I am the McGuyver of baking!

I may not be the best baker ever, but sometimes I think I'm the cleverest. :-)

I have a tendency to produce baked goods that are perfectly edible, even delicious, but tend to come out broken or misshapen or otherwise not in the physical form they should be. As I mentioned, I wanted to make red velvet moon pies for Jared as an early Valentine's treat, because he's going on his ski vacation tomorrow. You may know these little frosting and cake sandwiches as whoopie pies; my grandmother called them gobs. But this particular package, sent to me by my mother from Williams-Sonoma, wasn't turning out the way I expected. The batter and the frosting were thicker and grainier than I thought they'd be, possibly because I had only an eletric beater rather than a stand mixer. I also didn't have the proper form pan to make the cakes in. I can't imagine who actually would buy a pan of such limited application as to be specifically for moon pies. So the alternative was to just make little one-and-a-half-inch mounds of batter on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. This was tough, since the batter was so thick and sticky, and it was hard to gauge if they were the right size or not. Still, I threw them in the oven and hoped for the best. Ten minutes later, my batter had baked nicely but spread out into formless ugly cake-blobs. That's when I had my stroke of genius. I didn't have a biscuit cutter, which would have been ideal, but I found a half-cup measuring cup with just about the right circumference. I used this cup to cut out properly-sized circular rounds out of my hideous little cake monstrosities. This made them look the way they were supposed to, and they were a lot easier to stack into sandwiches! Didn't taste half-bad, either. :-) And I was very pleased to present Jared with not only delicious but appetizing-looking snackies. I am glad to report that he enjoyed them.

It reminded me of the time I baked a two-layer mocha cake that broke into a million pieces when I tried to extract it from the cake pan. I rescued this from disaster by chopping it up, putting it into individual bowls, squirting in some hot fudge, topping it with whipped cream, and calling it brownie pudding. :-) I actually considered doing something like this with the scraps of cake cut off from the moon pies, but there weren't much of them, and they were the driest parts of the cakes anyway, so I didn't bother. But I'm proud of my ability to salvage broken or misshapen but otherwise tasty baked goods. I know taste is more important than appearence when it comes to food, but nothing makes something seem more appetizing than a nice presentation. And I'm pleased I can find ways to salvage presentation when things go awry.

A thought on acting that occurred to me

In both theater and larping, I would like to be thought of as a workhorse actor. By this I mean the kind of actor that you can trust with a difficult, particular, or demanding part to get into it, make something of it, and give it their all. I want people casting me to think "I can trust Phoebe with this part." Most recently I was going for that in Romeo and Juliet, and while I don't think the relationship I was aiming for was quite established, I do feel like I got my part based on my efforts to cultivate that attitude. Paris needed an actor who was going to keep the role sympathetic, would keep from taking too much of the spotlight, and (if female) be willing to play the character as a man. That meant I had to be willing to support other actors more than own the stage myself, and I definitely couldn't have hangups about subverting my femininity for the role. That's just one example, but it's a pretty good one. I don't want people worrying that I'll revert to my default acting settings if they give me a part that's outside my typical range. I don't want people thinking that there's something I "can't" do onstage. I want them to feel like if they have a part with something challenging to it that they need to trust to someone who'll get the job done, they can turn to me. This goes for larps as well as plays. Though I worry sometimes by saying this I'm asking to get stuck with thin characters, I do want GMs thinking that I will be able to handle the parts they're worried won't play well unless a strong enough larper to move them is cast in those roles.

As a director and a GM, I know I've commented plenty of times about people who can do this but can't do that, about people who can be counted on to do something in particular even if it's not what is being asked, about players' and actors' limitations and bad habits. I want to be the actor and larper who is seen to have neither. Even if I may not be the best, I want to be seen as one who will take the demands of the role that is given and find the way to get them done.

Shadow Over Babylon costuming

The elegant, delicate, and amazingly low-priced sterling silver Star of David necklace I ordered to wear for The Last Seder came in today. It is very pretty, if a little smaller than I pictured, and it inspires me to get cracking on my remaining Intercon costuming. I'm now working on figuring out my costume for Shadow Over Babylon. It's turning out to be tougher than I thought.

Right now I'm leaning towards cool government agent in the black suit with the crisp white shirt. I don't exactly have a black suit, but I can approximate. Let's start with the same black dress skirt I will be wearing for Last Seder. Off-white button-up blouse? It's not as crisp as I would like. Maybe I could get away with the short-sleeved white mandarin collar button-up if I wear a jacket over it. Trouble is, I don't have a black suit jacket or blazer. Have the red blazer, but it's not as severe as I want. And I'm thinking I want to get that tailored for better fit anyway. Maybe ask Mom to send my charchoal gray one up? Would that be severe enough? Could be. I also have the black velour mandarin collar jacket-- would the different texture go with the black skirt? Again, would it look too soft? Wish I had dark sunglasses; the only prescription ones I've  got are brown. They might work in a pinch, though they're not ideal. Wish I had plain black pumps; my only black dress shoes are a little too sexy. Could my tall boots work, or are they too stylish? Could always hit the thrift store, I guess, but I really do not wish to spend any money.

I don't like waist-height belts

I don't really like the look of natural-waist-level belts. I'm not sure why. It's a very popular style these days, but something about them looks... uncomfortable to me. Even slightly dated, really, throwing back to the days when everyone wore their pants all the way up that high. I really really hate high waistbands, and the tying-off-in-the-middle effect just seems off to me. I much prefer the look of belts at hip-level; they look more natural there to my eye.

The weird thing is, waist-level belts can really nip in the look of a woman's waist, and I like when women emphasize the difference between their waist and the greater width of their hips. It's a very appealing contrast; I can even remember reading studies that suggest that men find most attractive not necessarily the women with the smallest waists, but with the most definite narrowness of waist in comparison to the wideness of hip. Belts do a lot to create definite waists when clothing or features of the figure would obscure them. But still, as much as like their narrowing influence, I dislike the look of the belt itself there.

Of course, the style isn't really appropriate for me anyway. I don't really need much in the way of waist-narrowing, as mine is pretty narrow naturally. Where I do need help is in the hip department. My hips are flat and slim. Wearing belts at hip-height somehow has the inverse affect of wearing them at waist-height; rather than narrowing, the hard flat line running acros there creates an illusion of width, serving in the opposite manner to create the look of the contrast I like so much.

So while waist-height belts may be figure-flattering for some ladies, they are not appropriate for me, and for some reason I just don't like how they look there anyway. I wonder if wearing clothes that are cut to be narrow at the waist and flare out towards the hip can do the job just as well, without that banding across the middle I dislike so much, or if that would not have as great an effect.