A little of this, a little of that

[thrihyrne]

One day late birthday greetings to mistressofrohan! (if memory serves) I hope you had a wonderful Christmas Day birthday with your family. Here chez moi, we aren't opening our gifts until after dinner tonight when one of my stepsisters and her husband come to visit. So I still don't know what all I have hiding under the tree, though euclase, I have yet to thank you publicly for the absolutely gorgeous drawing of Ralph Fiennes as Onegin. It's stunning, and I'll need to find an appropriate frame for it.

I went to a dance workout class this morning at 9:00 while my mom and grandfather (92) did their own workouts. I'm going back at 5:30 for a first-time-offered kickboxing class. Considering that I have a lot of anger to work through, I'm looking forward to it. The classes are also helping me burn off some of yesterday's food. You guys know I'm not a foodie, but I do have one dish inherited from shelliz14's mother- the whole family are great cooks. I made this yesterday morning as part of our breakfast. This is what I affectionately consider a 2-quart heart attack. The recipe is below, so now you can't tell me I never gave you guys anything!

Baked Garlic Cheese Grits

4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup Martha White Quick Grits
2 cups (8 oz.) grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 roll (6 oz) garlic cheese (this is found, in the southern U.S., anyway, as a Kraft cheese product. It's literally a small roll of garlic cheese. It's excellent. The rest of you may need to do this alternate version if you can't find it) or an 8 oz jar of Cheese Whiz with garlic powder added to recipe as desired
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon worchestershire sauce
paprika

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 2 quart baking dish. Bring water and salt to boil in a large saucepan. Slowly stir in grits. Cover, reduce heat and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in cheeses andn butter until melted. Add eggs and worchestershire sauce, blend well. Pour into prepared dish. Sprinkle with paprika as desired. Bake 40-45 minutes or until set. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

It is so decadently delicious. I told my stepdad that I thought I'd made it for him before. He looked at me with this expression of absolute bliss and said, "No- I would've remembered." LOL.

Last but not least, my mind is turning back to these couple of academic fanfiction papers I'd like to write, so I'm probably going to post some questions about crossovers similar to what I posited a little while ago and try to get it picked up by the daily snitch and/or another group that fungus_files told me about. Otherwise I'll go looking for feedback at Sugar Quill since I'm an author over there now, and it is a pretty big archive. I suppose fictionalley would be another good place to go, and I need to do some research into seeing if there are any HP crossover-exclusive archives. But anyway, if you see a public post that looks familiar, that's why- I'm looking for a wide cross-section of feedback about crossovers.

Still working on the remaining giftfics, too! And I may just curl up and read this afternoon. Or knit. Or nap. I hope you're all having a really good day.

Oh! And a last thing, since I now have some Boromir fans on my flist, while not directly related, I recently rediscovered a picture of me in what I considered to be my Finduilas of dol Amroth costume, and I put it in TORn's first costume contest, complete with accompanying banner and 'portraits' of my boys. So here's a pic!

Comments

[edeainfj.livejournal.com]

My lady, you and your dress are simply gorgeous.

And your sons are hot.

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

My lady, you and your dress are simply gorgeous.

Oh, thank you. :) The great aspect about that dress is that while it's rather heavy, it's because the fabric has lycra in it, and the lining is bathing suit fabric. So it's stretchy and comfortable.

My sons are just about the hottest men to grace Middle Earth, if I do say so myself. ;)

[celandineb.livejournal.com]

Hope you have a splendid Boxing Day! And the picture is gorgeous. :-)

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Hope you have a splendid Boxing Day! And the picture is gorgeous. :-)

You, too!! Glad you like the pic; I was pretty bummed out that I didn't place at all in the contest. I did better with my Éowyn costume. Your Finduilas icon is lovely, too. It is far more likely that she'd have dark hair than auburn, but I still contend there aren't nearly enough redheads in M-E.

[celandineb.livejournal.com]

*g* You're just redhead-happy, you are!

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

*g* You're just redhead-happy, you are!

Guilty. So very, very guilty. I swear I'm going to get back to that other crossover, just so I can get back to writing about Amras.

[ex-ella-bane358.livejournal.com]

Oh, you are one gorgeous lady. :)

Kickboxing sounds like a great way to work through negative energy. Have fun!

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Oh, you are one gorgeous lady. :)

:blush: You're too kind. I just got the giggles making the 'portraits' of Faramir and Boromir, lol.

I'll report back after the kickboxing! The trouble is that I already got a blister on my right big toe from the dance class this morning; guess I'll get a bandaid or something.

[cim-halfling.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh, oh! I remember that dress! You are so beautiful in it. *grins*

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

That's right- you're one of the few on my flist who have seen me in it IRL. And dancing like a wild woman, too! That was such a wonderful evening. :happy sigh:

[cim-halfling.livejournal.com]

Truly wonderful! I fall over laughing every time I think of Po trying to teach me how to jig! And I love that dress. *BG*

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

I fall over laughing every time I think of Po trying to teach me how to jig!

Ah, wonderful Po. I hope she and the lovely Elf-guy are doing well. I was invited to their wedding, but couldn't attend. Every once in a while I think about dropping in Barlis, but I don't think I'd recognize anybody anymore. :sniff:

[sanba38.livejournal.com]

Sounds yummy, but I'll have to wait until I can pick up the Martha White Quick Grits in April on my Dogwood Pilgrimage. I'm reasonably sure neither of the two supermarkets in Kaunakakai--Friendly's and Misaki's--carries grits.

A certain former member of the Hawaii state house of representatives, who had acquired a reputation for decadence while at Sewanee, woke up in England one morning with a craving for grits. He made a trip down to London, figuring Harrod's would have grits. Harrod's has everything.

When he arrived at that famed store, he found a big empty space where the grits should be, so he inquired after them.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," the clerk said, "Dolly Parton called this morning and wanted grits for her entire entourage."

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

LOL!! I can imagine that Dolly and entourage would indeed require a lot of grits. ;)

[edoraslass.livejournal.com]

Grits! I'll have to try your version of garlic-cheese grits - I just usually chuck a bunch of cheese and garlic in there and call it good to go. :)

And that pic is wonderful! I wore an nice courtly dress once to a ren faire, and decided to never EVER do that again when people kept expecting me to be all...all...ladylike. So it's wench for me! My dress was nowhere near as lovely as yours, thought.

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

I just usually chuck a bunch of cheese and garlic in there and call it good to go. :)

That works, too; but I will say that this version is really, really good.

Glad you like the picture! I'm usually pretty ladylike, though I did kick up my heels in this one, train and all, at TORn's 'Two Towers- One Party' a few years ago. I'd love the wench outfit, but there's the whole lack of cleavage thing to go with the stereotype. :(

[edoraslass.livejournal.com]

I'm not very good at ladylike - it takes too much effort, and the boys that flirt with you (at faires) aren't nearly as interesting.:)
And I've got the lack of cleavage as well -- fortunately, I've also got a side-lacing bodice that helps me out. Heeee.

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm. Side-lacing bodice, eh? I have a water-bra for those kinds of emergencies. ;) I will say that when I wore my Éowyn costume to the TN Rennaissance Festival, two guys asked to have their picture taken with me, and one lad asked if he could commission me to make a cape- and in exchange, he'd paint a mural on my wall.

I did take his card.;)

[mistressofrohan.livejournal.com]

One day late birthday greetings to mistressofrohan! (if memory serves) I hope you had a wonderful Christmas Day birthday with your family.

Memory does serve, and I thank you for the birthay wishes. It means so much to me, especially this year.

Much love to you, beautiful lady

... and to your hot, scrumptious sons! ;-)

MM

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Oh good- Happy, Happy Birthday!! I reckon they're great to remember, and I love thinking about my friends being celebrated, no matter where they are.

Yeah, my boys are pretty much hotties. :)

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

Cheese grits - yum. I'm not a native of Grits Country, but a man at church always used to bring cheese grits for breakfast meetings - they were heavenly *grin*

Re Fin's beatiful sons: If you go strictly by movieverse, you have two red haired boys, one with straight hair, one with wavy hair. You also have a dad with dark, wavy hair. I'm not a geneticist, and probably can't even spell it right, but doesn't that imply a mom with straight red hair? I think you make a perfect movieverse Finduilas! And you'll be very easy to recognize on Wednesday.

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

a man at church always used to bring cheese grits for breakfast meetings - they were heavenly *grin*

Oh yes. And these truly are.

Movieverse-wise, yes, I could pass as Boromir and Faramir's mother, I guess. The facial structure isn't the same, but hey- works for me! And yes, I'm pretty easy to recognize. So looking forward to it!! :D :D

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Oooh, what a fantastic recipe! Many thanks.

I do adore that picture. You're so lovely! By the way, on a Rohan-related note, I don't know if you saw this, but if for any reason you didn't get it and you want to have it, let me know and I'll reload it and send it to you. :) *hugs*

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

I did notice the Rohirric soundtrack; I'll download it and add it to my lovely, lovely Weasley family compilation.

Glad you're back! ((hugs))

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Yay! I wanted to be sure you saw it, because it includes some new music I've added to my collection since I made your earlier Rohan mix. The link may be expired - it only lasts for X number of downloads - so please let me know if I need to upload it again and I certainly will.

I'm so glad you liked the Weasleys sountrack. I was particularly pleased to hear how "Bedlam Boys" seemed to fit (to me at least) some of the themes of your AU fic. And "Danny's Song" and "One More Story" knocked me down and demanded inclusion. :)

[matildabishop.livejournal.com]

You are BEE-U-TEE-FUL!!!

The cheekbones, the intelligent forehead, the china teacup delicate face. And you pluck your eyebrows! Damn, woman. You're tougher than I am.

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

You are BEE-U-TEE-FUL!!!

::massive blushing::

'S just me. In costume. :)

Intelligent forehead I'll definitely snag, though. At that point I might've been getting my eyebrows done, but no longer. I am fortunate to have pretty delicate features, it's true, eyebrows included. ;)

Next year I'll be Molly Weasley. Or Ginny.

[kaalee.livejournal.com]

that dress is gorgeous and you look radiant and beautiful. ♥

*misses*

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

that dress is gorgeous and you look radiant and beautiful.

Oh, thank you! The dress is gorgeous, and I felt radiant and beautiful. I'll work on trying to keep that part in my life.

**misses you, too**

Surely there will be another opportunity to meet up? I still seem to be venturing to your neck of the woods on occasion, so… Oh! Hen's night! I so want to be a part of your Deamus festivities!!

[melissagay.livejournal.com]

You are so beautiful. AND you can sew! How awesome is that? :D

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

You are so beautiful. AND you can sew! How awesome is that? :D

Yes, and You are so beautiful. AND you look fabulous in fuscia spandex! AND you're an artist! How awesome is that??! :D :D

[melissagay.livejournal.com]

::rueful chuckle:: Thank you, dear friend, for the sentiment.

Because my latest painting is going badly, I feel compelled to add that sometimes being an artist is so sucky I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. And my fuscia spandex days may be over. Once you're pregnant, your body produces a lot of extra skin to allow for the expansion of the tummy, and it never all-the-way goes away, unless you have a tummy tuck. In a moment of basest insecurity, I showed my front to my friend who is a surgical assistant to a plastic surgeon and she said, in her professional opinion, "Mm-hm, yeah, get over it!" ::sigh:: All very well and good, but I've still had to get rid of almost all my cute dance dresses 'cause they showcase my tummy-pooch too prominently! Interestingly enough, the only one that still looks great is a dress Brian bought for me ages ago. That man has a killer fashion sense. I'm lucky he's straight! *lol*

Again, none of this would be remotely weighing on me if the painting were actually coming along the way I want it to. Please feel free to make fun of me for this. ;-)

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Again, none of this would be remotely weighing on me if the painting were actually coming along the way I want it to. Please feel free to make fun of me for this.

Surely, you jest. I'm a writer, which may be even worse!! Even I feel I look stupid in my cutest plaid suit if a story I'm working on seems like dreck and I have no hope for it and feel as though I'll never get anywhere. We artisans are just that way, and needn't apologize for it.

And yes, it's good that B's preferences and yours work out so well. ;) Me, well, preferences don't really matter so much when one lives in a hermetic situation. But that's what my stories are for- writing about situations I'm not experiencing. And for those other desires/needs: I have knitting, comfort food, and Pilates!

((loves you))

p.s. I hope that the painting comes along the way you'd like. That process is just so foreign to me that I don't have anything to say that I think would make sense.

[fungus-files.livejournal.com]

this may sound kinda weird but you have a most lovely neck. :) it's no wonder you and your jewellery are so well matched.

I love your gorgeous dresses and I've always been so thoroughly impressed by your skills.

and all the talk about your hot, hot sons and your vigorous agreement? it's so...wrong. LOL. :P