Marian Allen's Blog, page 459

Request Response – Vegetarian Chili

Yesterday was food day here, but I had a request for this recipe, so here it is. WARNING: Contains many cans (tins, if you're British).

VEGETARIAN CHILI

Fantastic World Foods vegan Taco Filling mix
can of chili beans or kidney beans
can of diced tomatoes or fresh diced tomatoes
2 small cans of tomato sauce
water as desired
cooked broken spaghetti — YES, SPAGHETTI! This is MY recipe, and we eat spaghetti in our chili around here!

If you prefer to leave out the Taco Filling mix and use your own spices, begin by heating a little oil in the bottom of a saucepan and toasting the spices and some chopped onion until the spices are fragrant and the onion is translucent and softish.

Okay, I don't know how much "meat" or spice you like in your chili. The Taco Filling mix has onions and spices in it, so the more you use, the spicier and "meatier" the chili will be. Reconstitute as much of the mix as you want for your chili. Add everything else EXCEPT the spaghetti. Serve that on the side so people who go, "Ewww! SPAGHETTI IN CHILI??" can leave it out. Also, if you put the spaghetti IN the chili before serving, the spaghetti gets all bloated and mooshy and then it really is ewww. You can get canned chili beans of various heats.

So that was what we had for supper last night, along with corn bread and apple salad.

CORN BREAD

1/2 cup buttermilk (or plain milk with 1/2 Tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs baking powder
1 cup corn meal
1 egg
margarine

Melt margarine in skillet. Combine all other ingredients. Pour into skillet. Cover. Cook on medium until bottom of bread is toasty and top is dry. Slide bread out onto a plate and invert plate over skillet to brown other side of bread.

APPLE SALAD

apple, peeled, cored and diced
celery, diced
walnuts
raisins
mayonnaise (or salad dressing, if you must)

WRITING PROMPT: How responsive is your main character to requests? Does it matter who does the requesting or what the request entails, or is your main character always OF COURSE or NO?

All-Purpose Snack Mix

Party season is upon us–Halloween, Thanksgiving, Harvest Festival, Children Of The Corn, Winter Solstice, yaddity yaddity ya. Packaged snack mixes abound, from Chex Mix to Bridge Mix, and so do recipes. If you make your own, just remember that the elements should be too big to slip through the cracks between your fingers, but small enough you can cram politely insert a nice variety of elements into your mouth at one go. Here's my do-it-yourself:

ALL-PURPOSE SNACK MIX

something sweet
something salty
something crunchy
something gooshy

Personally, I would always want chocolate in it, but my mother isn't supposed to eat chocolate. Still, there's nothing to stop her from picking out the chocolate bits and giving them to me, is there?

Of course, you can have sweet and gooshy, like raisins (chocolate-covered or not); sweet and salty and crunchy, like salted nuts toasted with sugar; salty and crunchy, like pretzel bites, and so on.

The mix our #1 daughter sent to us, and which we've fallen upon like ravening snack-wolves (the very worst kind of wolf, you know), is candy corn, salted peanuts and chocolate-covered raisins. A nice, simple, addictive snack that would be easy and quick for kids to help mix and measure into baggies to give friends and relatives.

FYI: I'm posting today at The Write Type on the subject of using excerpts to promote your book.

WRITING PROMPT: What would your main character put together for a snack mix?

MA

Postcard From New Middletown an anudder messidge

Last Saturday, Mom and a friend and I went to a pancake breakfast in New Middletown. I had never been to New Middletown before, just through it, so I had my camera at the ready, and I was glad I did. New Middletown is AWESOMESAUCE!

The first thing to catch my fancy was this: a set of bonsai just hanging around at the curb on either side of the sidewalk. I actually know something about this. When I went to the Krohn Conservatory, the bonsai guy said that some trees are indoor trees and some are outdoor trees, and outdoor ones DIE if you try to grow them indoors. So these were probably outdoor trees. How cool is this? Very cool, that's how.

Then we passed these. Are you jealous? I am! Mom said, "Is that the library or what?" Her friend thought maybe it was the Lions Club. I don't know and I don't care–I think it's fabulous! We have Japanese stone lanterns on either side of our door, and that's pretty nifty, but LIONS? Woa.

And then things got kind of Blair Witchy on us. This claims to be a museum. I kinda woulda liked to go in, but I didn't want to lose anybody and then the families would blame me. I snapped a couple of pictures to remember it by. NOTE TO SELF: Return and visit. Leave a sealed note with my lawyer in case I never come back out.

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mom's friend said, "Oh, I'm so glad they're fixing it up!" I think it's more likely it's disintegrating from the top down, but maybe I'm wrong. Imma go back.

Okay. Now, yesterday, I announced the CommentLuv Premium early. Well, today, Andy Bailey, the CommentLuv Guy, announced it. Here is a video of him talking about it. He can explain it cuter more clearly than I can.

So, if you're interested and want to incentivize your commentators to monetize your bloggerification by commentatorating on your postimations, clickerate the linkenatimasity below:

CommentLuv info page.

Fank oo.

WRITING PROMPT: Send a character to a small town with character. Remember that it doesn't have character because the residents are wacky, but because they're homogenized people.

MA

'Pecial Sekrit Messidge 4 U and Haiku

If you have a blog and want more comments, you're probably looking for ways to give readers reasons to share their thoughts with you. I've been Beta testing the new CommentLuv Premium plug in for just that reason. Commentators (I'm sorry, that just sounds wrong; that sounds like a goofy word I would make up. Anyway….) can, if their blog feeds are registered with CommentLuv, leave links with their comments to one of their last 10 blog posts, put keywords after their names (@ fantasy, for example) and leave links to their Twitter feeds.

Premium goes on sale September 27, but you can sign up for information TODAY.

Click here to go to the CommentLuv site.

Now, here's a haiku on the weather.

Tomato skin cracks–

New juice in tough old casings–

Rain after a drought.

WRITING PROMPT: It rains after a long dry spell. Write a character who is happy and one who is not happy about this rain.

MA

Sample Sunday – Darzin Goes Undercover

First, I want to point you to my wacky interview with the wonderful Jen Wylie. She's a fan of FORCE OF HABIT, so she couldn't ask me regular questions, could she? Guess not.

Okay, here is an excerpt from FORCE OF HABIT. In this one, District Criminal Investigator Pel Darzin of the planet Llannonn goes undercover to track a villain to his boss' lair.

Darzin slipped into an alley and turned his fuchsia uniform tunic inside out. Now, it was the sort of cheesy green material a Rural might wear to the city. His black shirt and trousers would pass for city-bought finery. A few seconds with his comb, and his hair was parted in the middle and plastered down over his ears, as if he wanted it obvious he intended to let it grow long enough to plait.

Darzin swaggered to the entrance of The Jipp Joint, like a hick who wanted the city to think he measured up to it, and went in.

He was in luck. The Stokk Gord Pron loitered in the entrance hall, talking to a Stokk Female. Darzin knew she was female because of the several grommets in the rims of her ears; this one's grommets glittered with jewel chips and were threaded with fine gold chain. Pretty expensive ear job for a woman wearing a plain, loose-fitting suit, tight at the ankles and wrists. Darzin pegged her as one of the club's bouncers.

Darzin stuck his hands in his pockets and stared at the decor like a man who incorrectly assumed he had a right to pass judgment on it. But he kept an eye on Pron.

Pron spotted the "hick" and pointed him out to the bouncer. They both spread their lipless mouths in derision. "Gotta go," Pron said. "Take care."

Pron and the female punched each other on the shoulders and Pron headed for the rear of the entrance hall while the bouncer headed for Darzin.

"May I see your membership card, please?" The female clearly didn't expect to see one.

"Membership card? What might that 'ere be?"

"I'm sorry, but no one is allowed in the club without a membership card."

"Reckon money'll do," said Darzin.

"Please forgive me, but I'll have to ask you to leave. I may not make any exceptions."

The woman's courtesy was flawless. She'd been well trained. She'd probably been well-trained in more than courtesy. Darzin hoped he didn't have to find out.

He didn't have to. Just as she reached for his arm, the Stokk Gord Pron rapped on a door at the end of the wall to Darzin's left, entered, and closed the door behind him.

That was all Darzin needed to know.

"I'll go, I'll go," he said. "'E don't have to get grumpity. E meant no harm. 'S just looking."

"Of course," said the woman. "Think nothing of it."

"Money's good most places in this 'ere town," Darzin said, as if determined to save some face. "Reckon I'll spend it where it's wanted."

The woman walked Darzin to the door. She took a slip of paper from a filigree holder on the wall.

"Please accept this from the management," she said. "It's a coupon good for one free meal at the Council City restaurant of your choice. And, if you know any members of our club, please ask to be nominated for membership. Your business would be most welcome. Have a nice day."

The doors of The Jipp Joint closed behind the District Criminal Investigator. Innkeeper Boktu Jippir knew how to keep the forms, Darzin certainly had to give him that. He tucked his coupon into a pants pocket and went looking for a window into the room Pron had entered.

Don't forget to enter the contest to win a free e-copy of FORCE OF HABIT or one of my other eBooks, a Sweet Little Baby Angels pin or your name in a short story.

Update on BOLO

The chicken is okay. The Sweet Little Baby Jesus made another miracle and the chicken, who wasn't in the coop last night, WAS in the coop this morning. It's a Locked Coop Mystery. All detectives are invited to solve.

WRITING PROMPT: Write about a puzzling circumstance.

MA

Too Much To Tell

That's what one of our grandsons used to say when we asked him what was new. This was back when he told me that "Darfaideh was a powfajenight," which I eventually translated into, "Darth Vader was a powerful Jedi Knight."

#4 Daughter aced her first college test. No, this is not the seed of a Christmas Newsletter. I'm just sayin'.

A chicken is missing. We have a BOLO out on her. A BOLO, I've learned from watching tv, is Be On the LookOut. So now you know.

A friend got good news on her house sale, which is like a Sweet Little Baby Jesus miracle these days.

I won a dozen donuts and a free eBook from Kaye George's comment contest. Imma get CUSTARD ONES!!!

Okay, I didn't say they were big important newses to you, but they are to me, and it's my freakin' blog, yes? There's more, but I'm on my way to pick up Mom and go to a benefit breakfast. We should be back in time to go to a benefit lunch. I forget what's being benefited, but it sure ain't my waistline.

WRITING PROMPT: Make a list of ten things that are important to your main character that wouldn't be important to the public at large.

MA

Friday Recommends – Cats and Shoes

If you want a website for cat lovers, try Cat Fancy. They have pages on cat breeds, products, more toys than my cat would even look at (favorite toy, other than our stuff, a piece of string). You can get profiles on different breeds–see what they look like, what the breed personality is generally like (good with children, one-person loyalty, very talkative). A great resource for writers who want to put a cat into a story but have never been cursed blessed with cats in their own lives.

For cats as humor, I like I Can Has Cheezburger?, a major suite of sites that grew from one little picture of one little cat looking wistful, with a caption on it of what a human thought the cat might be thinking.

I've been having a blast at Echelon Exploration this week with my post on Keeping It Real, in which I talk about why I like some fantasies and not others. The terrific Len Robertson has been popping in and blowing my mind with news that is taking the "fiction" out of "science fiction".

Click image to enlarge.

And finally, because I love looking at shoes I would never wear, I'm enjoying Plasticland's shoe section. The prices aren't bad, actually, and some of the shoes are quite doable. I can't imagine buying shoes through the mail, though; I would need to try them on. Some of the shoes look like ones we used to laugh at in the 50s and claim we would rather die than grow up and wear. Go figure. Here's one I would never ever wear, although it looks awesomely cool. It's called a Geared Up Bourgeois Bee Bootie because it has gears and a medallion of a bee on it. What makes it bourgeois, I don't know. Since it's a woman's boot, it should be "Bourgeoise", but never mind. Why would I not wear this, other than the high heel? Because it has bits sticking out all over it, just begging to rip my stockings and/or person. I could poke my eye out.

I'll be back tomorrow with something or other, then a free sample on Sunday.

WRITING PROMPT: Does your main character have any opinion of bees? Write about someone who holds very strong opinions, pro or con.

MA

Cats and Alley Jammers

That sounds like an old cartoon strip, doesn't it? Anybody remember the Katzenjammer kids?

I'm not talking about that, though, I'm talking about two other things. First, I'm guesting at Amy Corwin's blog, Fiction Writing and Other Oddities (whaddya mean, "perfect for you"? Shut up!) on the subject of FORCE OF HABIT and aliens and alley jammers. Hop on over and read about my turning a Star Trek fanfic short story into an original novel. If you like, please drop a comment.

The other thing I'm talking about is yesterday's ordeal. Yes, it's been a year already since we last took Mom's cats to the vet. It wasn't any better this time.

Ozzie, the boy who looks like a dreamsicle, was easy to take. Mom put the cat carrier out the day before to get him used to it, and put cat treats inside so he'd go in on his own. On the day, the big chump the sweet little guy walked right in and we closed the door and that was that. Once he was there, though, he hissed and growled and generally acted ugly until they let him get back in the carrier. He won the prize for cleanest ears of the week, so Mom was very proud, all in all.

Sweetie Pie, the girl who looks like a Snickers bar, was totally the opposite. Mom got the harness on her and the leash, making it relatively easy to drag her (Sweetie Pie, not Mom) across the floor and porch, down the stairs and into the car. She cried the whole way (still Sweetie Pie) and shed mass amounts of fur and distributed drifts of hysterical dandruff all over the car.

When we got to the vet's, she (just assume I'm talking about the cat unless I say differently, okay?) wouldn't get out of the car. She dug her claws into the carpet and I had to unhook them one by one. I got her out, and she tried to crawl up into the car's undercarriage. Then she whizzed on the asphalt and rolled in it. One of the vet's assistants finally had to come out and help me.

Sweetie Pie has not lost weight since last year: she weighs 22 pounds now. "Passive resistance" really means something, when it comes at that weight and with slippery fur, claws and teeth. We could have used her in the Seventies. She didn't protest anything in the office except by meowing piteously, and she had to be carried back out to the car. On the way home, she barfed on one side of the floor and pooped on the other side.

A fun time was had by all. A year sure passes quickly.

WRITING PROMPT: Have a character take an animal somewhere the animal does not want to go.

MA

Monkey Feast!

It's food day at the blog, and Imma show you what I made for the Monkey God Festival yesterday. If you don't know who Monkey is, you can get a quick rundown at the deliciously named GodChecker.com. See that underlined text there? That's what we call a "link". It will take you to the site I just told you about. Yes, Mom, I'm talking to you.

MISO SOUP

vegetables-fresh, leftover, frozen or canned (I used mushrooms, water chestnuts and frozen veg soup mix.)
4 cups water
veg bouillon to flavor 2 cups water
rice noodles
2 Tbs white (yellow) miso paste mixed into 1/2 cup of the hot broth
1 egg, slightly beaten

Cook the veg until they're as done as you like them. Turn off the heat but leave the pan on the burner. Add noodles. Add miso. Add egg, wait to a count of ten and then stir. Let sit for about 5 minutes to soften the noodles and set the egg. Add a splash of sesame oil, if desired, and garnish with chopped green onions.

MONKEY BREAD

bread dough
butter

I used the basic recipe from ARTISAN BREAD IN FIVE MINUTES A DAY, which you can find here (Note to Mom: This is a link.), but you could use any bread dough or even biscuits. Heat the oven to 450F. Roll the dough between your palms into balls and roll them in butter. Put them in a pan. I did one layer, but you can do more, if you want to. Let rise for 20 minutes, then bake for 20 minutes. Sometimes it's called Monkey Puzzle Bread. Some people make a sweet version, but this one was just plain, and was very nice with the soup.

And my own creation:

MONKEY'S REDEMPTION

smoked almonds, ground or crushed
peaches
honey

The almonds represent Monkey, smoked by Lao-Tze and target of multiple assassination attempts by the gods, then finally crushed by Buddha. The peaches are the mountain Buddha used to keep Monkey captive. The honey is Buddha's compassion in the person of the goddess Kwan-Yin, who delivered Monkey when he promised to reform and become a good Buddhist disciple.

So that was our feast. And very good it was, too.

WRITING PROMPT: Have one of your characters tell you about a time someone showed him or her unexpected compassion–something you didn't know about before.

MA