elderberries, elderflowers, and needles. Lots and lots of needles.

I had big plans to climb on the east side Tuesday through Sunday this week, but they were dashed when my partner bailed at the last minute.  It's very hard to find reliable climbing partners, and that's all I'll say about that.

So full of energy with no outlet, I rallied Porensky to go down Putah Creek road and pick some elderberries and elderflowers.  I'd heard that they were edible, and I have been meaning to try a few recipes.

First up was elderflower syrup. Here is a closeup of the flowers:

This is what they looked like stuffed into water in my new 12 qt pot:

Next up was the elderberry syrup.  Here is a photo of one of the shopping bags full of elderberries that we collected:

So pretty! Here's the finished syrup:

 I think it will be tasty on pancakes, between layers of genoise cake, in mixed drinks (Karrigan suggested mojitos), basically whatever. Next up was the infused vodka:

 The idea is sort of like limoncello: infuse the vodka for a month or so (with some lemon peel), and then add sugar at the end and seal it up.  Finally, the jelly:

 This was my first jelly/jam process, and I'm pretty proud of how it turned out (it actually jelled!).  And it's tasty.  I will say that it's an effing epic process too, especially because of the elderberries.  You have to strip the berries off of the stems, which takes a LONG time.  And then you have to measure them out, wash them, crush them, and strain them through a cheesecloth, which quickly gets clogged and needs to be washed.  Boil the juice with a crapload of sugar, add the pectin, have it boil over all over your stove and cover it with jelly, frantically lift the pot so that it hopefully stops boiling over, but boils long enough to set...you get the picture.  Then you can it and hope for a good seal and jelly sets.  This involves jars in the stove at 200 degrees, boiling water poured over the lids, and a giant pot of boiling water to create the seal (plus pot grips so you can get the OUT of the boiling water without burning yourself).  The kitchen was a disaster.

Anyhoo, it was fun and now I know how to jelly and jam. 

The elderflower syrup was a failure, because I added too much citric acid and lemons.  I added the flowers to the warm sugar water before adding the citric acid and lemons and the flowers turned brown.  I panicked and frantically added more acid and lemons than was called for to stymie the browning, and it came through in the taste.  I'd probably try again, since the flowers are much easier to deal with than the berries.

Finishing up the post, here are the needles I've used in the past year and a half or so:

 Kind of impressive, no?  And keep in mind I probably skip every other injection...they suck, and I don't like them.  I need to drop off the needles at the hospital soon...my containers are full.

Finally, the plan is to go up and climb at Mayhem today with some Tahoe area folks.  Finding partners has been epic this weekend, as everyone I know has some prior obligation or is a flake or whatever. I've never been there, so I'm kind of psyched to check it out.  What I'm not psyched about is driving up Highway 50 (otherwise known as Highway Soul-Killer) to get there.  I suppose I could go up 80 and then drop down.  I wonder if it my soul would die a little less on that route, even if it took a little bit longer. Driving in California.  Sigh.

High school nicknames

I went to a small southern k-12 private school (graduate class N=69).  Though it was in the south and we were all white (except for a few that got lost in the sea of white), mercifully, it was secular.  The kids were spoiled brats, myself included.

The boys I went to high school with were into nicknames.  I don't know why I was reminded of this...I think I was watching a No Reservations and Tony Bourdain was eating somewhere with somebody named Slobodan.  It jarred my memory that one of the boys had "Slobodan" or "Slobey" as a nickname...I don't remember who it was.

Then there was a guy whose last name is Lamb...his nickname was "Tough Lamb."  A boy named Madison somehow got named "Texas Pete", or "Tex."

Greg Bird was "Krek Bird"...Walter Hagan (Spawn of Satan...wait, that's my nickname for him) was Bo Hagan.  I think he was called Bo as a kid. He also had the nickname "Teddy" because apparently he fucked his teddy bear at some point. He sucked. And then he tried to be my friend on Facebook. I mean, really?  This underscores yet again that Facebook can be pretty silly. Then again people can be really silly...but I digress.

One of the best was "Smuckers". I can't even remember his real name. Jay Degenhart was nicknamed "J-Ral" or "Jerrold", and it was said with a pretty thick drawl...thicker than was natural, which was pretty thick in Savannah, GA.

A girl named Kimbrough got the unfortunate nickname "Got Problems". This was surprising, since most of the nicknames were given to boys.  Though another girl whose last name is Watts got nicknamed - no brainer - Twats.

Those of us without nicknames (I didn't need one...I mean, come on) counted ourselves lucky.

It's kind of funny thinking about everyone's real names...I keep thinking of more nicknames too: Tim Venghaus = Mengelhead. Guess that's better then Mengele...but not by much.

Our school had a good reputation for having smart kids...and I think it was deserved.  Looking back though, there were a bunch of dumber-than-rocks kids.  I wonder where they ended up.


Finally, what is it with men and nicknames?  Jeff of East Side Bouldering had a bunch of nicknames for the people he worked with..."Dumb Girl", "Fat Bastard", and "Front Butt".

John works with a guy he dubbed "Nipple Man"...I think he has funny nipples or something...I have no idea.

I think people who hate their jobs excel at nicknaming.  I have one for the lady who has a cube near mine: Crazy Coughy Lady. Of course when I say it out loud, it sounds like "crazy coffee lady", but whatever.

She sounds kind of like the whimpering Skeksis in the Dark Crystal.

Some recent photos

I made two cakes for Mike and Sandrine's wedding yesterday.  It was such a beautiful ceremony.  They had eloped in a courthouse back in December, but the official ceremony for friends and family was yesterday.  The weather was gorgeous. I still can't believe it is June. It was a potluck, with potluck homebrew too! Mike is an avid homebrewer.  The flowers were picked by a few people and placed in beer bottles around the ceremony.  It was pretty cool.

I'm thisclose to buying a plane ticket to Vermont to be at John and Lauren's wedding in mid-July.  After that I fly back to Davis and then back to the east coast for a family reunion.  My family's guilt tripping has finally paid off.  We're going to a "lake" (Lake Keowee - it's really a reservoir, and we all know how I feel about reservoirs in general...useful, but not necessarily a vacation destination) in South Carolina...

Charmingly, wikipedia says that Lake Keowee is used as cooling water for three nuclear reactors. WOO!

Bonus photo: a wagon train (!) that stopped Hwy 50 a few weekends ago:

So because I never think I'm good at anything, does this mean I'm good at everything?

Dunning-Kruger effect.

Scientific publishing is effed up.

See here.

So much wasting of money and time.

Yes, please!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niqrrmev4mA&feature=player_embedded#!

Can't embed again, but the new Lady Gaga video is out (Alejandro).  Very Madonna circa Express Yourself, Vogue and Like a Prayer.  Plus the song has always reminded me of La Isla Bonita...

And it reminds me of this:

The poster anyway...I was never able sit through the whole thing.

Anyway, enjoy it.  I'm pretty sure that Verve made the bra she wears in the scenes with the beds.  Such Klassy stuff, that Verve clothing.

Death in the family

Well, my grandfather died today.  He'd been doing poorly for a while, and had taken a nosedive within the last week.  My mom flew out last week and extended her ticket until Sunday, so it's good that she's there.  She left me a message and sounded kind of broken up, which is out of character for my mom. Mom is a stoic, and doesn't show emotion too often.  I guess that my mom had taken grandma to Ukiah for an hour or two and pap pap died while they were in town. Grandma Audrey was upset that she wasn't there. They were married for 72 years.  The nurse said that pap pap died peacefully, took a few deep breaths and said "Audrey" and died.  I don't think we'll tell Grandma that her name was his last word for a while.