Kalynaanne - Thoughts And Creations

Hello and welcome to Cooking with Kaly.  I decided I wanted to make chouta. It was an adventure. 

We know that the meatballs are made by mixing flangria with ground lavis, forming it into balls, battering it and frying it.  To create these meatballs we therefore need something to represent flangria, something to represent lavis, and a way to put it together without egg (since eggs are unlikely to be used in cheap street food on Roshar.)

I happened to have ground turkey in the freezer that I had gotten on sale at some point. It seemed like a reasonable stand in for flangria. Given the range of ways lavis is used, I feel like corn is a reasonable earth analogue, so ground lavis gets to be corn meal.  I mixed the 1.5 lbs of meat with 1/4 cup of cornmeal, 1 Tbsp chili powder, 2 tsp cumin, and 2 tsp oregano, formed it into small balls (maybe a heaping Tbsp of meat per ball?  I didn’t measure), then covered them and put them in the fridge for a while to let the flavors meld.  

Before cooking them, I rolled them in cornmeal, dipped them in water (some but not all of the cornmeal will fall off), then rolled them in the cornmeal again.  I fried them in a thin layer of canola oil in a cast iron skillet until they were golden brown.  The cornmeal gets all crispy and the flavors are great.  I’m a big fan of these meatballs. (note:the plate in this picture is small, the meatballs are not giant. There are also a lot more meatballs not shown)

For the flatbread, I mixed 1 cup mashed potatoes (since tubers seem to be common on Roshar) with 1/4 cup cornmeal, a heaping 1/4 cup flour and 1 tsp baking soda. I kneaded the mixture until I had a dough that I could press out into a decent sized flatbread.  This made enough for 2. Transfer the pressed out flat bread *carefully* to the frying pan and make sure you don’t try to flip it too soon or it will tear and be a mess. This made a decent flatbread. I think the recipe needs work though.

I used the pan drippings from frying the meatballs to make the gravy, but I didn’t have any good broth to use so it came out a little bland.  I think drippings gravy is the right idea here, I just didn’t do it well.

Overall verdict: This definitely feels like street food. It was tasty and has the potential to be amazing once I get the flatbread and gravy right. Nomnomnom. It’s not going to win any awards for being good for you, but that’s not what this is about. 

F is for Frillbloom.  For more on frillbloom, visit the coppermind!

The Sorting

I read a lot and have a lot of books that I enjoy, but a friend recently introduced me to the Stormlight Archive and it has inspired a level of obsessiveness that I haven't had since I met the Harry Potter series back in middle school. My new obsession led me to the Cosmere Challenge tumbler and then the current prompt led to this.  Hopefully someone else will also find this entertaining :-)

Rough premise:  Something has caused Shallan, Kaladin, Adolin and Renarin to be thrown into the Hogwarts world with their character development through the end of Words of Radiance but Hogwarts aged.  I'm imagining that it is Harry's 4th or 5th year and that Renarin is Harry's age and the others are older. I have multiple plot bunnies in my head that require variations on the premise.  Regardless, here is what I imagine happening when they are sorted:

The sorting hat barely touches Adolin's head before calling out “Gryffindor!” Adolin doesn't know quite how to handle the new situation he has found himself in and falls back on what he does understand as a defense. Unfortunately, this means he comes across as a superficial person who is extremely cocky and a huge flirt and the general impression that everyone gets is that they have been saddled with a new McLaggan. It takes several months and lots of set backs while Adolin learns how to interact with a world where the fact that he is a lighteyes Highprince is irrelevant, but he eventually finds his way and is accepted into the Gryffindor fold.

The sorting hat is less sure what to do with Renarin. It recognizes his quiet intelligence and wit and considers Ravenclaw, but Renarin wants Gryffindor. He has been told from the time he was very young that he is not cut out to be a warrior to the point that he has internalized the idea that he can't be. Despite this, he has always wanted to be able to follow in his father's and brother's footsteps. He is not at all confident that he truly belongs in Gryffindor, but he does know that that is where he really wants to be. The sorting hat considers and tells him that it would probably be truer to himself for Renarin to go to Ravenclaw, but that Gryffindor will also help him grow and respects his choice. Once he is in Gryffindor, Neville recognizes him as a kindred spirit and takes him under his wing. He is shocked the first time he has one of his minor epileptic fits and the other boys just shrug it off – after all, it is nothing compared to Harry's Voldemort induced visions. It boggles his mind that, for once, he is more popular than his brother and that it is more common here for him to need to defend Adolin's character than the other way around.

Kaladin doesn't believe it at first when they tell him a storming hat is going to sort him into a “house,” whatever that nonsense is. It sounds like a lighteyes thing – house Kholin, house Davar – and he wants nothing to do with it. Further explanations lead to the conclusion that it is more like being sorted into different barracks, which is at least something he can understand. Then they bring the hat out and it is an ancient thing that talks using a rip in its fabric as a mouth. Kaladin seriously considers throwing his hands up and walking out, but Adolin and Renarin are here, which means he needs to be here as well, so he grits his teeth and plays along. They put the hat on his head and he can suddenly hear it talking in his mind. Apparently these people have trapped a spren in a hat. The hat laughs at this thought and responds that it is not a bad analogy, but assures him that it is fine and there is no real hatspren that needs rescuing. At this point, to the surprise of the hat, Syl joins in the conversation. After much confusion, the sorting hat decides it is going to have to treat Kaladin and Syl as a single entity. It almost sends them to Gryffindor, but then realizes Kaladin's strong sense of honor is deeply rooted in his belief in the powers of hard work and doing what is right even when it isn't easy and sends them to Hufflepuff. Syl is pleased by this, but Kaladin is so overwhelmed by the whole business at this point that his only immediate reaction is to grumble that it is going to be hard to keep an eye on the storming Gryffindor Highprinces when he is in a different house.

Shallan gives the hat it's biggest challenge – at least until it discovers Pattern. Her dedication to her family and the hardwork and determination she showed while convicing Jasnah to taker her as a ward make her a solid candidate for Hufflepuff. Her clever use of lightweaving and willingness to do anything to achieve her goals, despite the questionable legality/morality of it, makes her the epitome of a Slytherin. She has the Gryffindor tendency to dive into things without fully thinking them through and a Ravenclaw's passion for learning. In the end it is Pattern's philosophy that “Truth is individual” and that “Your truth is what you see” that tips the scales and makes the hat decide to send them to Slytherin. Once in Slytherin, Shallan concludes that what she learned while figuring out how to navigate the Ghostbloods will serve her well in her new situation. It is going to be a challenge, but, with Pattern's help, she is absolutely up for it. [Note: There is so much potential here I can't even...  We will see if I can get any of it to solidify. If anyone else wants to play with it (or any of the rest of it) I'm totally cool with that.] 

In an alternate premise where Renarin is the only one who has jumped universes:

The sorting hat recognizes Renarin's courage and inner strength and wants to put him in Gryffindor. However, for the first time Renarin is in a place where no one knows him, where there are no preset expectations for him. In this new world, no one thinks it odd for a man to want to read and write. No one knows that he is the son of a Highprince. No one thinks he is a failure for not being comfortable around swords in general and shardeblades in particular. Gryffindor feels too much like the expectations he has escaped. He thinks Ravenclaw sounds acceptable. He would prefer not to be thrown into any preconceived classification, but if he has to have one, scholar sounds like a breath of fresh air. He thinks this might be an expectation he could actually live up to. The sorting hat grumbles about it and tells him that Gryffindor would be good for him, but accepts Renarin's choice in the end.

Pixely critters from hanging out in the Steel Ministry on iscribble.

I live near Atlanta and Labor day weekend is approaching, aka that time of year that Atlanta turns into nerd central - we get both Dragon Con and the Decatur Book Festival on the same weekend.

I love the idea of Dragon Con. I love seeing all of the amazing costumes people make for it. But as a person who is easily overwhelmed by large crowds and who has a distinct preference for books over tv and movies, the Decatur Book Festival is much, much more my speed.  Sadly, there is a distinct lack of anything fantasty/scifi on the book festival talk schedule this year. And Sanderson is going to be at Dragon Con... It makes it tempting to consider...

Realistically though, I’m going to be happier at the book festival. 

If anyone else is going to be hanging out in Decatur that weekend looking at books and wants to meet up for ice cream (there are a couple of great ice cream shops in Decatur) or tea or something and chat about the Cosmere, or Imperial Radch, or Wayfarers or... let me know :-)

Oathbringer thoughts: Eshonai

What if, just maybe, part of the point is that we are supposed to be angry and bitter about Eshonai’s death? Maybe, given what we know right now, it is supposed to come across as completely pointless. 

It seems like no one (except Timbre and sometimes Venli) cares. Eshonai’s death happens off screen and the only reason we get confirmation that she is dead is that Ulim guides Venli and Demid to her to retrieve the plate. We learned all the way back in WoK that scavenging from corpses goes against Listener culture, and yet here we are with Venli being forced to do so anyway. The only reason we even find Eshonai’s corpse is that Venli is being forced to do things that go against her culture. Eshonai is dead. Their culture is being erased. 

There are various parallels between the Listeners and the native peoples of the Americas. Far too often their plights are ignored. Indigenous women are murdered or go missing at disturbing rates and yet it almost never makes the news. Their deaths are horrible and pointless and it seems like no one cares. When they do get talked about it is almost always (at least from what I have seen) as an after thought. Much like Eshonai. Maybe that’s part of the point.

But you know what? Even with Eshonai dead, this isn’t the end of her story. Just because her death happened off screen doesn’t mean that will continue to be true. One of the next two books is going to give us Eshonai flashbacks. We are going to get to know her and her world better. And, I suspect, we are going to get to see that awful battle from her perspective and be with her as she falls into the chasm.  

Ulim says it looks like she drowned in the flood waters, but my guess is there is more going on. She had plate, a blade, and storm form. We know she was at least somewhat trained with the plate and blade. Kaladin and Shallan survived spending a high storm in the chasms when they were both a mess and Kaladin didn’t have his powers and Shallan was wary of hers. Eshonai should have had the tools to survive. I can imagine a heartwrenching scene coming where Eshonai knows that she could save herself using the power that she has in storm form, but fighting that power and rejecting it. Or Eshonai being given the chance during that first Everstorm to become a fused and choosing to die instead. Some kind of intense internal struggle where she makes the choice to die rather than give in to something she can’t accept. 

Her death will still be tragic. We can (maybe even should) still be angry that she died, but until we get her flashback chapters I’m going to cling to the hope that there is more going on than we currently know. 

Gonna attempt Febroary, a snow lep for day 1 !

So I just started reading Mistborn...

and I really, really want to introduce Vin, as we meet her right at the beginning of the story, to Lift. They wouldn't trust each other at all at first and for quite a while, but they would cautiously work together because it is better than the alternatives. It's possible they would see each other as rivals, but I want Vin to eventually take Lift under her wing like a little sister and they can be awesome magic scrawny teenage girl street thieves together. They could get up to so many ridiculous shenanigans and steal *everyone's* dinner... 

Frillbloom!  As with shalebark, frillbloom is a family of plants rather than a specific type.  Here is how I imagine a few different varieties, in both open and closed form.

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Nangong Jingnu/Qiyan Agula- Clear and Muddy Loss of Love/Jing Wei Qing Shang by Please Don't Laugh/Qing Jun Mo Xiao

Dr. Arada/Overse- The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

Harrowhark Nonagesimus/Gideon Nav- The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir

Renarin Kholin/Rlain- The Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson