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lydamorehouse When I signed up for the OutFront MN Zoom event called "Drag Queen Cookies with It Gets Batter," I initially thought I would be making cookies WITH drag queens, which, frankly, sounded like the epitome of fabulous.
However, it turns out that I had signed up to learn how to make a five-minute fondant that would be designed to look like drag queens.
Alas!
But, it was still a pretty fun event. They sent along a recipe for a sugar cookie and asked us to make the "blank faces" ahead of time. I happened to have an egg-shaped cookie cutter (for Easter Egg cookies, I think, though this MAY be the first time I have ever used that particular cutter.) So, I made those Friday afternoon. They were pretty yummy on their own and since I had way more batter than I figured I'd need for a hour long event, I made the rest into the usual assortment of dragonflies, dinosaurs, cows, and chickens.
At 7 pm, I dialed into the Zoom. The OutFront folks had us use a password, because Zoom bombing is a thing and this was "queer youth" led, so I mean, yeah, safety first. Even so, we still had one guy who did no cooking, but just watched the event. Creepy or sad? Hard to know.
At any rate, there were probably no more than a dozen of us on the call. Basically we watched our host make fondant and tried to follow along as best we could. It was not the most organized Zoom event I've ever attended? But I'd say my results were fairly fabulous, nonetheless.
Image: cartoonish face with large hair, all of which is easy to do with fondant because it basically functions like sugar-based play dough.
I was also aided in this process by the fact that I happened to own baking markers. Yeah, like magic markers that you can safely eat. I did all of the "eyeliner" with these markers.
Image: windswept-hair and sultry-eyed cookie.
The fondant itself is not especially tasty, I must say. It is made with marshmallows and powdered sugar and two tablespoons of water. So, I mean, it takes like sugar? I feel like you could add something--lemon, peppermint, or even boring vanilla--and make it more tasty.
If you are a fan of the local drag queen/king scene in Minneapolis/St. Paul, It Gets Batter is doing a fundraiser for out-of-work drag kings and queens in which they make cookies specifically for your favorite performer, which seems like a nifty charity. I personally wouldn't have a clue, though I did like watching the Gaylaxicon event with Queens of Adventure.
I enjoyed the baking thing enough to sign up for a Gay Twin Cities virtual walking tour (it is also free) later this month, which is TWO TIMES as many Pride events than I normally attend in June.
I am one of those old queers who grumbles about how commercialized Pride has become. I don't usually complain very loudly, honestly, because I definitely prefer a world where I can buy my Pride gear at Target rather than having to hand make it at home, hide somewhere to change into it, and then be terrified to wear it in public. And, I do remember those days. They were NOT the good old days; I'm just not fond of crowds.
Of course, no crowds this year, regardless.
One of the things OutFront is sponsoring tonight that I'd really like to go to is a candlelight vigil for black, trans and gender non-conforming voices at Elliot Park. However, if I am reading Google right, this park is the one near former Augustana nursing home and parking around there is nightmarish. I still have some time to decide, but I will be there in spirit. If nothing else, I may light a candle on my altar at 7:30 pm in solidarity.
Otherwise, the big excitement of this weekend was that on Saturday, a package arrived from Taiwan.jiawen sent along a care package of bits and bobs of stationary and fun pens and erasers and pins and tea and just a whole lot of lovely things. It was like Christmas in June. I am only sad that I did not think to get her on jitsi BEFORE I opened the box, so that we could have opened it together, but we did chat and I basically squeed happily for a half hour straight. So, that was desperately fun. If you are a pen pal of mine, expect some fun new stationary in your next letter from me.
Friday afternoon, Shawn and I also hazarded a trip to the fabric store which is exciting in these days of the pandemic. Shawn was able to browse pretty well, but that was because I volunteered at tribute and stood in the line for cutting. I was a bit shocked to discover so many people without masks. My friendnaomikritzer and my wife both suspect there's some kind of Republican/Trump-supporting bent to the crafters who shop at JoAnne's and I suspect they're both right, though I wish I understood why that's true. Shawn suggested that it's a "homemaker" bent. Like, the kind of woman who learns to sew is more likely to be the sort to stay at home to support her man? I dunno. I want it to change. Surely, I shouldn't have to go to a more expensive store just to hang out with the other liberal crafters.
I did pick up some more quilting fabric, though, including some Avengers fabric. So, that was worth it.
Today (and most days, if I'm honest,) I also dithered around the garden and discovered a baby native pollinator.
Image: a striped "parsley worm" nomming my parsley, probably to the ground, but she will transform into a native pollinator: the black swallowtail butterfly so she gets to have all the parsley she wants.
How was your weekend?
However, it turns out that I had signed up to learn how to make a five-minute fondant that would be designed to look like drag queens.
Alas!
But, it was still a pretty fun event. They sent along a recipe for a sugar cookie and asked us to make the "blank faces" ahead of time. I happened to have an egg-shaped cookie cutter (for Easter Egg cookies, I think, though this MAY be the first time I have ever used that particular cutter.) So, I made those Friday afternoon. They were pretty yummy on their own and since I had way more batter than I figured I'd need for a hour long event, I made the rest into the usual assortment of dragonflies, dinosaurs, cows, and chickens.
At 7 pm, I dialed into the Zoom. The OutFront folks had us use a password, because Zoom bombing is a thing and this was "queer youth" led, so I mean, yeah, safety first. Even so, we still had one guy who did no cooking, but just watched the event. Creepy or sad? Hard to know.
At any rate, there were probably no more than a dozen of us on the call. Basically we watched our host make fondant and tried to follow along as best we could. It was not the most organized Zoom event I've ever attended? But I'd say my results were fairly fabulous, nonetheless.
Image: cartoonish face with large hair, all of which is easy to do with fondant because it basically functions like sugar-based play dough.
I was also aided in this process by the fact that I happened to own baking markers. Yeah, like magic markers that you can safely eat. I did all of the "eyeliner" with these markers.
Image: windswept-hair and sultry-eyed cookie.
The fondant itself is not especially tasty, I must say. It is made with marshmallows and powdered sugar and two tablespoons of water. So, I mean, it takes like sugar? I feel like you could add something--lemon, peppermint, or even boring vanilla--and make it more tasty.
If you are a fan of the local drag queen/king scene in Minneapolis/St. Paul, It Gets Batter is doing a fundraiser for out-of-work drag kings and queens in which they make cookies specifically for your favorite performer, which seems like a nifty charity. I personally wouldn't have a clue, though I did like watching the Gaylaxicon event with Queens of Adventure.
I enjoyed the baking thing enough to sign up for a Gay Twin Cities virtual walking tour (it is also free) later this month, which is TWO TIMES as many Pride events than I normally attend in June.
I am one of those old queers who grumbles about how commercialized Pride has become. I don't usually complain very loudly, honestly, because I definitely prefer a world where I can buy my Pride gear at Target rather than having to hand make it at home, hide somewhere to change into it, and then be terrified to wear it in public. And, I do remember those days. They were NOT the good old days; I'm just not fond of crowds.
Of course, no crowds this year, regardless.
One of the things OutFront is sponsoring tonight that I'd really like to go to is a candlelight vigil for black, trans and gender non-conforming voices at Elliot Park. However, if I am reading Google right, this park is the one near former Augustana nursing home and parking around there is nightmarish. I still have some time to decide, but I will be there in spirit. If nothing else, I may light a candle on my altar at 7:30 pm in solidarity.
Otherwise, the big excitement of this weekend was that on Saturday, a package arrived from Taiwan.
jiawen sent along a care package of bits and bobs of stationary and fun pens and erasers and pins and tea and just a whole lot of lovely things. It was like Christmas in June. I am only sad that I did not think to get her on jitsi BEFORE I opened the box, so that we could have opened it together, but we did chat and I basically squeed happily for a half hour straight. So, that was desperately fun. If you are a pen pal of mine, expect some fun new stationary in your next letter from me.Friday afternoon, Shawn and I also hazarded a trip to the fabric store which is exciting in these days of the pandemic. Shawn was able to browse pretty well, but that was because I volunteered at tribute and stood in the line for cutting. I was a bit shocked to discover so many people without masks. My friend
naomikritzer and my wife both suspect there's some kind of Republican/Trump-supporting bent to the crafters who shop at JoAnne's and I suspect they're both right, though I wish I understood why that's true. Shawn suggested that it's a "homemaker" bent. Like, the kind of woman who learns to sew is more likely to be the sort to stay at home to support her man? I dunno. I want it to change. Surely, I shouldn't have to go to a more expensive store just to hang out with the other liberal crafters.I did pick up some more quilting fabric, though, including some Avengers fabric. So, that was worth it.
Today (and most days, if I'm honest,) I also dithered around the garden and discovered a baby native pollinator.
Image: a striped "parsley worm" nomming my parsley, probably to the ground, but she will transform into a native pollinator: the black swallowtail butterfly so she gets to have all the parsley she wants.
How was your weekend?
no subject
Date: 2020-06-15 02:44 am (UTC)(There are too many maskless people here to be explained away as a conservative thing, I'm pretty sure.)
no subject
Date: 2020-06-15 01:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-06-15 02:28 pm (UTC)Watching what's going on around me these past few weeks, I have a horrible creeping suspicion that we are settling into, not a political dynamic like in the States, but a *power* dynamic: service workers wear anti-egress masks, while customers are majority (truly essential businesses like grocery stores†) or almost entirely (frivolous shit like takeout restaurants that the government insisted on keeping open anyway, but people who only go out for essentials generally don't go there and so you only see the more reckless people) maskless. The powerless must expose themselves to the breath of the powerful, but not vice versa.
(Well, must expose themselves to the breath of the *somewhat* more powerful. I'm sure the truly powerful have proper enclaves with all their supplies on no-contact delivery.)
(When you look at it this way, the fact that a large percentage of the service workers I know (or even just see around me) are taking off their masks whenever they think they can get away with it makes a terrible kind of sense.)
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I am--originally happily, but now to my increasing dismay--a fast-food worker, and I personally began wearing a mask on all outings (surgical at first, transitioning to cloth as I ran out of surgical masks) in mid-March. One of my co-workers mocked me, and the franchise owner insinuated that I was driving customers away, but neither of them overtly tried to stop me. I haven't seen the franchise owner in-person since corporate made employee masks mandatory and so don't know what he's wearing, but the co-worker in question is currently not even *pretending* to obey that regulation.
---
Even cloth masks aren't entirely egress-only protection, and I'm seeing clear benefits from wearing a mask to work: I'm not getting sore throats from people constantly opening the front door and letting in pollen. If they invent a magic vaccine tomorrow, I may have to see if I can coerce the franchise owner into letting me keep wearing a mask to work as a disability accommodation. I'd be totally willing to also wear a sign explaining to the customers why I'm wearing it, so as not to drive them away.
---
†Most places don't deliver out here, so showing up in person for grocery shopping really is essential.
no subject
Date: 2020-06-15 06:37 pm (UTC)I will say, good for you for not letting dark looks get you down. I have also found masks to be helpful in managing my allergies (which aren't severe, but I did notice a marked difference.)
no subject
Date: 2020-06-15 07:51 pm (UTC)I've been wearing pollen masks outdoors for years, and I *thought* they were mostly but not entirely effective. Given my experience this year, I'm beginning to suspect most of the "leakage" was actually work exposure. The reasons to want a desk job just keep piling up: really looking forward to two semesters from now, when I'll have my accounting diploma.
(All forty-seven of my allergy tests came back negative: we haven't been able to figure out what actually went wrong in my body about four years ago, and so we can't treat it except by prevention.)