marilyn / is on Nostr

Developer of Android apps. Sometime mathematician. Bounced around the world to Australia (but the US accent persists).

Location: Bunurong country, Australia
Pronouns: she/her

Last Notes

2024-08-18 23:26:49

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First impression (of the website): It looks like a great redesign! It feels familiar, but somehow more modern too. Maybe there's even good functionality behind it too (but I haven't yet experimented enough to tell).
I only notice minor changes to the Android app so far - but the icon colour is on-brand blue now (same as the website).
I have mixed feelings about custom news feeds for logged-in users, but I may be an outlier in that - and anyway, things have been moving in that direction for a while (with or without me)

2024-08-16 04:54:08

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Ooh, I somehow missed whatever discussion that was (though it seems relevant to my interests).
Fully agree that buttermilk makes a huge difference! Writing about US biscuits kinda made me want to bake some, but I didn't because there's no buttermilk in the house. Plain milk would make a perfectly viable baked good, of course - just not what I crave.
Still, recipes naturally evolve into different variants, given time and distance and accessible ingredients and changing preferences. Still cousins, I say!

2024-08-16 04:39:47

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Well, if we're comparing US biscuits with British scones, yeah, there are differences. I'd never add eggs to US-style biscuits, and I wouldn't add extra ingredients like dried fruit either. I'd cheerfully eat any of these variants, of course - but general differences do exist.
Still, I think that US biscuits, Aussie scones, and British scones are all cousins of some sort. This Aussie recipe for "plain" scones could pass for an American biscuit recipe, with a simple substitution of buttermilk: https://www.recipetineats.com/plain-scones/
My own technique doesn't rely on a food processor: I cut the cold butter into the flour with a couple of knives, add buttermilk, barely mix it together, and then repeatedly fold-and-press the squishy mass until it's cohesive dough with lots of buttery layers. Cut it into rounds with a drinking glass, and no fancy egg wash - just straight into the hot oven.
British scones are fancier, which is all well and good. But their rustic American cousins are great at breakfast time.

2024-08-16 03:31:27

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I have been known to call them "biscuits" in the presence of particularly pedantic people - because I am ornery like that

2024-08-16 00:53:28

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Interesting that the pronunciation seems to be changing over time, with younger generations more likely to rhyme it with "cone".
As do I (born in the US), while fully aware of the possibility that someone might jump in to correct me.
Tomayto-Tomahto!

2024-08-12 04:06:24

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Absolutely right to curate the Mastodon that you want to see! There are people I like a lot, but don't follow because their stream of self-expression is too intense. I peek in from time to time, or see occasional boosts of their content, and that's enough for me.
I do like the fact that Mastodon allows me to follow a person's original posts while ignoring their boosts, though. That option cuts out a lot of noise, while still maintaining some connection

2024-08-10 01:40:37

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Thanks for the beautiful word-pictures. Memories of magical vanished places seem so strange and amazing

2024-08-09 05:35:05

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It's very impressive, and you're quite right about SA's innovations going unnoticed in the rest of Australia. Is there any recent ABC coverage at all? I searched their news for "South Australia plastic" and only saw old stories from 2021 (or earlier).
I think there would be tremendous pushback from takeout restaurants and food delivery services if a similar ban were tried in VIC, but I'd be delighted to be proven wrong about that.

2024-08-08 22:19:02

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That's amazing! It's the first I've heard about it. I would have imagined so much pushback (since people are reluctant to give up convenience).

2024-08-05 01:18:20

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Oh, I love those! Looking up Aussie recipes, it looks like they're most commonly shaped into closed fingers and filled? Haven't tried them that way, but I bet they're delicious.
I make them slightly differently - drooping each hot lacy cookie over a wooden spoon handle to make an open scroll/taco shape, and then dusting them all with powdered sugar. Yum!

2024-08-04 01:26:46

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Interesting! The area did indeed have a lot of German immigrants, who probably shared recipes with their neighbours until it became common knowledge. Your grandmother would have had the simple ingredients in her farm kitchen, but used in other ways.
Your grandmother's cooking sounds delicious, though! You're lucky to have those memories

2024-08-04 00:42:34

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I don't recall any Italian recipes from either of my grandmothers. That's not surprising, since there's no Italian ancestry, as far as I know. So there wasn't much that foreign "pasta"!
However, "egg noodles" were super common. Both grandmothers made them from scratch, as did my mother (when time allowed), as do I (when the mood strikes). It seemed like a very common skill (20th century, middle of USA).
Not so in Australia?
Edited to add: Ingredients like olive oil and garlic always seemed slightly exotic to my parents. Mom would look at recipes and just substitute what she happened to have (eg vegetable oil, onion, a pinch of "garlic salt"). Nothing wrong with that sort of practical cooking, if you know what you're doing! But it's funny how norms change from one generation to the next

2024-07-09 08:27:37

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Hahaha, I've started muttering that phrase on some of my walks lately too

2024-07-02 09:37:14

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I haven't seen any breakdown of how big the impacted farms were, or who they usually supply. I can easily understand the desire to keep that out of the news media. But according to this article from a couple weeks ago, a million birds needed to be culled in VIC alone: https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2024-06-18/bird-flu-outbreak-victoria-one-million-birds-to-be-killed/103991340

2024-07-02 08:45:25

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I had the same thought. I'm not sure how many birds were killed around here due to Avian Flu, but it must have had some effect on supply. Hmm.

2024-07-02 08:07:22

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Woolies usually has some eggs, but also a lot of empty shelves where eggs should be. They're often out of free range eggs, and remaining cartons (if any) tend to be picked over (with one broken egg in each). There are little signs about the desperate egg shortage on the empty shelves.
Smaller grocers seem not to have that problem, now that you mention it. Hmm.

2024-04-20 08:50:17

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