Passing Conversations – November 11, 2014

I started this feature before the blog went on hiatus, so while I’m trying to build up a buffer, I thought I’d post some of the things I’ve been reading/watching lately.

• CGP Grey – A Youtuber who produces content on different interesting topics.  Even though the election is over, check out his series on voting in the animal kingdom.  It’s a nicely abstracted explanation of different aspects of voting and representative government.
• Highlighting and Contouring on Various Face Shapes – maskCara has a great guide to different face shapes here.  For some reason I wasn’t getting updates from her blog since last year, which is a shame, because obviously she’s been putting out some good content.
• Brows Held High – Another web video series.  The host here talks about art films, and I’ve found the series both entertaining and educational, especially since I haven’t been exposed to a lot of film critique from that perspective.

Hopefully those will keep you busy until the next round.

Passing Conversations #1

I spend a lot of time on the internet, reading emails, finding cute outfits or new recipes, or reading articles that make me think. Often, I want to share these, but I can’t flesh them out into a full post. So I’m introducing a new regular feature: Passing Conversations, a collection of links and short ideas that I’ve gathered together for your reading pleasure. In this first batch, I have:

• Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon. I love Mediterranean style food, and this book is full of it. I recently checked it out from the library, so I haven’t tried any of the recipes, but the writing style is great, full of warm descriptions of these places and the history of the dishes. The recipes seem as authentic as possible; I’m not sure I’ll be able to source some of the ingredients easily.
• A discussion of Toxic Family Members on Captain Awkward. This hits a bit close to home, so I won’t discuss it much here (the Captain has great insight, as always). However, emotional abuse is a valid form of abuse, and more people need to learn to recognize it, and learn that it is ok if you have to cut the abusers out of your life.
• This Cherry Danish recipe from Baking Bites. I made it one weekend for brunch with some friends, and then again when I went to visit my sister, both with the home-canned cherries we did a few years back. Be a little light on the milk; you may not need the whole amount. My first dough I used the full amount and it came out too sticky and wet. Second time I only added enough to bring the dough together.
• Eight Qualities of Pedestrian and Transit Oriented Design. Long, but fairly clear.  Interesting if you’re thinking about urban planning or design at all.  I know I don’t want to live too far out from the essential buildings; I like the idea of biking to a restaurant for lunch or the library or grocery store.

Let me know what you think of this feature.  Do you like these sorts of links?