Richard Dansky's Blog, page 64

Sorbet update

Because the first step is admitting you know you have a problem...

The second batch of cherry vanilla came out better than the first, largely because I cut the vanilla down to half a teaspoon. It remains one of the softer sorbets; also one of the more labor-intensive ones to make.

Last night's experiments were raspberry-mint and kiwi-strawberry. The taste on the former is great, with the only issue being that next time I need to strain the #@$#@@ing seeds out. The jury's still out on the latter; I

New (not zoo) Review

My review of Gail Z.. Martin's Dark Haven is up over at Fantasy Magazine.

For those in the RTP area

The Urban Food Group family is greatly saddened by the tragic death of 6 year old Ashley Ramos-Hernandez, who was killed in a school bus crossing accident in Raleigh this week.

Ashley's parents, Alfonzo and Elena, along with several other family members, have been long-time employees of Urban Food Group's restaurants, and we have enjoyed having them as a part of our team, our community, and our family for many years. We share in their grief, and we offer our support.

On Saturday night, August 29

Sorbet redux

Mango-strawberry, apart from being the precise color of a significant fraction of my wife's collectibles, came out excellent. Great texture, a good mix of flavors without one overpowering the other, and not too heavy. Clearly "mango+" seems to be a winner with some room for experimentation, though I'm a little leery of trying, say, "mango-cherry".  That being said, another batch of cherry's next up (you can tell what fruit we've got that's reaching the end of its useful life span, can't you?), a

Further experiements in sorbet

Last night: strawberry mango. Like the peach mango, it's very creamy and melts quickly. It's also the precise color of a My Little Pony, which may have unfortunate consequences for me.

Note to small, tasty fish

Upon watching several episodes of Blue Planet, it has become clear to me that the "bait ball" defense against predators, in which you gather together into a tightly compacted ball and pray you don't get eaten was actually devised by a committee of swordfish, sharks, diving predatory sea birds, and dolphins, and not for your benefit. I would highly recommend alternate approaches like "Swim like hell", "evasive maneuvers", or "gang up on and beat the living shit out of the next @#$@#ing cormorant

Lombard Street to Become Giant Candyland Game

It says so right here.

And at the bottom, is says they're celebrating the 60th anniversary of Candyland...with cake.

The Mighty Austin GDC Discount!

Game Writers Summit @ GDC Austin 2009

September 15-16, 2009

Austin Convention Center

Austin, Texas

 

Save 20% on All Access and Summits & Tutorial passes with code GDCAWRITERS

 

The Game Writers Summit at GDC Austin is the industry’s premier learning and networking event for writers looking to sharpen their skills, improve game narrative and develop interactive storytelling tools. This two-day intensive summit features advice for developers, publishers, producers, media, analysts and acad

The Summer of Smart SF

If you believe the pundits and nerds, this is the summer of smart science fiction movies. The evidence? Moon and District 9 (not to be confused with Session 9, which is a horror movie starring a pre-sunglasses David Caruso, or the upcoming films 9 and Nine, or Section 9 from Ghost in the Shell, or, well, you get the idea.) The fact that this has also been the summer of aggressively stupid sci-fi - or should I say SyFy - like Transformers 2: A Boy And His Car seems to have slipped everyone's mind

Culinaria

The cherry vanilla sorbet was a limited success. Pastry chef genius sister liked it and so did Houseboy Ian, but it feels like there's too much cherry for the sugar. Next time, the proportions get adjusted. The blueberries that had been my next target got ambushed by a batch of homemade lemonade, so the next sorbet target remains TBD.

Made beef ribs (the beef courtesy of the Durham Farmer's Market) for dinner tonight, after extensive consultation with the gentlemen selling the beef as to how best