I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
I made Regency-era White Soup again, this time an easier way than the original 1811 recipe . It is almost nothing like the elegant cream soup Mr. Darcy would have been used to—it turned out more like a hearty blonde stew. However, I thought it was very tasty. 1 package of beef neck (1 pound) and 1 (cooked) chicken carcass or equivalent (cooked) chicken bones OR 1 quart beef stock and 1 quart chicken stock 2.5 pounds raw chicken (I used thighs) 1/2 pound bacon, chopped 1/4 - 1/2 pound rice (the original recipe called for 1/4 pound, but I added extra rice to make it more hearty) 2 anchovy fillets, minced 5-6 peppercorns 2 Tb minced fresh basil 1 teaspoon of dried thyme 1 large onion, diced 1 bunch of celery, chopped (Optional) 2-3 cups of chopped veggies, whatever you have in the fridge. I added 2 cups of chopped kale 1/4 - 1/2 pound raw almonds, pounded fine (I used a Ziplock bag and my meat pounder, and I ended up putting 1/2 pound in, but the original recipe only had 1...