wiseheart | So, it is party time again, folks!

So, my brand new update just got the first idiot review. From someone who's been on my sci-fi mailing list for ten years. What a grand start to the party. I really don't know why I'm still trying.

*hugs* Hopefully you'll get good reviews soon.

(I look forward to catching up on your stories soon :))

Yeah, it is always the same. People put the stories on alert, even favourite them, but unless they are you or

sammydragoncat,tehet can't be bothered to review... until they find something to complain about.

That's too bad, hopefully you will get good reviews soon.

Alas, not all readers are so supportive as you or

jenn_calaelen. Or the lovely

disthrainsdotte

I thought I would give your revived story a shot. Please keep in mind that I am not a huge Star Trek fan, and have only ever seen the original series - so I don't know anything about Babylon 5; having said that is the Drakh virus canon?

Crusade, which is the short-lived spin-off series to Babylon 5, is based on the premise that Earth has been infected with a deadly virus, which will need 5 years to adapt and kill everyone on the planet. The who le series would have been about people looking for a cure on alien worlds.

Got it - I had no idea what Crusade was.

Why must people do these things? Do they ring the newspaper office each morning and point out errors in the London Times? Really! Get a life, people...

And it wasn't even a factual mistake! They felt affronted by the fact that in a story clearly labelled as an AU, I kept alive a character that died in canon.

Happy Birthday!

Thank you. The real day is on October 9, but the virtual party always starts on the 1 st, so that we can have time for fun.

Aaaaaah! Happy birthday! And I get to offer you the first cake:

Pink_cake

This is a cake I made last week here in New Zealand. It has no artificial colors - the frosting is a natural buttercream colored and flavored with powdered freeze-dried raspberries. Delicious, so easy, and tart rather than sweet. Only the best for your birthday!

Edited 2014-10-01 06:23 (UTC)

Awww, thanks! It looks delicious!
Can it be made with ingredients awailable over here? Because in that case I would like the recipe, please. :)

Edited 2014-10-01 08:20 (UTC)

I could mail you a package of the freeze-dried raspberry dust? It's made in New Zealand. 320 grams of raspberries is turned into 1/4 cup of magenta flavor dust.

Oh,that would be very nice of you. I would like to give the came a try, if you can part with the recipe as well.

Powdered freeze-dried raspberries? Brilliant!

I have never thought to use powdered freeze-dried fruit - that is brilliant!

And so much easier than reducing 300 grams of raspberries. The powder also comes in plum, boysenberry, mango, and strawberry.

It sounds wonderful - I will have to buy some.

Happy Birthday Party!

Hope this year's goes with a swing!

Sparkly Charm Bracelet

Awww, this is lovely! Thank you!

Glad you like it - there's always room for some sparklies!

We all need a little spark in our lives. *nodnod*

Doesn't time fly! It seems like only last month we were partying before! I won't wish you a happy birthday yet, but I hope this party is as fun as previous years!

I snagged one of the virtual chocolate-coated stars to go with my belated breakfast espresso -- umm, delicious -- cheers!

That's weird; livejournal ate my icon choice. Let's see if it works this time...

No! Astrogirl seems to be having the same problems so it's not just me. Do you think livejournal deliberately plays up for your party, or is it just flaky a lot of the time?

It tends to do every time we throw a party. I will be safe-copying to LJ every day. It would be horrible to loose everything like two years ago.

That was very sad. Separate daily posts is probably safer, and keeps bumping the party post on the flist, too.

That didn't work out last year - we simply get lost between the treads on the different days. So, daily saving to DW it will be. And if LJ crashes the party again, we'll simply switch locations.

We won't let LJ be a party pooper!

It did that to me three times on someone else's journal - I thought it was just me!

Typical LJ, mucking things up.

It seems to be doing it intermittently to lots of people. Sigh.

I suppose I should be used to it by now *sigh*

I've pretty much moved to dreamwidth personally -- much better interface, and much more reliable -- but it doesn't help commenting on people's journals who haven't.

Yeah, I share my time between the two because there's still so much on LJ I want access to - mainly the communities here which aren't mirrored on dreamwidth. There are some cool prompt communities there but the established fandom communities are all here, so I linger, loiter and lurk.

I won't leave LJ, either - but I do copy my journal to DW regularly, for safety reasons.

I just post on both. I never set it up to cross-post or anything, because there are some things I don't really want on both, but I make sure to post the important things - that is, my fics, lol! Only trouble with writing so much is that I hardly ever have time for reading anymore.

Those are very yummy. Made of ground almonds instead of flour... and of real dark chocolate. You can find the recipe via my cookie recipes tag. They are called chocolate-almond stars, logically. ;)

Sounds simply scrumptious! I'm really fond of almonds.

They make the cookies really crispy.

Ground almonds instead of flour? Briliant! I can't eat much made with any kind of flour these days, but I adore almonds! *sneaks off to check out the recipe*

They are not that difficult to make. The dough tends to get sticky, but with a bit of practice can be handled well enough. Just don't forget to roll it out really thin, or else the cookies will be hard instead of crispy.

Thanks for the advice, I'll remember that if I ever get around to baking!

Yum! Just the thing for bedtime... assuming, of course, that the chocolate will not keep me awake because the cookies were baked by Elves...

Do I look like an Elf to you? ;))

Happy early birthday! The biscuits looks very yummy :)

That they are indeed.

Party time! I should be getting ready for work, but I thought I would just pop in at the party real quick.

Thanks. We are not at full swing yet anyway, but it will come, as soon as someone comes up with a fun topic to discuss.

I'm going to post the menu for the real life party below - take a look and feel free to give the recipes a try. ;)

Edited 2014-10-01 18:54 (UTC)

So, the food offerings for the real life party on October 4 start with:
Oatcakes with Dates (http://wiseheart.livejournal.com/593617.html).

These are very tasty biscuits that I've already baked for last Christmas. Follow the link to the recipe; they are really easy to make.

Edited 2014-10-01 17:52 (UTC)

Sounds yummy, will have to try them.

They are ridiculously easy to make. The only actual work is to cube the dates. At school, I made it with the kids last year - having six kids to cube the dates sped up things enormously. We were done in thirty minutes. ;)

It's not fair! I don't really have time for baking at the moment, and you are giving me so many recipes that sound so delicious! *shakes fist* Not really, keep the recipes coming! There will be time for baking, sooner or later, and I love reading recipe (books) even when I don't have time to make them.<\small>

The recipes I do with the kids are all quick and easy to make because we must be done in two hours, including eating them up and cleaning up after us. *g*

Sound very delicious.

Yep, my guests thought so, too. ;)

Then we'll have Zebra Bread. Which is simply a batch of crepes, layered like a cake, alternately filled with cremed spinach and thick cheese sauce and then cut in cubes.

I have never had that, it sounds really good.

Actually, I came up with that recipe myself, trying to find a way I might like spinach. It worked.

It sounds yummy, but then I am a big fan of both crepes and cheese! I never liked spinnach as a child, but I think this is probably yet another of those instances of me not liking something I only got fed in school; it was probably more to do with (most of) the food we got in school not being particulary well made, than the ingredients. I am still not overly fond of spinnach, though in some dishes it is just wonderful. One of those is a cold sallad I would always get when I visited a deli in central London called Gaby's with wilted spinnach and chickpeas. It had the added benefit of giving me two different high iron ingredients, which is why I was trying out spinnach dishes in the first place. :-)

I told my mother about your zebra bread, and she agreed that we have to try it. Although I am not sure about the creamed spinach (I have never actually had creamed spinach) - unlike you we actually like spinach (a little butter and salt and I am good).

Well, you just cook the spinach whatever way you like it, and then get it pureed. We already buy ready-made, pureed spinach to spare ourselves the mess and cook it with a bit of oil and garlic, and add some milk or sour cream and salt.

Mmmm... sounds luscious!

It is - and rather filling, too. I imagine Hobbits would approve.

So, is anyone but me reading the Narnia Fic Exchange? 25 stories, mostly decent with only a few clunkers, a big range of topics and no Susan bashing in sight. I'm not an enormous Narnia fan -- Lewis is a bit heavy handed -- but it's nice occasionally to read fan authors more enlightened views of his universe.

Thanks for the suggestion; I'm not a Narnia fan myself, but sometimes it's nice to read a few stories outside my usual interest.

Which of the original books do you like best? And why would there be any Susan bashing?

The Silver Chair was always my favourite, but my copy seems to have gone walkabout years ago, so I haven't reread it as an adult. I'm very fond of parts of The Dawn Treader too -- the world building, the lack of battles, Reepicheep, Eustace when he isn't being annoying.

The Susan bashing is mainly in the original but there's a fair amount of Problem of Susan fic that assumes she's in the wrong and needs to be fixed (by finding Jesus & living a life of unremitting charity work) before she's ready for NarniaPrimed. I've always thought Lewis was just plain wrong about Susan, at least insofar as the Narnian universe is meant to function as an allegory for Christianity, or even a coherent fantasy universe where Aslan isn't evil. But I don't think Lewis really understood adult women, or at least wasn't interested in writing them.

I read the books for the first time as an adult already. Our Master (or should it be Mistress?) of novices in the convent was a huge Narnia fan and recced the books to us - I must say, I wasn't impressed. At all. There is too much preaching, and when you've started your foray into English language and literature with Tolkien, well, Lewis is a poor substitute, IMO.
What I respect in Tolkien greatly, is that although a devout Catholic, he managed to leave religion out of Arda. Mostly, anyway.

I've re-read Narnia a few years ago, and I bought all the films; I must ruefully admit that I prefer the films. No preaching, lots of adventure. My personal favourite is The Dawn Treader, but I like the world-building parts of The Horse and His Boy, too. It was an interesting - because very different - culture, and I laughed myself silly over the constant quoting of the poets.

I must re-read them again, it seems. Personally, I liked Susan most of the Pevensie children; IMO, the younger boy, Edmund or Edward or whatever was his name, was a first grade jerk. I couldn't stand him. And, I'm sorry to say, but Reepicheep annoyed the hell out of me, too.

Wait a minute? Aslan is supposed to be evil? I always thought he was a saviour-like figure, so much that it made my teeth ache. What have I read falsely?

I read The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe when I was young enough I didn't realise it was Christian allegory (helped by having atheist parents & not studying the Bible at all until I was a teenager), and the rest as soon as my pocket money stretched.

I think Lewis is writing in a tradition of English children's lit that stretches back to the Victorian era, cosy fantasy (and non-fantasy) that's always rooted in the domestic, with a firm narrator's voice that doesn't shrink from directly addressing the reader (E. Nesbit is an obvious early example). It's not a tradition that I'm particularly fond of now, as an adult, but it dominated the older children's fic I read as a kid. It's entirely different from what Tolkien is doing in LotR, which was written for adults and draws on Norse myth rather than Victorian/Edwardian children's fantasy. (The Hobbit is more in the other tradition.)

I never much liked Susan because she's beautiful -- I've always had a problem with beautiful heroines.

Lewis's intention, afaik, is that Aslan is the Narnian incarnation of Jesus, which makes Aslan's rejection of Susan in The Last Battle utterly incomprehensible to me & many others -- hence the minority fanon that Aslan is actually evil.

Ah, I understand now. I'd really need to re-read the books. I never liked Aslan, really, he was too stupidly condescending, which means that he doesn't really have that much in common with Jesus.

I must admit that I never realized that Susan was beautiful. That part seems to have slipped my attention somehow.

And while I read The Hobbit as an adult for the first time, too, I loved it instantly. I still can't stomach Lewis's style, though.

Lewis's understanding of Christianity, as displayed in the Narnia series, is very different from mine, though I liked his Screwtape Letters.

I was surprised rereading Watership Down last year for my Yuletide story how much I disliked the narratorial interjections. I guess as a child I just got used to authors talking down to me. One of the reasons I loved the slightly more modern Earthsea & Diana Wynne Jones, which don't do that, at least not overtly.

The Screwtape Letters is hilarious. They were given hand-to-hand in my teenage years, when religious literature wasn't easily awailable over here, and we discussed it endlessly with the Catholic youth group I belonged to. We also howled with laughter each time the topic came up.

When I was in novitiate, we had a meeting with the young people from other orders. One such group turned parts of the book into a performance - it was rather chilling, surprisingly enough.

They do prove Lewis has a sense of humour, which you wouldn't guess from parts of the Narnia series.

I first read the Narnia books as a child, too, and I didn't spot the Christian allegory either. This is probably just helping your theory, though, because I also have atheist parents. Finding out they were meant to be Christian allegory diminshed the books for me, though I did still enjoy them when I re-read them all (in English for the first time) in my mid-twenties. I haven't really revisited them since.

Actually, what has inspired me towards re-reading them (but my list of books to read is so long it is not likely to happen any time soon) is reading Neil Gaiman's "The Problem of Susan", where he shows us a grown up, retired Susan. It is not a pleasant tale, and I am not sure I either like or fully understand it, but it does a good job of pointing out how unfair Aslan's rejection of Susan is.

It's really interesting to hear non-Brits' take on the series; they feel so quintessentially English.

I don't know whether Gaiman invented the term 'the problem of Susan' in that story or was referencing an existing phrase. (Wikipedia seems to think he invented it, but I could swear I'd heard it used years earlier. He certainly popularised it.) Either way, it's a thought-provoking story.

I read them all as a child, and saw the Christian allegory in LWW and Last Battle, but not the others. I grew up in a Quaker family, but without a lot of Christian input (except via Children's Class on Sundays when they often tried to read a bible story to us and get us to draw pictures of - which I ignored as I didn't want to draw things and mostly sat in a corner and read whatever I was reading).
I enjoyed the books, especially Horse and His Boy and Prince Caspian, but stopped reading them around 7/8 deciding that I'd grown out of them, and I don't think I reread them until around when the first film came out. It was very interesting to go back to them and see so much more of the messages and allegories.

Yep, those two are my favourites, too.

I stopped reading them too, perhaps a little older than that, but there was a BBC adaptation of several while I was a student (which was generally mediocre but had Tom Baker as Puddleglum), which brought them back to mind.

I've haven't been reading them, but will have to have a look. I don't tend to read a lot of Narnia fic, but it can be fun when it is well done.

I've found it's often quite repetitive, but this exchange had quite a good spread of characters and settings. There are a few clunkers as ever, but most of the stories were worth a try.

If you want some starter suggestions the ones I had bookrmarked to reread are:

"...the marks of that which once hath been" -- lady of the green kirtle & star's daughter

That We May Hear the Whispers Of The Gods -- Calormene theology

Five Things that Never Happened to Eustace Clarence Scrubb

To hold back the night -- long TLB AU

Bitter Work -- AU set immediate after the end of TLtW&tW

Endless Roads to Travel, Endless Lives to Live -- Polly five things

Then, because one of the guests is a vegetarian, there will be Quiche Lorraine, alternately with mushroom and tuna filling.

Ingredients to the pastry:
250 gr white flour
125 gr margarine
1.5 teaspoons of salt
6 tablespoons of water

This must chill a bit in the fridge. Recipe says 2 hours; I only chilled it half an hour and it worked like a charm. *g*
Then you roll it our, in a cake form of 26 cm in diameter (it must be buttered and floured first in the inside), so that the pastry will have a rim of at least 2 centimetres. Poke it a few times with a fork, so that the damp can leave while baking.
This year, I didn't make one big cake, but twenty little ones, using muffin forms - they look very cute.

Ingredients for the mushroom filling:
500 gr mushrooms, diced, roast on oil and onions (I always use onion paste, it spares me the tears), seasoned with salt, pepper and parsley
3 eggs
250 ml of sour cream
125 gr grated cheese
1 pinch of white pepper

Beat the eggs with the sour cream and the white pepper.
Stir in the grated cheese.
Spread mushrooms on the bottom of the pastry.
Cover it with the egg-sour cream-pepper-cheese mix.
Cook it in the pre-heated oven, at 210°C for ca 30 minutes.

It's best when still hot, but I've made the small ones in advance and froze them. I'll heat them up when the guests come.
.Traditionally, Quiche Lorraine is served with dry white wine from Elsace.

The original has cubed bacon instead of the mushroooms (ca 200 grams of it). The tuna filling is simply canned tuna (without the sauce), spread on the pastry.

I haven't had Quiche in awhile, now I want some.

Basicaly, it's a cheese pastry from Lotharingia (sp?), the border area between France and Germany. The egg-sour cream-cheese sauce is the standard, you can vary the rest of the filling according to your own preferences.

If you make one large pastry, it isn't very time-consuming work, either.

I know, I have made it before - it's just been awhile since I have done so. Might have to make some soon.

We buy a lovely quiche with browned onions & onion marmalade with balsamic vinegar, plus a thick cheese topping of course.

I think they are as many Quiche recipes as there are families in Alsace and Lothringia (sp? What is it called in English?)

Alsace Lorraine ?

Perhaps, yeah. I only know how to call it in German and Hungarian. And perhaps in French.

Wikipedia seems to think Lorraine is the English (and French?) equivalent of the German Lothringen. Hence quiche lorraine, I suppose!

This sounds scrumptious! Can I have some please?

I can send you a picture... ;)

Yes, please! I do like pictures of delicious food, even if they do have a tendency to make me feel hungry...

We'll also have Quick & easy cheesy buns (http://wiseheart.livejournal.com/553318.html), the version of them enriched with sunflower seeds, sesame seed, linseed and pumpkin seed. Follow the link for the recipe.

Edited 2014-10-01 18:42 (UTC)

Oh my - those sound so good (it doesn't help that it's just before lunch and I am a bit hungry). I am going to have to make some this weekend.

These, too, are very easy to make. With the kids, we finished them in 45 minutes, cutting and decorating and baking and all. (Including gobbling up the whole thin.*g*)

These sound delcious! I am a great fan of cheese. :-) Have you tried halloumi? I had some for dinner, with boiled rice and lightly fried sugar snap peas and peppercorn sauce. Yummy, if I do say so myself!

Sounds exciting. I never had halloumi. What is it made of? I mean, from which animal does it come?

Halloumi is made with a mixture of goat's and sheep's milk, though I think the sort you can buy in the shops here also has some cow's milk in it. It is the only cheese I know that you can grill, and I think it tastes delicious! The texture is not like ordinary cheese, but rather chewier. It is not to everyone's liking; I have a friend who refuses to eat it, saying it makes a weird noise when you chew it. Being a vegetarian it is one of my favourite things to barbeque; it turns out a lovely brown colour and, as I mentioned, tastes great.

I didn't know you were a vegetarian. One learns new things about one's friends all the time. ;)

And then, of course, Little sausages in puff pastry - which is as the name says. Little coctail sausages rolled into puff pastry, painted with eggyolk, decorated with linseed or sesame seed, and baked in the oven.

These sound like something Diefenbaker would love, so I will use my Diefenbaker icon. (Do you watch/have you watch Due South?)

What really prompted me to reply to this, was to ask if you make your own puff pastry. I tried it once -- a very long time ago -- and it took me ages and turned out rubbish. At the time, I don't think I could have bought puff pastry in our grocery shop (this was when I was a kid, living with my parents on a farm in very rural Sweden). Here in the UK, I find that most grocery largish grocery shops will sell you ready made, and rolled out, puff pastry, often of a few different varieties (frozend, chilled, 'light'). For awhile I made spinnach and chickpea rolls, using puff pastry, for my lunches which I really enjoyed. I should have a go at making them again, when things quieten down at work...

I tried it once - never again! As you said, it takes ages and turns out rubbish. My Granny used to make it, apparently, but I have no clear memories of it, so she couldn't have done so in the last, oh, fifty years. And I can't ask her any longer... So no, I simply bought the ready made. chilled puff pasty in the next best Auchan. Don't like the chilled one, it never gets rolled out properly.

I have vague memories having watched Due South, but basically just because of the red uniform. I read some random fanfic later, but nothing I would really liked (it was mostly blatant pr0n, and I didn't know the original enough to be interested).

Drooling... when is that next flight to Budapest?

Sounds very yummy - like a better version of sausage rolls. :)

Then, there will be, of course, Salade de boeuf, which is made with cooked chicken meat, despite its name.
It's Mum's speciality; she cooks a whole chicken breast with carrots, parsley roots, onions, a piece of celery, seasoned with parsley and salt - regular chicken soup, actually, at least how whe make it.

Then she dices all ingredients, together with boiled potatoes (boiled in the peel, to keep their aroma), boiled eggs and some sour cucumbers. Then she makes mayonnaise (always home-made, never what you get in the supermarket), mixes it with the diced chicken meat, vegetables, etc., and lets it ripe in the fridge overnight.

On the next day, the salad is filled into small, hollowed tomatoes, and the slice removed from the top of the tomato is put back like a little hat. It looks fantastic, and it's absolutely delicious.

French salad, as it is also called, is quite popular in Hungary, but most people put boiled green peas and raw apples into it, which makes it way too sweet. Peas have the tendency to dominate every other taste anyway, so we never use them for the French salad.

And the first threads have already collapsed. Ladies, we are good! Now on to Page 2!

We are awesome! Though currently icon free!

It seems to be a localized problem. Or perhaps depending on the journal layout? I'm currently not having any problems, let's hope it stays that way. *knocks on wood*

It might be layout dependent. I'm getting no luck with it at all today.

It must be the layout. I could see your icon all the time.

Congratulations (belatedly)!

On with the Real Life Party food: Meatballs.

As the name says, these are walnut-sized little balls made of minced meat (pork or beef or a mix thereof), crumbled stale bread (or rather rools that are soaked in warm water, which is then squeezed out of them), chopped onions (we always use onion paste in these days - so much easier to find the right dosage and to blend it with the rest of ingredients) and an egg, seasoned with salt and pepper and then fried.

People usually deep-fry them, but I'd advise against it. Paradoxically, it makes them dry like sawdust and really hard. Mum always fries them in a frying pan, in a generous amount of sunflower oil, but only so much that they would be a little less than half-covered. When one side is fried, she flips them; this way they are golden brown, of a nice consistence, and hold in the fridge for at least a week.

For 500 gr minced meet we use one or one and a half rolls, depending on their size, one middle-sized egg and a teaspoon of onion paste. Don't put too much bread in the mix, or the meatballs will taste of... well, nothing.

Edited 2014-10-01 20:24 (UTC)

Happy early birthday,

wiseheart! May the next year be full of chocolate, rewarding (and appreciated) writing projects, fun trips and friends (on-line and off)!

Thanks! It's so good to hear from you again! Tomorrow, I'll post the recipe for the Super-Choco-Cookies I'm about to bake, just for you!

Tomorrow, I'll post the recipe for the Super-Choco-Cookies I'm about to bake, just for you!
You temptress, you! That sounds wonderfully delicious!

It's so good to hear from you again!
I have to warn you, though, I am busier than I have ever been this start of semester: I am teaching two different modules at the same time for the first three weeks, and they are both modules I have never taught before! One of them is a 'traditional' module, where I give lectures to students in a lecture theatre, but the other is an on-line module for a new Master of Science degree programme that I am also programme coordinator for! I have never taught an on-line module before, so as well as working out what to teach and relearning the topics, I am also having to work out how to deliver the material, and how to create interactions with the students on-line. It is good fun, but a lot of work! All of that is to say: I may not have much time to hang out at the lovely party you have so graciously once again invited me to!

It's all right, I knew you must be busy. I'm just glad to have you here for a moment. I missed you.

And the Super-Choco-Cookies are quick and easy to make, since they are from a children's cookbook. *g*

I second your wish!

Thank you. :)
Those are good things indeed.

Before I head off to bed, I thought I would contribute one more top level comment and a topic for discussion:

Have you seen the film The Princess Bride? A friend of mine introduced me to it a few years back, and I loved it in all its rather silly glory. Then this summer I found out that there was actually a book as well; indeed the book came before the film. So I bought the book (and the film) and now I have just 33 pages left of the first chapter of the fictional sequel, that is appended at the end of my edition of the book. (If you haven't read the book or seen the film, that comment will probably make absolutely no sense what-so-ever, in which case I would like to apologise in advance. On the other hand, if you haven't I have just given you a suggestion for an interesting read and/or watch, so hopefully that makes up for it!)

I love The Princess Bride - I haven't read the book yet, how is it?

It is a bit different, most notably in the frame story. This is more substantial in the book, with quite a few sarcastic asides from the 'abridger' about the bits he is cutting out. This gives that part of the story a different feel, in some ways much more grown up than the film. The Princess Bride Florrinese adventure story bits are very similar. What we get is a bit more back-story for especially Fezzik and Inigo. I loved the book, but for once I wouldn't say absolutely that it was better than the film. This might be partly because the author of the book also wrote the script for the film.

I find with films that are novel adaptations my degree of dislike of the film depends on whether I read the novel first or later. I'm much more capable of tolerating divergence when I read the novel only afterwards.

I also find myself much more able to tolerate differences, when I saw the film first. However, in most of those cases I still think that the book is better, and so much better that it is noticeable. Here, I love both and perhaps because they are different enough find that I don't actually have a marked preference.

I think the only time I've loved the film more than the book is Howl's Moving Castle, where Miyazaki's film has a much darker take on the universe than the Diana Wynne Jones original -- but in that case I saw the film first. They are so different it would be easy to consider them different takes on a similar idea that happened to use the same names.

Though there are some adaptations that provide wonderful eye candy for the heterosexual female/gay male -- Maurice and the television version of Brideshead Revisited spring to mind.

I did love the film Howl's Moving Castle, from the first time I saw it. There were bits that only made sense much later when I read the book though. I agree they two stories are very different, and I am inclined to indeed think of them as two very separate entities. I like the book better though, mostly because of my love of the Sophie in it.

I haven't seen Maurice, but I do indeed remember there being quite a bit of eye candy in Brideshead Revisited!

Sophie is a wonderful character in both book and film. Have you read the sequels (I have yet to)?

What's your favourite Diana Wynne Jones? Mine is probably Power of Three though I love Eight Days of Luke and find the Dalemark universe fascinating. I haven't read a lot of her later books -- I grew too old for them as a child, and have only learned recently to return to children's lit.

If you liked Brideshead Revisited, Maurice is definitely worth a try. It has an early Hugh Grant, before he stopped acting and his looks went off, plus a very early Rupert Graves. And there's the most candid m/m sex scene I can recall from films of that era.

It does make a difference when the author of the book also does the screen play. I will have to read the book.

I definitely recommend reading the book! :-) I was very pleased to find out that there was a book, but then a bit apprehensive that I wouldn't like it as much as the film, but those fears were unfounded. :-)

I've seen the film but not read the book. It is on my list to read, especially given what several people have told me about it.

One more recipe before I go to bed (because I have a veryearly appointment in the morning at the hairdresser's, so that I'd look somewhat civilized for my party guests.

Super-Choco-Cookies for

solanpolarn - and yes, I'll be baking those, too.

Ingredients (for ca 25 biscuits):
200 gr dark chocolate, roughly hacked
100 gr butter or margarine
100 gr brown sugar
60 gr hacked walnuts (recipe says pecan nuts, but I can't afford those; the biscuits taste great with walnuts, too)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
125 gr white flour
some icing sugar to sprinkle the biscuits

And here is how to made them:
*Melt chocolate and butter in a pot, by low heat; occasionally stir with a wooden spoon, until they are liquid.
*Take pot from the heard, let it cool for 2 minutes.
*Add brown sugar and walnuts and stir well.
*Add sieved flour and stir until it is smooth.
*Butter a quadratic baking tin of 19 cm and line it with baking paper.
*Fill in the dough and bake it in a pre-heated oven, by 180°C for 30 minutes, until the surface has a spongy feel.
*Let it cool down in the baking tin. Then turn the tin over to remove cake. Cut it in small squares and sprinkle it with icing sugar.

Sounds yummy - I do so love chocolate!

Chocolate should be considered as the ultimate survivor's food. *nodnod*

A recipe for me -- yippi! These sound gorgeous! And as you said, quite quick to make, so I might be able to find some time to make them (soon) even with my busy schedule. :-)

I've just finished baking it - it is really easy!

I shall try to find time to make some this week end. I have to do some work, to make sure I have teaching materials ready for my on-line course for the week after next when I am hoping to be able to go to Dublin to do some experiments. There should still be some time for a nice baking project; having some chocolate biscuits should also help with my 'motivation'... ;-)

Those sound absolutely sinfully delicious!

Not to mention heavy. ;)

Sounds very chocolatey and delicious.

Delighted to see your celebration in full swing! Please give Mum my greetings, as well!

Hi there! I'm stopping in before bed to hug you and wave to Mum and say hello to all the others here.
Lovely party!

Mum says thanks and sends her love.

Well it looks like everyone is asleep, I thought I would leave a little Birthday cake and check back latter
Cake 002

Edited 2014-10-02 02:04 (UTC)

Oh, yummy!

Delicious!

Very impressive looking cake!

Can we make it onto a new page today? If I recall correctly, in previous years we have determined that we needed 25 top-level comments. Being a scientist I will try adding some more to see what the rule is now!

And to make this more of a proper comment, how about this as a discussion topic: what is your profession (paid or unpaid)? Do you like it?

Still a grossly undervalued teacher. Would still prefer to be a professional writer, although by my luck, I'd be undervalued in that profession, too. *g*

Having gone to school for nine years in small communities in Sweden, I decided not to ever become a school teacher because they all were chronically undervalued. It always saddens me to hear of teachers not being properly appreciated, especially ones like you who really put some much effort into being good at it. There is sadly nothing much I can do to fix this, but I will offer you some (virtual) chocolate to show my support.

There was a really depressing statistical analysis by the trade union for Swedish employees with academic training a year or so ago, that showed you actually earned less over your lifetime if you trained as a teacher in Sweden! Given how vitally important teachers are, I think that is just horrendous!

Still being a scientist here: if my count is correct this should be top-level comment number 25. If the rules are what I think, then this should be the last one on the first page.

*Hangs head in shame* I can't count! That was top-level comment number 24...

Now this will hopefully start a new page: as Gwendolyn Farifax says in one of my favourite plays The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde: "The suspence is killing me. I hope it will last!"

Any other Wilde fans at this party?

I'm afraid I never read anything else but some really short things by him, like The Happy Prince.

The Importance of Being Earnest was shown on Swedish television when I was in my early teens, and we recorded it on a video tape. For years it was my sister's and my go-to thing to watch if we had nothing better to do; it got to the point where we could probably quote it all by-heart! Surprisingly the tape didn't actually wear out. I looked for that version of the play for ages without finding it, and then one day when I had almost forgotten it I looked at some DVD box sets in a knick-knack shop in Leamington Spa and there was a set of Oscar Wilde plays and 'our' version of The Importance of Being Earnest was one of them! I bought it on the spot, not bother about how much it was!

Yes :)
I love his plays - partly because everyone in them gets to be funny and mocked to the same sort of level, and it is such fun comparing different versions, because they always take bits out and it is fun to try and spot what is missing (or added - like the recent film)

So, it is party time again, folks!

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