Quarterly baking report [Q1 2023]

My cooking is best described as edible, so I wouldn’t entirely trust anything I have to say about dinner recipes, but people at least tell me they like my baking. Here’s a review of what we baked in the first three months of 2023 with some notes.

Linzer cookies – King Arthur Baking – This was a post-Christmas bake (hence the Christmas tree shapes). I’m pretty sure I would have reduced the sugar from 1/2 to 1/3 cup, we may have used one whole egg instead of an egg yolk, and we substituted almond extract for the lemon zest/cinnamon and vanilla. The almond extract we had was quite strong, so maybe be aware of that if you do a similar switch. The cookies come out like a crisp sugar cookie with a finer crumb, and I used jam for the filling. Our cookies turned out well, though very almondy. The dough works nicely, so the rolling/cutting out isn’t too tedious. Would bake again.

Clockwise from top left: Linzer cookies, filled wool roll, Nutella/chocolate babka, cranberry apple galette

Filled wool roll – King Arthur Baking – We may have baked this partly (mostly) because it looked interesting. It’s a sweetened bread, so I think we followed the recipe exactly this time. The base is a Japanese milk bread that’s then filled, rolled, cut, and shaped to give it its form and the filling is a mixture of cream cheese and freeze-dried fruit. This was a fun and tasty bake, but as usual I’m reminded of why I don’t bake bread that often because why does proving take so long?

Coconut shortbread cookies – Not sure on the recipe for this bake, which was done mainly to make a dent in some expired coconut flour. I liked the cookies, though the coconut flour definitely does something to the texture.

Prinsesstarta – The Great British Baking Show: The Big Book of Amazing Cakes – I picked up the book at the library, wanted to make something from it, and had a birthday cake to make: enter, Prinsesstarta. For those unfamiliar, it’s a cake layered with jam and pastry cream, then covered in whipped cream and marzipan. Going in to the bake, I knew it would be a long process, and after having done it, the cake is good, but I’m not sure it’s worth the effort for me. I can confirm I’m in the pro-marzipan camp though.

Prinsesstarta

Cranberry apple galette – The Pioneer Woman – For pie day we went slightly off script with a galette. My pie crust is still a work in progress so I can’t say too much about the recipe. Overall, it was more or less edible, and the fruit was great.

Nutella/chocolate babka – Again, I’m not positive which recipe we ended up using. I do know we made a Nutella variation on a babka, and as long as your bread turns out, it’s bread and chocolate so assuming you like bread and chocolate there’s not much to complain about. Same comment as above about proving but otherwise I have no grievances against the recipe.

911 Trail [May 2023]

The 911 Loop Trail is located behind the 911 Memorial field in Southborough, MA. The 911 field is an artificial turf field used for youth soccer, football, and lacrosse that’s been in use for at least a couple of decades. I believe the 911 trail is a newer development, possibly a result of a Covid-induced renewal of interest in the outdoors, but don’t quote me on that.

The trail is a 1.2-mile loop on a peninsula in the Sudbury Reservoir. One side of the loop goes along a Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) access road while the other follows the shoreline more closely. The access road portion of the trail is wide and flat, probably accessible to strollers and mobility devices, but near the reservoir and on the other side of the loop the trail is narrower and rockier. The whole trail travels through forest and provides view of the Sudbury Reservoir.

We hiked the trail in mid-May when the leaves and ferns had reappeared after another New England winter. Lily of the valley, wild geranium, and starflowers were in bloom, and we also found a number of oak apples (oak galls). Turns out oak galls are formed by chemicals from some gall wasp larvae to protect them as they grow, so that was a fun discovery. No wildlife sightings except a possible double-crested cormorant to report, but there were a lost umbrella and multitool.

Clockwise from top left: Oak gall (cross section), lily of the valley, wild geranium, starflowers

As far as hiking trails go, the 911 Loop Trail’s on the shorter side, with minimal elevation changes, so it could be fairly easily covered in 30-60 minutes depending on how many botanical/environmental tangents you get sidetracked by (all of them, if you’re hiking with me). It’s a pleasantly wooded trail with some nice views of the reservoir, so a good easy trail with decent payoff. Quick post for a quick trail today; I’ll be back later with a report from the kitchen.

Fern land

Go Out Doors and MacCallum Wildlife Management Area [May 2023]

Ellsworth McAfee Park in Northborough, MA was hosting an outdoor art event called Go Out Doors where local artists painted, as you might have guessed, doors, that were then displayed in the park. There were nine doors in total, placed along one of the sidewalks through the park. I liked the landscapes and the goats, and the second door from the left below (A Walk by a Pond) had a bunch of local wildlife sprinkled throughout the painting, including a frog, Canada goose, wild turkey, skunk, deer, groundhog, and raccoon.

 

Doors (from left to right) (click to enlarge) - Kids at Play (Brittni Laquidara), A Walk by a Pond (Rose Herrmann), Local Getaway (Lisa Hayden), No Place Like Home (Suzanne Cox), Purple Guitar (Jill Strait), What's your Dream (Anne Plaisance)

The park also has courts for pickleball, volleyball, and basketball, as well as soccer fields, a playground, and a walking track. When we were there, it was fairly busy with youth soccer, kids on the playground, people playing pickleball, and parents and families walking. After admiring the doors, we headed down the street to the Wayne F. MacCallum Wildlife Management Area (MacCallum WMA).

Massachusetts Wildlife Management Areas are managed by the commonwealth through MassWildlife and are intended to provide land for wildlife. They may be used for hunting and fishing as well as hiking and bird watching, and are typically less developed than parks, with parking lots and trails that may be unpaved. MacCallum WMA covers 906 acres in Northborough and Westborough and contains Lake Chauncy and Little Chauncy Pond. Until 1971, the Lyman School for Boys, a reform school established by the state, ran the school and a farm on the now WMA land.

Hole in the trees

We hiked a ~3.5 mile loop to Lake Chauncy, up the lake, and back to the west parking lot. Trails were not paved but main trails to and around Lake Chauncy were wide and easily passable, varying from dirt and gravel to grass. Side trails through the woods were narrower though still easy to follow. There are maps available but there is no signage in the WMA itself and trails don’t always appear on the maps. You probably won’t get lost, but you may not end up exactly where you’re intending to go the first time.

Pond by the west entrance

The landscape varies from ponds and lakes to forest and fields leased for corn growing. Wildlife sightings were plentiful and included a red-tailed hawk, a goose, red-winged blackbirds, frogs, turtles, and a coyote(?!). The weather was nice, the trails were pleasant, the surroundings were interesting, and we didn’t get eaten by a coyote, so all in all, it was another successful hiking trip.

Eastern coyote (according to Google Lens)

Cedar Hill and Crane Swamp [April 2023]

The Crane Swamp Conservation Area is a 2,225-acre parcel of land located mostly in Northborough, MA that includes Cedar Hill, managed by the Sudbury Valley Trustees (SVT), and Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) land with a water treatment plant. Cedar Hill as well as the other hills in the conservation area are drumlins, formed by glacial activity, and the other main attraction is the 400-acre red maple swamp. Trails at Crane Swamp are part of a trail network linking it to neighboring towns, and I’d estimate there are around 4-5 miles of trails with loops of 1-4 miles possible to hike.

Eastern bluebird

We visited on a spring day in April 2023, and it was one of the last hikes we took before I got my stalker Garmin watch, so I don’t have watch data, but I’m pretty sure we did a 2.5 mile loop on the Cedar Hill and Crane Swamp Trails that takes you up to the top of Crane Hill and into the swamp down to the aqueduct where the MWRA treatment plant is. I’m guessing we were there for a little under an hour and a half, which is either a fairly moderate pace or a moderately fast pace stopping to examine every wildflower, bird, and skunk cabbage you encounter. I’ll let you guess how I hike.

Crabapple tree in bloom

The main trails were well signed and pretty well maintained and easy to follow. On this visit the skunk cabbage was abundant, wild violets and bluets were out, crabapple (I think) trees were in bloom, fiddleheads were unfurling, leaves had not quite emerged, and we had sightings of an American kestrel and an eastern bluebird. Looking back at photos, I think it might have drizzled on us a bit, but otherwise the hike was nice. The view from the top of Cedar Hill was what you might expect of a hill in the suburban northeast – lots of trees and some occasional buildings. Good for a quick outing, at least in the spring. That’s foreshadowing for a future post, if I ever get around to writing it. I am officially just about 2 years behind now, but I’m hoping I can start catching up with some quicker shorter posts. Here’s a start, at least.

View from the top of Cedar Hill

What was watched in 2024

I didn’t watch many movies last year, and fell asleep a lot while watching Netflix, but I did still make it through quite a bit.

Barbie – I got around to seeing the Barbie movie last year and enjoyed it. The plot was fairly average, but fun, and I liked seeing all the different Barbies as characters.

Mean Girls (2024) – I was curious about it, so I picked up the Mean Girls movie musical based on the musical based on the movie based on a book. It wasn’t bad, but for me, the 2004 movie is just so good at capturing high school in the mid-2000s that the musical didn’t really add anything. There are also some parts that only make sense pre-cell phones and internet everywhere that they tried to adapt but again, the (first) movie already did it so well.

The Big Year – Owen Wilson, Jack Black, and Steve Martin spend a year competing to see the most birds within twelve months. This might have edged Barbie out as my favorite movie of the year. Though it’s not a mockumentary, it has the same feel. And who wouldn’t love a movie about birdwatching? (A lot of people; the reviews were at best mediocre.)

La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) (season 1-2) – This was the original heist arc that got broken up into two seasons for Netflix. I watched it in the original Spanish with English subtitles. It was more action and thrills than my usual fare, but I enjoyed it.

This is Us – Overall, I really liked the show and the variety of topics it dealt with. The last season felt a little rushed trying to wrap everything up, but I think the last couple seasons were thrown off a bit thanks to Covid.

Star Trek: Lower Decks (season 3) – Definitely a show that I’ve liked more as it’s gone on. It doesn’t take itself too seriously but still feels like Star Trek at its core.

The Good Place – I have to admit I didn’t like this show as much as most people did. There’s nothing wrong with it – the plot is good, it has its funny moments, and the characters are likeable – it just didn’t come together for me.

Star Trek: Discovery (season 1-2) – First off, it visually looks great. Unfortunately, it does feel like it misses the mark a bit, especially in the first season. It does best when it’s less of the Michael Burnham show and more about Discovery and its crew, so it does get better for me in the second season.

The Mandalorian (season 1) – Amidst a barrage of sequels, prequels, tie-ins, and remakes from Disney, this was something new, and it was really good. Plus, it brought us baby alien/baby Yoda/Grogu.

The Great British Bake Off (season 1-2, 15) – I finally got to see the first two seasons that have never been aired in the US. Hello again, Mel and Sue, and hello moving tent, baker elimination during the final, and random passersby peering in the tent windows. Season 15 had the most wholly likeable group of bakers in a while and no poorly executed national weeks/open flame final challenges/-gate dramas.

Heartland (season 16) – Similarly to Grey’s Anatomy, there was a period where the number of heart attacks, car crashes, exotic illnesses, and general tragedy happening to one group of people made you wonder what curse they’re under, but they’ve pulled it back a bit and I thought this season was better than the couple previous seasons.

Brooklyn 99 (season 1-3) – Funny and another solid offering from Mike Schur (also involved in The Office and Parks and Rec). My one criticism is that Jake Peralta is the exact same character as Shawn Spencer from Psych and J.D. from Scrubs – slightly inconsiderate guy who thinks he’s funnier than he really is and inconveniences people just a little bit wherever he goes.

Over the Garden Wall – A little weird, a little haunting, so I liked it a lot. I did suspect the ending maybe halfway through the series, and also the soundtrack’s really good.

Heartstopper (season 3) – A continuation of the adaptation of the graphic novels. I think they’ve continued to do a good job staying true to the source material.

Grey’s Anatomy (season 20) – Now that they’ve given Meredith a break and returned to more of an ensemble cast with a new class of interns, the show’s actually gotten better than some of the mid-teens seasons that were really scraping the bottom of the barrel for new disasters (Seattle Sharknado, anyone?).

Blown Away (season 4) – The glassblowers are back in North America’s biggest hot shop. The creations were a highlight as always, but this was also the most likeable group as a whole for me.

Overall, I didn’t really dislike anything I watched in 2024. If I had to pick a few favorites, I’d have to go with Lower Decks, The Mandalorian, and Over the Garden Wall for trying to do something a little different.

2024 Reading Roundup

It was another quiet year for reading. I logged 23 books, though a few were rereads that I didn’t record the first time through and there were probably a couple more rereads that I didn’t officially track. I managed to read my yearly nonfiction book, plus 3 graphic novels, 2 horse girl books, and 1 short story collection. Here’s what I liked (and didn’t) from my 2024 reads.

Exhalation: Stories (Ted Chiang) – A collection of science fiction short stories by the author who wrote the story that the movie Arrival is based on. I really liked the author’s writing style and the stories were interesting and thoughtful.

Legends and Lattes (Travis Baldree) – If you’ve heard anything about cozy fantasy in the past few years, you’ve heard about this book in which an orc, tired of the adventuring life, settles down to open the first coffee shop her city has seen. I did enjoy the lower stakes plot and the characters were likeable.

Kill the Farm Boy (Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne) – This was the only book that I disliked as a whole when I finished it. It’s supposed to be a sort of parody of The Princess Bride that critiques fantasy genre tropes, but it tries too hard, so it doesn’t end up being funny and falls into the stereotypes it’s supposed to be subverting.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (Taylor Jenkins Reid) – At 79, Evelyn Hugo’s been married seven times and she’s ready to tell her story. The whole story. I picked up the book because it got positive reviews in internet book circles a few years ago and ended up liking it more than I thought I would.

Ask Again, Yes (Mary Beth Keane) – Another book that made the rounds on the internet. The plot follows two families whose fathers are both officers in the NYPD and how their lives become connected through the years. This was definitely a more serious read than some of the other books on the list, but I thought it was a worthwhile read.

The Invisible Library (Genevieve Cogman) – I discovered this book at my local library going up and down shelves looking for sci-fi/fantasy stickers on book spines. The premise is that librarians at a library that exists outside of time are tasked with protecting/collecting rare works of literature in alternate universes. On one such mission, a librarian and her new apprentice run into events that hint at a darker side of the library. Though some of the worldbuilding was a bit clunky, it was solid enough that I would read more in the series.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette? (Maria Semple) – An epistolatory novel about Bee, a middle schooler investigating where her mother Bernadette has gone after she disappears before a family trip to Antarctica. In general, I’ll give the book a positive review, because the parts satirizing the Seattle charter school parents and tech industry were funny. However, I found the “money will fix everything” attitude and breaking laws with few/no consequences annoying at times.

Lessons in Chemistry (Bonnie Garmus) – No self-respecting scientist I’ve ever met would unironically ask someone to pass the sodium chloride at the dinner table. That said, the struggles of a woman in STEM in the 60s still ring true today. Overall, I did like the book, I just think the main character in particular talks and acts like how someone who’s not a scientist thinks scientists should talk and act, which is not how scientists actually talk and act.

The Fifth Elephant and Night Watch (Terry Pratchett) – Still making my way through the Night Watch books. This time on the Discworld, Sam Vimes must travel to Uberwald, home to various dwarfs, werewolves, and vampires, as an official ambassador of Ankh-Morpock, to negotiate fat imports. Then, in Night Watch, the members of the City Watch remember a day years ago, when the Watch wasn’t what it is now, and Vimes does some time travelling. Pratchett’s as good as ever at blending elements of fantasy and science fiction with police procedurals and social commentary.

Making It So (Patrick Stewart) – I ended up with a copy of Patrick Stewart’s memoir, so I read it to see how Captain Picard came to the Enterprise. It was (surprisingly?) readable, and another book that I enjoyed more than I thought I would. I appreciate that he at least comes across as honest about the not-perfect parts of his life and doesn’t endlessly make excuses.

It Ends With Us (Colleen Hoover) – A romance book that went big thanks to TikTok. I don’t normally read romance, but on occasion I’ll pick up books that everyone was talking about a couple years ago to see if they live up to the hype (usually not, but some aren’t too bad). A mixed review from me for this one – some parts were handled well, others . . . were not.

Pumpkinheads (Rainbow Rowell) – A cute graphic novel about two high school seniors working their last day of their last fall at the pumpkin patch, getting ready for things to change, and not having regrets.

A Feast for Crows (George R. R. Martin) – He had a two-and-a-half-decade head start, but I’m catching up. This is where Martin had the brilliant idea to just . . . not talk about half his characters for an entire book. I’m not as bothered by this choice as some people, but you can’t deny it’s a bit of an odd decision. This is where you also start wondering how everything’s going to come to a nice, tidy conclusion in only 2,000 or so more pages.

Evvie Drake Starts Over (Linda Holmes) – My last book of the year and my last “the internet made me read it” book. It’s a Hallmark movie in written form. Not bad, but nothing I’m going to rave about.

Despite how it may sound, I did enjoy most of what I read in 2024; I just happened to pick up a number of books that were/are widely popular but normally aren’t the first books I’d reach for. Having said that, I borrowed another book from the library that the internet seemed to like. I believe it can be classified as a romance book, so we’ll see how it goes.

Last Last Year in New England [2023]

It was only when I went to write my 2024 recap post that I realized/remembered that I never wrote my 2023 post. I have monthly posts for most of the year, but for the sake of completeness, I wanted to get this post out, since I have one for every year since 2017. [Monthly posts can be found here: March April May June July August September October November December.]

The year began in January, as it does. There was at least one day that snowed enough to need to shovel the driveway. Before the end of the month, I finished what I started during NaNoWriMo 2022, writing the conclusion to the first draft of my novel and bringing it to a total of 74,747 words. I also made it to the end of the Mighty Nein’s adventures in campaign 2 of Critical Role, renewed my driver’s license, and baked Linzer cookies.

In February, I read Crying in H Mart, watched Jane the Virgin and Everything Everywhere All at Once, and baked a wool roll with a strawberry and lime cream cheese filling. I cross stitched a dragon that still needs to be delivered to a friend, raked leaves, shoveled snow, and made a birthday Prinsesstarta from the Great British Bake Off’s The Big Book of Amazing Cakes. My verdict: it’s a lot of work for a good, but not amazing, tasting cake. And the Revolution began their 28th season in MLS with an away win in Charlotte (North Carolina).

The tomato seedlings were started in March. In between job interviews, I solved a jungle puzzle, a Rubik’s cube puzzle, and a puzzle of a horse and a barn. I watched Derry Girls and Galaxy Quest, finished the cross stitching on the dragon (back stitching still to come), and rolled some sushi.

April was tax month. I guess the big news for the month is that I received a job offer, accepted the job offer, and started work. Right before losing all my free time, I went for one last hike up Mount Watatic, which has a fairly high view to effort ratio. I began watching Friday Night Lights and reading The Night Circus, baked a peanut butter cake, and got to watch the Revolution survive their first 2023 Open Cup match.

Clockwise from top left: January - snow, February - the Prinsesstarta (sponge cake layered with pastry cream and blackberry apple jam, covered in whipped cream, covered in marzipan), March - the Rubik's Zigzaw, April - penguin at the MA/NH state line after the descent from Watatic

During May, I settled into work, and performed a TFF process, was introduced to the AKTA, made a lot of buffers, and organized the lab’s collection of tiny plastic parts (mostly for the AKTAs). We tried playing pickleball, the tomatoes made it into the raised bed outside, and I worked on my LEGO Millenium Falcon. At the end of the month, I went into Boston to see some Cornell friends and spend a day wandering the city since it had been awhile.

With a whole 6 weeks of experience, I was left co-in charge of a client run involving multiple chromatography columns, membranes, filters, and concentrations at the start of June. I also bought a new phone to go with the new stalker watch (Garmin Forerunner 45S) that I got last month, made it through A Storm of Swords, baked pecan rolls, saw the Dungeons and Dragons movie, got out for a hike at the town forest, and started in on season 19 of Grey’s Anatomy.

In between rain showers and storms, we managed to hike every weekend in July, mostly visiting nearby trails. I got a milkshake from Shake Shack, finished Daisy Jones & The Six and started The Courtship of Princess Leia, watched the MLS All Stars lose 0-5 to Arsenal, and went blueberry and raspberry picking and made a birthday blueberry lemon pound cake. At work, we prepared for a large scale run by making buffers in barrels and packing our big column.

August 2023 is a month that will live on in infamy at my office because after surviving our large-scale run, doing it again the next week, and starting take three, half the company caught Covid from management. Before that, there were a few hikes when it wasn’t raining, I ate some chocolate hummus, tomato harvest began, and I read more Star Wars books. By this point in the year, the Revolution were embroiled in Bruce Arena drama and beginning their slide down the standings.

Clockwise from top left: May - swan boats at the Boston Public Garden, June - ghost pipe seen while hiking, July - raspberries, August - tomatoes

Thankfully, September was a less eventful month. We went to see an outdoor art exhibit, and to the Big E (New England’s state fair for all six states) for the first time. Free Friday lunch at work was cancelled, then not cancelled, then kind of cancelled indefinitely. I made a quiche to make a dent in the piles of tomatoes coming out of the garden, baked a chocolate cake in the instant pot, and we played 7 Wonders, a favorite of some of my college friends.

At the beginning of October, we went apple picking, and I started fall color watch, eventually getting one of my favorite fall color photos in the middle of the month. We hiked an 8-mile 6-mile loop around a lake and spent a day at World’s End. I saw a Cornell ChemE friend for the first time in years, raked, finished the backstitching on the cross stitch dragon, and had a fall party with coworkers.

I was left unattended at home for most of November. At work, we simultaneously executed another large scale run and design of experiment (DoE) runs. Outside of work, I went to Tower Hill for Gnomevember, made waffles, and celebrated Thanksgiving with all-sides Thanksgiving (mashed potatoes, stuffing, steamed broccoli, and cranberry sauce).

In December, we had one last run for the year for one of our clients, but got into the holiday spirit with our holiday party and Yankee swap. I also baked gingerbread dinosaurs, made cross stitch post-Christmas Christmas gifts, for some reason thought it was a good idea to do a puzzle of a bottle of sriracha, and almost caught up with campaign 3 of Critical Role.

Clockwise from top left: September - The Big E, October - fall colors, November - steampunk gnome, December - gingerbread dinosaurs (and snickerdoodles)

That was 2023. I’m sure I missed some details, which is what happens when you’re writing two years later, but I think I got all of the highlights and lowlights.