Cell Phone Rant

As a long-standing member of Red Sox Nation, I would give my eye teeth to sit right behind home plate during a game at Fenway Park.  I mean, what could be more exciting that to see the team close up and personal and watch the batters deliver a few home runs into the stands, watch the pitcher hurling those 95  mph fastballs, and see the exciting plays at home plate?  Second guess the ump?

Apparently talking on one's cell phone or texting is more exciting than actually watching the game once you're made it into those oh-so-pricey seats.  I see it all the time.  So-called fans with cell phones glommed onto their ears.  I mean, how can you hear jack-shit with 34,000 screaming fans?  The dead give away for texting is watching someone with his/her eyes lowered toward an invisible phone, arms at sides, sitting very still. Except for the thumbs.  Gee, don't spill beer on your precious device. 

"I'm at the ball game."
"Who's leading?"
"Aaaa, just a minute, let me check the scoreboard. Oh, the Sox are leading."

"What inning is it?"
"Aaaaa, just a minute.  Oh, it's the bottom of the third."
"Who scored the runs?"
"I don't know.  I'll text you back after I've looked it up on the web."
"Hey, never mind.  I can do that, too."

"I'm at the Red Sox game."
"What's the score?"
etcetera.

Such a waste.  I know.  Give ME the tickets and you can sit in a bar, watch the game and yak all night.  Text till your thumbs drop off. 
Your display of self-importance just makes you look dumb. 

Red Sox Nation and Jerk Chicken

Tonight we're trekking to Fenway park with tickets for the EMC boxes, great seats that I would never have anticipated plunking my fanny down in. It's supposed to rain, and this will be, I hope, the night the Sox clinch the playoff berth. We have been watching all the games religiously, to the detriment of housework, writing, exercise, reading, well. . . you know. Rabid Red Sox fans. I'll wear my red sweater and maybe even my 2004 World Series shirt.

Yesterday I finished reading my WIP. Was very discouraged about how BAD some of it read, then all of a sudden, the story perked up and the prose was flying, and then it calmed down some, but of course, the good thing is that I can recognize draggy passages and fix them. I also read the first 20 pages of World of Mirrors and still like that book a lot, although it has been a hard sell. I still have hope. Sucking It Up becomes a lifestyle.

I took a main course salad to a meeting yesterday that is worth repeating. It was called a Caribbean Jerk Chicken Salad, and I found the recipe on the Internet. I made my own Jerk Seasoning, and this being New England I didn't grind up any habanera peppers, nope, just good old cayenne. The salad called for mesclun lettuces, baby spinach, apple, blue cheese, raisins, walnuts and red onion. And the chicken. I mean, what's not to like? We had it for dinner (leftovers) last night and also for lunch today. I just keep adding lettuce and baby spinach to the wilted greens in the bottom.


Here is the recipe: http://www.marjacpoultry.com/recipes/recipe-caribbean-jerk-chicken-salad.html

For the Jerk Seasoning, here is the recipezaar recipe:

http://www.recipezaar.com/Dry-Jerk-Seasoning-229443

I had the ingredients on hand, and saved myself a few dollars. Spices and seasonings are always better fresh, but then, you knew that.

I buy dried chive from Penzey's spices, http://www.penzeys.com/

They may even have a Jerk Seasoning if you don't have everything on the list. Penzey's rubs are the best, and I love Barbecue of the Americas and Northwoods Seasoning and a bunch of others.

Yours in soup and salad and fiction,

Grapeshot

Red Sox Nation revisted

Last night, for the first time since May, 2004, we saw a Red Sox game, a big comeback game after the road trip debacle with Tampa Bay and the Yankees. Yeecch.

We tried a new restaurant, Cafeteria Boston, on Newbury St., mentioned in Sunday's Boston Globe as a spot where Gisele Bundchen hangs out. No Gisele, but an interesting crowd, especially the passing throng on Newbury Street where the world marched by, many en route to Fenway Park, a long slog in the 91 degree heat.

However, we discovered it was Restaurant Week, and ordered from the "specials" menu. I had a salad with roasted beets and chevre, with hanger steak entree, and fresh berries for dessert. Didn't wreck the diet, except for the yummy roasted potatos with the steak. Lots of greenery, and I resisted the bread basket.

At Fenway park, we must have been sitting downwind from the Italian sausage and peppers cooking area. After a while the odor becomes a stench, and I envisioned hair and clothing reeking of Italian sausage. May, it was strong.

The game was exciting, with mega-energy when Papelbon came in to pitch at the top of the ninth with the tying and winning runs on base. Yowza! Mega-excitement, too. The sound system plays I'm Shipping Up to Boston (from The Departed soundtrack- the Drop Kick Murphys). They play it LOUD and the crowd goes crazy. The energy really pumps you up.

The only downer was the my Charlie Card stopped functioning, claiming to be expired, still with money on it, and now I have to go to the T HQ to get things straightened out. Couldn't add to the card or anything. Just kaput.

There was a huge mob of people trying to get on the T at Kenmore, and of course the person trying to help me navigate the ticket machines was equally clueless, and we ended up in Chinese. It was ugly, and who knows how many people cursed the ididotic woman who was too dumb to buy a ticket. It was so damn hot in the bowels of Kenmore that one of my dollar bills was too WILTED to feed into the machine.

However, the transportation craziness couldn't dent the fine mood of a Red Sox victory, particularly such an exciting one with a finish that couldn't be beat! :)

More anon,

Grapeshot

Barking at the Thunder

The coleus doesn't mind the rain. The petunias like it UP TO A POINT.

This afternoon, I took care of our neighbor's little dog. As usual, we had a thunderstorm. Instead of going outside to do her "business," doggie barked at the thunder, running from one side of the deck to another and to the stairs, yapping the whole time.

We had to go back later when the storm was over. This time she went out for real. Maybe it was a ploy to get another treat. I had felt like barking at the thunder, too, for all the good it will do.

We had a stellar Mexican casserole (tortilla casserole) tonight. I had never eaten a tortilla casserole until we were in Houston and one was served at lunch at a fancy buffet. Thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Nothing fancy about the casserole, but it's very tasty and quite rich, one of those dishes that low fat sour cream and cheddar would not greatly diminish. I'll print the recipe tomorrow.

Today's mail brought some good news. One of my short stories will be published in an anthology this fall. Very excited, naturally. I will have to update my query letter with this info. Three queries out so far today, two more to do. Then I can watch the Red Sox and finish my James Lee Burke book. Goodbye computer, until morning.





Grapeshot

The Frost is On the Newly Purchased Pumpkin

Pumpkins are gold-plated this fall, having to do with the wet summer, I hear. Anyway, a nice big one set us back $10.00 at the supermarket. Walmart didn't even get them.

I made Paula's (food network) Mexican style chicken turnovers, and being cheap really paid off. Instead of using the store-bought pie crust ($3.49), I decided to make my own. Browsing thru recipes, in Elena's Mexican Cookery, she recommended putting chili powder in the crust. Yowsa! Did that even rock!

I made more or less Paula's filling except for adding half a chopped plum tomato, and substituting Adobo spice for cummin. I also used pepper jack cheese which gave it extra kick. Didn't remove ALL the seeds from the jalapeno. Yum, yum, yum. We baked, rather than deep-fried, and they were so good, served with salsa.

My pie crust recipe is from a food processor cookbook (Abby Mandel's) and the pie crust almost comes out to be amazingly good and it takes all of 5 minutes from measuring to fridge to chill. Rolls out like a dream. Man, I remember times I had to heave the whole mess in the garbage and start over, but this never fails.

Frost forecast tonight. I dug up my geraniums and put them in smaller pots (they spent the summer outside in a whiskey barrell) and brought inside. Big messy job, but won't I be happy come may when they can be moved back outside and I don't have to go out and buy 10 new geraniums. In this economy, one can take frugal measures.

Feeling smug because I saved $40.00 at the grocery this week and wrote some more of my book, did the estimated taxes and so on. Doing the estimate was not as hard as I had feared. There's something about those IRS forms that intimidates. Yup. I sucked it up and actually did it, and didn't take all day either.

So. . . off to watch the Red Sox game. Wore my shirt today for good luck. Being part of Red Sox Nation is not for the faint of heart. Onward.

Grapeshot

Am I dreaming?

It's been a busy week, no a busy month, and September was crazy, too. The long simmering days of summer are gone and life has come to a boil.

So last night after dinner I was pooped, and with a post-dinner piece of that coffee cake, so comforting, I draped myself on the couch to watch the Red Sox. Ye Gods! Things went to hell in the first inning, and only worsened, until it was 7 zip in favor of Tampa Bay. Significant Other toddled off to bed with the remark that, "when I don't stay up to watch, they always win."

Yeah, sure. I dozed a bit, and woke up with the score still 7-zip and Papelbon was pitching, which means the end is in sight. Ate the last of the Halloween candy, chocolate being so comforting and fell into an apparently deep sleep on the couch.

Awoke and thought I was dreaming, because the score was 7-6, Tampa Bay, and there were two outs, and a man on second and Coco Crisp was batting. Red Sox fans know that there has been bad blood between Crisp and the Rays, rightly so, and how sweet it was, HOW SWEET IT WAS,
when Coco got a hit and tied the game. Wow, was I ever awake!

Thought about waking S.O., and decided that might bring had luck. While the Rays were batting in the ninth, I got ready for bed, and crept back downstairs--by now it was so late the automatic timers had turned off the lights.

The Red Sox got a man on and J.D. Drew batted him in. EVEN SWEETER! Then, of course, I had to wake S.O. up. In Boston, we take our baseball seriously in Red Sox Nation.

So revved up by the excitement and my ill-timed nap, that I had to read some Proust to get my mind and body in the mood for sleep.

Holy freakin' crap, who would have thunk it?

Cat blog day? Forget it. Annie barfed and Thisbe had lovey time and complained about everything. Same old. Same old. The cats are waaayyyy to portly for a hawk or an owl to carry off.

Grapeshot

Memories of Kansas

I completed the first assignment for the Food Writing class at Brown, writing about my Kansas grandparents chicken yard, garden and kitchen. It's a memoir piece, and I have to tell you I shed a few tears writing it, and now, of course, the rationalist, the cynic, wonders if it's too sentimental. Only the ending is sentimental, which I try to tie back to the beginning. It's hard to write heartfelt without getting soppy. It is for me. But I think it will be O.K. At least from my other writing, I've learned to appeal to the senses, which food writing should absolutely do, and to create some drama and have a beginning, middle and end.

I wrote another chapter of In Flight, and adding that to my five pages of short story for the Guppy Anthology, this has been a productive week. And in the garden, too, as we brought everything into the house but the geraniums. Winter is a comen in.

We went for a walk today and discovered a path to the swimming pool that we didn't know about. Good walk through the woods. Glorious maples. You just can't beat fall in New England.

And now the Red Sox (sob) are trailing eight-zip, and will have to get their act and their pitching together. I do still miss Manny, and wish Big Pappi would slam a few out of the park. Ah, it's a frustrating sport.

I actually survived not going to Bouchercon. Everyone has posted photos and it looked like loads of fun, but gosh I'm glad I kept that thousand dollar bill in the bank. Everyone around here is having garage sales to raise a bit of cash.

We really did eat beans tonight, navy bean soup and it was so tasty! The recipe called for fresh thyme and rosemary, and the usual bean soup fixins. The bacon was fried, drained and sprinkled on the finished soup. Yum! I halved the recipe which was for twelve, but we won't get three meals out of it, oh my no!

You have yourself a very fine Sunday evening!

Grapeshot

On the Literary Scene

A moment of silence for David Foster Wallace, a victim of depression. How deadly this disease can be. How sad for anyone, and especially when we lose one of our great writers. It is hard.

I continue to struggle, but in a good way, on my newest novel. It is my sixth, and I currently have three unpublished babies that want to be adopted. They are feeling like ugly stepchildren, wanting love and appreciation.

Tomorrow night, if you're in the vicinity of Cambridge, MA/Somerville, MA, drop in for a drink and some appetizers at Redbones Barbecue and meet three Boston mystery/suspense writers. My friend Sibylle Barrasso will be signing Dark Waters, along with two fellow writers. The company can't be beat and the food is to die for. Sponsored by Kate's Mystery Books.

A confession is now in order. Saturday I made the appetizer that my main character in the new book is taking to a party and I carried it to not one but two parties. It is called Shrimp Butter on Toast, and it actually tastes quite yummy. The shrimp butter is made out of shrimp and butter with some seasonings, and dumped into the Cuisinart, and the toast is made with little triangles of sandwich bread brushed with butter and toasted in the oven. It's a fairly simple thing if you have a Cuisinart, and isn't too fancy or complicated, because my character is not a gourmet cook, only an adequate cook. Fancy is when you garnish it with tiny shrimp and a bit of parsley.

My character is eating in a restuarants where I ate and living in my friend's father's old condo. It's nice when you don't have to make everything up, and I need a bit of local Florida color.

Don't forget The New England Crime Bake if you're a mystery fan or writer. See the website for details, www.crimebake.org.

The Red Sox are creaming Tampa Bay, and I have to watch the last inning.

Grapeshot

New Novel

The photo is the Sharon Police Department where my character, Maxine, will report the crime, although the crime (fictional, of course) will be committed in another town.

Into Boston on the commuter train today for lunch. Left my current book, Chris Roerden's Don't Sabotage Your Submissions in the car. On the train, I wrote a paragraph of my new novel, some notes for what to ask the cops, etc., and made a haircut appt. instead of reading. Remembered two things I had forgotten to put on my "to do" list. I live and die by my lists. If something doesn't make the list, chances are it never gets done.

The way to make winter fly by it to make a big list of all the INDOOR tasks you want to accomplish. Before you know it, spring is here. And the list is still long.

So this novel just keeps talking to me. I don't know where it came from. It doesn't even have a "working title." I had given up on crime fiction. I've read ten books doing research for the California book which was supposed to be next. Can I write two an once?

Ha ha.

Tonight we ventured forth to take a few surrepticious photos of the murder house, which is a house I used to drive by on my way to work. The book is set here in the Boston area, in Boca Raton and in Northern Nevada, all places I'm familiar with, so the research shouldn't be too onerous. But it always is. And fun, too.

We are the last of the ribs with ancho-apricot glaze tonight. Ye gods, they were heaven. I'm making a salad nicoise this weekend. From scratch. Including the tuna. Assuming I can find fresh.

So now to totter upstairs and see how the Red Sox are doing. I have been watching a lot of games and am starting to bond with the team big time. How does this happen?

Grapeshot

Riddles

Okay, Friday is cat blog day, but my cats aren't, shall we say, performing in any noteworthy way this week.

The raccoon who's been stealing the bird's suet is out of luck because we've abandonned that feeder in favor of a new one. Suet isn't free. We've had a hard frost and I have not visited the garden since it happened. Too disheartening. Still have 3 ripe and 2 ripening tomatoes and some herbs I snipped. Latest tomatoes ever this year.

Apropos riddles: Today I realized there are two Ridleys. Ridley Scott the director and Ridley Pearson, the writer. I just finished Pearson's The First Victim and liked it a lot. Kind of like getting Anna Nicole and Nicole Richey mixed up. Comes from paying fragmentary attention. As in thinking Nip & Tuck was a reality plastic surgery shot. Bad habit, half-paying attention. Aren't all habits bad?

I entered the Gather/Borders contest with yet a second book, Promiscuous Mode, so now I have novels entered in both Amazon's and Gather's contests. Still tweaking Festival Madness.

Work on new web site proceeds apace. In the confusion of learning some new stuff, I hosed the pointer to the old web site. And I can't open the server site in my browser-- it says "under construction." Now is when I'm glad I paid a few extra dollars a month for a site with 24/7 tech support. But web site work if fun. It's cool to be a geek again. Obviously not TOO geeky
if I screwed up.

Red Sox mania is down, but there's still a warm afterglow. The sports pages don't have a separate Red Sox section anymore.

Miles to go. Fantastic sunset over the slough tonight. I do believe the sky was mauve.

Grapeshot

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!

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!