adventures in baking

Well, my instinct on the maple syrup cake turned out to be right. I’d thought, as I was mixing it up, “I should throw some cinnamon and spices in here,” but then I thought, nah, first time, I’ll follow the recipe. And it turned out to be a very nice, mild, very sweet cake with a texture and flavor like a spice cake someone hadn’t put the spices in. :) I also made the maple frosting recipe, which made a truly enormous amount of frosting that was very very sweet…

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Dinner Party Meme

Nabbed from Alma Alexander: the Dinner Party Meme. You’re throwing a dinner party. You can invite ten authors, living or dead, to the party. Who do you choose? 1. Shakespeare, if only to take him to see “Anonymous” after dinner. :) No, really, because he’s *Shakespeare*, for heaven’s sake. 2. Oscar Wilde, because OMG. 3. Murasaki Shikibu, because I would dearly love to meet the woman who wrote what is widely considered to be the first novel. 4. Mark Twain. See Oscar Wilde for reasons. :) 5. Susan Cooper, because…

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writing things

I thought I was caught up on Nanowrimo, but then it turned out I just had the date wrong. Still, nearly caught up. No idea at *all* if my nephew will like the book, but at least I’m trying. I also have…rather a lot of story to accomplish in the remaining 25-30K. I think I was at the end of chapter 15, the nominal halfway point, at 34K, so theoretically it’s going to come in around 68K. Which is only about 10K more than I was aiming for. I’m sure…

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We loved you, Dragonlady.

Robert Heinlein’s TUNNEL IN THE SKY. Robin McKinley’s THE BLUE SWORD. Anne McCaffrey’s DRAGONSONG. Those are the first three books I specifically remember reading as science fiction and fantasy. They weren’t; I’d been reading SF&F in the guise of children’s books for many years, but they’re the first I recall as genre-specific. I loved them all, but I loved DRAGONSONG and Menolly beyond reason. I had–who are we kidding, still have–a crush on Robinton, on Sebell. I still want a fire lizard. I always will. I met Anne McCaffrey the…

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calendars

Definitely the last chance now; I’m putting the order in first thing in the morning: order a 2012 Dublin calendar now and you’ll get it signed with a shiny silver pen & everything. :) (I think it looks quite nice, actually! You’ll like it, I promise!)