Summer travel and event scheduling

[rax]

Short version:

• Brother's college graduation in Chicago, Jun 19-21 (you probably don't care about this unless you're family)
• Anthrocon (Jul 2-5 in Pittsburgh)
• Readercon (Jul 9-12 in Boston)
• Not Worldcon, sadly (it just costs as much as the other three put together and I'd rather do those)

Long version:

I'll be in Chicago or Chicago-ish from June 19th to the 21st because rathdei is graduating from college. I don't have a hotel booked yet, and I don't think I have couches I can surf, but maybe I am wrong. seth99rb , do you have plans yet? I probably won't have time for non-family stuff but I might be able to squeeze a couple of hours in if someone is nearby, and I always love seeing people. Let me know.

I'm going to Anthrocon, which I've never done before, but everyone tells me is fun and, well, it definitely counts as relevant to my interests. We have a suite in the Doubletree and we'd be happy to share. We're probably sharing with lutris , but there's room for more; let me know. I'm excited to meet new people there, including some of you reading this and your friends, so feel free to drop me planning lines. I don't have any specific plans other than "show up, meet people, play games, wear a catgirl costume* frequently." Actually, I do have this plot to bring scads of vegan food both to save money and to prevent "oh god where am I going to find vegan food when twenty furries want to go and eat nasty pizza." If you think having many gallons of lentil-seitan curry for the weekend is a good idea, drop me a line.

I'm going to Readercon, which at this point I pay for a year or two in advance. Readercon is the thing that convinced me that things ending in -con were worth going to. If you're interested in speculative fiction even a little bit and you want to have lots of amazing conversations about literature then this is where you want to be. It's local, and it's relatively inexpensive, so all you local people really have no excuse. postrodent , I am looking directly at you. I'm tempted to just bike there each day, though I'm tempted to do that every year and end up not doing so so that I can ferry people instead. I'll probably poll people on that issue closer to the event, since if you're making plans as to how you are getting somewhere ten miles away four months in advance, you are like me crazy.

If you've read this far you are either bored or addicted to scheduling information, so maybe you're interested in a couple of awesome concerts in Boston in April. The fall/winter will feature Fur and Loathing in ???, Catgirl Goth Rave, and maybe trips to North Carolina and/or California. Maybe even Texas. I don't know. Somewhere warm. But that will depend at least in part on grad school scheduling, and that information isn't available yet.

* You might be thinking "But Rachel, isn't wearing a catgirl costume around a bunch of people who have the hots for catgirls a terrible idea?" Here's the thing: Sure, if you're wearing a catgirl cosutme around, people might hit on you. Usually they're perfectly polite and you can just say no. But if they're not, and you hiss at them and make clawing motions at their face until they go away, everyone around you considers this completely socially acceptable. Personally I find this much more comfortable than your average nightclub, where people will hit on me anyway solely because I have breasts, and hissing at them and making physical threats is somehow considered rude. Your mileage may vary.

Comments

[rax.livejournal.com]

It's a little different every time, but here's the gist:

First, make this seitan: http://www.postpunkkitchen.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=15959 You can get the gluten at Harvest Co-Op in Central Square, or maybe from Whole Foods?

Then get a giant non-stick pot, like really big, like bigger than your head in all dimensions. 12-quart works, though I want to find a bigger one. You can use what I semi-affectionately call a "stick" pot though you will have to stir really aggressively to minimize what burns onto the bottom. You'll want the following ingredients:

2 large yellow onions
OPTIONAL: a bunch of garlic
a bunch of spices: I always use cinnamon, cumin, and coriander, and then experiment from there
OPTIONAL: 2 large potatoes or sweet potatoes
2-3 cups of lentils
OPTIONAL: veggie broth or bullion (I use the "better than bullion" stuff since one jar lasts me like six months in the fridge)
1 16-ounce can of diced tomatoes (tomato sauce works but there's more texture to the diced tomatoes and you're boiling it down anyway)
OPTIONAL: Other things that taste good in curry like chickpeas, currants, hot peppers

Put a bunch of olive oil in the pot with some finely chopped onions (like, 1cmx1cm pieces) and garlic if you want it. Pour in spices and cook them way down while you chop the potatoes into one-inch square hunks. Add in the potatoes and the lentils and 4-5 cups of water. Some of the water can be replaced with veggie broth and it adds flavor, but it's not strictly required. Make that boil and then put a lid on and simmer it for maybe 45 minutes, stirring occasionally (or not occasionally if you don't have a non-stick pot). Then open it up, add the remaining ingredients, and cook for an additional hour or so on low-medium heat to condense. Add in the seitan, chopped into chunks, partway through this process. (The seitan is actually optional --- I often make it with just chickpeas and currants --- but dude, seitan.)

Goes great over basmati rice; you can make it taste really different by switching the type of lentils or potatoes and the spices without actually changing the recipe, really. If you're not vegan, you can replace the olive oil with ghee; if you're not even vegetarian, I bet you could use meat stock or, I don't know, actual meat. I was going to say "and that should hold you over until you post the actual recipe" but I think I just did. Enjoy! Let me know how it works for you if you try it.

[etotheipi.livejournal.com]

That sounds awesome. I tried seitan for the first time a couple weeks ago and liked it a lot. If you're ever around MIT at lunchtime, you should try the barbecue seitan sandwich from the Clover food truck. I'm not sure if it's vegan, but I'm sure they will make it vegan if you ask.

[rax.livejournal.com]

That's totally bikable from work, I'll definitely check it out. Thanks!

[paxed.livejournal.com]

Garlic is optional? *boggle*

[rax.livejournal.com]

In my experiments, removing the onion changes the flavor a lot more than removing the garlic. I certainly recommend the garlic, but if you don't have it, it's not really a huge deal, in my experience. Maybe I should put in more garlic next time, though... :)