kitchen_kink | Entries tagged with projects

A lot of folks have asked me what I'm going to do now that the 100 words for a 100 days project is ended. Well, a couple of things have come to mind. I like the whole 100 days model because it's a long period of time (long enough and more to build a habit), but the next 100 days are going to be interrupted by several long trips, and it would be difficult to keep up.

So the next plan is this:

June is DiNoWriMo (Dietrich Novel Writing Month). I will strive to work on the novel, even if it's just a little bit, every day. I'll post updates on LJ containing snippets of writing, word counts, progress reports, etc.

Unlike the 100 days, I'll be posting these friends-locked, mainly to put a layer of protection on any copyrighted material I post (I kind of trust my friends list not to steal my work). If you'd like in on this game and aren't on my friends list, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do!

After June, I think I'll enter another 100 days project (skipping over the 2 weeks I'll be at Burning Man and San Francisco) wherein I take the 100 words project, pick my 10 favorites, and expand each into a short story, taking 10 days to draft each one.

I'm told that the conventional wisdom on thank-you cards after a wedding is that you're allowed to get them out to people up to a year after the wedding date.

Good thing, that, because I still have 30 to write before October 7. Can anyone say, "low-level priority"? I mean, I'm extremely thankful to my friends and family for all they did and offered for our wedding day. But writing individual thank-you notes and actually MAILING them in this day and age seems like such an incredibly chore, and always seems less important than something else I could be doing. Thank the gods I have an actual deadline.

You folks who have gotten married and did so following certain of the social codes: how long did it take you to get thank-you notes out?

Last year, some of you may recall, I had grain moths in my house. These creatures disgusted me no end, and I was filled with the fiery hatred of a thousand light bulbs for these pestilent little buggers.

Many of you gave me excellent advice, and I have had what looks like 100% success in stopping the infestation from recurring this year, in the hot weather. I know some of you have also suffered from this problem, so I thought I'd let you know what I did - and how I did it without using any poison or toxic stuff at all.

1. Clean out the pantry. If you open a bag or box of rice, pasta, cereal, flour, or whatever and see a single moth, throw it away. If you see any little pin holes in a plastic bag that's holding bulk goods, throw it away. Basically, anything that's already infested or shows the slightest sign of it: get rid of it.

Next, empty out and scrub down the places you keep food. I used baking soda and water.

2. Change your storage habits. Get plastic or metal containers with airtight lids for keeping any dry starchy goods outside of the refrigerator: pasta, rice, flour, oatmeal, cereal, bread crumbs, grains, legumes, and so on. Some people who commented on my original post have had problems with sugar, nuts, tea, cocoa and dried fruit, and other more sweet items, but I had no such problems - these particular guys were interested in grains and grains only, especially rice and whole flours. I also have had success keeping pasta in its bag, inside another strong Ziploc freezer bag.

3. Kill any you bring home. You may not want to think about it, but when you buy in bulk from the bins in the store, there are sometimes going to be critters or eggs hiding in the food. When you bring home your grains, put them in the freezer or cold refrigerator overnight. The bugs can't survive the cold. Then put them in your containers for storage.

4. Consolidate. If you can have all of your not-in-the-fridge food stored in one area of your kitchen, do so - it will limit the blast radius of any infestation.

5. Discourage from the area. Cedar blocks thrown in dresser drawers help to keep moths away from your clothes; they do the same thing in food storage drawers, and don't affect the flavor of things at all. You can buy cedar blocks, drawer liners, or balls in many places, usually in the clothing storage area rather than food storage areas. Throw a couple in your cabinets and drawers and replenish them every 6 months or so with cedar spray.

6. Pheromone traps. When the warmer weather came around again, you can bet that whatever moths were left from last year woke up or hatched or whatever those wretched bastards do, and I would see them in the house, one and two at a time. Whole Foods and health food stores carry pheromone traps for pantry pests, and they are brilliant. Basically, they're a triangle of light cardboard with sticky stuff on the inside surfaces, and a lure. The lure attracts the males, and they stick to the sticky stuff and die die die. I have mine on top of my fridge, which is a good height for them to fly into it; it currently has about 20 dead moths in it, most of which I never saw before they bit it. You may wind up with some females left over, but they can't make more little assholes without the menfolk.

7. Integrated pest management. It's important that you do all of these things together to destroy or prevent an infestation, or it won't work.

Thanks, everyone, for your fantastic advice.

Hey folks,

I've got this 1992-ish Digital laptop computer that runs DOS. I tried to start it up the other day and it had a hard drive error. I've really not been doing anything with it, and I was wondering if there were any old computer/electronics fetishists out there who might like to take it and play with it.

Otherwise, it'll get donated. (Any recommendations as to where, and who might actually want such a thing?

thanks!

I am supposed to write an essay for my grad school application in which I describe my experience of a work of art and why it was powerful and meaningful to me.

In 300 words.

Are they fucking kidding me? With the piece I've chosen, it takes me that many words to describe the piece, let alone my reaction to it, although I suppose those things are inseparable.

Sigh. I guess there's a reason I'm a fiction writer and not a poet. I'm not so great at the concision thing.

Hey,

the_xtina - does that 100 words a day thing still exist? I think now would be a great time for me to try it out. Stories in 100 words, precisely. I could use the practice.

The farmer's market. Oh, organic local peaches. Oh, the start of heirloom tomato season. Fresh small lettuces, samples of watermelon, goat cheese in oil with mediterranean herbs and the cute boy in the ethical society t-shirt manning the Breadsong booth, who smiled so lingering at me when I bought a baguette from him. More than that, though, the incredible feeling of spirit there, the people of the earth, so close, coming together and bringing us real food, right around the corner from my house. When I'm there I'm both so grateful that I live here, and so excited that someday, I might live in California where this happens all year long.

Free Shakespeare in the park. Year after year. Richly produced, innovatively acted, and better every year. Yes, Taming of the Shrew continues to be highly problematic as a text. But this production...it's a good 'un.

Being someone you talk to about your problems. I'm so grateful for the ability to both listen and hear, and maybe even to help, sometimes.

Steady yourselves for the standard plug!

This Thursday, July 13, the third annual Theatre @ First One Act Festival opens.

Come see ME, and

imlad, and a bunch of other people you might recognize in a series of short plays mostly by local playwrights.

The show runs at First Congregational Church, on College Ave. in Somerville, this Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, Sunday afternoon, and next Thursday through Saturday nights.

Check the website for details!

/plug

Wardrobe question here, particularly for the taller and/or bigger women in the group:

I've found that Frederick's of Hollywood, as well as the great site StockingsHQ.com, carry stockings - with or without need for garters - that suit my long-legged big-thighed self perfectly. Check it out.

What I'm looking for now are:

1. Tights, preferably very opaque, that don't itch or bind
2. Thigh-high socks (hey

water_childe?) that stay up well and don't cut off circulation in the thighs or make them look like sausages
3. Thigh-high tights - if there are such a thing - which would be infinitely preferable to full length tights
4. Any other sexy options for staying warm under skirts - short or long - in the Boston winter.

Thankye, folks!

Long, thin cardboard tubing, say, three feet long or so?

Hint: I'd rather not pay much for it.

Since the results of my elimination diet were inconclusive aside from the obvious big bad of yeast (and even that doesn't seem consistent; commercial bread yeast obviously bad, unfiltered beer obviously bad, wine not so much bad), I decided to continue my body experiments with some longer trials.

The other main things I reacted to were wheat, dairy, and corn, each having a mild reaction. So I thought I'd eliminate two out of three for four days or a week at a time.

Last week I ate wheat, but no dairy or corn. At first it didn't seem so bad. But I woke up tired and nauseated (class-cancelling level of sick) after eating commercial pasta - made with "enriched" flour. Ha. I'm told those vitamins are often derived from yeast. Oops.

Next few days, I ate only whole wheat and stuff I'd made so I knew it wasn't from enriched flour. The nausea went away. But all week I felt rather tired and low-energy - hard to get up in the morning, not terribly motivated, unfocused. I started to notice breathing problems - nothing severe, just an inability to fully catch my breath, and feeling winded sooner than usual, like from climbing stairs. And by Friday, I was sitting in the Diesel having just eaten some sandwiches made from the whole-wheat soda bread I'd made, and I started to feel what I might describe as a very mild anaphylactic reaction: swollen tongue and throat, slight difficulty swallowing.

How about that shit.

So this week, I cut out wheat, and am testing dairy. Only fermented dairy, mind you, as I know milk makes me a bit ill and I don't generally drink it anyway. Results thus far: eh. Yesterday I woke up feeling sort of bleh after eating a lot of cheese the day before, and I didn't get that much done in the way of work. I was able to handle small tasks, household duties, and social stuff, but couldn't buckle down and write or grade papers. Today: slept until nearly 11, and haven't done any work yet - only making stew, planning the next few days' menus, and stuff of that nature. Today I'm eating only goat and sheep dairy (goat yogurt - weird!), but my stomach doesn't seem to know the difference: it's still a trifle unsettled, and the stuff below that is a bit clogged up. (Ick.)

So I'm thinking that the yeast causes much of my nausea, but that the wheat and dairy help. The wheat and dairy, especially over several days in a row, cause sluggishness and low energy. And the wheat causes my exercise-induced asthma, while the dairy contributes to my ADD-like symptoms.

And then, when I'm all groggy and unfocused, I reach for the caffeine. Cycle complete.

Wow. Cool.

Except not, because that means I need to avoid all of it.

To quote

lady_tabitha: Pills and water!

But seriously: I love food entirely too much for that. So I'll have to use my judgment. Tomorrow is a holiday: I'm going to go all out and not worry about it. Likely the same for Christmas. In ordinary life, though, I figure I'll not eat any of those things when I can avoid it, eat it when I can't, and eat it on special occasions.

Hi, all,

I have an acquaintance who's a crazy MIT performance art guy, and he's doing a scene for a short film. He needs 20 or so people to dress up Manray-style and party for a little while. Hardship, right? Details below: let me know if you're interested and I'll forward your info along to him.

***

I am doing a scene for a short film. A character who is draped in a sniper suit (Ghillie Suit) winds up in a totally
packed Goth Industrial dance party. I tried convincing Man Ray to let me do a shoot but they just couldn't bend the rules (even though everyone wanted to participate)

So, I thought I could just have a party in my studio for a few hours. Do you know like 20 people in a scen like this that
would be into coming over to the art studio/goth club and cut loose while the "Ghillie Man" hangs out?

Check out Ghillie suit online if you are wondering what the suit looks like.

It would be FUN! Free Party! Music, lights, fog, leather, vampires....very cute.

***

Comment here if you're down.