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

I GOT A CONTRACT!

Captain’s Log, Stardate 03.29.2006 I had a wonderfully funny blog post planned for today, but I got sidetracked by some news yesterday! Zondervan has offered me a three-book contract on my Asian chick-lit series ! I’m still stunned by everything that’s happened. The series is actually a 4-book projected Asian chick-lit series about four cousins who fall under the infamous family title "Oldest Single Female Cousin," and their ruthless, wealthy grandma applies pressure on each of them to improve their lack of love interests. I think the first book is tentatively scheduled to be released in August 2007. The blurb on the series is on my website here . Brandilyn Collins posted to the ACFW loop about my writing journey, and Tamara Cooper asked that I share it. And since you all know how much I like to talk , here it is. My writing journey: Like most writers, I have wanted to write since I was very young. (In high school, I wrote a fantasy novel that will never see the light of day ...

Brainstorm - character occupation

Captain's Log, Stardate 03.23.2009 Hey guys, I could use some help. In my current manuscript, The Year of the Dog , which is a humorous contemporary romance, I have a minor character, Eddie. He’s my heroine’s ex-boyfriend, and they’re on good terms with each other. He’s a bit irresponsible, but not so much so that he’s a complete loser. He’s got a very easy going attitude, he forgets to pay his bills sometimes, he’s friendly and charming. He’s adventurous and fun to be around, but he’s a little forgetful sometimes, and he tends to spend a little outside his income. I need an occupation for him. What would a charming, easy going, slightly irresponsible guy do for a living? He’s not too irresponsible, because otherwise readers will wonder what in the world my heroine saw in him to date him in the first place. She was attracted to his charm, his easy going attitude (her family’s uptight, and he was a nice contrast), and his adventurousness. But his forgetfulness and irresponsibility ...

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 ...

Chinese Take-Out and Sushi for One

Captain’s Log, Supplemental My agent sent me an article from Publisher’s Weekly that discussed this incident: Chinese Take-Out Spawns Christian Controversy And here’s also a blog post that talks about it in more detail: The Fighting 44s This is Soong-Chan Rah’s blog: The PCS blog In sum: Apparently Zondervan (yes, my publisher), who has partnered with Youth Specialties, had put out a youth leaders skit that had stereotypical Asian dialogue, which offended many Christian Asian Americans. In response to the outcry, Zondervan/Youth Specialities put out a sincere apology and is not only freezing the remaining stock of the book, but also reprinting it and replacing the copies people have already bought. I am very proud of my publisher for how they have handled this situation. The skit writers have also issued a public apology . (I feel sorry for them, because they were only trying to write a funny skit, not stir up this maelstrom of internet controversy. I’ve been in youth work long enou...

I’m done

Captain’s Log, Stardate 05.17.2006 Blog book giveaway: My Thursday book giveaway is THE PREACHER’S DAUGHER by Lyn Cote My Monday book giveaway is BLIND DATES CAN BE MURDER by Mindy Starns Clark . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for THE PREACHER’S DAUGHTER and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned. I’m done. At the beginning of the year, I made a goal of three books this year. That’s four months per book. I started this manuscript January 15th. I finished in the wee hours of May 17th, so it took me about four months, a day and a few hours. Yay me. I’m going to bed now. Yes, this is the espresso maker on the right, and a professional coffee grinder on the left. By the espresso maker, I mean the one I promised to my long-suffering husband if I got a book contract, as a reward for letting me quit my biotech job and write full-time.