acchikocchi

-- and a very happy birthday to procreational, who is extraordinarily thoughtful and caring and generally great. ♥♥♥ Thanks for putting up with me and my oft-dodgy taste in music... ;)

Various Obligations finally completed just in time to get into the whirl of baking and shopping and mailing. Speaking of, just started on cards and things today so basically none of you will get anything before Christmas, I'm so sorry. XD They will be like nice little surprises! To keep the holiday season going! ...shh. Also, I feel sure that I missed some address collection posts while I was snowed under with work and school -- if you didn't get my address, I didn't see yours because I always sign myself up for mail. XD Point me in the right direction, please? (Likewise, if you would like mail from the Home State of Sarah Palin -- hahahaha I can see you all wincing -- shoot me an email or a screened comment here. I'll send you a caribou antler or something.)

No less than four people told me how awesome the je_holiday fic for me was, before I had a chance to read it, and they were SO RIGHT. :D Honestly, given the numbers distribution I was expecting Pin and Gokusen 2 fic was the most pleasant of surprises! I have a Sneaking Suspicion, fed by Matchy, that the author is on my flist so if you are reading this THANK YOU. ♥♥♥ When all the fics for both that and je_ficgames I'll do one of those guess-my-fic-and-I'll-do-something-nice-for-you, once I have a chance to think about it more.

Just took two batches of gingerbread out of the oven and my mother tasted it and said, quote, It is Nectar and Ambrosia. I'm a pretty mediocre cook but a good baker and gingerbread is a specialty. :D The family recipe, that is -- it's very dark and rich and frequently causes trouble at parties because people think it's chocolate cake and then their tastebuds are all unpleasantly shocked because they were expecting something else... To give you an idea, the other recipes I've seen (from various cookbooks, backs of molasses jars, etc.) call for anywhere from a tablespoon to half a cup of molasses; this one calls for a full cup. XD Since I have been snagging recipes from the flist right and left, thought I would share:

( gingerbread )

I was going to say, if I were more organized (or had more foresight) I would have thought to document today's batch photographically, but I did double the recipe (and it got Very Messy) so maybe that wouldn't have been the best idea after all. XD;


P.S. Have a friended a few people recently and want to say, usually I don't post this often! It's been building up over a long time of LJ-lessness. XD

So I still have time to slip in fervent happy birthday wishes to ina, a wonderful friend, fangirl, tour guide, okonomiyaki cook, and just an all around great person and someone I'm so happy to be able to know. :) I hope you had a lovely day and that you have a good visit back home, and as we've said many times I can't wait until we can meet again (in Japan!). ♥♥♥

*

Book-wise today I snagged the latest installment in naominovik's Temeraire series and just finished it about an hour ago. An excellent read, as always, although a little darker than the previous books. ( minor spoilers )

What it really makes me want is crossover fic, though. *g* The books haven't touched much on Japan yet; why not kill your historical AU and fantasy AU needs with one stone and write about the Japanese coverts (only they wouldn't be called coverts) and like. Captains Jin and Yamapi and Kame. Only they wouldn't be called captains, either, they'd be... maybe samurai are the ones attached to dragons. This calls for further thought.


I realize to everyone who has not read these books (and possibly to those who have) I sound insane.

*

edit: oh oh, okay, this meme looks really fun: the sing to me! meme. :D no, it does not actually involve any of you having to sing. just... okay, basically it's a songcall. *g*

For Moo, because I love her. I'm afraid it's not my best writing and I'm – not quite sure of the characterization, ahem. XD But it's written with love and I hope you find it entertaining anyway. ♥ ♥ ♥

pairing: ...a secret until mananeh finishes reading it. let me say, however, that it is not what you are thinking, no matter what you're thinking. ahaha. (unless you are spurious and know because I've been flailing at you for the last two hours. XD) KAME/A CERTAIN CANADIAN SINGER-SONGWRITER, ALL RIGHT. IT'S CRACK OF THE PUREST KIND.


( happy late birthday ♥ )