I think that's enough for a weekend

[nishatalitha]

Friday I posted my kiwifandomsfest fic here.

I also read Rivers of London (also published as Midnight Riot I believe) by Ben Aaronovitch, which is a contemporary fantasy murder mystery set in London. I thought I knew where it was going, but it's a delightful romp and lots of fun, and then it took a right turn and ended up somewhere completely different. The copy I read was borrowed from a friend and I think I might have to buy my own. I'm also looking forward to reading the sequel Moon Over Soho and the third, Whispers Under Ground.

Yesterday, I went out to Indoorpendence, the Ultimate Frisbee development tournament at Te Raupraha Arena in Porirua with my league team, Dirty Creature. We won a couple of games, lost a few, and — importantly — mostly held together as a team for the day. I have no idea how well we did overall, but I understand that rincewindtvd (one of our A-graders) got male MVP for the tournament, which is excellent. Well done to him!

I had to head off early, though. Unlike previous years, when my work mid-year has been the night before Indoorpendence, this year it was the same day. Different venue from last year too; we were at the Wharewaka this year, and it worked really well for our function, as the band and dancefloor were near the tables, so it was really easy to move back and forth between them.

Wine is one of the things that I have trouble pacing over an evening. I have a certain number of glasses and then it starts tasting funny, so I know I've had enough wine and shouldn't drink anymore of it that night. I hit that point probably around 10 - 10.30pm last night, about when the dancing started and switched to water. Function packed up about midnight, and thirteen or fifteen or so of us headed into town and ended up at the Library bar, where we had a couple of cocktails, and I got home about 2.30am. No hangover, however, due to the spacing of the drinks and the amount of water I drank.

When getting ready, I took one look at my stilettos and decided I couldn't face wearing that type of heel, rummaged in the back of my wardrobe and dug out a pair of old silver shoes with really solid heels that I haven't worn for nearly ten years. Apart from the soles being so slippery that I had to take them off to go up and down our stairs, I was fine. Didn't have to take them off all night, even.

Today I have also been productive. I sorted in date order and put away a pile of filing that I've been stacking up for about two years. Just in case you get the wrong idea, I had previously looked and dealt with it all but put it in a pile instead of putting it in the folders where it belongs. It did take a few hours though.

I also cooked dinner for the first time in about a week. I was home late most nights last week and either tamarillow and maudlinrose had cooked or we fended; I didn't have the energy to cook. Tonight, however, was a different story.

Dinner was a roast vegetable red curry that I make once or twice a year. For dessert, I decided to try one of exiledinpn's favourites: tarte tatin. Like the last version he made, I used the Masterchef NZ recipe. Most of the reviews I read of the recipe indicated that they'd put it on the stove top for less time than recommended and it therefore wasn't as rich.



I stuck strictly to the recommended cooking times, but perhaps had the stove top up slightly high, given I was using a cast-iron frying pan. In our oven, 1 hour 15 minutes turned out to be a bit long, and I'd probably drop 15 minutes from that time. Some caramelised bits are almost toffee. I used bought flaky-puff pastry and might have made a difference. I'd like to see what it's like with sweet-short pastry as well.

Used vanilla sugar since I had it made and it was starting to get a bit strong (the vanilla pods have been in there since I made papersky's spiced peach tarts back in April), but since this is the first time I've made tarte tatin, I'm not sure what difference it made.



Back to work tomorrow. Bother! How did I manage to put all my low-heeled shoes in for repairs at the same time?

Comments

[exiledinpn.livejournal.com]

I've only used this particular recipe twice; when I stuck strictly to time, it was wussy and pale. When I went long on the stovetop and short in the oven, I ended up with something not quite as dark as the above, and very, very tasty. But I was using a lightweight stainless steel pan rather than heavy cast iron.

I think the best path is to experiment more. After all, you can always eat the failures :)

[nishatalitha.livejournal.com]

Yes, indeed.

The cast iron is my default for frying pans that need to go in the oven - the rest of our pans have handles that won't stnad up to the heat.

I'll make it again this winter. I'm most keen to try it with sweet-short pastry, as I like it much more than flaky puff.

[darthsappho.livejournal.com]

The fic is great 8)

I could lend you Ben Aaronovitch's Doctor Who books if you're interested.

[nishatalitha.livejournal.com]

Thanks, but I think I have most of them in e-book format... Are they good tv tie-ins? I usually don't like books based on tv series.

[darthsappho.livejournal.com]

Yes, they're good. Well, Transit and The Also People are; So Vile A Sin had some issues.

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

I started Midnight Riot a few weeks ago but got distracted by my trip across the country. I'm enjoyng it. It is nice to read something that doesn't feel like yet another variation on the same things.

I've never heard of Tarte tatin but it looks yummy so I may have to try making it myself.

[nishatalitha.livejournal.com]

I'm not entirely sure it doesn't feel like another variation on the same things, but it's certainly a refreshing take on those elements. maudlinrose went out and bought Moon Over Soho today, so I get to read it after her.

This (http://tvnz.co.nz/masterchef-new-zealand/masterclass-episode-seven-braeburn-apple-tarte-tatin-4157644) is the recipe I used subject to the above comments (and with three granny smith apples and one pear because that's what was in the fridge).