food and writing

I've been reading lots of food books lately: A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg, Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl, & The Art of Eating by M.F.K. Fisher. And this lovely piece from the NYT: Sips of Home, Bites of Memory. There is real comfort in reading about food during the dark days of winter.

I've had conversations with friends about my focus on food and whether or not it's healthy to spend so much time thinking about food, reading about food, looking for recipes, cooking. I think it's very healthy and I think it makes food more important, maybe sacred is the right word, than it was for me in the past.

I had a thought as I was lounging around this morning. My job has changed a lot since I started. In the beginning, food and coffee were reduced to numbers on a calendar and bank deposits and payroll. Now that I am focusing on promotion, the joy of food is coming back. I didn't want to think about food much less read about it for a while. Numbers are the scourge of the earth. Or at least of my existence. Ha!

The picture is a tiny filet that I made for us on Valentine's Day. It had a red wine reduction which I had never made before. The recipe called for a zinfandel and I wasn't fond of the sweet taste. I would rather have had a drier wine, I think. It is pretty though, isn't it?

I've highlighted lots of words and recipes in these books on my Kindle but I don't know yet how to retrieve them and do anything with them.

Which leads me to the cross-over in social media topic.

Today I was tempted to write a note on the River Rock Facebook page that went like this: Tweet me if you want to be added to our email list. Good grief.

I get mixed up with all the inputs and outputs. I can't remember if something came to me via email or FB or Twitter much less of which device...Kindle, phone, laptop, desktop...it sends me over the edge some days.

Moving on into the day.

what the...

I'm sitting in my leopard chair looking bleary-eyed out onto the frozen tundra and feeling glad that I don't have to go out into it. Winter gets long no matter what the conditions, because, as we have discussed before, it's the lack of light.

I had a busy week doing what I am not sure. I think I was grumpy for part of it which takes a bite out of the calendar. Friday night we went to a Winterfest event, a wine tasting at the Ecumen Assisted Living Center. Seems like an odd place to have an event like that but what the hey. It's a lovely building and it was set up nicely for the tasting of all Minnesota wines.

This is a picture of me with John Mayer at the wine event. Regis said we won for Chapeau of the Evening. That means hat in French which Regis knows because the Catholic bishops wore those big hats but you can't call something of that dimension a simple hat so they call them chapeaus.

I am a bit disconcerted by my most recent hair-cut which Patrick tells me is asymmetrical. I feel like it isn't asymmetrical enough for people who look at me to get it. It needs an explanation. Thus, the hat.

Peter has always been one to keep his personal information to himself. When he was in high school, he considered it prying to ask him what he had for lunch. We have never met a girl he dated, barely heard their names. A few weeks ago, he casually told me that he had been spending a lot of time with April. I didn't ask too many questions because that could cause the information door to slam shut.

Then he called this week to ask if I would make the potato dish I made for Christmas dinner because April really liked the left-overs. I said I could do that but why didn't they come for dinner but wondered if they would stay for dinner or was this a take-out request. He said take-out which is what I figured.

So, I prepare the potatoes and have them waiting on the table. Regis and I plan to have ribs for dinner. They are at the mall and it gets later and later...text messages flying...finally, yes, they will stay for dinner.

Much mad scurrying to fill out a meal ensued. She has a baby and I assumed baby was coming. Gathering some toys, bringing in the high chair, finding food a baby can eat (not ribs and salad...ham, corn, apple sauce, cookies) but when Peter and April arrive...no baby. I should have asked.

We had a nice time, good food, and lots of talking. She is a talkative one, which must make Peter nervous. Ha!

I finished The Art of Fielding which I liked very much and then started Some Danger Involved, which is not usually the kind of book I would choose. It's a mystery and one of a series.

Here is the review from Amazon:

An atmospheric debut novel set on the gritty streets of Victorian London, Some Danger Involved introduces detective Cyrus Barker and his apprentice, Thomas Llewelyn, as they work to solve the gruesome murder of a young scholar.
When a student bearing a striking resemblance to artists' renderings of Jesus Christ is found murdered -- by crucifixion -- in London's Jewish ghetto, 19th-century private detective Barker must hire an assistant to help him solve the sinister case. Out of all who answer an ad for a position with "some danger involved," the eccentric and enigmatic Barker chooses downtrodden Llewelyn, a gutsy young man whose murky past includes recent stints at both an Oxford college and an Oxford prison.
As Llewelyn learns the ropes of his position, he is drawn deeper and deeper into Barker's peculiar world of vigilante detective work, as well as the dark heart of London's teeming underworld. Together they pass through chophouses, stables, and clandestine tea rooms, tangling with the early Italian mafia, a mad professor of eugenics, and other shadowy figures, inching ever closer to the shocking truth behind the murder.
Brimming with wit and unforgettable characters, and steeped in authentic period detail, Some Danger Involved is a captivating page-turner that introduces an equally captivating duo while signaling the start of an exciting career for Will Thomas.

I don't have much planned for the day. Too cold to do anything outside. Maybe some reading, a nap, a movie, and a grocery list.

a book

I spent all day at home but working. I'm writing a marketing plan, something about which I know very little. The title of it is "A Marketing Plan as Written by a Poet" which I am really not either but I thought it was an apt analogy. Like brain surgery done by an auto mechanic. No offense to auto mechanics...I couldn't do brain surgery either.

I've learned a lot about marketing and promotion but I have experienced brain overload. I have too much information and no framework for it so it's all floating around in the dusty shelves of my head...little parcels of information floating in space, looking for a place to land. Network hubs, anyone?

I took a break mid-afternoon and read some in my book, The Art of Fielding. It's a great book and I love the writing. I have to say that it is what helped me not only endure but maybe enjoy a teeny tiny bit the Super Bowl last night. The book is fiction but it is about a character who plays shortstop as an art. I won't go into all the details of the plot because you should read it but here is what I have learned.

I learned that there is a sense of camaraderie in sports. I learned that sport coaches can be like life coaches. I learned that playing is about way more than the game. Maybe I just like the book. Like I loved oranges after reading John McPhee's book.

I grew up in a family obsessed with sports but I never understood these aspects that might have made it appealing. I don't think it's the kind of thing you can understand unless you play competitive sports and I grew up in the 60s when only boys played. Girls watched. Maybe some girls can get it by watching (heck, I had friends who were cheerleaders) tennis and we  worked out to some record called Chicken Fat in one piece navy blue short outfits. The whole thing was hideous.

Sometime, I'll publish the poem here that I wrote about cheerleading try-outs. Not soon, but sometime.

And here, thanks to the internet and some goof ball with a sense of humor:



Meredith Wilson of Music Man fame wrote the song, commissioned by JFK. Tom, burn the photos we took in Mason City, Iowa!

I'm not going to become a true believer or a sports fanatic but I could tolerate the Super Bowl and I guess that's something. Actually we watched it on a live stream (I think that means via the internet.) so there were no commercials and no half-time show and those are the entertaining parts, right?

Regis and I are enjoying a quiet evening at home. We had left-overs for dinner and we gave the dog a bath. No easy task when the dog is as big as Gus. The unseasonably warm winter has made for an ugly scene in our back yard.

Happy Monday!

sunday in pictures

This is what I do on Sunday morning. I sit in my leopard chair with my faux fur, in front of the faux fireplace, with the Variety section of the paper, a recipe to review for dinner, and my laptop. See the Valentine's Day tree in the background?

When the days and nights are so dark and gloomy, the twinkling red and pink lights cheer me. After Valentine's Day, the tree will be decorated for St. Patrick's Day and then it will retire to the basement for the spring and summer.

This is the Valentine's Day table. I forgot to take a picture of the crow with the red glitter LOVE sign around his neck. Oh, yeah...here it is.

I went to Mary's Flowers yesterday to spend a gift card. I wanted something cheerful for the table. We stopped at River Rock first so I took a couple Hermits to Mary and her colleagues. Mary said she wanted to send something with me so she picked out one of these yellow and red roses at the same time I was picking out two more. Great minds, right, Mary?

These are some tiny pitchers I bought at Cooks & Co. the other day. They're individual coffee creamers but I thought I would use them for sauces. Aren't they cute?

I set up my little coffee cup cupboard today. I wish I knew how to use a camera better than I do. Sorry about the shiny thing going on here.

Regis has some kind of rig-up so we can watch the Super Bowl. Oh, boy. I'm a good sport and I'll sit here but I have a pile of other things to do. I'll look up from time to time and ask who's playing and where and if it's almost over hahahaha.

We skipped the Polar Bear Plunge today. I have no spirit for that kind of thing if I have to slog through mud and watch them run in from the edge of the pond instead of from the ice.

Well, welcome to Sunday psychosis.

on my walk

I listened to an interview with Bobby McFerrin on my walk this morning. He said many interesting things but there are a couple I am pondering right now...

• He talked about the healing power of singing and wondered why we don't do it more often in our culture. I thought the same is probably true of writing and reading poems and making snow angels. So, in the future, I will not hesitate to sing along with Alison Krauss.
• He said he makes a mistake in every show he does and he just doesn't worry about it anymore. What a great way to think. 

Here's a fun way to start your day!

some weeks fly past

This week was a busy one but I'm not sure why. Last weekend was pretty calm except for the gambling bash we went to on Saturday night.

Work has been a little crazy. When I started at River Rock, I was trained to do everything from counting the money for the bank deposit to washing dishes. Gradually those things have been deleted from my job description so I can focus on marketing and promotion. I knew practically nothing about those things, having spent my career in education teaching sex offenders: not a thing for which you search for clients. I have had to learn a lot especially since we're not a big corporation and don't have a huge advertising budget. I have learned to look for opportunities to promote River Rock and its mission.

It takes a lot of time...more time than there is in a day. A few days I got up very early and did some work in the dark and quiet. I have books to read and a marketing plan to write. A marketing plan. Right. I entitled it: A Marketing Plan as Written by a Poet. I'm not really a poet but I'm not really a marketing genius either.

Tiffany and Eric went to a holiday gathering for his work last night so I picked Elliot up at his pre-school. He was so excited to see me. He talked all the way home, pointing out American flags and big trucks and Spiderman that he saw in the window of BuyFun. When I said I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, he said, "Wow! Delicious!" We had a fun evening.

I'm taking a class on writing vignettes. One of the other students is a woman (maybe 85?) who ran a restaurant for years in Cleveland. She reminds me of my Aunt Vi. We're a little mutual admiration society...she likes my vignettes and I like hers. We're going to have coffee together before class in two weeks.

I have a twenty-five dollar gift certificate to Mary's Flowers and I think I'll take it down there today and buy some yellow tulips. I hate this gray weather. I know the more I talk about it, the worse it gets and I can say in my head that it just is what it is but I hate it. And I'm still not done with Travels in Siberia. The damn book is as long as the country.

Here is my plan of the day:

• Go to the bank
• Go to Mary's Flowers
• Go for a long walk
• Stop at the coop
• Pick up the house
• Set the table
• Buy some wine for dinner (ribs)
• Write a couple vignettes

It looks like some of these things that involve moving around town could be done on the walk. There you go.

I have a ton of old vignettes hanging around that I have written over the years but I am resisting the urge to resurrect them. When I mentioned it to Regis, he didn't think it was a bad idea to get out some of the old ones and re-look at them. We read an article last week about geniuses (not that we are one...haha!) but it said that if you are doing something creative, it's a good idea to set it aside from time to time. 

Going to take the dog for a walk.

I want a winter like this!

april in january

It was 40 degrees this morning at 6 a.m. and that's above zero, my friends. What a weird winter. I'm not sure how warm it got but it felt like spring. Nice...but weird.

Regis and I watched Cowboys and Aliens last night. I really loved the cowboy parts and Regis really loved the alien parts which means it was the perfect movie for us. Read Roger Ebert's review. He says it's the most cockamamie plot he's seen in a movie in a long time. Daniel Craig makes a great cowboy, though. I had to cover my eyes a few times during violent scenes but it was way more tolerable than some movies I've seen lately.

Our neighbor, Mike, is an illusionist, magician, and comedian. He's been working on an illusion for three years that he calls Paintball Roulette. Here's his poster. I have a ticket and I'm going. It should be a hoot.

I'm not sure about this blog design. I didn't get much feedback...a couple of positive notes...but I kind of like seeing it all laid out there. Not sure I like having to click on things. I'm learning so much about all of these social media things and I tell you, it makes my head hurt.

I had to go back to the old blog design. All my widgets were gone! Oh, no!

I am a bit vulnerable to sales people especially those with a good line of BS. A very gregarious fellow just came to the door saying he would get a bonus for making a sale to someone with a Christmas tree still up. I said dude, that is a Valentine's Day tree. Anyway, he took a picture of it and I bought was he was selling but I'm not going to say what it was and no, not a Kirby vacuum cleaner. I did that one when I was 21. You'd think I would learn. Anybody want to come for a steak dinner?

I  think I have spoken of this before but when I sing on my iPod, I sound just like Alison Krauss. Regis does not exactly concur and usually comes to make sure I'm not wounded when I fire up in song. Last night I was doing my rendition of the Dolly Parton tune Joleen but I called my version Pauline. Unfortunately this song got stuck in my poor husband's head all day and now he has to sing it to someone else to get rid of it. Let's hope it's not you.

I'm taking a community ed class called Writing in Vignette which is a genre I love so I have been busy writing little vinaigrettes. The reason they are so much fun to write is that they're only 200-500 words (some discussion in class related to how many words how many pages...does this sound familiar, Jill?), I don't have to use quotation marks which I loathe, and I can use de-personalized pronouns which could be something I made up. Anyway, it's fun.

I found out why our son, Peter the Illusive has been so...absent lately. I won't say anymore because he hates to divulge personal information (like what he had for lunch) and I don't want to violate his sense of propriety. Don't call and ask me either. I can only say it does not involve us seeing his engagement announcement in the Free Press. 

Going to finish up our Sirloin Tip Roast (Emerill's recipe) for dinner and then watching a movie. 

poem

Down near the bottom

of the crossed-out list

of things you have to do today,

between “green thread”

and “broccoli” you find

that you have penciled “sunlight.”

Resting on the page, the word

is as beautiful, it touches you

as if you had a friend

and sunlight were a present

he had sent you from some place distant

as this morning — to cheer you up,

and to remind you that,

among your duties, pleasure

is a thing,

that also needs accomplishing.

~ from “The Word,” by Tony Hoagland

oh, my aching head

I have had a weekend of technology. First, I spent most of yesterday figuring out all that promotion business with qr codes and smart phones, then I have spent today figuring out the new google pathways to my blog. It ain't easy being me.

Regis and I went to a party last night where we played games and gambled. I am notoriously bad at card games but these were easy and a lot of fun. None of them involved holding a card to your forehead which was the game I played last time I was at a party where we played cards. That was probably 1982. I managed to hold my own in the games with only occasional reminders to pay attention or pay my quarter. It was a laugh riot and I came home with five dollars more than I had when I left. So there you go.

I am constantly amazed by the stupid things that get a lot of attention. I wrote a goofy post on FB about qr codes and teaching an old dog new tricks. So far, about ten people have "liked" it. I can write a lovely and lyrical thing about being in the coffee shop in the morning and I don't get squat for feedback. Ha!

This is going to be a short blast because I have to figure out how to put all of my music into the Amazon cloud. Wish me luck.