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Alison Hawke

Alison Hawke

Now, 12 May 2023

Inputs Devoured the first Monk and Robot book from Becky Chambers, "A Psalm for the Wild-Built," and I plan to get hold of the sequel, "A Prayer for the Crown-Shy." It's a delightful read, hopeful and captivating. Taking a slower trip through Sharon Blue's book, "Self-care is not a bubble

Updated sourdough scone recipe

I've been experimenting with this recipe to improve the structural integrity, and it needed an egg plus a bit more flour from my original recipe. Makes about 14 scones plus one sad small scone, depending on the size of your pastry cutter. Ingredients: * 2 cups of sourdough discard (about 460g)

Crispy Garlic Chicken Thighs

Ingredients: 1 pack of skin-on chicken thighs Seasoning: 1 tsp salt 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp smoked paprika 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper Method: Set the oven to 425f if your oven runs cold, 410f if not. If you're not using a cast-iron skillet, put a baking

Karate family

Last night I went to the karate studio. I spent an hour practicing punches and kicks in group class, and an hour in sparring class. Last night I was part of a karate family, we were joking and exercising together, learning from our mistakes and having fun. Last night, I

Now, 16th January 2023

Thinking about What are my career goals? What do I want to achieve in the remainder of my work life? What do I want to achieve outside of work? Do I have to be in "go, Go, GO!" must-achieve mode? What does rest and recreation look like? Grateful After a

British Flapjacks

In Britain, a flapjack is not a pancake, it is a sweet, chewy, oat-based treat made with Tate and Lyle's Golden Syrup, which you can now get from Amazon. You will get better results if you do this recipe by weight rather than by volume, it is easy to overdo

Now, 23 December 2022

This is a Now post, something I do periodically as a snapshot. Thinking about The YearCompass, which I saw linked on a Mastodon post and downloaded. It is a guided retrospective and plan ahead in PDF format with fields you can type in. It is a LOT of work to

Moving to Ghost

My blog has moved around a lot in the 20 years it's been online. Most recently it was on WordPress, I am moving it to Ghost because I want something faster, simpler, and without the overhead of the WP post formatting. Simple markdown to edit, a clean look, and above

Using Mastodon over Twitter

I've been on a Mastodon server since November 6, 2022, just over a month now. I find it vastly different to Twitter. One example is that I posted asking for Hindi-language music: Looking for good music with lyrics in Hindi. I love Natacha Atlas and Rachid Taha, but I'd like

Seven books to know me better

This hashtag #7BooksToKnowMe is floating around on Mastodon (no more Twitter, yay!) and I have a whole shelf of favourite books on Goodreads. These ones I think give you a snapshot of the me you're likely to encounter on any given day. The TL;DR upfront, followed by more explanation:

Follow me on Mastodon