Had a good birthday
Dec. 3rd, 2003 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catsittingstillMany thanks to all for the kind wishes and birthday salutations. I have indeed had a good birthday.
I spent the morning poking about on the web, checking into microphones and powered microphones and preamps and such arcane paraphernalia in case I do get an mp3 recorder and want to go the next step up from voice recordings. Folks, I'm here to tell you, it's confusing, and mics and preamps can get *very* expensive.
Then I looked up, realized what time it was, washed and dressed and started handling some of the house chores. I also wrote out two thankyou cards for people who kindly wrote letters of reference for me for the job I might be getting, and got them in the mail. It was kind of a grey cold day compared to yesterday, but that's okay. It was an excuse to wear my favorite coat--a leather bomber jacket (the epitome of casual luxury, in my childhood) that my husband (to be, at the time) got for me for Christmas a few years ago. It's a luscious brown with a semi-sueded surface that gives it a velvet texture, just slightly too big for me (it's a novelty) so I can pull my hands into the sleeves to keep them warm. On the walk to the post office and back I occasionally petted the jacket.
Mom and Dad called to wish me a happy birthday. My friend Donald called from Iraq a few minutes later. Then my brother Jacob called. I have spent a lot of time on the phone today. It was nice, but eventually I had to cut things short.
I did practice yesterday--really I did. For about an hour, while I was listening to the news on the radio. I don't have a TV, which is what Joe Bethancourt, a pro musician I know, recommends to distract your mind while practicing. He says your lizard brain can play very, very fast. But it is stupid, and has to learn everything by repetition, and it doesn't operate well when your conscious mind keeps tugging its sleeve. So he recommend watching TV to distract yourself and let your lizard brain practice. I listen to the news on NPR instead. I tried reading, for a while, but I kept having to let go of the mandolin to turn the pages). Anyway, I did practice tremolos and runs and ran through some of my old pieces. But I forgot *all* about practicing my new piece for my lesson next week. My lizard brain is apparently stupid about appointments and things like that--something to keep in mind for later.
Anyway, I listened to the CD that comes with my music book and marked all the places where the mandolin player wasn't playing what was written on the page. He was simplifying things, so I used his version, mostly rhythm changes. I must say, this would be very unkind on a player who didn't already read music reasonably well. Fortunately, though I'm not good enough to sight read, I am good enough to pick out, after enough repetition, the places where the player is cheating. So I don't work my heart out trying to figure out why my version doesn't sound right. Anyway, today I listened to the CD several times, then turned it off and worked by sheet music for a while, then listened to the CD again to be sure I had it right. I'm very proud of myself; I've just about learned the piece. Usually it takes me longer than this. Now I only have to get it up to speed :-)
Then I made my cake. I made what our family called Swamp Cake--a chocolate cake that came out very damp the first time my mother made it (out of the "I Hate To Cook Book"). Swampy or not, we liked it so much that we insisted she make it for our birthdays on a regular basis. I didn't have the recipe for it, but I came across it in a different cookbook (the "Idiot's Guide to Cooking")--I don't have the proportions memorized, but the directions for mixing it are idiosyncratic and unmistakeable. So I made it for my birthday. I made it early, to give it time to cool, and cut a piece off the end to be sure it came out okay. I didn't have the right size pan, so I had to make a recipe and a half, and sometimes scaling up like that doesn't work too well. It came out fine, but then I had to cut another piece off the other end to make it come out even.
Just before dinner I made frosting for it. I got the recipe out of the Idiot's Guide, but I didn't have sour cream so I used fresh cream instead. I was pretty sure it would work since semisweet bakers chocolate and fresh cream are the principal ingredients for truffles and truffle topping on chocolate cake would be just fine. I didn't have enough chocolate to make a full recipe so I used what I had (10 oz instead of 12) and added a little less cream. It came out just fine. I did get the frosting all over my hands and sleeves while I was frosting the cake but I licked most of it off.
Dinner was salmon and portobello mushrooms. Kip cooked the salmon while I handled roasting the mushrooms. I turned the broiler on and let it heat while I put the mushrooms gills up on a cookie sheet, with a little pat of butter on each mushroom stem and sprinkled grated mozzarella and parmesan cheese over the gills. Then I put them under the broiler for three minutes--when I checked on them the cheese was already browning so I turned the broiler off and left them in the oven a little longer to let the mushrooms cook through without scorching the cheese. They were done in about 6 minutes total. Yum. We had broccoli too, just because.
Kip bought candles for the cake. We both thought 40 was too many to handle so we just stuck a bunch on and didn't worry about getting the number right. A lot of little candles make a big light--we turned the lights out to admire it. We got pink wax on the frosting but it was easy to pick out. The cake was pretty good, but the frosting is just amazing. I just had another piece. :-)
After dinner I opened my presents. Mom and Dad and Jacob had sent books, so I have lots of lovely new fantasy books to read. I'm halfway through _A College of Magics_ by Caroline Stevermer now. I was wondering if I would like her stuff, never having read anything of hers before. I think I'll definitely be adding some more of her books to my wishlist :-). Kip gave me books too, including _A Monstrous Regiment_ by Terry Pratchett, which I've been wanting since I saw it in the bookstore; I love Pratchett. And I got an atlas of Tennessee, which will be very useful next weekend when we try to find our way to Bentley's house (a guy we've started playing D&D with) in Sharp's Corner. And someone (I bet it was Dad) included three CDs of lute music in the package from Oregon. After the second I looked at Kip and said "I wonder if he's confused about which instrument I've been studying" :-). I'm listening to one of them now. It's pleasant, without distracting my attention the way vocals would.
I spent the morning poking about on the web, checking into microphones and powered microphones and preamps and such arcane paraphernalia in case I do get an mp3 recorder and want to go the next step up from voice recordings. Folks, I'm here to tell you, it's confusing, and mics and preamps can get *very* expensive.
Then I looked up, realized what time it was, washed and dressed and started handling some of the house chores. I also wrote out two thankyou cards for people who kindly wrote letters of reference for me for the job I might be getting, and got them in the mail. It was kind of a grey cold day compared to yesterday, but that's okay. It was an excuse to wear my favorite coat--a leather bomber jacket (the epitome of casual luxury, in my childhood) that my husband (to be, at the time) got for me for Christmas a few years ago. It's a luscious brown with a semi-sueded surface that gives it a velvet texture, just slightly too big for me (it's a novelty) so I can pull my hands into the sleeves to keep them warm. On the walk to the post office and back I occasionally petted the jacket.
Mom and Dad called to wish me a happy birthday. My friend Donald called from Iraq a few minutes later. Then my brother Jacob called. I have spent a lot of time on the phone today. It was nice, but eventually I had to cut things short.
I did practice yesterday--really I did. For about an hour, while I was listening to the news on the radio. I don't have a TV, which is what Joe Bethancourt, a pro musician I know, recommends to distract your mind while practicing. He says your lizard brain can play very, very fast. But it is stupid, and has to learn everything by repetition, and it doesn't operate well when your conscious mind keeps tugging its sleeve. So he recommend watching TV to distract yourself and let your lizard brain practice. I listen to the news on NPR instead. I tried reading, for a while, but I kept having to let go of the mandolin to turn the pages). Anyway, I did practice tremolos and runs and ran through some of my old pieces. But I forgot *all* about practicing my new piece for my lesson next week. My lizard brain is apparently stupid about appointments and things like that--something to keep in mind for later.
Anyway, I listened to the CD that comes with my music book and marked all the places where the mandolin player wasn't playing what was written on the page. He was simplifying things, so I used his version, mostly rhythm changes. I must say, this would be very unkind on a player who didn't already read music reasonably well. Fortunately, though I'm not good enough to sight read, I am good enough to pick out, after enough repetition, the places where the player is cheating. So I don't work my heart out trying to figure out why my version doesn't sound right. Anyway, today I listened to the CD several times, then turned it off and worked by sheet music for a while, then listened to the CD again to be sure I had it right. I'm very proud of myself; I've just about learned the piece. Usually it takes me longer than this. Now I only have to get it up to speed :-)
Then I made my cake. I made what our family called Swamp Cake--a chocolate cake that came out very damp the first time my mother made it (out of the "I Hate To Cook Book"). Swampy or not, we liked it so much that we insisted she make it for our birthdays on a regular basis. I didn't have the recipe for it, but I came across it in a different cookbook (the "Idiot's Guide to Cooking")--I don't have the proportions memorized, but the directions for mixing it are idiosyncratic and unmistakeable. So I made it for my birthday. I made it early, to give it time to cool, and cut a piece off the end to be sure it came out okay. I didn't have the right size pan, so I had to make a recipe and a half, and sometimes scaling up like that doesn't work too well. It came out fine, but then I had to cut another piece off the other end to make it come out even.
Just before dinner I made frosting for it. I got the recipe out of the Idiot's Guide, but I didn't have sour cream so I used fresh cream instead. I was pretty sure it would work since semisweet bakers chocolate and fresh cream are the principal ingredients for truffles and truffle topping on chocolate cake would be just fine. I didn't have enough chocolate to make a full recipe so I used what I had (10 oz instead of 12) and added a little less cream. It came out just fine. I did get the frosting all over my hands and sleeves while I was frosting the cake but I licked most of it off.
Dinner was salmon and portobello mushrooms. Kip cooked the salmon while I handled roasting the mushrooms. I turned the broiler on and let it heat while I put the mushrooms gills up on a cookie sheet, with a little pat of butter on each mushroom stem and sprinkled grated mozzarella and parmesan cheese over the gills. Then I put them under the broiler for three minutes--when I checked on them the cheese was already browning so I turned the broiler off and left them in the oven a little longer to let the mushrooms cook through without scorching the cheese. They were done in about 6 minutes total. Yum. We had broccoli too, just because.
Kip bought candles for the cake. We both thought 40 was too many to handle so we just stuck a bunch on and didn't worry about getting the number right. A lot of little candles make a big light--we turned the lights out to admire it. We got pink wax on the frosting but it was easy to pick out. The cake was pretty good, but the frosting is just amazing. I just had another piece. :-)
After dinner I opened my presents. Mom and Dad and Jacob had sent books, so I have lots of lovely new fantasy books to read. I'm halfway through _A College of Magics_ by Caroline Stevermer now. I was wondering if I would like her stuff, never having read anything of hers before. I think I'll definitely be adding some more of her books to my wishlist :-). Kip gave me books too, including _A Monstrous Regiment_ by Terry Pratchett, which I've been wanting since I saw it in the bookstore; I love Pratchett. And I got an atlas of Tennessee, which will be very useful next weekend when we try to find our way to Bentley's house (a guy we've started playing D&D with) in Sharp's Corner. And someone (I bet it was Dad) included three CDs of lute music in the package from Oregon. After the second I looked at Kip and said "I wonder if he's confused about which instrument I've been studying" :-). I'm listening to one of them now. It's pleasant, without distracting my attention the way vocals would.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-12-03 09:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-04 06:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-04 12:40 am (UTC)I did add you to my friendslist yesterday, as you are one of several filkers I've either met or otherwise come across since my last lj maintenance, and of course as an ex-member of the NMC I came across some of your wonderful songs long since. :)
no subject
Date: 2003-12-04 06:48 am (UTC)I'm happy to be added to your friendslist. What's the NMC, though?
no subject
Date: 2003-12-04 10:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-05 06:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-04 01:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-05 06:45 am (UTC)