Stone Soup Digest 06.23.23
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Want to see an ugly pie? I sure hope so because you’re about to. My local farm share keeps sending me strawberries, which I really appreciate except that I can only eat them so fast. This week I decided to try my hand at making pie, which I only do rarely because I don’t like crust. I know, it’s a bad opinion, I’m sorry, I’m working on it. Making strawberry pie seemed like a doubly-bad idea because I also don’t like Cornstarch Gloop, which is one of the more popular ways to make a fruit pie stick to itself.
So, I don’t like the outside part of pie, and I don’t like the inside part that much either. Pretty foundational problems, but solvable ones!
First, I made a cornmeal crust. This was a smart idea because cornmeal makes things good. I added orange zest and cardamom. While the cornmeal crust was refrigerating pre-roll-out, I chopped and macerated the strawberries in sugar, a little salt, and a lot of spicy ginger.
This is the point at which I realized my gloop problem. I solved it by making caramel custard. Caramel custard is so easy to make that it feels silly not to do it. Once the custard was ready to go, I folded the macerated strawberries into it, put all that into the pie, and stuck it in the fridge to set up.
It’s hideous, right? I hate to look at it. But it tasted totally delicious—a toothsome crust that laughs at the idea of getting soggy, a silky custard, bright sweet strawberries. Next time, I’m going to do a peanut butter custard—I think the color will be less alarming if you’re thinking about peanut butter instead of thinking “oh god, why”—and I’ll macerate the berries for a few hours instead of just thirty minutes so they get nice and jammy. And honestly, I’ll probably just cover the entire top with whipped cream, because that’s nice to look at no matter what.
Nino Cipri is Teaching a Horror Workshop
It's that time again! I'll be teaching my 4-week introductory horror writing workshop starting July 7, with a second section starting 8/19. https://t.co/qNKxCWzbFx
— 🧭Nino Cipri isn't here right now (@ninocipri) June 16, 2023
Alyssa Wong is taking over Captain Marvel!
Marvel Comics will reboot Captain Marvel with a new #1 this October, and Alyssa Wong is going to be driving this bus! If you liked Wong’s incredible run on Deadpool as much as I did, you know this is very, very exciting news.
Blind Data by Paula Rogers
This webcomic from Paula Rogers about dating culture is absolutely fascinating. With dynamic, evocative art and rich storytelling, this one zooms in on the essence of every interaction and reflects on the authors role in her own love life. I’m enjoying the hell out of it. Read it here.
FOC for TRVE KVLT
Just four more days to order the collected TRVE KVLT through your local comic shop! Pre-order your copy today to get the scoop on burgers, satanism, and what it really means to be the employee of the month.
Personal Canons Cookbook Highlight: Making a Home of Each Other
Lucy Bellwood is a professional Adventure Cartoonist based in Ojai, CA. Her documented expeditions include rafting trips through the Grand Canyon, cutting-edge oceanography in the Pacific, and an expedition aboard the last wooden whaling ship in the world. She’s written a truly stunning reflection on what it means to find your person. This essay is accompanied by a really wonderful recipe for eggs that is secretly a whole entire meal.
Read Making a Home of Each Other.
I’m Reading: A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand
Open the door…
Holly Sherwin has been a struggling playwright for years, but now, after receiving a grant to develop her play The Witch of Edmonton, she may finally be close to her big break. All she needs is time and space to bring her vision to life. When she stumbles across Hill House on a weekend getaway upstate, she is immediately taken in by the ornate, if crumbling, gothic mansion, nearly hidden outside a remote village. It’s enormous, old, and ever-so eerie—the perfect place to develop and rehearse her play.
Despite her own hesitations, Holly’s girlfriend, Nisa, agrees to join Holly in renting the house out for a month, and soon a troupe of actors, each with ghosts of their own, arrive. Yet as they settle in, the house’s peculiarities are made known: strange creatures stalk the grounds, disturbing sounds echo throughout the halls, and time itself seems to shift. All too soon, Holly and her friends find themselves at odds not just with one another, but with the house itself. It seems something has been waiting in Hill House all these years, and it no longer intends to walk alone…
Barnes & Noble | Bad River Website | Find an Indie Bookstore
Featured New Release: Deadpool Vol.1 by Alyssa Wong and Martín Cóccolo
Marvel's top merc is back in business and better than ever! We all know Wade Wilson is one of the leading guns-for-hire in the Marvel Universe (even if he is simultaneously the most annoying one), but now he's pushing to make that recognition official. Deadpool is auditioning for the elite group of assassins known as the Atelier, and he has 48 hours to kill one of the world's most famous super villains: Doctor Octopus! Only problem? He's been kidnapped, and something… strange… is growing inside him! Things are going to get gross as writer Alyssa Wong (STAR WARS: DOCTOR APHRA, IRON FIST) and artist Martín Cóccolo (HULK VS. THOR: BANNER OF WAR) take out their pent-up aggression on everyone's pizza-faced, jabber-mouthed, misguided, hate-to-love, love-to-hate fave! Collecting DEADPOOL (2022) #1-5 and material from NEW MUTANTS (2019) #30.
Barnes & Noble | Local Library | Bad River Website | Find an Indie Bookstore
WGA Strike Updates
Find community resources to support the strike here.
SAG-AFTRA, WGA, IATSE, Teamsters, nurses, musicians & other unions joined us in a March from Farmers' Market to La Brea Tar Pits against corporate greed. #insolidarity @sagaftra @IATSE @WGAWest @WGAEast #writers #actors #Union #WGAstrong #sagaftramembers and #1u We got sunburned! pic.twitter.com/jGP7mLytlT
— Lydia Cornell (@LydiaCornell) June 22, 2023
Humanitas typically delivers grocery cards on Friday, which means it's a great day to get your request in!
— Humanitas (@HUMANITASPrize) June 22, 2023
If you're a @WGAWest of @WGAEast member, fill out our short, easy application here:https://t.co/GrIyCukJOk pic.twitter.com/GQCJZdJFuU
Stand with @WGAeast @WGAwest writes on strike and tell production companies to meet their demands #WGAStrong Sign the petition now: https://t.co/GBEJjs5qrV via @teamcoworker
— LisaDelao 🇺🇦 (@ldelao76) June 22, 2023
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—Gailey
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