Beetle + Bee = Zombie Ant: JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #26-27 (JLI 33)
Dec. 6th, 2025 09:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcampbell1000 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
scans_daily
Warning for psychological horror. This isn’t Black Swan or anything, but there’s some scary mind-control stuff, and the penultimate page shown here has an image that stayed with me for a few days. Also some mild misogyny.
The series title shifts from “Justice League International” to “Justice League America” (no “of”) to distinguish its team from Justice League Europe.
The story starts with that American team avoiding the ringing phone like a bunch of Zoomers.
( Don’t fret, fellas, I’m sure the Atom didn’t REALLY need to reach you guys anyway. )
Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake
Dec. 6th, 2025 06:12 amnverland posting in creative_cooks
Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake
Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes Total Time: 2 hours Yield: 12-14 Servings
Ingredients
Crust
1 1/2 cups (201g) vanilla wafer crumbs (or graham cracker crumbs)
1/4 cup (52) sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
5 tbsp (70g) butter, melted
Cheesecake Filling
24 ounces (678g) cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup (207g) sugar
3 tbsp (24g) all-purpose flour
1 cup (230g) sour cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 large eggs, room temperature
Cinnamon Filling
1 1/4 cups (281g) packed light brown sugar
5 tbsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup (98g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (112g) unsalted butter, melted
Cream Cheese Frosting
2 tbsp cream cheese, room temperature
6 tbsp (84g) butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (173g) powdered sugar
4–5 tbsp heavy cream
( Read more... )
Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake
Dec. 6th, 2025 06:11 amnverland posting in recipecommunityCinnamon Roll Cheesecake
Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes Total Time: 2 hours Yield: 12-14 Servings
Ingredients
Crust
1 1/2 cups (201g) vanilla wafer crumbs (or graham cracker crumbs)
1/4 cup (52) sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
5 tbsp (70g) butter, melted
Cheesecake Filling
24 ounces (678g) cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup (207g) sugar
3 tbsp (24g) all-purpose flour
1 cup (230g) sour cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 large eggs, room temperature
Cinnamon Filling
1 1/4 cups (281g) packed light brown sugar
5 tbsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup (98g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (112g) unsalted butter, melted
Cream Cheese Frosting
2 tbsp cream cheese, room temperature
6 tbsp (84g) butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (173g) powdered sugar
4–5 tbsp heavy cream
( Read more... )
Okonomiyaki, Savory Japanese Pancakes
Dec. 5th, 2025 04:38 amnverland posting in creative_cooks
Okonomiyaki, Savory Japanese Pancakes
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup dashi
1 egg plus one egg yolk
one big handful (or two) of julienne napa cabbage, bean sprouts, kimchi, mustard greens, shiso leaves, or a combination of all
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions
1/2 cup minced raw shrimp
4 tablespoons toasted rapeseed oil or other sturdy vegetable oil
Garnish
Bulldog brand tonkatsu sauce
Kewpie mayo
Julienne nori
Katsuo bushi
Japanese pickled vegetables or pickled ginger
The Crumble
1/2 cup well-roasted macadamia nuts, nice and dark!
2 dried toasted hot chiles
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
1 tablespoon toasted dried shrimp
3 tablespoons toasted dried seaweed (dulse, hijiki or other edible seaweed)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Instructions
Using a whisk, combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
In another bowl whisk the dashi and egg together.
Slowly pour the wet mix into the dry, and fold to create a thick batter. Fold in the vegetables, shrimp and scallions.
Heat a large sauté pan over medium. Add half the vegetable oil to the pan. Add the batter, cooking until the bottom is golden brown, add some oil down the sides of the pan and turn the pancake over, cooking until brown on the other side as well.
Plate the pancake, brush or drizzle tonkatsu sauce on the top, followed by a drizzle of Kewpie, some nori and finally some katsuo bushi.
Serve with a bowl of the macadamia crumble for everyone to share.
Okonomiyaki, Savory Japanese Pancakes
Dec. 5th, 2025 04:37 amnverland posting in recipecommunityOkonomiyaki, Savory Japanese Pancakes
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup dashi
1 egg plus one egg yolk
one big handful (or two) of julienne napa cabbage, bean sprouts, kimchi, mustard greens, shiso leaves, or a combination of all
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions
1/2 cup minced raw shrimp
4 tablespoons toasted rapeseed oil or other sturdy vegetable oil
Garnish
Bulldog brand tonkatsu sauce
Kewpie mayo
Julienne nori
Katsuo bushi
Japanese pickled vegetables or pickled ginger
The Crumble
1/2 cup well-roasted macadamia nuts, nice and dark!
2 dried toasted hot chiles
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
1 tablespoon toasted dried shrimp
3 tablespoons toasted dried seaweed (dulse, hijiki or other edible seaweed)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Instructions
Using a whisk, combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
In another bowl whisk the dashi and egg together.
Slowly pour the wet mix into the dry, and fold to create a thick batter. Fold in the vegetables, shrimp and scallions.
Heat a large sauté pan over medium. Add half the vegetable oil to the pan. Add the batter, cooking until the bottom is golden brown, add some oil down the sides of the pan and turn the pancake over, cooking until brown on the other side as well.
Plate the pancake, brush or drizzle tonkatsu sauce on the top, followed by a drizzle of Kewpie, some nori and finally some katsuo bushi.
Serve with a bowl of the macadamia crumble for everyone to share.
Venom #251
Dec. 4th, 2025 07:01 pmlaughing_tree posting in scans_daily
Writing Otto was a real treat. Once I noticed how often I was making him toss out a literary allusion to show off how clever he is, his whole personality just locked into place. -- Al Ewing
( Read more... )
Recent Reading: The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp
Dec. 4th, 2025 06:27 pmrocky41_7 posting in booksBook # (checks notes) 13! From the "Women in Translation" rec list has been The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp by Leonie Swann, translated from German by Amy Bojang. This book concerns a house full of elderly retirees who end up investigating a series of murders in their sleepy English town.
This book was truly a delight from start to finish. I loved Swann's quirky senior cast; they were both entertaining and raised valid and very human questions about what aging with dignity means. It did a fabulous job scratching my itch for an exciting novel with no twenty-somethings to be seen. Now Agnes, the protagonist, and her friends are quite old, which impacts their lives in significant ways. However, I felt Swann did a good job of showing the limitations of an aging body--unless she's really in a hurry, Agnes will usually opt to take the stair lift down from the second floor, for instance--without sacrificing the depth and complexity of her characters, or relegating such things merely to the youth of their pasts.
The premise of this book caught my attention immediately, but after a lifetime of books with riveting premises that dismally fail to deliver, I was still wary. I'm happy to report that The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp fully delivers on its promise! Swann makes ample and engaging use of her premise.
The story itself is not especially surprising; if you're looking for a real brain-bender of a mystery or a book of shocking plot twists, this is not it. But I enjoyed it, and I thought Swann walked an enjoyable line between laying down enough clues that I could see the writing on the wall at some point, without giving the game away too quickly. There are no last-minute ass-pulls of heretofore unmentioned characters suddenly confessing to the crime here! The main red herring that gets tossed in the reader is likely to see for what it is very quickly, but for plot-relevant reasons I won't mention here, it's very believable that Agnes does not see that.
Agnes herself was a wonderful protagonist; I really enjoyed getting to go along on this adventure with her. She had a hard enough time wrangling her household of easily-distracted seniors even before the murders started! But the whole cast was endearing, if also all obnoxious in their own way after decades of settling on their own way of getting through life.
Bojang does a flawless job with the translation; she really captures various English voices both in the dialogue and in Agnes' narration. The writing flows naturally without ever coming off stilted or awkward.
I really had fun with this one, and I'm delighted to here there's apparently a sequel--Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime--which I will definitely be checking out.
This book was truly a delight from start to finish. I loved Swann's quirky senior cast; they were both entertaining and raised valid and very human questions about what aging with dignity means. It did a fabulous job scratching my itch for an exciting novel with no twenty-somethings to be seen. Now Agnes, the protagonist, and her friends are quite old, which impacts their lives in significant ways. However, I felt Swann did a good job of showing the limitations of an aging body--unless she's really in a hurry, Agnes will usually opt to take the stair lift down from the second floor, for instance--without sacrificing the depth and complexity of her characters, or relegating such things merely to the youth of their pasts.
The premise of this book caught my attention immediately, but after a lifetime of books with riveting premises that dismally fail to deliver, I was still wary. I'm happy to report that The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp fully delivers on its promise! Swann makes ample and engaging use of her premise.
The story itself is not especially surprising; if you're looking for a real brain-bender of a mystery or a book of shocking plot twists, this is not it. But I enjoyed it, and I thought Swann walked an enjoyable line between laying down enough clues that I could see the writing on the wall at some point, without giving the game away too quickly. There are no last-minute ass-pulls of heretofore unmentioned characters suddenly confessing to the crime here! The main red herring that gets tossed in the reader is likely to see for what it is very quickly, but for plot-relevant reasons I won't mention here, it's very believable that Agnes does not see that.
Agnes herself was a wonderful protagonist; I really enjoyed getting to go along on this adventure with her. She had a hard enough time wrangling her household of easily-distracted seniors even before the murders started! But the whole cast was endearing, if also all obnoxious in their own way after decades of settling on their own way of getting through life.
Bojang does a flawless job with the translation; she really captures various English voices both in the dialogue and in Agnes' narration. The writing flows naturally without ever coming off stilted or awkward.
I really had fun with this one, and I'm delighted to here there's apparently a sequel--Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime--which I will definitely be checking out.
MIXED VEGETABLE PAKORA BAKED
Dec. 4th, 2025 04:43 amnverland posting in creative_cooks
MIXED VEGETABLE PAKORA BAKED
PREP TIME 10 mins COOK TIME 25 mins TOTAL TIME 35 mins Serves: 2
INGREDIENTS
1 loaded cup cauliflower florets, raw
¾ to 1 cup chopped onion
½ to ¾ cup broccoli florets, raw or steamed
⅓ Cup carrots, baby or chopped
⅓ Cup chopped potato, raw or cooked
1 green chili
½ inch ginger
¼ cup packed chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp mint leaves (optional)
⅓ Tsp ajwain (carom seeds) or toasted cumin seeds
¼ tsp or more cayenne
½ tsp to ¾ tsp salt
1 tsp Chaat Masala or amchur (dry mango powder)
2 Tbsp semolina flour (use brown rice flour to make gluten-free)
⅔ Cup or more chickpea flour
¼ tsp baking soda
2 tsp oil
Water as needed
INSTRUCTIONS
Chop the veggies roughly into similarly sized chunks or florets (1 to 1.5 inch). Add all the chopped vegetables, green chili, ginger, cilantro and mint in a food processor and pulse a few times to make an evenly finely chopped or grated state. You can also add a ⅓ cup or more greens of choice at this step.
Transfer to a bowl. Mix in the spices, salt, ⅓ tsp chaat masala and semolina.
Add the chickpea flour to the bowl, sprinkle the baking soda all over and mix in (or mix the baking soda into the chickpea flour before adding). Add a Tbsp or so more chickpea flour if needed. You need just a light coating of flour on all the veggies. See pictures above.
Let the mixture sit for 2-3 minutes so the veggies can leak some moisture into the flour. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Add oil and a sprinkle of a water (1 -2 tsp) to the bowl and mix in. Depending on the vegetables, you might or might not need more water. The mixture should not be a batter, but should stick into balls with your hands. Add water a tsp at a time till the mixture just starts to stick.
Using your hands or a tablespoon or ice cream scoop, place scoops on parchment lined baking sheet. Keep the scoops small, around 1.5 inches, so the veggies can cook through. Spray oil (or brush) on the pakoras.
Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and crisp on the outside. Cool for a minute. Sprinkle the remaining chaat masala and serve with mint chutney or tamarind date chutney or ketchup or sauces of choice.
NOTES
Mint Chutney:
Blend ½ cup mint, ½ cup cilantro, 1 garlic clove, ½ inch ginger, ½ green chili, ½ pear or apple, salt, cayenne, lemon juice, chaat masala to taste. Taste and adjust salt, lemon and chaat masala and add water if needed.
Variation: Add ¼ to ½ tsp turmeric with the spices.
Use other veggies like zucchini, sweet potato, seasonal squash.
MIXED VEGETABLE PAKORA BAKED
Dec. 4th, 2025 04:42 amnverland posting in recipecommunityMIXED VEGETABLE PAKORA BAKED
PREP TIME 10 mins COOK TIME 25 mins TOTAL TIME 35 mins Serves: 2
INGREDIENTS
1 loaded cup cauliflower florets, raw
¾ to 1 cup chopped onion
½ to ¾ cup broccoli florets, raw or steamed
⅓ Cup carrots, baby or chopped
⅓ Cup chopped potato, raw or cooked
1 green chili
½ inch ginger
¼ cup packed chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp mint leaves (optional)
⅓ Tsp ajwain (carom seeds) or toasted cumin seeds
¼ tsp or more cayenne
½ tsp to ¾ tsp salt
1 tsp Chaat Masala or amchur (dry mango powder)
2 Tbsp semolina flour (use brown rice flour to make gluten-free)
⅔ Cup or more chickpea flour
¼ tsp baking soda
2 tsp oil
Water as needed
INSTRUCTIONS
Chop the veggies roughly into similarly sized chunks or florets (1 to 1.5 inch). Add all the chopped vegetables, green chili, ginger, cilantro and mint in a food processor and pulse a few times to make an evenly finely chopped or grated state. You can also add a ⅓ cup or more greens of choice at this step.
Transfer to a bowl. Mix in the spices, salt, ⅓ tsp chaat masala and semolina.
Add the chickpea flour to the bowl, sprinkle the baking soda all over and mix in (or mix the baking soda into the chickpea flour before adding). Add a Tbsp or so more chickpea flour if needed. You need just a light coating of flour on all the veggies. See pictures above.
Let the mixture sit for 2-3 minutes so the veggies can leak some moisture into the flour. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Add oil and a sprinkle of a water (1 -2 tsp) to the bowl and mix in. Depending on the vegetables, you might or might not need more water. The mixture should not be a batter, but should stick into balls with your hands. Add water a tsp at a time till the mixture just starts to stick.
Using your hands or a tablespoon or ice cream scoop, place scoops on parchment lined baking sheet. Keep the scoops small, around 1.5 inches, so the veggies can cook through. Spray oil (or brush) on the pakoras.
Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and crisp on the outside. Cool for a minute. Sprinkle the remaining chaat masala and serve with mint chutney or tamarind date chutney or ketchup or sauces of choice.
NOTES
Mint Chutney:
Blend ½ cup mint, ½ cup cilantro, 1 garlic clove, ½ inch ginger, ½ green chili, ½ pear or apple, salt, cayenne, lemon juice, chaat masala to taste. Taste and adjust salt, lemon and chaat masala and add water if needed.
Variation: Add ¼ to ½ tsp turmeric with the spices.
Use other veggies like zucchini, sweet potato, seasonal squash.
Absolute Green Lantern #9
Dec. 4th, 2025 12:59 ammastermahan posting in scans_daily
Introducing the Absolute versions of not one, but two of the most beloved characters in DC history!
( Read more... )
Vampire, Weak End: ACTION COMICS #577, JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #25 (JLI 32)
Dec. 3rd, 2025 08:36 pmtcampbell1000 posting in scans_daily
Warning for mass grave scenes, likely suicide, and overall “humanity sucks” vibes. After establishing themselves as “the funny League,” Giffen, DeMatteis, and Templeton would spend about six issues going dark, and that run starts right here. But before that…
In Action Comics #577, 1986, Keith Giffen broke out one of his AP English vocab words and created Caitiff, the first and now-last vampire. The word “caitiff” means “wretched, contemptible person” or occasionally “villain,” and it shares roots with “captive.” But the word wasn’t generally associated with vampires, AFAIK, until the launch of Vampire: the Masquerade in 1991. It’s possible that VtM got the idea from this. Dialogue by Robert Loren Fleming.
Right from the start, Caitiff lived down to his etymology.
( He was hiding in the sewers and didn’t even make it look fun the way the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles did. )