April, 2014 | The Plaid Pladd Blog

Archive for April, 2014

April Book List

April 28th, 2014 by pladd

This month I knocked off 11 books from my list, so I’m now 41% done with this project! Exciting!

All the Truth That’s In Me by Julie Berry

Title: All the Truth That’s in Me
Author: Julie Berry
Rating: 5/5
GoodReads’ Rating: 4.01/5
When it was added to my list: 12/2/2013
Why was it on my list?: I’m sure I read a good review

This historical fiction/mystery is amazing. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, but the main character and her best friend disappeared from their village for two years… and then only Judith came back. With her tongue cut out. HOW? WHY? WHO? Can she salvage some kind of life for herself and her family? The answers are not what you think–I tried to guess the mystery behind this book, and was completely wrong multiple times. Surprises are the best!

Paris Out of Hand by Karen Elizabeth Gordon

Title: Paris Out of Hand
Author: Karen Elizabeth Gordon
Amount Read: All
Rating: 4/5
GoodReads’ Rating: 3.88/5
When it was added to my list: 1/8/2013
Why was it on my list?: I have no idea

This book was beautiful and adorable. It’s a travel guide to Paris featuring surreal, entirely made up hotels, restaurants, and attractions. A hotel run by children, another where the sheets are printed with the day’s newspaper so guests can keep up with the news, a restaurant whose strange meals are prepared by blindfolded chefs. The pages are also beautifully laid out and artistic.

Fat: The Owner’s Manual by Ragen Chastain

Title: Fat: The Owner’s Manual
Author: Ragen Chastain
Amount Read: All
Rating: 4/5
GoodReads’ Rating: 4.53/5
When it was added to my list: 7/7/2013
Why was it on my list?: I’m a big fan of Ragen’s blog

I’m glad I bought this book because I’m happy to support Ragen Chastain’s work, although I was mostly familiar with everything it contained from reading her blog. Size acceptance and body image issues are two things that have affected my life deeply, and reading Ragen’s work has really helped me focus on my health instead of my appearance. Last year I was working out better and more consistently than any other time in my life and didn’t lose any weight at all. A lot of people might see that as some failure on my part, but I was demonstrably healthier in all real measures of health: strength, stamina, cholesterol, blood pressure, quality of life. This year I’ve lost 50 pounds, and I’ve never felt worse. You can’t know anything about a person’s habits or health just from their appearance, and everyone deserves respect and the right to happiness no matter their size.

Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia by Jenny Torres Sanchez

Title: Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia
Author: Jenny Torres Sanchez
Amount Read: All
Rating: 3/5
GoodReads’ Rating: 3.85/5
When it was added to my list: 12/2/2013
Why was it on my list?: A list of best books of 2013

As a senior in high school, Frenchie has a wild night of adventure with the boy she’s had a crush on for years but never really talked to. Then he kills himself the next day. Now it’s the summer after graduation and she has to deal with her own feelings of guilt, anger, depression, and love. Frenchie was a pretty cool main character, but I didn’t find myself caring enough about her emotional struggles to rate this book higher. I like that she had imaginary conversations with Emily Dickinson, though. I think that fact was the reason I marked this one as To Read in the first place.

360 Degrees Longitude by John Higham

Title: 360 Degrees Longitude
Author: John Higham
Amount Read: About a third
Rating: 3/5
GoodReads’ Rating: 3.95/5
When it was added to my list: 10/29/2013
Why was it on my list?: Recommended to me by GoodReads because I liked One Year Off

Ironically, I stopped reading this book because it was too similar to One Year Off but, I felt, not as good. The author seems kind of smug about a lot of his choices–bragging about how his kids will be cosmopolitan citizens of the world and how they’re biking across Europe instead of taking the train. I don’t know, that was just my impression. I’ve been in kind of a weird mood lately, so I could be wrong.

The Ones I Decided Not To Read:

Title: The Storyteller
Author: Antonia Michaelis
GoodReads’ Rating: 4.14
When it was added to my list: 1/2/2013
Why was it on my list?: It got completely stellar reviews
Why I’m not reading it: All those reviews also say that it is utterly heartbreaking. I don’t really need that right now.

Title: Palace of Stone
Author: Shannon Hale
GoodReads’ Rating: 3.92/5
When it was added to my list: 11/16/2012
Why was it on my list?: I liked the first one, Princess Academy
Why I’m not reading it: I felt like the first one wrapped things up pretty well, and didn’t care about the characters enough to start the sequel.

Title: The Last Dragonslayer
Author: Jasper Fforde
GoodReads’ Rating: 3.82
When it was added to my list: 1/2/2013
Why was it on my list?: I’ve liked some of Fforde’s other books
Why I’m not reading it: Jasper Fforde is a tricky writer because I really like his ideas, but I hardly ever care for his writing style. I usually find his main characters unlikable and hard to connect with. Sometimes the cleverness of the world he’s built overrides that concern, but I just couldn’t get in to this one.

Title: Al Capone Does my Homework and Al Capone Shines my Shoes
Author: Gennifer Choldenko
GoodReads’ Rating: 4.02 and 3.96
When they were added to my list: 6/5/2013
Why were they on my list?: I liked the first one
Why I’m not reading them: I didn’t like the first one enough

Title: Renegade Magic
Author: Stephanie Burgis
GoodReads’ Rating: 4.06
When it was added to my list: 12/17/2012
Why was it on my list?: I liked the first one
Why I’m not reading it: I didn’t like it enough

Next: May Books
Previously: March Books

Tagged: 2014 books, book list, books

Posted in 2014 League of Six |

Town of Cary Public Works

April 25th, 2014 by pladd

You guys. Wednesday I got a tour of the Town of Cary Public Works department and it was the best thing ever. There were garbage trucks, snow plows, a garage just full of traffic lights, a camera on a rope that takes video of sewers, SNOW COMMAND… If these things don’t excite you, I don’t know what you’re doing with your life, but probably having less fun than me. Check it:

Me inside Snow Command!!!!

I told you it was the best day ever. It started with a talk by the water guys.

Fire hydrants whaaaaat

Then I got to try my hand at emptying the trash with the automatic arm of a garbage truck.

Spoiler alert: I was terrible at it

It was joystick controlled, and I guess I was a little too excited to be in an actual garbage truck controlling the actual giant arm. I asked the guy if he would give me a job and he said he would be fired so another prospective career path is closed to me.

In a room full of traffic lights!!!

We got to see the computer systems that the road sensor data feeds into: how many cars in the last hour went through a certain intersection in town, what the lane capacity was, etc. Plus cameras to check for accidents and icy conditions!!!

This is one of the trucks that cleans the sewers!!

And here’s the sewer robot camera to look for problems!!!

All the Town of Cary vehicles chillin

Yes, that is definitely a fire truck up on a jack!

Giant igloo of road sand/salt!!!

Me in front of Town of Cary’s massive stack of road sand/salt!!!

I don’t know why they still have so much in April. ALWAYS PREPARED

Ready to load up the trucks at Snow Command’s call!

Apparently, one of Cary’s priorities is to look better than Raleigh, which, naturally, we always do because if relocated yankees know one thing it is how to wage unceasing war against winter’s fury. That, and loving the shit out of tennis apparently.

ALSO THERE WERE AMAZING PRIZES!

I got a cool Town of Cary hat, which I will absolutely wear with pride, and an awesome Town of Cary glass stein.

What an amazing trip!!!

Tagged: cary, public works, snow command

Posted in Let Me Tell You About My Life |

Etsy for Rich People: Holidays

April 14th, 2014 by pladd

Since Easter is coming up, I thought it would be appropriate to check out the most expensive things you can buy on Etsy in the “Holiday” category. Maybe it’ll get you into a festive spirit.

First up, Birthdays which offers us this $1,850 custom flag:

I assume they want you to get one with your face on it

Halloween has a fairly predictable entry offering to make your dream outfit for $5000. The best example they gave was this:

Apparently she wanted a wedding dress that incorporated her horse’s hair. As you do

Valentine’s Day, also pretty standard, with this $800 brooch:

I was hoping for at least a gold cupid statue

The most expensive item I found was this $13,999 menorah in the Hanukkah category. Made of silver, gold plating, and Jerusalem stone and shipped from Israel:

A bargain!

The same seller claimed both the St. Patrick’s and Thanksgiving categories with these custom made wreaths:

This one’s $549 and you can see why

Apparently there’s such a high demand for these artistic works that you have to preorder months in advance:

So you better jump on this turkey right now

For a mere $5000 you can buy this “art piece” made of different photographs of the Basilica de Virgen Guadalupe. Apparently this has something to do with Day of the Dead:

I don’t know enough about Day of the Dead to be sure

Speaking of art that probably isn’t related to the category it’s found in, look what’s waiting for you in New Year’s! It’s this $1600 pineapple embroidery!

Can you really put a price on art?

Meanwhile, over at Independence Day, we have some art you can wear: “scarves of jewels bead scarves.” It looks like you’re paying $449 to be hella uncomfortable, but what do I know:

Apparently as seen on “The Chew”

I know you’ve been waiting for Easter, and you won’t be disappointed. $2150 giant fiberglass egg!

You want it

I saved my favorite for last. If you’re a rich person searching for Christmas things on Etsy, you can’t go wrong with this undeniably Christmasy “VENUS dress“:

Celebrate the birth of your lord in style!

It’s $3500 if you buy this one, or $4000 if you want one made to your measurements. But that’s a steal because it’s made out of “handpainted lamb leather” and “is unique, one of a kind dress existing in the world.” There, I’ve solved your Christmas shopping for you in April. You’re welcome.

Previously: Geekery
Everything Else
Next: Knitting vs. Crochet

Tagged: etsy

Posted in lists |

Pie Crust Tutorial: Life is too short to eat mediocre pie

April 6th, 2014 by pladd

The world would be a better place if we made more pie. If you don’t believe me, it’s possible that you’ve never actually had pie, not good pie. More than once I’ve served someone pie only to have them exclaim in surprise “This is good! Usually I don’t like pie, especially the crust. I just scrape the filling out and eat that by itself.” This, my sadly deprived friend, is because you’ve probably never had pie crust. You’ve had those terrible cardboard shells you can buy in the grocery store freezer. Maybe you’ve had the frozen plastic crust people can buy to “roll out themselves” as if that magically makes it homemade.

Don’t mistake me, I’m not Steven. I don’t want to grind my own flour or churn my own butter. I’m perfectly happy to buy things at the store instead of making them from scratch. Some things anyway. But pie crust should never be one of those things. It’s just not worth it. Really. I’ll prove it with a graph.

A PIE graph? Sorry

I find with cooking in general that enjoyment and work tend to have a direct relationship. Things you put some work into generally taste better than things you bought at, say, a drive-thru. But there is a point where this relationship peaks and suddenly the more work something is the less you enjoy it. Maybe you’re just too tired after all that cooking, or no cookie is really worth hours and hours of your time, no matter how tasty. That apex where enjoyment is maxed out is probably at different places for different people, so obviously I’m not suggesting everyone make a pie every week. But I am saying that if you’re using a frozen crust, the chances are you’re already doing the same amount of work as me, with way, way less enjoyment. Here are your pie options:

Buy a Pie: As you can see on the graph, buying a pie is no work for you! Yay! Unfortunately, store or restaurant bought pies can really vary. Just because you’re paying someone else money to make it doesn’t mean they’re any better than you re: using terrible frozen crust.

Buy a pie shell: To the pie novice, these seem so convenient. A lot of them come already in a crappy disposable pie tin! You just dump your filling in, and bake! Are you even making your filling yourself? If not, you basically just heated up canned bullshit and cardboard all for the sake of pretending to cook. Stop. Stop this right now. Either buy a pie, or learn how to actually cook, you monster.

Sorry, I get a little emotional about this. I’ve suffered too much at the hands of people who’ve offered me “homemade pie” only to be met with this travesty against tastebuds.

Of course, maybe you make your own filling because you are a proud baker! Good for you! But half your pie is still frozen cardboard. I think the problem is that a lot of people see the pie crust as just a vessel to serve the delicious filling. No! Pie crust is at least half of the pie experience, and should be given the same consideration. I don’t understand people who go to all the work of making a nice filling and then put it in something that is basically a soggy bowl. If that’s what you want, just make a crumble, god.

Buy frozen pie crust: These are more work than the pie shell and usually a little bit better quality. They’re sheets of pastry dough that you can roll out yourself to give you the illusion that it’s not cardboard and you’re totally rocking this cooking thing!

Except it still totally tastes like it. What are you doing with your life?

Make a pie crust: You can’t really say you “made” a pie unless you made the crust. It’s not just wrapping paper–it’s half the dessert. The reason people don’t is because they think it’s too much work. They put it more where I put “French Macaroons” on my Pie Graph–waaaaay too time consuming and finicky to ever be worth the effort. And if you’re a pie purist, that’s probably true. “Real” pie crusts involve cutting cold butter into flour until it’s a crumbly texture, which is pretty annoying because you’ve gotta make sure everything is just the right temperature and rolling it out can be tricky. Ugh, who has time for that?

You might be surprised to hear: definitely not me. Fear not, pie crust challenged! Today I will share with you the secrets of my success! My pie crust recipe may not be the fanciest or best, but it MAXIMIZES the work/enjoyment relationship. I’ve done the butter crust as a comparison, and can report back that the extra work doesn’t really make significant gains as far as enjoyment goes.

Plus, my recipe is so easy I once taught James Fox to do it over the phone. If you’ve ever played with Playdoh, I think you got this. It’ll probably take less than an hour, including preparing the filling. Let me show you how: Read the rest of this entry »

Tagged: pie, tutorial

Posted in Food, Things I've Made |