Friday, December 11, 2009
Hello Vermontography, Hello WordPress!
Out with the old, in with the new. I thought it was time to revamp my very old blog, so I moved it to a new and improved location: www.vermontography.wordpress.com. I was enticed by the better photography options, cleaner themes, ability to change my blog name, and overall look of wordpress. Especially the look of photography on wordpress. Thanks to my encouraging friends (Mindi & Mary), my ‘Merry-Christmas-To-Me’ present is a Burlington City Arts Intro to Photography course that starts in January 2010. I was frustrated by my own lack of knowledge about my Nikon camera after having it for over two years. Time to learn the basics (and perhaps some advanced techniques!) and really improve. I am still figuring things out and playing around on the site. Watch for new and improved photography:) Hope you enjoy!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Vanillekipferl attempt
It's snowing. Christmas is around the corner. Some of the Literary London crew are putting on a high tea this weekend. All of which have put me in a baking mood. I have been wanting to try these Vanillekipferl cookies for quite some time. The tiny, powder-sugar covered, crescent-shaped cookies have been on my mind since I read about them in an online newsletter months ago. They are an Austrian cookie that originated in the 1680's, supposedly after the Turkish Army was defeated by the Austrians. The Austrians celebrated by creating the "Vanillekipferl" that is shaped in the form of the Turkish flag. A cookie that stood the test of time, no? I halved the recipe since it was my first time making them and I wasn't sure they would turn out perfectly. The original dough recipe was super dry. I looked up other Vanillekipferl recipes and ended up adding an egg yolk. I also added vanilla extract and vanilla sugar to the dough.
Vanillekipferl (Sarah's edited version)
- 1/6 cup superfine vanilla sugar
- 1/6 cup ground almonds
- 1/2 cup (1 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cups self-rising flour*
- pinch of salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup icing sugar plus 2 T vanilla sugar
To make the vanilla sugar, place a vanilla bean in a glass jar filled with superfine sugar. Let sit for a few days.
Mix the superfine vanilla sugar, almonds, butter, flour, salt, egg yolk, and vanilla extract together in a bowl with a wooden spoon or a mixer. Let the dough chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
Roll the dough into half-inch thick ropes and shape each slice into a small crescent and place on ungreased cookie sheets.
Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350ºF. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes (until they’re barely browned), rotating the trays after six minutes. Move the cookies to a wire rack and let cool for ten minutes before sifting over the icing/vanilla sugar. Allow the cookies to cool completely before eating (if you can).
Vanilla sugar. It smells so lovely.
Vanillekipferl resting before being baked.
All done and in the cookie tin.
My new cookie tin.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Hunger Mountain Hike
Ashley and I hiked up one my of my favorite hikes on Sunday morning - Hunger Mountain. It's a short but steep hike just beyond Waterbury Center. It's the perfect day hike (it takes about 3 1/2 hours total) and drive (about 40 minutes). Despite the short commute, it was a drastically different landscape. Holy moly - there's SNOW! A lot of it. It really felt surreal. The snow and lighting was extraordinary throughout the entire hike. A great way to spend a Sunday.
I'm cold!
Ashley - she looks warmer:)
I'm cold!
Ashley - she looks warmer:)
Friday, December 4, 2009
Cables Untangled!
After my failed attempt at the Little Inga hat (although some friends said I was being too hard on myself....what, moi?!), I made an easier hat over Thanksgiving weekend. The "Felicity" hat. However, that didn't turned out as well as I would have liked either. Too short again. It was so blah that I just left it in Ohio. Last night I decided that my next project would be something hard just to get practice. I would go for it and try cables (the twisting rows of knitting) since nothing was turning out anyway. There is a fingerless gloves pattern on Ravelry (the mecca of knitting/crocheting websites) called Fetching by Cheryl Niamath. You can search for most popular knitting patterns by category. Fetching is the most popular pattern for mittens/gloves. 13, 182 people have made this pattern and rated very high. Fetching has a lot of cables though. After a few library books and You Tube videos, I figured it out and stayed up until 1 a.m. working on my Fetching fingerless gloves. I don't want to jinx myself.....but I think they are going to turn out! Have I found my solid-gold holiday gift pattern?!
Look....cables! I also tried it on and it fits around my wrist:)
And....
I talk about Ray's cat "The Dude" a lot with friends and family. He has quite the following. The funniest thing is that he doesn't do anything. For most of the day, he lies on a chair. I used to try to keep him off of the furniture, but lost the battle after about six months. I live and work in the same building, so I am in and out of my apartment a lot. Maybe it was my cold or pure boredom, but I took a photo of the cat anytime I came in my apartment. Like I said, he was always in the chair. All day long. From morning until night. Hysterical. The cat only gets up to eat, poop, and to look out the window for about a minute.
Dude lounging on the chair in the morning while I am getting ready for work.
Dude sleeping on the chair at lunchtime.
Dude stretches on the chair mid-afternoon.
Dude back to sleeping on the chair when I get off work.
Dude giving himself at bath at night on the chair.
Dude at bedtime....on...the....chair.
Look....cables! I also tried it on and it fits around my wrist:)
And....
I talk about Ray's cat "The Dude" a lot with friends and family. He has quite the following. The funniest thing is that he doesn't do anything. For most of the day, he lies on a chair. I used to try to keep him off of the furniture, but lost the battle after about six months. I live and work in the same building, so I am in and out of my apartment a lot. Maybe it was my cold or pure boredom, but I took a photo of the cat anytime I came in my apartment. Like I said, he was always in the chair. All day long. From morning until night. Hysterical. The cat only gets up to eat, poop, and to look out the window for about a minute.
Dude lounging on the chair in the morning while I am getting ready for work.
Dude sleeping on the chair at lunchtime.
Dude stretches on the chair mid-afternoon.
Dude back to sleeping on the chair when I get off work.
Dude giving himself at bath at night on the chair.
Dude at bedtime....on...the....chair.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Suzanne Collins, Literary Goddess
Ray is horrified. I had a coupon to the bookstore and over the weekend I bought my favorite book of the year (in hard back!) as a birthday gift for someone (cough....cough....Allison). Now I'm reading it again. I couldn't resist. I just couldn't stop myself. It's that gosh-darn good. Is that a faux-pas? Ray, like I said, is horrified. "How would you like it if I read/used your gift before giving it to you?" he said disdainfully. I'm thinking that I'd be happy to get a book so amazing that the giver couldn't resist re-reading it. But that's just me. He made me feel so guilty that I'm getting Alli something else as a gift. However, I am bringing the book to pass around and make everyone read when I go back home for Thanksgiving & Christmas.
Back to the book because I'm still reveling in that wold. The book is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Ta-Da!
The back cover reads:
The book (actually books because I'm re-reading Catching Fire now) is just has riveting, emotional, and amazing as reading it the first time. It's written as a science fiction book for young adults, but deals with heavy themes - humanity, survival, governmental control, love, family, civilization, unrest, etc - and a lot of violence - the 'children' are fighting one another to the death. That said, Collins has created a world that captivates you the reader. She has created characters that are so real, so raw. I haven't been able to put it down. I make lunch and read. I take breaks at work and read. At night, I sit on the couch and read. I can barely tear myself away from these books. I laugh. I cry. I ponder. I get nervous. It's a riveting roller-coaster.
Katniss, the narrator, rocks. She's only sixteen, but has had to keep her family alive since she was eleven. She hunts. She can shoot a bow and arrow (better than the boys). She's an expert on wild edibles. She is strong. But she's also still coming into her own. You see her emotional grow and struggle throughout the story, particularly around questioning society and her feelings for boys. The latter, you only get a taste of in the story, because Katniss has other things to think about than boys. Another thing I like about her. However, the Katniss-Peeta-Gale love triangle is delicious. I'm split too. I thought I was a fan of Gale, but as I re-read it Peeta is good through and through.
I would delve more into specific parts but don't want to ruin it for anyone (even the few that visit my blog). Just read it. I rarely get this excited about a book. And it's not just me that thinks it's wonderful. It's been on the New York Times Best Sellers list and named one of their "Notable Children's Book of 2008". As well as these accolades:
AN AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
TOP TEN BEST BOOKS FOR YOUNG ADULTS SELECTION
AN ALA NOTABLE CHILDREN'S BOOK
2009 ALA AMELIA BLOOMER PROJECT LIST
#1 ON WINTER '08/'09 CHILDREN'S INDIE NEXT LIST
INDIES CHOICE--BEST INDIE YOUNG ADULT BUZZ BOOK HONOR
2008 CYBIL AWARD--FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION
CBC TEEN CHOICE FINALIST
NYPL “STUFF FOR THE TEENAGE” LIST, 2009
CCBC CHOICES 2009
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE
KIRKUS REVIEWS EDITOR’S CHOICE, 2008
A HORN BOOK FANFARE
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOKS Of 2008
A BOOKLIST EDITORS' CHOICE, 2008
LA TIMES FAVORITE CHILDREN'S BOOKS, 2008
BARNES & NOBLE BEST BOOKS OF 2008
FOR TEENS AND KIDS
BORDERS BEST BOOKS OF 2008: TEENS
AMAZON BEST BOOKS OF 2008:
TOP 100 EDITORS' PICK
TOP 10 BOOKS: TEENS
Back to the book because I'm still reveling in that wold. The book is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Ta-Da!
The back cover reads:
I had been hearing about this book for a few months, but it took me a while to pick it up to read because it sounded like something I wouldn't enjoy. A science fiction book set in a futuristic, distopian, violent world? It sounded kind of strange....and again, violent. Then I ended up finding a copy at the library and taking it with me on a weekend trip to North Carolina for a friend's wedding.....hoping it would be something I enjoy. By the time I landed in North Carolina all I wanted to do was hole up and read this book. Suzanne Collins is a literary goddess. That's about all I know about her because she's barely done any interviews. It's probably too distracting since she is hard at work on finishing the trilogy. (Note: On the way back to Vermont from North Carolina, I picked up the second book in the trilogy, Catching Fire, that had just recently been published. I finished that in about a day. I'm dying to read the third book that comes out sometime in the spring of 2010.) I do know she has a M.F.A. in dramatic writing and it clearly shows. I want to go through the book and write down her story formula. The intro, character development, world-building, love triangle, inciting incident, crisis, mid-story reversal, climax, cliff-hangers, over-arching themes. It flows so well.Winning will make you famous. Losing means certain death.
In a dark vision of the near future, a terrifying reality TV show is taking place. Twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live event called the Hunger Games. There is only one rule: kill or be killed.
When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her sister’s place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been cloth to death before. For her, survival is second nature.
The book (actually books because I'm re-reading Catching Fire now) is just has riveting, emotional, and amazing as reading it the first time. It's written as a science fiction book for young adults, but deals with heavy themes - humanity, survival, governmental control, love, family, civilization, unrest, etc - and a lot of violence - the 'children' are fighting one another to the death. That said, Collins has created a world that captivates you the reader. She has created characters that are so real, so raw. I haven't been able to put it down. I make lunch and read. I take breaks at work and read. At night, I sit on the couch and read. I can barely tear myself away from these books. I laugh. I cry. I ponder. I get nervous. It's a riveting roller-coaster.
Katniss, the narrator, rocks. She's only sixteen, but has had to keep her family alive since she was eleven. She hunts. She can shoot a bow and arrow (better than the boys). She's an expert on wild edibles. She is strong. But she's also still coming into her own. You see her emotional grow and struggle throughout the story, particularly around questioning society and her feelings for boys. The latter, you only get a taste of in the story, because Katniss has other things to think about than boys. Another thing I like about her. However, the Katniss-Peeta-Gale love triangle is delicious. I'm split too. I thought I was a fan of Gale, but as I re-read it Peeta is good through and through.
I would delve more into specific parts but don't want to ruin it for anyone (even the few that visit my blog). Just read it. I rarely get this excited about a book. And it's not just me that thinks it's wonderful. It's been on the New York Times Best Sellers list and named one of their "Notable Children's Book of 2008". As well as these accolades:
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