Camy Tang's Blog, page 126

Sex, Money and Power in Jane Austen’s Fiction

The Jane Austen Society of North America has an annual general meeting, and this year it’s in Brooklyn, New York (October 5-7) and it’s theme is “Sex, Money and Power in Jane Austen’s Fiction.”



I just joined the JASNA and got their newsletter, and some of the workshops and presentations look rather interesting. The speakers will be covering things like sex/gender in Austen’s novels, the patriarchal system of the time period, and the display of socioeconomic status and sexual attractiveness in Regency fashion. Doesn’t that sound just so interesting??? (Okay, maybe not for some of you …)



I’d kind of like to go because I might be in NY in early Oct, but I’m not sure (and I don’t know how much the trip and convention will cost, in total). Have any of you gone to the JASNA AGMs?

Captain Caffeine and the Elusive Brisket

The Captain and I watch a lot of food shows, including the barbecue cookoff competitions, and we drool over the amazing barbecue those guys turn out. We’re especially impressed by the brisket, because the brisket on TV always looks so juicy and delish.



The Captain has been trying to make brisket in his smoker for a while now but it always seemed to come out a bit dry. He tried again this past weekend and I think he’s made his best brisket yet! (He thinks it’s still a bit dry, so maybe my expectations aren’t quite as high.)





I seriously loved his brisket. The meat has a nice smoke ring and I thought it was really tender and juicy.





Any of you use the smoker to make brisket? Any tips or advice?

Kale chips in the dehydrator - success!

I posted earlier about how I was less than impressed by the kale chips I made in my dehydrator (as opposed to deep frying) because the dehydrated chips still had that bitter “green” taste.



But then I made kale chips with garlic salt (lots of garlic salt) rather than regular salt, and they turned out FANTASTIC! The garlic salt masked the “green” taste and even Captain Caffeine admits that the dehydrated kale chips are darn close to the deep fried ones we love.



Yay! I have a new favorite snack!

ChristiansRead: The (slightly odd) traits of a book collector

I’m on the ChristiansRead blog today with a reprint of my article, “The (slightly odd) traits of a book collector” in case you missed it the first time. :)

Getting books again!

This is Whispers on the Dock (by Moi), book 3 in the Nantucket Dreams series from Guideposts! Just got the box yesterday!



It’s a light-hearted Christian women’s fiction series with a light mystery thread. You can read about the series here at Guideposts Books.



Patti Berg wrote book 1, and Pam Hanson and Barbara Andrews wrote book 2. I got to conclude the mystery thread in book 3. :)

Swiss Chard and Pasta Timbale

Isn’t the color just like a stagnating pond???



Anyway, this is a casserole-custard type of Italian dish that I tried, and despite it’s similarity to pond scum, it was actually quite tasty. It has a lot of cheese in it, and the reason it’s so atomic green is because you puree the cooked swiss chard before mixing it with the egg, milk, and cheese mixture.



The recipe is from The Joy of Pasta by Joe Famularo and Louise Imperiale, which is out of print (which means you can get it really cheaply used). I absolutely LOVE this book. They have like 13 different tomato sauces and all kinds of neat Italian pasta dishes that I’d love to try.



I was trying to find a similar recipe to post, but then discovered that the EXACT recipe from the book was posted here. (Is that illegal? I think it might be.)



Anyway, I used 1% milk instead of whipping cream and I used half the amount of cheese. It was still a bit soupy at 25 minutes so I cooked it for about 15-20 minutes longer. I also used foil instead of waxed paper, and my ramekins are actually Japanese bowls used for chawanmushi (a savory custard made with eggs, soy sauce, chicken broth, and filled with meats and vegetables).



They taste divine, a bit like a parmesan cheesy casserole. They only look poisonous. I promise. :)

Selling a $12.5 castle on the Potomac River

Isn't this gorgeous???? Sigh.

Steel cut oats in the rice cooker - ideas?

I didn’t even think of this until recently, and when I did an internet search, I came up with a simple recipe I tried right away. Basically 1 part steel cut oats and 3 parts water, then throw them into the rice cooker and hit Cook. They turned out perfect, in 30 minutes.



(No, this is not my rice cooker. This is the rice cooker I wish I had. :) It has like a million settings for different types of rice and a porridge setting.)



Anyway, I had been wanting to eat more oatmeal because of my cholesterol and also because they say it’s good for women when they’re PMSing because sometimes you get low serotonin and eating whole grains helps increase serotonin in more steady, sustained levels.



Now I need more interesting things to add to steel cut oats. Any ideas? I’ve done (separately) fruit, maple syrup, brown sugar, and butter. What else can I do?

TMI warning: I think I figured out why I had that carb binge

So I went monkey crazy suffered from a slight lack of self control last week when I pigged out on tortilla chips and some cookies. I think I know why I ate so many chips.



I hadn’t run for a while because of my plantar fasciitis, but I went for a run yesterday for the first time in a while and took my salt tablet like I usually do. I have a tendency to sweat a lot, and I found when doing my marathon training that I had to take a salt tablet every hour I ran or else I suffered from hyponatremia, which is basically low salt in my body.



I suddenly realized that while I’ve been exercising the past couple weeks, I haven’t been taking any salt tablets. And tortilla chips are loaded with salt.



I think my carb binge was more about the salt than the carbs. My body was craving salt and the chips were right there.



That doesn’t explain the cookies I ate, but I guess I have to put that down to lack of self control. :)



So now I’m going to make sure that I intake enough salt and electrolytes, especially if I’m on the exercise bike, where I don’t normally think to take salt tablets, but where I continue to sweat like a horse glisten excessively.



Hopefully the salt tabs will help me exercise a little more self-control over my snacking. At least I won’t crave the tortilla chips for the wrong reason. What do you think?

I bought a Nook for my dad for his birthday

I’m over at the Love Inspired Authors blog today:

Camy here, and I just bought a Nook for my dad for his birthday. I wasn’t entirely sure how that would fly since Dad turned “seventy-mumble” this year. He’s actually rather decent with new technology, but once in a while it will take him a little longer to figure something out than it used to.

Click here to read about my dad’s foray into ebooks!