Today’s “Dukkah” recipes

Today’s “Dukkah” recipes

Other “Dukkah” recipes How to eat Dukkah 

Today’s “Dukkah” “recipe”

Prep

This makes it look organized but often I’m doing prep and assembly at once, constantly tasting and occasionally setting things on fire. It’s probably be better if you just did prep and then assemble rather than all at once.

Put Walnuts in oven to toast. Burn them. Say, I didn’t want walnuts in my dukkah anyway, macadamia nuts are more delicious. Toast, sprinkle with salt (or purchase toasted, but fresh toasted is always better) and roughly chop in the food processor the following ingredients. Decant each set of nuts into a bowl before chopping the next set of stuffs. Over blending will give you butter, which is also delicious, but not what we’re looking for today.

  • Almonds
  • Sesame seeds
  • Macadamia nuts (chop with a few sesame seeds, macadamias have such high fat content they turn into butter SUPER easily).
  • Black sesame
  • Cumin seeds (do last because very pungent)

All of these things are now in different bowls, so you can make different combinations and mixes (fun family activity, everyone gets to make their own dukkah blend).

Mix one – Zatar forward

  • Almonds
  • Sesame seeds
  • Macadamia nuts
  • Zatar blend (oregano, sumac, sesame seed)
  • More sumac
  • Anardana powder  (ground pomegranate seeds, adds a lemony zing of yum)

Mix two – cumin forward

  • Almonds
  • Sesame seeds
  • Macadamia nuts
  • Cumin
  • Powdered Bush Tomato
  • Powdered Lemon Myrtle
  • Sumac
  • Anardana Power
Ten Things I’ve Done That You (probably) Haven’t

Ten Things I’ve Done That You (probably) Haven’t

John Scalzi has thrown down the challenge with his own list of ten, here is my list of ten.

First the Australian cliche section
1) Played with wild snakes (poor snakes)
2) Had a tick leap from the head of a habituated (not tame) kangaroo straight onto my hand and immediately latch on
3) Waded through flood waters and even swum through the really big “puddles”
4) Seen the sky go red with the haze of bushfires (ok this is really for the Americans reading, everyone from my hometown has seen this happen)

Less cliched
5) Tried out for the Rat City Roller Girls four times and finally become awesome enough to be on the Rat Lab (RCRG’s new skater development program)… now I have to bring a whole new level of awesome!
6) Moved to another country with my sweetheart… not that unique, except that we arrived with six suitcases and posted a large box of hats.
7) Been paid cash monies to be a guest performance poet!… my first creative paying gig.
8) Probably said “World’s first Indigenous Safe Sex Superhero” more times than any other human being
9) Had a circus run away with me (managing a youth circus was my last ‘normal’ job. I said “for three months only” which of course ended up being six months)
10) Kissed a fellow actor so violently on stage I split his lip.

My Panels at Orycon

My Panels at Orycon

I will be at Orycon! Where I will be on many fine writerly panels.

Friday

Photograph of four yip yips from Sesame Street.
I was not at Orycon 2007, but these yip yips were. Thanks Helix90 on flickr for making this available through creative commons on flickr. Thank you yip yips for being yip yips.
Getting Your First Professional Sale
Morrison Room Friday Nov 8 2:00pm-3:00pm
An author can struggle for months or years before achieving their first success, but even after writing their opus, they can be tripped up by a process which is both entirely new to them and yet critical to their success. This panel describes what an author may experience as they
revel in their first success.
Jason Andrew, Liz Argall, Camille Alexa, Jennifer Linnaea

Effective Readings
Morrison Room, Friday Nov 8, 3:00pm-4:00pm
You may be a good writer, but reading aloud is a separate skill. Learn to make your words on the page sound great.
Liz Argall, Anne Bishop moderating, David D. Levine, Gra Linnaea, Sonia OrinLyris

Writing for Graphic Novels
Hawthorne Room, Friday Nov 8, 7:00pm-8:00pm
You’re a writer, not an artist! How to approach storytelling with an eye for graphic novels.
Blake Hutchins, Gra Linnaea moderating, Liz Argall, Aaron Duran

Saturday

Art collaboration
Ross Island Room, Saturday Nov 9 11:00am-12:00pm
Creating an image that is true to the vision of another artist, author, or musician while still retaining artistic integrity.
Steven Hoffart moderating, Liz Argall, Jeff Sturgeon, Vandy H. Hall, John R. Gray III

Interview with Editor Guest of Honor
Jefferson/Adams Room, Saturday Nov 9, 1:00pm-2:00pm
Liz Argall interviews Editor Guest of Honor, Liz Gorinsky

Liz Argall reading
Grant Room Saturday Nov 9 3:30pm-4:00pm
Liz Argall reads her own work!

Sunday

Graphic Novels and Comics as Literature
Hawthorne Room, Sun Nov 10 ,12:00pm-1:00pm
What is noteworthy in the unique storytelling found in graphic novels? Are books really more literary, when they’re not illustrated?
Liz Argall moderating, Jason V Brock, Viktor Maddok, David F Walker, Christian Lipski

Web Comics You Should Be Reading
Hawthorne Room, Sun Nov 10, 3:00pm-4:00pm
If you love humor, fantasy or total geekery, you really want to read webcomics. Writers and artists discuss their favorite web comics. Bring your faves to share.
Jake Richmond, Edd Vick moderating, Liz Argall, Blake Hutchins

Updates soon, the meaning of life for now

Updates soon, the meaning of life for now

It’s been a pretty amazing month, full of so much stuff I ran out of puff and momentum to tell you. I promise I’ll write a real update soon. For now, here’s Tim Minchin on the meaning of life.

Says 18 minutes, but it’s really 12.

Wishing you all joyful short term goals that you can pursue with passion.

More Worldcon activities!

More Worldcon activities!

Wanna hangout? Wanna come skate?

I’ve updated my main page of Lonestar 3 programming, here is what I’ve added. Yum!

Saturday 20:00-22:00 – Glitter and Mayhem Book Launch at San Antonio Rollercade

I’m not in this book, but you bet I’ll be at the Rollercade supporting this launch.

  1. 1) It’s a nifty looking book
  2. 2) Meet and skate with editors John Klima, Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, artist Galen Dara, and authors Rachel Swirsky,  Maurice Broaddus, Cat Rambo, Daryl Gregory, and Vylar Kaftan!
  3. 3) It’s glow skating night (they also have classic arcade games, but I’m not sacrificing track time unless it’s an amazing pinball game)
  4. 4) It’s rollerskating at a convention

More info

My Lonestar World Science Fiction Convention Program

My Lonestar World Science Fiction Convention Program

Lonestar 3 is almost upon us! I have signed up for quite a bit! I’d love to see you at any of my events (and given my programming I won’t have a lot of socializing time, so please come visit me.

Thursday 13:30-14:30 Locus Table

I’ll be at the Locus table in the dealers room from 1:30-2:30.

Come by and check out their sweet stuff, I’ll have mini-comics and sketch stuff if you want.

Friday 12:00 – 13:00 – Conflicting Cultures When Preserving the Environment

Panel will identify first and third world perspectives related to environmental stewardship. Who has to pay, and what is the price?

Liz Argall moderating, John K Strickland Jr., Gail Carriger , Christopher Kastensmidt and Brenda Cooper

Friday 16:00 – 17:00 Have a Literary Beer with Liz Argall

Please come and drink with me! Jo Walton will also be having literary beers at this time. Jo is awesome, so come have a beer. You can pretend to hang out with me and really hang out with her and then I can impress her with how people will come and have beer with me. Make me look good to Jo. I want to look good to a poet lady who writes about Victorianesque dragons with ritual cannibalism. If not for me, do it for Jo’s accent.

Do it!

Friday 19:00 – 20:00 Showing off Your Costume

Learn how to best present your costume, whether on stage, posing in the hall for pictures, or with a professional photographer or artist.

Liz Argall moderating, Kevin Roche and John O’Halloran.

and that’s just Friday!!!

Saturday 12:00 – 13:00 Food in Science Fiction and/or Fantasy

From soylent green, to vat-grown protein, to descriptions of lavish meals in Game of Thrones, food is depicted in many forms in science fiction and fantasy. Our panellists discuss the role of food in world-building. There may even be recipes, although probably not for soylent green.

Chris O’Halloran moderating, Liz Argall, Fran Wilde and John Pitts.

Saturday 15:00 – 16:00 First Contact in 3..2..1…

If First Contact were to happen today, and was an open event, how would the human race react? Would we feel inferior, or just try to steal their technology? Might we even attack them? What is the probability of them being hostile, curious, invading, tourists, game hunters, refugees, or would be gods?

Lawrence M. Schoen moderating, Jeffrey Shanks, Liz Argall and Cenk Gokce

Saturday 17:00-18:00 SFWA Table in the dealers room

I will be at the SFWA table. I will sign things. I will draw sketches. If you’re lucky/unlucky you might end up in a comic.

And then it is Saturday night and … we rollerskate!

Saturday 20:00-22:00 – Glitter and Mayhem Book Launch at San Antonio Rollercade

I’m not in this book, but you bet I’ll be at the Rollercade supporting this launch.

  1. 1) It’s a nifty looking book
  2. 2) Meet and skate with editors John Klima, Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, artist Galen Dara, and authors Rachel Swirsky, Maurice Broaddus, Cat Rambo, Daryl Gregory, and Vylar Kaftan!
  3. 3) It’s glow skating night (they also have classic arcade games, but I’m not sacrificing track time unless it’s an amazing pinball game)
  4. 4) It’s rollerskating at a convention

More info

Sunday 15:00 – 16:00 Biodiversity: Why We’re Storing Billions of Seeds

Millennium Seed Bank, which has stored over 3 billion seeds to date from dwindling yet essential plant species. The reasons for storing seeds may be varied. In the case of food crops, many useful plants that were developed over centuries are now no longer used for commercial agricultural production and are becoming rare. Storing seeds also guards against catastrophic events like natural disasters, outbreaks of disease, or war.

H. G. Stratmann moderating, Sam Scheiner, Liz Argall and Amy Thomson

And then I look around with bafflement and confusion. Only one panel today? What do I do? How do I act? How will I remember who I am without a microphone in front of my face meats?

Monday 11:00 – 12:00 The Left Hand of Darkness

Le Guin’s work about a stranger in a strange land (a male human on a world of aliens with shifting genders) is widely regarded of one of the best works of fiction about gender. Longtime fans of the books talk about what The Left Hand of Darkness has meant to them, and if their views of the book have changed over time.

Jo Walton moderating, Laurie Mann, Liz Argall and Lee Martindale.

Will Jo be speaking to me after this panel? I don’t know! I’ve been rereading this book with post it notes in hand I think I might be controversial! I will certainly be speaking on behalf of my 13 year old self and that girl is feisty.

Monday 14:00 – 15:00 Reading: Liz Argall

Fifty minutes of words from my mouthparts. Oh, yeah. Come to my reading! Do it! DO EEEEET! I will be bringing minicomics. I have a soothing voice if you want to lie down at the back and have a nana nap.

And then I am done! Come find me, I might be lost and confused. I might not know who I am anymore! I will be giddy and happy and possibly still in character from my reading (so actually you might want to avoid me).

What's that bosun ducky? People should come to my reading? You bet! ^_^
What’s that bosun ducky? People should come to my reading? You bet! ^_^
NSHOBOS vs NSOOOOOO GOOD LOOKIN’ & NSHOBO awards

NSHOBOS vs NSOOOOOO GOOD LOOKIN’ & NSHOBO awards

Wow, that was such a fun evening.

How to describe? Perhaps images will do it better. Thank you thankyou thankyou to our photographer, Nick Skol.

I also did a somewhat rambly youtube post where I talk about the NSHOBO awards and such. The NSHOBOS are great, providing training and support for Derby Non Skating Officials. They have a shiny new website with lots of resources on it.

You should go look at their website and not look at the youtube post below, really, and for real. It’s a sleep deprived Liz talking about raffle prizes, getting second place prize for best NSO to Skater and how much fun the scrimmage was.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!