The Snook and I made our second attempt at Japanese dumplings – “gyoza” – tonight. Rather than using Kristen‘s arduous (but authentic) recipe, we cut a few corners. Our dough wrappers were pre-bought from the Chinese store around the corner. For the filling, we used our hand blender to whiz up green onion, ginger, water chestnut, and blanched cabbage. We mixed this with cooked minced chicken, sesame oil, and a raw egg. Then we filled the dumplings and dropped them into boiling water. After they had floated and cooked, we removed them to cool. Then it was into a frying pan of oil to crisp and brown up. The Snook improvised a dipping sauce of soy, white vinegar, mirin, chili, and ginger. Like I said, it’s not really authentic, but damn they were good. Seriously. We made thirty, and the Snook and I sat there and ate them all in one sitting. (Don’t even mention the carbs to me. They were so good I don’t care.)

Wow. Check out these 3-D animated gifs. I wonder if could do that with a conventional digital camera…

Baby animals are always cute, but a zenkey? Cutest. Animal. Ever.

Goodbye, Boudicca. She’s all backed up and going into the shop to hopefully get this monitor issue fixed. Between that and moving house, it may be a week of light posting…

Books: During a break in a Sunday knitting class a few weekends ago, I wandered into Dymocks bookstore to kill some time. “Hey,” I thought, “there’s that Da Vinci Code book everybody’s been raving about.” As I am powerless to resist the book-buying impulse, I bought it, brought it home, chucked it on the bookcase and promptly forgot about it. I rediscovered it a few days ago while packing up books for the move. On a whim, I started reading it on the bus this morning… and got completely and irrevocably hooked. I have a feeling that “Boxing stuff for the move” is about to get reprioritized down my To Do list in favor of “Spend every second devouring this book as quickly as possible.”

Meanwhile, I’ve finally finished one strand of the Ender saga with Children of the Mind. I found the ending disappointing. After three books worth of impending doom, the big climax is Jane picking up the bomb and putting it back on the ship? Not very exciting. And I’m still disturbed by the whole Jane/Valentine Ender/Peter thing. It was all just so convenient. Nevertheless, I’m on the lookout for Ender’s Shadow. I always found the Battle School stuff more interesting anyway…

Trivia Update: We only managed a measly fifth place tonight. To add insult to injury, the Snook completely boned a bonus jug question that involved identifying the song that starts with the lyrics: “I hear that train…” That was a tough one to forgive. Other highlights from the quiz were: Name the five biggest ethnic groups in New York City (besides white Americans). What was the name of the family in the film Vacation and which amusement park were they going to? Which two female tennis players competed against Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes?

Only one week til we move! The Snook got the phone hooked up at our new place today. Unfortunately our new number doesn’t spell anything cool.

Thoughts I had while watching Lost in La Mancha (the documentary about Terry Gilliam’s failed attempt to make a Don Quixote film in 2000) tonight:

• Man, I’m glad I dropped Film Production junior year of college. I’d hate to be stuck working in that industry.
• I didn’t know Terry Gilliam was American! I thought he was a Brit.
• Johnny Depp, while breathtakingly beautiful onscreen, looks like a disgusting dirty bum in real life. However, his ripped sleeveless shirt did allow me to verify the urban legend that he had his “Winona Forever” tattoo modified to read “Wino Forever” after they broke up. It’s clearly visible on his right shoulder.
• Johnny’s wife-to-be, Vanessa Paradis, is a diva who never turns up for appointments and looks like an alien. Seriously.
• Those giants rock.
• Horses, hail, floods, airplanes, injuries… This production was like the Book of Job.
• I really wish this movie had gotten made.

If it’s playing anywhere near you, I recommend you see it. It’ll be your only chance to see Johnny Depp yelling “F**k you!” to a fish.

There was a stupid anti-knitting troll in the Sydney Morning Herald today. I’m debating on sending in a response.