Is it time to change my peppers?

Let's create a haphazard, whimsical kind of blog entry, yes-no?

Change looms. Actually, no... Change is here. It sweeps in on tiny, delicate little winds, in tiny, delicate little ways that I want to believe won't give me a gratuitous smack across face and soul. But yes. They do. Smack away, change! Smack away.

For one thing, after several years of quality and reliability, my computer is being replaced. I expect the new-old one to show up today (it's not new). For almost the last week, I haven't been able to work on any writing. This may not be the computer's fault, not entirely.

Change is also coming in the form of spiritual direction and initiative. I am finally doing something about the uncatalogued mess that is my religious and spiritual efficiencies. My intention(!) is to study more druidism, and, related or not, pay more attention to energies and the moon.

Change is in the furtherance of my technological knowledge! I learned how to create MOBI and EPUB files! While it took me two and a half hours to get all the formatting the way it was supposed to be, my determination and curiosity saw me through! I consider this one of my grandest accomplishments of the last month.

Also, finished writing a book that I first started over two years ago! I'd abandoned it for almost a year, would write in it fitfully and unfaithfully, then finally took the last month to write 123,000 words and complete it! I hate the title, though. I keep hoping some grand title will come along. It is funny how titles are either there before you start writing a piece, or they struggle to unify with the piece even after it's complete. That might just be my psyche.

Cottage life has been pretty dull. It hasn't rained significantly since the start of August, but the eighth month of the year is always the most arid. Cottonwoods are beginning to drop leaves. Some finicky, early-blooming deciduous, like sugar maples and flowering ornamentals, are beginning to show more skin. Lots of the garden flowers look tired, like the red salvia. Strangely, my pansies, planted in April, continue to produce showy blooms. I've wished my strawberries would bloom again, produce another round of fruit, but I think this is a hopeless wish. I have a feeling that strawberries are very recalcitrant and stubborn flowers. This might be why I associate with them so well, of all the flowering fruits.

One more short story of mine is supposed to be coming out in October, in a paperback (I guess?) anthology, and I will relate more details to my numerous readers (ha) when I have them. Two rejections, one significantly more painful than the other and I cannot really figure out why... Usually I just shrug them off after a while, and move on with life. Four short stories released in six months, that's not so bad.

How about I finish up with a recipe? This is an easy, breezy meal good for Indian Summer evenings.

Pepper Pasta

1/2 - 3/4 c. julienne sliced green pepper and sweet red pepper
1/2 c. sliced sweet Vidalia onion
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/2 clove garlic, chopped
2 tbl. vegetable oil
1 1/2 c. pasta, uncooked (or cooked and ready to go)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground pepper (or to taste)
1/2 tsp. dried basil
2 tbl Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (parmesan, or Italian-blend cheese)
1/8 tsp. of dried Italian blend herbs, optional

Pour the 2 tbl of vegetable oil into large skillet. Cook over low-medium heat the peppers and onions until tender. Add garlic and chopped tomato. Make pasta (if necessary); drain. Add pasta to the skillet. Add basil, salt and ground pepper. Heat until hot. Add cheese when serving.

Protein options: Add 3/4 c. diced cooked chicken ... Or add 1/2 drained and rinsed garbanzo beans. Might also be good with tofu, but I've never tried it that way.

Lughnasadh Gratefulness (and yums)

Ah, long time, no post... HAPPY LUGHNASADH!

Here is the zucchini fried cake recipe that goes with the Hyacinth Noir Lughnasadh Spotlight Issue!

2 cups shredded zucchini (thoroughly drained, especially if from frozen)
2 eggs
1/2 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
1/4 c. finely diced onion
1/8 tsp. dried dill
1/4 tsp. ground pepper

Mix everything together.

Get a pan ready with about 1/4 inch of oil on the bottom. Heat on medium-high.

Drop batter by tablespoonfuls into heated oil. If required, flatten the dough down a little. (I didn't have this problem, although the dough will be lumpy with all that good stuff in it!)

Fry about two minutes on each side. Blot excess oil off with paper (kitchen) towels.

If you'd like to get a little more into the Lughnasadh spirit with this recipe, omit the onion and dill. Fry batter as above. Serve with warm blueberry and strawberry syrup while you celebrate Lugh's day!

***

Also, here is the zucchini bread recipe used in the Lughnasadh issue.

Mix together at high speed, about 1 minute:

¾ c. vegetable oil
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Stir in:

2 c. last season’s grated zucchini
20-ounce can crushed pineapple, thoroughly drained

Then mix with:

3c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. baking powder
1 c. of raisins and 1 c. nuts are optional (not featured in my photo)

Pour batter into two greased and floured 9 x 5 loaf pans. Bake at 350 degree F (176 degree C) about 75 minutes (1 hour, 15 minutes), checking after the hour mark. To check, insert toothpick in center of loaf. If the toothpick comes out reasonably clean, loaf is done.

This bread has a crispy crust, especially on the top, and will appear pretty brown even when not completely done.






***


I was very happy to write about Lughnasadh for Hyacinth Noir! During our correspondence the last week, I certainly grew aware of their dedication to the grandness that is Hyacinth Noir — and I learned even more about the trickiness and contradictions that come along with being a writer.

For one thing... Whenever you decide to write a piece, a story or an article or even a journal entry, you have to love what you're writing — you have to love writing.

Then, when the piece is complete and it's time to edit, you have to be very objective, and suddenly let yourself dislike what you've worked hard on — just long enough to edit it with a critical and impartial eye (and heart). 

I understand how it's difficult for writers to be objective when it comes to editing their own work. I think this is something that comes with time and practice. You have to allow yourself to do it. I had to rely on myself to be my own editor, there was no one else, and it is not something I would recommend for every creative person. There is a fine line, of course, between knowing what will make a piece you've worked on better, and criticizing yourself too thoroughly that you come to hate everything you do.

The same could be said for baking the zucchini recipes in this entry. Actually, the same could be said for your hobbies and your job.

Well, this Lughnasadh, I grew to be thankful that I was in a position to write the spotlight issue for Hyacinth Noir. I was so honored to be asked, and it was so interesting for me, and I'm so glad I had the chance to do it.

If you don't mind, I think I'll end this entry here. This morning, I wrote 7500 words in a novel I've been working on, and 7900 words yesterday. My arms are tired, and my brain feels as shredded as the squash used in those two recipes.

Old is best

For years, I've been using a plain old beige-colored cardboard table as a desk. It's sufficient. It's flat. It wobbles if I'm in a typing frenzy. It's been good to me. But I dreamed of what it would be like to use a desk that didn't wobble when I was in a typing frenzy. What must that be like? Is it wonderful to have a desk that compliments the other aesthetics in your room? Most of my stuff is hodge-podge miscellany. It's this and that ... and, above all else, it is never just one thing. I like my cardboard table. I even put a nail (don't ask me how) into one side, between metal brace and tabletop, to hang my headphones. (Headphones: essential ear-wear for the creation of typing frenzies.) Along the table can be traced accidents (a slip of a cutter's blade) and haphazard wanderings of black ink, and tiny holes in the vinyl here and there that mark the presence of my visiting "What are you doing, and why is it more important than petting me?" cat. On the wall next to my table, equally important marks of my life: two sayings I look upon to give me necessary gumption:

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." - Yeah, like my longing to be a writer (that other people have actually heard of).

"Courage does not always roar. Sometimes it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'" - Absolutely imperative following last year's barrage of rejections.

A couple months ago, I got a new desk. A very nice one with a good, classic design, with a faux front drawer that pulls out to become the keyboard space. I waited two months for it to be put together and take its place in my room. More than a week ago, it was together at last, and I prepared myself to get used to it.

Only... I can't seem to get used to it at all! I tried removing the top piece. I tried leaving it on. I tried angling it. I tried pushing it flat to the wall. I tried elevating my chair, lowering it, too. I tried and tried, but none of it would do!

With another submission call to answer by the end of the month, I need to feel comfortable writing at my own desk, at my good old computer!

So, this morning, I decided to remove the desk and bring back the wobbly cardboard table. Here I am! I've used the top piece removed from the desk to lift the computer up to a satisfactory height (ergonomics be hanged!), and with the top piece I've doubled the size of tabletop square footage. Now I can have more papers and more books and more scraps of notes! And, strangely enough, the wobbling is not so noticeable. I mean, it's really diminished. To anyone used to a solid surface, whereupon objects such as computers do nothing so indecorous as wobbling, the twinges would be visible. But I, used to the movement, find it almost eliminated.

Will I be working on my short story now? No. I'm still not completely well, and I think moving a piece of furniture was stupid of me. I feel a little light-headed. And as long as I've waited for the desk, I've waited for the NHL to resume, and to validate my need for it, I will tune into NBC to watch Buffalo. Sure, I can't get used to the home-town team (although they won their shootout last night), but I can like other teams! It's still weird thinking of Parros as a Coyote PANTHER, and Tyson Nash is not as Exquisitely Tan as I thought he'd be. Seems like half the Panthers didn't dress; I miss Kris Versteeg and his hair. (I'm sure those magical locks got at least two assists last year. But he could be all freshly shorn for the start of the season.) And I feel like this is enough hockey talk... (before Tails climbs into this entry and deletes my puck-muck).