potatoes (can be extended with dried potato flakes)
Paprika
Start pre-heating oven to 350 dF.
Heat oil in pan. Sautee onion until soft-ish. Add mushroom, butter, and salt to pan; continue to cook until mushroom is cooked and is releasing water.
Meanwhile, in an another pan, brown and crumble the Beyond Beef with the spices. When this is cooked, add peas to pan, and remove from heat.
Combine Beyond Beef and veggies in a pie plate. Spread mashed potatoes on top and sprinkle on paprika.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes.
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, minced
1 large portobello cap, cut into small pieces
1 Tbsp butter
Generous pinch of salt
1/2 pound Beyond Beef hamburger substitute
Generous pinch each of cumin, coriander, and random other savory spice
Wee bitty bit of cayenne pepper
1 cup frozen peas
2 cups leftover mashed potatoes (can be extended with dried potato flakes)
Paprika
Start pre-heating oven to 350 dF.
Heat oil in pan. Sautee onion until soft-ish. Add mushroom, butter, and salt to pan; continue to cook until mushroom is cooked and is releasing water.
Meanwhile, in an another pan, brown and crumble the Beyond Beef with the spices. When this is cooked, add peas to pan, and remove from heat.
Combine Beyond Beef and veggies in a pie plate. Spread mashed potatoes on top and sprinkle on paprika.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes.
hybrid-model party next year?
Dec. 28th, 2020 10:36 amI had a Zoom party, people showed up, that was good. More social interaction than I usually get these days, that's good.
Was missing something, though. Interaction over Zoom is just not quite the same.
Inspired by Boston University's so-called "Learn from Anywhere" model and so-called "hybrid model" at the high schools (ask either Vic for the student perspective or Paul for the teacher perspective on how this concept falls short): Perhaps next year, if not everyone has been vaccinated, the Winter Solstice party should be on the "hybrid model"? Oh dear god let it be the case that one year from now everyone has had their second shot and is reasonably immune. But, if there are still concerns... I could have a party, invite people over who feel comfortable coming over, and also open a Zoom meeting that's up on the TV for people to drop by virtually.
Kind weird, but it occurred to me that there was a year 2000 version that actually happened, sort of.
Back then rmd was still living on the West Coast. One evening Pondscumme and rmd's household both had parties at the same time. The computer in the hallway at Pondscumme was running irc, connected to the same channel as rmd's party, for folks to virtually "attend" one party from the other.
I'm not sure how well that actually worked out in practice, but kind of a fun idea, yes?
Was missing something, though. Interaction over Zoom is just not quite the same.
Inspired by Boston University's so-called "Learn from Anywhere" model and so-called "hybrid model" at the high schools (ask either Vic for the student perspective or Paul for the teacher perspective on how this concept falls short): Perhaps next year, if not everyone has been vaccinated, the Winter Solstice party should be on the "hybrid model"? Oh dear god let it be the case that one year from now everyone has had their second shot and is reasonably immune. But, if there are still concerns... I could have a party, invite people over who feel comfortable coming over, and also open a Zoom meeting that's up on the TV for people to drop by virtually.
Kind weird, but it occurred to me that there was a year 2000 version that actually happened, sort of.
Back then rmd was still living on the West Coast. One evening Pondscumme and rmd's household both had parties at the same time. The computer in the hallway at Pondscumme was running irc, connected to the same channel as rmd's party, for folks to virtually "attend" one party from the other.
I'm not sure how well that actually worked out in practice, but kind of a fun idea, yes?
acorn squash
Dec. 18th, 2020 01:56 pmTheoretically I like acorn squash, and Vic loves it. But, so often, I'm not pleased with how it turns out. I bake it for what feels like forever and still, around the top, it's still hard. At the top dries out while at the bottom (where the butter or oil or honey or maple syrup or whatever pools) is mushy. That's the result of the standard "cut in half and seed and put stuff in each cup" technique for acorn squash. (First page of Google hits on "acorn squash" is ALL pictures of acorn squash done this way.)
Last time I made acorn squash I found a recipe that suggested a different technique: Slice the whole thing into flat slices, arrange in a baking pan. After much less cooking time, every bit of the squash is nicely cooked.
Have been procrastinating cooking the acorn squash I have now because I can't find the exact recipe I used before, but this one looks similar, I guess.
Here's what you need to know:
* heat oven to 450dF
* 3/4 inch slices
* Toss slices in a bowl with oil, salt, perhaps other ingredients, to coat
* Single layer in pan
* Add other ingredients?
* Bake 20 minutes
* Turn each slice over
* Bake about 10 minutes more until done
* Add other ingredients?
I'm sure there's about a billion recipes out there for acorn squash with various combinations of lipids, sweeteners, seasonings, spices, nuts, cheese, flavorings, etc., etc., so rather than specify "other ingredients" in a recipe, I'd just look at what's on-hand in the kitchen.
Last time I made acorn squash I found a recipe that suggested a different technique: Slice the whole thing into flat slices, arrange in a baking pan. After much less cooking time, every bit of the squash is nicely cooked.
Have been procrastinating cooking the acorn squash I have now because I can't find the exact recipe I used before, but this one looks similar, I guess.
Here's what you need to know:
* heat oven to 450dF
* 3/4 inch slices
* Toss slices in a bowl with oil, salt, perhaps other ingredients, to coat
* Single layer in pan
* Add other ingredients?
* Bake 20 minutes
* Turn each slice over
* Bake about 10 minutes more until done
* Add other ingredients?
I'm sure there's about a billion recipes out there for acorn squash with various combinations of lipids, sweeteners, seasonings, spices, nuts, cheese, flavorings, etc., etc., so rather than specify "other ingredients" in a recipe, I'd just look at what's on-hand in the kitchen.
Winter Solstice Party
Nov. 29th, 2020 11:04 amI am going to host a Winter Solstice party on Sunday, December 20, from 6:30 to 10:30 pm. Speak up if you're at all interested in attending and I'll make sure you get the zoom link. Not going to post the zoom link in a public post for obvious reasons.
