Feasts, Freedom, Fundraising and Updates

Sandra Lee is doing soul food on TV that is confusing me. I'm not horrified like I was over her Kwanza Cake. But I am confused. Now, she's making grits. Oh, dear. I wasn't even planning on looking at her, but once I start, I can't seem to stop. She's strangely fascinating. Today is a holiday (Happy Easter everyone!), so it's a big food day. I have a lot of ingredients about that I don't typically include in my pantry. Like evaporated milk. Evaporated milk reminds me of the holidays - especially when it's in coffee. That may sound a might strange to you latte and capuccino fans, but I like evaporated milk in my coffee. I buy it at holidays to use in sweet potato pies as my mother did. And, like her, I used the left over evaporated milk in my coffee. There is always some left over, and she didn't like it to go to waste. I associated the taste of the combination with holidays. I'm enjoying a cup right now. Then, I must get back to cooking. The meat and dessert are done. Only the side dishes remain. No, we're not having company for this meal. It's just a holiday habit to cook a feast. Like the Easter 'basket.' Besides, there will be lots of leftovers and minimal cooking during the week. That's very good for me as we have a very busy week.

Tube Free at Last

On Wednesday, almost a year to the day, I had an abdominal catheter removed. It should have been gone a year ago, but that is a long, exasperating story that I'd rather not get go into right now. Aside from being free to enjoy baths again and not just showers, I am now free of anything chemo related inside me. I can really start exercising which will help me mitigate the impact of the chemo side effects. It's just all around good. The next hurdle to clear is to get the docs to let me administer my own B-12 shots. It's the only appointment keeping me going back once a month instead of every three months. It's a really long trip there and back for a ten minute appointment. In the grand scheme of things, it's just an inconvenience. It will become more of an issue when I go back to work full time. But that worry is for another day. Right now, I'm just slap happy to be able to do crunches or take a bubble bath. Hey, I could go crazy and do both! I've come a long, long way. This time last year, I was in the ICU sucking on glycerin sponge pops while watching Judge Mathis. Life is way better now. There is one thing that really troubles me though. Craig has volunteered to be my personal trainer. He's insisted on it, in fact. That is a scary thought.

The Secret Cancer Documentary

While Jon has been and still is working on the re-write of the horror script, I've been working on the documentary. There isn't much in the way of writing like a script, but there is a lot of coordinating and reading. There is a new website. You can find the link HERE. I also launched a fund raising initiative yesterday on a page that helps creative people raise money for all sorts of ventures that don't attract the typical investor. You can find info on the campaign and what we're offering to investors at this LINK or the one on the side of this blog. I also started a Facebook page and a Twitter page. I have to cover all the social media to reach as many people as possible. The set up is time consuming, but I do believe that it's as effective nowadays as a publicist. Oh, and about the fund raising effort. I will be nagging about that here, on my Facebook and on Twitter for 90 days or until we reach our goal. This is a really important initiative and it needs as much support as possible.

I must give a shout out and a big thank you to my volunteer film crew in Philly and in Ohio. Thanks to my darlin' nephew, Brian for agreeing to help me out during the shoot in Philly. And a big thanks to Randy and Ross for agreeing to PA in Cleveland in August. To quote Randy, PA is Latin for circus monkey which is how hard they work. There's a good example of what it's like HERE.

Updates

The Novels – I've been making nice, steady progress on them despite all the goings on. I hope to get them to the proofreader before we head to Philly in June. I've been really tickled with having Colonel Rik Heron put my vampire Simon through the equivalent of boot camp. The other book is shaping up nicely as well.

The Film and Web Series – We're about to complete casting for the film. We've confirmed on lead and are waiting for the other. As soon as I get paperwork back and confirm the start date, I'll formally announce everything. I did set up the blog page for the field notes and photos. We may even put up some of the behind the scenes footage Jon and I will be shooting. The Web Series should have a script soon – in the next week or so.

Stay tuned.

Me and Audrey, New Cause and Updates

With all this writing I've been doing, my gentle readers have been wondering if I was still cooking. Oh yes, I am. In fact, most of my breaks from the grind were to chop up some veggies (that is like meditating for me somehow) or make a meal. I've actually discovered another cooking show, Your Japanese Kitchen. Now, the music is incongruous and the co-host is odd (here is a sample ), but I've been learning some very interesting tips from her and improved on a dish I really enjoy. I made gyoza , Japanese pan fired dumplings, last week.. It was a simpler recipe than I've tried in the past. I also learned about garlic chives which are tasty in many things. To be fair, I wouldn't even attempt the recipes if I didn't live very close to a Japanese supermarket. I would, however, watch this show. There is something calming about her technique.

I've also had a revelation about making gravies and sauces. The television was watching me early one morning as I had left it on. On it was Chuck's Day Off with Montreal chef Chuck Hughes. He was making a roasted garlic soup using a roux made with roasted garlic, butter and flour. I had a eureka moment. I could add roasted garlic to some of my gravies and sauces. It wouldn't work every situation – like turkey, but it certainly works for beef and pork. This is a delicious combination, in fact. Also, anytime garlic can get in the body, it's a good thing. Oh, I also plan to make the garlic soup. It looked yummy.

Road Less Traveled

Well, less traveled by me. The road is actually crazy traveled all the time. It's just not one that Jon and I use. Olympic Blvd. is about ten minutes away depending on traffic. We had to go to Staples for some paper. It was then that I noticed there was a Trader Joe's a block away. A half a block from that was an enormous Ralphs supermarket. I was ecstatic. I haven't shopped at a Trader Joe's since we moved to this place four years ago. I have missed that store so very much. There are some nice foodie products like truffle oils for great prices. And then there is two buck Chuck, their lovely wine, that sells for $1.99. At least, it did the last time I visited. These stores are easier for us to get there than the Marina on weekends, and I have more options with weekly sales. This was all very exciting.

On Not Making Jon Crazy

I made a difficult decision for a net head when I was diagnosed with cancer. I decided to steer clear of websites about Appendix Cancers – especially the stories from the other patients and survivors. The reason, dear readers, is that I am a bit of a nutter. I will internalize the experience I read about and worry incessantly that I will suffer the same fate. I don't exhibit symptoms I read about. I just worry about them. I am an Olympic caliber worrier. When I worry, I don't sleep or eat – two bad things in a cancer patient. And negative stories about survival were bound to have an impact on my outlook which can be deadly. Of course, I was extremely curious about the cancer – which is formally called: Mucinous Adenocarcinoma of the Appendix and Pseudomyxoma Peritonei or PMP. Info can be found via the links alongside this blog. But I knew it would be more problematic to know more than what the doctors were telling me until I was further along in my treatment. I did it for me so I would have the best chance at survival. And I did it for the Hubs, so I wouldn't make him crazy with worry about my worrying. I also made sure that he was eating (and when I was too weak to keep an eye on that, I had Craig nag him about eating and sleeping). He's come out of all this more stressed than he'd like to admit. I think that the end of the Archive or as we like to view it, a sudden writing grant from California unemployment, has been good for him. I think he's needed the time to vegetate. He's back to his usually squirrely self. Now, I think he's ready to make a film. Actually, two. But more on that later.

A New Community and Cause

When I finally looked at the web pages about PMP, I found a whole community of people with this rare disease. I also found that most of the stories about how they were diagnosed were similar – sometimes identical – to mine. Namely, mistakes were made in diagnosing PMP. Usually, it was multiple mistakes over several months or years before the correct diagnosis was made. PMP is so rare (only 1500 cases a year in the US), that most doctors never come across it over the course of their careers. So, the failure to correctly diagnose is not a matter of negligence, it's lack of awareness. And that is frightening. I was extremely lucky to have had a primary care doc who had been trained by a doc who had been trained by the only expert in PMP in this country. Still, it took all of my symptoms aligning in her head, after three different treatments failed, to make the right diagnosis. I had the version of PMP that was very slow growing and remained localized in my abdomen. Thus, I was still stage one despite having been sick for years – long enough for the tumor to get big enough to rupture my appendix. Despite all of that, my prognosis was excellent. Others I've recently met have the much more aggressive version of the cancer. In the same amount of time, they had made it to stage 3 or 4 and it had invaded lymph nodes or other organs. Time is not the friend of this type of PMP. It was what killed Audrey Hepburn. She too went for quite some time without a correct finding of the cancer.

All of this was distressing. I wanted to do something to help raise awareness among potential patients and among doctors. The first thing I'm doing is participating in an Awareness Walk that happens to be in Philadelphia this June. More info about it can be found HERE. It's too early right now to register for the walk, but I believe you can donate. At any rate, I'll start bugging folks about it starting in May. I'm starting my training this week. I'm hoping for a lot of support. The other way we're helping the cause is by doing the thing we came out here to do. We're making a film. The documentary called 'The Silent Cancer' will begin shooting in June. Aside from the Awareness Walk, there is a conference in Philly that week featuring the doctor who pioneered the treatment for PMP and trained the doc who trained mine. I've also entered into discussions with Audrey Hepburn's sons about howthey will participate in the film. I am thrilled about this as I have been a life long fan of her work. And if you are wondering about how to support that effort, I'll be posting information about that mid-week.

Updates

Meanwhile, I've just been relayed a message from the horror film's director that we're going to start shooting in three weeks. Okay then. Jon is still doing the re-write, but what are you going to do? What I'm going to do when I get back from Trader Joe's is finish the shooting schedule. That should be ready by tomorrow. I'll have a blog page up for the film after every one has signed. My field notes from the shoot will be there, here and on my Facebook page. There sill be more photos on the field note blog though.

While all this is going on, I am back to working on the novels. I've been managing a few pages a night when everything else has gone quite. Time with my gorgeous men is my refuge from all I've gotten myself into during the day.

Stay tuned!

Homework, Stick Work, and Compound Nouns

It has long been my dream to be able to afford to stay home and write. It's been an even bigger dream to be writing for something that was about to be produced or published. I had imagined just how amazingly awesome that would be. Of course there would be some sort of libation and possibly some nibbles involved. And in the midst of it all, the words and scenes would come as easily as making toast. Have I ever mentioned how often I burn toast?

Like most things in life, writing a script for eminent production is not all that I had imagined it would be. I sat most things in life, because some things in life are better than I had imagined. For example, Vancouver in the dead of winter (incredibly beautiful) or France in the spring (ridiculously beautiful). But writing under deadline like that even without a day job to further crunch the time available is not easy. When we wrote Demon Under Glass, we had a project that already existed in a treatment. We simply had to fill in the script while keeping limited resources in mind. [That was how the cow bloodletting did not make it into the script. For those who don't know about the cow, the short version is we were going to have the captive vampire feed on a live cow in the isolation tank. Before we finished the first draft we found out that renting a real cow – and yes, that's possible – or a mechanical cow – also more available than one would think – would have cost a significant percentage of the budget. In the case of the live cow, our insurance rider would have been enormous and we would have had to have someone from the ASPCA present to make sure no one actually fed on the cow. Also CGI cows weren't as easily obtained as they are now making them as expensive as the other options. ]. And that was the short version. When a detailed treatment exists, writing the script is relatively simple. You always wish for more time to tweak, but it can get done.

The Warehouse Movie (it has a name, but I'll get into that later) was not even a concept six weeks ago. We had a concept for something vaguely similar based on a building our former roommate works in. But this space was completely different. It was so different that we couldn't adapt that other concept to work in the space. Thus, we had to start over. Craig is the reigning king of stories about people doing goofy things that run into something dangerous. I went to him for inspiration. He gave me so many ideas and other assistance that he's getting part of the Story By credit. Of course, collaborating with Craig has its price. More on that later as well.

Typically, after the concept comes a short treatment. For us, that's usually 5 to 10 pages. Then, we like to do a really detailed treatment of 20 to 50 pages when all of the action and transitions are thoroughly worked out and all that remains is writing the dialogue. For Demon Under Glass, we had the short treatment already, so we were able to move on to the longer treatment before working on the actual script. We didn't have that luxury this time. All I had was a vague seven page treatment and a basic character breakdown sheet. And though there wasn't a stated deadline, I was aware that the time that we would have the space to shoot in was limited and a window would be closing in the next couple of months. Basically, it needed to be done now, now, now.

Thus, for the last couple of weeks I've been working full time as a screenplay writer. The first thing I realized is that having a structure really helps. When I had the day job, the structure was writing happened after dinner was consumed and cleared away until the bedtime ritual began. I thought having an expanse of time from morning until after midnight would make me more productive, but that really didn't prove to be the case. I needed a routine to keep focused. The first couple of days suffered as I figured out how to allocate my time.

First, I had to accept that even if I'm not leaving the apartment for anything, I really need two hours to go from sleep to fully functioning. One of the side effects I have to battle is incredible joint pain and stiffness which is especially bad early in my day. After I do the morning rituals and deal with that, I write for a few hours. If I don't make lunch, Jon will work through until dinner with his headphones on editing. Lack of food gives him headaches and makes him cranky, so I make lunch. I usually take that opportunity to do some prep for dinner like put on a pot of collard greens or something else that needs low and slow cooking. Then, it's back to writing until the evening and dinner. The longest stretch of writing is the evening. I might go from 7pm to 1am with only the odd break now and then. The smaller chunks of time writing meant more pages somehow. I never quite mastered writing while having nibbles. Any sort of snack brought the flow of work to a halt. Though I really enjoyed some of those snacks – especially the onion and leek soup alongside french bread smeared with a bit of foie gras. Likewise, libations didn't work well with writing. One glass of wine would make me sleepy and I'd end up napping. So much for being a two fisted drinking writer like the greats of old.

I'm not saying that it was all difficult. As usual, most of the pressure came from me putting it on myself. When I was just letting the pages come as they would, I was having a great time. It helps that we know two of the actors involved very well and that made writing dialogue a real hoot. One actor is a very respectable, self-possessed lady who has long held positions of great responsibility. We decided that she needed a completely evil, salacious side. It was a kind of role she had never played before and would be a lot of fun. The other is an actor who looms largely in most of our productions. He has an amazing and twisted sense of humor. It was fun to figure out what this actor might say if he were in this given situation. It was a lot of fun putting him in those situations. The third actor is known for a certain type of role. Again, we decided that he needed to show a vastly different side. I blended my love of 60s and 70s era cop shows with my warped sense of humor and a very odd horror film hero was born. He has been a whole lot of fun to write. I really can't wait to see him come to life.

But the true joy of writing this script came from my primary research source to all things strange, Craig. I asked him for information on some of the worst things that the LAPD was accused of in the bad old days when it was said that corruption ran rampant. I then learned about things like 'stick work' (use of a baton in ways that were not appropriate) or 'tune ups' (things certain police were said to have done to suspects to get information or punish miscreants). And I kept for getting the name of the mob family in New Jersey that is said to have killed their own don because they discovered he was gay (the DeCavalcantes). Craig is like a very strange and scary wikipedia.

And then, we get to naming the film. I laughed so hard that I cried.

Me: What about Tentacles?

Craig: There is already a film called Tentacles. Jonh Houston and Henry Fonda were in it.

Me: Stop lying!

Craig: It's true. I think the creature had one big eye and a beak. We have got to have one big eye and a beak in ours.

Me: I wanted the monster from It Conquered the World, but I got overruled.

Craig: What about Sharktopus?

Me: You know that's taken, and there's no shark.

Craig: Whatever it is has to have the Alchamagod in it.

Me: What the hell is an Alchamagod?

Craig: One of those made up words they put in the third sequel to a really bad film.

Me: This is the first film, Craig.

Craig: That's what makes it perfect.

It went on like that for quite a while. And in that conversation above are parts of the name of the film. I can't talk about the title or the actors cast quite yet. Everything is still being firmed up. I should have more news on the film and when it will shoot by this time next week. Fingers crossed.

I've also been working on new recipes and techniques!

Stay tuned!

Blog Delay -- Deadlines and Side Effects

I have a deadline for the Horror Movie (it's now, now, now basically). Meanwhile, my joints have decided to be uncooperative with my deadline concerns.Thus, all my focus has to be on finishing the script. This has become quite an exciting and fun project that has generated a lot of creativity in all of us.

The upside is that there will be a lot to share next week (like who is in the horror film and when we start shooting) including a cooking revelation (it's so obvious but I've never seen it done).

Stay tuned.

Pains & Gains, Irish Butter and Updates

My reward for taking a long walk to and from the Mar Vista Farmer's Market was an astonishing hunk of fresh baguette with a light, light smear of Irish butter. The crust is perfectly crunchy and the inside is remarkably tender. The butter was sweet and somehow not greasy. Paired together, it was a most delightful snack. The market was a treat on its own. Though I was too late for the squash blossoms again, I found amazing produce like a fat leek with over a foot of white or light leaves. And then there were the huge shallots and big, beautiful tomatoes. Oh, and there was the baguette. All of this was on top of a really beautiful day. Or it was by the time we started walking home. It had been raining mightily earlier and there were still big, dark clouds lurking about when we started out.

The weekend has been wonderful, food and beverage wise. My walk yesterday centered around a trip to Beverage Warehouse, a liquor, wine and beer outlet store in the neighborhood. Friend and former Boders Books colleague, Adam, recommended some wines on his website, PinotNow.com . I found two of the five mentioned in recent blogs on the site. Both wines, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and Carmenère were only $7.99. I've only tried the d'Abruzzo so far. It was just wonderful. I can't wait to try the Carmenère. I also found a Spanish sparkling wine, Cristalino Brut Cava for the same price. It has excellent reviews. I look forward to trying that as well. Adam is going to walk me through the place at sometime soon to point out the other deals. I'm very pleased and excited with what I've already found.

Gains and Pains

As it is with the ying and yang of life, there are setbacks with progress. I managed to hurt one knee while simply moving around the apartment. The pain from that is enough to put me back on the sofa. When looking at the grand scheme of things, it isn't a terrible set back. Some ice on the knee along with an analgesic and some rest will set it right. I will likely have to push back some of my errands this week, but that won't hurt any of the projects. All of this is reasonable, but I'm usually not reasonable right away. I have a tendency to initially freak out then work my way back to reasonable. Craig (who advised me about the ice) already fussed at me about wanting to do too much to soon. He said I should be eating bon bons on the sofa or be fanned by a Nubian. I was watching Cleopatra at the time. Jon doesn't fuss at me. He knows that I'll get back to sane eventually. However, he does keep me from getting up too much. I'll take it easy tomorrow, but I won't postpone anything yet.

More Palate Perils

After last week's blog, friends pointed out that I've been exposed to other expensive foods with varying impacts on my finances. The most recent is imported Irish butter. I hadn't planned on trying it. It's expensive compared to full price supermarket butter. I pooh poohed the notion of baking cookies with it as suggested by some of my Food Network chefs. I still do pooh pooh that notion. With all the spices and ingredients like chocolate chips, I think it is impossible to taste the difference between regular, domestic butter and Irish butter. So how did I end up spreading it on my baguette? I noticed that it was only a dollar more than the regular butter I buy at Costco for almost the same number of pounds. We tried it as part of our St. Patrick's Day meal. I must say, it is creamier and tastier than regular butter on bread or in mashed potatoes. It's amazing on mashed potatoes. I wouldn't but it every time I shop for butter, but as a once in a while treat, it's definitely worth the money.

The most extravagant palate peril I've had anywhere was Latvian Ossetra Caviar. Our former roommate's family was from Latvia. They visited almost every summer and brought back a lot of gifts. On at least three occasions, one of the gifts was this honking large tin of Ossetra Caviar. I had had it before at the odd New Year's Eve party, but nothing that good. We had it often enough and in such quantities that I considered purchasing a mother of pearl spoon to scoop it with. Alas, the sturgeon population became stressed after a while. These gifts got way too expensive – even for someone buying it in Latvia. We stopped receiving them. There was never an impact to my wallet, because I just never felt a driving need to pay almost $100 an ounce for anything. Nope. Not happening. I will, however, gladly accept gifts.

Updates or Craig vs The Film Industry

Craig has just interrupted me in taking up the blog this Monday morning with a rant about the Jheri Curl. I'm not sure what prompted the rant or where it was headed. I'm still waking up from the affects of pain meds, so not much is making sense. Still, we must press on!

Craig's problems with the film industry have nothing to do with really bad films like Eegah [look, I found the trailer for Eegah ] or Battle LA. Writer's note: These are not my opinion of either film as I have not seen them. These are Craig's strongly held views. Mind, he voluntarily watched both films, so I don't feel sorry for him. At any rate, his latest battle with the film industry goes far beyond yelling at JJ Abrams for begin a hack (he was in Craig's neighborhood quite often for some reason). Craig helped a good buddy of his actively wage war against Film LA over allowing a disruptive number of shoots in his friend's neighborhood. I'm not sure of the details of the battle as it was occurring at about the time I was really getting sick, but I do remember seeing one of the neighborhood meetings on the local news. It was contentious. And I've noticed the results when recently dealing with Film LA. There is a lot of advice offered – no insisted upon – about the community outreach necessary before shooting in a residential neighborhood.

Despite all of this, Craig is very handy to have during pre-production and on a shoot. Since I'm stuck on a sofa, he's been helping me with things like finding production insurance and locations. The latest locale I've been after is a Victorian house. There are quite a number of them near USC and near Downtown LA. Since he's lived all over the city, I knew Craig would know where to find them. Alas, the ones he knew of are, according to him, filled with surfers and dirtbags. He suggested that they would be great extras in a zombie film. No make-up would be necessary. Unfortunately, I needed a non-zombie scene set in the Victorian era. He did give me some good leads though. Craig has also agreed to work with me during the horror film shoot and the Demon Under Glass web series. He's very good at keeping me sane and happy during a shoot. I suspect his goal during these shoots is to keep me from doing too much running around. In exchange for his presence, we've agreed to give him his usual nine seconds of screen time as we did in Demon Under Glass. Thus, on the web series, I have almost all of my location, costume and prop issues resolved. I am now turning my attention to the bureaucracy of a shoot (insurance, guilds, blah blah, blah). Still, it looks like we'll be doing the horror feature first. The first draft of that is nearly finished. We're having a lot of fun with that now, and I'm relieved. It's been far easier to write since we took a more twisted view on the material.

The novels haven't been completely put on the back burner. I've found time to keep both moving usually late, late at night (or actually early morning) when Jon has gone to bed and no more work is being done on the script. There may even be an excerpt coming.

Stay tuned.

Exercise, Palate Perils and Updates

I haven't started really celebrating my clean bill of health in earnest yet. I was treated to a lovely lunch and wonderful conversation that included a toast or two with some dear friends. That is one of my favorite ways of spending time, and I truly and deeply enjoyed it. There were even presents (I'll get into that later). But I haven't begun to go really nuts yet. I am making plans though...lots and lots of plans. I'm looking forward to traveling back east and to shooting one of the web series and even a feature. Then, there are all the cookbooks I'm working through. I had been reluctant to really make plans for so long. I had been afraid of setting myself up for disappointment. Now, I am thinking of absolutely everything I would like to do and see and accomplish. It's all so exciting that I just don't know where to begin.

Work That Body

For now and the immediate future, my primary job is getting back in shape and mitigating the sometimes considerable impact of the chemo side effects until they completely disappear (2 to 6 months). That seems to mean exercise. I've been doing some exercise since I recovered from the first surgery. The exercise then was in the form of leisurely walking for at best a half an hour. Now, the Docs are talking about more vigorous walking and some training with light weights. They want me to do something everyday, but that isn't working for me yet. I find I'm really tired and sometimes sore between bouts of exercise, so I've been doing something every other day.

On Friday, I was mall walking while Jon was having an interview nearby. Now, I know that proponents of mall walking suggest doing it early in the day when most of the stores are closed and the mall is almost empty. People in my way wasn't a problem during my laps around the place. It was all of the portable food that was making me nuts. There was a million milk shake stand and a Baskin Robins stand and a soft pretzel stand and a popcorn stand. Now, after the first surgery and certainly during chemo, I was encouraged to eat whatever I wanted and as much as I wanted. But that was when I had no appetite and was steadily losing weight. Neither of those is a problem right now. Thus, as much as I am pleased to be able to eat ice cream again, I must show some restraint. I'd like to keep the slimness I've had and perhaps even make it down to the weight my primary care Doc wanted me at before everything went haywire. Thus, I kept to one end of the gigantic mall where there was less temptation. I managed quite a few laps with a backpack of groceries on my back. It's a beginning. I plan to start walking along the beach and logging some actual miles soon. It's a year to go to the next LA Marathon. Who knows? Maybe I'll have a whack at walking it. Though if the weather then is as it is now, I'll be swimming it.

Perils of the Palate

There was a time when my taste in wine ran toward the sickly sweet. I can't remember the labels now. I think I blocked them from my brain in shame for ever putting those substances past my lips. At any rate, I was blissfully happy in my ignorance until I began working in New York City. In another life, in the 1980s, I worked on Park Avenue for an advertising firm. Yep, I had power suits, dresses, and I do believe pajamas that had those big should pads. My hair was really big as well. For my 20 something readers – look it up! Sorry, aging sometimes makes me cranky. Where was I? Right.

The company I worked for only had 8 employees and that included the Vice President of the division. So we had our Christmas party at a very fancy restaurant where the servers were there to pull your chair out or help you back every time you got up. It was the kind of meal that had a wine with each course. My first experience with port was at the end of that amazing meal. The wines during the meal were astonishing to me. I remember telling the VP that I really wished I didn't know what good wines were as I would never be the same again. I wasn't. My life got very expensive. The same thing happened when I worked for Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino as a bartender. I worked room service for the high rollers primarily. I also worked the last hour of bar service for one of the 5 star restaurants. Very often, high rollers would have expensive champagne opened only to send it back untouched to return to the tables. Since the bubbly couldn't be re-sold, it was returned to my bar. We were supposed to pour it down the drain, but my bar had no cameras on it, and I felt that was a terrible waste. Thus, I split it with the servers and the kitchen staff. We all developed quite a taste for champagne that ran $50 and up. Luckily, over the years, I have found wines and champagnes that are very reasonable and quite tasty (I found even more in France – another reason to love that country).

However, I always look at an expansion of my palate as potentially dangerous to my wallet. There was a scare with the aged balsamic, but I have found an excellent vendor that is very reasonable (F. Oliver's Oil and Vinegars) and it lasts for a long time. The latest palate peril this week were presents. One was real French Macarons and the other was real Foie Gras. [Before anyone writes to me about the cruelty involved in making this please see the following video of Anthony Bourdain on Foie Gras. If you have issues with people eating meat period, please do not write me. I just spent 18 months being told that I not only needed meat to right various deficiencies, it was strongly suggested that organ meats be included. And until there is meatless bacon, I am not changing my eating habits.] Both gifts were delicately delicious and really difficult to accurately describe. It won't be easy not to consume them as if I was a vacuum. I want to savor them for as long as I can before looking about to see how much they cost to buy here. Merci pour les cadeaux, ma cher!

Updates

Let start with the novels. I re-read what I've written, decided I hated everything and wanted very much to delete the files. But that was on Monday when I didn't know what my Doctor would tell me. I was a bit cranky and terrified about everything that day. By the second dirty vodka martini (a splash of olive brine is added with the vermouth and 3 olives for me), I had changed my mind. By Wednesday, I was back to producing a couple of pages per day on each book. I'm going to take a week off working on them though to finish the horror script.

The horror script which Jon and I are looking at as more of a comedy than a horror script is coming along. The treatment was approved late last week and I'm more than a third of the way through. We have the leads cast. I won't make announcements until we have signatures and shooting dates. I can tell you that it's a fun cast and that helps with the writing. I expect to turn in the first draft by the end of the week. But first I have to find a name for a demon that has lots of tentacles. And I have to figure out numerous humorous ways of killing people. My life is very strange.

The Demon Under Glass web series is coming along in development as well. I've found three locations and the period costumes for the Victorian era. I'm still looking for 1990s era suits. I plan to solve that problem sometime this week then meet with my FX Diva about some other issues. By next Sunday, I believe I will have a shooting date for the web series.

All of this activity does not mean that I'm ready to run around wearing many hats as I once did. Most of my work has been online or on the phone. I can't see myself doing much more on a shoot than yelling at people from a chair where I'll be planted with my feet propped up. As many have told me this week, I've had some great news, but I still have a ways to go before I'm back to my regular levels of activity. So, no worries, I'm behaving.

Stay tuned.

Big News and What's Cooking

For those who haven't heard, I am deliriously happy to report that I am officially a cancer survivor! Many thanks for all of the kind thoughts, notes, prayers, Tastykakes, soft pretzels and rain dances. I still have issues to work through, but the major goal has been achieved.

Today, I am cooking very divergent dishes – Corned Beef and Cabbage and Falafel with Hummus. As it is St. Patrick's day and my late mother's Feast Day , I am making corned beef and cabbage. I had considered making an Irish dish like lamb stew or Colcannon, but the Irish-American corned beef and cabbage has a special place in my culinary history. It was, in fact, the first full meal I ever cooked for my family. I was still in high school (shout out to my peeps from Cardinal Dougherty), but that meal was the beginning of my taking over cooking Sunday dinner for the family. Incidentally, my high school alma mater is the reason I can do the Irish Jig. But I digress. The Falafel and Hummus I'm making from scratch using dried chick peas. I saw the recipes for these on Alton Brown's Good Eats. I really love both Falafel and Hummus on their own, but I really enjoy them in a pita sandwich or on a platter with a little Greek salad. I'm even going to make my own Tzatziki sauce. That is a lot easier to do than it used to be, because Greek yogurt is everywhere now. But those dishes are actually for tomorrow as I go meatless on Fridays during Lent. Today, it's all about the corned beef!

Meanwhile, while everything is simmering in the slow cookers, I'm looking up names of demons. I'll explain more about that on Sunday's blog.

Stay tuned.

Pulled Pork, Crazy Cable News and Facing the Future

As of 11pm Saturday night, the apartment was filled with warmth and the scent of pork shoulder seasoned with Herbs de Provence roasting in the oven filled the air. It is bound for a pulled pork application in Sunday's dinner. I am having a glass of red wine while struggling through a film treatment. More on that later.

24 hour News Idiocy

According to the eleven o'clock local news on Saturday night, the tsunami warning has been lifted on the west coast. Those warnings, what they mean and how the national media covers them became both extremely important and profoundly irritating since the wee small hours of Friday morning. As I have written in a blog of yore, Jon and I live at the edge of a tsunami zone. According to the map we got in a disaster prevention brochure, if we crossed the street, we would be out of the tsunami zone. The brochure implied that there was some magical barrier running between one side of Culver Blvd and the other. Humans could cross, but water and mud could not. That edition of the disaster brochure was very specific in detailing the government response to a tsunami. [Incidentally, this year's edition of disaster brochure covered killer bees, fire ants and deadly mosquitoes. I am not kidding.]

Where was I? Oh, yes. There would be an Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) tsunami warning to the area in general. Those within a mile or so of the ocean would hear the horn sound. I've actually seen two such EBS warnings of tsunami on TV. Each time, friends who lived nearby would call to ask if I, too, saw the warning and if we were evacuating. One friend lived in the Venice canals. I told him that he was likely boned, because he'd never get out of the bottleneck in time. The other lives up a 200 foot cliff in the Palisades. If a tsunami could hit him, we were all done. In neither case did we hear the horn sound. But we know that the EBS does work.

Thus, at 2:30 am when CNN and other cable outlets announced that the west coast of the US was included in the Tsunami warning in the wake of the earthquake in Japan, I wasn't that concerned. We'd know if it was a real problem if the EBS warning came up. But the anchors were whipped up into a frenzy about the waves hitting California that I wondered if they knew something local authorities didn't. Still, no warning came up and the local outlets didn't start their morning coverage early. I began to worry about my relatives seeing the broadcasts. Craig's girlfriend's mother called their place at 3am in hysterics. According to Google maps, they were right next to the ocean and the news was saying it could hit Southern California. She tried to explain to her mother that they were 200 feet above sea level, but the poor woman was about to have a fit. There was no call from back East at our place nor had EBS sounded a warning by 8:30 am when the first wave was to hit. Some beaches and piers were closed mainly to keep idiots from going into the water or getting too far out over it. Even if a big wave didn't come, the currents were unpredictable and a rogue wave was possible. None of the local news outlets ever seemed to think we were in any kind of danger. You'd never know that by the coverage on cable. I called my father just ahead of him calling me. He was getting worried because of the continuing coverage of worst case scenarios. That really ticked me off.

I have drifted from watching cable news coverage of anything but emergencies because of how bad it has become. Maybe it's all the airtime that they have to fill that makes them sound like idiots trying to make more of a story than is necessary. The earthquake was a horrific tragedy on it's own without trying to make the US part of the peril as well. Between the hysteria and the really stupid statements during broadcasts, I think I'd be better off getting my news from Twitter.

The Next Phase

On Tuesday, I find out if I am truly clear of tumors and free to call myself a cancer survivor. I spent a lot of last week giving blood and getting various parts of my body scanned in advance of the appointment. Naturally, I've been worrying myself what ifs. I've actually managed to worry about what would happen if I get the all clear. How on earth would that be a problem? What can I say? I am an expert on worrying. The key is pressing forward despite being wigged out most of the time. Thus, while worrying, I've been making sure to get the exercise suggested to blunt the side effects from Chemo. And I've been eating a diet to correct the deficiencies in my blood. And I am researching the possible day jobs I may take along with the shoots I want to accomplish. I've always thrived on planning and making lists. Such activities naturally force one to focus on the future. And I have a whole lot of lists involving spending time in France. Yes, I am a worry wart, but I have a whole lot of things I plan on doing.

Updates

None for this week. There is a lot going on with the various film projects. And I have some interesting reflections on problems the novels have brought up. And then there is the morning Jon and I spent with Craig en route to hospital tests and dealing with potential tsunamis. It seems that Ray Liotta is the least of his problems with celebrities.

Stay tuned.

Craig, Mardi Gras, Horror and Armani

Craig came by this morning. He had donuts and a script. The treats were part of a bribe to edit the script. I was afraid of peeking at it right away. The visit was a happening in and of itself. There were no sightings of the Liotta last week. Craig was mostly housebound working on the re-write of the script. Despite the lack of Liotta tales, as it always is with Craig, I was laughing my head off within moments of his arrival and kept laughing until he left. I think the frivolity threw off the rest of my day. I had to get ingredients for Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday dishes. I'd already made three kinds of stock for these dishes and knew what I wanted to make. Still, it took me a couple a couple hours to focus and figure out what I wanted to do. I'd missed the Farmer's Market again due to the late hour of waking and our visitor. But I still wanted to get in a longish walk to keep up with the exercise therapy. By noon, I figured out where I wanted to go, and what I wanted to get done aside from grocery shopping. But more on that later in the blog.

All You Need to Do

Jon and I have been told on many more than one occasion that all we need to do to kick start our careers is to write a cheap horror movie like the firs Saw or Paranormal Activity . The latter is most often suggested because of how little it cost to shoot. There is a 'how hard can it be?' question that usually goes along with the suggestion. First, Paranormal Activity cost very little in cash, but the filmmaker was already in the Industry and had a whole lot of resources available to him for free or on a deferred basis that we wouldn't have. Second, it isn't easy – at least not for us – to write a slasher film. Neither of us are into or can even tolerate torture porn. It is very, very difficult to write a script in a genre that you truly do not like or respect. Craig agreed adding that it's even hard to crib from other movies and graft something together from the parts. He apparently tried that once and ended up repeatedly shouting 'but that is stupid' at the TV screen and his computer monitor.

So what happens? We get asked to write a horror movie. What can I say? We're in LA and these sorts of things happen. We like and respect the people who asked and if their plan succeeds, it could mean a lot for our careers. But how do we do that after the diatribe above? Well, fortunately the venue this film would be aimed at does allow for a bit of humor around the edges. Sometimes, I've even noticed a bit of wrongness in their films. Jon and I really enjoy injecting wrongness into our work. And we can't help the humor. So, as far as we're concerned, we're writing a comedy with moments of terror and some gore. We really loved the film Hot Fuzz for this sort of mix. That film was one of the most violent films I've ever seen and I couldn't stop laughing. I don't know if we'd get away with that much humor, but there is funny stuff in this script. Even Craig approved before calling us twisted. A high compliment, indeed.

Yes, I know, we made a vampire film (Demon Under Glass). How is that not horror? Well, as far as we're concerned, we made a film noir with a vampire in it. Joe was the poor doomed schlub dragged into a situation that was way over his head, and Simon was the tall, hot blond who dragged him into the situation. Except that he wasn't blond and he was a guy and a vampire.

Other Updates

One of the things that delayed the blog was a trip to the nearby costume house. It's open on Sunday now. So, we were continuing our research for the Demon Under Glass web series by checking out Victorian frock coats and vests. I also took the opportunity to look at head pieces for Vegas Showgirls. That has nothing to do with the web series. It's going to be part of this year's month of fun. Best that's all you know. I think we found a range of acceptable coats and possibly some vests, but we have to make sure that the cut is from the right part of the Victorian era. Yes, that's Jon talking. I would actually smack the person nitpicking about the era of a frock coat if we successfully pull off that flashback scene. I've found that I can get the pants and shirt for the ensemble on ebay. Strangely, dressing the females in the scene is easier. There are a lot more options for rentals or purchase for females somehow. Now, I have to figure out where to find a vintage Versace or Armani suit (circa 1995) that doesn't cost $3000. Yep, I said $3000. I don't think suits, unless they are coated in 24 carat gold, appreciate over twenty years. So I have no idea why I'm running into those prices. But I've solved the Victorian version. I'll find that suit before too long.

Speaking of finding elusive things, I found a location for the bookstore. I'm fairly sure that I'll be able to secure the bar this week. I have a couple of leads on apartments that we'd have to see before making a decision.

The novels are moving along nicely. I manage to work on one or the other of them every day. I'd say that I'm nearing the halfway mark on both. In my head, I have a date for when I'll get them to my reader for editing. But, for now, I'm focusing on forward momentum.

Stay tuned.

Blog Delay

The blog will be delayed until late tonight or tomorrow. No worries. We're just up to some things that are diverting my attention.

Stay tuned.

Deb vs Cooking, Craig vs Liotta and Updates

The doppler says we're having gropple. No, I'm not speaking in code. That's what the weather folk are saying this weekend. It's really cold for Southern California (temps in the 30s within the city limits). There has been snow and hail and the gropple (soft hail pellets). We were shocked that there wasn't a 1000 car pile up on the 405 on the rumors of snow. LA drivers don't do well with precipitation. On Friday, the rain was cold and steady. For some reason that messed up the bus schedule. In Philly, buses run in the snow. But because Jon and I were tramping about on foot in the rain, we chanced to see an old gent practicing with a lasso. I was thus inspired to create a Haiku. Ahem.

Codger with lasso
Practicing in pouring rain
LA in winter

Alas, I've been paying for all that running around in the cold rain. I think every one of my joints still hurts. Fortunately, we didn't need to do any running around Saturday. And the forecast for Sunday is clear of rain or snow. All that remains is the cold or relative cold. I'll likely stay in until tomorrow.

Deb vs Madeleines Part Two – The Reckoning

I was thinking of calling the sequel The Bakening, but aside from bakening not being a real word, it sounded too close to bacon. Goodness knows, I really enjoy most things involving bacon, but it really doesn't have anything to do with Madeleines. I figured out what I did wrong in the first recipe. The fault was in the instructions. The eggs and sugar have to be beaten until the mixture is as fluffy as a mousse before the dry ingredients are added. I did not get that from the first recipe I looked at. I could tell the difference in the batter as soon as I spooned it into the pan. It was all way more exciting than it should have been, but I felt quite victorious! Now, I feel that I can move on to more difficult baking recipes. The croissants await!

Recipe Math

So, I was watching my cooking shows last week and got inspired to do some serious meat cooking to refill the freezer. Now, most of the recipes from the shows are geared for the home cook in that their proportions aren't geared toward feeding a battalion of soldiers. So, when I see this really tasty looking meatloaf recipe on the Barefoot Contessa , I decide to give it a try. Jon had mentioned that he'd like to try a meatloaf that wasn't so dependent on ketchup or a tomato sauce. This one had a lot of herbs and aromatics and seemed to keep moist without the ketchup. It was Ina Garten's favorite dish from a local restaurant in the Hamptons , and I noticed that the chef/owner of said restaurant was actually making the dish. Still, I didn't put it together until I had formed the meatloaf on the pan that the recipe was enough for a dinner service at an eatery. Boy, are we good for meatloaf for a while. It was very fortunate that it was, indeed, a very good recipe. Next time though, I'll carefully check the math.

Craig vs Ray Liotta

I got a call from Craig last week with some strange instructions. He said that if anything happened to him, it was Ray Liotta who was behind it and that we should avenge him. My last image of Ray Liotta in person was at our local movie theater. He was with a little

girl wearing a tutu trying to convince the concessions clerk that he wanted nachos without the cheese. It seemed that was how the little girl preferred them. Since he wasn't menacing during what seemed to be a stressful situation (the film was to start very soon), I found it hard to imagine him stalking Craig with ominous intent. So when I stopped laughing, I asked Craig why he thought this was happening. He said he was seeing far too much of the Liotta for it to me an innocent coincidence. Mind, the man does live in the same neighborhood as Craig. But that was cutting no ice with my intensely whacky friend. The final straw came during a contemplative walk through a nearby college campus. Craig was pondering on the fact that he was seeing far too much of the Liotta (his terminology) as he reached the edge of the campus and entered the shopping district. Just then, the Liotta came out of a sun glass store. And this time he chin waived at Craig – a New Jersey acknowledgment that you have indeed seen a lot of each other (both hail from New Jersey). I tried to calm him by explaining that they live in a small enclave that's sort of cut off from the rest of LA. And since both men are between engagements, it's just likely that their paths coincide while running errands. Still, we have our instructions. Thus, Jon and I must be ready to spring into vengeance mode should the need arise. Jon blames me for answering the phone. I found I couldn't watch Goodfellas this week because I was laughing too hard.

Updates

Book wise, I've been making steady progress with both novels. I've been doing two to three pages on each on alternating days. I can't complain about that. However, I'm not going to jinx myself by predicting when they'll be finished especially now that I'm adding pain in my fingers to the other joint pain I've been having.

Film wise, I've been working on a script that I hadn't expected to be writing. It's an entirely new project that I can't really talk about yet. I'm on my own with it for a while as Jon is editing some things that he needs to clear off his slate. I've also been gathering assets (locations, equipment, crew) for the Demon Under Glass Web series. That primarily involves e-mail and phone calls right now. I'm not quite up to running around the county to look at things. Depending on our involvement, which I suspect will be deeply involved, this new film could delay the web series further. We would be working with the actors, but not on what we expected to be shooting. But like finding a codger throwing a lasso in a rainstorm or preparing to exact vengeance on the Liotta, being in Los Angeles means accepting the unexpected.

Stay tuned.

Down Time and Finding Normal

The house smells of onions and garlic and balsamic vinegar roasting away with a lovely piece of beef brisket in the oven. It's delightful. Mind, I am hours behind schedule getting anything in the oven as we had nothing in the fridge or pantry for Sunday dinner until a couple of hours ago. I've been thrown completely off schedule because of the colds we both had last week. In fact, the roast in the oven has been about the only thing I've accomplished over seven days. Something that smells that yummy deserves buttery mashed potatoes and a hardy veggie. It's so good to be consuming something more than soup. Even if it is good soup – and it was – there's nothing like a good, savory solid meal.

Good, Bad and Really Ugly

The good news about the terrible cold I caught from Jon last week is that my blood counts must be normal. I never spiked a fever, and I was over it pretty much by the end of the week. It was the first cold I've had since November of 2009 before the whole ordeal began. Colds are one of the bogeymen to avoid during chemo. They can delay treatment. Or worse, they can cause a fever which leads to a hospital stay. And the last words from all the various Docs that I see was to avoid getting sick. Those who know the Hubs and I realize that to completely avoid getting sick may involve having Jon live in a small box outside of the apartment. You see, Jon is usually a cold magnet. And as our apartment is very tiny, it is very difficult to avoid each other and surfaces that we may have touched. It's quite amazing that he hadn't had one during this time. Perhaps he knew about my plans for him and that small box.

The bad news about the terrible cold I had last week was other than a perfectly delicious pot of chicken soup, I accomplished nothing. My head was full of wet cotton. I couldn't breath through my nose. Most of the time, I couldn't read. Writing dwindled down to a paragraph or two per day. I didn't even want to talk on the phone. Needless to say, not much was happening other than laying about watching TV or, more often, having the TV watch me sleep. On top of feeling generally miserable and paranoid that I would end up back in an ER, I somehow became convinced that the cold would somehow stop the chemo side effects from going away. It's like the cold somehow pushed a pause button on my recovery. Yes, I know that makes no sense. I'm a creative person, and as such, I'm more than a little touched in the head. Being reduced to a lump on the sofa also gives such a mind far too much time to think strange things. Happily, I'm feeling better now. Breathing is more or less back to normal, and my head doesn't feel like it's full of wet cotton. I actually did a bit of walking for exercise on Saturday.

Degrees of Normal

I get asked how I'm doing a lot, and my replies have been vague. I don't like to list in detail what's going on with me, because it sounds like complaining. I'd never complaining about my current lot, because it could be quite have been a good deal worse. However, I'm quite a ways from being free of chemo side effects. I can't say that I'm close to normal. Apparently, what normal will end up being is anyone's guess right now. I may end up feeling the same as I was before I got sick. I may feel better than I did then. Or I may have a whole new definition of what normal is. It will be several weeks before anything is clear. As for right now, both of my feet are numb. How much of the foot is numb varies day to day. It seems that more and more of the foot is not numb during the day. Why it changes from night to day is a mystery to me. This doesn't keep me from walking though I can't do too much running around. It's mainly weird. My hands have pins and needles sometimes, but not the numbness that's in my feet. I've also got pain in my joints that can get quite intense. Strangely, exercise helps that, so I have to walk and lift things each day. These side effects should fade over time. I'm largely free of nausea though there are still times when my appetite is off or my digestive system is in an uproar. However, I'm managing the side effects well enough to get around with errands and my appointments. I can write and I can cook and I can do some planning for the various projects, so I am content to ride these things out. I still feel that I've been extremely fortunate.

Updates

There aren't many, because I didn't do much last week. We had a production meeting today about an upcoming project. And I made some inquiries about locations for the Demon Under Glass web series. More phone calls on that are up for this week. And it looks like Jon and I have a new script to write.

Next week: The crazies in my life, script writing drama and more updates.

Stay tuned.

Glamour and Green Thumbs

Craig called and asked what my favorite color is. Now, I'm afraid. I keep thinking that he's going to show up in some big purple bird costume and do a dance to cheer me up. He's been on a bird bender lately. It seems that his lady set up several hummingbird feeders in their postage stamp of a yard. He speaks a great deal of being strafed on his way to the dumpster. Yet, I don't put it past him to show up as a big purple hummingbird. I can't say that that wouldn't make me laugh. I don't know if the neighbors would speak to us again, but I certainly would laugh.

The Glamorous Life?

There are many who believe that the Hubs and I live a typical LA lifestyle – lots of excitement, fun and sun by the pool or on the beach, exciting friends, exciting places like clubs or restaurants. So, when people come to visit, we feel compelled – rightly or wrongly – to show visitors an exciting time. That is a bit difficult for us as we actually don't go out much normally. And when we do, it's to very unglamorous places like a diner (the most excellent 50's Cafe in Venice) or a hot dog stand (the most excellent Costco hot dog stand). Sometimes, we really cut loose and talk shop with crew guys we know over coffee or -- sometimes -- a beer! And that was before I began the ordeal with my illness. We're really homebodies lately. I basically go to appointments and to some sort of market. Luckily, there is a pleasant neighborhood to walk about. I'm content with my current lot in life. But when visitors come calling, there is always the question of how to keep them entertained. Because along with being homebodies, Jon and I are complete geeks. What we may be interested in – like a trip out to Vasquez Rocks or all the places Starsky and Hutch filmed in Venice – doesn't appeal to many people.

Thus, when my brother came to town last week, Jon and I puzzled mightily over how to entertain him for four days. The Star tours of celebrity homes aren't very exciting. The maps are largely inaccurate and most of those homes in Beverly Hills and Bel Aire are surrounded by tall walls or hedges. I was fairly certain that he wouldn't be interested in the murder tour. And then there is the Gang tour that takes folks into gang territories for photo ops. That struck me as pushing one's luck. And being the children of a cop, we found that kind of tour more than a little foolish. Luckily, aside from the espionage mission he was completing for my father (making sure I'm actually on the mend as I claim), my brother was far more interested in enjoying the warm weather than visiting all the tourist spots. Specifically, he was enjoying calling people back East from the Santa Monica pier and telling them what temperature it was. Ah, simple pleasures. So, when he said he was up for anywhere I wanted to go, I dragged him to my favorite kitchen supply store, Surfas. I've been wanting to take a look at their professional pots and pans – which I did. Meanwhile, my brother became obsessed with quail eggs. I had a great time there, because I discovered that they had vastly increased the cooking products sections. Many things I might have ordered online like duck fat or duck confit are in stock there. They also carry a great selection of spices and other things. So, I had a blast. I think he did, too. I do know that the espionage mission was a success.

Pale Green Thumb

My herb garden is going through some growing pains. The Italian oregano bit the dust this week. It had been thriving, but then it all just dried up and died. I wrote the vendor who sold me them in the hopes of saving the Italian parsley and found that the plants may not be getting enough sun in the living room window. It's not making a valiant effort at rebounding in the bedroom window which gets a lot of direct sunlight. The blue basil and the Thyme are thriving, so far. Alas, the chive and dill plants I got for Christmas are looking limp; I'm hoping that it's just a matter of changing the pots, but I don't know. Any suggestions out there?

The Super Bowl menu went over very nicely. I even had some leftovers to enjoy into the week. I haven't done much interesting cooking because of running around with my brother. I have plans to take on the elusive madeleine. I'm not sure why my first attempt failed in such a spectacular fashion, but I'm going to find out. How can I conquer puff pastry if I can't conquer a cookie?

Updates

No writing or filmmaking updates this week due to my visitor. Then, after he left Jon caught a very bad cold. I now have it. Depending on where my blood counts are, a cold could become quite problematic. So, I'm taking it very easy for the next few days.

Stay tuned.

Super Spread, Wiley Relatives and Updates

I hadn't planned on making a big spread for the Super Bowl. It's just Jon and me this year, and he's not all that big on nachos or Buffalo wings. Besides, I went a bit batty cooking for the Chinese New Year – more on that later. But then suddenly, it wasn't just Jon and me. My brother is coming to town and I suspect there is a plot afoot. I believe my brother and father are in cahoots in this trip. Since my last hospitalization, there have been a lot more calls from back east. My suspicion is that they want to see for themselves that I am as I've claimed to be. I am. Believe me, if I'm having more problems than usual, I am not quiet about it. Ask poor Jon. I've been half expecting to find my father on my door step. He's a wiley gentleman with a whole lot of frequent flyer miles. He's been known to turn up in cities other than Philly without any notice at all. This time though, my brother is making the trip. I think he wanted to get away from the snow more. At any rate, we're having company for the game. Keith offered to take us out to dinner, but I figure most places we'd like will be crowded and noisy because of the game.

Thus, I'm putting on a little bit of a Super Bowl spread. I don't mind actually. It will be nice to see my brother. And I've had a craving for baby back ribs lately. I didn't want to look like a glutton by consuming a whole rack of ribs. And there are the wings to consider. That would mean that there should be a little potato salad. You see, I need company or I'd gain 40 pounds in a weekend. And for those who may be concerned, my daily diet is very healthy and almost completely made from scratch. I'm still on those dreadful low white count restrictions, but otherwise my food intake is fiber, iron and potassium rich. So, this is a once in a while treat. By the way, I'm not rooting for a particular team. I'm just hoping for a really good game and really fun commercials.

The menu will be oven roasted baby back ribs, chicken wings (some Buffalo some not), corn and some sort of dessert. I've made the potato salad already. The wings are marinating in white wine, soy sauce, garlic and fresh thyme. I won't have very much to do before the game. This spread will be far easier than the one for the Chinese New Year. The dumplings took me two days. And there was a whole lot of slicing and chopping to do in advance of stir frying the chicken fired rice and cooking the pork lo mein. I only have one photo of the lo mein, and I'm not happy with that. The dumplings looked great before I cooked them, but they got mangled in the cooking process. The fried rice stuck to the bottom of the first pan I used. Sigh. Strangely enough, everything tasted really good. It was all just a little too sad to be photographed. And my fortune cookie said 'you will be happy with your spouse.' Uncanny! Jon is a rabbit in Chinese astrology. I'm hoping that this will be a great year for him and all the wascally rabbits I know.

Spice of Life

I finally made it to my local Penzey's Spice store. I needed dried herbs and such for making soups. We took the long way home after my latest trip to the Doctor's office. I finally bought some saffron. I've been wanting to for the longest time as I make a lot of rice dishes and always wondered about the depth of flavor that saffron could bring. I now have to figure out exactly what I want to make with the stuff. There may be a version of Paella that I can get past Jon. Or I may just be jazzing up the regular rice side dish. I'll let you know. In other spice news, I have come to a conclusion about specialty salts. As you may or may not recall, I was gifted a set of them (gray salt, pink salt and Fleur de Sel flakes) for Christmas. I had wondered if I could really tell the difference using them versus my usual salts in cooking. Well, I did notice a difference. What's even more interesting is that Jon noticed as well. He especially appreciated the Fleur de Sel for the taste and texture it brought to food. He noticed so much that he made sure that I noticed that Penzey's carried them. Thus, I can easily replace them when I run out. This is big as my Hubs doesn't have the gourmet palate.

Updates

I finally posted an excerpt from A Soldier's Destiny on the blog. I even figured out why it's taken me so long. The pages are coming along at a better pace. This makes me happy. On the film front, this week has been a journey through big and small ventures mostly via phone and internet conferences. On the big side, we were contacted by a major distributor about our films. We're following up on that with great enthusiasm. On the small side, we were working on ways of bringing some of our content to the small screen through web series. We made a lot of progress there.

Stay tuned.

Book Excerpt -- A Soldier's Destiny

I admit that I have been more than tardy in posting a new excerpt. Some of that has been my lack of energy from chemo. But that's been only part of the reason. I've been having trouble writing love scenes for this book. I've got lots of mayhem going on. There are two major fight scenes in the first fifty pages. I'm not having any problems spinning an intricate, suspenseful yarn. But the love scenes were not coming (no pun intended) as easily as the fighting. And then my hubs weighed in on the topic. He pointed out that my love scenes, like my fighting scenes or any other scene have to have something to do with character exposition. I know that two healthy, young men don't have to have much of a reason to have sex, but despite opinions from some quarters, I'm not writing porn. I want the love scenes to be both hot and meaningful.

It took a lot of puzzling with a puzzler that isn't working at full tilt, but I finally figured out what the characters as a couple are working against in this book. Rik and Vincent have to fight to have time together. Their jobs and the needs of their extended family threaten to sap every second out of every day. Thus, every love scene in the book is precious to the characters. Sometimes, things don't go smoothly. Once I figured that out, the scenes came (get your mind out of the gutter) more easily. In this excerpt, the pair has been through a hellacious evening only to have an unexpected visitor.

Warning! Minor spoilers for A Soldier's Destiny; explicit homoerotic content.

EXCERPT

Dinner was my favorite pot roast and potatoes. Then, my plan was to have Vincent for dessert. The adrenaline from the fight still coursed through our veins. The energy crackled between us, demanding release. That night, I planned to show my Love who was in charge. I pinned him easily on the sofa, because he wasn't quite expecting it. As I slanted my mouth across his, my hands were in his hair, freeing it from its ties. We were making out on the sofa when the alarm sounded once again. I groaned against Vincent's mouth. I had kissed him to the point where I felt him yielding. I really didn't want to stop.

“Tell me this is a false alarm,” I said into the intercom. It didn't matter how I sounded. Vincent was still clinging to me.

“I wish the hell it was,” Heisler muttered. “Go to Camera 2.”

Vincent punched up the feed to our TV. There, sitting in the waiting area reading a newspaper was Simon Molinar. My lover huffed impatiently as I rolled off him.

“He said that he believes he has an appointment with you two,” Heisler continued. “What do we do? The guards were moved to safety without incident.”

“We'll bring him to Auerbach,” I said. “I don't think he'll be a problem. But send Maximilian down as well.”

“Will do.”

“At least he waited until after dinner,” I sighed.

“Let's put the fucker in a box, so I can fuck you,” Vincent muttered.

“Yes, dear,” I smirked.

Molinar was still reading the paper when we ambled up to him. It was incredible to realize how old he must be. For all appearances, he looked younger than me. Only his eyes belied his nearly angelic face. There was so much going on in those deeply calm, gray-green eyes, I could never begin to read them.

“Simon Molinar?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied smoothly. “Thank you for seeing me. Are you remodeling?”

I looked at the bullet damage and other wreckage wryly.

“No. Why do you ask?”

“No reason, I suppose,” He replied. He was amused. “How do we proceed?”

“Follow us,” I said as Maximilian fell in alongside us.

“I remember you from news reports on that terrible incident at the border,” Molinar said to Maximilian. “You are an impressive specimen. Are you unique in your family?”

Maximilian looked at me quizzically.

“You can answer him, “ I said.

“I come from a long line of magnificently built Altereds,” he said with his usual pride.

“Fascinating,” Molinar murmured. I sensed pride in the Vampire. That hadn't occurred to me. “Where are we off to? Will I meet everyone now?”

“Not tonight,” I said. “The Benefactors aren't here and the medical team has its hands full just now. We are going to show you to your quarters. Tomorrow, you'll meet everyone.”

“What sort of quarters?”

“Quite comfortable, I promise,” I replied.

“I don't suppose there is a choice now,” Molinar murmured. “I'm seeing some very nasty Delphi night suns deployed about.”

“For the protection of the staff and installed under duress,” I admitted with surprising ease. “We knew that you are not a threat to us. We can't wait to find out what you want us to know.”

That admission placated and relaxed the Vampire. We walked in a comfortable silence to the Medical Wing for a brief moment.

“There is an energy about that nearly crackles along my skin,” Molinar remarked. “Is that something you keep going in the building for your powers?”

“We have ways of boosting our energy for defense that is part of the building,” I replied. “But they are not active right now.”

“That's just us,” Vincent said. “After releasing a lot of energy, we sometimes have residual output. No one else has ever felt it from us.”

“Not even I have,” Maximilian said with wonder.

“It's strong enough that I feel as though I've topped off,” the Vampire said thoughtfully.

Thankfully, we had arrived. I had been through too much to think about the implications of Molinar's observations. I knew that Vincent couldn't handle it just then. Besides, there were ways we had to dissipate that energy that I knew my lover was very anxious to resume. We showed Molinar to an Altered suite. There was a living area with a kitchenette and a huge entertainment center. The bedroom had a large bed, a lounge chair and another TV. Auerbach arrived on our heels. He seemed stunned to be meeting the Vampire in this manner.

“Remind me never to bet against you,” he said to me before extending a hand to Molinar. “Hello, Mr. Molinar. My name is Dr. Felix Auerbach. Thank you for coming.”

“Thank you for the welcome. And call me Simon.”

“Simon, we are terribly busy tonight. An emergency that must be attended to,” Auerbach said. “We would like to have you meet us tomorrow with the rest of the Benefactors when we can give you our full attention.”

“I appreciate your taking me in like this,” he said. “You are quite insightful to my situation.”

“That would be your progeny,” Auerbach said. “They seemed to know that you needed them.”

“Yeah, gramps,” Vincent said. “Make yourself at home. We'll catch you in the morning.”

Molinar was taken aback by my cheeky lover. Still, he smiled appreciatively.

“And don't worry, actual sunlight is only in one place in the facility, so you won't necessarily be restricted here,” I said. “But that will depend on you.”

“I shall be quite fine, gentlemen. Don't let me keep you further,” he said.

“There is an overnight kit with clothing and toiletries,” Auerbach said. “Give a shout if you need anything.”

“Thank you. Goodnight.”

Auerbach was silent for a while as we walked him back to his nerve center, so I spoke up.

“Doc, he'll keep until tomorrow. You have a full plate,” I said emphatically. “In fact, if Wolverine squad is stable, you should be eating then hitting the rack.”

“Yes, Doctor,” he quipped.

“We're serious, Doc,” Vincent said. “We count on you to hold us together. You can't burn out in one night with all this shit happening.”

That was far from eloquent, but it made the point.

“That's why I didn't stay to chat with him,” Auerbach assured us. “I plan to give the staff their marching orders, have a stiff belt and get some sleep. I promise.”

“Okay then. Goodnight, Doc. Goodnight, Maximilian,” I said. “We'll convene over breakfast tomorrow.”

I waited until we got back to the apartment before contacting Heisler again.

“Mark, no one is to go near Molinar tonight. That includes Auerbach unless there is an actual emergency,” I said. “And notify us first in that event.”

“Will do.”

Vincent looked concerned. “Do you think he'll try to talk to Molinar on his own?”

“Unlikely while he's dealing with Wolverine squad. I'm just being cautious,” I replied. “Our Doc is as earnest and curious as that Doctor Bassett. But I don't want to lose ours. This time, we'll look after him....Now, where were we? Oh, yes...”

I snatched Vincent against me and claimed his parted lips once more. My fingers found their way into his hair to free it again. Vincent was more resistant this time. I think his determination to make sure we did the deed before another interruption made him try to move things along. I couldn't have that. Getting off wasn't what we needed just then. We needed to really connect. That required time and care. It didn't seem like we had the luxury, but I was just as determined that we did.

Before the kiss could give way to a frenzy, I slowed it and deepened it while I slowly caressed his the elegant muscles along his back. During that very long, nearly lazy kiss, I moved us into the bedroom though I did not try to undress him. We fell onto the bed still kissing and caressing through our clothes. I was relentless though gentle with the kiss. Vincent relaxed as we settled onto the sheets. He yielded with something between a sigh and a moan. Then, I pulled off his top. With one hand holding him down by on shoulder, I kissed and licked his collarbones. I next kissed, licked, sucked and nipped my way down his torso making sure I paid torturous attention to his nipples and navel. Vincent was writhing and cursing at me by the time I pulled his boots and pants off. It was amazing how he could make the term sadistic bastard sound so sexy. I think it was the need and desperation in the tone.

My response was to take his erection in my mouth to the root. There was much less cursing then. In fact, there were no intelligible words until my name was wailed as my Love came hard in my mouth.

“Why do you take me that way first, when you know I want you in me,” Vincent murmured as he watched me undress.

“Those cute, little hips have a diabolical way of thwarting my plans unless you're sated,”I replied reasonably.

That got me an impish grin. He quieted as soon as I crawled between his legs.

“We need a nice long ride to dissipate the energy between us,” I murmured as I prepped him.

“Whatever, Colonel Bastard, just get on ….uhnhhhh...”

I watched his eyes while I had him. They were dark and almost fathomless and filled with lust and love. It was a long and slow ride. The tension built slowly at first, but when I finally touched Vincent's reawakened erection, he could stand no more. Those hips went to work in earnest bringing us over the edge a short while later. I cried out his name while he wailed mine. The connection between us sizzled. The air seemed to crackle. It was amazing.

“Was that long enough for you, Colonel?” Vincent murmured as we lay entwined with each other under warm blankets.

“It never is, Love,” I replied with as sigh. I squeezed him close for a moment. “But it will do for now.”

The regular blog will be up tomorrow.