Steven Harper's Blog, page 39
January 18, 2021
The Mystery of the Furnace: Solved!
I texted our downstairs neighbor, who is away for the winter, and told him about the heat. I didn't hear back until the next day when he texted to say his son had cranked the heat up to 90, thank you for letting me know.
This solved the mystery. The heat was coming up from downstairs, and it started quite a while after our neighbors left because the son came over later and turned the heat up.
But now we're wondering . . . why would the son, who we assume is keeping an eye on the place for the winter, turn the heat up to 90? Or even at all? Theoretically all he does he pop in to check unforwarded mail and make sure the pipes hadn't broken or whatever. It would take less than five minutes. Why would he need to turn the heat way up?
This place is weird.
Darwin saw the son lurking about yesterday, and this morning, our condo was back to normal. Our furnace is back on, and we're paying for our own heat.
It was the neighborly thing to do, but sometimes I think I should've kept my big mouth shut . . .
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This solved the mystery. The heat was coming up from downstairs, and it started quite a while after our neighbors left because the son came over later and turned the heat up.
But now we're wondering . . . why would the son, who we assume is keeping an eye on the place for the winter, turn the heat up to 90? Or even at all? Theoretically all he does he pop in to check unforwarded mail and make sure the pipes hadn't broken or whatever. It would take less than five minutes. Why would he need to turn the heat way up?
This place is weird.
Darwin saw the son lurking about yesterday, and this morning, our condo was back to normal. Our furnace is back on, and we're paying for our own heat.
It was the neighborly thing to do, but sometimes I think I should've kept my big mouth shut . . .
comments
January 14, 2021
The Furnace
We shut the furnace off more than a month ago. The condo is still warm, even hot. Today we topped out at 81 degrees. Still no idea why this is. Not complaining, mind--just wondering.
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Setting Up the Paperless Classroom
We're supposed to start face-to-face instruction next week. I won't be there--that's a separate entry--but I did have to set up my room.
This was an unexpected challenge.
I've been teaching from home over the Internet since last March and haven't been to my classroom for more than a few minutes since the building closed. There's a lot to do, and new ways in which to do it. I had to get in there to set everything up.
This week is exams, and yesterday after the first set of finals ended, I got together all the stuff I'd brought home for teaching-- textbooks, regular books, various bits of computer equipment--and drove down to Nameless High School.
The place was empty and ghostly. The halls echoed in weird ways. In my classroom, I found all the tables and chairs stacked in neat piles--the custodial staff at work like magic elves. The last time I was here, I'd put all my teaching stuff into the room's cabinets as I did every year, though usually I do it before summer break, not before spring vacation. Getting it all out and setting it all up and arranging all the furniture is a huge annual chore, one I dislike very much under normal circumstances. This year, it was worse.
See, I had to figure out how to set the tables and chairs up so that my students could keep their distance from each other. This is easier in an elementary school, where the kids are tiny. In a high school, the students are full-sized, and they take up a lot of room. I also have large classes. As of this writing, my largest class has 34 students in it.
But wait--there's more.
The district is having students with last names A-K coming in on the first day while students who are L-Z will remote in from home. The next day, they switch. Theoretically, this means the class count is halved on any given day. But that ignores little anomalies, like the fact that my 34-kid class has 20 A-L students and 14 L-Z students. So I actually have to figure out how to accommodate and keep distant 20 students instead of 17.
I spent considerable time measuring out floor space and table size and finally was forced to conclude that it's impossible. In the end, I set up 20 tables and spaced them as far apart as possible. I put a chair at each one, measured, and found the best I could manage was between four and five feet distance. Nowhere was it six.
To keep myself as safe as I can, I'll be keeping empty the seats closest to my desk if at all possible. I'm hoping my classes get balanced out so I have fewer students, but I'm not holding my breath--unbalanced class loads is a perennial problem at Wherever Schools, even when there =isn't= a pandemic. I also plan to keep the window cracked and the door open to ventilate the space as much as possible. Students will have to wear layers.
The district has also provided these odd tri-fold barriers. The borders are made of a weird corrugated plastic material, and the windows are a pale, translucent blue. They unfold and stand upright on a table to make a little enclosure. This is a good idea, of course, but I can't for the life of me figure out why they windows are BLUE. You can't really see through them. The students won't be able to see me at the front of the room, and I can't see them. What idiot made these? And why did the district buy them?
Once I got all that set up, I started in on the technology. I have to keep a web cam set up so the students at home can see what's going on in class. I also have to be able to toggle between the web cam and the Smart Board so the home kids can see what I'm writing. This is going to be awkward and difficult, I can see already, and I have to adjust my expectations about how much material I can get through in a class--a fair amount of time will be taken up adjusting technology.
I connected, booted up, and fiddled. By now I was getting hungry. I had left home at 1:00 and it was closing on 4:00 now. Fortunately, I'd thought to bring food with me, so I took a break.
Another teacher dropped by and we chatted from a distance. She has teenaged daughters, and she warned me that in the local teen scene, mask restrictions are widely ignored. "They visit at each other's houses and hang out all the time without masking," she said. "No one's making them wear one."
Jesus.
Once the tech was what I hoped was running order, I started in on the teaching stuff in the cabinet. But after a while, I noticed something. I was getting out my set of in- and out trays for papers to grade, my staplers, hole punch, tape dispenser, pens, pencils, white board markers, and so on. Except, wait--all this stuff is for dealing with PAPER, and we're still using Google Classroom for our materials. I won't be handing out paper, nor collecting any. My classroom has gone truly paperless. I didn't actually NEED any of this stuff.
So I put it back.
Education types have been predicting a paperless classroom for more than fifteen years now, but it never quite happened. Partly it's because of momentum--paper is deeply entrenched in school culture--and partly it's because there hasn't been equitable access to technology. Now we've been forced into a paperless classroom, at least for this year. I'm wondering if it'll continue even after the pandemic.
I got home well after 7:00.
comments
This was an unexpected challenge.
I've been teaching from home over the Internet since last March and haven't been to my classroom for more than a few minutes since the building closed. There's a lot to do, and new ways in which to do it. I had to get in there to set everything up.
This week is exams, and yesterday after the first set of finals ended, I got together all the stuff I'd brought home for teaching-- textbooks, regular books, various bits of computer equipment--and drove down to Nameless High School.
The place was empty and ghostly. The halls echoed in weird ways. In my classroom, I found all the tables and chairs stacked in neat piles--the custodial staff at work like magic elves. The last time I was here, I'd put all my teaching stuff into the room's cabinets as I did every year, though usually I do it before summer break, not before spring vacation. Getting it all out and setting it all up and arranging all the furniture is a huge annual chore, one I dislike very much under normal circumstances. This year, it was worse.
See, I had to figure out how to set the tables and chairs up so that my students could keep their distance from each other. This is easier in an elementary school, where the kids are tiny. In a high school, the students are full-sized, and they take up a lot of room. I also have large classes. As of this writing, my largest class has 34 students in it.
But wait--there's more.
The district is having students with last names A-K coming in on the first day while students who are L-Z will remote in from home. The next day, they switch. Theoretically, this means the class count is halved on any given day. But that ignores little anomalies, like the fact that my 34-kid class has 20 A-L students and 14 L-Z students. So I actually have to figure out how to accommodate and keep distant 20 students instead of 17.
I spent considerable time measuring out floor space and table size and finally was forced to conclude that it's impossible. In the end, I set up 20 tables and spaced them as far apart as possible. I put a chair at each one, measured, and found the best I could manage was between four and five feet distance. Nowhere was it six.
To keep myself as safe as I can, I'll be keeping empty the seats closest to my desk if at all possible. I'm hoping my classes get balanced out so I have fewer students, but I'm not holding my breath--unbalanced class loads is a perennial problem at Wherever Schools, even when there =isn't= a pandemic. I also plan to keep the window cracked and the door open to ventilate the space as much as possible. Students will have to wear layers.
The district has also provided these odd tri-fold barriers. The borders are made of a weird corrugated plastic material, and the windows are a pale, translucent blue. They unfold and stand upright on a table to make a little enclosure. This is a good idea, of course, but I can't for the life of me figure out why they windows are BLUE. You can't really see through them. The students won't be able to see me at the front of the room, and I can't see them. What idiot made these? And why did the district buy them?
Once I got all that set up, I started in on the technology. I have to keep a web cam set up so the students at home can see what's going on in class. I also have to be able to toggle between the web cam and the Smart Board so the home kids can see what I'm writing. This is going to be awkward and difficult, I can see already, and I have to adjust my expectations about how much material I can get through in a class--a fair amount of time will be taken up adjusting technology.
I connected, booted up, and fiddled. By now I was getting hungry. I had left home at 1:00 and it was closing on 4:00 now. Fortunately, I'd thought to bring food with me, so I took a break.
Another teacher dropped by and we chatted from a distance. She has teenaged daughters, and she warned me that in the local teen scene, mask restrictions are widely ignored. "They visit at each other's houses and hang out all the time without masking," she said. "No one's making them wear one."
Jesus.
Once the tech was what I hoped was running order, I started in on the teaching stuff in the cabinet. But after a while, I noticed something. I was getting out my set of in- and out trays for papers to grade, my staplers, hole punch, tape dispenser, pens, pencils, white board markers, and so on. Except, wait--all this stuff is for dealing with PAPER, and we're still using Google Classroom for our materials. I won't be handing out paper, nor collecting any. My classroom has gone truly paperless. I didn't actually NEED any of this stuff.
So I put it back.
Education types have been predicting a paperless classroom for more than fifteen years now, but it never quite happened. Partly it's because of momentum--paper is deeply entrenched in school culture--and partly it's because there hasn't been equitable access to technology. Now we've been forced into a paperless classroom, at least for this year. I'm wondering if it'll continue even after the pandemic.
I got home well after 7:00.
comments
January 9, 2021
Let the Frying Continue!
I've been playing more with the air fryer. The home-made french fries are a major hit around here. I already have a fry cutter (I think it belonged to my grandmother), which forces a potato through a grill and cuts it into fries in a snap, so it's easy to make them and eat them hot from the air fryer.
This morning, I decided to try hash browns. I grated a potato, wrung it out in a damp cloth to get rid of the excess moisture, tossed it with a little olive oil, and spread the results over the bottom of the air fryer. Let the machine do its magic for about five minutes. The results were wonderful! Hot, crispy hash browns that weren't at all oily.
Yesterday, I was at the store trying to figure out what to have for supper, and I decided to splurge on steaks. Back home, I pan-fried them with a wine and butter sauce. I also made buttered corn and a pile of air fryer fries. Everything was wonderful.
And I can totally tell myself it's all healthy because of the air fryer. :)
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This morning, I decided to try hash browns. I grated a potato, wrung it out in a damp cloth to get rid of the excess moisture, tossed it with a little olive oil, and spread the results over the bottom of the air fryer. Let the machine do its magic for about five minutes. The results were wonderful! Hot, crispy hash browns that weren't at all oily.
Yesterday, I was at the store trying to figure out what to have for supper, and I decided to splurge on steaks. Back home, I pan-fried them with a wine and butter sauce. I also made buttered corn and a pile of air fryer fries. Everything was wonderful.
And I can totally tell myself it's all healthy because of the air fryer. :)
comments
The Plague Diaries: Uncle Dave
My uncle Dave died of COVID-19 at 7:30 PM yesterday. He and his wife Joan went to visit a family member and they stayed several hours. The next day, the family member called Joan to say she was in the hospital with COVID-19, and that she'd had symptoms the day of the visit, but hadn't said anything. The next day, she was dead.
Dave and Joan very quickly developed symptoms of their own, but while Joan's were mild, Dave got sicker and sicker over four days, though he refused to go to the hospital. Finally he couldn't stand without help and Joan called an ambulance. They admitted him to ICU. That was three days ago. Yesterday he died.
Now I've lost an uncle on both sides of my family to COVID. Dave was my mother's brother. Indul, who died in June, was my father's brother. It's a harsh blow to our family.
Don't let your guard down, everyone.
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Dave and Joan very quickly developed symptoms of their own, but while Joan's were mild, Dave got sicker and sicker over four days, though he refused to go to the hospital. Finally he couldn't stand without help and Joan called an ambulance. They admitted him to ICU. That was three days ago. Yesterday he died.
Now I've lost an uncle on both sides of my family to COVID. Dave was my mother's brother. Indul, who died in June, was my father's brother. It's a harsh blow to our family.
Don't let your guard down, everyone.
comments
January 1, 2021
The Plague Diaries: Beginning and Ending the Holidays
This year, Darwin and I scaled way down for the holidays. It wasn't just because of the pandemic, either. We're in a smaller house, and the boys are grown, and we sided with the faction that says, "Holidays are really for the children, and we don't have children in the house, so . . . "
Also, Darwin has been agitating for years for us to get holiday decorations that are "just ours." By this, he meant "matching holiday decorations that we bought together instead of the combination stuff each of us brought to the marriage." I resisted this. To me, decorating for the holidays means bringing out all the heirloom ornaments, the collected figures, the elementary-school craft projects, and everything else the family has created over the years. Also, getting all new stuff raises the question of what to do with the old. There's something . . . discomforting about throwing out long-cherished holiday ornaments. So we put off the idea of retooling the holidays.
Until this year.
Now we're in a new place, and a smaller one, to boot. And we wouldn't be having a big celebration with lots of people over. It made sense to scale back.
Thus, the shopping began.
We bought a new tree--our old one was cranky and difficult to deal with anyway. And we spent considerable time visiting different stores until we found a new set of ornaments we both liked. We also bought garland made of red wooden beads that I liked very much. We kept our old tree-topper, which is a wickerwork star set with holly and ivy. It looks both Pagan and Christian, which lets us both meet halfway.
When we set up the tree at home, we discovered to our delight that when you stacked the different segments of the tree together, it also automatically plugged in all the LED lights. (Using our previous tree involved a lot of hunting for cords and trying to figure out what plugged in where.) And the lights could be set to multi-colored or all white, which was great--Darwin likes the classiness of the all-white lights, and I like the hominess of the multiple colors. This tree lets us switch back and forth as we wish.
Our other holiday stuff is in a storage unit just across the street. Very easy to get to, almost as fast as trooping down to a basement. We headed over there to get a few other things and hauled them upstairs to the condo. See, we didn't do EVERYTHING new. We used the family stockings we've had for years, for example, and put out the knickknacks from Ukraine and set up the Father Christmas figure. Really, it was the tree and ornaments that were all new.
Later, we sent out holiday cards. And wrapped presents. It was very pleasant.
The holidays happened (see previous entries). Today is New Year's Day, and I always declare it the day to strike everything. Everyone is home, no one has any plans, and if you wait past NYD, you end up celebrating Valentine's Day under the tree. Darwin always groans about this chore and sneakily asks if we can't wait until another day, like when he's at work. This is always met with crossed arms and a "Get your slippers moving, McClary!"
We popped over to the storage unit to fetch the boxes and bins and set to work. It took less than twenty minutes to take everything apart and put it all away. It was a bit of a nice surprise! In previous years, striking the Yuletide decorations takes a couple hours. This was a definite advantage to scaling back!
A winter storm was pelting everything with ice pellets when we brought the bins down to the car. I drove carefully down the slippery street and we put everything back into storage without incident.
The last thing we did was throw out the extra holiday cards and wrapping paper. Darwin said, "Shouldn't we save them for next year?"
"The whole point of scaling down is to have LESS stuff," I said, "not more."
Darwin agreed with this, and everything went.
All in all? The reasons for the low-key holidays were awful. The result, though, was something of a nice change. Most of the stress was gone. No one felt hurried or over-worked. It was a nice change of pace. We'll take our advantages where we can get them.
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Also, Darwin has been agitating for years for us to get holiday decorations that are "just ours." By this, he meant "matching holiday decorations that we bought together instead of the combination stuff each of us brought to the marriage." I resisted this. To me, decorating for the holidays means bringing out all the heirloom ornaments, the collected figures, the elementary-school craft projects, and everything else the family has created over the years. Also, getting all new stuff raises the question of what to do with the old. There's something . . . discomforting about throwing out long-cherished holiday ornaments. So we put off the idea of retooling the holidays.
Until this year.
Now we're in a new place, and a smaller one, to boot. And we wouldn't be having a big celebration with lots of people over. It made sense to scale back.
Thus, the shopping began.
We bought a new tree--our old one was cranky and difficult to deal with anyway. And we spent considerable time visiting different stores until we found a new set of ornaments we both liked. We also bought garland made of red wooden beads that I liked very much. We kept our old tree-topper, which is a wickerwork star set with holly and ivy. It looks both Pagan and Christian, which lets us both meet halfway.
When we set up the tree at home, we discovered to our delight that when you stacked the different segments of the tree together, it also automatically plugged in all the LED lights. (Using our previous tree involved a lot of hunting for cords and trying to figure out what plugged in where.) And the lights could be set to multi-colored or all white, which was great--Darwin likes the classiness of the all-white lights, and I like the hominess of the multiple colors. This tree lets us switch back and forth as we wish.
Our other holiday stuff is in a storage unit just across the street. Very easy to get to, almost as fast as trooping down to a basement. We headed over there to get a few other things and hauled them upstairs to the condo. See, we didn't do EVERYTHING new. We used the family stockings we've had for years, for example, and put out the knickknacks from Ukraine and set up the Father Christmas figure. Really, it was the tree and ornaments that were all new.
Later, we sent out holiday cards. And wrapped presents. It was very pleasant.
The holidays happened (see previous entries). Today is New Year's Day, and I always declare it the day to strike everything. Everyone is home, no one has any plans, and if you wait past NYD, you end up celebrating Valentine's Day under the tree. Darwin always groans about this chore and sneakily asks if we can't wait until another day, like when he's at work. This is always met with crossed arms and a "Get your slippers moving, McClary!"
We popped over to the storage unit to fetch the boxes and bins and set to work. It took less than twenty minutes to take everything apart and put it all away. It was a bit of a nice surprise! In previous years, striking the Yuletide decorations takes a couple hours. This was a definite advantage to scaling back!
A winter storm was pelting everything with ice pellets when we brought the bins down to the car. I drove carefully down the slippery street and we put everything back into storage without incident.
The last thing we did was throw out the extra holiday cards and wrapping paper. Darwin said, "Shouldn't we save them for next year?"
"The whole point of scaling down is to have LESS stuff," I said, "not more."
Darwin agreed with this, and everything went.
All in all? The reasons for the low-key holidays were awful. The result, though, was something of a nice change. Most of the stress was gone. No one felt hurried or over-worked. It was a nice change of pace. We'll take our advantages where we can get them.
comments
New Food Item
For Christmas, I got an air fryer. Go me!
I've been wanting to play with one for a while, but Darwin said, "No more kitchen gadgets!" I felt slighted. I'm not one of those home chefs who collects kitchen gadgets I never use. I use my Instant Pot, bread maker, Kitchen Aid, and deep fryer regularly. The only gadget I stopped using was my rice cooker, because the Instant Pot does a better job--and I gave the rice cooker away.
But I forbore getting an air fryer. Until now.
I've been playing with it all week, and I have to say that it works as advertised. The air fryer is really a small convection oven with a non-stick baking surface that promotes quick crispness. The big thing about it? It's =fast=. Way faster than an oven. The first thing I tried was frozen tater tots. They were done in less than ten minutes and were super-crispy in a way tater tots are supposed to be but never actually are.
Next I tried some home-made fries. I sliced up a potato, tossed it in some olive oil, and slid it into the fryer. In less than fifteen minutes, I got hot-hot-hot, crispy french fries. In an oven, it would have taken an hour, and there'd be no crispness. This was great!
Then I cut chicken into bite-sized pieces, breaded them (egg, spiced flour, breadcrumbs), and air-fried them. In 15 minutes, they turned into the best chicken nuggets in the world--a crispy outer crust and a tender, juicy inside.
Baked chicken was next. Marinated chicken breasts tossed in olive oil and salt. Instead of taking an hour, they took less than 20 minutes. Let them rest for five minutes, and they were fantastic!
On New Year's Eve, I made cheater donuts. I opened a can of biscuit dough, cut holes in the center, and air-fried them. Took eight minutes. Brushed them piping hot in melted butter and rolled them in sugar and cinnamon. They were wonderful! Next time, I'll try spraying them with butter-flavored cooking spray and rolling them in sugar substitute to make a more Darwin-friendly version.
A bonus positive thing: I can bake stuff in warm weather without roasting the entire kitchen.
For Christmas, I got an air fryer. Go me!
I've been wanting to play with one for a while, but Darwin said, "No more kitchen gadgets!" I felt slighted. I'm not one of those home chefs who collects kitchen gadgets I never use. I use my Instant Pot, bread maker, Kitchen Aid, and deep fryer regularly. The only gadget I stopped using was my rice cooker, because the Instant Pot does a better job--and I gave the rice cooker away.
But I forbore getting an air fryer. Until now.
I've been playing with it all week, and I have to say that it works as advertised. The air fryer is really a small convection oven with a non-stick baking surface that promotes quick crispness. The big thing about it? It's =fast=. Way faster than an oven. The first thing I tried was frozen tater tots. They were done in less than ten minutes and were super-crispy in a way tater tots are supposed to be but never actually are.
Next I tried some home-made fries. I sliced up a potato, tossed it in some olive oil, and slid it into the fryer. In less than fifteen minutes, I got hot-hot-hot, crispy french fries. In an oven, it would have taken an hour, and there'd be no crispness. This was great!
Then I cut chicken into bite-sized pieces, breaded them (egg, spiced flour, breadcrumbs), and air-fried them. In 15 minutes, they turned into the best chicken nuggets in the world--a crispy outer crust and a tender, juicy inside.
Baked chicken was next. Marinated chicken breasts tossed in olive oil and salt. Instead of taking an hour, they took less than 20 minutes. Let them rest for five minutes, and they were fantastic!
On New Year's Eve, I made cheater donuts. I opened a can of biscuit dough, cut holes in the center, and air-fried them. Took eight minutes. Brushed them piping hot in melted butter and rolled them in sugar and cinnamon. They were wonderful! Next time, I'll try spraying them with butter-flavored cooking spray and rolling them in sugar substitute to make a more Darwin-friendly version.
Another plus: I can bake stuff in summer without roasting the entire kitchen.
More cooking adventures ahead!
comments
I've been wanting to play with one for a while, but Darwin said, "No more kitchen gadgets!" I felt slighted. I'm not one of those home chefs who collects kitchen gadgets I never use. I use my Instant Pot, bread maker, Kitchen Aid, and deep fryer regularly. The only gadget I stopped using was my rice cooker, because the Instant Pot does a better job--and I gave the rice cooker away.
But I forbore getting an air fryer. Until now.
I've been playing with it all week, and I have to say that it works as advertised. The air fryer is really a small convection oven with a non-stick baking surface that promotes quick crispness. The big thing about it? It's =fast=. Way faster than an oven. The first thing I tried was frozen tater tots. They were done in less than ten minutes and were super-crispy in a way tater tots are supposed to be but never actually are.
Next I tried some home-made fries. I sliced up a potato, tossed it in some olive oil, and slid it into the fryer. In less than fifteen minutes, I got hot-hot-hot, crispy french fries. In an oven, it would have taken an hour, and there'd be no crispness. This was great!
Then I cut chicken into bite-sized pieces, breaded them (egg, spiced flour, breadcrumbs), and air-fried them. In 15 minutes, they turned into the best chicken nuggets in the world--a crispy outer crust and a tender, juicy inside.
Baked chicken was next. Marinated chicken breasts tossed in olive oil and salt. Instead of taking an hour, they took less than 20 minutes. Let them rest for five minutes, and they were fantastic!
On New Year's Eve, I made cheater donuts. I opened a can of biscuit dough, cut holes in the center, and air-fried them. Took eight minutes. Brushed them piping hot in melted butter and rolled them in sugar and cinnamon. They were wonderful! Next time, I'll try spraying them with butter-flavored cooking spray and rolling them in sugar substitute to make a more Darwin-friendly version.
A bonus positive thing: I can bake stuff in warm weather without roasting the entire kitchen.
For Christmas, I got an air fryer. Go me!
I've been wanting to play with one for a while, but Darwin said, "No more kitchen gadgets!" I felt slighted. I'm not one of those home chefs who collects kitchen gadgets I never use. I use my Instant Pot, bread maker, Kitchen Aid, and deep fryer regularly. The only gadget I stopped using was my rice cooker, because the Instant Pot does a better job--and I gave the rice cooker away.
But I forbore getting an air fryer. Until now.
I've been playing with it all week, and I have to say that it works as advertised. The air fryer is really a small convection oven with a non-stick baking surface that promotes quick crispness. The big thing about it? It's =fast=. Way faster than an oven. The first thing I tried was frozen tater tots. They were done in less than ten minutes and were super-crispy in a way tater tots are supposed to be but never actually are.
Next I tried some home-made fries. I sliced up a potato, tossed it in some olive oil, and slid it into the fryer. In less than fifteen minutes, I got hot-hot-hot, crispy french fries. In an oven, it would have taken an hour, and there'd be no crispness. This was great!
Then I cut chicken into bite-sized pieces, breaded them (egg, spiced flour, breadcrumbs), and air-fried them. In 15 minutes, they turned into the best chicken nuggets in the world--a crispy outer crust and a tender, juicy inside.
Baked chicken was next. Marinated chicken breasts tossed in olive oil and salt. Instead of taking an hour, they took less than 20 minutes. Let them rest for five minutes, and they were fantastic!
On New Year's Eve, I made cheater donuts. I opened a can of biscuit dough, cut holes in the center, and air-fried them. Took eight minutes. Brushed them piping hot in melted butter and rolled them in sugar and cinnamon. They were wonderful! Next time, I'll try spraying them with butter-flavored cooking spray and rolling them in sugar substitute to make a more Darwin-friendly version.
Another plus: I can bake stuff in summer without roasting the entire kitchen.
More cooking adventures ahead!
comments
The Plague Diaries: Holidays
As I said earlier, my family opted out of face-to-face gatherings for the holidays this year. Everything was very low-key.
Yuletide was a solitary affair for me, as it often is these days. (I'm not part of a Pagan group, Darwin doesn't practice, and the boys have drifted away from it.) But the God was welcomed back as the light grows stronger anyway. Christmas Day, we set up a Zoom call with Kala, Aran, and Sasha and we opened presents together. (The present were delivered before-hand.) We did more Zoom meetings with other family later in the day. It was convenient--no long drives--but it wasn't the same as a regular visit, either.
New Year's Eve was also low-key. I made chili and home-made donuts and we watched the first Wonder Woman movie. Toward midnight, we turned on CNN to watch Times Square. The scene was weird. A handful of revelers were scattered about the gaudy billboards. The camera kept coming back to whole pile of people in Planet Fitness gear with those eerie blow-up people, also in Planet Fitness gear, in the background, all standing in front of Planet Fitness. I got the idea the event was sponsored by Planet Fitness. They also ran an interminably long, dull interview with Mariah Carey. She talked about her new book (clearly the reason for the interview) and tried to sound sage and wise, but came across as blithering and scattered. I got the impression someone else had unexpectedly canceled, and they asked her to lengthen her interview or something, because she sounded like she'd run out of stuff to say about two minutes in.
And then the countdown started up. Instead of a dropping ball, the camera focused on a giant electronic clock that also projected a Kia commercial on its face. I suppose someone has to pay for everything, but this struck me as gauche, even by American standards.
When the countdown hit zero, Darwin and I embraced, and I surprised myself by getting teary-eyed. Between the horrors of the pandemic and the awfulness of the presidency, this year has been so awful, and it dragged out so long. It was a huge relief that it ended. I went outside onto the balcony. Fireworks popped all around the lake, and a few a threw sparkles into the air.
I hope 2021 goes better.
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Yuletide was a solitary affair for me, as it often is these days. (I'm not part of a Pagan group, Darwin doesn't practice, and the boys have drifted away from it.) But the God was welcomed back as the light grows stronger anyway. Christmas Day, we set up a Zoom call with Kala, Aran, and Sasha and we opened presents together. (The present were delivered before-hand.) We did more Zoom meetings with other family later in the day. It was convenient--no long drives--but it wasn't the same as a regular visit, either.
New Year's Eve was also low-key. I made chili and home-made donuts and we watched the first Wonder Woman movie. Toward midnight, we turned on CNN to watch Times Square. The scene was weird. A handful of revelers were scattered about the gaudy billboards. The camera kept coming back to whole pile of people in Planet Fitness gear with those eerie blow-up people, also in Planet Fitness gear, in the background, all standing in front of Planet Fitness. I got the idea the event was sponsored by Planet Fitness. They also ran an interminably long, dull interview with Mariah Carey. She talked about her new book (clearly the reason for the interview) and tried to sound sage and wise, but came across as blithering and scattered. I got the impression someone else had unexpectedly canceled, and they asked her to lengthen her interview or something, because she sounded like she'd run out of stuff to say about two minutes in.
And then the countdown started up. Instead of a dropping ball, the camera focused on a giant electronic clock that also projected a Kia commercial on its face. I suppose someone has to pay for everything, but this struck me as gauche, even by American standards.
When the countdown hit zero, Darwin and I embraced, and I surprised myself by getting teary-eyed. Between the horrors of the pandemic and the awfulness of the presidency, this year has been so awful, and it dragged out so long. It was a huge relief that it ended. I went outside onto the balcony. Fireworks popped all around the lake, and a few a threw sparkles into the air.
I hope 2021 goes better.
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December 25, 2020
Wonder Woman 1984
Soooooo many Easter eggs in Wonder Woman 1984. A few I spotted (may be spoilery!)......--Young Diana dives into the water in a shot that exactly duplicates panels from the Perez comics, except in the comic she flies away just before she hits--and part of the movie is about Diana learning to fly--The origin of the invisible jet. (I still can't decide if this works for me or not, but it was still fun.)--A jar of jellybabies in the background of the oval office--The Middle Eastern prince who made the wish is from Bialya, a fake country created in the comics to be a wink at Libya and which evolved into a major source of conflict over the years--Diana flying by gliding on air currents as she did in the original comics--Diana riding the lightning as she does in the more modern comics--The mid-credits scene with Lynda Carter as Asteria--The gold armor, which made a brief (and unpopular) appearance in the comics--Antiope appearing in a flashback scene--Arabic lettering on the side of the Egyptian cars actually does read "Abydos," the city where the scene took place (I checked with a translator app)--Max Lord's investor is Simon Stagg, a character originally associated with Metamorpho but who got yanked into villain duty in other comics--After Diana reads the inscription on the Dream Stone and realizes what the artifact is, she mentions the Duke of Deception, a lackey of Ares who goes way WAY back into the old days of the comics.And that's not counting all the 80s references, of course.Also I noticed that shoes are a recurring image in the movie.--Several shots give close-ups of character's shoes, including (especially) Diana's armored feet--The first thing we see of adult Diana is her foot kicking a car away from a jogger--Steve is hugely fascinated with his new Nikes (and they continue to be the focus of several shots--some product placement at work, I'm sure)--In Barbara's first appearance, she has trouble walking in high heels. Later in the same scene, she comments that scientists probably shouldn't wear high heels, and Diana replies, "Some of us do." We then see Diana's ultra-high heels with a leopard (Cheetah) print, which Barbara remarks on.--When Barbara is assaulted by the guy in the park, she has trouble fending him off because she's wearing high heels. Later, when Barbara encounters the guy again, she's switched to sneakers, and she kicks the snot out of him. Not punches--kicks. With her shoes.--A custodian spills water in front of Barbara, and she agilely leaps onto a chair to avoid it, foreshadowing her new Cheetah powers. We get a closeup shot of her shoes, and the custodian says, "Thank god you're good in heels."
--When Barbara tries on a slinky new outfit, the camera spends a lot of time on her high-heeled shoes.Not sure what the shoe thing is about. That shoes can be both a shackle and a source of power, maybe? That shoes show who you really are?
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--When Barbara tries on a slinky new outfit, the camera spends a lot of time on her high-heeled shoes.Not sure what the shoe thing is about. That shoes can be both a shackle and a source of power, maybe? That shoes show who you really are?
comments
December 19, 2020
Dashing in December
In recent years, Hallmark (or Hallmark-style) Christmas movies have wormed their way into American holiday tradition. Their official name is "romantic holiday drama film," and Hallmark floods the network with them. They're universally awful--mediocre acting, cringeworthy dialogue, utterly unbelievable stories, unrealistic characters. The sets all look fake. And the story is ALWAYS exactly the same: Person A returns to their childhood home for the holidays and encounters a family problem (usually the upcoming loss of a family business). Person A also meets Person B. The two of them dislike each other, but while trying to solve the family problem, they fall in love. Also, at least one person dislikes Christmas. Person A and Person B have a fight at some point, and they split up, then, thanks to the intervention of a Wise Older Person, they realize their mistake and get back together. The family business is rescued. The Christmas-hating person learns to love Christmas. Person A decides to give up their career and instead stay home to run the business with Person B. Roll credits.
I can't watch these films, even if I remind myself that everyone EXPECTS them to be schlocky and awful. The writing is just too terrible. Also, Person A and Person B are always straight. No real LGBT representation. Very occasionally we'll get a Gay Best Friend, but he never has any real consequence, and there's no on-screen romance with this character. Hallmark did put out a film with a gay couple in it (THE CHRISTMAS HOUSE), but the gay couple weren't main characters; they were part of much larger ensemble cast. It's a step forward, I suppose, but a timid one, and not worth my time. So I avoided these awful things.
Until...
This year, Paramount (not Hallmark) put out a "romantic holiday drama film" called DASHING IN DECEMBER. And at its center are two gay men. They are the main characters, front and center, and clearly so.
I decided to watch it.
It was AWFUL. Every moment was dreadful. The guys were handsome, but the schlock dripped from the screen. It hit all the plot points I mentioned above, and was so predictable that I was able to call out the dialogue a moment ahead of the speaking character. As a bonus, we even had a straight female friend become angry at a gay character, not because he was gay, but because he didn't come out to her the way she wanted her to. (I've ranted about this awful trope elsewhere.) Terrible in every way that these movies are terrible.
And it was AWESOME.
Not because the movie was good. It wasn't. It was awesome because we have a holiday TV tradition that has INCLUDED US. Everyone else got schlocky Christmas movies, but not LGBT people. Now we have one, too. Just like everyone else.
To put it into perspective, imagine your mother knits, and every year at the annual family gathering, she gives everyone one of these sweaters--except you. Everyone puts on their sweaters and laughs about them and parades around in them. But not you. Mom disapproves of you, so she ignores you. You don't particularly WANT an ugly sweater, but when everyone else gets one, you are made to feel the outsider. At dinner, everyone talks about the sweaters and how sweet it is that Mom made them this year, even though they're awful and ugly. She makes them because she loves everyone. Except you. So you watch all the laughter and all the love from a distance. But then, one year, Mom has a change of heart, and you get an ugly sweater of your own. You get to participate in the tradition with everyone else. It's not the sweater that's important--it's being included.
The movies are a cringe-y tradition, but they're a tradition, and now they're a tradition that includes US. So thank you, schlocky Christmas movies! Please make more!
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I can't watch these films, even if I remind myself that everyone EXPECTS them to be schlocky and awful. The writing is just too terrible. Also, Person A and Person B are always straight. No real LGBT representation. Very occasionally we'll get a Gay Best Friend, but he never has any real consequence, and there's no on-screen romance with this character. Hallmark did put out a film with a gay couple in it (THE CHRISTMAS HOUSE), but the gay couple weren't main characters; they were part of much larger ensemble cast. It's a step forward, I suppose, but a timid one, and not worth my time. So I avoided these awful things.
Until...
This year, Paramount (not Hallmark) put out a "romantic holiday drama film" called DASHING IN DECEMBER. And at its center are two gay men. They are the main characters, front and center, and clearly so.
I decided to watch it.
It was AWFUL. Every moment was dreadful. The guys were handsome, but the schlock dripped from the screen. It hit all the plot points I mentioned above, and was so predictable that I was able to call out the dialogue a moment ahead of the speaking character. As a bonus, we even had a straight female friend become angry at a gay character, not because he was gay, but because he didn't come out to her the way she wanted her to. (I've ranted about this awful trope elsewhere.) Terrible in every way that these movies are terrible.
And it was AWESOME.
Not because the movie was good. It wasn't. It was awesome because we have a holiday TV tradition that has INCLUDED US. Everyone else got schlocky Christmas movies, but not LGBT people. Now we have one, too. Just like everyone else.
To put it into perspective, imagine your mother knits, and every year at the annual family gathering, she gives everyone one of these sweaters--except you. Everyone puts on their sweaters and laughs about them and parades around in them. But not you. Mom disapproves of you, so she ignores you. You don't particularly WANT an ugly sweater, but when everyone else gets one, you are made to feel the outsider. At dinner, everyone talks about the sweaters and how sweet it is that Mom made them this year, even though they're awful and ugly. She makes them because she loves everyone. Except you. So you watch all the laughter and all the love from a distance. But then, one year, Mom has a change of heart, and you get an ugly sweater of your own. You get to participate in the tradition with everyone else. It's not the sweater that's important--it's being included.
The movies are a cringe-y tradition, but they're a tradition, and now they're a tradition that includes US. So thank you, schlocky Christmas movies! Please make more!
comments
