By request!

Dry Ingredients

• 1/2 C sorghum flour
• 1/2 C brown rice flour
• 1 Tbs tapioca starch
• 1/2 C cocoa (be generous)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• Optional mixins up to 1/4 cup: choc chips, nuts, etc

Wet Ingredients

• 5 Tbs butter, melted (86 grams)
• 1 & 1/4 C granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cold espresso (or 1 tsp instant coffee in 1 tsp water)

Instructions 

1. Preheat oven to 350F; lightly grease a 9" baking pan
2. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl
3. Mix wet ingredients in another bowl
4. Fold wet ingredients into dry, only until combined
5. Turn into baking pan
6. Bake 25-35 min, until toothpick in the center comes out clean
7. Cool on rack under a cloth, don't cut until room temp.
8. Keep covered in the fridge, if any survive the day.

Notes

The vanilla and coffee flavours make these extra yummy. Also mad wack chocolatey. They don't need frosting, but you could drizzle a little melted chocolate (melt 1/4 C chips in microwave, e.g.) on top once they're cut up. I've been using a 9" round springform pan; you get less of that yummy brownie "edge" but it's easier to cut them up when you can take the sides off.

NB recipe was modified by my partner from an Alice Medrich non-GF original. 

Yesterday I got really bored with the unit I was working on in my piano lesson book (pounding my left paw into a C-E-G chord has its intellectual limits) so I skipped ahead and started picking at Simple Gifts. This song was drilled into us at Quaker School (cultural appropriation: Quakers stealing from the Shakers?), and it was the processional at my wedding. so it was a more interesting way to practice chords. 

I started making mistakes, which I realized was the same mistake, and then I realized it wasn't a mistake. I remembered picking out a more complex version on the piano in high school, to learn the soprano part for choir. So I let that memory take the wheel for a bit, realizing that I can play this on eighth notes rather than quarters. I can play more of the song than the exercise called for on paper. 

Once my left hand gets the memo and stops playing chords like a hoof, everything will be fine. 

Went to one library this morning to pick up some holds. A couple SQUIRREL GIRL stand-alones, plus also SOFT X-RAY MINDHUNTERS which was recommended.

Then made my third batch of gf fudge brownies in the past seven days. In our defence they keep getting brought to parties and people other than us eat them. This batch is all ours. Also made sweet potato sticks with a bit of heat.

And now the errands are piling up again. I have four stops to make. I guess it's not terrible that I can just walk to all of them.

A different library (the big reference one) to return OTHERWORLD BARBARA which was just a bit too-too for me), dollar store for a few snack items, bulk food store for a few staple baking goods and peanuts, grocery store for eggs.

d is off at a choir intensive rehearsal until early evening. I've been keeping busy but at some point I'll probably just sit down and read. Or maybe go out and look at something or ???

I'm working on making more friends but still don't have anyone close enough to just hang out with kind of spontaneously. It doesn't help when half the time I feel too worthless to see the merit in anyone else hanging out with me. Not a good headspace to be in when meeting new people. But that's not this post.

Nope, this post is just -- hello autumn weather, I've been busy today, I made some food, I ate some food, I pet some cats, now I'm going out.

Hope y'all's day is doing you a solid.

-- edited to add -- 

Sweet Potato Sticks (air fryer)

These are dead simple if-and-only-if you have an "air fryer" device. Otherwise I probably would not bother trying to make them with manual stir-fry methods. Anyway.

1. Julienne 2lb of rinsed but unpeeled yellow flesh sweet potatoes into 1/8" x 1/8" sticks of varying lengths.
2. Add to air fryer along with 2T oil (we use bacon grease, anything is fine).
3. Season with about 2t of salt or to taste.
4. Add additional spices to taste. I've used Montreal steak seasoning, chili powder / hot sauce, whatever I feel like. I bet dill powder would be great.
5. Run your air fryer for 40-45 minutes or until some of the sticks are starting to get a little blackened. Stir occasionally if the automatic agitator kind of sucks like ours does.
6. Turn out onto a cookie sheet to cool; they'll become quite crisp.
7. Try not to eat them all immediately.

Last night we played a show in Kennett Square, opening for an impro comedy troupe.  We played a 25 minute set, and then sat in the back of the theater to watch their improv show. They invited us on stage to participate in the final improv game of the night and I protested because I'd never done any improv whatsoever... and it turns out I did kinda OK given my total lack of skill. That was kinda fun to try. Matt did great because he's freakin' effortless at everything-- I don't know how he does it. 

Today (Friday) I put my phone in Airplane Mode and stayed offline pretty much all day in what we call a NEDNOP day (NEDNOP stands for "no electronic devices, no other people"). We spent some time at a little spa down the street to finally get the last of the playa dust out of our pores.  (After we got home from Burning Man my skin was so dry and angry that I desperately wanted a facial, and I also wanted a massage because my muscles hurt from building shit and pounding the playa for a week. So today we finally took care of that.)

Matt and I got massages and facials (his first facial!), and I also got a body treatment where they dry brush you and slather you with shea butter and then wrap you in warm towels and plastic and stick you under the heat lamp like a piece of Roy Rogers NJ Turnpike rest stop chicken.  The facial and the body treatment were maybe a 7 out of 10 (perfectly delightful) and the massage was an 8.5 or even a 9. She was amazing.  

Matt and I went to get a bite right afterwards, and then hit the hardware store for some stuff for the house, and then he started feeling anxious so we came home and crawled into bed around 6PM-ish... and we fell asleep... and then I woke up around 2AM, which is why I'm typing this at 6;19am. 

While I've been writing this, I've been listening to "Who's Next" on headphones. Good lord, what a masterpiece. Roger Daltrey is a MACHINE. Pete Townshend's voice is so smooth... and John Entwistle's bass playing is so melodic and he plays it like a lead instrument. And my friend Rob summed up Keith Moon's playing perfectly, like "someone kicked Keith and his drumset down a flight of stairs and he landed on 1."  What a band. Man oh man.

OK. I'm finally getting sleepy, so I'm gonna end this. 

Xo

Today I decided to pump up the volume and make mistakes. 

I confirmed a theory, which is that my left pinky finger is rubbish. When I was ten, I accidentally cut part of my left pinky finger off in art class, with a giant, brand new pair of Fiskars scissors. It's never been the same. The tip, where the skin graft is, is extreeeeeeeeeeemely sensitive, so I've learned never to touch it. The problem is that my finger looks 100% normal, unless you look very closely. So I forget about it, and nobody notices, and then something stupid happens. 

It seems as though what has happened is that I've learned to compensate in such a way that I never use the tip of my pinky finger. I type pretty fast, but with only three fingers on each hand. I gave up learning to play ukulele, guitar and bass when my pinky said nope.

it doesn't hurt my pinky to play piano, but it's weak. Right now what I'm learning involves left hand chords with major thirds (?). So I have to retrain my left hand to use my thumb, middle finger and pinky, all at the same time. My brain and my muscles are NOT amused. It's the simplest thing in the world, just pressing down with those three fingers at once. And yet, it's as difficult as trying to write with that hand. I can feel it all the way up to my elbow. My muscles have no memories. 

Mayra (next door) was blasting her dumb music early in the afternoon, and the crazy lady across the street was blasting WOGL-FM (Worst of the 80s) later in the afternoon, so I cranked the keyboard volume up to 11 and played a left hand bass C scale for 30 minutes. 

Then I played Ode To Joy really badly. And loudly. When Tom Petty wrote, "The Waiting," he loved that intro riff, and he knew his neighbors could hear him practicing, so he played it incessantly, just to piss them off. 

I'd just like to give you an update on the pickles. Since we ran out of commercial pickles a couple weeks ago, I've been harvesting them out of our fermentation bins and putting them in the same jar, reusing the pickle juice that's in it. And, eventually, topping up the juice with our own.

The pickles are good. Not the best; I want a bit more garlic, a bit more dill, a bit more tang. And probably fewer additional spices. The flavour is complex, which is nice, but I think generally you want a pickle that's less of an orchestra hit (THWAMP) and more of a simpler but more harmonic electric guitar chord (BWARRRMM). So the pickle can join in with other flavours rather than just try to own the plate. 

Maybe there's a distinction to be made between solo pickles that you eat on their own, and harmonic pickles that you eat with other food. Am I over thinking this? No, these are pickles we're talking about. You can't overthink pickles. You can, however, overeat them. I assume. I won't test this hypothesis. Take it as read. 

Any way, the process seems solid. Next year, when number 2 cukes come around again, I'll try a difference recipe. I'll let you know if any of the bins fail; I'll be doing an edibility test on each new bin as we break into it just to be sure. 

I've been thinking that all I need for a laptop at work is 

1. terminal + ssh (including ssh agents, etc)

2. web browser

3. RDP client (for now)

I have been playing with a Chromebook for a while, and it looks like it will do pretty much all of this. My complaint is that I have to use some workarounds in order to get some things done, but then, I use some workarounds to get work done with my current MacBook Pro. Perhaps getting proxies to work properly would fix most of my complaints... and remove the need for RDP.

EXTERIOR-PARK BENCH-NIGHT

WILLIAM: I can’t deal with this shit anymore.

PHILIP: what is it now?

WILLIAM: The Americans have developed the most devastating biological weapon you can imagine. It’s terrifying. 

PHILIP: What could possibly be worse than liquefaction of your vital organs and extruding them through all of your orifices? 

WILLIAM: Okay, here’s the deal. You know when you get a case of pinkeye?

PHILIP: Yeah?

WILLIAM: Yeah.

PHILIP: ...And?

WILLIAM: But here’s the thing. It never goes away. 

PHILIP: ... 

WILLIAM: It seems to. Ten days, three different kinds of drops, eighty seven loads of laundry, bleaching all surfaces, and finally, the itching, burning, watering and cloudy vision starts to clear up. And just when you get a smidgen of hope and happiness, you try to go for a walk, maybe even smile in the fresh air again...

PHILIP: A smidgen?

WILLIAM: WHAM. Your own dopamine triggers a biochemical reaction and you’re back in Red Crudistan.

PHILIP: That’s... horrible. 

WILLIAM: Bet your ass. 

PHILIP: Is that why you’re so miserable all the time?

WILLIAM: Yeah, I can’t take the risk of thinking happy thoughts. 

PHILIP: Damn.

WILLIAM: I do like your new wig, though.

PHILIP: Thanks. I call it Slappy. 

It's 5:30am and I just woke up with a case of BRAIN BEES. (Thank you to Sean and Dawn for this term, though I'm sorry y'all had to coin it.)  In trying to get back to sleep and failing (it's now 6:53) I'm trying to think of more pleasant topics than my aging parents and Hurricane Michael and Kavanaugh and that article in the New Yorker whose last 3 paragraphs killed me and kids spraypainting swastikas on an historic Black schoolhouse and climate change report and Trump and Columbus Day and how I do not want to go to the dentist today for fear of what awfulness they will find and how much it will cost to fix. 

So let's think of something fun, shall we?

Many people have a playful, silly list of famous people with whom they would be allowed to [redacted for Adult Themes] without consequence to their current relationship. 

For example, I have negiotated a deal with my partners (past and present) which states that if I ever met either Jack Black, Nathan Fillion, or Questlove, and if they were interested in a one-night [redacted] with me, that I would be allowed to use my It's Not Cheating Pass and enjoy my one-time [redacted] guilt-free and consequence-free. 

I have now added Monica Lewinsky to my list. Lordy, I love her style. 

Who's on your list? 

For my second night of HARD WEEKEND PARTYING, for no particular reason on this here balmy Saturday night I decided to get my free annual credit report from the big three credit agencies.  WOOO!!!  Seriously though, it was painless and I highly recommend you do it if you haven't done it lately.  Doing this takes like 5 minutes, and while it doesn't give you your credit score, it does show you a list of your open and closed credit accounts according to the Big Three credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax) so you can make sure there aren't any accounts opened in your name that you didn't authorize.  You can also see what companies have done a "soft credit check" on you so they can send you those annoying free "you've been pr-approved!" offers in the mail... these soft credit checks don't impact your credit score, but it's interesting to see who's been sniffing around.

So, to get your free annual credit reports from each of the big three go to AnnualCreditReport.com which sounds scammy, but it's the only site the government has approved).  It is totally free, painless, and a good idea.  (Some folks like to check all three agencies at once, once per year. Other folks like to pick one agency in January, another agency in May, and the final agency a few in Septemberish, just so you can keep a more constant eyeball throughout the year.  I'm not that vigilant, so doing all three at once was just ducky for me.)

Also: Fortune Magazine told me that as of September 21st, a new law went into effect that says that the big three credit reporting agencies must offer you the ability to freeze your credit for free.  Freezing your credit is a good idea, and it is painless.  A credit freeze simply means that nobody can apply for credit under your name while the freeze is in place... not even you.  So if/when you want to apply for a new credit card or get a loan or whatever, just jump back online and unfreeze your account, which takes two seconds.  So clicky on the Fortune Magazine linky at the top of this paragraph here, and it'll take you right to the Free Freeze pages for the Big Three.

Enjoy!