Subject: I get the feeling...
Author:
Posted on: 2018-08-31 23:06:00 UTC
...that a few answers to "How can the PPC be improved?" will say something along the lines of needing more Board participation.
(I know I'm guilty of the same thing. Expect a mission later tonight, I'm still editing it. I'm participating I swear please don't hurt me)
It's almost September again! It's getting colder, the days are shorter and there's even more rain than usual. Unless you're on the southern hemisphere, in which case, winter's finally ending.
Anyway, it also means it's time for the annual PPC census. This is your opportunity to add questions to this year's questionnaire. If you want any questions added, tell me.
In about a week I'm going to prepare this year's census and post it.
For reference, here are the last year's surveys:
2015
2016
2017
~Ak
There's already over 80 questions and I had to avoid blowing the questionnaire up even more
But you may want a new category for "At what point are you in your education?"
I’m retired and enjoying the fact that I don’t need to pretend anything anymore.
HG
Participation, like just about everything around here apart from observing the Constitution, is entirely voluntary.
No additional questions - other than 'where is everybody?', but that's not one dor the survey.
hS
...that a few answers to "How can the PPC be improved?" will say something along the lines of needing more Board participation.
(I know I'm guilty of the same thing. Expect a mission later tonight, I'm still editing it. I'm participating I swear please don't hurt me)
...but I can't do it alone.
My advice, as usual, is to respond. If you think you have something even slightly worth sharing in response to a post, do it. Like I am now.
Also, I swear I'm working on content. People can attest to this. And my mission is happening! Still! I swear!
I know of at least a few people with entries already prepared, or partially prepared. ... Like everyone in this bit of the thread apart from hS, actually.
Also lots of people are probably heading back to school about now, that might be a factor?
~Neshomeh has actually been furiously preparing other stuff this week, but also has a BfG entry.
I mean, yeah, I wrote BfG entries, and helped several other people with theirs, but that's not where most of my work has been invested. Most of my work has been going... nowhere? I've been writing a lot, but my focus has been scattershot.
I find the idea of preparing for the Badfic Game a little ironic and funny. I mean, it's badfic. Preparation isn't usually a concept associated with badfic, y'know? Multiple people doing it is even funnier. {= )
Plus, I have now handily communicated to the FfW Admins that interest is running high this year, so hopefully they can step up whatever measures they're taking against the incursions of Lichtenstein in order to open the doors for us sooner rather than later. ^_~
~Neshomeh
In fact, I've prepared premises for entries several years in advance. This is not because I'm obsessed with the BfGs specifically at all, but rather because I can't stop coming up with ideas, especially if the ideas are jokes. Interestingly enough, the Shipfest isn't the same way for me. I guess it's because I don't really do shipping in general, but I love making joke characters and stories, and it seems I've therefore taken it upon myself to really flesh out Fanfic World. So yeah. I protec, I attac, I write too much crac.
-Twistey
But "prep" for me means transcribing an hour's worth of my thoughts on a fic idea I thought would be funny. Or horrifying. Or both.
My writing tends to be pretty off-the-cuff.
I'm moving to London in ten days. Ten. School starts in twenty-two. Talk about stress. ^^; Last day of work was yesterday; I know Delta can attest I've not been as active in the Rudi's RP channel as I normally am.
So, packing, then!
Fun? Terrifying? Both?
~Neshomeh
I got my desktop computer put up yesterday—we're going to have to ship it over because there is no way I'm going three years without any video games whatsoever. :P Last-minute doctor's appointments, catching up with friends before I go... It's been hectic.
Exciting and terrifying in equal parts. I'm not looking forward to being without my mom's cooking. I'm going to have to budget for food all by myself. I'm not ready to be an adult yet how do I adult?? D:
All your essential amino acids in one cheap and easy package! Make a whole bunch ahead of time and reheat as needed! A little salt and lime juice makes it way less boring! Infinitely variable with the addition of different spices, vegetables, and proteins! {= D
Actually, what if we had a little whip-around for people's favorite easy/cheap/quick meals? Could be a fun and very useful thread.
~Neshomeh
I am definitely planning on lots of beans, rice, and pasta. Maybe soups, too, because those can last for a good long while.
If I impress my roommates enough with my cooking, I just might be able to convince them to chip in for meals and I'll make enough for everyone. :P
As for easy and quick—my brother's favorite pasta. Angel hair, enough olive oil to coat the pasta, about three or four cloves of garlic, parsley, salt, and red pepper. Heat up the oil in a saucepan, let the garlic brown, throw it into the pasta pot, and add parsley, salt, and red pepper flakes to taste. It doesn't take long to make, either—basically, as soon as you drain the pasta and throw in the oil and other things, it's good to go.
This is a non-spicy chili, because I'm a wuss, but you can always add cayenne or whatever to taste.
1) Brown and drain:
1 pound (16 oz) hamburger [called mince in the UK?]
1 onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
2) Add:
2 16-oz cans diced tomato (or 1 plus 1 can tomato sauce [I prefer this way])
2 16-oz cans kidney beans (1 dark, 1 Mexican [a.k.a. chili beans]), rinsed and drained
1 16-oz can crisp and sweet corn, drained (or about 1.5 to 2 cups/12 oz frozen)
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
3) Simmer 1/2 hour on the stove or heat 4 hours in a crock pot
4) Serve with sharp cheddar cheese (or whatever you like) on top.
One recipe is good for about four servings. If you have a big pot, you can double it and freeze extra portions for later.
~Neshomeh
Here is how you eat as a student.
1. Walk to freezer aisle.
2. Find Tesco/Sainsburys/Morrisons cheap ready-meals.
3. Buy as many as your freezer will hold.
With the option to buy them from the chiller aisle instead if you only have a fridge with an icebox.
What sort of student has time to much about with raw meat?!?!
^_~
hS
I had a meal plan, so "shopping" was for things like granola bars to cram in my face in the morning if I didn't wake up in time to get breakfast in the cafeteria, because LOL, who does that? (I did. I did that. I like slightly chunky large-pot oatmeal very much.) That and gaming snacks, because D&D without Oreos is unthinkable.
I did have to cook for myself during my internship in Philly, though, and also my study-abroad in England, and I ate pretty well. Granted, we ate out a fair bit in England, because we were traveling around and there were interesting things to try, but still. You can do a lot with a bag of frozen chicken, pasta, and salad. Just switch out what else you're putting on top, make sure to use it up, and it works! One of my go-tos is fettuccine alfredo. I like the pouch sauce mix, but a jar is good, too. Add frozen peas and chicken, it's good stuff. Think I did a low-brow chicken parmesan at one point too, though that might have been one of the nights several of us got together for a group meal.
Maybe don't go with like half a bag of spinach and dried mango, though? I regretted that one. Had to eat the spinach, though...
Oh, and take care of your dishes. Don't be the jerk that lets things sit around for two weeks and become the birthplace of a new civilization of mold-based life forms.
~Neshomeh
You don't just crack an egg over your ramen while it's cooking?
And hey, if you're feeling really fancy, nuy some pre-cooked chicken and tear it up into chunks and put that in the ramen too.
That sounds like an ingredient. Don't you know that's a dirty word?
hS still remembers someone managing to set off the fire alarms by burning pasta in his first year at uni
My sister burned Shreddies?
Back during the prompt with cooking things, remember?
Today, I vill show you our big mentor, Boris, shoving how to survive by tight budget. Dis good for any student with no job, or trying to save their moneys for fan stuff, da? Good. Grab your Slav spirit (and any vodka you have), and let's go, blyat!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKfmRhfuI8g
If you want to do this, you'll probably have to order capellini rather than capelli d'angelo. The latter is a bit more of a niche product here, and either way up you'll need to get it from online shopping services.
As for pasta recipes, well, I do a pretty good cheapo bolognese.
You will need:-
Mince (1 cheapo supermarket box)
Onion (White or red, doesn't matter which)
Carrot
Celery
Garlic
2 Tins Tomatoes
2 Beef Oxo Cubes
Peel and chop an onion, chop or crush some garlic, chop a carrot or two into thin-ish slices, and chop a bunch of celery for bulk. Get your saucepan nice and hot and bung a bit of olive oil in - if it starts hissing and spitting like an angry cat, you're good to go. First add the onion, wait until it's starting to go clear, then add the carrots, then the celery, then the garlic. Once the onions are nicely browned and the carrots are soft, brown off the mince. If your pan's looking a bit dry when you add the mince, a little more olive oil won't hurt. When the meet is browned off, add the tinned tomatoes, crumble in the Oxo cubes, and stir on a high heat for about 5 minutes. After that, transfer it to a low heat, put a lid on the pan, and let it simmer in the pot for an hour or two. Stir it every 15-20 minutes. Once it feels done, it probably is, so whack a pan of water on to boil and select your pasta of choice. I like tagliatelle with this because... well, because it's Mel's favourite, if I'm honest, but any long pasta is fine with the exception of the really thin stuff like capellini.
It's not quick, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it's easy to the point that you can do it whilst playing Overwatch, so that's good. You can also scale up the quantities fairly easily, meaning you've got shedloads of it for your freezer. =]
(Come to think of it, I still technically am, given that I'm posting this from my phone while standing in the bag check line at an airport so I can get home.)
And then I'm also moving up to Seattle this upcoming Thursday, which means I'll have a lot of packing to do before then and a pile of post-move logistics and settling in to the department after.
- Tomash, who's been meaning to kick off a Fallen London thread but doesn't have the keyboard for it
But if you want me to beta it when you're done with it, I'm more than happy to do it like last year.
I'll ping you when it's ready for betaing.
~Ak
