food

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

(sort-of-tagged by eponymous-rose)

1. What’s the weirdest thing you did as a child?

That’s the sort of question where you just know you’re going to think of something weirder ten minutes after you hit “post”, but I’ll try.

I used to collect coupons. I didn’t use them, just collected them. I would carefully cut them out, trimming off the dotted lines around the edges while leaving the bar codes and fine print intact (this sometimes required curving the cut, but I tried very hard not to do that). I kept them in the bottom drawer of my dresser.

2. Five things you love about you!

a. I managed to learn how to type 80wpm without looking at the keyboard, despite never putting any effort into it. (Well, I played a little Typer Shark as a kid, but not that much, and I never took a class on touch-typing or anything like that.)

b. I can be very persevering when other people are counting on me.

c. I’m very good at checking expiration dates. I once looked at a juice box’s jumble of alphanumeric code (a code Mom had found impenetrable) and discerned the expiration date at a glance without having to search for it. (Silver lining of a food poisoning phobia.) Back when Canadian Goldfish bags only had production codes and no expiration dates, I even learned how to calculate the expiration date using the production code. (I determined the shelf life by examining an American Goldfish bag, which had both.)

d. My introspectiveness. I like that I can untangle at least some of the layers of weird in my brain, especially when it leads me to practical implications. (How many books of a series do you need to binge on in order to induce perseveration?* Does caffeine act as a short-term libido suppressant?**)

*Four.

**I haven’t had a chance to test this yet, but I have every indication it ought to work. (I suppose I ought to do the test properly, with blinding. Mind you, even a placebo would be useful. It would be nice, about halfway through the 4 – 5 days of post-ovulation tiredness, to have a bit of a break.)

e. I have a pretty good body. Not a beautiful body, which I gather is what people tend to mean when they call a body “good”. (It looks plain, which is exactly how I like it.) Rather, it’s comfortable to live in.

3. Where is the one place you feel most at peace?

Floating in my bathtub. Unfortunately, I am now too tall to float in my bathtub. I’m pretty sure my quality of life noticeably decreased when that happened.

4. Do you have any summer plans?

Learning about geology and computer programming. The last ten days of May are the closest thing I’m getting to a summer break. (I am so taking December off.)

5. What is the most expensive thing you’ve ever purchased?

University education. Those two courses in question 4 alone cost me $1600, and that’s with Canadian subsidising. (Regarding the usual things: I’ve never bought a house or vehicle, and all of my computers over the years have cost less than $500 each, which is probably why they’ve been so crappy.)

(Well, I think part of why this computer is so crappy is because it’s lived too long. When I first bought it it was a five-year-old model: old, but young enough for developers to generally acknowledge that people are going to try to use their products on it. Now it’s an eight-year-old model, and nobody accounts for the possibility of eight-year-old computers. It would be too impractical.)

6. What is your sleep schedule like, if you have one?

I’ve found myself drifting back and sleeping less during my break from school, which probably says a lot about me. Right now it’s about 11:45 PM – 8:30 AM, give or take fifteen minutes on each. It’ll probably return to 12 – 9:10 once I start school again.

7. If you could relive one moment of your life, what would it be?

Well, my favourite memory is probably the time I went out dolphin-watching in the Atlantic (off Cape May) when I was about eleven or twelve. I felt…what do you call the opposite of sea-sickness? Sea-wellness, I suppose. The rocking of the boat made me euphoric rather than nauseated. And though I was having fun, time did not fly. I thoroughly enjoyed each and every second of those two hours.

The nice thing about having a favourite memory like that is that I might well be able to do something like it again.

(We did see dolphins, but as far as I’m concerned they were just a bonus.)

8. Do you have any secret talents? If so, what?

If I told you, they wouldn’t be secret anymore, would they.

(I suppose you could count some of the things in the “five things I love about me”.)

9. What do you hope gets invented before you die?

I have to agree with Rose on this one and say immortality. Failing that, a sufficiently effective and reliable treatment for Alzheimer’s soon enough that I need never worry about getting it myself. (An outright cure or a thyroid/HIV-style “you’ll be fine as long as you take your meds, but you can never go off them without becoming symptomatic”, either way.)

10. If you could have a super power, what would it be?

Wolverine-level healing factor (see also question 9). If it were only a milder healing factor on offer (does not extend lifespan, fatal injuries will still kill you), I’d probably rather go for unbreathing (in the Nethack sense), despite the potential for annoying side effects regarding consensual inhalant drugs. The number of water sports that I have seen people play on Daily Planet and thought “I would love to do that, if only I were immune to drowning”…

11. They say a friend will help you move and a best friend will help you move a body. Do you have a best friend?

I don’t think I know anyone who cares more about me than they care about not being an accomplice to murder/not allowing a murderer to go free. That’s probably for the best.

If we take a broader interpretation of “body”, I expect Mom, Brother, and possibly Dad would assist me in being someone’s caretaker (which would likely involve moving their body at some point). Not sure about non-relatives.

Tags:

#oh look an original post #(you may have noticed I talked about tiredness and heightened sex drive as if they were the same thing) #(that is because they are) #(and let me tell you once you figure *that* out there are all *kinds* of practical implications) #(caffeine is just the first one that came to mind) #meme #Possible TMI #you can be sort-of-tagged too if you like

cosmictuesdays asked: The DD9 translation of TNG has it as a fancy French restaurant, which I think is called Chez Enterprise – so coming up with new and exciting sorbet and ice cream ideas for the summer menu wouldn’t exactly be in Data and Geordi’s job description, but neither is it NOT in there.

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

singlecrow:

“Kid,” Kathryn says after a while, “your parents didn’t actually christen you ‘Data’, did they?”

“No.” Data smiles up at her. “It is how I think of myself, however.”

“I’m not judging, honey. Seven’s the same. Fresh juice for you, right, and coffee for Geordi? Latte?”

“Thanks,” Geordi says, and when she goes to get their order, “Data, I feel like you’re not taking this seriously. I figure, we get this right, we can do a pushcart on the sidewalk and get foot traffic in. Ice-cream by Chez Entreprise, you get it. ”

“An admirable objective,” Data says, and gets up to pace; Kathryn knows he does that mostly when thinking. “However, the flaw in the plan…”

“Is the plan,” Seven murmurs under her breath; she glances up at Kathryn and grins. Kathryn shushes her, not very seriously. It’s a beautiful day, the winter sun filtering through the window glass and falling into pools on the tiles.

“Is the plan,” Data says, and Seven laughs very quietly into the sound of milk frothing. “Geordi, no one wishes to eat wasabi mocha ice-cream. Nor…” – he stops pacing, peers at the list in front of Geordi – “saltwater bubblegum.”

“People eat saltwater taffy!” Geordi says. “Chilli chocolate goes down a storm!”

Data nods and turns around, making another crossing of the glass. They’re one of only a few customers; the morning commuter rush is over and the hipsters haven’t gotten up yet. “Saltwater taffy,” he explains, with the air of a man addressing a small, confused child, “is not made with saltwater.”

“It isn’t?” Geordi leans back in his chair. “Huh. Next thing you’re gonna tell me Swedish Fish aren’t made of fish.”

“Also,” Data continues, “people actually want to eat it.”

Kathryn laughs, properly, and goes back to their table with a tray. “Coffee for you, Geordi – to the left a bit” – Geordi’s hand lands on the cup – “that’s right. Data, honey, the juice of the day has grapefruit in it, I figured you couldn’t have it. I got you an americano instead.”

“Thank you, Kathryn,” Data says seriously, and Kathryn shakes her head and smiles. They’re sweet kids, she thinks, but they work too hard.

Seven looks up from the coffee machine as she comes behind the counter.”Grapefruit?” she asks, and Kathryn nods, pleased: Seven never misses a thing.

“Interactions,” she says, waving a hand around her head.

“I will remember” – and Kathryn knows she will. Seven sets down the jug she’s holding, marches with all determination out into the space of the cafe and says, “Inedible ice-cream from a pushcart is inefficient. Perhaps you both should stop sublimating your true desires.”

“Seven!” Kathryn says, waving her arms around, then gives up.

“Ice-cream is available for sale at a number of establishments between here and the boardwalk,” Seven continues, “and the sun is out, and the day is…”

Geordi laughs. “Young and bright, like us. Data” – he grabs Data’s hand – “come on. We’re going out, you and me.”

“We are, are we,” Data says, sounding amused, and of course it’s him who remembers they haven’t paid for their coffee, and does so before the two of them disappear into the sunshine; Kathryn watches them go with a small smile before turning around and saying,

“Seven, you’re a damn hypocrite.”

“Please explain.”

“No.” Kathryn smiles and puts a hand on her shoulder. “But I promise we’ll close up before the sun goes down.”

Tags:

#fanfic #Star Trek #Deep Dish Nine #fluffiness

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

orangewave:

getting real damn tired of having people yelling “LO OL WTF ARE MILK BAGS LOL” 

 

mediocre-misadventures:

This is disgusting and you should be ashamed.

 

orangewave:

calm down friend jesus christ there is nothing wrong with it, it saves space and it produces less garbage and is easy to recycle

 

grouchythefish:

you do have a pretty ugly milk jug tho

 

izzy-sukeban-jones:

if you cut the tip off, how do you seal it when you save it for later?

 

bakamic:

^^^ Seriously. How do you store it after you open it?

 

orangewave:

Step one: step two: 

 

note-a-bear:

This is still a problem, because if you don’t have a cover for that jug, your milk’s gonna get all kinds of funky smells.

If you’re gonna use bags for milk, why not do the bags with spouts that soda machines use for soda???

Like, a spout just saves so much needless stress.

 

blue-author:

No, this is part of the “less waste” thing. If you can taste every single thing you’ve got in your fridge whenever you take a drink of milk, then you won’t have to use a piece of paper to write a shopping list.

 

slepaulica:

just buy the half litre bags and drink it out of the bag. that’s what i do.

Less waste? Bagged milk causes more waste. It’s a waste of plastic (unless you can recycle the inner bags and just nobody told me, in which case it’d be no more or less a waste than cartons and jugs*), and it’s a waste of milk. Bagged milk (even unopened) goes bad much faster than milk in cartons or jugs (even opened). The milk manufacturers will tell you it lasts just as long, but they are lying. (Do not buy bagged milk with less than a week left before its sell-by date, and exercise extreme caution when drinking it: it will probably have gone bad already.)

(The really weird part is the financial incentive for consumers to use this plastic-and-milk-wasting method. 4L of bagged milk costs only slightly more (absolute, not per-litre) than 2L of carton. I have sometimes seen (not on sale) 4L of bagged milk for two cents less than one 2L carton. Therefore, per litre-actually-drunk, buying a 3-pack of bags and throwing one of them away is cheaper than buying a 2L carton and finishing it.)

*They do not have plastic gallon jugs in Canada, as far I can tell. I miss jugs.

Tags:

#food #our home and cherished land #the dark side of bulk discounts #especially ridiculously large ones #up with jugs #I don’t think we have half-litre bags here #just four-thirds litre bags #and only in 3-packs #my bag of milk tasted funny yesterday in the way it does the day before it goes lumpy #so I expect I will have to throw it away today #we managed about 2.5 bags this time #not bad relatively speaking #(sometimes) #(if my brother and I are sufficiently diligent in our milk-drinking) #(we can even finish all three) #(those are good times) #(non-guilty times)

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

lifeywifey:

So we had a “Doctor Two” party for my son last week and I had way too much fun with the food…

We also had beans on toast and mini-bangers and mash, but I didn’t get a picture of them.

And I know those aren’t real Jammie Dodgers, but I was making do.

Tags:

#Doctor Who #puns #fish and chips