Cast My Story!

Sounds like one of those TV catchphrase insults, doesn’t it? “Kiss mah grits!” “Eat my shorts!” “Cast my story!” It isn’t, though, it’s an invitation. There’s this totally kewl site called Storycasting, where you can… er… cast stories. Have I already told you this? Anyway, you can decide who should play this or that character. They have a database of whole big bunches of actors and actresses. If you want somebody who isn’t in their database, just email them, and they add him/her/them.

And they have 14 of my stories! If you’ve read DYING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND, SWORD AND SORCERESS XXII or XXIII, or the last six or so Southern Indiana Writers Group anthologies, you’d be doing me a kindness to go to my stories and cast them.

My only quibble is that you have to cast the actors/actresses at the age they are now. I think it would be so much fun to mix live performers of all times and at whatever age would be appropriate. But that’s a small thing.

Now I must get high-speed–and a time machine. I just don’t have time enough to play!

MA

Writing prompt: Cast your own story/novel/screenplay. In my little world, you can mix living/past performers and specify their ages.

Asparagus Rolls

I had a class to teach yesterday evening, so we ate early. We had some kale stew left from the other day, so we had that. We also had some store-bought white bread and leftover asparagus spears, so I decided to make asparagus rolls. This picture shows one under construction and one rolled up. Please note that the rolled one looks rather nasty. This is because the bread was too stale to roll, but the cream cheese helped it to stick together…more or less. As my grandfather used to say, “It don’t hurt the eatin’ of it.”

If you are, as I am not, a vegetarian, leave off the bacon. Use roasted red peppers, instead.

ASPARAGUS ROLLS

• Bread, with the crusts cut off
• cooked asparagus spears
• cream cheese, spreadably soft
• pre-cooked bacon and/or roasted red peppers
• soft butter

Squish the bread kind of flat. Spread with cream cheese. Put 1/2 slice bacon and 1 asparagus spear on 1 slice of bread. Roll up. Butter outside of roll. Bake at 350 until bread is toasted.

I didn’t take a picture after it was done, because it looked REALLY disheveled. It tasted good, though.

MA

Writing prompt: How do three of your characters feel about food presentation? Does food have to look a certain way? Does the food they make have to look a certain way? Does one put parsley sprigs on the plate when she/he eats alone, and does another one just slop things on top of one another, and does another one put everything in bowls and on platters and let guests help themselves?

Postcard From Home

I only stayed one night in Louisville, and didn’t have time to post. We had dinner at the Shalimar, read to each other from our WIP and watched some of FIREFLY. I woke up with a headache and it only got worse. Hot and close in the apartment, in spite of her window unit. The complex’s central air hadn’t been turned on, and the window unit just wasn’t cutting it. I decided to make a run for home while I could still drive. Made it. Whew!

Maybe I just can’t bear to be away from home any more. Wouldn’t that be a sad thing? I don’t mind being homesick, as long as actual sickness isn’t involved.

Going to the grocery today, and may not be able to post later, so this may be it.

Have no new work to show for the visit, as we’re both busy on projects and didn’t want to start anything new. I did get jazzed about the piece I’m working on. I wasn’t feeling very confident about it, but reading it out loud and getting her feedback made me feel very good about what I’ve done and where I’m going with it. After the first scene, she said she got THIS feeling about THESE characters, and felt like something like THAT might happen or THIS OTHER conflict was building, and those were just what I had hoped but didn’t know if I’d managed. So it was a great visit in lots of ways, even though it had to be cut short.

MA

Writing prompt: Not really a prompt today, but a question. Do you have somebody you can read your work in progress to, who will give you HONEST feedback–tell you when something works and when something doesn’t? If he/she/they say something doesn’t work, do you reject their advice, or do you try to analyze it and MAKE it work without sacrificing your vision?

Vera! Vera!

Wheeee! I don’t mean Vera Wang, and I don’t mean Vera-the-scarf-designer-with-ladybugs, I mean Vera Nazarian. She’s the most powerful literary fantasy writer I’ve ever read. I bought myself THE DUKE IN HIS CASTLE for Christmas and it blew me away. She’s just reissued SALT OF THE AIR through her publishing house, Norilana, and I just bought a copy! heeeee! I also just bought a copy of LORDS OF RAINBOW, which she said I’d probably like if I liked DUKE.

They’re on their way–they’re on their way

They’re on their way, hey-hey, hey-hey!

On MY way to visit #4 daughter in Louisville for a couple of days. I’ll send you a postcard, if I have time.

MA

Writing prompt: Why do you love the authors you love?

Why I Was Among the Missing Yesterday

First, this word from our sponsor (me):

Book signing today at 4:00pm at Destinations Booksellers in New Albany, Indiana. Not just me–several of the Southern Indiana Writers Group will be there. We’ll be signing our non-group books (SWORD AND SORCERESS XXII and XXIII, GHOSTS OF HIGHWAY I-65, DYING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND), launching our new SIW anthology MOST WANTED, and selling any others of our anthologies still in print.

Come schmooze.

We had company coming for a late supper, so I spent the morning clearing away the dust in the house, down to the shiny grime underneath. Then I mixed up some bread dough and biscuit dough. Then I had lunch. Then I came into the office and started a post. Then the power went out. Flicker, flicker, off. On. Off. On. Off. Still off. Off some more. It was off for four hours.

When the power came back on, I had to make the belated supper, then company came and… and then we had company. So no blahg for me.

We’re having some beautiful days now, although suddenly scorching hot. The ticks are extremely lively and as friendly as car salesmen who need to make their quotas. Not my most favorite part about living in the country. I’ll tell you what I do love, though, and that’s fresh rhubarb. I’ll post a recipe for strawberry-rhubarb pie one of these fine days. I made one yesterday–once the power came back on, but I’m too lazy to go into the kitchen and get the recipe and post it today.

MA

Writing prompt: Knock out the power when a character is in the middle of something, with a deadline approaching. Reactions? Actions?

Fish Pie

I know, it sounds YUCK, but it’s really salmon casserole. That sounds better, doesn’t it? I wrote about fish pie in one of my Culinary Chronicles for World Wide Recipes recently, so I needed to make it. I love salmon with a love that is true, but I wasn’t madly keen about this in the end. It would have been better if I had made it according to the recipe I was given, but I was feeling too lazy to chop celery, so it’s my own fault.

SALMON CASSEROLE

• butter
• chopped green onion
• chopped celery–DO IT! YOU’LL THANK ME LATER!
• flour
• milk
• dried dill weed
• salt & pepper
• 1 can salmon, drained and picked over if you’re like that
• mashed potatoes, instant or leftover
• egg yolk or whole egg

Melt butter in saucepan. Fry the onion AND CELERY until vegetables start to get tender. Remove from heat. Use some of the now-flavored butter to butter a casserole dish. Add flour to butter, stir until well mixed, return to heat and cook until glossy (couple of minutes). Remove from heat and add milk and seasonings. I used a little over 1 Tbs butter and flour, about 3/4 cup milk. When this white sauce is thick and bubbly, add the salmon. I give the juice to our cats, but I put the bones in. I like the bones, all right? Shut UP–they crunch real good! Anyway, mix and heat through and put in casserole. Wash out the pot and make about 2 servings of mashed potatoes, more if you want to. Add egg/yolk and stir to mix well. Put potatoes on top of casserole, spreading to cover or blopping around the edges. If you want to get all Martha Stewart about it, put the potatoes in a pastry bag and pipe them on in a pretty design. Whatever. Bake it at about 400 for about 1 hour, or until the mashed potatoes get puffy and brown. I think it would have been better if I’d mixed some Parmesan cheese into the potatoes, too.

The asparagus was frozen, since ours STILL haven’t come up, dressed with hard-boiled egg and French dressing.

Next time, I’ll do the celery. I used celery flakes, but it wasn’t the same. The bones were good, though.

MA

Writing prompt:

Veggies Rule, Cows Drool

Yeah, I’m still going on about the indigestible bovine section I ate the other night. I think it’s still in there. I may have to swallow some gravel like a chicken to grind it up.

Anyway, last night we had veggies, and they were scrumptious.

I made a stir-fry, using drizzles of garlic-flavored olive oil and sesame oil, tiny baby bellas, bok choy, sweet yellow peppers, green onions, smoked almonds and leftover ramen noodles. It was heavenly.

Also made my favorite–golden mountain cauliflower. I have to finish this in two dishes, because Charlie doesn’t like it.

GOLDEN MOUNTAIN CAULIFLOWER

• 1 head cauliflower
• Dijon mustard
• mayonnaise
• salt and pepper
• shredded cheese

Take a head of cauliflower and cut out the toughest part of the stem, leaving enough to hold the florets together. Put it on a microwave-safe plate and cover with a microwave-safe bowl. Nuke it for 7 minutes on high. Let it sit for at least 5 minutes before you uncover it.

If everybody likes it, mix equal amounts of mustard and mayonnaise and stir in salt and pepper. Cover the cauliflower with this mix, sprinkle with cheese (I like sharp cheddar) and microwave again for 1-2 minutes until cheese is soft and hot.

If somebody’s a pick-pick, separate the head into portions after the first zap, and dress according to their tastes. For Charlie, I mixed mild cheddar, milk and salt, heated it and poured it over his cauliflower, and he was happy with that.

——-

At one time, I had a houseful who loved chili. However, among them were a vegetarian, a meat-only eater, some who liked beans, some who didn’t, some who liked chopped tomatoes, some who didn’t, some who liked lots of spaghetti with it and some who didn’t. So, whenever somebody tells me chili is an easy, one-dish meal, I roll on the floor helpless with laughter.

I made a pot of spaghetti. I made a pot of kidney beans. I chopped tomatoes into a bowl. I fried and spiced hamburger. I made a pot of chili sauce. Everybody was happy. I made them do the dishes.

MA

Writing prompt: Make a character have to cope with picky eaters.

Thanks But No Thanks

First, an announcement:

SO COOL! Storycasting has books and stories you can cast. Cast mine here!

———

Ever since I posted about the indigestible dinner I ate the other evening, I’ve been getting spam comments from ladies and gentlemen hawking colon cleansers. As the post title says, thanks but no thanks. If I want my colon cleansed, I’ll drink some prune juice. It really really works, and I totally love it.

I got addicted to prune juice when I was heavy with child–daughter #4, to be precise. Then, after she was born, I had to put some in her milk–wonder if there’s a connection. Anyway, I took her to a gathering where we knew some of the people well, some slightly and some not at all. One of the pre-teen girls, whose mother is from England, looked at #4’s brown bottle and says, with this English accent that makes the most innocuous comments sound snotty, “Choc’let milk oolreddeh?” “Prune juice,” I said. She didn’t stick around to hear the details, though I was fully prepared to paint as clear a picture as she cared to hear. ha!

I have no pride. I haven’t had any pride since my water broke in the middle of the hospital parking lot.

–What the frack…!– I just saw a cat run by the library…Ran across the street…safely <whew!> I never see a stray dog or cat in Corydon! This kind of looked like the one Mom and I saw near the library parking lot a few months ago. We figured it lived near there, but this cat was a block away from there and ranging farther afield. I wonder if it’s wild, and is hunting on the square or what.

————-

Okay, back to posting. The other day, I posted about the great children’s garden behind the library. Then somebody came and broke a bit of it. There was a statue of a boy and girl sitting on a bench, reading, under a tree outside the big tree. The library had the tree cut down, for some reason, and the statue sat atop the mound where the tree used to be. Now there’s a frackin’ hole where the tree used to be, the boy and girl are in the hole, and the bench is broken in two.

Work to do. Must. Write. Chronicles.

MA

Writing prompt: What is a malicious reason that library statue might have been broken? What is an un-malicious reason?

Three-Minute Chocolate Pie

We had a birthday party for our #4 daughter yesterday, and I made one of her favorite desserts–chocolate pie. This is an old family recipe, handed down to me from my mother, and I’m going to share it with you, because I love you.

THREE-MINUTE CHOCOLATE PIE

• 1 chocolate cookie-crumb crust
• 1 box chocolate fudge pudding mix
• 1 3/4 cups chocolate milk
• non-dairy whipped topping
• chocolate decorating sprinkles

Mix the milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Pour it in the crust. Top with topping and sprinkle with sprinkles. Okay, it MIGHT take four minutes.

The party was great! All the kids were here with spouses and kids, except for grandson #2 and the granddaughter, who were off somewhere with friends. Daughter #1 brought her wonderful from-scratch cheesecake, which got the honor of the candles and the Birthday Birds.

When daughter #4 was four or five or so, she had a cake with these little plastic birds on it, and she loved it and asked for the birds on the next cake she had. So now EVERYBODY gets the Birthday Birds on their birthday cakes. The first time grandson #2 went to a birthday party at a friend’s house and they brought out the cake, he asked, “Where are the birds?” Thus do we warp our young.

The Birthday Girl got lots of moolah and a little statue of a woman her grandmother bought at Colokial, a new shop in Corydon. Daughter #3 gave her a candle she decorated for daughter #4’s wedding… which was a couple of years ago…. Visiting continued into the early evening and a fine time was had by all.

MA

Writing prompt: What is your bad guy’s favorite birthday tradition?

I Ate A Deadly Snake

Not really. “Snake” was our word for steak when we were in college. So last night, Charlie, who can’t eat red meat, was away at supper-time, and I decided to treat myself to a “snake”. I found a nice little rib eye on sale and bought it.

Made a salad of Romaine lettuce, sunflower seeds and little sweet red peppers with blue cheese dressing. Sliced a small potato into translucent slices and fried them into potato chips. Rubbed the rib eye with a smooshed garlic clove, salted and peppered it, and popped that sucker into the grilling machine for four minutes.

Oh, MY, everything was good! Just to be thoroughly bad, I made myself a highball. Haven’t had one in months and months.

So I had a lovely dinner. However.

The damn thing wouldn’t digest. I kept telling it, “I am NOT a vegetarian!” but the animal protein just sat there like a penguin in a polar bear cage. Except that a penguin in a polar bear would be digested, and this wasn’t having it.

I can see why people on the Atkins Diet lose weight–I haven’t been hungry since dinner last night. No snackies, 4 graham crackers for lunch, about 1/2 cup of vegetables for lunch…. I may never eat again. Meh!

As Mark Twain said, I’ve neglected my habits. But I’m still not a vegetarian. I’m NOT!

MA

Writing prompt: Have a character who has inadvertently gotten out of a habit  have occasion to use it and be without it–ride a bike, swim strongly, smoke, bake a cake, whatever.