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

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...

Toilet seat cover

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Update August 2008: I wrote up the pattern for this with "improvements"! Here's the link to my No Cold Bums toilet seat cover ! Okay, remember a few days ago I was complaining about the cold toilet seat in my bathroom? Well, I decided to knit a seat cover. Not a lid cover, but a seat cover. I went online and couldn’t find anything for the seat, just one pattern for the lid by Feminitz.com . However, I took her pattern for the inside edge of the lid cover and modified it to make a seat cover. Here it is! It’s really ugly stitch-wise because originally I made it too small and had to extend it a couple inches on each side. I figured I’d be the one staring at it, so who cared if the extension wasn’t perfectly invisible? I used acrylic yarn since, well, that’s what I had, and also because it’s easy to wash. I’ll probably have to wash this cover every week or so, but it’s easy to take off—I made ties which you can see near the back of the seat. And...

No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.22.2008 I actually wrote out my pattern! I was getting a lot of hits on my infamous toilet seat cover , and I wanted to make a new one with “improvements,” so I paid attention and wrote things down as I made the new one. This was originally based off the Potty Mouth toilet cover , but I altered it to fit over the seat instead of the lid. Yarn: any worsted weight yarn, about 120 yards (this is a really tight number, I used exactly 118 yards. My suggestion is to make sure you have about 130 yards.) I suggest using acrylic yarn because you’re going to be washing this often. Needle: I used US 8, but you can use whatever needle size is recommended by the yarn you’re using. Gauge: Not that important. Mine was 4 sts/1 inch in garter stitch. 6 buttons (I used some leftover shell buttons I had in my stash) tapestry needle Crochet hook (optional) Cover: Using a provisional cast on, cast on 12 stitches. Work in garter st until liner measures...

Excerpt - A HUNDRED YEARS OF HAPPINESS by Nicole Seitz

Captain's Log, Stardate 03.05.2009 Update: Sorry, this giveaway is closed. A Hundred Years of Happiness by Nicole Seitz A beautiful young woman. An American soldier. A war-torn country. Nearly forty years of silence. Now, two daughters search for the truth they hope will set them free and the elusive peace their parents have never found. In the South Carolina Lowcountry, a young mother named Katherine Ann is struggling to help her tempestuous father, by plunging into a world of secrets he never talks about. A fry cook named Lisa is trying desperately to reach her grieving Vietnamese mother, who has never fully adjusted to life in the States. And somewhere far away, a lost soul named Ernest is drifting, treading water, searching for what he lost on a long-ago mountain. They're all longing for connection. For the war that touched them to finally end. For their hundred years of happiness at long last to begin. From the beloved author of The Spirit of Sweetgrass...

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...