I'm still working my way through the
inbox of horrors. I am making good progress, but what is more
important is that the rate it was filling has slowed markedly. That's
a relief. I don't mind helping out others where I can, but for a
couple of weeks there I was seeing no progress in getting my work
done at all! That doesn't mean that everything is smooth sailing.
That's why I was doing all of that cooking and baking during the heat
wave. I had some things I needed to work out in my head, and there
were some recipes that I wanted to try.
I'd been thinking about snacks that I
miss from Philly of late. During long days waiting at the hospital, I
really missed the soft pretzels from Philly. They are relatively fat
free, low calories (if they are only topped with mustard) and really
cheap. There isn't any equivalent out here. My Dad shipped us some
recently after I mentioned this. They were a welcome treat on days
where there would be many hours between breakfast and lunch. The heat
also reminded me of how much I missed Italian Ices
or as it is known in Philly, Water Ice. I decided to try to make both
treats, so that I could have them anytime without spending a ton of
money on shipping. They turned out quite well. The pretzel recipe is
a gourmet version, so it is a bit more buttery than the Philly
pretzel, but it is very good. The Italian Ice was very close to what
I ate in Philly, but my palate has changed. I don't like dishes that
are that intensely sweet. A bit more lemon zest will solve that. I
also did another batch of croissants and made a batch of twice baked
souffles. There will be videos for these dishes. I just have to have
the time to edit them.
What could possibly be on my mind that
required that much flour and butter to work through? My writing is
annoying me. I have discovered that Jon was right about writer's
block. It's caused by the subconscious knowledge that something has
gone wrong in the story. The problem is figuring out what's gone
wrong. Then comes the terrifying process of figuring out how much has
to be re-written. I say terrifying, because sometimes the whole
manuscript must be chucked in favor of starting anew. In this case, I
am trying to start a novel that had been a script. That should be
very easy. The entire story is finished. The characters have been
alive in my head for quite some time. There shouldn't have been a
problem, but I couldn't get anywhere with it for weeks after deciding
to write the book. I realized after I had run out of baking sheets to
bake on that it was an issue of point of view.
I typically write my fiction in either
first person point of view or from a limited third person point of
view. For example, the Soldier's books are all from Rik's point of
view. Thus, they are written in first person. The Surrender books and
the Ensnared books alternates the point of view between the lead
characters. It's a comfortable zone for me to tell my stories. The
reason I haven't been able to start this book is that neither of
those points of view works for this story. In a film, the audience
can see other characters reacting to the lead characters without the
lead characters knowing they are being observed and possibly judged.
This story calls for a number of supporting characters observing and
judging without being seen by my leads. That cannot be done from a
first or limited third person point of view. I realized that I had
to do the all seeing or omniscient point of view. Immediately after
figuring that out, I wrote my first sentence of the novel, The
Proposal. I also realized that I could keep the very cool opening
that I had in the script. I had a few pages written without really
thinking about it. It was glorious! And I had a whole heap of snacks
to boot. What is The Proposal about, and why have you never heard of
this script? That will be for next week's blog. I'll have an excerpt
ready along with some bookfair discounts to tell everyone about. It
will be worth the wait, believe me.
Speaking of the Solders books, my talented cover artist, Adrianna Ferguson, Did a really cool and funny blog on how she does those amazing covers. It is very interesting, and it can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbp5xm8R2VQ
Zen and the Art of Ramen
Since the lovely lunch I had with
Digital Manga team member, Joel, I have become more obsessed than
ever about making a real bowl of ramen soup. Forget about Cup of
Noodles or Top Ramen with it's pack of sodium infused death. I mean
real ramen made from scratch with fresh noodles with broth made from
bones simmered for many hours. I was crestfallen after the lunch with
Joel. I understood that the heavenly broth I had at that shop was
made with roasted pork bones. I've never made pork stock. Heck, I'd
never seen pork soup bones anywhere – not even in my amazing ethnic
market which has the chicken feet. And then in the circular for Top
Value Market, I saw a sale for pork neck bones. I realized that would
be perfect for a great unctuous stock. I got a big pile of them for
less than five dollars. When I told Joel about my plan to attempt
ramen broth, he suggested I watch Ramen Girl (above).
I remembered Anthony Bourdain talking about that film during the
Hokkaido episode of No Reservations. He described it quite accurately and without
derision but doubted the heroine's addition of corn to her ramen. He
found out that this was common to Sapporo ramen. I was surprised that
Joel suggested what was a chick flick to me. I don't watch them as a
rule, but I was intrigued. It was the tale of a young woman who is
dumped by her boyfriend shortly after arriving in Japan. In despair,
she finds herself in the local ramen shop. The soup makes her so
happy that she decides to learn how to spread such joy. It was quite
charming. You can see the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GYSwiaNz2o Tampopo
was a better film, but they both were good at exploring how the
mastery of something that seems so simple can put a whole life in
order. Tampopo was sybaritic in its celebration of the pleasures food
can bring while being really funny and touching. You can see the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbp5xm8R2VQ Meanwhile, I've made
and incredible pork stock. It's like jelly, it so full of marrow
collagen goodness. Ah, but this is only the first building block.
Next, I must master the art of cooking pork bellies.
For that and the big pre-bookfair blog
is next week,
Stay tuned!
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