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Author: Kris

  • New Books

    As I’ve finished all the books you guys recommended last winter, I figured it was time for some new reading material. Next in the queue are:

    • Atonement by Ian McEwan. I’ve been reading the film reviews with interest, and I noticed that most of them made a big deal about how it’s okay, but the book is SO MUCH better. It was Kevin‘s review that really sealed it for me though, so I headed over to Dymocks to pick up a copy. They had about 500 of them, and they all had Duck Face plastered on the cover.

      Me: Excuse me… Do you have any copies of Atonement that DON’T have Keira Knightley on the cover?
      Staff Member: Yeah, I’ve got some hidden here behind the counter.

      She really did. So now I’ve got it, but I’m finding it hard to make much headway. Not that it’s boring or anything; it’s just that every time I start reading it, I zonk out within ten minutes. I’ve heard there are some war scenes in it later, so I’m hoping it’ll pick up soon.

    • The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke. The Snook and I both enjoyed Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, so when I saw that her next book was now available in paperback, I had to get it.
    • The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. That suggestion came directly from this AskMeFi question, where someone asked for books similar to Jonathan Strange, books that are really dense with detail and often mash genres together. I don’t really know anything about this book other than it was a movie with Sean Connery (which I haven’t seen), but it was universally praised so I’m going to give it a go.

    Have you read anything good lately?

  • SSK

    I made it to SSK today for gusseting‘s visit, and we had a huge turnout! There were probably 20 people there (most of whom are on Ravelry). Kate’s put up photos on Flickr here. In particular, I’d like to draw your attention to the plate of cookies I baked this morning. (That’s peanut butter blossoms and snickerdoodles.)

  • Postcards from Poland

    Check out this hilarious eBay auction. Hey, if any of you want me to send your friends raving, incoherent postcards from Australia, that can be arranged. And I’ll charge a lot less than $400…

  • Wii Options Market

    Apparently there’s still such a shortage of Wiis in the US, that a Wii Options Market has formed. Craziness. It hasn’t been that bad in Australia yet, though they are predicting shops will run out this weekend. (Original link courtesy of Daring Fireball.)

  • Faux Jean Leggings

    Those of you who wish to save your retinas, please look away: Faux Jean Leggings. DEAR GOD, MAKE IT STOP.

  • The Thinking Machine

    This is awesome! I just discovered that you can read Thinking Machine stories online! I had a book of them as a kid. The “Thinking Machine” was a super-smart detective, sort of an American Sherlock Holmes. The author Jacques Futrelle hadn’t written very many when he went to Europe to promote the books… and arranged passage back to America on the Titanic. Yeah. So there aren’t any more. Anyway, I think these versions online may have been slightly edited in my book. There are details that I distinctly remember from the stories that don’t appear here.

    The really glaring change to me is in “The Silver Box”. I distinctly remember that one of the clues was that the boss had originally given the secretary a gold box, which she’d asked to exchange for a silver one (because the silver one was high enough to lift the phone receiver). That little bit doesn’t appear in the online story at all! And hey, now that I think about it, calling the story “The Silver Box” is a really huge tip-off that the secretary had something to do with it, right?

  • Mystery Gift

    Now this is weird! A delivery guy just turned up at the front door with a package for me from Games Paradise. I didn’t order anything from them. The Snook swears he didn’t. So we open it up, and it’s a brand new Harry Potter “Scene-It” game. Sweet! There’s no invoice, so I assume it’s a gift from someone. But there’s also no note or indication at all who it’s from! So come on, who’s my mystery benefactor??

    Update: It was Mom. 🙂

  • Monster Turducken

    Monster Turducken. I feel like using just the breasts is cheating a little bit though. It sounds as if they aren’t making a “Russian doll” so much as stuffing gobbets of meat in a meat bag. (Link courtesy of – if you can believe it – Andrew G.)

  • The End of Feathers

    Leanne: Guess what everybody? We’re getting rid of Feathers!
    Me and Devvy: Yayyyy!
    Leanne: Maybe we should have a bonfire.
    Me: That would be TOXIC.

  • Carrot Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

    Carrot Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese FrostingCarrot Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
    The Snook mentioned the other night that the grocery store had some lovely carrots (which he was serving to me for dinner), which reminded me that I’ve had a hankering for come carrot cake lately. I made the mistake of saying that aloud at work yesterday… and promptly received about half a dozen requests for it. A cake is always hard to transport and dish up though, so I decided to go with cupcakes instead. A few websites mention that carrot cake can be a bit dense and heavy for cupcakes, so I found this recipe with a trick to avoid the problem. You “emulsify” the oil by pouring it into a running food processor (with egg and sugar). Sounds fancy, but was actually really easy. So I baked a dozen of them last night, and this morning I decorated them. We’re actually out of maple syrup at the moment (and Coles didn’t have any last night), so I used the hand mixer to beat a bit of maple flavouring along with a good scoop of brown sugar into a block of cream cheese. It tastes FANTASTIC. Then I sprinkled on some orange icing sugar (I have the biggest collection of Halloween-related baking paraphernalia outside the US) and then topped with a walnut half. I hope everybody likes them! (And I have to say, I’m really proud of my food porn photography. Hooray for the macro mode!)