The Thrill of the Grill. . . is gone

We managed to get the salmon cooked on its cedar plank. Mustard-mint sauce way too mustardy. And I remembered it tasting so good. Salmon was all right, but no way as good as the Fishmonger's. Grilled squash and zucchini always reliable, salad o.k., potatoes a wee bit underdone, so if truth be told, not one of my best efforts.

I'm thinking of a speech for Toastmasters about various cooking disasters, a humorous speech, naturally. Do you think it's a good topic? Let me know. I don't know who the hell is reading this blog. Never any comments but the counter goes up nicely.

So today I fell back on the bones of the chicken and made some soup, a free meal as it were, with nice herbs from the garden (ever hear of mean herbs?) and a handful of cherry tomatoes.

I'm making the Mediterrean dish of long, slow cooked green beans and tomatoes, both being in season now, and with judicious amounts of EVOO and some garlic. How can you miss?

On the literary front, (remember that?), my bad guy is such a cliche, and I have to figure out a way to make him a really good bad guy, and distinguishable from all the rest. This is not easy. In the meantime, I've been all over the web researching a) glittzy offices in Miami, b) interesting and classy lounges in Miami Beach, c) what people wear d) what they drink, e) how the office is furnished, and f) how to make cell phones secure.

Ya gotta have the details right. Oh, yes, and bad language in Spanish. I'll be able to spew some really good curses. The thought is always in the back of my mind (along with much other minutiae) that if anyone ever looked at the websites visited on my computer, they would wonder WTF?

All for now, miles to go and it's a pretty nice day so we may go to a walk and after last night's downpours, the garden needs grooming.

Grapeshot