Amber Marshall ๐Ÿ‚๐Ÿฅง๐Ÿฆƒ
banner
amarshallwriting.bsky.social
Amber Marshall ๐Ÿ‚๐Ÿฅง๐Ÿฆƒ
@amarshallwriting.bsky.social
300 followers 71 following 7.6K posts
She/her. Author of Negatives and Apertures, paranormal horror romances. Co-author of The Trident of Merrow with Kristopher Lewis. Food enthusiast. Buy Negatives: https://books2read.com/u/mgnvGK Read Apertures: Ambermarshallwrites.substack.com
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Sometimes the quick tips at the beginning of Cook's Illustrated is reason enough to subscribe. Every single one this month is super useful.
The basic recipe is a little bland but there are a few others to try (including French and "sandwich bread" that both have longer fermentation times, which = more flavor).

Structure, crumb, and texture are perfect.
"But otherwise kids would be catching the bus in the dark in the morning! ๐Ÿ˜ฅ"
So instead the sun sets as soon as they get off the bus in the afternoon and they can't play outside after school. My kid keeps wanting to ride his bike at dusk, real safe.
I tried out their basic recipe for a 1 lb loaf and it looks good! Just a wee hole from the mixing/kneading blade. I just took it out so I'll wait for it to cool some before trying a piece.
Holy shit, never tell her about who owns the Great Value brand.
Reposted by Amber Marshall ๐Ÿ‚๐Ÿฅง๐Ÿฆƒ
Generally speaking I don't want my items to be Futuristic, I want them to work
The rules are made up and the points don't matter, indeed.
Crepuscular: it's that PUS right in the middle and crep is one letter off from crap. I dunno, this is my brain's reasoning.
Salubrious: sounds like it should be describing something fat, squishy, and slimy. It sounds like "lube" right in the middle.
-convalescing: the "con" made me think this meant getting worse, not better.
-askance: I used to think this was looking ASKance, like asking a question of someone silently.
-nonplussed: not surprised or bothered

What are some others?
There are a whole heckuva lot of words that my brain thinks should mean different (or opposite) things:
-bucolic: combine bubonic and colic and that's a bad connotation
-bemused: I always thought this was like "amused in spite of yourself" or "wryly amused" like when a kid does a goofy thing
Having my time sense thrown off twice a year is just GREAT for my time anxiety. ๐Ÿ˜ฌ
I'm not mad (there are plenty of nice little places with good food who only care about the color of your money), but I will be amused to see if they survive. I don't think naive, rich leaf peepers can sustain them.
The most recent reviews seem to indicate that despite the airs, the food isn't very good, it's served lukewarm, high markups on drinks (higher than Boston). So they don't even rise to their own bar!
(BTW we had no idea the place had upscaled until we walked in. We weren't expecting to get seated at The Ritz in our street clothes. We expected something like Molly Stark Tavern).
We were wearing normal pants, not jeans. Kiddo was wearing his yellow cotton pants, okay. And we weren't wearing collared shirts, yes. I get it. And they did us a favor because apparently the prices are SKY HIGH.
I get places having dress codes, fine. Especially in a city where you might have a very high end place and don't want a bunch of people in ripped jeans and their passel of noisy kids. But as many times as we've joked "I'm not sure we're nicely dressed enough for this place" we've never been rejected
This place, we always meant to try. We went last night and got turned away because they have a dress code. ๐Ÿง

It's not a tavern anymore, it's two separate pretentious dining rooms. Gleaning from recent reviews, the place renovated last year, put in the dress code, and jacked up the prices.
So there's this place in a neighboring town, attached to an inn, used to be a tavern. New England small town taverns tend to be pretty great: quaint, cozy, unpretentious, sometimes a little pricey with the local farm to table menus but not crazy expensive.
So you know that potato trick or treat thing? Someone in my town was giving the option of ramen packets. I heard some kids yelling with delight, "WE GOT NOODLES!" My kid opted for a huge Tootsie Roll.