(no subject)
Dec. 7th, 2017 09:28 amSo last year around this time I started making onion and bacon jams.
The thing about these savory jams is that they're all lower in acidity so I told myself that if I store them, I'm storing them when the weather is colder, outside where it'll be freezing so the typical boil canning method will (hopefully) reduce the spoilage.
Last year was also snowing, but the weather outside is keeping around highs of 30s and 40s, so I think I can start doing this properly.
The one thing I'm especially looking forward to is using the Kitchenaid to slice onions. Why? Because my knife technique sucks. To be fair, I cut everything with paring knives and whatever else I can get out of the kitchen drawer with an edge, but yeah, paring knives aren't exactly known for their speed.
Watching cooking shows makes me jealous for those chefs that have the fancy knives. The Korean cooking show has everyone sporting fold-forged wave-tinged steel Chinese cleavers that they can smash garlic with like it's nothing and julienne like nobody's business. Sexy stuff, but also expensive compared to the cheap IKEA steel that I secretly like using because I want to see how far I can grind them down in a few years.
But yeah, the Kitchenaid with the food processor option means a lot less slicing and lot less work for me in general. I should see if I can do it if I'm not too busy with the-
Podcast
First time seeing if the zoom H4N will be better than the Ambient TinyMike! I think it will as I definitely sensed a better fidelity out of it, but it also matters how it sounds to them as it does to me, so we'll see. Just wish I didn't feel tired right now.
Edit: I tested it out, everyone else confirmed it's MUCH better fidelity. I think it has to do with the mic being analog and my rig not exactly being designed for sound studio work. I still like it and being directional cleans out a LOT more noise in the process, but I don't see it happening here. I'm not a big fan though, as I can hear EVERYTHING, including my own attempts to breathe. It's a bit much.
I might resort to using USB mics in the future and am tempted to get a new USB mic in the next few weeks just so I can keep the equipment in better shape. I saw one on B&H that seems to be highly regarded and USB mics are much MUCH cheaper than actual recording equipment (even the Zoom is a 300 dollar item and I'm tempted to use it to record foley or something), so I'm tempted to throw more money at this problem.
Film
I forgot to mention this, but on Sunday, we saw "Loving Vincent."
The film prefaces by mentioning that over 100 artists were involved painting the film's animation, and I can see it. Told through an art style often associated with van Gogh's famous works, it's an animation done with actors who are rototillered through paintings. As a result, you have this mixture of realistic with interpretive styles and it adds this fluidity that I really appreciated. There's something awesome about seeing a windmill moving in the background and seeing the painted over strokes of the wheel covered with a fresh set of paint, or watching a character speak and notice a background character that is barely visible starts moving to do their own movements.
I honestly wish that the acting and the premise itself was stronger. Like most arthouse pieces, this is a sort of character study but done through someone who is trying to find an appropriate contact for the person in question. I'm not a fan of character studies, to be honest; they can be dull, and often a little too arthouse for my preferences, to a point where I wonder if they want people to even be introduced to indy films when they have to make its audience work for it. The acting isn't really moving outside of a few moments and the rest strikes me as stiff, even by BBC procedural standards (this isn't a BBC production by the way but a UK/Poland collab).
Having said that, the protagonist's role does appeal to me in its own way. His journey to find someone who knew van Gogh shapes and reforms in several ways, not unlike the art itself. That, at least, is a decent part I'll give credit for.
But aside from that, I'd recommend going in looking for the visuals. Unless you love character study pieces, in which case this is probably your bread and butter.
Otherwise
I have a day off tomorrow; three day weekend! KitchenAid is clean, so I'm going to see how much I can jar tonight and tomorrow. At the worst, I look forward to expanding my collection of bacon lard in the fridge which I save for specific recipes.
One More Thing!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
conuly reminded me how fun surveys are, so I think I will set up a community for Friday polls. It's based off an old LJ community that posted polls on Friday. I don't know if it'll really bring the same satisfaction as back in the day, but I just want to make an excuse to screw around with the poll formats in general because I always liked to toy with it.
The thing about these savory jams is that they're all lower in acidity so I told myself that if I store them, I'm storing them when the weather is colder, outside where it'll be freezing so the typical boil canning method will (hopefully) reduce the spoilage.
Last year was also snowing, but the weather outside is keeping around highs of 30s and 40s, so I think I can start doing this properly.
The one thing I'm especially looking forward to is using the Kitchenaid to slice onions. Why? Because my knife technique sucks. To be fair, I cut everything with paring knives and whatever else I can get out of the kitchen drawer with an edge, but yeah, paring knives aren't exactly known for their speed.
Watching cooking shows makes me jealous for those chefs that have the fancy knives. The Korean cooking show has everyone sporting fold-forged wave-tinged steel Chinese cleavers that they can smash garlic with like it's nothing and julienne like nobody's business. Sexy stuff, but also expensive compared to the cheap IKEA steel that I secretly like using because I want to see how far I can grind them down in a few years.
But yeah, the Kitchenaid with the food processor option means a lot less slicing and lot less work for me in general. I should see if I can do it if I'm not too busy with the-
Podcast
First time seeing if the zoom H4N will be better than the Ambient TinyMike! I think it will as I definitely sensed a better fidelity out of it, but it also matters how it sounds to them as it does to me, so we'll see. Just wish I didn't feel tired right now.
Edit: I tested it out, everyone else confirmed it's MUCH better fidelity. I think it has to do with the mic being analog and my rig not exactly being designed for sound studio work. I still like it and being directional cleans out a LOT more noise in the process, but I don't see it happening here. I'm not a big fan though, as I can hear EVERYTHING, including my own attempts to breathe. It's a bit much.
I might resort to using USB mics in the future and am tempted to get a new USB mic in the next few weeks just so I can keep the equipment in better shape. I saw one on B&H that seems to be highly regarded and USB mics are much MUCH cheaper than actual recording equipment (even the Zoom is a 300 dollar item and I'm tempted to use it to record foley or something), so I'm tempted to throw more money at this problem.
Film
I forgot to mention this, but on Sunday, we saw "Loving Vincent."
The film prefaces by mentioning that over 100 artists were involved painting the film's animation, and I can see it. Told through an art style often associated with van Gogh's famous works, it's an animation done with actors who are rototillered through paintings. As a result, you have this mixture of realistic with interpretive styles and it adds this fluidity that I really appreciated. There's something awesome about seeing a windmill moving in the background and seeing the painted over strokes of the wheel covered with a fresh set of paint, or watching a character speak and notice a background character that is barely visible starts moving to do their own movements.
I honestly wish that the acting and the premise itself was stronger. Like most arthouse pieces, this is a sort of character study but done through someone who is trying to find an appropriate contact for the person in question. I'm not a fan of character studies, to be honest; they can be dull, and often a little too arthouse for my preferences, to a point where I wonder if they want people to even be introduced to indy films when they have to make its audience work for it. The acting isn't really moving outside of a few moments and the rest strikes me as stiff, even by BBC procedural standards (this isn't a BBC production by the way but a UK/Poland collab).
Having said that, the protagonist's role does appeal to me in its own way. His journey to find someone who knew van Gogh shapes and reforms in several ways, not unlike the art itself. That, at least, is a decent part I'll give credit for.
But aside from that, I'd recommend going in looking for the visuals. Unless you love character study pieces, in which case this is probably your bread and butter.
Otherwise
I have a day off tomorrow; three day weekend! KitchenAid is clean, so I'm going to see how much I can jar tonight and tomorrow. At the worst, I look forward to expanding my collection of bacon lard in the fridge which I save for specific recipes.
One More Thing!
conuly reminded me how fun surveys are, so I think I will set up a community for Friday polls. It's based off an old LJ community that posted polls on Friday. I don't know if it'll really bring the same satisfaction as back in the day, but I just want to make an excuse to screw around with the poll formats in general because I always liked to toy with it.
