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May 25th, 2013

ritaxis: (hat)
Saturday, May 25th, 2013 06:07 pm
I think this would be a cake if I had added a half cup of flour and another egg (and I may do that next time)

boil enoujgh whole lemons (in this case about 12) for an hour or so to make 3 cups when pureed skin & seeds & all in the blender.

cream a cup of butter (2 standard US sticks) and probably 4 cups of sugar. I did three and then added more when I tasted the batter.

mix in two huge (what are they called? jumbo?) or three medium eggs, the three cups of pureed lemon, and a pound of almond flour

taste and add sufficient sugar to make it not too bitter for your personal taste

mix in a teaspoon each of baking powder, vanilla extract and almond extract, a half teaspoon of cinnamon, and if necessary to cut bitterness, a quarter teaspoon of salt.  I think a teaspoon of orange flower water would be good with this too

I do not know what is the best sort of pan for this. I put it into a 9X14? steam table pan and a 4X9 loaf pan, and the first is about 1 and half inches tall, almost two, and the other is a little taller. I

cook for an hour? at 350 degrees F (unpregeated oven: probably less in a preheated one)

It is very nice warm with whatever you have that's like milk or cream.

On another front:
My knee rehabilitation is to the point that I have decided I have to stop avoiding going downhill or down stairs. I meant to go to the dog park on Frederick Street today and go down the long steep stairs to the yacht harbor and then I recalled that it is Memorial Day Weekend and I don't want to drive around town with all the tourists, but that did not mean that I chickened out altogether! When Truffle announced it was walkies time, we went for a bit longer walk so I could go up Laurel Street (and at speed, thank you, which is something), and down the stairs and up them again at the High School, and down some more stairs, and then down the steep drive to the high school gym. Then we went around the trfack while I did Silly Walks almost the whole way to further exercise the various obscure leg muscles. Silly Walks are amazing little exercises. No equipment, you don't have to go anywhere, and they raise the pulse and work the muscles you choose. I actually can get pretty winded doing SIlly Walks. I did Silly Walks that are like marching, like kicking backwards, like kicking sideways, like crossing the legs in midair, and several that involving waving the arms around in circles of different types. All in all, we were out more than an hour and a half and now my leg muscles are not sure whether to gloat or complain.

Most nights these days my knees don't wake me up even once. It's a long ways from being waked up three to five times a night with pain that rivals childbirth or toothache. But I'm also a long ways from being in top shape.
ritaxis: (hat)
Saturday, May 25th, 2013 09:30 pm
I forgot to do this the last three days, but since I last posted my progress I wrote 2649 words on chapter 32 and 2438 words on chapter 33, which leaves me at about two and a half chapters util the end of the draft unless it takes longer to do all the things I need to do before the story is over.

Ongoing writing anxieties are still the same: why are these people suddenly so chatty? is this part necessary or interesting? what am I forgetting? does anybody care about this? why am I even?

things I am happy about: I remembered some stuff that connects nicely. I am pleased with the littlest sister's personality showing through. Also I think that Sasha's behavior makes sense. And I think I might have got the right mix of defiance and terror for Yanek.

I'm not that bothered by all the things I'm doing now which will necessitate changes in the early parts of the book. I'm pretty sure that the changes will not create more problems than they solve. I'm kind iof looking forward to going back and making all the changes (for one thing, it will mean that the draft is done, which will be a huge milestone!)

In case it's not obvious why I post "plink" threads instead of "thud" threads -- oh, I'm sure it's obvious, I'm going to shut up.