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Weekend Open Thread: Welcome to the Persephone Lounge

Is it Friday yet? Yes? It is? Thank goodness. Finally. It’s been quite a week, so the Persephone Lounge is now open for business. That means it’s time for everyone to sit back, relax with your beverage of choice (mine is Hendrick’s on the rocks with a slice of cucumber), and chat it up with your fellow Persephoneers. If you’ve been lurking, now’s a perfect time to say hi and introduce yourself. Everyone, settle in, get to commenting, and have a great weekend.

Here’s a little something to get us started:

214 replies on “Weekend Open Thread: Welcome to the Persephone Lounge”

Today is 3/14 here in the US (because that’s just how we roll in our date shorthand). AKA: Pi Day! To celebrate, I baked a bunch of pie to bring to the office. We have my super secret special bourban pumpkin pie recipe that I just made up, apple pie with caramel pecan crumble top, and mixed berry with cute little lattices.

Get your Pi/e on, everyone!

Naps can be very good. I am a strong proponent of the 20-minute powernap. that sometimes becomes an hourlong snoozeathon.

Well to be honest I haven’t decided. What it will be about. I want to do a researched, non-fiction book and I have some ideas, but I haven’t committed exactly. Since I’ll be living in the U.S. soon, it’ll be an American story about civil rights or the immigrant experience, since my family has roots in both. I just have to find the right story to tell. Hence, the research….

Well I hope it will be. Heh! Sounds like a really interesting research topic you have, also–I think narratives can provide fascinating insights into a broader phenomenon. Are you looking at any particular people or the idea of migration more broadly?
Not that you really have time for outside reading these days, I expect, but I just read this great book, The Warmth of Other Suns, on the migration of American blacks from the south to the north. The author interviewed some 1200 people for the thing–it’s a masterpiece.

Anyway, no, we are heading home in a few months. Mr. Blue is going to school and I… hope I will be writing this book. Whatever it is…

Ooh, do you ever do any research on this topic with foreign language books, or translated versions of originals? I’m in grad school for translation studies, and your research interest sounds more or less like my thesis (only, I focus on the literature of the Haitian diaspora and the unequal postcolonial power balances that still can follow minority literature when translated for an Anglo American market).

I focus on English-Language texts (my field is Postcolonial Literature in English), but lately I’ve noticed an increase in the research done on translation from a Postcolonial perspective. The last few conferences I’ve been to, there have been at least a couple of panels on translation.

Good morning / almost-evening for you! (Right? Time differences always confuse me and then I feel silly.) It’s finals week for me, so I don’t have classes and don’t have to go into work today (I have an office assistantship and they’re really understanding about the finals week crunch), but I do have some errands to run. And I finished that “religion and Tori Amos” prospectus I was telling you about the other day, so huzzah! How is your day?

Aw, I’m sorry. My day was somewhat meh too – my friend and I watched a documentary for our history final paper and I feel pretty lost about how to write about it – it has nothing to do with anything we talked about in class, and I have to go to work today so I’m freaking out a bit about how I’ll get it done in time. But I have to, so I will somehow, and then I can finally focus on my thesis.

Does anyone else frequent the wordpress site Strange Flowers? If you love history and biographies I suggest a trip to it.

The author seems to have an interest in stange and outlandish women. I’ve discovered a few good biographies from his posts.

Any suggestions for similar sites?

Ugh, great. I called my mom 3x today trying to figure out our plans for tomorrow and she never got back to me. Then, when I started to get worried, I texted her boyfriend to make sure everything was okay and he texted back that she’s sleeping. Now I can look forward to an earful from her tomorrow about not bothering her boyfriend. And I still don’t know what our plans are. Whatever. FML.

I need baking help! Anybody have a good and easy cheesecake recipe? The bf decided that cheesecake is the kind of cake he wants for his birthday. Of course, I’ve never made one before. I’m a decent baker so anything from easy to intermediate should be good. I was actually thinking of making a couple of small ones in different flavors like a chocolate and maybe some sort of fruit.

For the fruit, I’ve seen some recipes where they mix in a jam. Would plum jam/jelly work? I like cause its sweet but not super sweet. I know people do this with strawberry and raspberry but I’m curious about the plum.

Any suggestions would be great! Thanks

I have a great recipe from Gourmet! I am a cook, not a baker, yet I can still pull this off and people love it.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/New-York-Cheesecake-102592
I only put half the lemon zest, no orange, and a full teaspoon of vanilla.

I’ve never done it with fruit, but you could easily swirl in fruit jams or chocolate right before you put it in the oven.

For the crust
85ml butter melted, plus extra
for tin
140g digestive biscuits , made
into fine crumbs
1 tbsp sugar , granulated or
golden caster

1. Position an oven shelf in the middle of the oven. Preheat the
oven to fan 160C/conventional 180C/gas 4. Line the base of a
23cm springform cake tin with parchment paper. For the crust,
melt the butter in a medium pan. Stir in the biscuit crumbs and
sugar so the mixture is evenly moistened. Press the mixture into
the bottom of the pan and bake for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire
rack while preparing the filling.

/// good luck!

@Lirael: One thing to keep in mind when you’re making cheesecake if you’ve never made it before, you definitely want to use a water bath. It helps the consistency stay smooth and creamy instead of scrambling the eggs. Little Girl Blue’s recipe sounds like a super easy one. Just follow the recipe as it is, but then when you put the springform pan in the baking pan to catch the drips, (like a jellyroll pan or something with sides) fill the baking pan with cool water up an inch or so. It will take a little longer to bake than the recipe indicates, but it will bake more evenly and smoothly. A water bath is the key difference between a good cheesecake and a great one.

I have a feeling the view of masculinity shown on beer and other such commercials is going to induce March Madness in me by the end of the month. Miller Lite may be the worst. You’re not less of a man because you wear skinny jeans or carry a bag. Perpetuating the idea that there is a “right” way to be a man is not helping anyone. Furthermore, you really shouldn’t be bragging about your taste, Miller Lite. It’s not like you’re Sam Adams.

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