A friend in Escondido writes:
We are fine although the biggest part of the San Diego Fire (Witch Fire) came within two miles of our house. We are stinky with smoke and lots of ash and our swimming pool is a real mess!!!!!! But we are ok. So many people lost their homes and, thankfully, not too many lives were lost (7). I hope to never see anything this bad ever again in our lifetime. The fire was across the street from the Mall where I work and it was closed for 3 days. It's quite a sight to see our big park across from the Mall with all the fire trucks, equipment and tents, as this was made the headquarters for firefighters. This park is for tennis, skateboarding, softball, soccer, etc. for all the teams. Everything is getting back to normal but we are expecting more Santa Ana winds this weekend. Hope they don't kick up the still burning embers and create more fires.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Fried Rice, Roast Pork and other possibilities
A major plot point in World of Mirrors centers around a party at which the main dish is roast pork fried rice. Obviously, this is not your father's thriller. That being said, the evening ends with skinning dipping with the KGB and smoking some serious weed, along with an attempted murder. My characters like to have a good time, and they aren't constrained by legalities, especially the World of Mirrors gang.
We're actually having roast pork fried rice for dinner tonight, and I am sharing the recipe and some commentary.
Fried Rice –
8 servings, but we have had four people devour it.
This recipe is either from the Chicago Tribune or the New York Times. My best guess is the Trib. It’s about a million years old, and never disappoints. I usually use about 2 cups of meat, but less is fine. Keep the bacon.
Tonight ours will be filled with leftover pork tenderloin, bacon, broccoli, celery, grilled eggplant, onions, scallions, garlic, a handful of unsalted cashews, egg, soy sauce, sesame oil, hot oil, sugar and a smidgen of salt. Rice, of course. Good Basmati rice. Bacon adds a lot of salt, by the way, as does the soy sauce.
The nice thing about the recipe is that if you have the basics: rice, cooked meat, egg, onion, bacon and seasonings, you can improvise the rest. Mushrooms are very very good. Pea pods, spinach-- the list is endless.
Original Recipe:
1 ½ cups raw rice
3 T. oil
2 eggs beaten
¼ cook cooked ham or bacon slivers
½ cup cooked pork, chicken or beef slivers (shrimp will work, too)
½ cup chopped green onions and tops
2 T. soy sauce
½ t. each: sugar, salt
¼ t. MSG (I skip this ingredient)
Prepare rice early in the day so it is cool when you prepare the dish. Heat half the oil in a large heavy skillet. Scramble eggs until just done. Remove from pan and set aside. Add remaining oil, bacon, meat and onions. Cook and stir a few minutes, then add rice. Stir constantly so that the rice grains separate and become coated with oil. Add remaining ingredients and scramble eggs, cut into thin slivers. Serve hot.
Add additional ingredients when rice is added.
We're actually having roast pork fried rice for dinner tonight, and I am sharing the recipe and some commentary.
Fried Rice –
8 servings, but we have had four people devour it.
This recipe is either from the Chicago Tribune or the New York Times. My best guess is the Trib. It’s about a million years old, and never disappoints. I usually use about 2 cups of meat, but less is fine. Keep the bacon.
Tonight ours will be filled with leftover pork tenderloin, bacon, broccoli, celery, grilled eggplant, onions, scallions, garlic, a handful of unsalted cashews, egg, soy sauce, sesame oil, hot oil, sugar and a smidgen of salt. Rice, of course. Good Basmati rice. Bacon adds a lot of salt, by the way, as does the soy sauce.
The nice thing about the recipe is that if you have the basics: rice, cooked meat, egg, onion, bacon and seasonings, you can improvise the rest. Mushrooms are very very good. Pea pods, spinach-- the list is endless.
Original Recipe:
1 ½ cups raw rice
3 T. oil
2 eggs beaten
¼ cook cooked ham or bacon slivers
½ cup cooked pork, chicken or beef slivers (shrimp will work, too)
½ cup chopped green onions and tops
2 T. soy sauce
½ t. each: sugar, salt
¼ t. MSG (I skip this ingredient)
Prepare rice early in the day so it is cool when you prepare the dish. Heat half the oil in a large heavy skillet. Scramble eggs until just done. Remove from pan and set aside. Add remaining oil, bacon, meat and onions. Cook and stir a few minutes, then add rice. Stir constantly so that the rice grains separate and become coated with oil. Add remaining ingredients and scramble eggs, cut into thin slivers. Serve hot.
Add additional ingredients when rice is added.
As is the generation of leaves. . .
A quote from the Iliad that always pops into my mind this time of year. You don't even want to see the begonia today. All froze up. So sad.
In the photo is a season tableaux on our library table. The last flowers from the garden including a branch from the late lamented begonia.
When I got home from class today, I watched the Red Sox parade. A gazillion people must have gone into Boston. All the young men were missing from class. What a crowd. What energy! What a great team the Red Sox were this year. Zowie! It's great to be a part of Red Sox Nation. Especially in 2007. I was a Cubs fan for years, and that was like being a Red Sox fan prior to 2004.
Roast Pork fried rice tonight. The 3rd day of the pork tenderloin. Broccoli, fresh ginger, scallions, onion, garlic, celery, eggplant, rice, egg, bacon and Asian seasonings. What could be better? All cooked up fresh without MSG and lots of grease.
Grapeshot
Monday, October 29, 2007
Frost on the Pumpkin
Tomatoes ripening in kitchen window, with vase of late flowers and herbs. Frost damage to the world's most beautiful begonia. It has been a stalwart all summer, through rain, drought, sun and cold. I feed it something called "Super Bloom" that I have to buy in Florida or Arizona. My mom swore by it.
Pork tenderloin was downright addictive last night, with grilled summer squash and zucchini sprinkled liberally with fresh herbs, and more herbs in the risotto. I will be sad when the herbs are gone. Need to dry some oregano, as the last of my Mexican oregano is dwindling.
Prepping to enter the Borders/Gather novel contest, with Promiscuous Mode, a different book than to Amazon's contest. The only good thing about having two finished books lying around. Festival Madness still being tweaked, but the plot and the archtypes seem solid. Then I have three finished books lying around. No word from the publisher or the agents looking at World of Mirrors.
In the meantime, I have written 400 words of the new novel. And made great strides on my new web page. And winterized the deck and brought the plants in. Always 50 things to do. And one of them is to get dressed. So comfortable to schlump around in robe and p.j.'s and cozy socks. I think they are called lounge socks. Nice and fuzzy and warm. I bought another pair at the Job Lot after I broke my ankle. Perfect broken ankle socks. When you're a writer, every day is casual day and some days are ultra-casual.
I have a friend who admits that she comes home from work and puts her jammies on. Way cool. Of course we are all reeling from the Red Sox win, a good reel, just too many late nights, too much adrenaline, too much, too much. Being a part of Red Sox Nation can be exhausting. Reading the sports pages in the Globe this a.m. was exhausting. Like too much chocolate.
Zowie! No sucking it up about the Red Sox this year.
Right on!
Grapeshot
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Least, least favorite thing
Computer problems. S.O. upgraded to Leopard Friday night and again, the wireless connection didn't work, so now we have wires strung thru the home office until Apple can get back with a fix. Had this problem before, and purchased a Westel wireless modem to solve the problem, instead of using Apple's wireless network, whose name eludes me now because I am still a PC person. These things (5 hours on the phone, digging up old records and passwords, tense staring at the screne) drive me batshit!
Maybe it was 20+ years in IT that did it. I was the problem-solver, the analyst, the go-to girl, but I almost always knew what I was doing and maybe it is having to rely on others who keep passing the buck to a more and more knowledgeable person. How did everything get so complicated?
End of rant.
Yesterday, in a moist 70 degree sunless day, I tackled the Bringing In of the Geraniums. Now there are five in pots waiting for a trip to the house before a possible frost this evening. The tuberous begonia has been fantastic this year--it's still fantastic. Rest of garden going downhill, except the sage. Picked all the tomatoes, and this p.m. I'll grab parseley, sage, thyme and oregano along with a little mint and the tiny cilantro plants that reseeded themselves.
We're celebrating the cool weather by grilling a pork tenderloin tonight. So many tempting recipes. Cooler weather causes an urge to cook hearty food. Gourmet has a turkey and dumplings recipe that looks exceedingly tasty. I dug out "Breast Budapest", a fantastic recipe from Purdue that came out about the same time as chicken cutlets. I mix parts sweet paprika, hot paprika, and smoked paprika to give the a really interesting reasonance to the flavoring. I use chicken tenders, and serve up noodles and a green veggie.
So: pet peeves, garden, cooking, what is left? How about those Red Sox? Man, they are killing my sleep patterns. Have you noticed how clean cut the Denver team looks and we have this sort of ragtag bunch of players who pound out the hits. And how about the rookies? This is a team you've got to love. So tonight may be the night, but I'd like the final game to be in Boston--the sox victory, of course.
A trip to the grocery is on the schedule, due to yesterday's computer problems, that sucked up time like a Hoover. Did you know that "hoover" is a verb now? Pretty cool. Off to Roche Brothers.
Go Sox!
Maybe it was 20+ years in IT that did it. I was the problem-solver, the analyst, the go-to girl, but I almost always knew what I was doing and maybe it is having to rely on others who keep passing the buck to a more and more knowledgeable person. How did everything get so complicated?
End of rant.
Yesterday, in a moist 70 degree sunless day, I tackled the Bringing In of the Geraniums. Now there are five in pots waiting for a trip to the house before a possible frost this evening. The tuberous begonia has been fantastic this year--it's still fantastic. Rest of garden going downhill, except the sage. Picked all the tomatoes, and this p.m. I'll grab parseley, sage, thyme and oregano along with a little mint and the tiny cilantro plants that reseeded themselves.
We're celebrating the cool weather by grilling a pork tenderloin tonight. So many tempting recipes. Cooler weather causes an urge to cook hearty food. Gourmet has a turkey and dumplings recipe that looks exceedingly tasty. I dug out "Breast Budapest", a fantastic recipe from Purdue that came out about the same time as chicken cutlets. I mix parts sweet paprika, hot paprika, and smoked paprika to give the a really interesting reasonance to the flavoring. I use chicken tenders, and serve up noodles and a green veggie.
So: pet peeves, garden, cooking, what is left? How about those Red Sox? Man, they are killing my sleep patterns. Have you noticed how clean cut the Denver team looks and we have this sort of ragtag bunch of players who pound out the hits. And how about the rookies? This is a team you've got to love. So tonight may be the night, but I'd like the final game to be in Boston--the sox victory, of course.
A trip to the grocery is on the schedule, due to yesterday's computer problems, that sucked up time like a Hoover. Did you know that "hoover" is a verb now? Pretty cool. Off to Roche Brothers.
Go Sox!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
These are a few of my least favorite things
Flour Tortillas- they belong in California with astroturf
Wraps: doughy tasteless containers for what should have been a sandwich
Cool-Whip (Yuck! Shudder!) or any kind of "topping"- ever hear of trans fats?
Margarine
Faux Crab
Cheap Ugly Furniture
Any art involving children with big eyes, velvet, or twee little cottages in the woods
Deli Turkey Breast with it's non-taste and compliment of salt, nitrates and water
The phrase "family values"
Stupid-assed conspiracy theories
Romance novels
Any commercial with the words "ask your doctor"
Clueless drivers on their cell phones.
Any bagel found outside one of the boroughs of NYC except for Great Barrington, MA
Non-fat anything
Any detective story where the protagonist's kid, wife, girlfriend, mother, or any near relative was dispatched by the bad guy
Enuff said.
Remember: tomorrow is cat blog day!
Grapeshot
Wraps: doughy tasteless containers for what should have been a sandwich
Cool-Whip (Yuck! Shudder!) or any kind of "topping"- ever hear of trans fats?
Margarine
Faux Crab
Cheap Ugly Furniture
Any art involving children with big eyes, velvet, or twee little cottages in the woods
Deli Turkey Breast with it's non-taste and compliment of salt, nitrates and water
The phrase "family values"
Stupid-assed conspiracy theories
Romance novels
Any commercial with the words "ask your doctor"
Clueless drivers on their cell phones.
Any bagel found outside one of the boroughs of NYC except for Great Barrington, MA
Non-fat anything
Any detective story where the protagonist's kid, wife, girlfriend, mother, or any near relative was dispatched by the bad guy
Enuff said.
Remember: tomorrow is cat blog day!
Grapeshot
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
A Geek Again
So, I'm taking an HTML class and redoing my website from A to Z. It had been so long since I had dabbled in HTML that I decided more learning (or in this case re-learning) was indicated. I've spent a couple evenings working on the site, and it's so much fun, and in total one gets the fun of technology, and writing, and creative design all in one package. Happy as a pig in you-know-what. Of course there will be a link to this blog.
It's time to learn how to do style sheets, but that looks a little more complicated than straight HTML tags. Have to walk before I can run.
In the fall, when the weather cools, Thisbe returns to the foot of the bed. Last night I stretched my foot and encountered cat, who retaliated by sinking claws (gently, if that is possible) into intrusive foot. But today is not cat blog day.
Abondigas soup was good but not fantastic. We are trying to cut down on salt which has a certain down side to it, i.e., flavor. I was horrified to find a favorite store-bought pasta sauce contained (this is 1/2 cup mind you) 79% of the day's recommended salt. Yikes! Processed foods are salt mines, esp. salad dressing, mac and cheese. Break out the Mrs. Dash!
And suck it up, of course, or in the case of soup, slurp it up.
Grapeshot
It's time to learn how to do style sheets, but that looks a little more complicated than straight HTML tags. Have to walk before I can run.
In the fall, when the weather cools, Thisbe returns to the foot of the bed. Last night I stretched my foot and encountered cat, who retaliated by sinking claws (gently, if that is possible) into intrusive foot. But today is not cat blog day.
Abondigas soup was good but not fantastic. We are trying to cut down on salt which has a certain down side to it, i.e., flavor. I was horrified to find a favorite store-bought pasta sauce contained (this is 1/2 cup mind you) 79% of the day's recommended salt. Yikes! Processed foods are salt mines, esp. salad dressing, mac and cheese. Break out the Mrs. Dash!
And suck it up, of course, or in the case of soup, slurp it up.
Grapeshot
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Abondigas--Olé!
It's Mexican soup night! I'm still harvesting: tomatoes (almost at an end) mint, cilantro (reseeded itself and growing like mad) basil, parsley, wonderful oregano and creeping thyme! A whole bush of sage.
I don't think I've ever made abondigas, although I've had two recipes. The one I'm using, with mint, looks authentic. Make a big pot. Olé!
HTML class today. We're learning forms and text boxes. No great need, but who knows? I wrote the first page of Such Stuff As Dreams. Psyched!
Grapeshot
I don't think I've ever made abondigas, although I've had two recipes. The one I'm using, with mint, looks authentic. Make a big pot. Olé!
HTML class today. We're learning forms and text boxes. No great need, but who knows? I wrote the first page of Such Stuff As Dreams. Psyched!
Grapeshot
Monday, October 22, 2007
A Writer's Tasks
My desk top. Yesterday, I cleaned out the big box housing all the "stuff" from Festival Madness. The Burning Man photos and souvenirs went into a plastic box, and the other research went into yet a 2nd plastic box. The book is almost completed, and I don't need the research at my fingertips. I still have a box for Promiscuous Mode, now lying somewhat fallow, and World of Mirrors was put to bed a while ago, although the books and photos remain handy. I put all the research for Such Stuff As Dreams into the now free box that formerly held Festival Madness records, and the hanging folder now contains Such Stuff As Dreams research and ideas, from "Art Scene" to "Slang." This tells me that Such Stuff As Dreams is the book I'm really going to write next, because I must be ready, with characters, a setting, part of a plot, beginning, middle (parts thereof) end and two big scenes. It's not an outline, but it has to be enough. Certainly it is more than I've ever had before. A little scary, that. I have 20's slang, music, clothing, and tons of stuff about old L.A., Mexicali, Pomona and all the places I need. A trip to California is in the offing, but now I know which libraries and historical societies I'll visit.
In technical parlance, this is known as "speccing up", i.e. getting one's head centered in the project. Today, even if it's only a page, I'm starting the book. Am I psyched? Think so.
You see of course, that none of the research, filing, shuffling of papers, character sketches, making tabs--none of that was writing, and yet it is all necessary for writing. When I worked as a project leader, I always had a file for each project, and being organized contributed to my success. I don't think it will help me get any of these books published, but it does make managing now 4, count 'em, four unpublished books without losing my mind.
So now, the nitty gritty writing looms. Am I scared? Yes, because I don't have a handle on how this book is going to generate energy. I'm still so pumped for writing crime fiction, that fiction-fiction is a strange territory that I am lighting out for.
I hope it will be a grand adventure.
Grapeshot
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Thisbe's Reply
My mistress made me sound like an indolent creature who lives only to eat and sleep. She neglected to mention my long, vigorous, luxurious baths which I sometimes perform in time to music. Baths burn calories. And speaking of intimate activities, sometimes I "freshen up" with a scratch in the old sandbox. Lots of digging. More calories burned.
When I appear to be gazing out the window, I am really guarding the hearth, keeping track of the vermin who might try to come in. One of them already has gone into the garage which I stand guard at least once a day where said vermin chewed a whole in the bag of bird seed.
It needs to be stated that sometimes the bottom of my food dish is visible, and this causes me great anguish, and I must complain loudly and with vigor (burning yet more calories).
My mistress tends to forget that dogs have masters, but cats have staff.
Thisbe
When I appear to be gazing out the window, I am really guarding the hearth, keeping track of the vermin who might try to come in. One of them already has gone into the garage which I stand guard at least once a day where said vermin chewed a whole in the bag of bird seed.
It needs to be stated that sometimes the bottom of my food dish is visible, and this causes me great anguish, and I must complain loudly and with vigor (burning yet more calories).
My mistress tends to forget that dogs have masters, but cats have staff.
Thisbe
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Missed Cat Blog Day Again
Damn! I missed cat blog (Friday) day again.
A day in the life of Thisbe:
Go upstairs after a snack and greet mistress as she is awakening.
Twice a week--get brushed. Love it!
Downstairs for another snack.
Out onto the front porch until a person, vehicle or (horrors) dog appears. Beat retreat.
Beg for catnip and receive same.
Downstairs to home office. Chased back upstairs by Annie who thinks this is HER territory.
Look out the kitchen window on the cat perch. Observe squirrels, chipmunks, birds and people. Even vehicles and dogs. Safe and sound.
Upstairs and under the bed for a power nap.
Downstairs for another snack.
Maybe some serious mouse play. Possibly even vigorous mouse play (VMP)
Hang out in the living room during dinner and ball game.
Beg for more catnip.
A snack before bedtime.
Accompany grownups to bed. In summer, sleep on floor by bed. In winter, curl up at foot of bed.
Middle of night: occasional mouse play if the mood arises.
Sleep until next snack time.
What a life!
Grapeshot
A day in the life of Thisbe:
Go upstairs after a snack and greet mistress as she is awakening.
Twice a week--get brushed. Love it!
Downstairs for another snack.
Out onto the front porch until a person, vehicle or (horrors) dog appears. Beat retreat.
Beg for catnip and receive same.
Downstairs to home office. Chased back upstairs by Annie who thinks this is HER territory.
Look out the kitchen window on the cat perch. Observe squirrels, chipmunks, birds and people. Even vehicles and dogs. Safe and sound.
Upstairs and under the bed for a power nap.
Downstairs for another snack.
Maybe some serious mouse play. Possibly even vigorous mouse play (VMP)
Hang out in the living room during dinner and ball game.
Beg for more catnip.
A snack before bedtime.
Accompany grownups to bed. In summer, sleep on floor by bed. In winter, curl up at foot of bed.
Middle of night: occasional mouse play if the mood arises.
Sleep until next snack time.
What a life!
Grapeshot
Onion Cheese Supper Bread
Onion Cheese Supper Bread is one of those old recipes that has been making the rounds for a donkey's age. I ate it as a girl and have been making it for years. It went with the cabbage soup and is a real winner. The payback is good for moderate work. It you buy pre-grated cheese, the work is even less. Don't substitute anything icky for the melted butter. You wouldn't do that, would you?
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/498/OnionCheese_Supper_Bread52095.shtml
I had more adventure going into town last night using public transportation with my broken ankle/foot. Would you believe it took 3 elevators to get from one platform to another at Park Street. And of course there was NO ELEVATOR at Symphony stop, and when we came out of Symphony Hall, the monsoons had hit and everyone fled to the subway--down all those stairs again, hobble, hobble, and the train, unlike the rain, did not come until about 300 people were crowded next to the track.
A trick I've known since high school, put out your elbows to make room, worked wonders, and I boarded the train and found a handicapped seat. Only twisted my ankle (ouch!) once in this endeavor. We ate at the 99 in Canton instead of at Brasserie Jo, but whatchagonna do? The boonies are NOT known for late night dining. We have leftovers in the fridge, too.
Tonight, it's scallops with bacon and Brussels Ssrouts. I know it sounds a little weird, but we've eaten them before prepared this way, and the meal was really good. Later on, there's steak with mushrooms, stir fry with spinach, and a nice Spanish Meatball Soup--abondigas, and the fresh mint hasn't frozen yet. The garden just keeps on providing.
The slough is shot with red. This is the best weekend, colorwise, and everything is pretty glorious--just another lousy weekend in New England. Ha ha. Hope that's not prophesy with the big game tonight.
Go Red Sox!
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/498/OnionCheese_Supper_Bread52095.shtml
I had more adventure going into town last night using public transportation with my broken ankle/foot. Would you believe it took 3 elevators to get from one platform to another at Park Street. And of course there was NO ELEVATOR at Symphony stop, and when we came out of Symphony Hall, the monsoons had hit and everyone fled to the subway--down all those stairs again, hobble, hobble, and the train, unlike the rain, did not come until about 300 people were crowded next to the track.
A trick I've known since high school, put out your elbows to make room, worked wonders, and I boarded the train and found a handicapped seat. Only twisted my ankle (ouch!) once in this endeavor. We ate at the 99 in Canton instead of at Brasserie Jo, but whatchagonna do? The boonies are NOT known for late night dining. We have leftovers in the fridge, too.
Tonight, it's scallops with bacon and Brussels Ssrouts. I know it sounds a little weird, but we've eaten them before prepared this way, and the meal was really good. Later on, there's steak with mushrooms, stir fry with spinach, and a nice Spanish Meatball Soup--abondigas, and the fresh mint hasn't frozen yet. The garden just keeps on providing.
The slough is shot with red. This is the best weekend, colorwise, and everything is pretty glorious--just another lousy weekend in New England. Ha ha. Hope that's not prophesy with the big game tonight.
Go Red Sox!
Friday, October 19, 2007
Unfaithful
Owing to her HTML class, her novel plotting class, broken ankle, treks to the city, and all that jazz, Grapeshot has been an unfaithful correspondent this week.
First the novel: the teacher pretty much ripped the beginning part of my California plot to shreds, but I will pursue. Just have to make sure the story in compelling, which it will be if the characters are.
HTML: I had the best geek out last night between 7:30 and midnight fiddling with my new web site. I had pretty much forgotten HTML except for a few (very few) basic tags, and now I find I have to learn it all over again. Got the home page and a few links up. I think I am happiest when I am all by myself doing something technical. How can this be?
Ankle is better. Wednesday, we trekked into Boston to the Museum of Science for an evening program. Got off the Green Line at the Museum stop, to be confronted by 4 flights of stairs to be navigated. 4! Four! Some of the signs pointed to the Spaulding Rehab center. Go figure. So I hobbled down, and walked a few blocks to the museum. Walked some more. Sat in the front row and my foot hurt. At the end of the lecture, we took a cab to Legal Seafood, had a dinner than couldn't be beat and walked a block to the Red Line which took us home sans more hiking and stairs.
Sold on Sole: Legal had grey sole on the menu with baby spinach and a lemon caper sauce. Portions were huge and I cannot tell you how good it was. The old Kendall Square Legal Seafood has been remodeled and it looks so nice. Technical types galore. I set a scene from Festival Madness there. I worked in the office bldg. above Legal for many years, and know that area in my bones. The old fire house is now a ritzy hotel. We used to fantasize about making it into a funky restaurant that served baked bean sandwiches.
Tonight we are again going into the city. This time I'll forget vanity and wear my big ugly splint.
It is so easy to whip up something cheap and good to eat that I am always amazed at how so many people eat out all the time or do take out.
I had a small head of cabbage (on sale) and 2 leftover chicken sausages (on sale). I sauteed some ultra delicious Shaller and Weber slab bacon, added onion, scallions and garlic, then some chopped carrots, chopped tomato, snipped chives, water, 3 kinds paprika and a chopped potato and the shredded cabbage and cooked until done. It wasn't soupy--more like a cabbage stew. And so yummy. Use lots of pepper. Good for you, too, with meat at flavoring. We had a similar soup with pasta and chicken and veggies earlier in the week. These meals cost practically nothing.
We're still harvesting tomatoes like crazy, and the basil is still good, the sage is a bush and the cilantro and dill have reseeded themselves.
Again, life is good.
Grapeshot
First the novel: the teacher pretty much ripped the beginning part of my California plot to shreds, but I will pursue. Just have to make sure the story in compelling, which it will be if the characters are.
HTML: I had the best geek out last night between 7:30 and midnight fiddling with my new web site. I had pretty much forgotten HTML except for a few (very few) basic tags, and now I find I have to learn it all over again. Got the home page and a few links up. I think I am happiest when I am all by myself doing something technical. How can this be?
Ankle is better. Wednesday, we trekked into Boston to the Museum of Science for an evening program. Got off the Green Line at the Museum stop, to be confronted by 4 flights of stairs to be navigated. 4! Four! Some of the signs pointed to the Spaulding Rehab center. Go figure. So I hobbled down, and walked a few blocks to the museum. Walked some more. Sat in the front row and my foot hurt. At the end of the lecture, we took a cab to Legal Seafood, had a dinner than couldn't be beat and walked a block to the Red Line which took us home sans more hiking and stairs.
Sold on Sole: Legal had grey sole on the menu with baby spinach and a lemon caper sauce. Portions were huge and I cannot tell you how good it was. The old Kendall Square Legal Seafood has been remodeled and it looks so nice. Technical types galore. I set a scene from Festival Madness there. I worked in the office bldg. above Legal for many years, and know that area in my bones. The old fire house is now a ritzy hotel. We used to fantasize about making it into a funky restaurant that served baked bean sandwiches.
Tonight we are again going into the city. This time I'll forget vanity and wear my big ugly splint.
It is so easy to whip up something cheap and good to eat that I am always amazed at how so many people eat out all the time or do take out.
I had a small head of cabbage (on sale) and 2 leftover chicken sausages (on sale). I sauteed some ultra delicious Shaller and Weber slab bacon, added onion, scallions and garlic, then some chopped carrots, chopped tomato, snipped chives, water, 3 kinds paprika and a chopped potato and the shredded cabbage and cooked until done. It wasn't soupy--more like a cabbage stew. And so yummy. Use lots of pepper. Good for you, too, with meat at flavoring. We had a similar soup with pasta and chicken and veggies earlier in the week. These meals cost practically nothing.
We're still harvesting tomatoes like crazy, and the basil is still good, the sage is a bush and the cilantro and dill have reseeded themselves.
Again, life is good.
Grapeshot
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Congratulations, Doris Lessing
What a great surprise that the Nobel Committee has selected Doris Lessing as this year's recipient! I read The Golden Notebook and much of her work many years ago, before a career put an end to much leisure reading. I checked one book after another out of the library, in awe of her great gift to bring Africa and later on England and her characters to life. The Science Fiction I never read, not being a sci-fi buff. That seems to be something either you are or are not, although I do love William Gibson's work. There's always an exception.
Lessing was writing about women, not the liberation of women, but the struggle of a woman to become a whole person. Apparently that is still controversial. The sniping pisses me off. Sunday, (I think) The New York times printed an earlier essay of hers that was brilliant.
And while we're handing out accolades, three cheers for Al Gore, another soul who has the courage of his convictions. There's a phrase one doesn't often hear anymore. We should all have the courage of our convictions.
Thanks, Doris and Al, for showing us how.
Lessing was writing about women, not the liberation of women, but the struggle of a woman to become a whole person. Apparently that is still controversial. The sniping pisses me off. Sunday, (I think) The New York times printed an earlier essay of hers that was brilliant.
And while we're handing out accolades, three cheers for Al Gore, another soul who has the courage of his convictions. There's a phrase one doesn't often hear anymore. We should all have the courage of our convictions.
Thanks, Doris and Al, for showing us how.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Friday was Cat Blog Day
Annie likes to take long luxurious baths, and dreams about teaching the chipmunks some respect. She is currently curled up on a green leather chair eyeing Thisbe, her housemate, with distrust. Thisbe is grovelling around in the catnip that she spurned this morning.
I couldn't load photos yestday--blogger problem, so Saturday is by default cat blog day.
Whatcha gonna do?
A Votre Santé or Proust!
Sometimes the funniest things on the net are the least deliberate. I couldn't understand the photo caption until I remembered that the German word for "cheers" is "Prost," short for Prosit. Maybe now there is a new toast. Proust!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixietart/1550963548/
Odette
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixietart/1550963548/
Odette
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Series Versus Standalone Part II
Location. Location. Location. If you've been writing a series, the setting is probably fixed, with a few forays per book into new places, but you know where your character hangs out--think Stephanie Plum's New Jersey with the office and her apartment and her parents place; think Evanovich in St. Teresa with the garage apartment, the Hungarian restaurant and Henry's kitchen. Spenser's Boston. Of course Jack Reacher has no place to hang his hat.
But normally in a series, the characters and the setting are familiar, at least for a portion of the book. You can describe the places your character hangs out in your sleep, and if he or she moseys somewhere else, well, you can just go there and do your own research. Maybe she eats at a nice restaurant. Hey,you could try out the menu offerings, too.
But in a stand alone novel, not only are the characters new, but so are the places. 1928 California! They're tearing down those old houses as we write. So much has been lost. Yet one wants authentic details. This is hard work, she whined. Grapeshot does a lot of whining when she's not sucking it up, and chances are, she's whining then, too. For shame!
So I have a trip to California planned, hoping that some of 1928 remains. That's when the Los Angeles City Hall was completed. They are still a few little places and some houses left. We thank the heavens for historical societies and photographs and the web. Images of old Mexicali are scarcer than hen's teeth. One will have to dig.
So, onward into the past. I hope you have saved all the old family photo albums. Did you know you can sell slide collections on EBAY? It's a piece of history, and so much the better if you have Disneyland, Yellowstone and Coney Island. Who would have thunk.
Wondering,
Grapeshot
But normally in a series, the characters and the setting are familiar, at least for a portion of the book. You can describe the places your character hangs out in your sleep, and if he or she moseys somewhere else, well, you can just go there and do your own research. Maybe she eats at a nice restaurant. Hey,you could try out the menu offerings, too.
But in a stand alone novel, not only are the characters new, but so are the places. 1928 California! They're tearing down those old houses as we write. So much has been lost. Yet one wants authentic details. This is hard work, she whined. Grapeshot does a lot of whining when she's not sucking it up, and chances are, she's whining then, too. For shame!
So I have a trip to California planned, hoping that some of 1928 remains. That's when the Los Angeles City Hall was completed. They are still a few little places and some houses left. We thank the heavens for historical societies and photographs and the web. Images of old Mexicali are scarcer than hen's teeth. One will have to dig.
So, onward into the past. I hope you have saved all the old family photo albums. Did you know you can sell slide collections on EBAY? It's a piece of history, and so much the better if you have Disneyland, Yellowstone and Coney Island. Who would have thunk.
Wondering,
Grapeshot
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Series versus Standalone
Whether to write a series or a so-called standalone is a decision every mystery and suspense writer faces. The beauty of a series is, that if it takes off (think Spenser and Reacher and Kinsey Milhone) you will not only be laughing all the way to the bank, and chortling and clicking your heels and stopping in at all the stores along the street, but you have already developed your main characters. Again, think Spenser and Hawk and Susan and the dog. Each book doesn’t require starting from scratch with all the characterizations which means the author can develop the characters even more and concentrate on the story.
The down side of the series is that often after 4-6 books, or even less, the series tanks, sales are flat or worse, and the publisher drops the author like, well, the proverbial hot potato. And then whatcha gonna do?
Many very successful series writers take time off for a standalone. I am thinking of two excellent writers: Laura Lippman and S. J. Rozan. These have been real breakout books. Look at Dennis Lehane. He had his Boston series and then bam! Mystic River.
So the best of all worlds is to write both. Sounds easy, huh? I am here to tell you it isn’t.
I have 5 books in my series: the “in the closet” book, the published book, the two for sale and so-far unsold, and the third one soon to be ready. Actually, I took World of Mirrors out of the series, by changing the back story and changing the characters names and the age of the female lead. The reason I did this was that otherwise the series character would be getting excessively old. And I was able to cut almost 15,000 words out of the story, never an inconsiderable feat. But anyone who did a close reading would find the series heroine, Emma, and the stand-alone main character, Zara, soul sisters. Zara, being younger and feistier, puts up with less crap.
So now I want to do this 1928 California book, not crime fiction, not series, and a historical to boot. This ain’t easy. I’ve been thinking about it and doing research for a few years and it still seems awfully difficult to get going. What is the hardest thing is that I don’t really know these characters yet. I haven’t been working with them for 15 years. And do to the time difference, I don’t think they’re going to come to me fully dressed with all their little tics and peccadilloes.
Nope, there’s going to be a lot of work involved. Eeek! I never thought it would be a breeze, not did I think it would be THIS HARD. Of course I could just slap a first draft together and do serious character development in subsequent drafts, but that’s not my style. Hmmm. Time to roll up the sleeves and think. Thinking is hard. Suck it up and think? Thinking is messy. One doesn’t think in a straight line.
Nonetheless. . .
The down side of the series is that often after 4-6 books, or even less, the series tanks, sales are flat or worse, and the publisher drops the author like, well, the proverbial hot potato. And then whatcha gonna do?
Many very successful series writers take time off for a standalone. I am thinking of two excellent writers: Laura Lippman and S. J. Rozan. These have been real breakout books. Look at Dennis Lehane. He had his Boston series and then bam! Mystic River.
So the best of all worlds is to write both. Sounds easy, huh? I am here to tell you it isn’t.
I have 5 books in my series: the “in the closet” book, the published book, the two for sale and so-far unsold, and the third one soon to be ready. Actually, I took World of Mirrors out of the series, by changing the back story and changing the characters names and the age of the female lead. The reason I did this was that otherwise the series character would be getting excessively old. And I was able to cut almost 15,000 words out of the story, never an inconsiderable feat. But anyone who did a close reading would find the series heroine, Emma, and the stand-alone main character, Zara, soul sisters. Zara, being younger and feistier, puts up with less crap.
So now I want to do this 1928 California book, not crime fiction, not series, and a historical to boot. This ain’t easy. I’ve been thinking about it and doing research for a few years and it still seems awfully difficult to get going. What is the hardest thing is that I don’t really know these characters yet. I haven’t been working with them for 15 years. And do to the time difference, I don’t think they’re going to come to me fully dressed with all their little tics and peccadilloes.
Nope, there’s going to be a lot of work involved. Eeek! I never thought it would be a breeze, not did I think it would be THIS HARD. Of course I could just slap a first draft together and do serious character development in subsequent drafts, but that’s not my style. Hmmm. Time to roll up the sleeves and think. Thinking is hard. Suck it up and think? Thinking is messy. One doesn’t think in a straight line.
Nonetheless. . .
Sunday, October 07, 2007
The Girls of Saigon
Thumbing thru an old Gourmet Magazine today and ran across an article by David Halberstam titled, "The Boys of Saigon." It was about war correspondents eating and bonding in Saigon during the days of the Vietnam War. All guys, of course. I did a little Googling and found a masters thesis on female war correspondents in Vietnam. Obviously an exotic enough subjuct for a thesis. No Martha Gelhorns. This got me into a subject I think about a lot, which is the different experiences in this world that both men and women bring to writing. Men can write about war, and guy adventures, fights, whoring, hunting, all kinds of life and death stuff involving knives and explosives and danger, and women write about what? Having babies, cooking, cleaning, relationships, caring for elderly parents? The guys get all the exciting stuff and we're left to write the "cozies."
I like it not so. This is one of the things that one can do absolutely nothing about except grouse and whine. Things are a little different now. Girls even get to do athletics. In "my day" there were intramural sports and the GAA, the Girls Athletic Association, which would have meant social death in my high school. I guess on some level it's like being an ex-slave--nothing anyone can ever do to make it up to you. Won't happen. The nose must forever stay pressed against the window. Now missing out on violence is, of course, a mixed blessing and one that many men would undoubtedly opt for, and God knows there is more than enough violence against women, but that does nothing to balance the equations.
The title of the Halberstam article was "The Boys of Saigon," and they had an intense but interesting and fruitful time and I doubt if any one them would change places to have endured childbirth and gone to secretarial school. In fact, "The Girls of Saigon" sounds like hookers or some oddball Playboy spread.
End of rant.
We had ribs, coleslaw and baked beans tonight, so the diet, as always starts tomorrow. The eating sounded good in Saigon, and the personal chef sounded even better.
Grapeshot
I like it not so. This is one of the things that one can do absolutely nothing about except grouse and whine. Things are a little different now. Girls even get to do athletics. In "my day" there were intramural sports and the GAA, the Girls Athletic Association, which would have meant social death in my high school. I guess on some level it's like being an ex-slave--nothing anyone can ever do to make it up to you. Won't happen. The nose must forever stay pressed against the window. Now missing out on violence is, of course, a mixed blessing and one that many men would undoubtedly opt for, and God knows there is more than enough violence against women, but that does nothing to balance the equations.
The title of the Halberstam article was "The Boys of Saigon," and they had an intense but interesting and fruitful time and I doubt if any one them would change places to have endured childbirth and gone to secretarial school. In fact, "The Girls of Saigon" sounds like hookers or some oddball Playboy spread.
End of rant.
We had ribs, coleslaw and baked beans tonight, so the diet, as always starts tomorrow. The eating sounded good in Saigon, and the personal chef sounded even better.
Grapeshot
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Saturday Night Casual or Car Wash Casual
The day of my mother's funeral, we spent New Year's Eve at the Holiday Inn in Wichita, Kansas. The huge center courtyard was the scene of a big party, and what caught my by then numb eyes, was that the girls were dressed in slinky black with stilletto heels and the guys wore their best jeans and bowling shirts. How they dress in sorta-small-town mid-continent, I decided.
Since then we have seen this women dress up, men dressed down all over, and who the hell knew that Wichita was on the cutting edge of fashion, New Year's Eve, 1989? Not moi.
Tonight at dinner, however, it was obvious that the girls have gone over to the men's way of dressing, which is to say, down, way, way down. Why would a woman wear a baggy t-shirt, baggy shorts and teva sandals to a nice restaurant on Saturday night? I don't know. The people in jeans weren't even wearing dark pressed jeans, but well, you know, wash the car jeans. Finally, two older (wouldn't you know) couples came in, with the men both wearing jackets and (gasp!) ties. Upped the tone considerable.
Folks wearing finery, even modest finery look festive. Folks wearing "wash the car" clothes look like, well, they look like they're going to wash the car after they eat.
Grapeshot grew up "out west" where even as a kid California sportswear was worn and appreciated and the most important thing in one's wardrobe was elegant casual clothes, even as evidenced by a squaw skirt and a concha belt. The East Coast (NYC excepted) has a weird attitude to dressing up. Dressing up is for church and work, if one must, and the rest of the time let's put on our wash the car duds. In the late 80's when our company went "business casual," even the women didn't know what to wear. I would like to know if anyone really wears resort casual anymore. Anyone under 60. Except on cruises, of course. Certain cruises.
The cats just wear clean fur every day and don't worry about such things. I scarfed down steak tartare (lovely), scallops, (lovlier) and something called whipped cheesecake that tasted like
panne cotta (loveliest). So, as usual, the diet begins tomorrow.
Toujours,
Grapeshot
Since then we have seen this women dress up, men dressed down all over, and who the hell knew that Wichita was on the cutting edge of fashion, New Year's Eve, 1989? Not moi.
Tonight at dinner, however, it was obvious that the girls have gone over to the men's way of dressing, which is to say, down, way, way down. Why would a woman wear a baggy t-shirt, baggy shorts and teva sandals to a nice restaurant on Saturday night? I don't know. The people in jeans weren't even wearing dark pressed jeans, but well, you know, wash the car jeans. Finally, two older (wouldn't you know) couples came in, with the men both wearing jackets and (gasp!) ties. Upped the tone considerable.
Folks wearing finery, even modest finery look festive. Folks wearing "wash the car" clothes look like, well, they look like they're going to wash the car after they eat.
Grapeshot grew up "out west" where even as a kid California sportswear was worn and appreciated and the most important thing in one's wardrobe was elegant casual clothes, even as evidenced by a squaw skirt and a concha belt. The East Coast (NYC excepted) has a weird attitude to dressing up. Dressing up is for church and work, if one must, and the rest of the time let's put on our wash the car duds. In the late 80's when our company went "business casual," even the women didn't know what to wear. I would like to know if anyone really wears resort casual anymore. Anyone under 60. Except on cruises, of course. Certain cruises.
The cats just wear clean fur every day and don't worry about such things. I scarfed down steak tartare (lovely), scallops, (lovlier) and something called whipped cheesecake that tasted like
panne cotta (loveliest). So, as usual, the diet begins tomorrow.
Toujours,
Grapeshot
Dumbassification
New word for me today: dumbassification. If you don't know what this means, then you are a) reading too many supermarket tabloids, and b) watching too much TV.
This word came to mind when I was cruising the chat group that Amazon formed for the novel contest. Someone wrote to ask if a "rough draft" was O.K.? In a novel contest? That is a decidedly dumbass question. The wags who answered said, "sure, go ahead, submit a rough draft," obviously thinking a dumbass entry that will be disqualified helps their own chances. Well, sure.
Writers do like to bitch and moan. One can immediately see that some of the novelists have never submitted before, and of course, Amazon has 9 single spaced pages of rules, along with some additional ones on the web. But the $25,000 advance from Penguin is sooooo tempting and even thrilling, and also the fact that a real person will read your book if you get into the top 1000 out of 5000 which almost (I better prepare to eat crow) seems like a slam dunk, with memoir, children's books, first drafts and godknowswhat being submitted. Well, bad writing, as well. Making the cut should not be that hard if one isn't tripped up by some little rule, like not having your name on the manuscript. Eeeek! Mine was on the header, and also the title page. Whoops! And of course any book with a word count greater than 175,000 is disqualified. I know of people who have written more words.
My own humble entry, World of Mirrors, was pared down from 116,000 to 97,000 words with lots of hard work and getting rid of a back story, changing the main characters in fact. You are God when you write. You do what you will.
I sent out a bunch of queries and am waiting for an answer from a publisher, but since I have been flogging this book for hmmmm, how many years, now, it seemed a little optimistic to think that any of these feelers would actually evolve into a sale. Started the book in 1996 or a little earlier. How long ago is that? Over ten years. Blood, sweat and tears. (Submissions began the summer of 2004. More than 3 years ago. Why does it seem like longer?)
We're having an anniversary feast at Fava in Needham, which should be ultra-delicous. I don't want to try the T or a long walk in the city for a while with my bum ankle. Insalata Caprese on the deck with the leaves in the slough turning red and woodpeckers and chicadees attacking the suet and goldfinches on the thistle seed. A glass of white wine to wash things down. A leisurely lunch on the deck always means life is good. Dumbass, maybe, but good.
Grapeshot
This word came to mind when I was cruising the chat group that Amazon formed for the novel contest. Someone wrote to ask if a "rough draft" was O.K.? In a novel contest? That is a decidedly dumbass question. The wags who answered said, "sure, go ahead, submit a rough draft," obviously thinking a dumbass entry that will be disqualified helps their own chances. Well, sure.
Writers do like to bitch and moan. One can immediately see that some of the novelists have never submitted before, and of course, Amazon has 9 single spaced pages of rules, along with some additional ones on the web. But the $25,000 advance from Penguin is sooooo tempting and even thrilling, and also the fact that a real person will read your book if you get into the top 1000 out of 5000 which almost (I better prepare to eat crow) seems like a slam dunk, with memoir, children's books, first drafts and godknowswhat being submitted. Well, bad writing, as well. Making the cut should not be that hard if one isn't tripped up by some little rule, like not having your name on the manuscript. Eeeek! Mine was on the header, and also the title page. Whoops! And of course any book with a word count greater than 175,000 is disqualified. I know of people who have written more words.
My own humble entry, World of Mirrors, was pared down from 116,000 to 97,000 words with lots of hard work and getting rid of a back story, changing the main characters in fact. You are God when you write. You do what you will.
I sent out a bunch of queries and am waiting for an answer from a publisher, but since I have been flogging this book for hmmmm, how many years, now, it seemed a little optimistic to think that any of these feelers would actually evolve into a sale. Started the book in 1996 or a little earlier. How long ago is that? Over ten years. Blood, sweat and tears. (Submissions began the summer of 2004. More than 3 years ago. Why does it seem like longer?)
We're having an anniversary feast at Fava in Needham, which should be ultra-delicous. I don't want to try the T or a long walk in the city for a while with my bum ankle. Insalata Caprese on the deck with the leaves in the slough turning red and woodpeckers and chicadees attacking the suet and goldfinches on the thistle seed. A glass of white wine to wash things down. A leisurely lunch on the deck always means life is good. Dumbass, maybe, but good.
Grapeshot
Friday, October 05, 2007
Colcannon
Colcannon, according to my old Vincent Price cookbook, is a mixture of mashed potatoes, cabbage and onion with gobs of butter and garnished with bacon. We made it tonight, with butter in modest proportions and the leftover turkey kielbasa from the soup a previous night. This is really good--more peasant food, and we had a green salad with it, and I'll scarf down a piece of chocolate before I retire. Yum!
Hobbled out to the garden and picked more tomatoes today. About 6-8 will be ripe in a couple days, enough for some tomato soup. My last "serious" trip to the supermarket was Sept. 19th, before the party, and we've been living on what's in the fridge and the pantry along with a couple of quick strafe's through Shaw's.
Tomorrow we need a serious shopping trip with a list and everything. I'll have to sit in the front of the store while S.O. scurries around and tries to find the right stuff. He is a better shopper than a cook, so should do all right.
Twenty-one more pages of World of Mirrors before I'm done with the last pass. Made 4 more small chapters. I never know if doing basically cosmetic stuff like that will help or not, but it seemed like a necessary thing to do. I'm curious as to how many entrants Amazon has by now. 500? Who knows.
Started a Ridley Pearson book today, and it seemed like it would be a good read. So kids, back to the editing. Have a bang up Friday night.
Grapeshot
Hobbled out to the garden and picked more tomatoes today. About 6-8 will be ripe in a couple days, enough for some tomato soup. My last "serious" trip to the supermarket was Sept. 19th, before the party, and we've been living on what's in the fridge and the pantry along with a couple of quick strafe's through Shaw's.
Tomorrow we need a serious shopping trip with a list and everything. I'll have to sit in the front of the store while S.O. scurries around and tries to find the right stuff. He is a better shopper than a cook, so should do all right.
Twenty-one more pages of World of Mirrors before I'm done with the last pass. Made 4 more small chapters. I never know if doing basically cosmetic stuff like that will help or not, but it seemed like a necessary thing to do. I'm curious as to how many entrants Amazon has by now. 500? Who knows.
Started a Ridley Pearson book today, and it seemed like it would be a good read. So kids, back to the editing. Have a bang up Friday night.
Grapeshot
Amazon's Novel Contest
Gearing up to send my manuscript to Amazon today. The last reading has revealed too long chapters, esp. at the end so I will do something about that. Everything always takes longer than one expects.
Wednesday I missed the last step going downstairs to th home office and broke my ankle. I was carrying a big laundry basket full of papers and didn't have good vision as to where I was going. Three odd things: I could wiggle my toes, put weight on my foot and it didn't hurt too much (after the fact). Waited until yesterday when the swelling and rainbow colors were somewhat alarming to go to the emergency room for the good long sit, which it was.
Xrays said broken ankle and maybe bone chip in foot.
The good news is that when I went to the bone doc today, she said no cast necessary, that a splint or weird shoe would do. I opted for the splint, and continue to hobble. Could whack people with the cane if they displease me, but I probably won't.
No interesting dramas in the emergency room last night. A good thing for the patients, a bad thing for a writer.
Oh well. I was able to finish Harlen Coben's Tell No One. Time wasted is never time wasted.
Hobbling along and sucking it up as usual,
Grapeshot
Wednesday I missed the last step going downstairs to th home office and broke my ankle. I was carrying a big laundry basket full of papers and didn't have good vision as to where I was going. Three odd things: I could wiggle my toes, put weight on my foot and it didn't hurt too much (after the fact). Waited until yesterday when the swelling and rainbow colors were somewhat alarming to go to the emergency room for the good long sit, which it was.
Xrays said broken ankle and maybe bone chip in foot.
The good news is that when I went to the bone doc today, she said no cast necessary, that a splint or weird shoe would do. I opted for the splint, and continue to hobble. Could whack people with the cane if they displease me, but I probably won't.
No interesting dramas in the emergency room last night. A good thing for the patients, a bad thing for a writer.
Oh well. I was able to finish Harlen Coben's Tell No One. Time wasted is never time wasted.
Hobbling along and sucking it up as usual,
Grapeshot
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Tortilla Soup, Another Peasant Soup
We are on a soup binge. Yesterday Iwas carrying a load of paperwork downstairs, using the big laundry basket to transport everything, and I missed the last step and landed on my ankle. Ouch! Apparently nothing broken, but a bad sprain, so I am hobbling around.
Soup seemed easy enough, with 5 ripe tomatoes staring at me from the kitchen window, and a big can of chicken broth, onion and garlic of course, last weeks still pretty fresh cilantro, corn tortillas in the freezer, and a seen-better-days jalapeno in the fridge. That's all you need. We added sour cream and Mexican cheese and more freshly fried tortillas to eat with the soup. Make a big batch and we have it again tonight, with a salad to use some more of those tomatoes--four more on the window sill and a half dozen in the garden.
When they ripen, they ripen. I'm thinking tomato bread salad for the weekend and some fresh tomato soup. It's the last of the bountiful harvest. It's a long, long time until July when the garden bursts forth again.
Apropos the garden: all the geraniums need to be brought in, and after the first frost, the annuals pulled up. Or do I just do cuttings? Always kind of sad to see the beautiful colors go. I've had such a riot of reds, purples, yellows, orange, pink and every lovely hue all summer.
All my life, summer has been my favorite season, and it still is.
I'm entering the Amazon novel contest--just about ready with the entry, and all the adjutant stuff. Always a lot of work even if you have the novel ready, but is a novel ever ready? One more pass has revealed just a few things that need fixing. I'm sending off World of Mirrors, which has come close to selling a couple times, so maybe it will do well in the contest, although it's not an Oprah kind of novel or a thriller kind of novel. I hope it's a good story that keeps the reader involved. Can we ever ask for more of our books?
Reading Madame Proust and Tell No One. Kind of a schizoid list, even I admit. Finished On the Road. The Mexico stuff was pretty good, but I got so friggin' tired of Dean Moriarty and his women and his disloyalty and his childishness. It's interesting how books affect you depending on your age at reading. Has anyone ever written about this? Good essay topic, but not for today.
Meanwhile, back to World of Mirrors and the manuscript tweaks.
Grapeshot
Soup seemed easy enough, with 5 ripe tomatoes staring at me from the kitchen window, and a big can of chicken broth, onion and garlic of course, last weeks still pretty fresh cilantro, corn tortillas in the freezer, and a seen-better-days jalapeno in the fridge. That's all you need. We added sour cream and Mexican cheese and more freshly fried tortillas to eat with the soup. Make a big batch and we have it again tonight, with a salad to use some more of those tomatoes--four more on the window sill and a half dozen in the garden.
When they ripen, they ripen. I'm thinking tomato bread salad for the weekend and some fresh tomato soup. It's the last of the bountiful harvest. It's a long, long time until July when the garden bursts forth again.
Apropos the garden: all the geraniums need to be brought in, and after the first frost, the annuals pulled up. Or do I just do cuttings? Always kind of sad to see the beautiful colors go. I've had such a riot of reds, purples, yellows, orange, pink and every lovely hue all summer.
All my life, summer has been my favorite season, and it still is.
I'm entering the Amazon novel contest--just about ready with the entry, and all the adjutant stuff. Always a lot of work even if you have the novel ready, but is a novel ever ready? One more pass has revealed just a few things that need fixing. I'm sending off World of Mirrors, which has come close to selling a couple times, so maybe it will do well in the contest, although it's not an Oprah kind of novel or a thriller kind of novel. I hope it's a good story that keeps the reader involved. Can we ever ask for more of our books?
Reading Madame Proust and Tell No One. Kind of a schizoid list, even I admit. Finished On the Road. The Mexico stuff was pretty good, but I got so friggin' tired of Dean Moriarty and his women and his disloyalty and his childishness. It's interesting how books affect you depending on your age at reading. Has anyone ever written about this? Good essay topic, but not for today.
Meanwhile, back to World of Mirrors and the manuscript tweaks.
Grapeshot
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Garbure, a delicious peasant soup
We love soup: hot soup, cold soup, spicy soup, comforting soup, just about any kind of soup except I don't much like seafood soup.
A week or so ago I saw a recipe for a French (maybe Basque) peasant soup called Garbure, made with cabbage, potatoes, beans, etc. This recipe called for Kielbasa, but I thought I already had a similiar recipe, so I didn't clip it. Bad mistake.
Went out on the web a couple days ago to find my garbure recipe and couldn't. Instead, there were all kinds of complicated things with heaps of turnips, yuck, and beans that had to be soaked and cooked. I had been thinking 40 minutes tops from start to finish.
Hmmm. Time to improvise. We already had some Kielbasa, the lower fat kind made with turkey which we really like, so I took that out of the freezer. Shot off to Shaw's and bought a cabbage, a leek, a second can of white beans, a small turnip, and some Yukon gold potatoes.
Browned some bits of slab bacon in the soup kettle, cooked the sliced leek in the bacon fat and added half a chopped onion, some chopped carrot, and sauteed that for a while. Added the chopped turnip and a chopped potato, a bunch of coarsely shredded cabbage (3/4 of the head), some hot pepper flakes, garlic, 2 cans white beans, and homemade chicken broth saved from the party, also salt and pepper, natch, and some dried thyme.
Cooked everything until the veggies were tender. Added some thinly sliced kielbasa, about half a pound. Cooked a while longer.
Toasted some rounds of nice sourdough bread under the broiler, flipped them over and spread with butter, shredded parmesan, and a sprinkle of paprika. Toasted the buttered side under the broiler.
I put a bread slice in each soup plate (we like the shallow soup dishes) and poured on the soup. Served the rest of the bread at table.
Kids, this was really good. We've been eating it for 3 meals with S.O. having seconds, and there's still enough for lunch tomorrow. It's hearty, nourishing and tastes wonderful. And fast and easy describe the cooking process. We sliced a couple tomatoes that just ripened and felt like royalty, not peasants.
Garbure. Try it. Cabbage is in season. Eat like a peasant king.
A week or so ago I saw a recipe for a French (maybe Basque) peasant soup called Garbure, made with cabbage, potatoes, beans, etc. This recipe called for Kielbasa, but I thought I already had a similiar recipe, so I didn't clip it. Bad mistake.
Went out on the web a couple days ago to find my garbure recipe and couldn't. Instead, there were all kinds of complicated things with heaps of turnips, yuck, and beans that had to be soaked and cooked. I had been thinking 40 minutes tops from start to finish.
Hmmm. Time to improvise. We already had some Kielbasa, the lower fat kind made with turkey which we really like, so I took that out of the freezer. Shot off to Shaw's and bought a cabbage, a leek, a second can of white beans, a small turnip, and some Yukon gold potatoes.
Browned some bits of slab bacon in the soup kettle, cooked the sliced leek in the bacon fat and added half a chopped onion, some chopped carrot, and sauteed that for a while. Added the chopped turnip and a chopped potato, a bunch of coarsely shredded cabbage (3/4 of the head), some hot pepper flakes, garlic, 2 cans white beans, and homemade chicken broth saved from the party, also salt and pepper, natch, and some dried thyme.
Cooked everything until the veggies were tender. Added some thinly sliced kielbasa, about half a pound. Cooked a while longer.
Toasted some rounds of nice sourdough bread under the broiler, flipped them over and spread with butter, shredded parmesan, and a sprinkle of paprika. Toasted the buttered side under the broiler.
I put a bread slice in each soup plate (we like the shallow soup dishes) and poured on the soup. Served the rest of the bread at table.
Kids, this was really good. We've been eating it for 3 meals with S.O. having seconds, and there's still enough for lunch tomorrow. It's hearty, nourishing and tastes wonderful. And fast and easy describe the cooking process. We sliced a couple tomatoes that just ripened and felt like royalty, not peasants.
Garbure. Try it. Cabbage is in season. Eat like a peasant king.
Baa Baa Back Story
The "Wicked" winner was in today's Globe. I obviously misunderstood something, probably that one needed to do the backstory of a character in "Wicked," not just any nursery rhyme, etc., although this was not specified in the rules. Sometimes you read a work that bested yours and you think "Wow," that is really good, and you admire it. Other times, you think that the judges must have picked the winner in a dark cave with no candles.
I love my big bad black sheep who jumped out of his pen and raised hell at the county fair.
Amazon has a novel contest, which I am entering, and MWA has one, which I am not. I think Borders or Barnes and Noble also has a contest, all for crime writers. Will there soon be more contests that unpublished novels? No way. I think novels reproduce at night while we sleep.
I'm starting my California novel and thinking about the first and the last scenes. I had opted for a bleak ending, and now I'm changing my mind. All my endings are a little bleak.
If the Amazon contest ends like the Wicked, I'm going to switch to a career that will bring in some cash and some real recognition. Well, maybe not. Writing is a disease. Incurable, too.
Grapeshot
I love my big bad black sheep who jumped out of his pen and raised hell at the county fair.
Amazon has a novel contest, which I am entering, and MWA has one, which I am not. I think Borders or Barnes and Noble also has a contest, all for crime writers. Will there soon be more contests that unpublished novels? No way. I think novels reproduce at night while we sleep.
I'm starting my California novel and thinking about the first and the last scenes. I had opted for a bleak ending, and now I'm changing my mind. All my endings are a little bleak.
If the Amazon contest ends like the Wicked, I'm going to switch to a career that will bring in some cash and some real recognition. Well, maybe not. Writing is a disease. Incurable, too.
Grapeshot
Monday, October 01, 2007
Bouchercon Awards 2007 in Anchorage
Bouchercon is a HUGE mystery conference held every year. In 2007 it was in Anchorage, Alaska, and it must have been fun and exciting to be in the biggest state.
The envelope, please!
BEST NOVEL: NO GOOD DEEDS, Laura Lippman, (William Morrow)
BEST FIRST NOVEL:STILL LIFE, Louise Penny, (St. Martin's Minotaur)
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL: ASHES AND BONES, Dana Cameron, (Avon)
BEST SHORT STORY:Simon Wood, "My Father's Secret" (Crimespree Magazine, B'con Special Issue 2006)
BEST CRITICAL NONFICTION:MYSTERY MUSES , Jim Huang & Austin Lugar, ed. (Crum Creek Press
SPECIAL SERVICES AWARD: Jim Huang
A hearty congrats to all the winners and especially to Dana Cameron, a member of our local Sisters in Crime and MWA chapters and a fun person, as well as an excellent writer. Yay, Dana!
The envelope, please!
BEST NOVEL: NO GOOD DEEDS, Laura Lippman, (William Morrow)
BEST FIRST NOVEL:STILL LIFE, Louise Penny, (St. Martin's Minotaur)
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL: ASHES AND BONES, Dana Cameron, (Avon)
BEST SHORT STORY:Simon Wood, "My Father's Secret" (Crimespree Magazine, B'con Special Issue 2006)
BEST CRITICAL NONFICTION:MYSTERY MUSES , Jim Huang & Austin Lugar, ed. (Crum Creek Press
SPECIAL SERVICES AWARD: Jim Huang
A hearty congrats to all the winners and especially to Dana Cameron, a member of our local Sisters in Crime and MWA chapters and a fun person, as well as an excellent writer. Yay, Dana!
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