Original though: I’ll live stream a play with my sister and type in a chat room. Yahoo for for getting cultured, seeing plays I haven’t seen before, and feeling like we’re hanging out.

Invites other sibling and mom: planning ensues!!!

What actually happened: we watched Tremors 2. I’m disappointed that the guy I wanted to be eaten wasn’t.

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My turn!

17, 18, and 31 from stonepicnicking_okapi
17: What’s more draining: writing smut, fluff or angst?
I have a hard time keeping fluff fluffy; the angst just wants to creep in. I end up rewriting a piece multiple times to keep the fluff fluff-ified. Keeping myself in a light and spry mood takes a lot of energy.

18: Are you a ‘neatly designed outline’ writer or a ‘fuck it i’ll figure it out as i go’ writer?
I want to be the neatly designed outline writer with the detailed outline, and I need to improve my organization. However, I didn’t have a detailed outline for my thesis or dissertation, so there isn’t much hope for me.
I have a vague plot in my head of where I want to go and then I bounce around the fic and drill down to specific moments and dialogue. One day I’m writing the beginning and the other I’ll write something near the end. This is how I have two ~15k fics that I can’t show anyone because I only have unconnected snippets.
I need another way to organize and keep track of my thoughts because keeping it in short term memory means I forget things. Another writer on tumblr makes a list of cool things that could be added to a fic, prints them out and organizes the pieces to form the most compelling story. I want to try this when I have time to complete a thought.

31: mythological creature AU or superhero AU?
I’m choosing whatever side has dragons.


Another set from luthienberen
7: Do you listen to music while you write/read?
I need silence. Any music with lyrics distracts me and I end up either mentally shouting over it or paying more attention to the lyrics than my thoughts. It’s mentally exhausting to fight through it in my head. TV or kid noises are equally distracting. So, working in a coffee shop or when my family is awake and around doesn’t work and I end up doing nothing and getting frustrated.
If my thoughts are spinning and I can’t settle, I’ll listen to something classical until my thoughts calm and the music becomes too much noise.

10: What’s your favorite trope?
I like a lot of them, and don’t think I have a favorite.
- H/C heavy on the C is great
- A slow burn fic with lots of mutually unrequited pinning that had better become required unless there is a very good reason to rip my heart apart
- Eventually getting together and them learning to work out their relationship is even better
- A/B/O with intense and interesting world building that analyses some inequality means I’m going to be reading instead of sleeping.
- Domestic stuff and kid fics
- Random AU I know nothing about
- Random AU I know way too much about
- Fluff when I don’t have to write it

And so ends my vague answer.

24: fantasy or sci-fi?
Yes. I like them both and have equally enjoyed and disliked books from both categories.

Questions below the cut in case anyone wants to play.
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I've been reading through science protocols for my class and I keep reading about Domestos. When I first read this I freaked out not knowing what the heck that was and worrying that I would not be able to find that reagent and complete the protocol. (You all in the know are probably laughing at me right now.)

Yahoo for helpful google telling me it's bleach. Bleach. And a bleach brand from the UK. Lo and behold that book and subsequent manuscript was published from UK labs.

So grrr the researchers who used brand names and not just calling it bleach with the name brand in parenthesis like you should. Yes, the concentration of sodium hypochlorite (active ingredient in bleach) is different. Domestos has 5.25% and Chlorox (US brand) has 6.05%. Which can matter when making solutions..... Or not much. But if I were to be a good scientist, I would convert the percentages of one to the other to make sure the solutions were exact. Or not because it's bleach and I'm not sure 22% and 20% are that different in their bacteria killing powers.


Also ran into another difference. What is the difference between an UK and US apple pie? Google did not provide a good answer for this. Apple pie that I make has flour, vegetable shortening, salt, water and cinnamon in the crust. The filling has apples (Macintosh or Cortlands), cinnamon, tapioca pearls (thickener), sugar, and butter.

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JWP1: Resident Horse (BBC_Sherlock, G)

 

JWP2: Teacups and Teapots (Great Mouse Detective, G)

 

JWP3: The Cat and String (RDJ movies, PG-13)

 

JWP4: Bound (BBC Sherlock, PG-13)

 

JWP5: It’s Poison (BBC_Sherlock, G)

 

JWP6: What Happened? (1939 Film Series, G)

 

JWP7: They Will Outlive Us All (ACD, G)

 

JWP9: Gary and The Opera (ACD, G)'
 

JWP10: Coffee (BBC Sherlock, G)

 

JWP11: Bathing Suit (Great Mouse Detective, G)

 

JWP12: Reputation (ACD, G)

 

JWP13: A Moment When We Collide (BBC_Sherlock, G)

 

JWP14: Dinosaur (BBC_Sherlock, G)

 

JWP15: Surprise (RDJ movies, PG-13)

 

JWP16: Mist, But Not (ACD, PG-13)

  

JWP23: Wrap Myself (ACD, G)

JWP25: The Arm in the Lock (BBC_Sherlock, G)

 

JWP27: Quiet Moments (BBC_Sherlock, G)

 

JWP28: New Beginnings (BBC_Sherlock, G)

 

JWP29: What Do You Do? (BBC_Sherlock, PG)

 

JWP31: Steps (ACD, G)

 

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Nickname: Mafief

Zodiac: Aquarius

Height: 5′5″  Until recently, I thought I was 5’4”. I’ve been jibbing myself an inch!

Time: 12:07 am

Favourite band/artist: I don’t have a favorite. like bands similar to Florence + the machine, mumford and sons, Phillip Phillips, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Imagine Dragons, etc. 

Song stuck in my head: Geronimo by Sheppards because Mr Three has been singing “say Geronimo” as “say the Geronimo” non-stop. 
Last movie I saw: That I picked (this distinction is important): Infinity Wars  

Last thing I googled: popular waltz songs, gramophone records, 1920 

Other blogs: I’m on Tumblr as Mafief and I was crossposting to LJ.  

Why did I choose this username: It was a childhood nickname given to me because a classmate asked me if wanted fishy crackers (goldfish) and my real name and fish got smushed together somehow. But, really it’s usually available on most platforms I want to use, which I find surprising since it is only six letters.

Average amount of sleep: 7ish hours unless I get pounced on in the early morning hours

Lucky number: none 

What am I wearing: brown shorts and a white tank top with tiny grey butterflies.

Dream job: Errr… I can complicate this one... How about something vague like something sciencey that involves plants.

Dream trip: I want to travel again. 1) New Zealand. So I can see the other side of the Nothofagus forest (I saw one side in Chile). 2) UK. I already have a list of places and peeps I want to see.

Fave food:  Right now, it’s blueberries from a PYO place.

Play any instruments: Piano but only at the beginner level. I can’t read music and I have a hard time with written notes with tones. Beats are also confusing. So, I wouldn’t trust myself with a tambourine.   

Eye colour: Brown

Hair colour: Dirty blond (what an awful color name…) and I’m finding a few grey hairs in there. 

Describe yourself as aesthetic things: Since I found this on tumblr, this must be a tumblr thing that I don’t understand. Umm… A tree in winter in a field of white snow.

Languages you speak: English (americanized). I have taken years of Spanish and none of it stuck.

Most iconic song: Just pick one in general?  Alphabet song or American Pie

Favorite book: Nope, not gonna pick.

Random fact: You have mites (all humans do) that live on your forehead and they were given to you by your parents. We can trace your lineage by it.

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I think I only posted one pic of my husband’s afghan in the ‘I’m still figuring this out’ stage. I settled on 9x12 squares which roughly means its almost 6 ft x almost 8 ft. Huge! Since I didn’t realize it would be THAT big when I first started the project four years ago, I didn’t purchase enough yarn. The yarn that I used for this blanket comes in dye lots, which means that the colors differ. There is no way I’m going to find the same dye lot from 4 years ago… So, I had dark and light yellow to work around. I think it ended up working out in the end and doesn’t look like too much of a mistake. I also worked around my hatred for tucking in ends and did most of it before I sewed squares together. There are still ends, but less of them so I don’t hate everything. Husband is very happy about the almost finished project and has already been using it even though there are ends untucked. So yahoo for most likely getting this blanket done very soon! :)

I’m standing on a chair and the ruler you see is a yard.

Next is Mr Three’s blanket, since he requested one. I took him to the craft store and had him choose his yarn. At first, he went through the yarn aisle and put one of each color into his shopping basket. Ok mom, need more rules… We narrowed it down to a lime and dark green and left before he changed his mind. The pattern I found, didn’t give him a choice of another, and he said he liked it. The original pattern has a counter-clockwise twist, which looked a little strange when I put a few of them together. So, I reversed the pattern to give a clockwise twist. I think having both directions give the blanket a better flow. I also thought of a nice boarder to finish up the blanket whenever I get to that. Mr Three didn’t give me an opinion either way and is just happy that he’s getting a green blanket.

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In college, I took a herpetology class in the spring. The timing is important because that is when most of the amphibians in PA are doing something interesting instead of hiding. During the warm spring rains, salamanders and frogs come out en masse and breed. Thus, I spent my evenings in my rain jacket either walking up and down roads with a flashlight or hiking through the woods (with friends) to vernal pools (small ponds that flood in the spring and disappear by mid-summer).

During one adventure to a vernal pool in the dark, in the rain, in the woods, we saw hundreds of spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum). They were everywhere and it was an amazing sight to witness. In the water they would form these mating balls where the males would try to be the first one to grab a female with its back legs. Sometimes, the males are overly eager and drown the female in the process. (Side note: Some Ambystoma species don’t even need males. Two females can go through the process of mating but not actually exchange sperm and still lay viable eggs.)

I haven’t been able to figure out the timing to catch the great migration in NH nor do I have a good idea what pools are active. Last summer, I spent time scouting out the area for vernal pools to visit during the spring to hopefully catch this activity. I’ve done better and contacted the campus herpetologist and made plans. During the first warm (40F +) rains, I took the kids out (at 8:30 pm! In the woods! In the rain! In the dark!) to try and see this event. The first pool we went to only had Wood Frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus). You can hear their call here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_frog).

This was fine, disappointing, but fine because it gave me a chance to discuss the process of science and field biology with Mr Five. He told me once that he wanted to be a scientist, so part of that is explaining how much scientist fail and what to do when that happens.

We had to wait for our next attempt because the weather was silly and it decided to snow a few days after. Next warm rain, we visited another pool. This one included a hike up a rather steep incline (In the woods! In the rain! In the dark!) to reach three pools. This is also when my husband thinks I’m partially insane for taking children into this. I’ll disagree, but that’s another story. The part that excited Mr Three the most was holding his own flashlight.

This time we did better, but still no spotted salamanders. We saw wood frogs, spring peepers (Hyla crucifer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_peeper), a green frog (Lithobates clamitans), and redback salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). There was a large pond at the base of the hill we were on and the sound the spring peepers were making was deafening. For a frog that is about an inch long, they are super loud. Redbacks are extremely common, but the boys were excited that they saw a salamander that they didn’t care that it wasn’t a spotted. (Side note: redbacks don’t have lungs and breathe through their skin.)



The most exciting part of this trip, at least for me, was seeing the two redback salamanders above (bottom pic). I spotted two salamanders twisting around each other as they tumbled down the path. When we got closer, they froze and I was able to snap the picture above. What is hard to make out is that the smaller salamander has the larger one’s foot in its mouth. This behavior is new to me, and I’m not entirely sure if they are mating or fighting. Redbacks that need to mate around this time (female store sperm for over a year and lay eggs under a log on land) and the males are territorial. My other outdoor biologist friends had no idea. Mr Five asked if the salamanders were married and… I chickened out and said sure. So, he described to a group of church friends that he saw two salamanders ‘marriaged’. I’ll correct that later…

We are planning a guided vernal pool trip with this weekend, so hopefully I can get more connections to find better pools for next year.

So that’s what I’ve been up to! So yah, Come for the random things this scientist does, stay for the… salamander fighting/mating????

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So sayeth the smallhobbit.

Rational:
Curiosity was piqued and the experiment began to test the difference between British and American scones.


Methods:
SmallHobbit’s scones
8oz SelfRaising Flour (a.k.a. 2 c regular flour + 3 tsp baking powder)
2oz Margarine
1oz Sugar
2oz Sultanas (a.k.a. golden raisins)
0.25 pint Milk

Rub marge into flour until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in sugar and sultanas. Quickly add most of milk and mix with a knife until it forms a soft dough (add more milk if necessary). Roll out to about 0.75" and cut in 2" circles.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, Gas mark 7 (Electric 230C) (a.k.a. 425 degrees F)
Sugar and Sultanas not necessary if served with jam (I think you call it jelly) and clotted cream.



American scones
For comparison, I tried a scone recipe from King Arthur Flour (https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/scones-recipe). The company was founded in 1790 in Boston, Massachusetts and is now located in Vermont (~4 hrs from me). I think that’s American enough for my purposes.

2 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder (this added to the flour essentially makes self raising flour)
1/2 cup cold butter
1 cup to 2 cups chopped dried fruit, chocolate or other flavored chips, nuts, Jammy Bits*, or a combination, optional (used < 2 c golden raisins)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or the flavoring of your choice
1/2 cup to 2/3 cup half and half or milk (used less than 2/3)
*See "tips," below.

Topping
2 teaspoons milk
2 tablespoons sparkling white sugar or cinnamon sugar, optional (I reduced this to a light sprinkle of normal sugar)

Instructions
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.
Work in the butter just until the mixture is unevenly crumbly; it's OK for some larger chunks of butter to remain unincorporated.
Stir in the fruit, chips, and/or nuts, if you're using them.
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla or other flavor, and half and half or milk.
Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until all is moistened and holds together.
Line a baking sheet with parchment; if you don't have parchment, just use it without greasing it. Sprinkle a bit of flour atop the parchment or pan.
Scrape the dough onto the floured parchment or pan, and divide it in half. Round each half into a 5" circle (if you haven't incorporated any add-ins); or a 6" circle (if you've added fruit, nuts, etc.). The circles should be about 3/4" thick.
Brush each circle with milk, and sprinkle with coarse white sparkling sugar or cinnamon sugar, if desired.
Using a knife or bench knife that you've run under cold water, slice each circle into 6 wedges.
Carefully pull the wedges away from the center to separate them just a bit; there should be about 1/2" space between them, at their outer edges.
For best texture and highest rise, place the pan of scones in the freezer for 30 minutes, uncovered. Chilling the scones relaxes the gluten in the flour, which makes the scones more tender and allows them to rise higher. It also chills the fat, which will make the scones a bit flakier. While the scones are chilling, preheat the oven to 425°F.
Bake the scones for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they're golden brown. When you pull one away from the others, it should look baked all the way through; the edge shouldn't look wet or unbaked.
Remove the scones from the oven, and cool briefly on the pan. Serve warm. They're delicious as is, but add butter and/or jam, if you like.
When the scones are completely cool, wrap them in plastic and store at room temperature for up to several days. To reheat room-temperature scones, place on a baking sheet, tent lightly with foil, and warm in a preheated 350°F oven for about 10 minutes.



To reduce experimental variations, I used the same flour, milk, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Both scones had golden raisins to reduce the ‘I like this flavor better’ factor.


Results and Thoughts:


If you had asked me about my opinion of scones before this experiment, I would have said I didn’t like them. I consider scones these overly dry bake good that sucks all of the moisture out of my mouth and have very dull to no flavor. Great start, eh? Husband likes scones and was eager to try the results.

Both husband and I agree that there is very little difference between the two scones in taste. I think there is a difference in texture. The King Arthur scones have a slightly stiffer, stuck together texture (most likely due to the egg). Hobbit’s scones were crumblier and softer and sort of remind me of a biscuit. Next day and two day old King Arthur scones were starting to get a rubbery texture, which was strange. Can’t report on Hobbit’s scones because they were finished quickly.

The King Arthur scones were a absolute pain to make. The dough was stupidly sticky (adding to the list of why I didn’t like scones in the first place) and it took me an hour to make them. Hobbits scones were ready from start to finish in <20 minutes and the dough did not annoy me.

Overall, I like Hobbit’s scones better and would make them again. I think the recipe is a great base for other flavors including a savory version (if this doesn’t scandalize SmallHobbit too much). So, it’s been added to the rotation.

Lastly, we tried clotted cream, or something I think is clotted cream, on both types of scones. After trying to make my own and realizing that cream that is not untra-pasturized cream is extremely hard to find in my area, I found Double Devon Cream. I’m not sure I would eat it on a regular basis. Remember that my sense of taste is not normal. To me, this product had no taste and the only thing I registered, if I could detect it, was a slimy mouthfeel. It didn’t put me off entirely, so I would eat it if in a position where I was expected to, but I prefer butter. :)

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