Beef Burgundy: 3-day Entrée

Delicious French cuisine: Beef chuck marinated pendant trois jours, with pearl onions, served over fresh pasta.

I can't think of a more appropriate--or arduous--undertaking for a listless writer and her home-vacationing military husband with a freezer full of top-grade beef.

Recipe courtesy of Stacey Moore Cilia, which I won't reproduce here--it's too long. But you can--and definitely should!--visit her food blog at http://food.jitterbeangirl.com/archives/000763.html

to check out the recipe for yourself, or just to look at the beautiful pictures.

Will post my own results, though Stacey's look absolutely delectable.

Very best,

Not meeting her December 24th deadline for Peter Srinivasan's screenplay--Lora Rivera

A Plug for Bill Lancaster's Story "Stuck" and Scott Lynch's THE GENTLEMAN BASTARD SEQUENCE

Just came out on Tumblr, official website of Texas State University Writing Center. December issue. An enjoyable read if you get the chance and have an itch for round, sympathetic characters.

Also of interest is a fantasy series by relatively new author Scott Lynch. The Gentleman Bastard Sequence is a series of brilliant, entertaining, high-suspense novels about a group of wicked-smart thieves in an exquisitely-wrought world of intrigue, decadence, and danger. Backtracking is worth it in these books, when the world is one big chess game.

Helpful Critiques

They're difficult sometimes, but worthwhile, right? When you're in the business to discover and cultivate good writers? But is there a fool-proof process, especially when the story/poem/screenplay you're reading isn't absolute genius?

Well, no.

Unfortunately.

But there are some processes out there that seem to make good sense.

Here's one:

http://complicationsensue.blogspot.com/2009/12/power-of-positive-thinking.html

Chai Holiday Nog

Delicious and easy Chai Holiday Nog recipe. Great for parties!

Think 1:1:1:1

Holiday Nog brand egg nog
Chai Tea (from tea bag), chilled
1% Milk
Amaretto

Combine, chill, serve over ice, and top with nutmeg or cinnamon. Enjoy!

Eggs, Brother, and Poetry

My brother just came in--just a little jaunt down I10--L.A. to Daytona Beach, FL.

I poached eggs for him. Because I love poaching eggs. Because I love eating creamy delicious poached eggs. Because he's never had them and because everyone should try them at some point. I think.

(And because I just watched Julie and Julia! A nice movie, worthy of a relaxing evening and yummy wines and cheeses.)

To poach an egg:

Boil enough water to cover egg, add some vinegar, a splash or two. Poke a hole with a push-pin in the fat bottom of the raw egg. Boil in water for 10 seconds. Remove and crack egg open into water very close to surface. Draw egg white over egg gently with a wooden spoon, a few strokes. For a nice runny yoke, poach for 3 1/2 minutes to 4 minutes. For a harder yoke, boil for 5 minutes. (My brother prefers harder yokes.) Extract with slotted spoon and deposit nicely poached egg in a bowl of ice water, just to rinse the vinegar and to solidify the white. Remove. Cut off excess membrane if needed before serving, or it will look like an alien:

Mmmm. (Or rather: Hmmmm.)

On the down side, I'm writing a poetry final on Elizabeth Bishop whose poetry is WONDERFUL, btw. But I'm unfortunately not very good at poetry. And not at all good at writing about poetry. So my paper is four pages long currently, wishing it were much longer. How about ten pages. The length it's supposed to be. Yes. That would be nice.

They're lovely poems, though. Here's one: "The Moose." And another: "The End of March."

New Publications!

So, a few more updates on publications:

First off, Jersey Devil Press has accepted for its holiday issue "For Piano and Voice." It comes out Friday, Dec. 18.

What I distinctly love about this one? It's delicious. It's pretty. It's just darn pretty. And then there's the wonderful musical aspect to it, and the fact that there hasn't been a lot of experimentation with representing sign language in text expect in highly academic circles. Not much interest to a general readership.

Then there's "Very High Up" coming out in early January from MARY Magazine's Winter issue. A story about constraints and desire, military culture and the humanness of a failed attempt at a perfect marriage. I've a soft spot for this one if only because it's such sensitive material that I've tried to be true to.