Author Archives: angelina

Farm to Fermentation Festival

Emma demo

Emma Christensen giving a soda making demonstration.

I am so behind on posting what I’ve been up to I hope you will forgive me for backtracking.  In August Philip and I went to the Farm to Fermentation Festival here in Santa Rosa where my good friend Emma was giving a talk on how to brew your own soda.

Emma and friendEmma with a friend.

Emma serving samplesEmma giving samples of her ginger ale, watermelon mint and strawberry soda.

Emma soda samplesYou should have been there to taste them!

serving samplesEmma’s book is a great resource for people like me who are new to brewing.  Her recipes are solid and her directions are clear.  If you want to buy her book you can click on this button:

Emma and Kefir guyEmma with the kefir dude.  There were samples of non-dairy kefir drinks and I really liked one of them but the beet one was a little weird and the chocolate-ish one was awful.  The ginger and honey one was really delicious.

philip tasting kefirPhilip tasting kefir drinks.

fermented goods

Naturally fermented pickles.  The pickled green tomatoes weren’t very good but the cucumber pickle was good.

pickling displayI can never resist taking pictures of produce.

colorful potteryI covet the pickling crocks in all the pretty colors.  They’re out of my price range (most pickle crocks are) but when I have some money this is what I will probably splurge on.

cider applesCider apples.

great ciderThe cider guy.  We lurked in this booth a long time.  The cider is really good and Philip has always been interested in making some cider.

tilted shed ciderThis is the one I really liked.

sour beerSour beer.  I don’t really like sour beer.  I think it’s the kind of thing that could grow on me if I let it.  Not literally grow on me, because that would be really gross, but if I drank it enough I might develop a taste for it.  But as with eating cheese rinds, I don’t see any reason to suffer through unpleasantness in the hopes that eventually I will like it.

Philip and the meaderyI hate mead.  HATE IT.  Philip, however, likes it and enjoys brewing it.  So it was cool that there was mead being represented at the festival.  I’m attracted to mead from a historical standpoint.  It would be  cool to stand around drinking mead from goblets while chewing on the leg of a pig or something.

The fermentation festival definitely got me excited to try some new fermentation projects.  Spending the geeking out over crocks and pickles and beer with friends was so much fun.

You Can Buy My Book on Amazon Now!

cricket-and-grey-cover-imag

You can buy my book on Amazon now in the Kindle Store!!

Winter (Cricket and Grey)

If you need a different e-book format you can get most (Nook, Kobo, pdf) from Smashwords:

Winter (Cricket and Grey)

So yeah, that’s what we’ve been up to lately around here.  Philip has been editing the book and I’ve done the final edit and then we’ve had to figure out how to make it into an e-book and we’ve done it!  Next up is getting print on demand set up for those who want to be able to buy hard copies of the book.  Once that’s done I can get back to the fun of cooking and designing our garden and sewing.

One last thing – if you read my book and enjoy it – please tell others about it!

Pajama Pant Sew-Along: Part 3

pyjama sew along 2To keep elastic from getting stuck in the seam allowance as it’s inserted, use fusible web or machine-basting to anchor them to garment within the casing area.  Be sure to remove basting after casing is finished.

Do the machine basting but do not bother with the fusible web option.  For experienced sewers I can’t imagine this step is necessary (I’ve never done it before) but I think it’s worth doing if you’re a beginner.  A basting stitch is much longer than a regular stitch as its purpose is simply to hold something in place temporarily, so if you’re using a stitch length of “3″ increase the length to “5″ or something equivalent.  It makes it much easier to remove the stitching later.

turning hem underPress 1 1/8″ on upper edge to INSIDE, forming casing.  Press under 1/4″ on raw edge.  Stitch close to lower edge of casing.

turning edge underI hope these pictures help make it clear.  The casing is the channel through which your drawstring is pulled.

ironing casingOnce pressed, pin the casing down to help keep it in place as you stitch along the edge, removing the pins as you get to them.

ready for twill tapeFor new sewers – go slowly.  Don’t rush.  When you get good at stitching close to a pressed edge you will naturally start going faster.  Until you build your skill – just take your time.

There are directions for making a drawstring out of your pants fabric but on the pattern envelope it calls for twill and elastic which is what I did and frankly – if you’re new at this you will want to do the twill version.  Which they don’t exactly mention in the instructions.  Just skip their step 7 and for step 8 – I’m replacing “drawstring” with “twill”.

Cut a piece of elastic the length of back elastic guide.  Pin each length of twill to one end of the elastic, overlapping ends by 5/8″.  Stitch overlapped ends together securely in a box, as shown.

The “back elastic guide” will be indicated on the pants pattern piece.  For the twill: I cut the length the pattern calls for in half.  If the ends are way too long when you wear your pants you can easily cut them shorter.

pushing the pin throughInsert twill and elastic through one buttonhole opening in pants front casing and out remaining opening so that lapped ends are at the side seams and having ends extend evening in front.  Distribute fullness evenly in back waist.  To keep casing flat in the front area, stitch in the ditch or groove of side seam.  Knot ends of twill tape.

Patience help us with commercial patterns!  They do not tell you how to get that twill into the casing and I promise it does not magically slide on through.  Fold the edge of your twill back and put a safety pin through it – as big a safety pin as will fit through the button holes.

Push the safety pin through the casing.  You will have to inch it through, it’s a little tedious.  When you get it out the other button hole you can follow the rest of their directions.

pulling twill tape through

They don’t mention it, but now you can remove the basting stitches if you used them.

You can knot the ends of the twill tape but I would trim it in an inverted “v” instead.

almost doneAlmost done now!  All that’s left is the hem.  Making the hem is the essentially the same as making the casing.

pinning the hemPress the hem up 1 3/8″.  Then press the raw edge under 1/4″.  Pin it in place.  Stitch it down close to the edge.

finishedYou’re almost done.  It looks like you’re done but you really aren’t.

Because now you need to press the crap out of those pajama pants!  After this you probably won’t ever press them again but a really good pressing at this point will set all your seams and hems to behave well.

NOW you’re done!!

What’s next?  Once you’re completely done you need to take a picture of your pants to share and email me the jpeg at angelinawilliamson1@gmail.com.  Once I have gotten all the pics I will share them in a post and then I will randomly pick one of you to get the pair I made.

Pajama Pant Sew-Along: Introduction and Supplies List

Pajama Pant Sew-Along: First Steps

Pajama Pant Sew-Along: Part 1

Pajama Pant Sew-Along: Part 2

Pajama Pant Sew-Along: Part 2

pyjama sew along 2

Once again I’d like to apologize for having put this sew-along on hold for such a long time.  After my mother came home from her month long stay at the hospital I was helping her recover and had to start looking for a job.  It’s been very hard to come back to sewing after such a long hiatus.  Thank you for your patience!

Now that you’ve cut out your pattern pieces we come to the first of the pattern’s instructions.  But they aren’t very detailed.  You need to make two button holes for your drawstring to be threaded through.

buttonhole markingsUsing a sharp pencil, poke through the pattern piece to mark the beginning and end of the button hole making sure you can see your pencil marks on the fabric.  Once you’ve done this to one front leg piece you need to turn the pattern over and do the same to the other front leg piece. tracing button holeUse a ruler to make a line connecting your two markings and make it dark enough that you can see the pencil line on the wrong side of the fabric.

Next you need to cut out two 1″ squares of fusible interfacing and iron them onto the wrong side of the fabric centered over the buttonhole you’ve marked.  This will reinforce the button holes.

one inch square interfacingNow make your buttonholes.  My Pfaff machine has a really bad attitude about making buttonholes which makes it a frustrating experience.  Hopefully your machine likes making them.  New sewers – If you haven’t made them using your machine yet you may want to go to a sewing machine shop to get a demo or study your manual and practice a number of times on scrap fabric.  I can’t actually tell you how to do them because all machines do buttonholes differently.

sucky buttonholeI share with you the best (crappy) buttonhole of the two I made.  Honestly, sometimes my machine makes them beautifully and other times not a prayer in heaven will help my machine cooperate.

The next thing you want to do is serge all the raw edges of your fabric except for the waistline and the hem which will be turned under later.  If you don’t have a serger you can skip this step.  I told you in Part 1 that you can zig-zag the edges to keep them from fraying but after doing this on some edges to test it – I can’t recommend it.  It’s totally fine to have raw edges unless the fabric you’re using is a very loose weave.  At the end you can use pinking shears on exposed edges if you want to – but it isn’t necessary.

About sewing the pant legs together – I do it differently than they do in the instructions but I’ve given this some thought and for beginners (and even experienced people) their instructions may actually be better than the way I’ve been sewing pants together my whole life.  So here’s what I’m going to do: I’m sharing photos with you of the way I put pants together because it’s worth knowing how to do it this way too.  But I suggest following their instructions, especially if you’re new at this.  I am going to put their instructions in italics from here on out.

If this is your first ever sewing project you may not already know that you need to always back-stitch a seam at the beginning and end to keep it from coming undone.  To do this you sew forward for just a few stitches, put your machine in reverse and carefully stitch over those stitches.  Then go forward again to the end of your seam and put your machine in reverse again.  Sew just a few stitches backwards and then go forward to the end of the seam and clip your thread.

Stitch front to back at inner leg seams.

press seams openThey do not instruct you to press your seams open.  Which is stupid.  Please press your seams open.

Doing it my way you also stitch the front to the back at the inner seam and then you also stitch the outer seam.  And press them open.

With RIGHT sides together, pin center seam, matching inner leg seams and notches.  Stitch.

You can reinforce your seam by stitching over it once again as their instructions suggest.  I would only do this if you have a tendency to split your seams while wearing pants.  They have you trim the seam allowance down and I suggest you do NOT do this.

right side going insideMy way: you want to turn one pant leg right side out and then slide it into the other pant leg matching up the crotch seam at the notches and the inner leg seam.

sewing the crotchStitch your crotch seam.  Then pull the inner pant leg out.

pant legs togetherThere you are!

Stitch front to back at side seams.

Now press.  This is not an easy seam to press because it’s curved.

crotch seam ironedLater, when the pants are completely finished you’ll press any creases out that your iron created while pressing this seam.

Pajama Pant Sew-Along: Introduction and Supplies List

Pajama Pant Sew-Along: First Steps

Pajama Pant Sew-Along: Part 1

Pajama Pant Sew-Along: Part 3

 

My Morning Bicycle Ride: Food in Yards

huge gardenThis morning I took a bicycle ride through the posh neighborhood just a few blocks away.  I decided to spot and photograph all the food I could see in the gardens – mostly looking for front yard vegetables and fruits.  This particular enormous garden has long been a favorite of mine.

driveway corn and melonsI love to see people making use of driveway dividers to grow food.  Here is squash or melons and dried up corn.

persimmons and rock wallPersimmons in the front yard of a charming house that I have always admired.  But since I was focusing on food growing I didn’t snap the house itself.

pearsAcross the street from the persimmons the neighbors have two pear trees.

squash in the front yardThis is my favorite – when vegetables are used in front yards as part of the landscaping for all to see.

strange fruitWhat the hell are these?  I don’t know if they’re edible but I had to include them because they’re weird and cool.  Also – the same yard had an orange tree.

orange treeHere it is.  Look at all those wasting oranges.  That’s a real shame.

grapes and limesGrapes and limes!  I may have spotted rhubarb too but it was hard to tell and I didn’t want to trespass to find out.

applesSmall apple tree.

semisad peach treeThis was planted in the sidewalk strip and I wish I could do that in my strip but I think the city doesn’t allow it and here in my very busy very city block I think it would get the city’s attention.

driveway tomatoesThe owner of these tomatoes came home just as I spotted them.  I asked if I could take a picture of his tomatoes and he said yes, but I think he was really weirded out by me.  This is another driveway divider as garden.  I love it!

front yard veg boxDamn poor picture but this cute little house put a pretty vegetable box right near their front steps.  Super charming!

squash toms and marigoldsAnd lastly – another veg box in a front yard.  They have another on on the other side of the walkway.  I wish my tomatoes looked that robust!

That’s the end of my posh neighborhood food growing tour.

That was a really nice way to start my day.  Unfortunately, my back is hurting so I’m headed back to bed for a while longer to ice and heat it.  Hope you have a great Monday!

Giant Rudbeckias and Plum Moonshine

loving my rudbeckiasI didn’t get much planted this year but I managed to establish three Rudbeckia plants and they just started blooming last week and now they’re busting out the biggest flowers I’ve ever seen a Rudbeckia produce.  Huge!  I can see them out my office window which is a real pleasure.  I’m looking at them right now while you look at the picture of them.

black krimThe tomatoes aren’t doing fantastic but they are finally fruiting and gaining size. They need to be staked better but this Black Krim is just starting to color up.  Black Krims are my favorite tomatoes.

box of good stuffMy friend Chelsea shared the bounty from her (ex)father in law’s garden with me.  I sauteed the yellow crookneck squash for dinner last night with some mushrooms, pureed garlic, salt, and pepper.  Simple – and so good!  The yellow plums weren’t super aromatic but they were sweet with a tart skin so I made plum dipping sauce out of them.  Or, that’s what I had planned.  Then I burnt them so bad I also destroyed the pot I cooked them in.  Luckily it was a pot that was already cracked at the top because it was a piece of crap to begin with.  So I’m mad I wasted all those free plums.

plum moonshineThe red plums are Elephant Heart plums – the best in the whole world in my opinion!  I was worried about not having time to make and can jam with them (they make exquisite jam) so I decided to make plum liqueur.  Then I had trouble finding affordable 100 proof vodka.  It is my opinion that 80 proof makes terrible liqueur unless you really lower the sugar in the recipes, but even then, the 100 proof has the balls to cut through everything and warm your throat and stomach without being the tiniest bit insipid.

I settled on getting everclear because it was cheaper than the 100 proof.  This stuff is 153 proof.  YOWZA!  So I may be needing to dilute it some down the road.  So instead of liqueur I am really making plum moonshine.

I need to find a new source for cheap 100 proof.  Let me know if you know of one.

Well, I’m off to run errands.  For any of you wondering – I will be resuming the pyjama pant project soon.  I know it’s been forever and I’m sure everyone has given up – but I will see it through.  I’m cleaning my office this week to get ready.

Hope you all have a great Friday.  And please tell me what preserving, garden, or craft projects you’re up to right now!

Shameful Food Confession: I don’t like Asian Food

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(“Asian food” here is defined as foods from the many different countries throughout Asia that I’ve tried.  My feelings about Asian food is NOT reflective of my feelings about Asian culture or Asian people – so don’t you dare suggest it!)

Max is exploring Japanese food.  He went with Philip last week and had some raw fish he really loved and a cucumber salad he loved and he even liked a tuna sushi roll he tried.  I wanted to go to Japanese food with them mostly because I wanted to see Max enjoying food I never imagined he’d like.  So we went to Haku sushi just down the street from us.

He tried different things than last time and the only thing he liked was the shrimp tempura this time.  The cucumber salad we ordered wasn’t what he got last time and he didn’t like this one.  The raw fish was different too.  Then he ordered a crazy roll and didn’t like that.  But the main thing is that he’s trying lots of new things these days.

I was reminded that I don’t like Japanese food and it does not get along with me at all and never has.  The only thing I can eat is the miso soup, the cucumber salad, the dressed lettuce, the plain rice, and tempura.  But tempura has always made me feel queasy and gross after eating it no matter how much I enjoy the flavor.  The miso soup always has bits of seaweed in it and though a fairly mild kind I only just tolerate it.  Things that taste remotely like the sea make me gag.  Literally gag.  Haku’s tempura was very good, as far as tempura goes, but I burped for hours afterwards.  Not my favorite way to remember a meal.

But before I even ate the tempura I made the mistake of eating a bite of some bright green stem things that were served with the cucumbers that turned out to be some kind of sea weed that tasted STRONGLY of FISH.  I would have spit it out but I didn’t want to be impolite.  After fighting my gag reflex to the death I managed to swallow the nasty stuff and within minutes I was burping up fish flavor.

I have come to the realization that not only does Japanese food not agree with me, no Asian food agrees with me.  I am using “Asian” in a generic way to include food traditions from Thailand, Burma, China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam.  I’m keenly aware that the food traditions in each of those countries is unique from each other in many and distinct ways – I don’t mean to lump them together for any other purpose than that they all happen not to agree with me.  Fish being a huge part of all of those food traditions as well as meat and sauces using fish and shrimp and then there are the radishes (I burp them up) and water chestnuts (I burp them up) and the Asian style of fermenting (I burp it up) – get the theme here?

Then there are curries.  My one favorite thing to make that is based on a Thai dish is Winter squash curry coconut soup.  It’s amazing and for some reason that particular dish does not give me any problems.  I’ve never been a huge curry fan but these days it isn’t just a matter of preference, my body doesn’t like them either.  So let’s add Indian food to the list because now when I have Indian food (which I do love) it generally doesn’t agree with me either.

I do love some Chinese food but I can’t lie – I usually don’t feel that great after eating it.  Never have.  I have always eaten it anyway.

Among my peers it feels like a point of shame not to LOVE Thai food and Japanese food.  If you don’t love Asian food you’re just not cool and may as well be an ignorant white-bred bitch from the fifties.  (Interestingly, most of my peers do not like Chinese food except for my Chinese friends and me.)  The most uber-cool people love Korean and Vietnamese food because Japanese and Thai food are so common now that it may as well be spaghetti.

I don’t even like rice that much.

I like a lot of components of Asian food traditions such as tofu and soba noodles and miso and simple stir-fries and edamame and satay sauce but it’s a real inauthentic pick and choose kind of thing.

What food do I like?  I like Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food.  But even with Middle Eastern food I can’t eat things that are heavy on the cumin which always repeats on me like old-man armpits in my esophagus.

Mediterranean food (Italy, Greece, France, northern Africa, and Israel etc.) is what my body likes the best.  It’s what I crave.  It’s what I feel my best eating.  It’s easy to make Mediterranean food minus the meat and fish.  I also love Mexican food which generally agrees with me well.

So there it is.  My big confession of shame.  I’m not a cool eater.  I’m not adventuresome.  Even if I loved adventuresome flavors my body wouldn’t let me explore comfortably.

But if Max’s body and tastes lead him to Japanese food and maybe eventually some other Asian food traditions – I will be thrilled!  He likes raw fish.  He loves seafood.  I’m excited for him to find new food traditions that he’s actually wanting to explore.  He’s tasting things he never would have tasted two years ago.  He’s trying things.

Yes, he still mostly loves fried foods and mostly sees produce as a necessary evil that his mother forces him to keep trying.  But what I see is a good food palette forming.  It’s just the beginning.  I see a future in which I wean him off of chips and crackers and french fries and he eats more raw fish and vinagered cucumbers and some veggie burgers.  I don’t know, I just think it’s awesome that he’s exploring.  Any mother of an extreme picky eater knows how huge this voluntary exploration is.

I will not go out to Japanese food again but this is something that Philip and Max can do together and now I need to go apply to some more jobs so we can support a sushi-eating habit.

Beet Arugula Salad with Cashews

cashew beet saladMy sister and I went out to lunch with our dad on father’s day.  Because we’re so broke he actually took us out.  We had this amazing beet salad.  We decided to make our own version of it at home.

Taras beet saladYou don’t need a recipe for this.  We steamed some cubed peeled beets.  We chopped up some lightly toasted cashews.  The salad we had at The Lark Creek Tavern had pistachios on it but those are expensive and we didn’t have any.  Easy sub to make.

cashew beet salad 3So you put a bed of arugula on each plate.  Put about a half a cup of beets.  Then crumble some feta over it.  Or not.  This salad is just as good without cheese.  Then you sprinkle chopped cashews over it.  Slice up an avocado and put about a quarter of one on each plate.  Unless the avocado is tiny.  Then use half.  Or not.  Then dress with vinaigrette.  Or whatever you like.  We used my standard mustard vinaigrette.

My sister plated this and I think she did an awesome job!

If you need a portable recipe for the End Times I’ve got you covered!  I just posted the first recipe on The Post Apocalyptic Kitchen —> Check it out!

Troya Restaurant: My New San Francisco Favorite

Troya entranceIt’s been a long time since a restaurant has inspired me to get back in my kitchen to learn to make new dishes.  Troya, on 5th and Clement in San Francisco, reminded me of my trip to Israel and how I came home burning to get into my kitchen to learn to make my own pita and recreate the meze dishes we had at Arab restaurants there.

Troya looked a little fancy for my tastes from the outside.  I like low-key restaurants that serve really approachable but delicious food.  I don’t want my sauces foamed and precious and I don’t want enormous plates with single architectural bites arranged in the middle.  Haute food is not my scene.  I want humble dishes made exceptionally well.  I want peasant food and country food and classic foods with fresh twists.  In spite of how shiny Troya looked the menu was enticing and the prices just within my budget.

Troya interiorThe restaurant describes its food as a blend of Turkish-mediterranean.  I have no experience with Turkish food but Mediterranean food is my favorite and there were a lot of familiar dishes with slightly unfamiliar touches.

bread for dippingFirst we got some bread with olive oil, crushed pistachios, and what I think is a red za’atar mix.  I loved dipping the bread in olive oil and then the pistachios but the spice mix was too perfumy for my taste, though Philip really enjoyed it.

warmed herbed olivesNext we had the warm olives marinated in herbs and citrus.  Philip says he’ll never eat cold olives again.  They were amazing – the warmth enhances the olive flavor wonderfully.

zucchini cakesThe zucchini cakes.  This was our favorite dish.  Our only complaint was that they didn’t come with enough of the yogurt sauce.  But honestly – that’s such a small complaint.  I don’t know what else is in these deep fried cakes besides zucchini but I mean to find out when I go  back again!  The texture inside was moist but didn’t have an uncooked flavor – they were perfect.

zucchini cakes openNormally I despise images of half eaten food but I wanted to show you what they looked like inside the crispy exterior.

grilled halloumi beet saladThe grilled halloumi cheese with roasted baby beets, local greens, and pistachios was the second runner up for favorite dish.  I’m a sucker for a beet salad with nuts and this one was perfectly dressed.  (It’s a pet peeve of mine when salads are underdressed because, unlike bunnies, I don’t like dry greens.)

veg moussakaLastly we had the vegetarian moussakka.  It was creamy and the vegetables worked well together but they used fresh mint in the seasoning which isn’t my favorite.  It didn’t ruin it for me but I wished I couldn’t taste it because it interfered with the melting flavors of the other ingredients.

I can’t wait to go back!  There are some other vegetarian dishes to try and obviously I have to have those zucchini cakes again.

A couple of other notes:

  • The wait staff was super friendly and took good care of us from beginning to end.  We went before it was crowded so I don’t know how it is when it’s bustling but we had a great experience.
  • Though the restaurant seemed a little on the fancy side for me at first I changed my opinion soon after being seated.  It’s casual enough that you won’t feel stupid for not dressing up or knowing how to use a fish fork (they don’t have any – ha!).
  • You won’t care about this but I could see my old apartment from my seat and it pleased me so much!  I thought of my friend and old roommate Jessica and if she ever comes up to visit I think we’ll have to eat at Troya and talk about the old days.

Plum Skirt, Blue Skirt

purple skirt on taraThis is my sister Tara.  The day after this picture was taken she took off in her car full of belongings headed for Colorado on a long adventure that would take her to Tennessee and then back to Colorado for a meditation retreat for two months and then…?  We had been shopping for skirts for her.  She couldn’t find what she was looking for.

tara in purple skirtThere was a moment in Target when a whole lot of information coalesced in my head to deliver this message: the skirt my sister is looking for is something I can make in less than two hours from fabric we can buy at the store.  It isn’t often when a moment of clarity shows me how I can be of service to my sister.

Her birthday is soon.  I told her I would make her a skirt for her birthday.she wont like itAn A-line skirt of knit fabric.  Casual, comfortable, classic.

Tara and I do not have the same style but we both love a few of the same classics.  The A-line skirt is one of them.  It looks good on both of us.  I made her two.

my adorable sisterTara is one of my favorite models.  We didn’t take much time with this photo shoot.  Time was wastin’ and the hour was nigh.  In the morning she took off for hot tarmac winding relentlessly through Utah, Wyoming, and finally Colorado.

Then a few days later she flew back to us from Tennessee where she was supposed to work the Bonnaroo concert for ten days.  She flew back to be close to our mom during her emergency hospitalization.  No one wanted her to give up her job to come home.

Except that I desperately wanted her to come home.

She did.

I made her two knit skirts.  One plum and one blue.

She’s going to fly the coop again soon.  It’s almost time for her to rejoin her solo adventure.  It’s almost time for her to find her meditation and her healing again.  I’m used to letting my sister go.

I’m going to fortune tell here: if my sister would shed her native guilt she will find she has an incredible power to heal people, to heal herself, and to blaze new pathways through life.  If I could erase her self doubt through an A-line skirt – it would already be done.