Bloglovin'

Just a quick update to let you know that you can now follow my blog (and probably any other blogs you read) on Bloglovin. It's probably unnecessary for those of you who use GoogleReader, but if you don't, it'll show any blog updates that you follow whenever you sign in.

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New recipe coming soon, I promise!

Weekend Reads: Pratchett's Witches

If you don't know me, I'm a creative writing major with a passion for literature, so if you're reading this frequently, you'll likely be getting weekly reading updates (essentially, what I'm reading and why you should read it too). This is the first of these.

I'm currently enrolled in an intensive half-semester online literature class, which means about 150 pages of heavy reading per week, plus a paper and discussion board postings. It's a lot of fun. I love it. The online thing is sort of confusing (I've never taken an online class before) but I'm getting used to it. However, the huge amount of heavy reading required means that my "for fun" needs to be something light and easy--otherwise I'd end up talking like the characters in old novels and the people who have to spend a lot of time with me would probably kill me.

I like an element of fantasy in my books (yes, I'm a huge nerd). My favorite authors are Neil Gaiman, Roger Zelazny and Terry Pratchett. For those of you who aren't familiar with Pratchett's work, it's always humorous and entertaining, with a little bit of social commentary buried beneath the funny. They're light reads, but they do make one think, at least a little. I love his books about the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, but for the past...week and a half or so, I've been reading his books about the Lancre Witches, and they're great.

These books aren't really about magic; they're about the characters, all of whom are beautifully crafted and resonate with something deep inside us that tells us how old women are supposed to act. Granny Weatherwax is a crotchety old woman who helps people reluctantly, usually by telling them she's helped them in a way that makes them believe it to the extent that their problem goes away. Nanny Ogg is a boisterous, fat, usually drunk old woman with a cat that torments every other creature in the village, though she's convinced he's a real sweetie. And Magrat Garlick, whose parents didn't know how to spell Margaret, is a younger woman who thinks being a witch should be about doing magic instead of knowing when not to do magic; the others consider her a "wet hen."

There are also three "young adult novels" that are just as relevant and entertaining as the others, about a headstrong young girl named Tiffany Aching who is learning to become a witch and dealing with being almost thirteen at the same time.

As fun as Pratchett's books are, they aren't numbered despite the fact that there's a definite order to them. So if you intend to read any of them, check out the Discworld Reading Order Guide first.

One of the stories I read for my class this week, Xingu by Edith Wharton, is a great quick read. It tells the story of a group of women who meet to talk about art, literature, and culture in general, and how their desire to look cultured and knowledgeable eventually makes them all look like idiots. I strongly recommend reading it--I guarantee you know someone like these women. The full text is available on Project Gutenberg, and if you click the underlined "Xingu" up at the top of this paragraph, it'll take you right there.

Lastly, I would like to publicly congratulate Neil Gaiman and one of my favorite musicians, Amanda Palmer, on their engagement. I know they'll never see this, but I love knowing that two people who make such great art are getting married. I hope the best for them--and I hope at least some of their wedding photos end up online.

tweet tweet!

I've changed my public twitter account, which I never used, to an account for my blog! You can follow my twitter updates @edanacooks if you'd like. It will include basic musings (especially those related to food), mention new blog posts, and probably involve a lot of foreshadowing. (If I'm gonna do this, I might as well do it all the way.)

Coming this week: banana bread, food-related video games, some cupcakes I didn't remember I'd taken pictures of, and the start of Weekly Reads (which may end up being Weekend Reads)! Stay tuned!

New Blog, New Gadgets!

Hello, readers! Welcome to YUM FOOD--a blog about food! I'm new to blogging (well, new to trying to be good at blogging) and thought that since I get really excited about food and always want to tell people about it, it would be the perfect thing to put me in the world of blogging.

So, to go with the new blog, I thought I'd share with you some new gadgets that my dad and his girlfriend got for me for Christmas. (I think I realized I'm actually an adult when my dad and I started shopping for each other at the same store; I bought him kitchen-related items as well.)

The first thing I opened is hilarious and yet incredibly useful:

They don't fit my face perfectly, but they actually do keep my eyes from hurting! I don't know why, but onions have always hurt my eyes so much when I'm cooking that I make whoever else is in the house cut them for me, and now I don't need to. My boyfriend managed to sneak a terribly unflattering picture while I was wearing them last night, preparing a stir-fry:

I think I was actually chopping mushrooms at this point and had forgotten to take them off. Anyway, despite looking amazingly dorky, they are wonderful things. My brother noticed when I got them that whoever decided people needed onion goggles also realized that people who needed onion goggles were also likely to want to know why onions make your eyes burn, so there's a little scientific explanation inside the package!

The next gift I pulled out of my stocking was a little less hilarious and a lot more practical. Have you ever HATED how recipes call for a tablespoon of ginger (or some other spice) and you have to carefully pour ginger into a big round spoon that will never fit into the container? Well, hate no more! These spoon-measures are the perfect logical solution:

RECTANGLES! What a novel idea. And the ends have little points, so you can get into corners of jars and scrape out whatever's stuck there! They all stack neatly together and take up almost no space:

I absolutely love them. The smallest one is 1/8 tsp, so you can be really accurate! And look how wonderfully they fit into a perfectly normal-sized spice jar:

Once it's in the jar, spinning it around seems the best way to fill it. They helped a lot with all the pies I had to make for my mom's family's party...and with pretty much everything I've cooked since I got them. Aren't they gorgeous? (I'd also like to point out that that is a TABLESPOON measure fitting perfectly into the spice jar. TABLESPOON. Impressive.)

Now the last one is the Big Deal, and I haven't used it yet but intend to tonight:

Pasta machine! I think he realized it would be an awesome present when I had to borrow his to make ravioli for my boyfriend's parents. (The handle was missing, so I ended up having to roll it all out with a rolling pin anyway, but now I have my own!)

When I use it tonight, I'll have to find a different table. This one is too thin for it to clamp onto.

I can't decide which noodle size to make--perhaps I'll make both tonight and try to decide which one I like better for the future.

Thanks for reading, and check back later for photographic evidence of my pasta-making adventure!