Five questions meme

[lucymonster]

pauraque gave me these five questions to answer! I'll come up with five questions for the first five people who ask, so please comment if you want to play.

1) If you could visit a fictional world, where would you go? Would you want to live there or just vacation?

Ever since I read Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series as a kid, I dreamed of visiting the Clayr's library. Mysteries spellbooks, forgotten lore, deep secret rooms full of undiscovered magic! I think practically speaking I'd have to go live there for good, since I'd need years of in-world study to be able to access the really cool stuff.

That's the answer I want to give. But I think really what I'd like most is to go to Tolkien's Hobbiton for a few weeks and let some small, round innkeeper stuff me full with six good meals a day between gentle hikes in the lush green countryside.
 

2) What's a book you've read that started out strong but didn't stick the ending?

I feel like I have this experience quite often, actually! It could be because endings are hard, but I think at least some of the blame has to go to my tendency to get overinvested and run away with my expectations. Too often once I've decided how I want things to go, any departure - even one of objectively good quality - is likely to leave me a bit disappointed.

But one book I think I can accuse without injustice of going bad at the end is a nonfiction one: Area 51 by Annie Jacobsen. After really loving her Operation Paperclip, I was eager for more hard-hitting, rigorously sourced investigative journalism about US government and military corruption, and for the most part that's what I got. But the ending ... oh man. I'm not sure it does justice to say the book didn't stick its landing; more like it quit gymnastics mid-vault and decided to switch to freestyle swimming, with exactly as much topsy-turvy flailing of arms as the mental image implies. In the last chapter or two it went full-tilt, bizarro-world conspiracy theorist about aliens and Soviet hoaxes. It's years now since I read it but I still remember that feeling of whiplash as if it were yesterday.

 

3) Do you have a sweet tooth? What kind of sweets do you like?

You know, I never used to have a sweet tooth! Not that long ago, I had only a handful of sweet recipes in any kind of rotation, and my go-to junk foods were mostly salty. But I developed fierce sugar cravings during pregnancy and so far they seem to have long outlived the hormonal trigger. I've become obsessed with pastries and cakes, especially the kinds of delicate layered sponge cakes that I used to snub my nose at in patisseries. A few weeks ago, a local cafe made the most amazing layered strawberry cake with real fresh strawberries that I'm desperate to learn how to bake for myself. I'm a big fan of thick, doughy cookies and really bitey lemon curd tarts. Supermarket-wise I love mars bars, oreos and tim-tams (I'm pretty sure they deport you from Australia if you don't like tim-tams). Sometimes - I'm not too proud to admit this - I eat nutella straight off the spoon.

 

4) What's a death metal band or album you would recommend to someone new to the genre?

The Jester Race was my immediate first thought, not least because it's one of the very first death metal albums I fell in love with. In Flames helped pioneer what's known as the Gothenburg style of melodic death metal, which is gentler and - per the name - more melodic than a lot of other death metal. There's a haunting, melancholy beauty to it that I think has a good chance of translating even to someone who's not used to the genre and its quirks.

Since it's a fairly large understatement to call death metal an acquired taste, one other thing I might suggest for someone new to the genre - if they were making a project of it, rather than just taking a peek - is to spend some time easing in with more mainstream metal bands, even if they're not ultimately what I would single out as my forever favourites. Most metalheads have their 'gateway bands' that helped acclimate them to the growling and fast tempos before they plunged in the deep end. I was already in love with harsh vocals via the emo/screamo scene before I came to metal, but that path has limited appeal past the teenage years, lol. Bands like Trivium and Lamb of God are like the pop music of the metal world - they're commercial and broadly accessible, and might make the bridge between clean singing and hrrrr grrrr blrrrrrrrrgh aaaargh seem more crossable for people who aren't used to it. Then of course there's the 'big four' of thrash metal - Anthrax, Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth - which, aside from being required reading or anyone who wants to understand extreme metal's origins, are a good first taster for the fast tempos and aggressive guitar styles that are synonymous with the genre.

But as a standalone sample album, yeah, I'm sticking with Jester Race. The opening track, Moonshield, is to this day one of my all-time favourites.

 

5) What's something you cooked recently that came out amazing?

After years spent poring greedily over feast scene after feast scene in Harry Potter, I recently decided to try making treacle tart! Turns out treacle is just golden syrup, which can be had on any supermarket shelf - in Australia, at least. A lot of the recipes I came across were from American food bloggers who had to courageously make their own.

Anyway, it took two tries to make, because I dropped the first pie crust fresh out of the oven and had to make a whole new batch of pastry from scratch. But the results were more than worth the extra effort. It wasn't sickly-sweet, like I feared it might be from the ingredients list. The lemon in the filling gave it a beautiful, rounded citrus flavour, and it was almost as delicious reheated as it was fresh. I've always found pastry too much of a faff for the everyday, but I'll just have to get over that, because I need more of this tart in my life.

Comments

[fiachairecht]

Oh, it's such a joy to have you back on my flist I forgive you for making me want a lemon tart at 12.40am! I hope life has calmed somewhat for you, and would love some questions.

[lucymonster]

Hah, thank you and I’m sorry! It’s a joy to be back, spreading the love of baked goods at unreasonable hours of the day.

1) What’s the most badass thing you’ve achieved in ESO?

2) If you could only drink one cocktail for the rest of your life, what would it be?

3) Who was your very first fictional crush? Do you think there’s been a pattern to your crushes/faves over the years?

4) What’s the state of your knitting stash? Do you tend to buy yarn with specific projects in mind, or buy yarn you like and find uses for it afterwards?

5) What album have you listened to the most this year?

[fiachairecht]

Answered!

[pauraque]

See, I always thought treacle was what we call molasses, which made treacle tart sound really gross! I don't think we have golden syrup here. I've talked about it with UK friends and I understand what it is but they just don't market it in the US for some reason.

Thanks for the answers!

[lucymonster]

Thanks for the questions! I had so much fun answering them. <3

(Ugh, molasses tart would indeed be gross. My mum feeds it to her horses - they love it, but the smell is a lot.)

[osprey_archer]

I once read a book about psychology and the nature of evil which made a sudden left turn into demonic possession and I was simultaneously aghast and weirdly delighted by this sudden excursion into bizarro-world. Maybe I should read Area 51 for a similar experience. Although possibly if you going into the book knowing that it's going to be Suddenly, Aliens, it's just not the same experience.

Really bity lemon tarts are the best! (I usually make lemon bars because they're easier than tarts, but the same basic principle applies.) I don't think I've ever had a treacle tart, but someday I want to. It shows up in English books so often and it sounds so rich and fine.

[lucymonster]

Hah, I'm sorry to spoil it for you. Most of the fun with that sort of thing is in the surprise. Mad props to these authors for going where their heart leads, at least. You have to wonder why their publishers said nothing.

The treacle tart was super easy to make, if you can get your hands on the golden syrup! Man, I wish I had some right now. Or lemon bars. Lemon bars are so good. The sharper, the better - sweet, mild lemon curd is a waste of everyone's time.

[walgesang]

I am such a big fan of all things tart lemon. :D

I love your answer to the death metal question and I'm going to have to look this up!

[lucymonster]

Saaaaame, it's so good.

And thanks! :D Would love to hear what you think, if you do end up looking it up.

[dr_zook]

But I think really what I'd like most is to go to Tolkien's Hobbiton for a few weeks and let some small, round innkeeper stuff me full with six good meals a day between gentle hikes in the lush green countryside.

Haha, oh man, let me know when you find a way how to go there, I'd be definitely on board for a week. :D

And, awww, Moonshield is one of my favourites as well, but I think I still love Resin best. :3

[lucymonster]

Resin is so fantastic! I'm realising now how long it's been since I've had most of the In Flames discog in rotation. I should really bring it back out.

Honestly, Hobbits have the right idea about what makes a good life. Kid me always wanted to be an Elf, but as an adult I'd choose Hobbit every time. :'D