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Of tiny pink dumbbells and fat chicks. Confession: I do own a tiny pink dumbbell. It's used for the wrist exercises I do for the RSI, and I got the pink one because I don't have to immediately go wash my hands to get the metal smell off after I use it the way I would with a metal dumbbell from a set like the one we have at home. But I understand the shorthand. :)

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Baby elephant playing in the spray from a hose.

I feel like all my posts are linking to Zooborns. I HAVE NO REGRETS

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The Rick Owens Spring 2014 fashion show is a performance by college step-dancers, mostly African-American (er, I think they're all American?), all plus-sized by industry standards, and none of them blandly pretty in the way that models usually are so they don't overshadow the clothing. I haven't been able to figure out if it's one dance team or made up of others: the articles I've read on it are annoyingly paying more attention to the designer than the dancers, although I'm sure he's happy about it. But as one of the articles mentions: athletic wear shown on actual athletic women doing athletic things? Yes. (this is athletic wear by industry standards.)

Go watch the performance: 11 minutes and 45 seconds you won't regret. Love the show. But I will say right here, right now, that the dropped-crotch trend can FOAD, as far as I'm concerned. (I know it's a trend only because of Project Runway.)

edit: Interview with Shantell Richardson, Stepper #12, a fashion designer herself.

This weekend's activities

We decided to host Thanksgiving this year, as between now and the we have a total of 2 weekends in which we are not driving somewhere to do something and One More Trip was just not happening. Which means we need to pick an area of the house each weekend we are home and clean it.

So instead we Cooked All The Things. Last year I made 6 quarts of interestingly-flavored ice cream for the ConDFw room party at FenCon. It's next weekend and 6 quarts of ice cream NEVER AGAIN. So instead we made 2 quarts of ice cream and 1 batch of paletas (Mexican-style ice pops), and will be making 1 more batch of paletas tonight.

Flavors, and note that all recipes were swiped from the Serious Eats blog based on their simplicity and you can Google them because I am too lazy to link:

Buttered Popcorn Ice Cream
Coconut Lime Ice Cream
Pineapple-Chile Paletas
Avocado Paletas

The pineapple-chile paletas are great, although the jalapenos we used turned out to be the not-really-hot kind, so it could do with an extra kick. And because I know someone will recommend it, I have now purchased Paletas: Authentic Recipes for Mexican Ice Pops, Shaved Ice & Aguas Frescas, which has a slightly more complicated recipe for them which will have a bigger kick.

We also cooked Cuban black beans and rice, and vaca fritas, from the recipe in the latest Cook's Illustrated, which is a Cuban recipe where you simmer chuck (flank steak in the original, I think), then shred it and saute it until bits are crispy, then flavor it with stuff including a bit of OJ and lime juice (to fake the tartness of Seville oranges, if you don't have access to any), garlic, and cumin, and carmelized onions. Excellent recipe, highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of the issue and trying it.

I'm reasonably sure we cooked something on Saturday, but amusing I've totally forgotten what it was.

Also, I spent my down time reading Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora. I got it back when it first came out and never made it farther than the first couple of chapters, but after a friend posted about a blog entry he made years ago in response to someone who claimed that he's lose readers due to (a) the crude language his characters used and (b) the black middle-aged woman pirate captain in his second book because that sort of thing just isn't realistic (in a FANTASY NOVEL, people!), I figured I'd give it another try. Plus, the ebook was on sale.

When I finished it last night, I immediately bought the sequel. :)

At least it's not from ZooBorns...

Baby elephant wants to play with dog. Dog just wants to sleep. (YouTube. Also, loud rooster.)

Good thing I'm not a typical Redditor

Toby is very, very tired right now. As I fed the cats, he was washing dishes and telling me about the new cereal he bought at the grocery store that he thought I might like, when...

Toby: ...it's got the same spider level as the other flavor, but it sounds good.

Me: ...

Me: Did you intentionally say 'spider level'?

Toby: ...

Toby: ...I meant fiber level.

I had to ask as I had no idea if he was making a joke about the allowed levels of insect parts in food or just making a verbal typo. :) (The title is because Reddit hates spiders.)

Sent from my Apple ][e