Starving Writer? Never!
Here’s the thing… I’m way behind here and while cooking is a great creative release, I don’t have the time. I have to catch up!!! So instead of TJ’s, I stopped at the Family Store.
If I am not cooking (and I won’t make Mom cook on the weekend to humor my whims, though she would because she is always supportive of my artistic pursuits), then Sam Dabas is on deck. And I trust Sam and his food choices explicitly. In fact, I’d hand him money and take a mystery bag if he suggested it because he has never steered me wrong.
Last night we had his lobster lasagna, creamy and a little spicy, with big and succulent chunks of crustacean. The side dish was blanched string beans with roasted onions and peppers in a subtly divine virgin olive oil dressing – velvety and just perfect.
Tonight we will feast on jumbo grilled shrimp with Sam’s rémoulade, a garlic potato salad with black olives and a lemony roasted eggplant salad.
I can play the role of crazed novelist, but I will never be a starving writer!
I wrote a couple of chapters last night and already started a third. I skipped a few scenes I thought would be part of the story, but the characters seem to have rejected my idea. Whatever.
Embracing lunacy
Mom will buy me a journal from time to time because I love them and a girl needs to have plenty of blank space into which to unburden her sorrows, record her joys or invent creatively as the need arises.
I have a quilted cover journal, with pink tropical flowers painted on it.
It has been sitting there for a bit, doing nothing but collecting dust. But not in a sad way, it was waiting for its turn.
Last night, I prettily wrote out my chapters outline, started my list of characters. I typed in my first chapter and e-mailed to myself. This morning I started my character biographies. I printed chapter 1 and pasted it to my journal. And this afternoon, I sat in a small pizzeria and ate a slice of ’shroom and started writing chapter two.
Then, because one of my leads is a hot firemen, I started flirting with firemen. Yeah, okay, I do that any chance I get…
I am still not all-consumed by the process, but I am enjoying it and the escape is a welcome relaxation. Will I be able to make the 50,000 words? Hmm, I still have 49,065 to go but I also have a weekend to put a good dent in that hole I threw myself into!
NaNoWriMo! NaNoWriMo! NaNoWriMo!
Every year for a decade, come November 1 I consider
NaNoWriMo. I visit their site. I look around. I say to myself, “That sounds like fun! I
should write a novel in a month.”
Some years I forget and one well-meaning or sadistic friend reminds me and I consider it. But I usually chicken out before I even get started. This year I actually registered. And I already lost two days! I’m behind, man…
Last night half an idea popped into my head. Not enough to sustain anything more than a short story, perhaps, but I will dare take it to the max.
The story begins with a runaway gurney speeding down the road and the woman on it screaming her lungs out.
There’s a fireman, an explosion, blood and eccentric family members. Somehow, I’m thinking this is going towards fantasy (it’s a really bad idea, I can already tell, but I don’t care). I believe I will be using some of the research I did earlier about a mansion in Staten Island. I have no story yet and it doesn’t matter. I don’t have a title. None of my characters have names.
This has disaster and humiliation written all over it! Oh yeah, I’m writing a novel this November. What are you guys up to?
Dia de los Muertos
Halloween weekend was pretty good here and I hope you all had a fabulous time as well.
On Friday, I was able to do something I have not done for a while: breathe deeply and freely. I went for three blocks, uphill, in a brisk sprint as if it was the most natural thing in the world. I’m back in fighting form, baby! (Better living through modern chemistry, thank you very much.)
There was a visit to Trader Joe’s, where I did my shopping with red demon horns that light up. The kids’ reactions were priceless. One little girl found it silly and endearing. One little boy stretched out the word cool to a guttural joy that frightened his father more than my infernal imagery. One little by glared at me and shook his head, the instant disapproval in those tiny, judgmental eyes that said, “You are desperately in need of therapy!” You think I’m paranoid, but e did it in the way only a second generation Park Slope Yuppie could. I know what I saw!
Dinner last night: salmon filets stuffed with shrimp, noodles and sautéed spinach with slivered garlic. Tonight: seafood sausage with pesto sauce, and I suspect potatoes (haven’t decided yet). FYI: the rice balls stuffed with Fontina cheese are pretty good. I did not make a marinara sauce for it, but I dipped them in sweet chili sauce…
We capped the weekend by watching “Pageant” and watched the crowning of Miss Gay America – an acceptable replacement to going to the parade in the Village. All I’ll say is that Porkchop rules!
Lil' Pill Kicks My A$$
Being under the weather brings with it moments that are priceless in their stupidity.
This morning, I awoke to my alarm clock. Why I set it to go to work is beyond me because I knew there was no way I’d make it in the office today. I was sleeping, in great disquiet, about an hour at a clip…
Exhausted, I went to take my meds, and the tiny pill (the last one in the pack) went flying – I must have flinched – and suddenly it banished. I did not hear it hit the floor. So I stood there holding the bag it was in and my tee shirt. I approached the sink. Not in the tee shirt, not on the floor. Nowhere to be seen… Not on top of my bag, not on my jacket, not even inside the cuff on the sleeve. No pill no where…
Frustrated and still sleepy I sat down, almost in tears. I fought for logic when the brain couldn’t handle consciousness. I got so worked up I decided it was better to go take my blood pressure medication before I worked myself into cardiac arrest.
I took out the Advair disk and found the stupid little pill, hiding in the little dimple at the bottom of the plastic bag from the pharmacy. I dragged myself to bed and slumped back in, completely worn out.
I was almost brought to my knees by a bitter little pill smaller than the tip of my ear drum!
Simplicity and elegance in a jiffy
Dinner tonight will be one of those delights that take less than 20 minutes to put together, cook and serve. The sort of thing that seems like such a lovely, expensive treat -- but would fit perfectly into a hectic weeknight schedule (such as nights when you can barely stand to boil water for pasta). Everyone should have a minimum of 5 such recipes on their repertoire for each season to accommodate for fresh ingredients and still manage a varied diet.
For the side dish, I am sautéing zucchini and a yellow bell pepper with a dash of capers. Cutting the vegetables will probably take longer than anything else I do. The sauté will take about 3-4 minutes.
The centerpiece of dinner is tuna. I am making pan seared yellowfin tuna (ahi). This requires almost no prep and a blink of cooking time. A dash of sea salt, crushed lemon/pepper and into a hot pan for about 2 minutes on each side. (I may add a splash of balsamic at the end and cover for half a minute as I serve, though last night’s mock soy sauce would be perfect here.)
That’s it.
Stir fry does the heart good
I am enjoying the benefits of bionic antibiotics right now and this will help me get back to fighting form in the next few days. After my doctor’s visit yesterday I was a little shocked that my blood pressure has somehow managed to remain stable, straddling normal. I have been in a snit for what seems like months now and I just realized that the end I had on my cross-hairs is nowhere in sight. So the mild depression – fueled by anger, helplessness and failing health – is not likely to lift soon unless I find new interesting ways to vent my angst.
I suppose part of the credit has to go to Trader Joe’s because I have added so very healthy choices to the weekend menu. And being as tired at the end of the week – more physically defeated and emotionally drained – it makes me gravitate to easy to cook and easy to digest foods.
Tonight’s dinner is my tribute to the global village… Old world, new world, and a substitute to integrate the new realities. Large Argentine red shrimp are rumored to taste like langostino, rich and silky to the tongue (which reminds me of an old half Chilean, half Argentine lover whose memory still makes me quiver). A bag of Asian vegetables includes sugar snap peas, petite green beans, water chestnuts, red bell peppers, carrots, baby corn, broccoli florets and Kikurage mushrooms. The bag comes with a Beijing soy sauce, but since Mom is allergic to soy I am trying out a substitute (mock) soy sauce. I was going to make noodles, but rice is a better choice.
Mock Soy Sauce includes a reduction of broth, balsamic and red wine vinegars, molasses, oil, pepper, and garlic powder. But instead of molasses I am adding a touch of honey.
Here’s the thing… I’m way behind here and while cooking is a great creative release, I don’t have the time. I have to catch up!!! So instead of TJ’s, I stopped at the Family Store.
