Steve’s Update 10/7/2013

by

Hey gang, here’s what’s up!

As you saw, Seventh Sanctum is now migrated over.  Well, it’s on a local server I can test.  I’m going to hammer on it a bit and then consider posting it to a beta domain.

The big issue is, as noted, making sure it looks OK on mobile, which is a bit of a pain.  It scales OK to a phone, but not in a way that I’m completely happy with.  I may have to just lump it and accept it won’t be perfect but good enough if you need to generate random stuff on your phone.  I’ve considered making an app, but won’t revisit that until 2014.

The new book’s first editorial comments are back and that’s going to help.  However there’s some questions on the best formatting so I’m definitely looking at a later January/early February launch unless there’s little content editing.  I’m still waiting to hear from other editors on the content – if the content is pretty solid it may not be as much work.

I just finished Kraken Con, which was universally awesome – and I’ll be posting about it at Muse Hack.  It’s a small, focused, friendly one-day con that packs a lot into that day but doesn’t overdo it.  I’m wondering if these more focused, smaller, more-than-once-a-year cons are a potential future path.

Otherwise, doing some side projects as well.  You may see more in time, depending.  I’m also taking a class so I need to make time for that – it is very cool however.

Sorry I fell off of some of my postings, this week got busy.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

 

 

Link Roundup 10/6/2013

by

– Steve “Full Financial Disclosure” Savage

Curry Diary: Keep The Spread

by

Well I’ve made version #15 of the curry.  In this case I decreased the spread by 25% from my last version, Milestone #4.

The result . . . wow that was less interesting.

I figured the sweetness of the spread was contributing to the sweetness of the curry, and that cutting it would be worth it.  Well apparently I needed that in the curry roux, probably due to the flavor, fat, and ability to help fry the other ingredients.  Removing it made the curry notably duller – and when I add some in and reheat it, the taste normalizes.

So frankly I’m a bit puzzled/stumped.  It seems that these two ingredients were far more vital than I thought, which may mean I didn’t fully understand the complexity of what I was making – and may have more to learn.  It also means that the red wine may have to be my next target for reduction, and I really want to get it right because it’s addition really took things far.

My only other thought is I used a quickie broth this recipe this time, so maybe I’ll remake the last milestone again, using this broth, to just check to be sure.

Still, closer each time – and this may be a good warning that the roux of a curry is a lot more complex than we may think.  Now I’m starting to understand the tales of secret ingredients, of curry cooked and recooked to unlock flavors, and so on.  This is an amazing art and the further I go, the more respect I gain.

You can really understand how this has spread across Japan into so many versions.  It’s like chili in America in all its amazing variants.

Maybe I’ll never find my perfect curry.  I think by now I don’t care.  I’m loving the ride.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.