Four things and squee make a post

[lagilman]

1. First attempt last night to make quinoa pilaf. Oh, om nom nom. I'm keeping that recipe, yes. Served with sauteed fresh spinach and fajita stripes marinated in white vinegar and olive oil. Wine: a white Rioja. I'm not normally a fan of Spanish wines, but this works. Would work better, I think, with salmon. Next time.

2. As part of my paying-forward, as some of youse know, I help answer queries that come in via the SFWA website, about How Do I... Mostly they're honest, if basic, questions. But this week... oy. People, do us all a favor. Not only should you compose your e-mails with proper punctuation and grammar when asking a writing professional questions, but you should not ask them questions that could -- and would -- have been answered with a 30-second Google search.

3. Meanwhile and apropos of both nothing and much, I've noticed that when someone starts a statement with "as usual..." my brain just shuts down and won't listen any more. You could be saying "as usual, the sun rose in the east" and it wouldn't matter: to my brain, you're coming at me with an agenda. I'm very tired of agendas.

*deep breath*


4. okay, matociquala triggered the first lines meme. The idea is that, by posting the first line of works in progress, they become real and finished. Or you're shamed into finishing them. Something like that. Hrm. I've actually finished up a lot of stuff that had been pending. Yay me. Of course, a bunch of things due haven't been started yet. Eeeep.

"A Heart of Wisdom:" Claire knew the rules.

"Waterwitch:" She stood under the waterfall and felt the drops crash down onto her skin, hearing the murmuring of the molecules as they splattered and reformed, some bouncing off her skin, some slipping inside pores, under skin, hydrating cells and becoming part of her own internal system

"Herstory:" Nothing was off-limits to a Sandersen girl, not when she was coming into puberty.

"Mad Cats and Englishmen:" “I was thinking it’s maybe time we had a change of scenery."

THE RAT KING: “It’s a beautiful tree.”

TRICKS OF THE TRADE: Once, I thought it was all about your intent; that if you meant well, if you didn’t hurt anyone, you could sleep with a clear conscience.

THE VINEART WAR, Book 3: I am neither Vineart nor Washer, and I view the world down the line of my blade, not the legends of some demigod long dead and gone.





What did we learn in this week's episode of Leverage? Don't upset Parker. You upset Parker, the boys will come down on you like a pile of really nasty, evil bricks. And I loved the way they all broke down the cold read to her -- she really never did worry much about people when there was so much wonderful inanimate stuff in the world.

I do hope they don't socialize her too much, tho. Awesome Parker is Awesome as she is.

We also learned it takes a village to con a charlatan. The con itself took a little too long, IMO, but it was fun to see everyone do their bit. (and I note, thankfully, that the matter of Nate's drinking has been pushed back into the background [nobody's going to say anything if it doesn't interfere - until Sophie gets back], and he's less nasty-minded than he is when he's sober, yay continuity)

Tara is definitely growing on me. Also, she's better than Sophie. No, seriously. Can we keep her? (and totally ex-mil. Man, there's backstory on the backstory, isn't there?)

Other than that... I enjoyed it, I liked the classic takedown, I thought Luke Perry was excellent as a weak-fiber con man who, in the end, didn't have the guts to keep the con going in the face of personal danger (opposed to Our Team, who frequently do), I was distracted enough that I didn't see the reveal coming [I assumed they'd changed the final plan... silly me]) but other than that I got nothing. It was a fun episode, which is always a plus, but nothing about it made it fabulous.

IMO, anyway. Other opinions?

Comments

[jperceval.livejournal.com]

I loved the little touch of electrifying the table. *g* And yes, all the fun they had going after this guy b/c he Hurt One Of Their Own.

The con was a little long, yes, but that payoff of it all happening in the studio like that? Awesome and so worth the wait. And bonus, nailing 2 criminals with 1 con.

I like Tara too, though I do still miss Sophie. Can we have 2 grifters on the show, please?

[lagilman]

I loved the little touch of electrifying the table.

and the non-verbal after-exchange between Nate and Parker, after Elliot* questioned the need for that? Drinking Nate is less evil than non-drinking Nate but he's still not Nice.




*it was Elliot, yes? Brain is fuzzy....

[kradical.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was Elliot. Parker and Hardison were all for the electrifying.

[kradical.livejournal.com]

I particularly like the way they used Parker as an expository device, explaining, not just to Parker, but to the audience precisely how the cold read works. With luck, at least a few people were made to understand how charlatans like Perry's character operate and might avoid them in the future.

The only thing they didn't do was something that I know John Edwards did in his heyday: check purses and bags, ostensibly for security reasons, but also to search for clues.

[lagilman]

Hrm. There was no need to explicitly show it (they'd already established his MO), but I got the impression that they were checking bags and whatnot when/where Parker was lifting wallets.

[liuseth.livejournal.com]

{slaps hands over eyes for leverage bits} lalalala Will be watching it tonight. :)

May you share the quinoa pilaf recipe? please?

[lagilman]

see below

[neadods.livejournal.com]

And this recipe would be?

[lagilman]

for the pilaf? Take a cup of quinoa, rinse it well and let it air out. Chop fine half an onion and sautee in oil until golden. Toss in two carrots, chopped fine, and cook until soft. Add 2 cups of beef broth and the quinoa, and bring to a boil, then let it simmer for about 20 minutes, until it looks oddly curled and fluffy.

It reheats quite well, too.

[lagilman]

oh, and I tossed in a handful of pine nuts and some fresh parsley at the end, before serving.