round up

[topaz119]

The last few weeks have been a little more bonkers than usual, including the weekends, so when I say I didn't do anything but mess around in the kitchen and listen to podcasts and poke at various writing projects this weekend, I don't think it really conveys how truly excellent it felt to have a quiet couple of days.
In the kitchen, I finally used all the blueberries the boys have picked recently to make Martha's Blueberry Cobbler. It's a biscuit-y cobbler top (though biscuits made with heavy cream, so it's not like it's particularly light) but it was easy enough. To go with it, I made a Ben & Jerry's vanilla ice cream made in the food processor, as described on Food & Wine, which worked out super well. And since I was on a roll, I also tried the sliced-frozen-banana + food processor=soft-serve banana ice cream trick (I hesitate to call it a recipe, as it is literally just frozen bananas) and despite everything looking like a gray, glue-y mess at the start, it did actually turn out to be an unqualified success. I added about a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa and whoaaaaaaa, it was awesome. I feel that there are many occasions when chocolate-banana ice cream w/no dairy or sugar or fat would keep me from a screaming fit. (I feel like I should also mention that the HoB gave multiple thumbs up for this, too, and you know damn well they could care less about anything but the taste, so I assure you this isn't an instance of 'this tastes okay for what it is' but rather that it really does taste awesome (if you like bananas, obvs.))

I also kind of fell down the Disney World fandom abyss and somehow ended up listening to about 3 hours worth of speculation about what might or might not be coming in the next few years. (Bottom-line, there are gonna be lots of construction walls but Hollywood Studios might actually end up being navigable and StarWarsLand is coming. Also, Anna and Elsa are never ever going away, but you probably knew that already.) I find I still could care less about the actual events of Avatar (not the last Airbender Avatar, but the Pocahontas-in-space one) but I am still surprisingly excited to see the world around the events. There might also have been a few additions to the bad-for-you-but-hey-it's-vacation list of foods (BLT-ranch fries, BabyBoy is ready to go now) and some preliminary discussions about the plan of attack for the Food & Wine Festival this year. So, yeah, not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning while the laundry was trundling along.

…and writing… My marvel_bang is progressing (which is good news after having lost a thousand words and then getting caught up in the mess of school starting again/#2 finishing a semester.) I think it's falling into a three-part structure and the first part is almost done, the second is solidly in progress and I at least know why the third part happens. So that's good.

In the same crash/reboot/crash sequence, I also lost almost everything I had on a be_compromised ficathon prompt, and that really stalled everything out there, but I did have fun with the three-sentence mini ficathon, and ended up writing a bunch over the weekend (all Clint/Natasha)---

The Female Gaze (prompt: these hips don't lie)

between the rock and the hard place (prompt: nowhere left to run)

nerds in love (prompt: Movie night: Star Trek or Star Wars?), plus alphaflyer (whose prompt it was) responded with a little bit more, which I also added to.

the family that spies together (prompt: Everybody just assumed that Natasha didn't want/couldn't have children)

trust fall (prompt: being forced into corporate teamwork event)

It's been a long time since I've done one of these. Aside from how I haven't lost my love of run-on sentences (look away, without_me, look away!), I'd forgotten how much fun it is to try to distill a story down this far.

Comments

[msktrnanny.livejournal.com]

The WDW speculation stuff is just.... So much to ponder! I am 100% with you on Avatar! Especially as I've heard rumor indicating it will make AK have a might program! StarWarsLand sounds like it might be fascinating but I worry a little about how it might be presented. Time will tell. Never having loved the Ice Sisters, that aspect is less fun. Ah well. Did you listen to a podcast or something else?

Must try the frozen banana whizzing! Have a bunch on the counter right now that won't get eaten in time. Into the freezer they go!

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

There's lots more that I didn't mention, from this podcast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxeKGvxlhe0&list=UUoZ68KDk9E_3ta0L5O0xIFw

(this is really long, but there's lots to talk about apparently)

I mean, these guys are two dorky, middle-aged Disney uberfans, but they're not the kind who moooooaaaaan about how Walt wouldn't have done it this way, etc, etc, etc. We all know Disney changes plans incessantly, even after they announce it officially, so I always take these things with more than a little salt, but that being said, these two are generally the ones that don't make me want to claw my eyes out and they don't run around spouting off every rumor that goes past.

[kaelie.livejournal.com]

I also kind of fell down the Disney World fandom abyss ...

Funny, me too! I'm in the middle of The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland (we're going in Decemeber for our anniversary) and gah, can't wait. But I need to know -- where do you find the good podcasts?

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

Oh, fun! I don't know if I ever mentioned this here, but last spring BabyBoy and I did lunch with an Imagineer (he was the project manager for the redo of Downtown Disney here at WDW, which is—you can't even believe how they're tearing it completely apart…) It was cool talking with him, but the other people at the lunch were also really fun and they were all from CA and were huge Disneyland fans, so we spent the whole lunch talking about the differences and they made me want to see the new California Adventure so badly! (Not badly enough to buy airfare, but if I'm ever on the West Coast for other reasons, I'm so there!)

For podcasts, I tend to stick with Inside The Magic, which is well-produced, but sometimes makes me just laugh and laugh and laugh with the Disney fanboy entitlement (oh, the indignation that was expressed when the cast of the Avengers seemed to think they might have a hit on their hands—didn't they know they were only a big deal at ComiCon and weren't going to make anybody else notice?) and the Unofficial Guide's podcast, which I linked to the most recent one in the comment above. That one is generally just Len and Jim having a conversation, so it's not fancy, but they usually have interesting stuff to talk about (and less of the whining.)

[spyforaday.livejournal.com]

Well, clearly, I left the party too soon. Your three-sentence fics are awesome. I especially enjoyed the group effort of "Nerds in Love." Ummmm, yeah. So glad I stumbled onto those!

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I am only now getting to the point of reading everyone else's--if I read them first I can't think of my own, so I've learned to write all mine and then go back and read--so you're not the only one who's missed out. :D

[hammerhead22.livejournal.com]

I love all of your three sentence fics!

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Steph! It made me think of the popslash run-on sentence/drabble days.

[withdiamonds.livejournal.com]

It's absolutely killing me, the Disney withdrawal. No one will go with me! There's no time or money for anyone! My hope is that Lois and I will go to the Flower and Garden Festival again this spring, but her husband got laid off and so much depends on when he gets a job. (Let me tell you, being laid off at age 61 after 25 years with the same company sucks.)

And all the girls' time off and money is going to Japan - three weeks!! - and much as I want to do Marathon Weekend in January again, I'm afraid it's going to be a while before I can get us back there, especially since Nic is going to be an ass about it for the rest of all time. "I think we should go to Argentina instead!" he whines whenever it comes up. Apples and oranges, bro.

Haha, clearly I'm having major Disney withdrawal.

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

We're going for F&W this October (at this point, it's a major component of BabyBoy's school success bribery incentives, and then possibly over NYE, but I don't plan those, so it's weird to know we're going but not be obsessing over hotels and dining reservations (and now FP+ times and strategies, omg.)

I meant what I said on g-chat, too, so let's haul out the calendars...