obsessively opposed to the typical

[aria]

to do (real life things)

unpack car, repack for Madison :(
haircut, doctor's appt., see if I need a new glasses prescription
go to WisCon :DDD
find a sublet/apartment
find a paying job
find a girlfriend? find a girlfriend
magically learn how to cook


to watch

[italicized=never seen it, asterixed=am not caught up/not completed, nothing=just feel the need for a rewatch; PS I shouldn't, but I am totally open for recs here]

Babylon 5*
Blackadder
Black Books
Caprica
Community
Chuck*
Leverage*
Merlin*
My Life as a Dog
Sarah Jane Adventures*
The Thick of It
Treme
Torchwood: Children of Earth


to write

Burning Down the House [due South, crazy!Fraser]
The Care and Feeding of Your Atomic Bomb [Doctor Who, Rose/Martha]
Neutral Zone [due South, epic s2-and-onward AU]
No Second Coming [Dark is Rising, a goddamn sequel novella]
Such Deliberate Disguises [Doctor Who, um, Master/human!Ten]
The Windhover [due South, that Victoria fic I keep talking about]
untitled post-Waters of Mars AU where Ten is evil
hopefully an Amy/Rory fic
the story that was my screenplay project but wants to be a novel when it grows up


I am hoping that I will at least accomplish all of the things in the real life to do list (even the girlfriend one and the cooking one, because a girl can dream); I am hoping I will accomplish at least half of the things in the to write list; and I sort of hope that, out of my to-watch list, the only one I will make any real effort on will be Babylon 5, because I would honestly rather sacrifice that list to the other two than the reverse.

Comments

[alpheratz]

Have you seen The Thick of It? Because if not, you seriously should. It makes me cough up a lung laughing.

[aria]

No, omg! I had it separately recced to me last night over dinner, too, which I take as a SIGN. *adds to list*

[labellementeuse]

Magically learning how to cook is really easy!
- Find a good cookbook that is organised by INGREDIENT. Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion is a good one, although a bit Australian/New Zealand. This will probably be a little expensive so I suggest waiting till you find the Real Job. or, ask your parents if they have one (whichever parent cooks.) A good book of this kind will begin each section with a discussion of the uses and abuses of that vegetable, fruit, or meat, when to buy it, how to buy it, when it's ripe, etc.
- Find an ordinarily good cookbook with lots of recipes. Often "Food for Flatters" - style books are actually quite good, because they'll include lists of things you need when you start your own kitchen, but get recommendations. (If you were living in NZ I would recommend the Edmonds cookbook or Edmonds Food for Flatters.) This one shouldn't be very expensive.
- Ask your parents if you can cook some nights a week. Get them to suggest a meal and ask them to have all the ingredients ready and give good instructions.
- Follow a bunch of food blogs. This actually won't help at ALL because they'll do complicated food with amazing pictures and plating and you'll think "... my food never looks like that :(" (or maybe you'll be great at plating!) BUT they will make everything look & sound SO GOOD you will want to cook all the time!

Also, and because I'm just a huge fucking snob:
- Don't cook from packets, cake mixes, etc if you can avoid it, because while they are sometimes quicker, they don't save money in the long run (and they're less delicious!) BUT if these help when you're starting out, do it, it just won't be as much fun. You don't get the same joy of I-know-everything-that's-in-this. (This joy is so powerful that I have become SO much less of a picky eater since I started cooking, seriously, it's amazing.)

[labellementeuse]

Also: - remember that cooking and baking are quite different arts. Also also, dwbi when you burn stuff, ruin stuff, etc.

Food blogs I like: Smitten Kitchen (amazing photog.) Tigers and Strawberries (notably fabulous Indian and Asian and -inspired recipes: I love the bulgogi burgers she makes)

[were_duck]

I will totally embark upon cooking adventures with you! *entices you with CSA box* Also, you can borrow my Asparagus to Zucchini cookbook, which is alphabetical by vegetable of many of the farmer's market/CSA veggies found near Madison. Great cookbook.

[aria]

fskdskfsd you are my NEW BEST FRIEND. No, but really, I would love to have cooking adventures with you. I have hugely fond memories of your stir-fry last summer, and would like to learn how to replicate that sort of thing. :D

[bakatulip]

Chuuuuuuuck. Is Excellent.

Nai-face is watching Caprica. I love her responses. Can't wait to hear yours.

Cooking isn't hard. Find yourself a nom-tastic cook book and follow the directions.

[aria]

Yesssss. I am going to try huluing it this weekend!

Caprica will probably take rather longer, but I promise to inundate you with reaction-type emails when I do. <3

I figure it goes something like that! Speaking of, can I have the name of that cookbook you bought in Maine?

[littledust]

Go go gadget Aria! \o/

I thought you should know that I finally finished S&A s2 and CRIED over the last two episodes. Onto s3!

[aria]

\o/!!!

Ohhh S&A. <3 I should warn you, s3 is actually the one that puts you through the ringer the most. It's still delightful and hilarious and happy-making, but in a lot of ways it's the hardest. I am sure you'll enjoy it lots, though. :)

[alpheratz]

Randomly butting in - oh my god, if you cried in s1 and 2, get a new box of Kleenex and/or someone's hand to hold for s3. It's... well, more serious is one way to describe it, but also has the best payoff as compensation.

[thornyrose42]

My inner kid now desperately wants to read the Dark Is Rising sequel. I read a couple before. One in particular that I really liked (with the one dislike that Simon turned out to be the spy) but have never been able to find since. Anyway the ending of the last book always struck me as a "Problem of Susan" type thing. Horrible, seriously talk about a brilliant series with a "Oh Hell no! WTF is with the amnesia?" whiplash ending.

[aria]

Ohhh yes, the whiplash ending. My fic is mostly about fixing everything that I found problematic about the ending, which ... somehow turned out to be a lot of pages of fixing. I aim to have it done by Midsummer, because that feels appropriate. :D

[thornyrose42]

Also, as a recentish cooking convert, cooking for other people makes it so much more fun. For one thing, instant concrit and when it turns out well there is nothing more satisfying than a thumbs up and a clean plate.

[sasha_feather]

I LOLed at the phrasing of your "find a girlfriend" part of the list-- I feel the same way.

[aria]

:DDD It's like "Should finding a girlfriend be on my to-do list? HELL YES it should! I ... think!"

[oliviacirce]

HANG OUT WITH ME BEFORE I MOVE TO NEW YORK should also be on your list. So there. And my shows! They should be on your list!

I fear for the cooking situation in an apartment inhabited by you and sasha_feather, but maybe we can work on some things before I leave town. And were_duck is a totally awesome cooking resource! Like she is a totally awesome resource for EVERYTHING EVER.

[were_duck]

*BLUSHES MADLY*

[aria]

OH WELL YES ABSOLUTELY. SO MANY HANGOUTS. <333 And Treme, at least, can definitely go on that list!

Ahaha. Assuming we do end up living together, I'm sure we'd appreciate the tutelage. Actually, assuming anything I will definitely appreciate the tutelage, because cooking skills, I need them.

[tiltingheartand]

Criminal Miiiiiiinds! I love this show, omg, I cannot overstate.

[aria]

Polaris also recced it! I may have to look these shenanigans up!

[betonprosa]

Joy of Cooking + crockpot + school of "cut things up and put it all in a pot" cooking + freezing the other three portions of 4-person meals + judicious use of Things From Boxes = happy, sane, easy way to learn to cook.

I mean, I could make souffles and all kinds of other crazy things, but they would probably not turn out the greatest and I would wind up discouraged and with an inedible mess. I figure I've got a lifetime of cooking in front of me, as well as walk before running, etc.

So far it's served me well! Sometime this summer, if you'd like, I can put up links/text of recipes that have served me well, like crock-pot lasagna, The Best Tomato Sauce Ever, and spicy chicken stew!

[aria]

Yeah, I think I mostly just want simple edible tasty food, so this is all good advice! And I suspect that sometime this summer I will make a post asking for specific recs & recipes, at which point the ones you mention would be wonderful. :)

[carrieann]

I look forward to, well, all of that fic, once they get done. :D

[aria]

Yay! Hopefully they will get done sometime in the next ever. XD

[wintercreek]

In addition to Joy of Cooking, I recommend Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything (also available in vegetarian), at least one Moosewood cookbook (which you can almost certainly pick up used - they are everywhere!), and a post in which you invite everyone to post recipes and tips. I have done that a few times (and probably ought to do it again) and it always yields new ideas with the bonus feature of being able to ask clarifying questions about the recipe. I have about a million recipes typed up/bookmarked to share.

Also, if you are a breadmaker fan, I recommend getting one (budget permitting, natch). Mr. Creek and I have one and we love the convenience of homemade bread in the morning without having to stay up all night/get up super early to make it. If you are not a breadmaker fan, then I will instead recommend this awesome challah recipe which is my favorite handmade bread.

In the realm of further unsolicited advice, I will add that when I learned to cook the most important thing for me was remembering that it did not have to be perfect, only edible. And that offering to bring wine to dinner at a friend's house is an excellent fall-back option. *g*

In the to write list, how about more of taking it all apart? *giant hopeful eyes*

[aria]

Oooh, thank you, both for the recs and for the suggestion about posting and asking for recipes. I'm about 99% sure that a post like that is going to happen sometime this summer. :D

Ohmygod, I absolutely want to write more of the Fraser/Thatcher AU! *adds to list*

PS HOW RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED AM I TO SEE YOU NEXT WEEK? Lots, is the answer to that.

[luzula]

due South fic FTW! Also, I really want to read your Dark is Rising novella.

[aria]

\o/! And to be honest, the Dark is Rising novella might be done first; I've written everything up to the huge explosion of plot, and I was stuck for a while because I had no idea where I'd actually been going in terms of plot; then I took that Arthurian Legends course this last semester, and figured it out. So all I really need to do is actually write it out. :)

[nextian]

I keep reading your todo list as part of "like a boss." FIND A JOB! LIKE A BOSS! FIND A GIRLFRIEND! LIKE A BOSS! HIT ON DEBRA! LIKE A BOSS! GET REJECTED! LIKE A BOSS! PROMOTE SYNERGY! LIKE A BOSS! etc

I'll hold off on cooking recs until you really ask for them, but the only tip I can give you is adequate ventilation when you fry things, in case you set anything on fire, and lots of prep time to cut vegetables because it takes longer than it sounds.

[aria]

I ... don't know what to do with your brain sometimes, Emma. IT IS A PRETTY COOL PLACE, THOUGH.

Ahhhh I do not want to set things on fire when I try to fry. :((( But yeah, a cooking recs post is very probably coming up sometime this summer.