Jul. 19th, 2008

kareina: (BSE garnet)
This evening I went for two walks--one with [livejournal.com profile] baronsnorri headed around the hill facing to the east just as the beautiful full moon rose into a break in the clouds, which was just wide enough to frame both it and the planet which is also out, and the other with [livejournal.com profile] clovis_t, a bit later when the clouds had departed and the moon risen higher over head, brilliantly illuminating the night, and casting shadows everywhere. It was so pretty! Then I returned to work...

Most of yesterday and today was spent creating a single figure, which compares and contrasts four different items in six different ways:

A+ vs B+
A+ vs A-
A+ vs B-
B+ vs A-
B+ vs B-
A- vs B-

Once I finally had it all together, and then started typing up what the patterns one can see in the figure are, very little time elapsed before I'd done another 617 words.

This makes my average 684 words/day for the week. (Has it really been a week since I started reporting my daily progress? Time certainly flies when one is busy!) My advisor suggested that I'd best be doing 500 words/day, or at least 3,000/week, so I think that the 4,786 I did this week is a good start. (Who, me, inclined to exceed goals if given the chance? No, not at all, why do you ask? ;-)

In other news, my nose didn't bother me today!

And, finally, congratulations to [livejournal.com profile] massaria on landing that job! Your success in academia is inspiring to me.
kareina: (BSE garnet)
This evening I went for two walks--one with [livejournal.com profile] baronsnorri headed around the hill facing to the east just as the beautiful full moon rose into a break in the clouds, which was just wide enough to frame both it and the planet which is also out, and the other with [livejournal.com profile] clovis_t, a bit later when the clouds had departed and the moon risen higher over head, brilliantly illuminating the night, and casting shadows everywhere. It was so pretty! Then I returned to work...

Most of yesterday and today was spent creating a single figure, which compares and contrasts four different items in six different ways:

A+ vs B+
A+ vs A-
A+ vs B-
B+ vs A-
B+ vs B-
A- vs B-

Once I finally had it all together, and then started typing up what the patterns one can see in the figure are, very little time elapsed before I'd done another 617 words.

This makes my average 684 words/day for the week. (Has it really been a week since I started reporting my daily progress? Time certainly flies when one is busy!) My advisor suggested that I'd best be doing 500 words/day, or at least 3,000/week, so I think that the 4,786 I did this week is a good start. (Who, me, inclined to exceed goals if given the chance? No, not at all, why do you ask? ;-)

In other news, my nose didn't bother me today!

And, finally, congratulations to [livejournal.com profile] massaria on landing that job! Your success in academia is inspiring to me.
kareina: (Default)
There is the recipe I've made a few times over the years that has very, very variable results. It comes from one of those recipe-collection books that was compiled to mark some significant anniversary of my mother's home town of Ewen Michigan. I don't have a copy of the book (she does), but Expandthis is the recipe )

The first time I ever made it the result was a truly yummy, chewy bar, with the best texture, ever. Since then sometimes it comes out nice and chewy, and other times it is dry and crumbly, and I have no idea what the difference is. The dry, crumbly version makes an interesting desert topping, but it just isn't what I want when I make these. Because of the unpredictability of the results, years often elapse between attempts--if I get a dry, crumbly version, I don't bother again. Tonight I decided to try again (but only with a half-batch, we do *not* need that much junk food in the house. Alas, tonight's results are a bit on the crumbly side--not as bad as it has been, but still not what I wanted.

ExpandThe possibilities I've thought of to explain the difference include: )

The reason I'm asking here is to see if anyone with candy-making experiance can offer a suggestion as to the best way to adjust this recipe if the problem has to do with the amount of time the sugar/butter boil. I know that sugar behaves very differently the longer one boils it for candy making, but not being one who cares for most candy, I've never played with it myself. If my result is crumbly instead of chewy is the sugar/butter boiling too long? Not long enough? Are there any visual clues to tell when it is at the perfect stage? My thanks to anyone who can help me once again experiance chewy Rickety Uncles.
kareina: (Default)
There is the recipe I've made a few times over the years that has very, very variable results. It comes from one of those recipe-collection books that was compiled to mark some significant anniversary of my mother's home town of Ewen Michigan. I don't have a copy of the book (she does), but Expandthis is the recipe )

The first time I ever made it the result was a truly yummy, chewy bar, with the best texture, ever. Since then sometimes it comes out nice and chewy, and other times it is dry and crumbly, and I have no idea what the difference is. The dry, crumbly version makes an interesting desert topping, but it just isn't what I want when I make these. Because of the unpredictability of the results, years often elapse between attempts--if I get a dry, crumbly version, I don't bother again. Tonight I decided to try again (but only with a half-batch, we do *not* need that much junk food in the house. Alas, tonight's results are a bit on the crumbly side--not as bad as it has been, but still not what I wanted.

ExpandThe possibilities I've thought of to explain the difference include: )

The reason I'm asking here is to see if anyone with candy-making experiance can offer a suggestion as to the best way to adjust this recipe if the problem has to do with the amount of time the sugar/butter boil. I know that sugar behaves very differently the longer one boils it for candy making, but not being one who cares for most candy, I've never played with it myself. If my result is crumbly instead of chewy is the sugar/butter boiling too long? Not long enough? Are there any visual clues to tell when it is at the perfect stage? My thanks to anyone who can help me once again experiance chewy Rickety Uncles.
kareina: (Default)
Expandpart the first, wherin I wax eloquent on the joys of house-cleaning )

The room looks *much* better, and I am very happy with the result!

After the busy morning one would expect that I would have immediately dived into my uni work for the day, but I was still too hyper from the joys of re-arranging the furniture, so I set out for an Expandadventure ) Total time elapsed for the walk: 1 hour, 50 minutes. Perhaps a bit more than I'd intended when we left the house. Last spring/summer that was a typical length of time for a walk, but I got much less uni work done then.

After today's house-cleaning and hiking adventures (and lunch, and a short nap!) I did eventually settle into uni work, and managed another 558 words and one figure. The saga continues...
kareina: (Default)
Expandpart the first, wherin I wax eloquent on the joys of house-cleaning )

The room looks *much* better, and I am very happy with the result!

After the busy morning one would expect that I would have immediately dived into my uni work for the day, but I was still too hyper from the joys of re-arranging the furniture, so I set out for an Expandadventure ) Total time elapsed for the walk: 1 hour, 50 minutes. Perhaps a bit more than I'd intended when we left the house. Last spring/summer that was a typical length of time for a walk, but I got much less uni work done then.

After today's house-cleaning and hiking adventures (and lunch, and a short nap!) I did eventually settle into uni work, and managed another 558 words and one figure. The saga continues...

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