Sharpening My Knives is Not A Euphemism

I accomplished a lot of things this weekend but not as many as I wanted. I made another batch of tomato sauce today and froze in serving-appropriate packages. I also did a small batch of applesauce but just for eating. I didn't want to deal with canning today. Now I'm cranky and I have two more things I want to do before bed.

I still can't find my camera battery charger. I keep thinking when I clean off a shelf or tidy up a drawer, it's going to appear but so far no luck. I'm going to have to figure it out soon because ye olde camera battery is wearing down. I'm guessing the best way to find it would be to buy a new one.

Portland Cutlery went out of business at the beginning of the year. I got my knives sharpened there. I was sorry to see it go. I bought a bunch of stuff when they were clearing out. I still wish I had bought those steak knives.

Now I don't know where to get my knives sharpened. There's a chain store at the mall but I'm afraid they just have a machine in the back and the kid sticks the knife in and waits for a buzzer to go off and then comes back out and charges you $8. I haven't investigated. This is a story I've invented as an excuse not to go to the mall.

I should learn to sharpen knives myself. Because you know, I really need one more thing for the weekend list.

Something going on at the Art Museum the other night.

The weatherman said that this was the last weekend that it would be anything remotely like "hot" in these parts. I sat at the computer for about two hours this morning and then said: "Screw this."

I put on shorts and a tank top and hung out outside. I did a bunch of weeding. Swept the garage. Defrosted the outside freezer. Picked another 8 lbs. of tomatoes and did a few minor putting-the-garden to bed chores. I usually wait longer but it was sunny and I wanted to work outside. Most of the pumpkins have been brought in. The cucumbers did squat so I picked the one that was out there and pulled up most of the vines.

Now I've got the coconut barley pilaf on the stove and I've modified the recipe to use a bunch of stuff from the freezer that I want to use up.

I did clean out most of the email.

Perhaps tomorrow will be the epic writing catch up day.

But I'm Running As Fast As I Can

This is my first weekend free and at home in two weekends and my first weekend at home without rain since before Labor Day. That means the yard is jungle, the house is a mess and my personal universe is untidy, my list a mile long and I don't know where anything is. I have something like 200 emails sitting in their various folders and about 20 things on my desktop that I need to deal with and oodles of photos that have been downloaded, many 2-3 times, unlabeled in stupidly named folders, which is always a recipe for disaster.

This morning I decided to tackle house stuff before electronic stuff. So I've done housework, processed another batch of tomatoes, laundry load #5 is churning right now. I whacked back the hedge out front and implemented my "15 minutes-a-week to a weed-free yard" routine which is a big fat failure so no sense attempting to replicate in your own weedy yard.

Now I'm pooped and I can't decide whether to work on some of the stuff on my desk or make food and watch TV. Hm.

Tomorrow will be a major writing and office organization day along with more tomato harvest and processing. And I'll probably whip out a loaf of bread. I need to feed my sourdough before I forget.



One big thing happened which is that last week I made my first professional sale. Or any sale, ever.

Asimov's Science Fiction is going to publish my story: "The Battle of Little Big Science" which I wrote during Clarion West, week #3.

I'm not really sure why I'm not making a bigger deal about it. It's like I've been working for this for so long and now that it's finally happened, I'm too embarrassed to talk about it. I don't think that bodes well for my future in this business.

I don't know the publication date, yet. Sometime next year. I'll post about it endlessly at that time so you'll have plenty of time to run to the store and buy 20 copies. Hopefully, there will be more to come. But I'll need to work on submitting first.

Dragon Fruit

Yesterday turned out to be a total wash. I got home a couple of hours early but I felt exhausted and fuzzy-headed so I decided to watch one of my shows before I worked on getting my act together. I could barely keep my eyes open during my show so I thought a quick nap might help. Forty-five minutes later I woke up still fuzzy-headed. So much for catching up on things.

Today's NYT Dining In is pretty good.

I love this article

In July 2007, in Amman, Jordan, he opened Sugar Daddy’s, the shop that brought the cupcake craze to the Middle East.

Cupcake shops have become as ubiquitous as hot dog stands in some American cities, and have spread to Rome; Istanbul; Berlin; Seoul, South Korea; and Sydney, Australia. Now Mr. Jaber has proved that even the Arab world is not immune to such a Western frivolity.

This noodle thing is the kind of recipe I clip every time I see one.

Noodles of all kinds are easy and beloved. But soba noodles, a staple of Japan, are special: they usually take no more than 3 to 4 minutes to cook and — because they’re made from buckwheat — have a slightly firm texture and a nutty flavor.

And I make it one time and it's never as delicious as you'd think it should be. Here's the recipe. I'm not sure what I do wrong but the noodles always seem to be starchy and flavorless.

Normally I would skip over something like this coconut barley pilaf because I've never made anything called pilaf that I couldn't live without. But then I read this.

As I dug out the rice, I noticed a crumbled and forlorn bag wedged behind it. It was the barley I bought last winter that I swore I wouldn’t neglect. But after one batch of mushroom barley soup and a pot of pilaf, it had somehow migrated to the back of the cabinet.

And I have barley in my cupboard leftover from the exact scenario minus the pilaf. The recipe looks easy so I think I'm going to try it.

Finally, there's this article about crowd-sourcing recipes.

Crowd-sourcing recipes — corralling a group of strangers on the Internet to create and edit a bank of recipes — is gaining popularity and investors. The idea is that a thousand cooks can come up with a better recipe than any single chef.

There are aspects of this idea that I think are good but there are a lot of horrific cooks out there. My cousin found a recipe for pumpkin soup on a website and one of the comments said that the soup was horrible and the only way the cook could make it edible for her family was by adding a jar of Marshmallow Crème. My cousin said, "I'm glad that wasn't my Mom."

Tomato World

Here you can see the tomatoes that live on the windowsill, the freshly picked tomatoes in a bowl and the tomatoes that are about to go into the oven to be turned into pasta sauce. Plenty more out there and it's supposed to be toasty the next couple of days.

Last night both of us went to bed at 9pm and slept like the dead until the alarm went off. I always say we get logy when the weather changes but in the back of my mind I think it's a myth. It's a myth that always happens.

Yesterday I picked up my first new glasses in about 5 years. Clear vision is amazing. I would wear these things to bed if I knew I could keep from rolling over them.

I need to take a day off just to catch up on email. My desktops, real and electronic, are still a mess from before the Atlanta trip. I can't find my camera battery charger and I haven't had time to look for it. I'm going to sneak out early this afternoon and see if I can get a little bit organized at home.

Although it's hot and sunny, I might have to sit out in the backyard and enjoy it before it all goes away.

Mighty Mighty Catch Up



This was the scene in Atlanta. Comfy clothes. Laptops. Snacks. Kira.

I keep thinking that I'm going to have more time to write stuff later but then the time never comes. Meanwhile, all these things I want to report on keep piling up. This is going to be it.

I don't think I have anything to add to the Atlanta stuff I already wrote. It was a good trip and I'd love to do it again.



My new close personal friend Lila. This is the only picture in the car that turned out because she's not a sit still kind of dog.

Twice in the last two weeks I've had that college dream where I have to go back to college and I don't know where I'm going to live. I also have that dream where I'm in college but forgot to go to my class. This is a housing-anxiety specific dream. I haven't had it in ages. I also had that dream where my teeth are falling out. I hate that dream. I always wake up and touch my teeth with relief.



Took Mom and Dad to a soccer game. Timbers won.

Mom and Dad came to town last Thursday and we've been running around doing all kinds of stuff. Besides soccer we shopped around downtown, went out to many fine meals, went for a walk on the nature trail, bought lamps, saw The Informant! which I recommend seeing knowing as little about it as possible. It was a nice surprise. We went to the Farmer's market and then Bob took Dad to see Inglorious Basterds and I took Mom to Powell's and the cooking store.



This is the crowd at Chapman School. There are about twice this many people behind us.

Probably the best thing we did while they were here was go see the Vaux Swifts at the Chapman School.

This is one of those things that I've heard about for years and it always sounded cool but was never anything we made a point of doing before. Swifts are birds that are migrating to South America. They eat bugs in Portland and at dusk in September they all fly into this chimney at the Chapman School. Here's the Audubon page that will explain the whole thing with more facts.

It's a huge scene with tons of people and kids. They bring picnics and get together in groups.

We spread out a blanket on the lawn. The birds were active when we got there but as the light faded there were more and more and their movements became less chaotic.



Big blur of Vaux Swifts Going to Bed

It's tough to convey just how cool it was, especially since I'm tired and trying to hurry with this so I can go to bed. It's like huge clouds of birds swirling in a mass and then floating into this chimney.

A falcon and a hawk showed up for a snack and all the people started booing. Then at one point the cloud of swifts chased the falcon across the sky and everyone clapped.

Near the end there was this giant mass of birds twisting like a tornado and then another mass of swifts joined it and it was like it was choreographed and everyone applauded.

Everything about the evening was perfect.

This clip gives a vague idea of what it's like.

I brought in another 6 lbs. of tomatoes on Friday. That means 16 lbs. last week. I made a salsa and pasta sauce. Photos to come. I've got another busy week ahead but I think I'll have time for more updates.

I got back from my trip last night with only enough time to catch up with my spouse, cobble together something to eat and watch the season finale of True Blood. (bleargh!)

I don't understand why I'm so tired today I can hardly see straight. It was a relaxing weekend. I got plenty of sleep. The plane ride was uneventful. I finished She's Come Undone (mini-review to come), I listened to some podcasts courtesy of Escapepod). I dozed. I got a decent amount of sleep last night. I feel like I hiked from Atlanta except my feet don't hurt.

A few photos eventually. I've got family coming into town so I don't expect to be online much this weekend but we'll see.

Cracker Barrel general store

Atlanta

I've been in Atlanta since Thursday visiting Kira. I probably should have updated our adventures earlier but I never seemed to get around to it and I've had a massively productive writing day today which means my eyeballs feel like they're going to drop out of my skull so this is going to be brief.

We've had a fabulous time either tooling about Atlanta running errands or hanging out around the house writing or not writing.

Two of my Clarion West Classmates have written apocalyptic stories where Cracker Barrel played a role. I did not know what Cracker Barrel is. We don't have that on the west coast. So Kira took me to Cracker Barrel (photo of the general store, above) which was completely awesome and I never have to go there again.

I tried to order a few things that I haven't seen on a menu like fried apples and turnip greens (gak!) and something called a frozen mug apple cider. The adorable server brought me a warm apple cider in a mug and a tall glass of ice and told me they were out of frozen mugs. "I had no idea what it was," I told her as I spooned ice cubes into my mug. "You could have brought me anything."

Kira had a bunch of stuff to do and the first few days we ran around. Her errands weren't in the shiniest parts of the city and my initial impression of Atlanta was that is was sort-of an armpit. In some places it looks like there was a contest to build the ugliest strip mall. There are also a ton fast food places, many of them with chicken in the name. I wish we had more time to take photos. Later we drove around some much prettier parts so I withdraw my original opinion. I will say that this is the most consistently bike and pedestrian unfriendly place I've seen in awhile.

I'm on my way home tomorrow.

Red Eye

I was going to write a long cranky post about customer service but I changed my mind. But a quick note to the bank: It makes me uncomfortable when I walk through the door and the teller shouts across the room, "Welcome to [our bank.] I can help you right here." I would argue further that the shout is redundant because the whole reason she's standing there is so she can help customers like me.

I get to sneak in one more out-of-town trip before summer is really over. I'm taking the red-eye to Atlanta tonight to visit Kira. I'm sure there will be stories and photos from the road.

Late Summer Red

The tomatoes are finally getting out of control. I had two days of harvest like this.

I'm sure the 8 feet of rain we had this weekend is going to bung things up but it's probably just as well since I have a couple of busy weeks ahead.



This weekend I made tomato soup. It's an easy recipe. Melt some butter in a pot and add your tomatoes, halved or quartered if you want. The recipe calls for shallots as well but I didn't have any. Let it cook for a couple hours, put through the food ricer and you've got soup.



I had already eaten a big bowl when I realized I didn't take a photo of the finished product. Here's what's left for tonight's dinner. I add a splash of half-n-half. It's incredible and will make you forget that tinny tasting stuff from a can.

Also this weekend I made some pasta sauce. So I've got the tomatoes back to a manageable pile.

It was a good weekend except for the 8 feet of rain. I don't mind rain but monsooning over Labor Day is not my favorite.

Bob went to Seattle for Bumbershoot.. It's amazing how little food gets eaten in our house when I'm the only one home. It took me all weekend to finish one bowl of leftovers and I never got around to eating an acorn squash or that pretty bundle of chard in the garden.



Look what I found in my pumpkins. Out front I have 6 vines planted in a small bed shared with a junipery shrub. An ornamental cherry with long weepy limbs shades the area. How did these manage to end up in between the vines tucked behind a pumpkin? I've gone through all sorts of scenarios: someone fell from their bike and their sunglass case flew into the pumpkins; a dog grabbed it and dropped it in the pumpkins someone with evil intentions was inspecting the pumpkins and karmically rewarded by losing their sunglasses.

Kimberlee gave me some berry starts back at the beginning of summer. I've never had great luck with berries but these guys are already going strong. Moments after this photos was taken, I ate them.

The Grimmest Place on Earth

I went to the mall today to get my hair cut. What a depressing place. My unscientific estimate is that at least 10% of the place is empty.

Then there are about 30% of stores that sell only completely worthless crap. Stuffed Hello Kitty dolls the size of VWs and lamps with the base shaped like a three foot high wolf. Yikes. And lots of idle clerks.

The worst part is the long row of kiosks that runs down the middle of the mall. People pop out at you with things in their hands and say, "Miss, do you have a moment? I'd like to show you something amazing." One of the guys was really cute like the long-haired foreign guy that would be the love interest in a romantic comedy. I was severely tempted to see what sort of amazing thing he might like to show me. But I had to hurry to my appointment. My loss, I'm sure.



I let the pumpkin vines out front do what they want although I discourage them from running out in the street. This vine grew over the top of the bush and produced a pumpkin in the middle. I've been curious to see what happened and so far the vines keep it from falling to the ground.

Bob and I went to see the Woodstock movie yesterday. I'm afraid we can't recommend. The minute the lights came up Bob looked at me and said, "I don't think that worked." We spent the next hour talking about what went wrong. I don't know. Cruddy script. Too many loose ends not tied up. Not enough characterization. Not enough plot.

All I could think about the whole time was: Please, someone make Demetri Martin a sandwich. And: "Thank God I'm not there. Crowds. Hippies. Argh."

Procrastination Station

This week I've been trying to do at least one thing I've been procrastinating on each day. On Monday I finally made an eye appointment. I had an eye doctor I loved. The office staff was always pretty lame but the doctor was awesome. Last time I was there they were rude when I phoned, rude when I arrived, the doctor acted as though he'd been interrupted from the most fabulous meal in his life to look at my old eyeballs, then they made me stand there – one of only two people in the reception area – and wait until they begrudgingly took my money. I don't know what the problem was but I'm not going back.

I found a new eye doctor who is conveniently located and compatible with my new insurance. I'm going to buy about 10 pairs of glasses and put one in every drawer, counter niche, pocket and bag I have. I can never find my glasses plus two of the three operational pairs I have now have been sat-on so many time their arms are bent and one of the nose pads things fell off.

Some other long procrastinated things had to do with visiting retail establishments. It think it's been pretty well documented here that I hate shopping. I tried for awhile to improve my style but it takes too much time and you have to go to stores and look at things and try them on. Last year during the never-ending winter I realized that I'm a little thin on winter stuff plus over half the pants in my closet are 3 or more years old. So I finally went out into the world to get nice work slacks.

I thought the economy was hurting. I thought America need me to spend my dollars. I was prepared to pay full price. I wasn't even looking for bargains. Where is all the stuff? I went to 5 stores looking for pants. My infatuation with Ann Taylor is officially over. I've never had a great customer service experience downtown although the Loft has usually been okay. Yesterday no one in the store even looked up when I walked in there, one of only two customers in the store. At the Loft they said Hello and then I never saw them again. The selection was doody. Too bad I wasn't looking for a frilly sleeveless top or dress because they had racks of those on clearance. Those will be worthless in about three weeks.

I love Pendleton but could they please design slacks that don't look like they were styled for 80 year old ladies. (Um, sorry Priscilla). I liked the pants at J Crew except they were a little lightweight for what I had in mind plus the first pair I tried on was clearly too big but the next size down was about 3 grilled cheese sandwiches away from being too snug. I don't see how I can so precisely not fit into clothes. The obvious solution would be to buy the too big ones and eat grilled cheese sandwiches until they fit properly.

So I struck out on pants.

Yesterday I went to buy underwear. There were three choices: granny panties, thongs and frilly. Where is the normal underwear? I should clarify the normal underwear that doesn't cost $15 a pair.

Another thing is I made a hair cut appointment for tomorrow. I cut my hair myself for a long time but then back around the time I wanted to have more style I started getting it highlighted or weaved (wove?) or whatever the term is. At first I enjoyed it but then I got annoyed by how long it took plus it cost a lot of money. So I changed over to regular haircutting and now that seems to take too long and breaks up the entire day. But I ate my last piece of See's candy yesterday and I need to go to the Mall anyway to restock. Might as well get styled while I'm there.

My last thing that I did today was deal with some retirement account stuff. I always get nervous when I call there because they ask about 50 security questions so I feel like they're trying to trick me. And then when I put stuff into funds they say things like, "One you do this it can never be changed or undone even if flying monkeys conquer the earth in the next 24 hours and there might be some fees and we will send you a blizzard of emails and snail mails regarding this transaction until you worry that something is wrong. Do you want me to go ahead with the transfer?" Today I said: Go for it.

Downtown Portland

Today's Foodday has a whole section of pie making tips which I will carefully read and then file in my bursting file of pie making tips. I'm doing a lot better but I'm still not making pies that would bring about world peace.

The paper also covers a pie making contest. One of the winners is a Cucumber-Honeydew-White Chocolate Pudding Freezer Box Pie. I know. It sounds crazy doesn't it? I'd like to try to make it but I'm not up for an extensive multi-step recipe at the moment. I'm still trying to wrangle my tomatoes.

On Sunday I made a summer minestrone with all the leftover squash plus a bunch of other odds and ends including things from the freezer. We always seem to have a 1/4 bag of green beans freezer-burning in a dark corner of the freezer. The soup came out delicious.

Bob and I are watching Prom Night in Mississippi. It's about a small town in Mississippi. The school holds two proms, one for blacks and one for whites. Morgan Freeman grew up there and he offers to pay for the prom if they integrate. This was in 2008.

I could go on about this movie all day but will condense my thoughts into two observations.

The first one is that I am stunned by how many people exhibit clearly racist behavior yet insist they are not racist and all their friends would tell you they aren't racist. "I'm not a racist but I don't want my daughter dating one of them people." (*spoiler*) The white parents organize and pay for a separate white prom but refuse to be interviewed because they don't want to be perceived as racist.

The second one is how clearly this small town is divided into black or white. Given this is what the documentary team is showing us but it's like there is no other diversity. What if there was an Indian (either kind) or Hispanic or Asian person? What prom would that person go to? (Before integration.) You have to wonder what would happen to this small town if *other* people of color showed up.

The documentary is really good and thought provoking although a bit repetitive.