Lavender, Bacon, & Neil Gaiman

I just enjoyed a fabulous weekend. It was filled with my favorite things. Great food, great company and great entertainment. I successfully made some lavender infused vodka as well as some tasty bacon wrapped dates. We also attended a stage adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 'Neverwhere' which was done extremely well. Hats off to the crew who created the interesting sets. The play goes for another month so if you are in the Los Angeles area and like Neil Gaiman I recommend checking it out. Information can be found at this link Sacred Fools Theater.

So as I said I was having some fun experimenting with recipes. My first experiment was based upon seeing a bag of lavender in the spices section of World Market and having a yearning to make something with it since I love lavender as a flavor and a scent. Like Lady Early Grey tea. So I bought it, then decided it would go well as vodka, paired with St. Germaine's. (Which I have not gotten yet.) So I added the lavender to a bottle of vodka (about 1/2 c lavender buds to a 750 ml bottle of vodka) and let it steep. Knowing how quickly garlic vodka becomes potent I decided to start testing after a day and found that two days gave it a great lavender taste and aroma without being too cloying. I used a fine mesh strainer to drain out the lavender and put it back into a glass flask I keep around for these kinds of things. It tasted great with a few cubes of ice, club soda and a dash of honey. That was how I was enjoying drinking it at any rate. I will have more to share once I get the liquor for my new cocktail invention.

Since I was hungry after making my concoction I decided to throw together some bacon wrapped dates because the dates had been calling to me in the store earlier. I cut slices of bacon in half an wrapped each around a date, then I put it on a broiling pan and drizzled some fig balsamic on them. Broiled for 10 minutes. they came out pretty tasty but the ends of the dates burned a bit so next time I think I want to marinate the dates in the vinegar, then slice them and add some goat cheese, then wrap in bacon and broil. I think that will be better.

So there you go, two recipes to make up for the lack of posts lately! Buongiorno!

Back to Childhood!

Been sick and haven't had much to share with you guys, though I do have some projects in the works. One is a possible children's book series related to solving scientific mysteries. Science has become such a taboo in so many parts of our country because of the shameful power held by so few who fear it so much. That message needs to get out to the kids before this new generation becomes intellectual paupers as well as monetary.

So it got me thinking about my favorite books as a child. I read The Babysitter's Club books almost exclusively for many years, to the point I would wait for them to be released with bated breath. Meeting Ann M. Martin as a child was awe inspiring. I wanted to be her, be a writer, since then. Then those books got me through the long nights of insomnia after my mother died, my night time friends.

The few other books that managed to hold my interest included the Everworld series, Raul Dhahl's books, and various others I can't remember at this point. But there are two books, and one series that stand out as ones I will still revisit to this day, two well known, the other an obscure find at Buck-a-Book, the greatest east coast chain store of the 80's. The less famous is Double Yuck Magic, a book about a girl who lives in an apartment and wants a dog so bad she uses a mad scientist's handbook as well as a heap of magic to create the world's best dog.

The other book is a much older and well known one, The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. It had a very feeble made for tv movie version that fell so short of it's mark it barely resembled the book. It was one of the first times I felt an author was writing a brilliant mystery with grown up plot twists for me. and even though I know how it ends I still love to reread it to visit all my favorite kooky characters and to cheer on a twelve year old outwitting the grownups.

My other favorite series was the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede. In the first book Dealing With Dragons a princess decides she doesn't want to do boring princess things like needlework and dancing and runs away and becomes, (on her terms) the captive princess of a dragon named Kazul. Adventures ensure with witches, wizards, more dragons and magical items, in this quadrilogy.

What were your favorite books as a kid? What books made you made? What do you still read to this day?

Neverwhere

Hey guys! It was a great weekend and the Blade Runner screening was all kinds of craziness and fun. I was blown away by the beauty and size of the Million Dollar Theater. I hope Cinespia continues to do non-cemetery events for the cooler months.

While browsing events today I found one on Goldstar for a Neverwhere play. And being a Gaimanite I bought tickets. Wanted to share the link for the main site so if it looks interesting to any fellow Gaimaites check it out, then buy your tickets half price through Goldstar. Neverwhere- The Play. It will be interesting to compare it to the new BBC radio drama version.

Geek Girl Pen Pals

News flash!
If there's any ladies out there who still love getting mail (I hope it's not just me!) These brilliant women just started a Geek Girl Penpal Club. I just signed up. You have until April 1st to enter your name in the pool to be matched up with a like minded lady somewhere else in the world, so jump on it! Who wouldn't want to read letters from rad ladies around the world and have an excuse to buy cute stationary or use the stuff you have?
If anyone else does this do share your experiences. I will be curious how this works out. Happy geeking!

Play Me Out

Here's a rough draft of a short story based on a dream that inspired me. Thought I would share. Very short. Enjoy on this Literary Tuesday!

The place was quiet, despite the filled tables. People sat at the small, dimly late tables, hovering over their drinks, occasionally taking sips. There was one open seat the bar, onto which Joe sank down, weariness sinking him down into the warn wood stool. The bartender paused in his drying of glasses, tossing the cloth over his shoulder. He took a few silent steps and was in front of Joe.

The bartender was neither old, nor young, his look solemn but not unkind. “What will it be? I was just about to announce last call.” Joe looked at the taps, and then past them to the harder stuff. Yeah,that was what he wanted tonight. He looked over the bottles, the labels not registering in his head. He licked his lips, a memory ripening in the back of his mind. “Whiskey, neat. Two fingers.” The bartender did not ask him which type he wanted, just went to one of the shelves and pulled out a bottle. With purpose he pulled down a glass and poured the amber fluid into it, the liquid glistening under the wan light cast by the bulb above the bartender’s head.

“On the house,” he said, pushing the glass forward. Joe reached out to take it, pausing as the glass briefly was in both their hands before it was completely Joe’s. Joe sniffed the alcohol, the memory becoming more vivid, close to being solidly formed. He would remember it soon.

The first sip was fire, hearth and home, all in one. He let the peatiness linger in his mouth. The scent of a cigarette wafted past his nose. He looked around, but no one appeared to be smoking. And hadn’t smoking been banned a decade earlier inside? Either way it was not an unwelcome smell. The smell had always been accompanied by a woman’s voice, deeper than most, not quite Kathleen Turner, but close.

The voice had always sent shivers down his spine. How had he forgotten her? Even for a moment. Maybe he had wanted to forget. After all, things had not ended well.

“Good, isn’t it?” The bartender paused in his duties to nod at the glass. Joe nodded affirmative.

“It’s the best I’ve ever had. Who makes it?” The bartender smiled, but kept his lips pursed together. “I respect a man’s secrets, “ Joe said, when he saw that the bartender was not going to tell him.

“A good way to live. You can never tell how far reaching the consequences of loose lips.” Joe cringed inwardly, another fragment of memory floating to the surface.

He had met her when he was undercover. She had been an informant, and also the wife of a made man, not someone to be trifled with. An affair doomed from the start, the classic story of star-crossed love and all that. But it had been heaps of fun, while it lasted.

He smiled to himself from behind the tumbler of whiskey. The first few notes of their song drifted through the air, drawing his attention to a piano player in the corner that he hadn’t noticed before.

A hand brushed his shoulder and he caught a glimpse of red nails. He turned, setting down his glass. He couldn’t make out her features in the dim light but he knew, and his imagination could fill in the rest.

“One last dance for old time’s sake?” There might have been a reason she shouldn’t be here, that it didn’t make sense, but he shrugged it off. He didn’t want to think about it. “I’ve been waiting for you,” she whispered into his ear, her husky voice sending tremors down his spine.

“Hopefully not too long. I hate to think I left a dame like you on your own for long. Someone might have snatched you up.” She gave a hearty laugh at that. “It was always you, Joe.” She leaned her head against his shoulder, nestling so close that they were no longer dancing, just swaying to the music.

The song ended and she pulled away, and Joe could see it. The bullet hole on her chest was definitely there, but it wasn’t dripping blood the way he had last remembered it.

“What’s happening, doll?”

“That was last call, partner,” the bartender said, pointing at the exit sign that had just lit up. “Now it’s time to go.”

“It’s time for us to go now, Joe.” She took his hand, pulling him toward the door with the beckoning neon sign over it.

“Where are we going?”

“Does it matter, honey?”

“Do we still get to dance?”

“Always.”

National Crafting Month!

Hi everyone. I want to let you know that March is National Crafting Month. And me being me, I love any excuse to celebrate or learn new things. This month I am teaching myself the Tunisian Knit Crochet Stitch. It's a way to crochet that makes items look knitted. About.com has some of the best photo tutorials for learning crafting so I am linking you guys to the section I am using to learn if anyone wants to learn with me! Learn Tunisian With Me.
It seems suitable for studier projects, like bags and pot holders, but once I get it down I can start playing and see how it comes out. I will post pictures for you guys later on of my first few attempts. I know my first piece if off, because I wasn't accounting for the chain 1 at the beginning and was missing that step so it sort of sloughs off to one side.
I am already looking at new crochet hooks on amazon. Oh boy!

Mediterranean Hot Quinoa Salad

Forgive me the lack of posting, was helping friends move last week and the effort and lack of sleep made my vulnerable to my first cold in three years. So I have not been doing much of anything, but I did want to share one of my favorite quinoa recipes. It's quick and easy and fairly healthy (though not low carb!)

Ingredients
1 c dry quinoa
1 1/2 c chicken stock
1/2 c dry white wine.
1/4 c chopped up sun dried tomatoes
4 cloves (or more!) garlic
1-2 tablespoons capers
1 diced shallot
salt and pepper to taste

Rinse the quinoa thoroughly, and put it in a saucepan. Add the white wine and stock. Bring to a boil. Add your other ingredients, then simmer on medium heat for roughly 20-25 minutes, depending on your stove. The quinoa is done when the germ spirals out and the water is absorbed. (Make sure you don't let it continue to cook after, you could burn it!) If it's not done enough add a bit more stock,and simmer an extra few minutes.
Serve hot!