Polar Plunge update

So it's a month until Team Agni Dentati splashes into Lake George, NY, to raise money for Special Olympics New York.

Here's the Donation Page. You can choose any individual from the team there. (Or you can join the team -- hint, hint.)

This is fourth year we have done this as a group, and some of our members are offering special incentives.

We are mired somewhere in the top five in the standings, so we really need to get things going.

Do we have deals for you?

jenphalian, who recently learned to make 14th Century garb, will plunge in that garb if she makes her goal of $300.

Have you ever considered how wicked cool it would be if your SCA device or other personal slogan was captured in photographs as part of the Polar Plunge?

For every $25 donated to him, knoggleknot will have evilnicola paint your device on his body before he goes in. We will get and provide pictures.

We have not come up with a cunning plan for evilnicola yet, but we are taking suggestions, especially wicked, evil suggestions.

I think gwenlianna is too smart to offer a "deal," but you never know.

As for me, unless I reach at least $1,500, I will dive in only a Speedo, and I will post pictures all over the place! (Gee, maybe I will wear it at Birka).

I am serious about this.

For every $20 donation, I will perform -- on your cue -- part of the "Band of Brothers" -- or should I say, "Banda Bruddahs?" -- once, any time, anywhere. This is my "Yonda Lies Da Castle of my Faddah, da king" version.

For that same $20 donation, I will go to a Pennsic encampment -- or any gathering of folks -- and sing any song you choose from my vast repertoire.

Please feel free to pass this information on.

Love yas!

Liam

The Cooking Post

1. OK, you know I am odd sometimes, right?

How about this: For me, depression produces food.

I have been struggling a bit lately, and we're trying to save money, so I have been cooking a lot lately. It makes me feel productive, and it makes my wife happy. Yes, I am still doing a lot of writing and job-hunting, but I have taken a little time for the kitchen.

2. Yesterday;s main dinner dish involved finding a really nice pot roast, then slow-roasting it with potatoes, carrots and celeriac. I used the usual Liam-Mix of garlic, onlons, pepper, salt, various spices (including horse radish) and a little flour. Oh, and I used a little of the hot pepper wine a "good" friend gave me.

3. I also found one of those classic whole chickens for 99 cents a pound. It was bigger than I expected, so I shoehorned it into the crockpot, Usual mix, plus the rest of the pepper wine, a couple of onions, wasabi and horseradish.

4. Finally, even though the farm share season is over, we had lots of vegetables left over, so I boiled the heck out of some greens, broccoli, carrots and other vegetables to make a vegetable stock, then added sweet potatoes and a mix of Portuguese chourico and leeks I had browned up. Usually spicing.

5. The chicken is still largely untouched, so I need to rip the meat out of it, decide what to do with that, then boil it for stock.

6. The next project, once we munch our way through those items, is Lancashire Hot Pot, which my wife really wants after stumbling onto it while looking for a Cornish Pasty recipe. Going to need lamb for the hot pot.

7. A note about recipes: I really operate from the Wing-It School of Cooking. You add what it looks like it needs.

Potpourri, a mish-mash, a little of this and a little of that -- mostly seeking help.

1. At the recent library book sale, I was able to come into eight historical books aimed at children with big, bright pictures and some decent History.

I like to sell them for $4 apiece, so with shipping let's figure $37.50 for the lot. (No shipping if we don't need it).

These are ex-library books, so they are a little banged up. They are hard-cover.

Five are Eyewitness Books:

They are big and colorful and look like this -- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0789458950/ref=dp_image_z_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books .

They are: Castle, Knight, Viking, Ancient Egypt, Aztec, Inca & Maya, and Ancient Rome.

Also, Living History's "The Vikings," which is very similar to those above, and David Macauley's "Castle."

First person gets 'em. Paypal preferred but not critical.

2. I know that there are sites where you can legally donwload "classic" computer games like "SimCity" and "Warlords II." Any suggestions.

3. I am trying to put together some spiffy looking class handouts. I know what I need, but I cannot seem to find it in the usual places. I am looking for newsletter-type templates that would let me display the handout nicely, maybe with a big headline and/or graphic, and a couple columns of text.

4. If any of you have additional ideas for raising funds for the Polar Plunge (besides posting on LJ ;) ), please let me know.

5. Is anyone else going to be insane and try to do National Novel Writing Month? It might actually be a useful thing for me, given my new focus on becoming a better writer.

The question is: Coming-of-Age ("Sainted Portuguese Grandmother) book, military space opera, fantasy that starts in a tavern (a war story) or the Great American Baseball Bovel?

6. Are there any topic you think we should discuss in the blog?

7. Is there anything you have a pressing need to tell me?