Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

Who knew my old pickup, Cheyenne, was a movie star? Here she is in her cameo role in The Straight Story. Maybe. I dunno what she was doing before she was mine. Could be her.

(Probably not)

When I first transitioned, Steph and Amy were my fashion consultants. Their goal (which may have not been my goal) was to keep me from being that girl who dressed up for lunch with the queen when all she had to do was grocery shop.

While I've kinda developed my own sense of style (frumpy- baggy-hide-it-all-couture), when I'd dress up for an occasion, I'd still send a pic to Steph to show her I dressed up. It was always encouraging, and despite being down on my looks, at least would pep me up a bit.

A post about "Fashion Plates" a kid's toy where you could swap out different outfits and heads to make new outfits you could then draw and fill in) got me thinking, though. What if I DID have the body I wanted, and I COULD dress how I wanted. Or, even, see what the clothes I'm wearing in this Y Chromosome Body would look like on X Chromosome Me?

Turns out it was easy to set up, And X Chromosome me looks cute even in my frumpy-ish outfits. And it's set up that I can overlay any clothes I want on the template, assuming I can draw it.

This is what I wore to last night's city council meeting.

While setting up a "Wrapround Wednesday" for the Comico Comics Celebration I came across Lancer/Yellow Dancer's debut episode.

Oh, Yellow. My first real in depth look at a gender bending character (even before Boy George, mainly because I thought they were a cis girl at the time).

I knew I was trans at the time, and while I didn't put the trans label on Yellow/Lancer, it was nice to see. Especially when we got to episode 71 which explains Yellow's origin as a survival tactic and the fact that Lancer lived as a woman (And enjoyed it) for some time.

That kind of positive influence was something I needed at the time I realized I'd literally just figured out I was trans, even if I didn't have the vocabulary for it.

This Week's Fancy Pants Meal: Wurst-Kohl Eintopf

This is a recipe that comes from a student's mom in the 1920s. While I love making food from personal recipes, they often completely leave out steps because "of COURSE you're going to know how to do X or Y."

Following the direction, this meal isn't bad. Just unweildy. Looking online for what "wurst-eintopf" should have looked like led me to believe that there was more chopping involved than just "quartering the potatoes." In fact, it should be cut into chunk as the potatoes on top don't get cooked.

Still, it is tasty, and it's up there with Really Good Food. I'd just chop the potatoes a little smaller, and while the recipe specifically calls for you not to cut the sausage, slicing into discs, wouldn't be a bad idea.

# Wurst-Kohl Eintopf (Sausage-Cabbage Dish)

Fredericksburg Home Kitchen Cook Book

1.0 medium head cabbage (cut into 8 wedges per head)
5.0 medium potatoes (peeled) (quartered)
2.0 rings smoked sausage
3.0 slices of bacon (diced)
3.0 tbsp onion (diced)
1.0 cup water
salt
pepper

1 - In a large saucepan cook bacon and onion until just brown.
2 - Add water.
3 - Arrange cabbage in bottom of the pan, top with potatoes.
4 - Season each layer lightly with salt and pepper.
5 - Place sausage on top, do not pierce.
6 - Cover tightly and simmer very slowly until sausage is done, about 40 minutes.
7 - Wilted cabbage requires more water.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

This Week's Bread: Pan De Muerto (Second Try)

Okay, this looks ridiculous, but not nearly as ridiculous as my first attempt (which, frankly, looked like "breast loaf"). Not to mention the dough was so wet, the insides were raw while the outsides were this side of burned.

While this worked better, I still don't know how to make the decorations stay where they're supposed to instead of sliding off. The instructions of using an egg wash to attach the decorations didn't seem to fasten the dough well enough.

But the bread itself is very good, slightly sweet in that pan dulce way, and will be a good way to get back into making my own bread again. So I consider it a success. If not a total success

# Pan de Muerto (Remake)

Tasting History with Max Miller
4.0 loaves

500.0 grams of bread flour
14.0 grams dried yeast
2.0 whole eggs
5.0 whole yolks
130.0 grams sugar
113.0 grams butter
113.0 grams lard
2.0 tbsp orange blossom water
2.0 tsp orange zest
1.0 tsp anise seeds
1.0 tsp salt
1.0 whole egg (for decorations)

1 - Make a starter by mixing the dried yeast with 1/2 cup (120ml) lukewarm water and a half cup (60g) of the bread flour.
2 - Whisk together, cover and let sit for 30 minutes.
3 - Make the anise mixture by mixing the anise seeds with 90ml water and set it over a medium heat and simmer for 2 minutes.
4 - Strain out the seeds and let the water cool.
5 - Once the starter is ready, add it to the remaining flour along with the salt, sugar, orange zest, orange blossom water, cooled anise water, 2 eggs and 5 yolks.
6 - Mix together with the paddle of a stand mixer on low until combined
7 - Switch to a dough hook and knead on high for 10-12 minutes or until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.
8 - Reduce speed to low and add in the butter and/or lard 3 tablespoons at a time, fully incorporating it before adding more.
9 - Once fully incorporated, knead on medium high for 10 more minutes or until the dough has become nice and smooth.
10 - Set the dough in a lightly greased container, cover, and let it sit for 2 hours or until it's doubled in size.
11 - Turn it out onto a lightly greased surface, fold it over on itself, and return it to the container, covered, and let it rise in the refrigerator for 6-12 hours.
12 - Remove the dough and let it return to room temperature (about 1 hour)
13 - Remove 300g of dough for the decoration and divide the remaining dough into 4 equal pieces (this can also be 2 large loaves or 8 small loaves).
14 - Shape the large pieces into balls and place on a lined baking sheet, firmly pressing them down to create a flat top.
15 - Divide the 300g of dough into 4 pieces. Each piece should be made into a small ball about an inch across and the rest should be rolled into a rope about twice the length of the main loaves.
16 - Divide the "rope" into 4 pieces, shaping the middle to be slightly thinner than the ends to give the appearance of a bone.
17 - Whisk the remaining egg with a tablespoon of water and brush the mixture onto one side of each of the bones and ball to act as glue.
18 - Set 4 bones on each loaf in cross pattern then stick the dough ball on top pressing it down firmly.
19 - Cover the loaves and allow to rise for 90 minutes or until doubled in size.
20 - Brush the risen loaves with the remaining egg wash and bake at 350°F for 20 minutes.
21 - Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
22 - Whisk together 1 tablespoons of flour into 1/2 cup of water and set over low heat, stirring until it becomes a paste.
23 - Let it cool, stirring continuously, then brush it on the cooled loaves and dust with plenty of sugar.
24 - Wait 5 minutes, and dust with more sugar.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking #baking

"When God closes a Spirit Halloween, he opens a Hickory Farms."

Was playing Devil's Crush on the airplane while flying back. I had one of my best games ever. Glad I figured out the screenshot function on the 3DS!

Restarting The Great Restart

Crystal to the rescue!

"If you can't make your own, store bought is fine."

You know, as a 80s and 90s comic person, and a Robotech fan, I've never read the Eternity/Academy Robotech II: The Sentinels comic beyond the first few comics. I walked away from the comics world around that time.

I really should. Apparently it went off script later in the series. I do know a weekly outline was done, but were all 85 scripts? I've seen a few sources saying all 85 scripts were written, but given that the comics and novels appear to go their own way about two thirds into the story, I've wondered about that.

Feeling rather apt these days....

Favorite Star Trek: The Original Series episode?

I felt like watching TOS, and put on one of my fave episodes, The Immunity Syndrome.

It's a very good sci-fi episode, where the characters are faced with something so perplexing they don't know how to handle it, and have to learn and understand their way through the first half of the show.

Once they figure it out, it goes from Sci-Fi to character drama as they need to figure out who is best to deal with the problem and the reactions to possibly losing that person. And finally a last ditch fix that could legitimately end with the deaths of everyone while attempting to save the universe.

The effects are also pretty good for 1968.

It's a really great episode among great episodes, and for me, the one that stands out when I think of TOS.

Ah, Seven Can Soup. When you need a lot of food, very cheaply, right now.

Apparently, we've encountered Romulans on this flight, and have gone to Red Alert. SHIELDS UP!

On the ground in Las Vegas. My window is filthy.

Phone comparison

It's not often I get to pull out the laptop on a flight, and certainly not comfortably. This is what my laptop usually looks like on these trips....

Also: MOOPSY.

Who says Southwest doesn't have business class?

On the ground in El Paso with a two hour lay over.

Oh hey. Schlotzsky's at the airport. Don't mind of I do.

Well, I'm not hurting for entertainment. I can play some catch up....