Flying Cookbooks of Meme!

[muchabstracted]

(Well, if "meme" and "doom" are synonyms, the subject line makes sense.)

On Saturday, zippysilver and I went for our first-ever plane flight with countessofgroan piloting! It was too hazy to see the mountains, but there was still plenty to see on the ground. The marshes were my favorite part, but I also quite enjoyed seeing the horrifically ugly roofs of otherwise normal buildings. One building, in a particularly improbable shade of green, was so astonishing that it spurred this entire line of thought. I also picked out my future home on the trip. It's big, of course, and is located on a lovely large peninsular spit of land. countessofgroan plans to use my yard for her own personal runway. With my permission, of course, but as I expect it will just induce her to visit my home frequently, I have no objection.

I might have promised to not mention any of my presents, but there is one whose excitement might be partly transferable to LJ. The Book Lover's Cookbook! With recipes for the Tea Cakes that Algernon of The Importance of Being Earnest dislikes so greatly (as well as "Consolation Bran Muffins", whose purpose I have less understanding of), Fried Green Tomatoes, and Turkish Delight. There are also recipes for tea, which leaves me simultaneously puzzled and desirous of immediately making some. Anyone for tea?

No, I'm not as real a cook as, say, the Roommate. If I was, I would probably be sneering at the gimmickry instead of desperately scanning the pages to see how many recipes are easy enough to look tempting.

It is now January 2nd, which signals the end of my vacation. As such, I am reviving the meme of a month ago, as gacked from rymenhild. Reply to this post, and I'll tell you one/a lot of reasons why I like/love/adore you. Then post this in your LJ and share the love. Disclaimer: I don't promise to respond quickly, but I will respond.

Comments

[meghatronn.livejournal.com]

Dude! I love the literary cookbook. When Catherine and I hosted our Harry Potter shindig, it was fun to make up recipes for Hogwarts fare, but a cookbook could have made for a good run as well.

Ooh, you could even do theme meals, e.g., "cursed" dishes (poison apples, the aforementioned Turkish delight, etc.)

Someone stop me before I hurt myself :)

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, next time I host a Friday 13th dinner, I'll totally do that.

Why would I stop you when it's so much more fun to encourage you to continue?

It was lovely to see you again, by the way, and the party was great fun.

[meghatronn.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks! I'm so glad. On all counts :)

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

I can already tell that it will be hard to put these into words.

I appreciate your perspective on things for two reasons. Reason One is because you are also a social worker, and it is deeply reassuring to discuss matters with a social worker, with all the similarities in values and training that that implies, and whose opinion I trust professionally and personally. (Even though we don't actually get together very often. Damn geographical distances.) Reason Two is because we disagree, and because some of the ways we disagree are unusual for me. I feel like the differences make things richer.

Not to dwell on the professional sphere. Because I also have had a tremendous amount of fun when spending time with you, and I still regret not being able to go to the Harry Potter themed party.

[countessofgroan.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you had so much fun! I can't wait to land in your yard. Let me know when you buy the place.

I read an article about how the reporter ate Turkish Delight didn't like it and I was like, Yes! I, also, really dislike Turkish Delight! Although the reporter also conjectured that during the war, children didn't get many sweets, so maybe the lack of sweets made any candy that much more special and desirable to the Pevensie children. Anyway. I'll stop now, too.

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

*clears throat*
I admire that you have persisted in learning to fly. I also admire that you have persisted in trying to put together a career that you enjoy, one with elements of life that are rarely actually found in jobs. I think that's hard.

I love your sense of humor. I also love your company, which is perhaps not surprising, as you are one of the oldest friends I have. And I like your character, which is possibly the vaguest thing I can say, but it also manages to sum up a lot, so there. *blthtbt*

Also, our phone conversations are the best.


***

I tried to put this first, but it kept cutting off the rest of the post. rymenhild mentioned that article too. As well as an essay by a e-friend of hers who discussed the whole concept of Narnia and eating Turkish Delight. It's pretty interesting; both links are at <a ref="http://www.livejournal.com/users/rymenhild/63547.html>here</a> in her post.

Argh.

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/rymenhild/63547.html in her post.

Apparently I am screwing up the HTML tag, so I will stop trying.

[obopolsk.livejournal.com]

That cookbook sounds really cool! What exactly is in Turkish Delight?

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... *rifles* Gelatin, cold water, sugar, orange juice, lemon juice, zest of 1 lemon and 1 orage, hot water, powdered sugar, and optional food coloring.

I feel it is appropriate that there is orange juice and lemon juice in it, because for some reason that feels decadent. But gelatin (even though I already knew that was part of Turkish Delight) is just a let-down to me. I'm sure Edmund wouldn't have been tempted if he knew gelatin was involved.

I'm amazed and in awe at your dedication to what are, as far as I can tell, several totally different career paths. It does seem like it would be possible to pursue those particular interests all at once, but worthy of note that you are not only interested in all of them but able to properly spend time on each of them.

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

Also, I like the two stories of yours that I've read. Particularly the one that got accepted, because it -- well, simultaneously reminded me of something I'm prone to forget now and gave me a new image to carry around in my head.

[obopolsk.livejournal.com]

Thank you for both of those comments. :) It means a lot to me to know that someone has enjoyed my stories -- it helps me persist in the face of frequent rejections.

And honestly, I'm not sure why I persist in these two career paths. I often wish I could choose just one -- I'm sure I'd be much less stressed. But I can't, which is odd, because I sometimes think neither is really what I want to do with my life anyway.

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

Well, given that my own planned career path comes out of me taking something that I can do relatively easily (social work; with emphasis on the "relatively" part) and shoving in other interests that are only tangentially related (storytelling, literature, music, art)...? If neither one is exactly what you want to do, maybe pursuing both will bring you to exactly what you want to do.

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

To be honest, my reaction partly comes out of the difficulty I feel in concentrating on both social work and The Other Stuff. For myself, I am mainly hoping I don't fall down on the storytelling/literature/music/art part of what I plan to do with social work.

[dushai.livejournal.com]

Dear muchabstracted,

Please tell me why I'm so spiffy.

Thank you,
dushai

P.S. You are so spiffy because (among other things) you introduced me to The Worst Band In The Universe, you got me thinking about the Trickster figure, you had an extremely entertaining "two truths and a lie" line when we first met, you wrote a series of emails in response to my winter solstice letter (I'll email back soon... for some definition of "soon"...), and, uh, now it's your turn. :)

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

Hello! *is distracted* So I'm glad you like The Worst Band in the Universe. And I think the Trickster figure is fascinating and worthy of much thought, personally, so I'm glad you appear to agree.

I feel that you are more capable than most of feeling and/or inspiring the rare and treasured Instant Friend (tm) sensation in near-strangers. I also admire your stance on how to engage with the world, in all the different senses that implies. There have been times in the past, and will be times in the future, that I actively consider your example.

[kraada.livejournal.com]

Yay another meme of love. I like these :)

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

Told you I wouldn't necessarily be prompt!

Anyway, what stands out in my mind at the moment are two not-terribly-unrelated things. One of which is your ability to be honest; I don't feel that I've spent enough time with you to speak of this with any authority, beyond the fact that we've had some astonishingly honest conversations. I also admire some of the risks you've taken in bucking convention. I do mean this in all sorts of ways, by the way, though I am far too tired to be specific at all. Sorry. Presumably you will have some idea of what I mean anyway, and if not, I will just feel as though I am mysterious.

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

Sure.

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

And I reiterate, sheepishly, that I promised no promptness.

Eeep.

I like the way you think. By which I mean a number of things: opinions on law, religion, and shooting stars; facts you find interesting, and what you like about books (which is frequently something that I would not have noticed); and your stories.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

While I always (who doesn't?) love to hear reasons why people like me, I mostly have to say: Flying! For real?

Also, as your parents sent me a lovely tea sampler for Chanukah, maybe we should have a tea party. :-)

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the delay! I plead busyness and exhaustion; which might be a cliche, but is nonetheless true.

Anyway. Yes! Flying! For real! The Brother's reaction was something like, "Good luck with that" when he found out I was going up with her. *grins* Why he'd be concerned about a plane flight with a trained responsible friend when he's tangled with moose and skied off cliffs escapes me.

I am always in favor of tea parties. In theory, at least. I've been to very few. In fact, my initial plan for the Seven Deadly Sins party was to have a Seven Deadly Sins Tea Party. Then I realized that there was no way I was throwing a tea party for 20 people.

Onto meme!
I greatly admire the time you spend at TBS. In college I ran clubs, and the resulting time commitment was enough to scare me off on most such activities. So I find it very impressive that you are doing more with what is probably less free time.

On a more directly personal note, in all of our interactions, you have struck me as an engaging, interesting, and warm-hearted person. It's always a pleasure to see you.

(Hope Arisia went well!)