SUCCESS!

As chronicled in YUM!, I have been trying to perfect the art of drying tomatoes in the oven. Well, they were delicious! Roma tomatoes with parsley, rosemary, and thyme with a bay leaf (for scent) under the metal cooling rack that I used for the dryer. I have been inspired. I had the dreaded writers' block. My brain was lint fuzz. I already finished writing a 105,010 word manuscript and my mind went blank. I spent most of a day tending the tomatoes and had my reward. Sweet, although I prefer black tomatoes. When I first had this type of tomato, my first thought was "pasta sauce". A subtle flavour, smooth without the harsh citric taste.

Um, okay, where was I? This is supposed to be on a blog about writing. I'm working on the sequel to my missive and I've broken through my writer's block. Hmm... something about my affinity for the nightshade family may have helped. I have also been indulging in my favourite nosh, chips and mayo. Good food always helps. I can think straight if I have a bowl of hot freshly dished popcorn. Be that as it may, I'm plonking through novel #2 and am happy, almost, to have the confidence to send out the first manuscript to a publisher again. Until then, bon appetit!
UPDATE: This has turned out to be, with revisions, a 140,950 word manuscript.
Technorati Tags: comfort food, writing advice

POEM OF THE WEEK

I Am

I am! The ages on the ages roll:
And what I am, I was, and I shall be:
by slow growth filling higher Destiny,
And Widening, ever, to the widening Goal.
I am the Stone that slept; down deep in me
That old, old sleep has left its centurine trace;
I am the plant that dreamed; and lo! still see
That dream-life dwelling on the Human Face.
I slept, I dreamed, I wakened: I am Man!
The hut grows Palaces; the depths breed light;
Still on! Forms pass; but Form yields kinglier
Might!
The singer, dying where his song began,
In Me yet lives; and yet again shall he
Unseal the lips of greater songs To Be;
For mine the thousand tongues of Immortality.


- Voltaraine De Cleyre

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YUM!

Like many people, I have comfort foods for when times are difficult. When I've received a rejection letter or have had to visit with pesky relatives who make me feel like I'm a burying beetle in a clatch of mice. My last two weeks of summer vacation. We won't go there for the tale would be too long in woe. And I want to get to the truly good part. Comfort food.


For some, comfort food means a chocolate bar or a sub sandwich, or a simmering macaroni and cheese casserole.

Naw.

I crave homemade British style chips with mayonnaise. I made some, recently (Friday last) with red potatoes simmered in canola oil. I did not have my favourite brand of olive oil so had to content with what was available. Oh, and how content it was for my palate.

British style chips with mayonnaise, hard boiled eggs with mustard, and green and red tomato slices fried in the red potato oil. My taste buds were happy. The simple meal was a great success.

Not so proud were my attempts yesterday to make oven dried tomatoes. I rushed the drying by turning up the oven heat too high. However, those that survived being crisped, were sweet to the taste on a homemade pizza with red porcini mushroom sauce, fake soy cheese (can't have dairy),and olives. The meal ended up to be edible and that is all I could have hoped for with my experiment.

I was a little bit disappointed in my culinary prowess but ,as a writer, you learn to take the lumps. Even if the bumps are the charred remains of once plump tomatoes.


Ever the optimist, I later consumed pretzels and nuts for a snack. Okay, and the four vanilla cookies and some decaf white tea. I won't keep track if you don't. And I'm thinking of topping it all with some hot almond milk before I go to bed.


'til then,

Anne

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