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friday monday catch-up
Let’s see if I can get this written and posted before the next craziness starts:
(nope, IT came to swap out the loaner laptop for the new one since my old laptop died in a spectacular round of BSoDs earlier this week.)
(And nope again, as we had a fire drill of a review before sending stuff out to a large, recognizable tech company for further review and sign-off and this ended up sitting in my drafts folder over the weekend.)
(Also, cutting because it got long and involved:
I was doing pretty okay with NaNo (and ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
mini_wrimo) even through the release where we dropped 4 major features in one deployment (for those of you playing along at home, that means we had the general scramble of agile development PLUS the nerve-wracking countdown to a waterfall deployment, so all the horrors of both processes, none of the good stuff) but then I got sick right in time for Thanksgiving and it all fell apart. I mean, I’m pretty pleased with the progress I made, but yeah, November is still not the month for it for me.
The continuing drama of BabyBoy and, well, drama, continues. Auditions for the spring musical are today, so we have been listening to an endless round of rapping, broken up by some sassy singing. (This is for the spring musical, which is Bring It On. Yes, they made a musical out of the cheerleading movie.) Dance auditions for this are Monday, call back readings are Tuesday. He has been accepted to the 2 BFA programs he has so far auditioned for, but has yet to get the actual applications to the admissions offices completed. He’s been invited to audition for 2 more national programs (so far), so we will be in Manhattan in January for the Unified Auditions, which means I need to find a hotel in Midtown, sharpish. He also needs to pass his actual classes so he can graduate high school. [Update: He did not get a callback for the rapping part he auditioned for, but he *did* get the callback for the transgender girl who sings. This could entail a LOT of voice lessons, oy. After dance auditions today, he is going and having a full make-up & wig session so the director can see his look. I repeat: he somehow needs to do classwork, too.]
The insurance company finally came back out and looked at all the stuff the contractors were pointing out on the roof, and apparently have cut a check for the differences (I have the email telling me the check is coming but no check yet), so the contractors are coming on Monday to start on the roof. They should be done on Tuesday, possibly Wednesday, and then on Thursday the guys are coming to clean the carpets so my living room will not look grimy under the Christmas tree (the dog loves to take things he shouldn’t be having out of the kitchen and eat it in the living room, the idiot.) Also on Thursday, the new mortgage company promises that I will be in their system so they can sign off on the insurance check, but I have grave doubts about this as I should have been in their system 6 months ago, but we’ll see, I guess. [Update: the roofers were at the house when I left for work this morning. Still no check.)
The little furniture restorer/repairer that comes highly recommended is open tomorrow morning, so I am going to see if they can take on my aunt’s damage to my grandmother’s dining room table. Maybe they can even have it done for Christmas dinner…? (This is crazy talk, I know, but a girl can hope, right?) [Update: they’re not going to have it by Christmas, but they can fix it for not a huge amount of money, yay.]
I am going out early this year to get a Christmas tree in an effort to not end up in a place where I can’t find a nice, reasonably sized tree and end up with a behemoth like last year. I don’t think I have the energy to decorate another 12-footer but a 6-foot tree would just depress me. So, the quest for a nice 8-9 foot Fraser fir begins as soon as I get my hair cut tomorrow morning. [Er, I did get a tree, but it’s big again. And a Douglas fir rather than Fraser fir. But it was cheap? (ish?) yay?]
Also this weekend, I am infusing vodka to use as gifts (for non-family members, because D’s family doesn’t drink and my family sure as hell doesn’t need any hand-delivered alcohol.) Lemon, orange, Tabasco (not all together!) And maybe starting on some spiced nuts. [Update: I did not start any actual infusing but I got the stuff that will be infused. Baby steps.]
We are doing Disney World for New Year’s Eve again this year, but are taking a day or so on the front to run around the parks with just our immediate family before the influx of extended friends begins. (It’s like Friends-giving for NYE.) We did not decide to do this until this past week--those of you who know WDW are laughing hysterically at the thought of doing anything last-minute at the busiest time of year. And, well, yeah, you wouldn’t be wrong. (The Friends-giving rooms are booked 11 months out and the food reservations go at 6 months out.) So far, though, I’ve gotten hotels on-property (at not horrifying costs) and FPs to everything new except Flight of Passage. The secret, I think, is that when I wake up in the middle of the night because of brain weasels, I lie there and hit Refresh on my phone and book things incrementally. Since my brain is going bonkers almost every night, I’m making fabulous progress. I guess that’s the lemonade/silver lining to the stress? [Update: still no Flight of Passage FP+, but now the question becomes: do I keep the FP for Rivers of Light (the nighttime show) or do I keep the pricey (but good) lunch reservation that also includes seating for the show? Decisions, decisions.]
And due to popular demand, the recipe for the cauliflower cheese casserole I made for Thanksgiving.
Note: This makes a huge amount (2 heads of cauliflower) and is in no way healthy. Also, it’s US measurements, sorry. I did a rough conversion to metric using a standard conversion chart for cooking but I can’t swear to it.
3 slices hearty white sandwich bread, torn into quarters
4 oz / 115g extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
4 oz / 115g Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (you can also use pepper jack if you want a little kick.)
4 tablespoons / 60g unmelted butter, melted
3 garlic cloves, minced
Salt & pepper
2 Tablespoons / 15.62 g all-purpose flour
1 ¼ cup / 310 ml heavy cream
¾ cup / 177 ml chicken broth
2 large heads cauliflower (abt 6 pounds), cored and cut into ¾ inch florets
2 teaspoons / 10 ml dried mustard
1 teaspoon / 5 ml dried thyme
Preheat the oven to 450°F / 230°C.
Take the bread, 2 tablespoons / 30 ml of each cheese, half the melted melted butter, and one minced clove of garlic and zap it in the food processor/blender until it’s all nice and bread-crumb-y. Set aside.
Heat remaining half of the butter, remaining 2 cloves of minced garlic, and the flour in a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or saute pan (large enough to hold all the cauliflower.) Saute over medium heat, stirring constantly, until golden and fragrant, about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in heavy cream and broth. Stir in mustard, thyme, ½ teaspoon (2ml) salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, and cauliflower. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the cauliflower is nearly tender, about 6-8 min. Off-heat, stir in remaining cheeses, a handful at a time, until incorporated.
Pour everything into a 13x9 baking dish and top with bread crumbs. Bake until crumbs are golden brown and crisp, about 10-15 min. Let cool 10 min before serving (which rarely happens around my house.)
(nope, IT came to swap out the loaner laptop for the new one since my old laptop died in a spectacular round of BSoDs earlier this week.)
(And nope again, as we had a fire drill of a review before sending stuff out to a large, recognizable tech company for further review and sign-off and this ended up sitting in my drafts folder over the weekend.)
(Also, cutting because it got long and involved:
mini_wrimo) even through the release where we dropped 4 major features in one deployment (for those of you playing along at home, that means we had the general scramble of agile development PLUS the nerve-wracking countdown to a waterfall deployment, so all the horrors of both processes, none of the good stuff) but then I got sick right in time for Thanksgiving and it all fell apart. I mean, I’m pretty pleased with the progress I made, but yeah, November is still not the month for it for me.And due to popular demand, the recipe for the cauliflower cheese casserole I made for Thanksgiving.
Note: This makes a huge amount (2 heads of cauliflower) and is in no way healthy. Also, it’s US measurements, sorry. I did a rough conversion to metric using a standard conversion chart for cooking but I can’t swear to it.
3 slices hearty white sandwich bread, torn into quarters
4 oz / 115g extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
4 oz / 115g Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (you can also use pepper jack if you want a little kick.)
4 tablespoons / 60g unmelted butter, melted
3 garlic cloves, minced
Salt & pepper
2 Tablespoons / 15.62 g all-purpose flour
1 ¼ cup / 310 ml heavy cream
¾ cup / 177 ml chicken broth
2 large heads cauliflower (abt 6 pounds), cored and cut into ¾ inch florets
2 teaspoons / 10 ml dried mustard
1 teaspoon / 5 ml dried thyme
Preheat the oven to 450°F / 230°C.
Take the bread, 2 tablespoons / 30 ml of each cheese, half the melted melted butter, and one minced clove of garlic and zap it in the food processor/blender until it’s all nice and bread-crumb-y. Set aside.
Heat remaining half of the butter, remaining 2 cloves of minced garlic, and the flour in a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or saute pan (large enough to hold all the cauliflower.) Saute over medium heat, stirring constantly, until golden and fragrant, about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in heavy cream and broth. Stir in mustard, thyme, ½ teaspoon (2ml) salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, and cauliflower. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the cauliflower is nearly tender, about 6-8 min. Off-heat, stir in remaining cheeses, a handful at a time, until incorporated.
Pour everything into a 13x9 baking dish and top with bread crumbs. Bake until crumbs are golden brown and crisp, about 10-15 min. Let cool 10 min before serving (which rarely happens around my house.)
no subject
Yay! And good luck with the NYE arrangements!
no subject
Your cauliflower cheese still sounds incredible. Maybe not healthy, but tasty I'm sure.
no subject