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Messages - Spritelady

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So I decided I had better get on with making empanadas, given that March was half over, and made some beef and chorizo ones last night:



They turned out pretty well! If anyone has any suggestions for April, let me know!

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Ooh that's a great idea! Thank you!

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I have set myself a food-related challenge for this year! I am attempting to make at least one dish in a style/cuisine that I haven't attempted before!

January went well, with Jubal providing me with the inspiration to choose Georgian cuisine for my first attempt. I made a nice cheese bread boat and a chicken stew that went well!




February was interesting: I chose Lebanese, on the recommendation of my future mother-in-law, whose family is Lebanese, and made a chickpea and spinach pie with lentils:



Sadly it's now halfway through March and I can't settle on something I want to make this month. Any suggestions for me? I've made a lot of Italian/Spanish dishes before, and a few Asian ones, but otherwise haven't branched out much (hence the challenge!)

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I have also recently read Tower of the Swallow! And intend to start on Lady of the Lake soon.

I always find it interesting to read your analysis of these books, because I think I tend to switch off a little and enjoy the story, and then I read your thoughts and think "Actually, that's a very good point". I also enjoyed the mythological references (and have throughout the series, I think they're quite well worked in), and found some of the unnecessary sexualisation rather odd and flat to read.

I particularly enjoyed the two short story collections in this series, and have enjoyed the overall dramatic plot novels rather less, but I'm interested to see what happens in the last book, Season of Storms (I think Storm of Swords is from A Song of Ice and Fire?), since it's set between some of the stories from the first book I believe.

In other updates, I have now read a total of 14 books this year (and done very little else it seems!), most of which I have thoroughly enjoyed. I wonder if I should make a separate post somewhere to talk about the various books I've read, since this one will get a little clogged if I were to put up 14 short reviews! In brief though, the major thing I have read was the ACOTAR series, which despite being a major fad among the fiction reading world was very enjoyable and had a range of interesting characters, cool worldbuilding concepts and intriguing magic.

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I'm going to be away over the long weekend but I should have WiFi and don't have particular plans for that Friday evening so I shall do my best to make it!

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General Chatter - The Boozer / Re: Cyril & Methodius Day 2024
« on: February 14, 2024, 10:17:01 PM »
Unsurprisingly my username is Spritelady on Duolingo as well, so you should be able to add me via that! Or let me know yours and I'll add you 🙂
I'm learning Italian, having decided it would be an interesting language to compare to the conversational Spanish I already know

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General Chatter - The Boozer / Re: Cyril & Methodius Day 2024
« on: February 14, 2024, 07:00:33 PM »
Ooh I'm also on Duolingo! What language are you learning and would you like to add me on there?

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General Chatter - The Boozer / Re: Cyril & Methodius Day 2024
« on: February 14, 2024, 11:59:56 AM »
Happy Cyril and Methodius Day! I shall endeavour to do all the things on the list today, including working on learning more Italian which I started this year.
I hope everyone has an enjoyable day!

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I have also duly submitted my entry :)

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General Chatter - The Boozer / Re: February pub - 29th?
« on: February 08, 2024, 03:54:52 PM »
I won't be able to make it unfortunately as I'm meant to be hosting a work event for our Pride network that evening but I hope tis fun nonetheless!

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I have so far read three books in 2024 and recently started a fourth, so I am apparently going through one of my manic reading phases. I know it won't last but I'm enjoying it at the moment.

I began If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio in 2023 and finished it off in the first couple of days of January. It was an excellent book, with interesting characters and very much reminded me of A Secret History (which was the comparison given by a reviewer that led me to purchase the book in the first place, as that is one of my favourite books). I solidly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a mystery with a side of social drama.

My second book was The League of Gentlewomen Witches, a very funny, very well written book that manages to both gently poke fun at multiple genres and tropes (period dramas and epic romances among them) while creating interesting characters that I felt really quite invested in, despite or perhaps because of the silliness of the plot. It also left me with several new favourite phrases, including 'Assault With a Deadly Compliment' and this little gem of an exchange:
Two characters who do not like one another are talking
-Character 1 is interrupted-
1: "Oh, where was I?"
2: "I cannot recall. But I have a suggestion as to where you might go."

And finally I read The Book of Deacon, which I borrowed from my sister several centuries ago and neglected to either read or return until now. I thought the worldbuilding was excellent, the story was interesting but sadly the writing style was absolutely appalling. I'm not yet sure whether this is because of personal taste or an objective lack of quality, but either way I am interested enough to keep reading, so clearly the author is doing something right.

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General Gaming - The Arcade / Re: What digital games are you playing?
« on: January 31, 2024, 10:14:57 AM »
I finally have time for a 2024 update on Spritelady's gaming experiences! I've actually played quite a few games so far this year, at least by my standards and in light of the fact that I also seem to have A Lot going on at any one time.

I started and quickly completed Wylde Flowers, a cute and cosy farming sim where you play as a witch and attempt to bridge the gap between the local coven and the townsfolk.
Mechanically, it's rather like Stardew Valley in many ways, but the focus of the game is almost completely different. There is no combat in WF the way that the mines allow for in SV, and the focus is almost entirely on befriending locals and advancing the main story (alongside many weird and wonderful side quests). You meet a fantastic array of people, from a range of backgrounds and with diverse personalities.
One of my favourite elements of the game is that all the recipes that you can learn to cook come from an incredible range of cuisines, most of which relate to the background of the villagers. I excitedly told my fiancé's mother that Bobotie (a South African recipe that she has made for us on more than one occasion) was craftable in the game. She told me she'd be rather more excited if I made it in the real world, alas(!), but it was still lovely to see so many countries represented in the game.
The diversity in the game generally is commendable in my opinion. It feels like they genuinely wanted to mix together a wonderful range of people and spent time developing them all, rather than simply throwing in a few 'minority' characters for the credit. I definitely recommend this to anyone who wants a chill game with an interesting story and enjoys growing flowers  ;D

Other notable mentions on the gaming front include playing through the main campaign of Anno 1800, which I bought on sale and which is my first Anno game. I found it very enjoyable and hope to continue playing, possibly in Sandbox mode, at a later date.
I have also started, although not yet finished, Link's Awakening on Switch, which I was given for Christmas. I'm enjoying it, although it's clear that I did not game much as a child and thus am less au fait with the logic that permeates earlier games. That said, I'm having fun with the various mechanics and don't feel too awful when I inevitably die because I am dreadful at real-time combat.
Finally, I am in fact playing Palworld. Again, I'm enjoying it quite a lot (I quite deliberately put my settings on easy mode so that I didn't panic whenever I died) and a lot of it is quite cute. I am also coming to the conclusion that either I am a softie or my fiancé is a little bit psychotic, because I get quite upset if my Pals are sad or injured and devote a lot of time to petting them and being nice to them. My fiancé laughs whenever he butchers a Pal for its meat...

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General Chatter - The Boozer / Re: Exilian Pub Out Of Context
« on: January 26, 2024, 09:52:24 PM »
"There was a conversation about sword fighting and spears, so I got out the spear shaft I'm whittling"

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Computer Game Development - The Indie Alley / Re: Twilight Oracle
« on: January 24, 2024, 12:53:59 PM »
I have also wishlisted this! It looks very cool!

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How very strange! I can't say that I'd particularly paid attention to Worldcon (or in fact, heard of it!) before now, but that is frustrating for me personally because I liked that book a lot!

Given what was pointed out in that File 770 post about the con being subject to the legal context of the host country, I wonder if it was related to either or both of the LGBT undertones or the portrayal of China in the book?

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