Generating Some Fun (MToaS 36)

 

I love the poem by ee cummings, In Just Spring, and so I used the Wordle image generator to make a wordle of the poem. Very fun. These are silly things, but they are rewarding and entertaining too. For one thing, each of us who writes these blogs is hoping that someone else will read them. Adding wee bits of entertainment can help.

If we write blogs for our libraries, or have branch home pages (as GRRL will very soon!) these might be fun things to add as well. So while they are silly on the one hand, I think they can be useful as well. 

I've also thought these would be great fun for publicizing and promoting programs. I love the idea of making READ posters with library staff, community members, etc. Also, the newspaper article generator was great fun, as was the dictionary entry generator. I can think of many ways that we could use these tools to make our programs, blogs, web pages, etc. much more entertaining, and therefore to generate more interest in what we're doing.

I tried making the comics. Made one on MakebeliefsComix that I liked well enough,  but couldn't export it. Then I remade it on ToonDoo. First I used the regular embedding and couldn't figure out how to resize it to make it fit the screen. The second time, I embedded as Flash code and that worked better. So, fun, but more cumbersome than I would have expected. All the same, it is very gratifying for me to see my story made visual!

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Update (an hour later): Made another comic; it went faster/better. Also, stumbled upon the comics by poesygalore do check her out! Her stuff is too funny!

Pears and Cheese and Pasta, Oh My!

Last Friday night we got together with friends Nancy, Steph and Jane at Jane's house... we shared a lovely bottle of wine that Jane had given us over the holidays. A 2006 dry Chenin Blanc by Dry Creek vineyards. Excellent and lovely, just the perfect, light fruitiness that I love.

We also had the most excellent dish from my new Bon Appetit cookbook. I bought Fast Easy Fresh a few weeks ago, but then I got a cold and my desire to cook anything more than Tom Yum went right out the window. So, when we spoke with Jane about having a get together, she graciously let me choose what I wanted to cook from the new cookbook and then delegated complementary sides and appetizers for everyone else. This is what good friends do.

It was so great to get together and hang out with these great women. But, I have to say that what is sticking in my head is how much fun it was to talk books with Jane's younger son. He named off his favorites: the Pendragon and Redwall series made the top of the list, and it was so cool for Gabi and me to be able to say that we had read those books too. And we suggested he try the Skullduggery Pleasant books, because they are just exceptionally fun.

I made Linguine with Pears and Gorgonzola Cheese. Wow. I didn't adjust the recipe at all, and it was so good. The flavors are lovely and perfectly balanced, and the light sweetness of the pears plays off perfectly with the cheese ~ which is much more subtle than you might expect, given the strength and general smelliness of gorgonzola. Also, the meal comes together very quickly but has an elegant "feel." Perfect dinner party fare. My friends loved it. We all had seconds. One of them had fourths!

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Linguine with Pears and Gorgonzola Cheese

from  The Bon Appetit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook, (c) 2008. By Barbara Fairchild.

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

4 firm pears (about 2 pounds), peeled, cored, cut into 1/3-inch strips

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

4 ounces Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled (about 1 cup)

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

12 ounces linguine

1/3 cup chopped pecans

Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pears; saute until tender and beginning to brown but not soft, about 8 minutes. Using slotted spoon, carefully transfer pears to bowl. Add rosemary to skillet and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add broth, Gorgonzola cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan, and cream. Simmer until sauce thickens enough to coat spoon, whisking occasionally, about 6 minutes. Return pears and any accumulated juices to sauce.

Do Ahead: Sauce can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Bring to simmer before continuing.

Cook linguine in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain; return pasta to pot. Add sauce and pecans to pasta; toss over medium-low heat until sauce coats pasta, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a large bowl. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

Thing 5 -- so fun!

Okay, banish the paranoid grinch to the basement for the day. Flickr's Big Huge Labs has some ridiculously entertaining toys. I can definitely see using the Warholizer again, and can think of several things to do with these toys. I can even think of one or two that might have something to do with the library...

In April we're planning a teen program on scrapbook journaling. I will definitely be talking to the teens about Flickr and the Big Huge Labs as options for them to play with their scrapbook photos. And, I'm sure they'll yawn and say something like, "yeah, but we know about all these other sites that are even more cool than those..."

I expect to always be at the bottom of this learning curve. But it's fun all the same.

Oh, and the story behind the "toesies:" I took the original picture in the summer of 2006 at a 15-year reunion of Peace Corps Togo and Benin volunteers. The toesies in question belong to myself, my partner, and one of our best friends who lives in Davis, California (and who we therefore rarely ever see). Jenny had treated my partner and I to our first-ever pedicure (not my last). And, if you knew my partner you would understand why that is just such a fabulously silly and entertaining thing!