Skip to main content

Six random things meme

Captain's Log, Supplemental

My friend and romantic suspense author Debby Giusti tagged me!

Six random things about me:

1) I just made the most fabulous pizza modeled after this seafood pizza at Pizzeria Uno’s.

Recipe: I sautéed garlic and green onions in butter, added bay shrimp and imitation crab, and then added a couple tablespoons of cream. I made pizza dough in my bread machine, laid it out on a pizza stone, and spread the seafood toppings on it. I had to let the dough rise a third time, so I did that in a 170 degree oven, then cranked the heat to 400. I added fresh thyme leaves and mozzarella cheese and baked for 25 minutes.

It wasn’t quite as good as Uno’s, but it had a lot less fat, and I thought it tasted marvelous.

2) I’m allergic to real crab (which is why I used the imitation in the pizza). I don’t get hives, nor does my throat swell up, but I do get a really nauseated stomach if I eat even a tablespoon of the stuff.

My dad is worse, he gets hives. I’m also mildly allergic to shrimp and lobster, but I can eat a small portion of each and not get sick (if I eat more than a small portion, I’m in major trouble).

3) I’ve been listening to the audiobook for French Women Don’t Get Fat, and the author says that French people drink champagne for everyday occasions, not just special ones, and that champagne can enhance the pleasure experience of eating.

So I had a glass of (not very expensive) German or Austrian champagne that I got from Trader Joe’s with dinner tonight, and I have to admit, it was very pleasurable!

4) (Side note: Have you noticed the food trend with my six random things? Well, I can’t break with the trend, can I?)

I have recently discovered the pleasures of stinky cheese. I have reached a point where Captain Caffeine’s complaints about the smell are falling on deaf ears.

I also admit, the hedonistic-eating-choices-in-small-portions that I’m getting from my French Women Don’t Get Fat book has contributed to this. I get so much pleasure from cheese and bread, and despite the fact I’ve been eating interesting foods all week, I lost a pound!

Anyway, back to the cheese. Today I picked up raclette, which I believe is a Swiss cheese but I could be wrong. We usually have it on raclette dinner night, but I decided to buy some to melt on freshly baked French bread as a snack.

One slice of each, toasted together, is enough to satisfy me if I take the time to eat it and savor the stinkiness. With a cup of English tea with milk, and I’m in heaven.

5) I have been eating a lot of Trader Joe’s French country village style yogurt, and it’s maaaaaaaaahvelous. Very creamy, and1/2 cup is only 80 calories.

It’s so good that I just slice about three strawberries into it, and that gives the yogurt enough sweetness that I don’t need to add sugar or honey.

6) We’ve had so many strawberries with our organic co-op deliveries that I decided to make a strawberry mousse. It’s really easy, just stew strawberries with sugar and a little water, whisk in a little gelatin, and fold into stiffly whipped cream.

I served it on Thursday night at the writer’s group that meets at my house once a month, and they liked it a lot. Because mousse is mostly air, and I decreased the sugar a bit because the strawberries are so sweet, a regular portion isn’t really that high in calories.

Comments

Popular Posts

Window shopping

Captain’s Log, Stardate 03.14.2005 Knee update: I went to the doctor today for a checkup, and saw his assistant. I’ve been concerned because there’s still inflammation in my knee joint, and it’s been almost 4 months since the surgery. She said she’d talk to the doctor about it tomorrow and call me. Sometimes he suggests laying off the PT to see if that causes the inflammation to go away, but I don’t know if that will work because lately I’ve been pretty active outside of PT. At PT today, the therapist did ultrasound and some sort of electrical current on the joint. Hopefully that will make the inflammation start to go down. I’ll know by tomorrow, probably. Writing: Mt. Hermon conference starts this Friday! On Thursday night, I’ll be at the Santana Row Borders bookstore to help out (and hopefully learn a bit, too) at a booksigning for several of the ACFW authors who are attending Mt. Hermon . That should be lots of fun. I had a good brainstorming time at ...

New book idea a la Captain Caffeine

Captain's Log, Stardate 04.14.2009 So my husband, Captain Caffeine, had lunch with a few friends a few days ago. And they asked about my writing, and if I’d been on Oprah yet. (Yeah, right) They then discussed NYT bestselling books, and why can’t Camy write a NYT bestseller. (Sure, let me just open a vein over a blank page and it’ll come right out.) So Captain Caffeine came home with ideas for my new NYT bestselling novel. First it starts with vampires, because Twilight is so hot. But not just any vampires. This one’s an Amish vampire. And he’s not just an Amish vampire, he’s a cop in disguise, infiltrating the Amish community to protect a witness. (Hmm, that storyline sounds familiar ...) But wait! There’s more! To add more conflict and stick with my brand of Asian fiction, we introduce the Tibetan monk! Who joins the Amish community to get away from the pressures of monkhood. But in reality, he’s protecting the Chinese princess on the run, trying to escape from her father’s Hong...

I sold to Steeple Hill!

Captain's Log, Supplemental Remember that romantic suspense proposal I blogged about earlier? Well, it just sold to Steeple Hill’s Love Inspired Suspense line! I am so jazzed! I am beyond jazzed! The story’s working title is Sinister Spa The story's title is Deadly Intent and here’s a blurb (but it’s probably not what will appear on the back of the book): Massage therapist Naomi Grant could use a massage herself. With her father at home recovering from a stroke, Naomi is put in charge of the family’s elite day spa in Sonoma county. The new responsibilities sit awkwardly on her shoulders, and things only get worse when handsome Dr. Devon Knightley breezes into the spa, demanding to see one of the female clients. And the woman is found dead in Naomi’s massage room. Suddenly, Naomi is a suspect and her family’s spa is shut down. How could God let this awful thing happen? Devon only needed to see his ex-wife about a family necklace she still hadn’t returned, but when she dies and...

Grace Livingston Hill romances free to read online

I wanted to update my old post on Grace Livingston Hill romances because now there are tons more options for you to be able to read her books for free online! I’m a huge Grace Livingston Hill fan. Granted, not all her books resonate with me, but there are a few that I absolutely love, like The Enchanted Barn and Crimson Roses . And the best part is that she wrote over 100 books and I haven’t yet read them all! When I have time, I like to dive into a new GLH novel. I like the fact that most of them are romances, and I especially appreciate that they all have strong Christian themes. Occasionally the Christian content is a little heavy-handed for my taste, but it’s so interesting to see what the Christian faith was like in the early part of the 20th century. These books are often Cinderella-type stories or A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett) type stories, which I love. And the best part is that they’re all set in the early 1900s, so the time period is absolutely fasci...

Tabi socks, part deux

Captain's Log, Stardate 07.25.2008 (If you're on Ravelry, friend me! I'm camytang.) I made tabi socks again! (At the bottom of the pattern is the calculation for the toe split if you're not using the same weight yarn that I did for this pattern (fingering). I also give an example from when I used worsted weight yarn with this pattern.) I used Opal yarn, Petticoat colorway. It’s a finer yarn than my last pair of tabi socks, so I altered the pattern a bit. Okay, so here’s my first foray into giving a knitting pattern. Camy’s top-down Tabi Socks I’m assuming you already know the basics of knitting socks. If you’re a beginner, here are some great tutorials: Socks 101 How to Knit Socks The Sock Knitter’s Companion A video of turning the heel Sock Knitting Tips Yarn: I have used both fingering weight and worsted weight yarn with this pattern. You just change the number of cast on stitches according to your gauge and the circumference of your ankle. Th...