The Other End of the Leash: A Harry Potter Fan-Fiction

My sister and I came up with a great idea for a fan fiction a while ago.

She read an article someone wrote about Sirius. Near the beginning of book 5, he goes outside as a dog and the first thing he does is chase his tail. The article was very judgemental of this choice of activities.

Somehow, one thing led to another, and we came up with this idea for a fan fiction.

Harry and Dumbledore decide that Sirius needs to get out of Grimmauld Place. Dumbledore convinces the other members of the Order to take turns taking Sirius (in dog form as Padfoot) out for walks. Some of them are better dog walkers than others.

It's posted at fanfiction.net.

The Other End of the Leash

Enjoy!

Mushroom Ravioli & Olive Pesto

Me: What do you want for dinner tonight?

Sister: There's a lasagna in the freezer.

Me: Why don't we save that for one night this week, when I get home from work 20 minutes before we want to eat? It's Saturday. I have time to make something.

Sister: Will you make... those mushroom raviolis you invented?

Me: Yeah, okay.

I invented these raviolis some time ago. I don't remember what posessed me to create this recipe, or if I based it on a recipe I had found somewhere.

But I like mushrooms and I like pasta.

If you don't have a pasta press, I suspect you can probably find sheets of fresh pasta in grocery stores. I've never looked for it, because I have a pasta press.

This is a recipe in 3 parts. However, each part only has 3 or 4 ingredients and isn't hard to do.

Pasta Dough

3 cups of flour

3 eggs

1 tsp olive oil

Pour flour into a large bowl. Make a large indent in the flour. Crack eggs into the indent and beat with a fork. Gradually incorporate the flour into the beaten eggs.

Add olive oil. Mix until well blended. Use your hands if you need to.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Mushroom Filling

8 oz of canned mushrooms (or 1 cup of fresh sliced mushrooms)

1/2 tbsp crushed garlic

3/4 cup cream cheese

olive oil

In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, warm olive oil. Add garlic and cook until garlic is lightly browned. If using canned mushrooms, drain. Add mushrooms to saucepan. Cook for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Pour mushroom mixture into a food processor. Add cream cheese. Process until mixture is well-blended.

Using the pasta press, process dough into sheets that are about 1/8th an inch think. (It's 5 on my pasta machine.)

I use a large glass to cut out the ravioli wrappers, but if you're using pre-prepared sheets, you might want to cut it into squares.

Place a teaspoon of filling into a ravioli wrapper. Fold wrapper over filling and seal the edges. Repeat until there are no more wrappers, or no more filling, or both.

Boil water in a large pot to cook pasta. Once the water has come to a boil, add raviolis and cook for 10 to 12 minutes. Drain. Eat with pesto.

Black Olive Pesto

6 oz can of black olives

olive oil

Using a food processor, process olives until they are coarsely chopped. Add enough oil to loosely hold the mixture together.

Eat pesto cold on hot ravioli.

Irene

Here's a tour of my new car. She's a 2007 Ford Taurus SEL that I call Irene.

Here you will observe the lovely faux wood paneling.

Here is the inside of my glove box. There's the owner's manual, and some paperwork.

Here you can see the lovely fold-down seats, in case I'm transporting a ladder, or my skis.

Here is the inside of my trunk. It's very spacious. Maybe not as spacious as my Oldsmobile's trunk was, but it'll do. I don't plan on moving every year ever again.

Here is the trunk's emergency release, in case I lock myself in my trunk. (I have been known to do that.)

And here is another shot of the back seat. There is a carseat anchor on every seat, in case I have triplets or something.

I like my new car a lot. And it's a hell of a lot more fuel efficient than my mother's mini-van, which I had been driving.

Conjoined Balloons!

I really needed a vacation, so I took one.

I took the train down to Stony Brook last Sunday. During this 10 hour span of time on trains and sitting around, I managed to finished one of the two front pieces of the sweater I'm knitting for my brother.

Monday night, Jordanna and I went out to dinner and then saw Thor, which was awesome.

Tuesday afternoon, Jordanna and I got our ears pierced and then saw Pirates of the Caribbean 4.

I got a bit too much sun at graduation. I put on sunscreen, but it was apparently not enough.

Then we went to see Perry Goldstein. Julia was only there for a little less than a day. She had to run off and catch a flight right after we took this photo.

Alex and I went out to dinner with Jordanna's family and had a rolicking good time.

I then went back to the dorms and introduced our friend Robyn (the only one still living in the dorms after graduation and my most gracious hostess for this trip) to the Vlogbrothers.

I had to get up disturbingly early to catch the train home on Thursday morning (because I couldn't get Friday off from work). I watched A Knight's Tale for the billionth time on the train.

Today!

I had promised my mother that I would help sell balloons for her Kiwanis club at the Saint Mary's Bazaar. So, my brother and sister and I went with our parents to get the booth and all the balloons ready.

We found these very exciting conjoined twin balloons:

We thought that there was no way they could both hold air, since the bit where they're conjoined must be weaker or have a hole in it, but there they are. In all their conjoined splendor.

Then we hung out at the bazaar. I had two fried doughs, and they were amazing.

"No offense": I Think About Implicature A Lot

This question has bothered me for some time: When a person says "No offense", what are they implying?

Phrases like "Don't take this the wrong way" and "No offense" are hedges. They are meant to get the speaker out of taking responsibility for what he or she has said.

But there is something underlying in this phrase.

If someone uses "No offense" to preface/follow another statement, they are assuming that the addressee will be offended. Furthermore, they are saying whatever it is they are saying despite the fact that it may be offensive and they know it.

I think I ought to be offended regardless.

What bothers me even more if when someone includes "No offense" along with a statement that I wouldn't otherwise find offensive. Then I have to think about what that person thinks I would have found offensive in that statement and whether or not I should be offended by this assumption they've made about me.

Postcards (Mostly to Sports Figures)

Dear Sidney Crosby,

We love you, but we can't understand why you feel the need to grow a play-off beard every year when you know full well that you can't.

I believe one sports writer said something along the lines of, "You are wonderful at many things. Growing facial hair is not one of them."

Dear Austin Collie,

Stop getting concussed! We liked watching the Colts play more when you were playing with them.

Hopefully, next season will be injury-free.

PS - At our house, we call you Awesome Collie. We didn't think you would mind.

Dear Guy Boucher,

You look like you could be in the hockey mob.

Dear Jeff Skinner,

Oh my God! You're adorable!

I just want to make you a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and cut the crusts off for you.

Dear people who cast True Blood,

Boy do you ever know how to pick out beautiful men! Kudos and thank you. You did a fine job with Seasons 1 - 3.

I can't wait to see who you've picked out to play Quinn.

When Karl Comes to Visit

The last time my brother Karl came to visit, we had an outrageous adventure at Gus's Red Hots.

When we were small children, the whole family could fit into a booth together. However, the three of us can no long fit into the back seat of a sedan, much less into one side of a booth at Gus's Red Hots.

My mother and brother were insistent that we still could.

So we tried to cram all five of us into a booth. We didn't fit.

So we tried to cram into a booth on the other side of the restaurant. We didn't fit.

So we tried to cram into a booth at the front of the restaurant, into which we also did not fit.

It was like Goldilocks and the three booths.

"This booth is too small. This booth is also too small. This booth is the same size as the first two, and is too small."

Then a waitress came and found a table for us. Apparently, if you wander around a restaurant for long enough, someone will seat you, even if there is a sign that says "Please Seat Yourself".

To explain the insanity that pursued this weekend, there is a bit of backstory.

There is a family that lives around the corner called the Duffys. They have four daughters who are about the same ages as we are and we went to school together.

One day, standing in church, Karl said, "Look. There are the Duffys. I bet we can take them."

We eventually told them that we said that every time we saw them, and from then on, we would make angry eyes and shake our fists at each other when we saw each other out in public.

Last weekend, after we Bechard children had watched about 1/3 of a season of Dragon Ball Z in 2 days, one of the Duffy girls came to talk to us at church.

We made our silly gestures and said things like, "Let's go. You want to go?"

Karl said, "Unfortunately for you, the three of us are well versed in imaginary fighting styles."

"Imaginary fighting styles? But do you know any real fighting moves?"

To which I said, "No, but are we getting into a real fight right now, or an imaginary one."