Just under the wire, but HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all mothers out there! It was a good day here starting with snuggles and coffee in bed. Then they made me breakfast which was quite lovely. This afternoon and Chicklet and I did some gardening (planting perennials in her special garden bed) and then made lasagna together.

Anyway, good day and I hope everyone's else day was lovely too!

Also, I watched the season finale for Once. I loved it! I thought the flashbacks worked well in the plot and they managed to put in enough character moments to make me happy. I'll definitely be watching again next season!

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I truly loved this episode! It has taken me forever to write something up about it but I've finally finished. *whew* Now it's time to work on The Evil Queen. :)

( Once Upon a Time - Lacey ReviewCollapse )

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Oddly enough weekends are terrible times to finish up and post big, complicated entries. My family wants attention and my husband wants attention and there PROJECTS to complete. *g* However, my garage is sparkling. As is my bedroom and bathroom. So that's all good! And I do have the Lacey review basically done except for the formatting so that will DEFINITELY go up today. And then the Evil Queen and then Second Star to the Right. I gotta do them all in order, no skipping, or I can't do any of them. It's a thing. But I am determined to get caught up before the finale!

I do have a few quick thoughts and some speculation about last night's episode though so I'll post that now!

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I posted some Lacey pictures/stills/art yesterday and now it's time for the stills I have for Sunday's episode. There were three different scenes with still released and I chose one set...you'll never guess why...to crop and color and make pretty. This scene is also one I would consider the least spoilery of the three. So light spoilers here! If you want the rest or want them BIGGER they are here in the once-storybrooke gallery.

( Once Upon a Time Stills - Second Star to the RightCollapse )

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Okay, first graphics post is here! This has ALL the graphics I've made for Lacey thus far. I have some edited stills from the episode, a few screencaps of Robert Carlyle's beautiful face, and a couple of pieces of Rumbelle fanart I made.

( Once Upon a Time - Lacey StillsCollapse )


( A few pretty caps of GoldCollapse )


( Rumbelle FanartCollapse )

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*waves sheepishly* I kind of disappeared didn't I? I am still alive and doing fine. How are all of you?

Going on vacation completely got me out of the habit of posting. Also, I am apparently less good than I hoped at balancing two fannish sites, and it doesn't help that tumblr encourages my graphics interest so much. I've been finding myself fooling with photoshop for things to post when I have free time instead of writing anything.

Since I haven't been posting, I haven't been keeping up here either. I started to get behind weeks ago and then started avoiding. Bad I know but it seems easier to avoid when things pile up. Going forward I really do want to keep involved here with all of you so I am going to try! So right now you get a recipe for a cake I made yesterday, shortly a few Carlyle pictures I've posted to tumblr, followed by some stills for Sunday's episode, and then me going through my flist and making comments/going through my inbox and clearing it out. Oh, and please bring any news to my attention in case I miss it as I read through!

( Buttermilk Banana CakeCollapse )

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Hey, sorry about that! I mean to go all radio silence here. I'm off to bed soon tonight but tomorrow Chicklet is back at school and I'll catch up and write a few posts. And reply to comments and comment on posts. Once I'm behind I have tendency to procrastinate and put off doing anything. (I'm still looking through my vacation pictures but I think I'll be able to post a few tomorrow.)

And I did want to say just a few things about tonight's EXCELLENT episode of Once Upon a Time!

( Once Upon a Time - Quick Thoughts about LaceyCollapse )

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I'm home! \o/ I love vacation but I love being home too! My own stuff! And my own bed! And ALL my own pets! ...Okay that one is a mixed blessing I admit. I miss them when we are apart but I don't miss the cleaning and chaos they add in. :)

Midnight has THOROUGHLY snuggled me. It was fun making a grocery list! I think he missed us just a LITTLE. This is a cat who needs human interaction regularly. I guess he was driving the pet sitter nuts by the last visit.

And Ginny remembers us all again. It took a few moments. We did circle pats (where she spins in a circle and I pet her back), there was crazy dog in the backyard and now she is hanging out with Zephyrus in the living room. (Remember Jay is now Zeph! I don't have a new husband. Only the husband Chloris should have had in the first place.) I'm sure Starbuck and Apollo will make their presence more known once we are trying to sleep.

Speaking of sleep, I'm off to it. *yawn* Traveling is exhausting! Be back tomorrow to catch up on comments and posts...

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Today is Robert Carlyle's birthday! \o/ Since I COULD NOT let this day go by uncelebrated I organized pictures before I left for vacation and now it is time to post them. (I queued some of these on tumblr before I left as well. Tumblr queue good. I put all kinds of pretty things there with just a few clicks of a button. *g*) But lj/dw also good! Especially since I can post more than 10 pictures at a time here. So here I have picspam of 21 (a random number :D) favorite Robert Carlyle pictures.

A pretty picspam for a wonderfully attractive and talented man.



( Robert Carlyle's 52nd Birthday PicspamCollapse )

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This week has been quite the week! We have been organizing and getting ready for our annual trip to warmer places. We are leaving tomorrow and will be back in a week and a half. Most of the trip will be spent with my parents so it'll be fairly relaxed and I'll be visiting the computer on our down time. Perhaps I'll even make a few posts. :)

A few bullet points:

- This week's Castle, the 100th episode, was just about the cutest thing I've ever seen. ♥ I mean it was so adorable I think I got some cavities, but cute adorableness is what I want from the show (along with murders - because what goes best with sweetness than death? *g*) so no complaints. I quite loved it!

- I REALLY want to see last nights Person of Interest and Elementary but I didn't have time last night and it doesn't look like I will tonight either. Also, I'm going to be behind on Doctor Who as well. Expect a pile of quick reviews when I get back and watch All The Things.

- We moved Rose into her BIG 75 gallon tank this week. She should have been out of the smaller tank a couple of months ago but Jay needed to make a platform so as to be able to move the tank as needed and then there was retrofitting. Let's note that many filters are OUTSIDE of the tank yet no one makes covers with cutouts for wiring and tubing. It's a good thing Jay has a fully equipped workshop or I don't know what we would have done! Cats and an unsealed turtle tank - not a good thing. Anyway, I took pictures but it looks like I'll post them when I get back. She does look happy! Lots of water and a big sunning area!

- All kinds of 50th anniversary Doctor Who rumors and reports coming out! I'm getting excited! ( SpoilersCollapse )

- Both Person of Interest and Elementary have been picked up for next season! We are still waiting on OUAT - I've heard unofficial good news but no announcement yet. If it's like last year we'll get it around the season finale.

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I have short, bullet point review of the latest episode of Doctor Who!

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Oh..Yum. We just finished Easter dinner and it was GOOD if I do say so myself. Nom nom. I went for a Greek/Mediterranean themed dinner and everything came out quite tasty.

We started with hummus, poached shrimp and pitas. Then moved onto grilled marinated lamb, spanakopita, and sauteed green beans. And ended with lemon bars, which is a fairly American dessert but I wanted something brightly springlike and they are always so lemony and tasty.

A few cooking things from today and recent dinners:

• Want to make eggplant chips? Well...first you start by deciding to make eggplant parmesan and then you cut some of the eggplant too thin with your mandoline and then you salt the eggplant and fry it in oil until crispy. Yes, then you realize that the rest should be cut thicker but in the meantime you and your husband nom the eggplant chips.

• Phyllo dough is one of those things that SEEMS hard to work with but in reality it is one of the easiest pastries around. No, not to make (even I would never want to) but to work the premade sheets. The only rules are to work fairly quickly - so have everything else ready before opening the dough - and to not worry when the sheets tear. No one will ever know! Phyllo is like cookies - always to be fun and never stressful since even mangled it is still going to be good to eat. It is nice to stop layering on a good, unbroken sheet or two but even then once it's sliced it is not going to make any difference. I won't tell if you won't.

• Lemon bars - which are shortbread and lemon curd topping for those who are unfamiliar - were invented by some genius at Betty Crocker in the 1960s. They travel horribly and don't keep well but DAMN are they good. I used Myer Lemons this time and I love the softer, more floral flavor they have. Though regular lemons are quite tasty too. :)

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To everyone who celebrates, I hope you are having a lovely Easter! Or, if not, at least enjoying half price candy day. We have egg hunted (plastic eggs with candy hidden in dog safe and cat safe places *g*), eaten chocolate, taken a walk, and I've been doing some cooking. All in all a good day so far.

Have a bunny in an egg. I don't know what she is doing in the egg but I saw her on tumblr and she is cute. And Eastery.



Also, I saw Doctor Who last night! \o/ Clara is adorable and I do like the longer coat on Eleven. I'm easy. Expect a few bullet points a bit later.

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Hey, I finally got this review done! \o/

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I actually have my review of last week's OUAT episode done! I've written it and uploaded the pictures and I just need to format it and make sure it makes sense. *whew* I had terrible writer's block this week. I will be posting it after I finish Easter egg and Easter basket preparations for anyone who still wants to chat about the episode.

However, right now I do have some more set pictures from the season finale. These I would consider a little spoilery so if you're completely avoidant don't click. They are of Robert Carlyle and someone else and Robert is looking especially fine. I may just extract a completely non-spoilery one or maybe two for a separate post since he was looking so good and I know there are a few here who would like to see it without any spoilers at all. :)

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I did promise some set pics! These are for the season finale and I would consider them pretty damn spoilery. Though I guess I cropped the pictures so that they themselves are only relatively spoilery; however, I wrote some commentary based on set reports so we are back to very spoilery again. Anyway...

( OUAT Season Finale Set Pictures - SpoilersCollapse )

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Sorry for no review of Selfless, Brave and True yet! I seem to be rather scattered lately and this week is no exception! It's coming but slowly as my brain keeps going off on 'oh...shiny' tangents. And I admit that I have been having way too much fun with photoshop lately. I may post a few of those here since I'm rather happy with how they came out.

In the meantime, have an on-set photo of Robert Carlyle! And completely non-spoilery! I have a bunch of very spoilery finale filming pictures to post also. First set I'll post in a few minutes since they are ready to go and then another set later this afternoon.



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I think it might be time for a Midnight/Ginny picspam! Theirs is the love that dare not speak its name! Cats and dogs living together and snuggling. What is the world coming to? Apparently adorable black furriness.

Awwww!


( Midnight and Ginny PicspamCollapse )

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I have a few meta things I posted on tumblr this week that I'm going to repost here!

( Regina and Henry - Their relationship as of Welcome to StorybrookeCollapse )

( The Library in Welcome to StorybrookeCollapse )

( Geppetto Putting Pinocchio in the WardrobeCollapse )

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Well, I seem to be settling in on tumblr. I can do all the basic stuff now, have some people to follow, have some people following me, and have the best extensions (what you need to make the site actually...useable) up and running. So far my blog there is made of lots of Robert Carlyle, OUAT, some David Tennant, and fair number of turtles. Yeah...a lot like here except for all the turtles. *g* They're cute and people pictures of them eating raspberries and I can't resist.

I think going forward I'm going to definitely be keeping my long, intricate text/picture posts here while posting more 'I feel like playing with photoshop' stuff and quick meta over there. But also I'll be repurposing things between the two - like I've been reworking picspam art I've done here to post there as well and I've written a little meta there which I'm going to add here for possible discussion. There are lots of likes and reblogs there but most people don't talk to each other much. But it's been less than a week so I'm sure I'll find a few people to talk meta with eventually.

For those wishing for turtle pictures here, have one of Rose! She is a bit blurry but I was taking the picture with one hand while holding the lid up of her feeding container in the other and trying to keep her from succeeding in leaping out. She wants to let you know that she is moving soon! To a lovely 75 gallon tank. I remember when she was a tiny turtle and her current tank was huge. Not so much anymore. I have the tank and the accessories are on order - once they arrive it is moving day.

Do you have any shrimp? Check your pockets.


I also have a pile of Ginny/Midnight pictures at this point and I've just downloaded them from my camera. Expect a post tomorrow of them snuggling or fighting or both. :)

And, last, have a photo of my latest pie. This one definitely had enough thickener to give it structure while not being jelly and the lattice crust allowed some steam to escape. However, I have decided that, while pouring in frozen fruit might be quite easy, I might want to try precooking the filling next time since the amount of thickener needed obscured the taste of the fruit. It was still pretty damn tasty though.



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Yep, it's Thursday and here I am with my review of OUAT. I should just face it that I am not very good at doing things quickly. *g* Who knows though, maybe unlike Regina I can learn from my mistakes.

Like time I'm doing a picspam/review since I thought that worked out well. So here goes...

( Once Upon a Time Review - Welcome to StorybrookeCollapse )

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Or maybe instead of finishing my OUAT review (though I did come close) and catching up on fandom, I'll catch up on my tv watching with my husband and then go to bed. Which is what I did. *big yawn* I am EXHAUSTED. Time to put Ginny in the crate, shut off the lights, and sleep. Sweet dreams. :)

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I think I'm finally on the other side of my latest damn cold. At least my brain seems to be in working order again which is good! Fandomy things on my list for today include finishing my review of Welcome to Storybrooke (so much interesting meta in this episode!), catching up on lj/dw, and making some more caps of Face. Robert is so PRETTY in that movie. And he looks so lost that I want to pet him but I'm not sure if I want to hug him or other things. *cough*

Right now though I need to clean out Rose's tank and maybe take some pictures of her! I do have some excellent pictures of Midnight/Ginny being BFFs to post as well but I have to sort them first.

Have a few caps of the car kissing scene in Face to tide you over...

( Face Kiss Picspam - Robert CarlyleCollapse )

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Here are my reviews of PoI and Elementary!

We are definitely in filler episode territory at the moment but I appreciate the breathers after the intense episodes we've had earlier in the season. (especially for PoI) And the PoI episode particularly would be a nice introduction to the show as well since it can be difficult get into a show in a myth-heavy episode. Or maybe not! If myth is what gets you then a more procedural episode could have you shrugging and changing the channel while thinking been there, seen that. Hmmm. Anyway, I enjoyed them both and have few thoughts about each!

( Person of Interest - All InCollapse )

( Elementary - Deja Vu All Over AgainCollapse )

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New episode of Once tonight! I'm looking forward to it! There is new one next week too before a three week break.

I'm trying to put together a little picspam of Midnight and Ginny since they love each other SO MUCH but why do they both have to be black? It is SO HARD to take decent pictures of two jet black animals! I shall persevere though. One thing that doesn't show in pictures is that when Ginny is fed she frequently waits for Midnight to show up and lets him eat a few bites first before she starts and then they eat together. It's adorable.

I also want to post some turtle pictures. Today is tank cleaning day so I might just lock up the pets for a bit and let her have a walk before we put her back.

OMG. Awesome wine with dinner last night. It was a Milbrandt Vineyards Cabernet and it was moderately expensive (over $20) but even better than its price. Really, really good!

And today I now know why I've been feeling tired and unable to focus for the past couple of days. I have a lovely cold. Yay. The downside of spending time with a small person (thought at eight she is getting pretty darn big), but I guess my immune system is getting regular workouts?

Yeah...anyway I watched the latest episodes of Person of Interest last night and Elementary last night and I'm working on reviews right now.

Oh, and anyone else not getting LJ notifications AT ALL? I've got NOTHING. Things seem to be showing up in my inbox but I have no way to know if that is everything. *grump* I suppose they broke things again with the latest update.

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Today is pi day and by pure coincidence I made a pie! *g* I didn't even know until jelazakazone told me.



It is a mixed berry pie which I thickened with tapioca flour - not the pearls, this is ground into a meal. I didn't even know they made tapioca flour until recently when I was digging into the best ways to thicken berry pies and it kept getting mentions. And low and behold, they sell it at my local market! (Bob's Red Mill is a good source.) I also used frozen berries: blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. They are much cheaper this time of year and work just fine in a pie, only needing a longer cooking time and some extra thickener. And I tried a slightly different crust method. Lately I've been using a crust that you work quite a bit until it is a smooth dough but I was reading my Sur La Table baking cookbook (The Art and Soul of Baking) and decided to use their method of freezing the butter and just barely working it into the flour.

Anyone want to talk pie? What pies do you like? Fruit pies? Chocolate pies? Other pies? Favorite thickener? Store bought crust? Your own? Flaky (lightly worked) or tender (more intensely worked)? What's your favorite recipe? I love getting new recipes!

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I've posted my discussion questions for The Miller's Daughter so if you want to ponder things with me the posts are - here on dw and here on lj.

I also have more pondering which I want to talk about now. It's about the perception of Regina as the sad woobie of the series and Rumpelstiltskin as winning EVERYTHING and how it's not fair. I think each of these points can be applied to many shows and characters but it's the Rumpel-Regina situation which has me thinking about it. I may do a spoilery point by point breakdown of their arcs later as well.

Point one - the series is not even close to over. Characters have arcs and simply because one is at a low point in their arc doesn't mean they are going to stay there. And vice versa.

Point two - this perception has a great deal to do with how things are being framed and focused on. Give us situations from a particular character's viewpoint and focus in on how sad they are and it is human nature to feel sympathy for them. Focus on someone else and our sympathy shifts. If things are framed from Regina's viewpoint of course we are on her side! Let's consider things from Emma's view or Rumple's or Snow's: it's a whole new show.

Point three - shows are not designed to fair. If all characters are treated exactly the same that would be a very poorly written drama. Just because two characters are similar doesn't mean they have to share their toys equally. Rumpel and Regina have similar villain roles but where they come from and where they go is likely to be quite different. If it is not different why have both?

Point four - because they are different characters they are going to have different goals, different ways of approaching situations, and different definitions of winning. What Rumpelstiltskin defines as winning, Regina would define as losing.

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Best episode of the season! And everything I would expect from a Jane Espenson episode. We had three interrelated plotlines that merged into a beautiful whole and it was everything I want OUAT to be. Yes, I didn't get the review up on Monday but that's life. :) To make up for it I added some pictures to illustrate the review.

( Once Upon a Time Review - The Miller's DaughterCollapse )

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A Once Upon a Time scheduling note - there is one last hiatus for the season coming up after March 24th. (which is two more episodes from now) So we get episode 18 on March 24th and then a break with episode 19 showing on April 21st through to the finale on May 12th. This sad news if you want to see all the episodes NOW but happy news for me since, like last year, they are taking my vacation schedule into account. \o/ They are so nice and thoughtful.

( The Miller's Daughter - A Few Quick ThoughtsCollapse )

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So. There was a new episode of Person of Interest this week! I had no idea. I knew Elementary was a repeat and I thought both were. Luckily the dvr keeps track of these things now. I think back to the days when I had to remember when new episodes where on and watch it LIVE *shudder* whenever the station wanted to air it. Never going back if I can help it.

But back to the episode, in my new resolution to talk about shows within a day of watching them, I have a few notes/thoughts on the episode. And since I hadn't resolved this before the last episode I also have a few thoughts about that one too.

( Person of Interest - Proteus, RelevanceCollapse )

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