Strange Happenings

Recently I've been suspecting strange happenings in my freezer when I am not looking. Every morning I wake to the eerie sense that I wasn't alone during the night, but when I check, everything looks exactly in place where I left it before getting into bed. When I question them the double-wrapped squares of puff pastry, the bags of walnuts, pecans, poppy seeds, blueberries, and everything bagel topping, the can of frozen lemonade concentrate, the tubs of egg whites and home made mango mole; they all look back at me blankly and shrug. "What?" they all say. "Eat your breakfast and stop thinking such paranoid thoughts." Despite their chilly aplomb, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that they are covering for someone or something. Yesterday afternoon I finally took action. I built a blind out of some ice cube trays and the butt ends from a loaf of brioche and I hid my camera inside, set to catch-in-focus mode. Whenever anything moves into the focal plane -- snap! I was astonished this morning when I checked my camera at the images recorded during the night. I am a light sleeper and even the smallest disturbance in the courtyard or hallway of my building tends to wake me, yet somehow just before dawn CDT a wild dachshund, a horse, and a whole herd of vanilla malted ice cream sandwiches migrated through my freezer without making a peep.

1000 Hours

Terminal A, Philadelphia International Airport

On the Banks of the Choptank River

Origami 101, Postings 102

The total origami count is now 101. The total number of postings for I Ate What I Am is now 102.

A Pair of Mangled Praying Mantises

Here is a first (blue) and second (white) attempt at the praying mantis from Origami Zoo. The pattern on the whole isn't very difficult, almost until the end. Then it calls for a double rabbit ear on each of the four legs. That last fold didn't quite happen. Not on any of the legs. Not once in eight tries. The result is a bit more mangled than I intended. Eventually I will try again with a larger sheet and see if that helps. In the meantime I am not too disheartened to share the results.

Malted Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich

My ice cream machine is probably fifteen years old, but judging from this batch of malted chocolate ice cream it is still going strong. The base is from David Lebovitz, slightly tweaked. (Here's a copy of the recipe.) I just added 2/3 cup of malted milk powder and a couple tablespoons of rum.

The cookies are from Nancy Baggett's All American Cookie Book.

The cookies start crisp but quickly turn fudgy. The first bite of the ice cream the malt flavor is hard to detect. The second bite it is definitely there. The third bite it steps out front. The fourth bite it is all over the place, in more ways than one. What happens after that I can't write without provoking some unwelcome attention from the blogger censors. But it is all good. Very good. I mean, really good. In all capital letters. That kind of good.

Maple Walnut Ice Cream

The Second Bottle

A few weeks ago a friend over coffee on a Saturday afternoon casually handed me a sticky plastic bag with two bottles of maple syrup inside.  She and her husband are moving out of the country and cleaning out their house as a result. I felt a little embarrassed taking the syrup, embarrassed to accept such a magnificent treasure, since I don't ever expect to have a first born, and it would take an offering along those lines I think to repay such a gift. The one bottle graced some bowls of oatmeal and then some French Toast for lunch and dinner and finally a batch of maple walnut ice cream. The recipe is from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. The recipe all told uses more than a cup of syrup, but the result is far from treacly. On the contrary, the cold and the butterfat together cut the sweetness and what remains is earthy and heavenly all at once.  Remained I should say, since I ate nearly the whole quart on my own. Once with some banana. Once after dinner at my neighbors.Twice in unadorned solitude, each time dreaming of caramel sauce and whipped cream and a maraschino cherry and not minding their absence. Next time.

Oh, and the new computer finally arrived this morning. Good news all the way around.

Origami Census

Still no new computer. Arghhhh. But the origami is starting to pile up so time for a census. (Total:  79) Some of these are first attempts at patterns from Origami Zoo (Lang and Weiss). Others are tried and true from John Montroll. It's very hot and the manual focus on my camera is more challenging than I expected. Also no adjustment of the white balance since these photos are all straight out of the camera. So the gallery is more mixed quality than I would like. But the idea I think is there.

1000 Origami Giraffes

I am still waiting on the new computer. It is only a couple of days away. In the meantime I've settled on a summer project. A version of the traditional thousand cranes. According to Japanese legend (sources:  sketchy) folding a thousand origami cranes makes a wish come true. According to post-WWII tradition, it also promotes somehow world peace. A wish realized for me. Peace secured for the planet. What's not to love? But instead of cranes I will fold giraffes. And also some camels. And elephants. And lobsters. And lions. And a spider and crab and antelope and other creatures. The patterns so far are mostly from John Montroll. His book Animal Origami for the Enthusiast is a classic. Maybe the best book out there. Montroll sometimes partners with Robert Lang, whose website is pretty amazing for anyone interested in advanced techniques. I am looking at a couple of other books to expand my repertoire. Here's a glimpse of what I've been up to so far. The image is straight out of the camera, with a new lens, a Pentax M 28mm 3.5 prime manual focus. I just got it this week used off Craigslist. Also I've been experimenting with a more advanced paper technique. Coating lokta and mulberry paper with a solution of methycellulose.The results so far I find are very pleasing. Much more sculptural and nuanced than with regular origami craft paper.