Day 16

I just saw Arrival, which is based on a short story by Ted Chiang called The Story of Your Life, which I read a year or so ago. I've read it several times again since then, and I was fairly skeptical that they could make a movie that would capture the sense of the story, but they did a pretty good job. I've been working through the other stories in Chiang's collection Stories of Your Life and Others. and they are much harder than I'm used to (also more difficult). I'm impressed that someone read one and thought it would work cinematically.

I'm waiting for brownies to bake for the teachers' supper tomorrow at the kids school because they have parent teacher interviews and have to stay all night, EVEN THOUGH I don't have an interview. Angus just found this out and is terribly impressed with how nice I am. I find this really amusing. The recipe is incredibly annoying. It says to melt the first four ingredients in a bowl set in a pan of 'barely simmering' water, until the ingredients are melted and smooth 'and you want to take your finger out pretty quickly after dipping it in'. Then remove the bowl and wait to stir in the eggs 'until it's warm but no longer hot'. Excuse me? I'm all for intuitive cooking - a pinch of this, a dash of that -  but could I have just a smidge more precision please? If my sister tried to follow this recipe I'm pretty sure her head would literally explode.

Matt's out of town tomorrow night and Angus has a baseball workout out in Kanata. The dad who was going to take him with his teammate couldn't, so the mom was going to take them. This changed my sense of obligation, since I know the dad likes to go and hang out with the other dads, and the mom not so much, so I felt like I should offer to drive one way, drop them off and then she could pick them up. I didn't really want to, because I hate driving at night in that area, I find it confusing and stressful, and I would have had to get my dad to pick up Eve from band practice. I offered anyway. Then it turned out the dad's schedule changed back and he could take them after all. We really need a special word for that awesome high you get when you offer to do something crappy and then don't have to, but get credit for offering anyway. Don't you think?

Comments

Julie Leclair said…
you ARE so nice. it's never even crossed my mind to make something for the teachers when they are at school for interviews. and I'm married to one!!

I would never have used that recipe. WAY too complicated. especially since they aren't even for you!

like I said, SO nice.
November 17, 2016 at 5:35 AM
StephLove said…
Part of the appeal of brownies is that they're simple, for crying out loud. I would have no patience for that.

If you invent the word for that situation, I will start using it.
November 17, 2016 at 6:45 AM
Amy Urquhart said…
Those baking instructions MUST have come from a Pinterest recipe, no self-respecting cookbook author or editor would let those go to print... (how did the brownies turn out?)
November 22, 2016 at 11:56 AM
Bibliomama said…
It was from the Epicurious website - I wanted a recipe with cocoa rather than chocolate, and I rarely make them so I didn't have one. That'll teach me. The brownies were actually fabulous.
November 22, 2016 at 2:12 PM
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