jlfire
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jfire.bsky.social
jlfire
@jfire.bsky.social
1K followers 170 following 2.2K posts
Not artsy, not craftsy, not a political pundit. Beginning potter.

Food && Beer && Music && Travel && Plants && Outdoors && Gay

CRYPTO || BOT || MONEY BEG || PORNBOT || MAGA == BLOCK
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jfire.bsky.social
Some hachiya persimmons I bought last week were finally nice and squishy so time to make a persimmon cake. A glob of maple whipped cream and because it was Thursday, a wee dram of Armagnac.

🍽️ 🍜
Four bright orange hachiya persimmons on a black counter. The persimmon on the top right is cut open revealing the flesh. The baked persimmon cake sitting on a serving plate. Slices of the cake with globs of maple whipped cream on top A small glass of Armagnac served alongside the cake. Because it was a Thursday night so why not?
November 14, 2025 at 1:26 PM
jfire.bsky.social
Vegetable lo mein for dinner last night. Shiitakes, carrot, red bell pepper, green beans and Napa cabbage. Couldn't find snow peas but found that julienned green beans work amazing well. Big dollop of chili crisp at the table.

Recipe from "The Woks of Life" 🍽️ 🍜
A cutting board with piles of cut vegetables. Shiitake mushrooms, carrots and red bell peppers, julienned green beans and Napa cabbage about to be stir-fried. The vegetables in the wok. Cooked lo main noodles mixed in with the vegetables. Closeup of a bottle of Lao Gan Ma spicy chili crisp with a picture of the stern, unsmiling founder on the label. A glob of this went on top of the lo mein at the table.
November 12, 2025 at 8:00 PM
jfire.bsky.social
Some pics from yesterday's hike. Most of the trees are bare so it was all about the fungi and Bigfoot

A lichen surrounded by leaves, turkey tail mushrooms on a log and chaga(?) fungus attacking the "Hobbit Tree"

Second time doing this hike and still no Bigfoot. I'm suspecting that this is fake 🤨
A green-gray clump of lichen on the forest floor surrounded by brown leaves. A log covered in turkey tail mushrooms. What seems to be orange and black chaga fungus attacking a beech tree that was labeled as the "Hobbit Tree" along the trail. A metal sign nailed to a tree stating "Bigfoot Area" and cautioning you to stay on marked trails
November 9, 2025 at 2:30 PM
jfire.bsky.social
Technically the growing season is over here, although I don't think we've had a hard freeze yet. Clematis, pineapple sage and alyssum still going strong.

I usually plant the pineapple sage in a pot, but had space in a bed this year. It's over 5 feet tall at this point and blooming like crazy.

🌱
Two Dr Ruppel clematis flowers, both bright pink with a hot pink strip down the middle of each petal still blooming in November. A pineapple sage bush covered with bright red flowers in front of of a gray wooden wall A closeup of bright red tubular pineapple sage flowers An overhead shot of low growing white flowered alyssum spilling over a rock at the edge of the herb bed
November 8, 2025 at 7:46 PM
jfire.bsky.social
Since it's cool weather season I made a black walnut cake with cream cheese frosting, probably my favorite cake. Added a bit of black walnut extract which amped the flavor up nicely.

🍽️ 🍜
A circle of chopped black walnuts on a purple cutting board Two round cake layers cool on a wire rack A top-down view of the frosted cake with a ring of chopped black walnuts around the edge A slice of the cake on a white plate
November 1, 2025 at 1:51 PM
jfire.bsky.social
On Halloween Eve in 1938 Orson Wells produced a radio play based on The War of the Worlds. The play started as a normal musical program that segued into news reports of a Martian craft landing in Grovers Mill NJ and invading the US.

Photo of plaque in a park in Grovers Mill commemorating this play.
Photo of plaque in Grovers Mill NJ commemorating the Orson Wells radio production of The War of the Worlds on 10/30 1936. The plaque shows a Martian spacecraft, Mr Wells acting in the drama and frightened listeners gathered around their radio.
October 31, 2025 at 7:52 PM
jfire.bsky.social
If you see this, quote with a robot that isn't from "Star Wars," "Star Trek," "Doctor Who," or "Transformers." 🤖

OK, technically Murderbot is a cyborg but I have a huge crush on it so I'm posting the pic.
A cyborg who's self named as "Murderbot"
October 31, 2025 at 12:43 PM
jfire.bsky.social
Post something random or you'll have an awful November
A scene from a painting on the wall of a Mexican restaurant showing a sagebrush plant in the foreground with a blooming shrub and a pay phone in the background set against faraway mountains.
October 29, 2025 at 12:36 PM
jfire.bsky.social
Some pictures from yesterday's hike. Part of it was through an area that's being actively reclaimed from farmland, fenced in to prevent deer from eating all of the new vegetation.

Red maple, Eastern cedar/juniper and bittersweet.
Brilliant red maple leaves with a bit of blue sky behind. A branch of Eastern cedar (really a juniper) showing lots of waxy blue cones which look like berries. Wonderful fragrance when they're crushed. American bittersweet vine and berries in a tree with yellow leaves (tulip poplar?).
October 26, 2025 at 1:43 PM
jfire.bsky.social
Acid Mothers Temple at Milk Boy last night:

Kawabata Makoto, Jyonson Tsu, Sawano Shozo & Higashi Hirosh. They have a new member on synth, vocals & tambourine but I haven't been able to find her name. Always hard to get a pic of drummer Satoshima Nani behind the other members. #AcidMothersTemple
Kawabata Makoto on guitar, the founder of the group. Wild in concert he usually holds his guitar out over the crowd at the end so that they can play it. When he hangs it from the overhead lights or speakers the show is over. Jyonson Tsu on guitar, vocals and assorted other strings; Sawano Shozo on bass and Higashi Hiroshi on synth. Always hard to get a pic of the drummer Satoshima Nani behind the others. New member of the band. I've been unable to find her name.
October 23, 2025 at 5:20 PM
jfire.bsky.social
Just back from Palm Springs. Everyone takes pics of palm trees and cacti so here's something different.

Lion fountain at our guest house (need help from my friend @shibui-shashin.bsky.social with b&w photos), sidewalk fish, ye olde stars receiving mail and for spooky month Sony Bono's head.
October 21, 2025 at 7:19 PM
jfire.bsky.social
Excellent show at The Gramercy and very cool meet-and-greet afterwards!
Zoë Keating plays her cello at The Gramercy Theatre in NYC.
October 7, 2025 at 4:03 PM
jfire.bsky.social
Took a road trip and drove through mile after of mile of blueberry fields for yesterday's hike in the Pine Barrens. No Jersey Devil, but did have 2/3 of a pine snake block our path. The other 1/3 was watching us from off-trail. Pines, oaks, blueberries and wintergreen along the trail.
The sand trail through the Pine Barrens. Most of the small ground plants are low-bush blueberries. Most of a pine snake were blocking the path while the business end was watching us from off-trail. Took a wide detour around it. A wintergreen plant with a couple of red berries. A view of the Batsto River from the trail.
October 5, 2025 at 1:43 PM
jfire.bsky.social
It was an unusually cool day yesterday and rather than turn on the heat (my inner Dad said that we don't turn the heat on until December) I decided to bake cookies in order to warm the place up. 🍽️ 🍜
A tray of peanut butter blossom cookies cools a bit on a sheet pan before being moved the cooling rack. The cookies cooling on a rack
October 3, 2025 at 3:18 PM
jfire.bsky.social
This banner is at the top of National Forest System websites. 🙄
A website banner on a National Forest System website that states "The Radical Left Democrats shut down the government. This government website will be updated periodically during the funding lapse for mission critical functions. President Trump has made it clear that he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American People.
October 3, 2025 at 2:57 PM
jfire.bsky.social
Luckily no bears or copperhead snakes were found.
A sign telling us to "be bear aware" and what to do in case of an encounter. A sign explaining that northern copperhead snakes might be found in the area and how to avoid them if seen.
September 29, 2025 at 12:44 AM
jfire.bsky.social
Some pictures from today's hike on Baldpate Mountain: A bee gathering some pollen on a knapweed flower, what seem to be fairy inkcap mushrooms, an autumn colored sassafras leaf on the trail and some kind of jelly mushroom digesting a fallen log.

🌱
A small bee gathering pollen and nectar on a purple knapweed flower. What seems to be fairy inkcap mushrooms on a rotting log A yellow and red sassafras leaf on the trail Some type of jelly fungus on a rotting log
September 29, 2025 at 12:44 AM
jfire.bsky.social
Even though it's almost the end of September, the garden eggplants are still going strong so I decided to make Madhur Jaffrey's "The Lake Palace Hotel's Aubergines in the Pickling Style". Used some of the last of the tomatoes, two Kosovo oxhearts and one tiny Berkley tie-dye. 🌱 🍽️ 🍜
September 27, 2025 at 2:31 PM
jfire.bsky.social
Autumn has come to the back yard. New England asters, frost asters and goldenrod (with requisite bee) all in bloom. The frost asters popped up as a "weed" a couple of years ago.

Just noticed the small insect (parasitic wasp?) sitting on the bee's wing. 🌱
A cluster of bright purple New England asters with bright yellow centers. Sprigs of small white and yellow frost asters blooming in middle of a rhododendron. Close up of goldenrod flowers with a furry bee gathering pollen. There also seems to be a small insect riding along on the bee's wing.
September 23, 2025 at 12:44 PM
jfire.bsky.social
chatgpt output showing that senator Andy Kim did indeed vote to honor Charlie Kirk
September 20, 2025 at 1:17 PM
jfire.bsky.social
Why did you choose to vote for this Senator Kim?
A poster with Senator Chuck Schumer's picture and the words "Senate Dems Vote with Republicans to Unanimously Approve Charlie Kirk Day"
September 19, 2025 at 9:09 PM
jfire.bsky.social
How it started, how it went and how it ended. As a relative beginner, I'm pretty please with how this turned out.

#pottery
A small cup with a leaf design attached waits to be glazed and fired. Three coats of Mayco smoke stoneware glaze (which went on dark gray) The same piece after firing at cone 6. I like the way the glaze highlighted brown on raised areas.
September 15, 2025 at 6:40 PM
jfire.bsky.social
Pasilla peppers are finally getting ripe, so straight into the dehydrator with 'em.

🌱
Ripe, brown pasilla peppers on a white cutting board waiting to be dried.
September 9, 2025 at 3:32 PM
jfire.bsky.social
Sunday baking: Original Plum Torte (more of a cake really).

Recipe by Marian Burros at The New York Times. First thing made when local Italian/prune plums are in season.

🍽️ 🍜
A springform pan with a cake base on the bottom and halved Italian (or prune) plums placed on top waiting to go in the oven. The baked torte on parchment paper cooling on a wire rack A slice of the torte on a white plate in the foreground. The torte itself is in the background
September 1, 2025 at 3:21 PM
jfire.bsky.social
A joke on the Cracker Barrel logo showing Donald Trump with his pants rolled up to show his cankles (swollen cow ankles). Instead of the logo showing "Cracker Barrel" it now says "Cankle Barrel Old Country Store".
August 29, 2025 at 6:31 PM