Monthly Archives: April 2013

Spicy Cold Soba Noodle Salad

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I’m Asian. Well, part Asian. I love buckwheat noodles, aka soba noodles. Do yourself a favor and spend the extra money to buy 100% buckwheat soba. The taste is distinctive. The difference is vast. Modern wheat, in my opinion, is evil. Traditional old fashioned wheat had chromosomes in the low teens, like 14 or so. Today, our wheat has been genetically modified to have around 41 or so chromosomes. Do the research and think about putting that in your body. Just don’t. Buckwheat plants have pretty much been left alone in the modification department. So the stuff you get today is how the plant naturally developed. Okay, off the soap box.

You can find 100% buckwheat soba noodles in Asian markets.

Spicy Cold Soba Noodle Salad

1/2- 1  pound soba or Japanese buckwheat noodles

The Sauce:
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
3 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons chili oil
3 tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar

The Veggies:
1/2 bunch scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
1 c match stick cut yellow bell peppers
1 c thinly sliced baby carrots
1 c deseeded and thinly sliced cucumber
1 c thinly sliced celery
1/2 c whole cilantro leaves (no stems)- optional
1 c lightly sauteed shitake mushrooms- optional
1 c shredded roasted chicken- optional

The Directions:
Place soy sauce in a saucepan over medium heat, add brown sugar and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low, stir in molasses, and return to simmer. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Add sesame oil, chili oil, and vinegar, and whisk to combine.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rapid boil. Add noodles, bring back to a boil, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they just begin to soften, about 3 minutes. (Soba noodles can overcook very quickly, so stay nearby.) *I like some of my veggies slightly cooked. So I add carrots to the water as well. And maybe the bell peppers, depending on my mood. Or if I am adding shitake mushrooms, I will saute everything I want cooked in half olive oil, half chili oil. *

Have ready a large bowl of iced water. Drain noodles, plunge in iced water, and drain again. Place in a colander and rinse well under cold running water. Combine noodles, veggies and sauce, toss well with scallions and any optional ingredients, and chill.

Music Monday 4/29/13

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April showers bring May flowers. And since I can’t get the weather to cooperate, I can, at least, get the music to cooperate. Here are some songs of summer. Again, in a variety of genres. Don’t be put off because one isn’t the kind you would listen to normally. They will all make you smile. The first three have Summer in the title. The last one doesn’t. I just added it because I like it. It’s Queen Latifah from when she released her Dana Owens album. Dana Owens is her name and she can sing. The song is California Dreamin’ and it still makes me think of summer. And as an aside, I would have added Jimmy Buffett to the to the list but then I would have had to add all his songs, or most of them. 😉

Smutty Sunday 4/28/13

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Hey, looky here… it’s Sunday. Smutty Sunday to be exact. It’s that time again. So, here’s my weekly reading recommendations.

The sci/fi recommendation for this week is an oldie but goodie. This series helped one of my friends get into science fiction and fantasy as a genre. Made her excited to read that “weird” stuff. One of my other friends, a guy, scoffed at this series and the Eddings  series I started her on. He wanted her to jump right into Piers Anthony or something. You know, “real” science fiction. I told him that she would get hooked on this and then he could move her into the other stuff. You can’t just start someone on serious sci-fi. So I guess Melanie Rawn’s Dragon Prince Trilogy and it’s follow up series Dragon Star series is like one of the gateway drugs. Cause we did get her hooked and she did move to more serious sci fi and fantasy. But still, this series will always have a special place in my heart.

Cynthia Eden’s Fallen series ROCKS! I love her books. All of them. Usually when I read an author, there is a book or two that I just can’t stand or don’t think is as good as the others. Not so with Ms. Eden’s books. And her latest series in her ‘verse, the Fallen, about fallen angels is all kinds of deliciousness. Seriously. Hot angel dudes, crazy supernaturals, fabulous sex and action that just doesn’t quit. A girl really doesn’t need much more, yeah? I can’t wait for the next in this series to be released this summer. Can’t. Wait.

Kate Pearce House of Pleasure series with Simple titles are historically hot. I started reading these books a while ago. They just kept getting better and better and hotter and hotter. When  I read historicals, I am not really used to fabulous sex in them. Not many writers go there. Sure, some of them put in a little more than mainstream sex scenes but really Georgian and Regency period books are lean on the smex. Not these. They are HEAVY on the smex. And not just the mainstream kind, but the kinky, dirty, naughty kinds. Now can you see why I like them? But it’s not just that. In addition to fab sex, they have a story. A good story. They are yum!

Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner is my weekly non fiction rec. If you want to know little bits of everything and not a whole of of something, this book will help you. It explains the economics behind all sorts of random facts. Like why drug dealers still live with their moms. They talk about the hidden cost/benefits behind crazy random things. This book is funny, interesting and it will get you to think. Not a bad thing for any book. But for a nonfiction book that talks about economics, you know a topic that makes most people’s eyes glaze over, well that borders on miraculous, yeah?

Muse is Riding Me Hard

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Today is going to be a really short post.

My muse is riding me hard. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. I don’t want to go to yoga. My story wants out like yesterday. It is times like this I really wish I had taken typing in high school. I am a modified two finger pecker. Not efficient at all. My story is mostly writing itself. But because I type so slow, I am not keeping up. Which makes my muse impatient. Making me want to ignore everything else but the story.

And it wouldn’t be so bad but right at this moment, I have two full novels running side by side in my head. Seriously running. Fast. Like crazy fast. Trying to beat each other out. To see which one I will write first. The only thing those two have in common is that they are both contemporary. After that, they diverge in many, many ways. So not only are they competing to see which one gets written, they are discordant as they compete.

I think I might be going slowly insane. Evidence of this is that I am talking about muses and writings as if they are real people or something. lol All brought on my lack of sleep along with crazy voices talking in my head. At least I am not answering them yet. Well, other than to tell them to shut up. But do they listen? No. Are they trying to help a bitch out? No. They want their story written and they want it done… YESTERDAY.

I am only human. I type like crap. I am trying. Soon. So very soon, I will have these stories finished. But I know my trials and tribulations won’t be over. There are other character voices that aren’t as loud yet but once I am done with my current WIPs, I know they will start yelling too. No rest for the weary, yeah? 😉

Randoms Thoughts Part 3

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Hey look. Friday has rolled around. Once again, my brain is fried. And thus we have random thoughts.

I hate having a house telephone. The only people who call us on it are telemarketers and school officials. The only reason we have it is so that school officials can call us on it. However, everyone who matters calls us on our individual cell phones. I am giving serious thought to just getting rid of the house phone. Although it is cheap, I have a bundle, it is really worthless. The other reason is that it is a local number. My cell phone is not local. It is a number I had from Alaska. I no longer live in Alaska but with Nationwide calling plans, it really doesn’t matter anymore. At least in terms of cost. But seriously, if one more charity calls looking for a donation, I think I might go nuclear on their asses. Leave people alone. I swear if there is a charity I am interested in donating money to, I WILL find you. And yes, I do donate. But never to people who call me. NEVER.

So the weirdness of the weather sitch has me concerned. I hate it. I want it warm like yesterday. Winter was LONG. I need the sun and warmth of summer to be here like yesterday so I can get some rays and up my Vit. D and generally feel happier. Looking outside and seeing the sun then stepping out there anticipating warm and getting cold makes me sad. Really frickin’ sad. Like way sadder than when I expect it to be cold and it is. Maybe it’s global warming. Maybe it’s the cyclical nature of weather. I just don’t care. Give me warm. Now, please.

Here’s a fashion tip. Skinny jeans don’t look good on anybody. Men, women, large or skinny. They just don’t. If you are wearing skinny jeans thinking you are rocking the clothes, chances are people like me are laughing at you. Seriously. The only people skinny jeans look good are are those people who are so anorexic that skinny jeans are the only jeans that fit them and STILL they would look better in straight legs. But that’s just me. Skinny jeans are not forgiving AT ALL. And trust me, most of us need a little forgiving when it comes to our clothes. Um, because our bodies just need it that way.

If you are at a kids sporting event and you get into an argument with another parent or a coach or a ref, you are STUPID. Kinda like Jeff Foxworthy “here’s your sign…” Here is YOUR sign that you might be an idiot parent. A big one. Hey, I get it. You like your kid. You want your kid to win. But let’s face it, not all kids and not all kids’ teams are winners. Fighting with the other adults at the game make you look like an idiot. And it embarrasses your kid. Your kid won’t tell you. So I will. Stop being stupid. Stop living vicariously through your kid. Unless your kid is in the Olympics and the game matters in some way, let it go. Walk away. Be an adult. Seriously.

That is all.

Internet Shopping Feeds my Shoe Addiction

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I need a twelve step program for the depth of my love for shoes. I love them. I can’t get enough of them. It has gotten to the point that I have been told that before I buy another pair of shoes, I must throw out two. Being told that felt like a knife to my gut. Seriously? Throw away my shoes? Oh my god, are you frickin’ kidding me? Never gonna happen. NEVER. So I haven’t bought any shoes since that rule went into effect. Well, other than to replace shoes that get worn out or if a buckle breaks on one or if I get some as gifts.

I discovered internet shopping back in the day when I was feeding my shoe addiction. Shoes are like crack, you can’t just have one. So, I moved from going to actual stores to try them on, to perusing the internet to do my initial look-see. It works out great. Although now, with age and experience and an intimate knowledge of shoe designers sizing, I can pretty much tell if a pair of shoes is going to fit or not. Plus, places like Zappos allows you to return your shoes and get the right size. What a great concept and invention.

But the internet has done more than feed my shoe addiction, it has allowed me to branch out into other areas of consumerism and have things like wine, clothes, bedding, etc., delivered to my home. Usually at prices that are WAY better than I would find in an actual brick and mortar store. The same is not true for books however. Digital books to be exact. I can order real books for FAR less than retail price but the digital market hasn’t caught up yet. Which is a shame. I would buy WAY more digital books if the pricing were similar to what I could get from a used bookstore. It’s too bad really. Amazon, are you hearing me? Barnes and Noble, pay attention!!!

I am able to get wine from Wine Woot,, clothes from places like Hautelook, Gilt and Ruelala at a deep discount, sporting goods from Steep and Cheap, but I can’t get discounted ebooks. Seriously? The problem with that is I can buy real books for far less. Which do you think I am likely to do? It’s a bad business practice to keep the price of digital books so high after the initial offering. Something has to give if used books can be had for so much less. I know. I internet shop a lot.

Books and Shoes and really everything should be able to be had on internet for much lower prices than you can find at brick and mortar stores. Everyone who buys things knows this. It has to do with lower overhead. Much lower. So get with the program because I would LOVE to say that books are my addiction and that books are like crack. Until then, I still have my shoes.

Coconut Curry Soup with Lobster

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When I lived in Alaska, I traveled to Hawaii a lot. For vacation with my family and for work. One of the times I was in Hawaii, I got to stay on Maui which was a treat because I mostly stayed on Oahu. During that trip, I rode horses through volcano canyons, traveled the road to Hana and ate a lot of good food. One of the places that I remember eating at during that trip was Mama’s Fish House. They had the most sublime Coconut Curry Soup with Lobster. I have tried recreating it over the years. The recipe below is the closest I’ve gotten. It is rich and a little spicy. It is also a lot delicious.

If you are ever on Maui, stop by Mama’s. Some of the best seafood I’ve ever eaten was found there. You won’t be disappointed.

Coconut Curry Soup with Lobster

3 11 ½-oz. cans coconut milk
1 oz. ginger root- keep whole or quarter for ease of removal
2 sticks lemongrass, chopped roughly in big chunks
1 Tbsp. fish sauce
¼ cup sugar, brown (I actually prefer palm sugar or coconut sugar)
2 lime leaves, kaffir preferably
1-1inch piece galengal- again, keep whole or quarter
1 tsp. Thai red curry (I add a little more cause I like things spicy)
1 cup lobster stock, or chicken stock, or fish stock (more for thinning)
1 lb lobster, cooked and diced

optional garnish:
1/2-1 lb julienned shitake mushrooms
1/4  lime juice (almost necessary to help cut the richness)
1/4/-1/2 cup minced cilantro
1/4-1/2 lb julienned carrots
3-4 stalks thinly sliced green onions

DIRECTIONS:

1. Rinse ginger and any other item which have been grown directly in dirt in water and dry off. Place coconut milk, ginger, stock, lemongrass, galengal, sugar, curry and fish sauce in a pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.

2. Add lime leaves and infuse them into the soup. About 15-20 minutes. Strain the curry soup of all the items in it. Add half the cooked lobster. When you go to plate, add a small mound of lobster in the middle for presentation and extra lobster chunks–always a plus.

3. Garnish with carrots, shiitake, lime juice, green onions and cilantro leaves in any combo and amount according to your taste buds. However, limes are almost not optional.

April Blog Chain- April Fools

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I’m participating in this month’s AW’s Blog Chain. We get a prompt and then have to write something. Don’t worry, I didn’t write anything smutty. lol But I did have fun writing the piece that follows. That being said, below are  the rules.


This month’s prompt:

April Fools

Instructions:

Simply post your blog’s URL in this thread to join. Each post should be less than 1000 words if possible. Read and comment on other participants’ posts if you possibly can–they’ll be doing the same for you!

April’s Fool

She stepped around the body that landed at her feet. He didn’t get back up. The blood pooling around him might be the answer to his immobility. Not that she really cared.

The noise hit her a second before the stench. Booze, vomit and body odor. Eau de Bubba’s bar. Dirty sock smell was all that was missing. Her face carefully blank despite her disgust at being here.

She weaved her way over to the bar. The bartender gave her a chin tip.

“Tequila,” she ordered.

The tequila was delivered without salt, without lime. This wasn’t that type of bar. She was surprised the bottle hadn’t accompanied the shot glass. Because it was that kind of bar.

She took her glass and drained it. She fought the grimace. The tequila was vile, cheap and burned like hellfire.

She waved for another. It was a double shot kinda night.

She left some money on the bar next to her glass. She turned her back, resting her elbows on the bar and scanned the room. Her eyes moved until she saw the person that had drawn her here. At least the information had been good.

He didn’t see her until she started walking toward him. He went still. His face went white. Pulling himself together, he relaxed his body. It was false. She knew it was false. But still, she gave him points for the effort.

He should be scared.

“Mel,” she greeted him as if this was a social call and she was the neighborhood greeting committee.

“Lucy,” he greeted her back. His voice was almost even. But she could hear the tremor beneath the forced calm. “What brings you to Bubba’s? This ain’t your usual haunt.”

They both knew what brought her to this pigsty.

“Alice told April that you hadn’t made it over to see her even after April gave you an extension. Asked me to come find out why,” she explained her presence when it became apparent that Mel wasn’t going to say anything else.

“Well you see. I had planned to go yesterday like I was suppose to but my old lady got sick and I had to take her to the doctor and then I had a few things to take care of today and then time got away from me and then I had to meet some people here,” Mel rambled. “I was planning on going tomorrow if you want to tell Alice.”

Somehow Mel had come to the conclusion that she was there on a fact finding mission. Had he been using the small part of his brain that was left from the shit he shoved up his nose, he would have realized that she never went on fact finding missions.

Fact finding wasn’t in her job description. Hadn’t ever been. Wouldn’t ever be.

“I’ll be sure to let her know when I see her,” was all she said.

She felt the two arrive at her back. Mel wasn’t as stupid as he looked. He had somehow signaled for back up. Shit, why couldn’t this night be getting better instead of worse.

“A simple job Alice says. Won’t take you very long she says. Be in and out quick she tells me,” she muttered under her breath, repeating Alice’s earlier words.

If Alice was the brains, Lucy was the brawn. Woman could and did run these streets. And Mel had tried to avoid Alice by using April. April was soft. Alice was not.

Mel puffed up once he caught sight of his backup. “April gave me the extension. She’d give me another one.” He obviously thought she gave a shit. Or that Alice gave a shit. Whether April gave a shit didn’t matter.

“Yeah, I know,” Lucy said noncommittally. She didn’t work for April. She worked for Alice.

“Tell Alice I’ll come around tomorrow,” he told her with a touch of bravado brought on by his hired muscle.

She started to stand. Glancing into the mirror behind Mel, she pinpointed the position of the two that were supposed to have his back. Keeping her senses open to make sure they didn’t move, she got all the way up. Her body position hid Mel from the men who were suppose to protect him.

“I’ll be sure to let Alice know what you said Mel,” she said calmly. “Alice doesn’t much like looking like a fool. Going behind her back to April, well that just wasn’t smart.”

“Alice isn’t a fool,” his response was conciliatory, his hands held up.

He thought he was safe. Fool. He couldn’t have been more wrong. Just because she didn’t usually let her targets see her coming didn’t mean that it never happened. It did. Not often. But still, it happened.

She moved fast. So fast that the two behind her didn’t have time to react. She had her blade out slicing through Mel’s throat so quickly that no one without a direct line of sight would even see his head wobble. The cut so clean, his head barely moved. Just as quickly, she replaced her blade, long knife really, back in her thigh sheath. She pivoted and walked past the two guards Mel had signaled over.

As muscle went, they were a big fail. You get what you pay for. Mel was in deep to Alice. He didn’t have a lot of cake left over to pay anyone. He had obviously gotten exactly what he paid for.

What a fucking waste. All of it.

“No, April’s the fool and now so are you,” she finally responded softly as she walked away.

In her head she counted it down as she strode to the door. “3…2…1…”

“Hey,” someone called out. She’d bet it was either dufus one or dufus two. Right on time. But really, it was already too late.

“Hey…” the closing door cut off the rest.

One down, April to go.

 

Here are the other April Chain Bloggers. Go read their posts. Read and comment. Or just read.

orion_mk3 – http://nonexistentbooks.wordpress.com (link to post) 
Ralph Pines – http://ralfast.wordpress.com (link to post)
Angyl78 – http://jelyzabeth.wordpress.com/ (link to post)
Araenvo – http://www.simonpclark.com/ (link to post)
MsLaylaCakes – http://www.taraquan.com/ (link to post)
Lady Cat – http://randomwriterlythoughts.blogspot.ca/ (link to post)
LanaK – http://lanaketrick.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
Lyra Jean – http://beyondtourism.wordpress.com/ (link to post)
Sudo_One – http://sudoone.wordpress.com/ ((link to post)
articshark – http://www.drslaten.com/blog (link to post) <——————-you are here
Ghostwriter-Mom – http://www.fictionblueprints.com/ (link to post)
AngelaGreenfield – http://www.becomingawriterblog.com/ (link to post)

Music Monday feat. the Blues

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Some music evokes certain feelings. And certain feelings lend themselves to certain types of music. Genre isn’t just about books.

My mom died almost two years ago this month. I miss her terribly. Most times the loss of her is a momentary punch in the gut. Other times, I wallow in how much I miss her, how heart broken I am that she is gone.

There is something about blues and jazz that just naturally fits when I am feeling sad. Normally, I listen to male and female jazz and blues singers/performers. But when it’s about my mom, I turn to women singing. It just seems fitting.

And while these aren’t the exact songs I listen to when I am sad about my mom, I hope you enjoy the following selections of Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald and Etta James.

 

Smutty Sunday 4/21/13

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Yeah, Yeah. I know. Today is the day that I help point you in the direction of smut to read. But before we do, here is a thought for the day. I heard a comedian say this… it’s only a joke if we both laugh. Think about that. How many times has someone said something hurtful, racists, criminal, etc. and played it off as only being a joke. If we both laugh, then yeah. If only the speaker is laughing then it is something other than a joke. Something that most people would only think would be okay told in a joking format. But underneath? Well, that dog don’t hunt, yeah?

So on to my normally scheduled program. Ilona Andrews and her Kate Daniels books are a series that I have read again and again. Seriously. They are that good. Urban Fantasy at its best. Not all Sci/Fi has to be high fantasy or deep space nine-ish. lol Urban Fantasy is part of that genre as well. A sub-set to be sure but nevertheless it is a pretty damn entertaining sub-set. And when it comes to my dollars, I like to be entertained. I like to read stories that seem fresh with strong characters. Ilona Andrews is a husband and wife team. They write kick ass books. I like the Kate Daniels ones the best but their Edge books rock just as well.

New Adult has been all the craze for a while. Everyone wants to be a New Adult Author, to rep a New Adult Author or to publish a New Adult author. I have waded through a lot of them. Most of the writing sucks. But there is a gem or two to be had. R.K Lilley’s Up in Air series is good as is Jodi Ellen Malpas’s This Man series. Both are trilogies so you get the characters for more than one book. One is set in the US, the other in the UK. I like books about British people. They say funny things. lol Some of the New Adult stuff seems to have a lot of conflicts and issues that don’t ring true. These two have decent explanations for why the characters are the way they are and a decent storyline that holds it all together.

For adult smut, I really like Lorelei James’ Rough Rider series. First, there is an assload of books in the series. Always a good thing. Then there are smokin’ hot cowboys in those assloads of books. Another good thing. Last but not least is the sex in them there books. A great thing. It’s an amalgamation of goodness all rolled into one. Most are M/F but one is MMF and then there are instances of menage that the characters engage in on an individual basis. See, something for everybody. lol

Now to my last recommendation for today. It’s an oldie but goodie. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. I have read this book at least once a year since it was first introduced to me. I love this book. When I first read it, I identified with Scout. Then I got to know all that was good about Atticus. At some point, I pondered Boo. But it wasn’t until I really thought about the old lady kicking her opium habit that I got the full flavor of the book. All of those things make this a book that I read again and again. Because as I get older, Scout, Atticus and Boo are people I wish I knew but it the little old lady that I wish I were. I want to be her. Courage. Strength. Determination. All of that. To be FREE of addiction and to meet death unfettered. And to make that happen. 30 minutes at a time. Strong. Brave. Resolute. Any of us can do that in 30 minute bites. Yup, I want to be her when I grow up. I surely do.