Forr_Jenn's Journey of Life

Report in. Tell me. I'm buried in revisions and I want to know what's going on in the real world. (I already know that Eli is moving in and cleaning. She's off the hook.)

About ten minutes ago I told the cats that Forr was on his way home (he'd called me).

They got so excited. Real-time images:



Ok, so they're excited on the inside.

I haven't really done anything Live-Journal worthy lately (same old slog), but today I figured out a good use for leftover french fries.

This probably works best with really good restaurant fries that you're just too full to eat (these came courtesy of The Greene House and Forr's chicken sandwich there).

Heat olive oil in a skillet and dump in the fries. Crisp them on moderate heat (so they don't burn).

Sprinkle them with a good chile powder (add other spices as you wish--cumin, oregano, whatever).

In a separatel bowl, whisk together two eggs and a bit of water (say 1/4 cup) to thin it out.

Dump eggs over the fries in the skillet and toss until the eggs are nicely scrambled.

Take two flour tortillas (or corn--mine corn ones were moldy so I threw them out and used the flour ones)

Scoop the egg/fries mixture onto one half of one tortilla. Sprinkle with cheddar or jack cheese (or a combo), and spoon on tomatillo or green chile salsa (anything mild and green).

Fold the tortilla in half, squishing down the filling. Place in a caserole dish.

Repeat for second tortilla.

Sprinkle more cheese over the folded tortillas and spoon on more salsa to keep them from drying out. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Put folded tortillas on plates, one per person. Eat. Go Mmmmmm!

You can probably add sour cream and other things to this (tomatoes, chopped peppers, chorizo, whatever you're in the mood for. I just worked with what I had on hand).

My creative cuisine for the day.

I am trying to lose weight. I also read murder mysteries. The number of murder mysteries that mention food--in great detail--is just amazing.

I'm reading through Donna Leon's Commisario Brunetti mysteries (if you haven't tried this series, do. Brunetti is a well-rounded character, his wife Paola is a professor of English who doens't hold back her opinions, and Brunetti's ongoing head games with his boss can be hilarious. Plus the view of life in modern Venice is outstanding.)

However, Paola is always cooking something. The last book I read it was tomato and fresh mozerella salad wtih balsamic vinegar. This book so far it's fresh tagliatelle with a red pepper sauce and fresh grated parmesan. Brunetti is always stopping off to eat prosciutto and bread somewhere. Then when he goes to a friend's house for dinner, we're treated to the description of said friend serving up fresh penne with some delectable sauce. All washed down with terrific wine, of course.

Gah!

Then take a Miss Marple mystery (e.g., At Bertram's Hotel). We have crumpets dripping with butter, seed cake, scones with clotted cream, tea cakes--if it's high carb and loaded with butter or Devonshire cream, the characters eat it.

It's so not fair. I can probaly eat the tagliatelle and penne if I don't eat too much and the sauce is light (like red peppers and garlic in olive oil).

Hmm, it's about time for lunch.

Ok, call me shallow.

I am more motivated to lose weight not for the health benefits (prevent diabetes, lower blood pressure, prevent heart problems, etc.), but so I can wear cool shoes!!

I stopped wearing any kind of heels after I threw out my back.

But I've lost weight, my legs and hips are much stronger, and I saw these awesome shoes in the aerosoles catalog. They have my size. I want, I want!  (In black leather)

http://www.aerosoles.com/product1.asp?P=STEAMROLER#

I've been good and worked hard. I think I deserve a nice pair o' shoes!

Yesterday, we took Luna and Sandy to the vet for their annual checkup and shots.

First the good news: The cats are very healthy.

Now the bad news--well, it's bad news from Luna's perspective:

They cornered me in the bathroom and put a LAUNDRY BASKET over me! I thought I found a way out through a CHUTE with a gate. No, it's a CAT CARRIER!!! 

They got my brother too. He tried to reach me through the bars. "If I can...just...grab...the latch..."

They strapped us into this rumbling thing and took us away! When we finally stopped after a long, long, long time (note from humans--it's three blocks to the vet), they carried us into this place that SMELLED of other cats and...and...and... DOGS!!!

They released us one at a time for the TORTURE. They put us on a scale, pressed this round thing to our chests, looked inside our ears, pried our mouths open.

And just when we thought it was over, another person took us out and DID MORE TORTURE. This time is was a poke up the butt (no one, but no one should do that to a male cat), and then two NEEDLES, one in each butt cheek. The horror, the indignity, oh the HUMANITY!

Then back in the rumbly thing for HOURS.

Suddenly, we were released, and we were HOME!! SAFE! Or were we? My brother and I made sure to hide real good so they wouldn't find us again!  Until dinner time, of course.

What we learned: To Serve Cats--is a COOKBOOK!!

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Note from humans: Sandy and Luna have recovered enough to devour some salmon treats and get petted. But it was a close-run thing.

1. I've lost 9 pounds in the last 20 days.

2. I turned in a short story. Woo!!!

3. Forr is getting to be a regular at Sun Sounds. He trots off there every Monday.

4. Luna and Sandy--still cute.

5. Still working on a novel due end of Oct.

6. Had fun visit with Larry and Tiza on Saturday.

7. Went to Farmer's Market at Cactus and 40th St. on Saturday morning. Fun stuff! Big hunks of fresh ginger grown locally for $1.00. Also salsa, hummus and other stuff. Am trying to get more into the "buy local produce" mode.

8. Am catching up reading of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. The HBO show was terrific. Highly recommended. (It should be out on DVD by now)I hadn't read past book 3, now I'm on book 5.

9. Sandy and Luna--still cute. 

For some levity:

Because of all the unhappy/stressful family news I got this weekend, I thought I should come up with ways to make myself laugh:


Things Delenn (of B-5 fame) might have said:

"There is a hole...in my head."

"I am purple. I stand between the blue and the red."

And my favorite:

"Veneer! Veneeer!"

Sandy and Luna were very annoyed that we ran off and left them for cool Santa Fe.

Then they got over it.





*Photos taken in the same room at the same time. Cats in these photos were in side-by-side chairs. Photos taken and posted without cats' written consent. Meow.

.... to drive through the Petrified Forest with my joker of a husband?

"I see we're coming into the Petrified Forest."

Forrest--slaps hands to face and looks.... wait for it.... petrified.

We left Monday and drove through storm after storm after storm after storm after storm.... all the way to Santa Fe (Do you know the way to...)

We iz back now, catching up on, well, everything.

Do you know that when they close the 87 south of Payson, the only way around is through Globe to Florence Jct to Mesa? (Past Ren Faire). Sixty miles. At least the scenery was pretty. 

(I know you can go to Camp Verde back to the 17, but I'd just climbed down the Rim in the pouring rain, and I did not want to go back up it.)

Santa Fe: Pretty! 76 degrees! Mmmmm.

While dealing with laptops and restoring laptops and getting two (count em 2), mss thrown back at me for revisions at the same time--I've been scrolling through Netflix looking for new things to watch (new to me).

Came across Rosemary and Thyme, which I'd seen flash by in catalogs but didn't pay any attention. Felicity Kendall stars as Rosemary, a horiculture prof (recently laid off), who solves crimes with her new buddy Laura Thyme, whose husband has just dumped her. They team up to design gardens, and stumble over dead bodies. (I commented that if they keep doing that, no one will hire them, but Forr replied with a question--why do all those people still live in Midsomer County?).

Anyway, the stories are fun, the settings beautiful English gardens. Felicity Kendall has aged well, but then I always think older women look better than young engenues. Same with men--I guess I like faces to reflect thought and experience.

I tried to watch the Patrick Stewart series, The Eleventh Hour, but couldn't get into it. Patrick Stewart did good with his character, as did the woman who played his exasperated bodyguard, but I didn't want to watch more than two. I think it's just the thriler genre--I get tired of uber-dark, OMG everyone's going to die if we don't run just  little faster stories, with little character development in between. I'm not a big P.S. fan, but he really didn't do a bad job, so if you do like thrillers, you might enjoy it.

That's the video report from the Forr_Jenn desk.

....for my files
My novella
My notes
My hard drive is no moooore

It joined the laptop graveyard at our house. Second one to blow in six months. Fortunately, said laptop is under warranty and I'm getting a new hard drive mailed to me for free. That's fine, I just lose all my data. Good thing I'm a compulsive backer-upper. I did lose some things (the two pages I'd written on new novella; notes on the novella; notes on Stormwalker), but the important things--I think--are on flash drives and my desktop.

Sigh.

The crash happened Sunday while I was proofreading my ms. to turn in Monday morning. Of course! But I perservered, finished, and emailed it to my editor Monday morning.

Now, in a daze, I'm trying to catch up with life. Husband still goofy, check. Cats still cute little monsters, check. Yep, everything seems in order.

Hum chorus, and fade out.

Mmmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hum

In which I get to upload pretty vacation snaps. Only a couple for now.

Tucson was wonderful! I really like that city. The Arizona Inn was perfect, and our anniversary dinner at La Poca Cosa, to die for.

http://cafepocacosatucson.com/  Take some money and Go to Poca Cosa. Really. Menu changes daily, dishes are Mexico-Mexican (I had chicken with a red chile sauce--flavor, not heat!) There is always a vegetarian selection, which tempted me hugely, but the chicken called to me. Forr had mole, which I of course sampled. OMG. (Downtown, go to Scott and Congress, north on Scott one block to Penington. Looks like  a parking garage, and it is, but restaurant is on bottom floor.)

We did a couple of "always meaning to do" things. First a visit to San Xavier del Bac, very pretty. 18th century, well-preserved, still in use.



Then we went to the opposite end of town to Oracle Junction and Biosphere 2. We didn't have enough time (and it was frigging hot) to go on the guided tour, but it's gynormous and very cool. They have a self-sustaining ocean and a tropical forest. Wild.




Second restaurant alert: Pizza Vivace--Campbell at River Road (southeast corner). Nummy and fun! And they didn't get mad when I said, no tomato sauce. :-) They went out of their way to make my pizza lovely without tomatoes.

Back home to me revising like mad to finish my book. My editor let me have until after 4th of July weekend to beat it into shape. I want this puppy to be good, so I'm shutting down and working like crazy to not have the book embarass me. :-) Apologies to my friends to whom I keep saying "sorry, I can't". Sigh. Will be done soon.



Arizona Inn, part of lovely grounds and garden.

When Sandy and Luna first arrived they were... skittish. Ok, freaking out whenever we looked at them.

They were ok with us when we were seated or lying down, but as soon as we stood up and walked (and God forbid, walked *toward* them) it was panic city. Fur flying, cats disappearing, mass hysteria.

NOW.... it's "Oh, did you want to walk here? Right here? You mean I have to move two inches to the left to let you get by? Geeeez."

Or... "You're going across the room? Wait, let me walk between your legs. Several times. Togetherness is good, right?"

Walking in this house has become hazardous. Hazardous indeed.

I keep asking if they remember those happy days when they were terrified of us and hid all day. They have no idea what we're talking about.

Here's the cute pic of the week.

Most of my friends have heard me whine that I can't eat tomatoes any more. It causes nasty acid-indegestion and I don't want to talk about what else. It's usually a three-day recovery. So... no more red stuff.

At first I was in despair, because, I'm sorry everything has tomatoes in it. I even stopped cooking altogether.

But being determined and resourceful I managed to discover that not eating tomatoes gives me an amazing variety of food choices. Not everything has to be drowned in red sauce.

So for recipes using tomato sauce or tomatoes (chili, soups, mole, pizza, Mexican food, etc.) I've found that these work well instead

• beef, chicken, or vegetable broth (the Swanson canned stuff; I don't have time to make my own)
• good chili powder  (the mild stuff that adds flavor, not heat)
• spices like cinammon, cumin, cloves (in the broth)
• tomatillo sauce or salsa (tomatillos are NOT green tomatoes--they're a completely different species of plant, and mm, mm good).
• meat cooked in broth and spices, spread on pizza dough
• ricotta cheese mixed with olive oil and Trader Joe's 21-herb/spice mix, spread on pizza dough
• olive oil and 21-spice mix spread on pizza dough
• garlic and basil sauteed in olive oil, then pasta tossed in it
• Chinese food!! (most of which is tomato-less)
• veggie soups and "cream of" soup
• at Mexican restaurants--green corn tamales, green sauce, cheese enchiladas (not in red sauce), most moles (that's molE, a sauce that is made with spices and unsweetened chocolate, not little creatures that burrow into lawns.)

I'm always anxious to discover more non-tomato Italian and Mexican dishes (that aren't super-high-calorie), so please share if you got em.

Laurie R. King will be at Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale Saturday May 9 at 3:00 PM

Lyndsey Davis will be at PP Saturday May 16 at 2:00 PM

I will try to get to the Davis one. If you haven't heard her speak, she is hysterical. Her newest book is called Alexandria--I've been hoping she'd send Falco to Egypt. It will be hardback, but they always have paperback backlist available if you can't spring for hardback big bucks.

Jennifer

... for getting me hooked on Slings and Arrows!!

A seriously funny show, especially after the hours and hours and hours of Shakespeare seminars I took as an undergrad and grad student.

If you don't know the show, it's about an acting company in Canada who put on a yearly festival of Shakespeare plays. The director gets hit by a car in the first episode and haunts the replacement director (who he formerly mentored). Is Geoffrey crazy, or is Richard really haunting the theatre? (And why is Geoffrey the only one who can see him?)

Add in a cast of quirky characters with their own dramas and it's edgy, funny, and unpredictable. Who knew an iguana could save a play?

So damn you harmonyheifer 

We've finished season one and have season two in the queue.

To add my gratitudes to the list:

1. Finding a new copy of a Josephine Tey novel I hadn't read tucked into my shelf. I bought it a couple years ago, shelved it, forgot. Nice surprise!

2. A brand new Midsomer Murders disc arriving from Netflix today.

3. Nearing the end of a draft of a novel due May 1.

4. Having Forr with me today.

5. Having two cats that make me laugh and laugh and laugh.

Like Bee Bop A Ree Bop, Rhubarb Pie.

I need a slice. I can't seem to stop upsetting and annoying people. Or doing everything wrong.

I think I'll go back to reading about veneer (cousin of Lanier...no, just kidding).

Just one thing can revive a [girl]
and that is homemade Rhubarb pie
Serve it up, nice and hot
Maybe things aren't as bad as you thought...