State of the Krait

[krait]

I think this subject line is the best reason for choosing my username. :D

October seems as good a time as any to climb back on the posting bandwagon! So here I am.

The weather here remains mild, but I shiver in anticipation of colder temps.

The cats are well, although one tried to puke on me this morning. I keep meaning to make a post about them - I even started one, flocked it so I could come back to it with photos, and then never did get back to it - so that can go back on my To Do list.

Fannishly, I'm a bit... stalled? I've been rereading fics from old fandoms, mostly FMA, along with YOI fic, but no new canon has appeared to seize my attention. I really need to make some rec lists for YOI, so that can go on the To Do list, too and give me actual fannish content to post!

Been rereading Foreigner a bit today, and wishing for fic. I really want either Ian/Julio or Ian/Manadgi fic that explores the first contact and the nascent office of Paidhi in more depth (which is to say, any).

Still on Dragon Cave, kind of low-key annoyed by the frequency of releases this year but excited to see what the cute new Pygmy breed will look like, grown up!

Thanks to someone else's post, I now want to make okonomiyaki on Saturday. Will have to go shopping first, though, as I don't think there's a vegetable in the house that isn't a frozen green bean or pea. Nor are there any eggs, and I was thinking about making bread... Really need to finish the ice cream I made the base for last week, too.

Weight loss has been going okay, but with the change in work schedule and the change in weather I'm not able to keep up with my walking. Last week my weight didn't change from the week before, so I've been mulling over ways to maintain my physical activity through the fall and winter. I'm too cheap to pay for gym membership (and I hate exercising indoors; I just won't do it) but I may just have to pay for a gym membership. Alternately, is there any way I can cram a treadmill into some corner of my house? *tilts head curiously* I really don't see where, short of something radical like removing the Useless Giant Bathtub. But it would be nice to be able to do my activity here, with cats and without strangers, and not have to drive somewhere else.

How are all of you, my beautiful reading list?

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

I should probably try Foreigner again someday. I found it too full of inner thoughts of the characters.

I would like to know what you eat in a typical day. My weight loss is stuck and I'm flailing around for some kind of a change up.

[krait]

You should! Of course, I'm biased because I would die for Bren Cameron. :) It is definitely full of inner thoughts (though there's really only one character's, plus his speculations on others), which I think is kind of a function of Bren's position both politically and narratively.

In-universe, the entire function of Bren's job is to be the only human in a sea of alienness that is different enough to require interpretation and translation. Bren not only has to second-guess every thing he says or does to make sure it won't cause friction with the atevi, he also has to triple-guess when reacting to atevi actions, because there's a fundamental misalignment with human logic than can kill if he missteps. His job is to explain humans to atevi and vice-versa across a dangerous biochemical and emotional gulf.

Narratively speaking, Bren's function is as a fish-out-of-water POV. He's surrounded by aliens with dissimilar instincts and emotions, so to convey this there has to be something that demonstrates the gulf. Bren's attempts to interpret atevi thoughts and motives are part of that, and the inner narratives also demonstrate his aloneness - he can't have someone who serves as a sounding board, because then his isolation and alienation are undermined. The same thing would happen if we changed POV; if you narrate from an atevi mindset, then you lose the intensity of Bren's distance AND the incomprehensibility of his alien company. (I have strong feelings about the introduction of Cajeiri, okay.)

But, uh, anyway! You asked about food!

I will say I am the most boring person when it comes to food; I live alone so I tend to cook one or two dishes on my day off and then eat them till they're gone. Whether that's curried lentils or steak tacos or pasta.

I sometimes joke that I only have one recipe, and it goes like this: put some protein and vegetables in a skillet with some kind of fat and seasoning. In another pot, make some kind of grain. Combine them and eat. :D

That covers everything from chicken stir fry over rice to lamb shawerma in pita to tilapia filets on quinoa, all of which are things I have made in the not-too-distant past. (Except maybe the shawerma? I rarely buy lamb because it's so expensive, but I love it.)

[krait]

More on food:

I am not a big breakfast person. This week I made banana bread muffins, and ate two or three for breakfast each day; but some weeks it's a granola bar or a PBJ sandwich.

I bring my own lunches to work because I'm way too cheap to eat out. This week I had a couple of different options; I made red beans and rice with kielbasa, but it ran out before the end of the week so one day I had cheese & tomato & pepperoni on crackers, and that night I cooked tilapia and green beans for the next day's lunch.

For dinners I've been eating pasta with marinara sauce, except last night when that was gone and I made tilipia (cooked two filets, one for that night and one for the next day's lunch) and then tonight I just had cheese and crackers because I had two homegrown tomatoes in the garden and wanted to eat them before something else did! (Few things are better than Havarti cheese and homegrown tomato on a cracker!)

...Yeah, I have been super lazy about food this week! Next week should be better; I have a huge pork loin I got out of the freezer today, and I'm planning to put it in the crockpot with two jars of salsa verde, frozen bell pepper, and some lime juice and cumin. I absolutely love it over rice or in a tortilla! Since there's so much I may freeze half of it after cooking, or else cut the loin in half and only cook half of it con verde. Maybe I'll rub the other half with Turkish seasoning and sear it in my braising pan, then stick it in the oven... That would probably be good served with naan, which I have in the freezer, and I can saute some green peas in the pan sauce.

I wanna make okonomiyaki, too, as I mentioned in my post, but I'll need to go get several ingredients before I can do that and I hate making grocery trips when I'm still pretty well-stocked. :/

[princessofgeeks]

I love that method of cooking! Thanks.

I read, I believe, most of the first three books and loved the characters and the worldbuilding to bits.

[krait]

Heh, I am glad that my cooking style (if it can be called that; it's more of a cooking lack-of-style) agrees with you. Some people are very precise recipe-followers, but I was raised by a mother whose cooking approach was "read 3 recipes, then figure out your own" and that's generally how I approach it, too. Less enthusiastically, though - my mother genuinely loves to cook, whereas I just want food that is cheap and tasty. :D

Every now and then I'll be Inspired and produce something very specific and fabulous, but most of the time I'm just cooking because That's How Food Happens.

The worldbuilding, especially in the first books, is so great! I STILL crack up at Bren's misinterpretation of Jago & Banichi's relationship! And if you got far enough to reach the 'salad' jokes, that is another favourite bit for me! I just love the trust and the tolerance it implies, beneath the humour.