Susurrous Cessation

The pseudo-sun sinks slowly into obscurity
whilst she sheds crocodile tears
for her most unbeloved lover
whose visage was less sanguine
subsequent to his exsanguination—
leaving his spurious mistress,
still standing, to consider
the sibliance
as his last inspiration
became expiration—
now having elapsed
she discharges herself of her consort
already severed
from several more substantial parts.

Book Review: Fast, Fresh & Green

Ok, so everyone one knows cookbooks typically aren't good reads.  You skim for recipe ideas or, if you're ambitious like me, flavor and ingredient combos.   Few cookbooks it seems are designed to teach cooking, and the ones that are are still dry.  Moreover, 90% of all recipes found in cookbooks are too complicated for the working person OR you simply don't care for enough of the particular ingredients to make it worth your time.  After all, most of us don't entertain on a weekly or even monthly basis.  Then there's the fact that chefs usually care more about taste than health when coming up with recipes.  If you want to see an example of this sort of typical overblown for the average homecook book, check out the Food&Wine annual cookbook.  Now, I certainly like my copy of the afore mentioned book (2010).  But I like simply reading recipes to learn how ingredients can go together.  But if you are looking for help to eat healthy, tasty meals, I only ever give one recommendation: Fast, Fresh & Green.  I have a few cookbooks, recipe collections (more informal, self-published binders, usually gifts) and an herb and spice guide.  I try to limit what I own to what I plan on reading and using.  But my mainstay is FF&G.

Fast, Fresh & Green: More Than 90 Delicious Recipes for Veggie Lovers is first and foremost a book about vegetables— buying, storing, flavoring, cooking, and serving.  The first 2 chapters are dedicated to types of ingredients you'll need and how to shop for and store them.  After that the book is divided by cooking method. This is the real genius of FF&G for me.  Instead of a chapter on all the ways to use avocado, there is a chapter on how stirfry, saute (2 actually), braise, roast, etc.  The handy index in the back can help you locate specific ingredients, but the table at the beginning of each chapter is the best place to start.

Each chapter (after the first 2) has its own table of contents.  Then is a quick discussion of the cooking method employed.  Following that is a table of a variety of vegetables that work well for that method, how to prep them, and cooking times.  The first recipe of every chapter is a "foundation" recipe that allows you to take any vegetable or vegetables from the table and prepare them using the most basic form of the cooking method.  Sounds a lot like learning to cook!  And all of the recipes, including the foundation recipe, have a paragraph before the recipe for quick tips and what to expect as you are cooking.  No bare bones instructions that inevitably seem to leave out a step somehow.  Most of the suggestions encourage substitutions and creativity.  Susie Middleton's casual style makes this a very readable book.  She is writing to you, the reader, telling you her favorite ways to make healthy vegetable dishes quickly and easily.

Some general information:  The cooktime for all recipes is between 20-40 minutes, with the exception of the last chapter (Gratins) which run around an hour.  So, no soups or dry bean dishes.  Boiling (except as part of a "Two-stepping" method), blanching and steaming are not methods in this book.  Most/all of the recipes can be altered to be vegetarian/vegan, but that is not the primary aim of the book.

My favorite recipes (so far!) are the foundation recipe for quick-braising with brussels sprouts (pp 58-59) and Sauteed Broccoli with Mellow Garlic and Thyme (p 105).  

Daisy

The wind in my face.  With my eyes closed it’s almost as if things had never changed.  The sun is warm; the air feels bright.  I lock the front door and walk in the direction of the bus stop.  Leaves crinkle and crunch, stirring up the smell of early fall.  Mailbox.  Sidewalk.  I’ve stopped wondering why the neighbor’s dog barks at everything, he has become just another landmark.  Stop sign. Lamppost.  Bus stop. The bus door opens with a wheezing sigh.  The driver greets me warmly, his voice deep and syrupy.  I sit close to the front and try to guess where each passenger is headed as they get on.  An unwashed man, silent except for the flap of worn out sneakers heads to the back of the bus. Laborers in heavy shoes and plastic windbreakers.  A working mother and her son, whose stage whispers entertain me while I count the stops.  At my stop I pause with the traffic at my back, picturing a map in my head.  Another block, a crosswalk, a door.  Inside, the AC clicks on inspite of the balmy weather outside. I pad down the carpeted halls to a room.  At the end of the room, a piano.  I sit and play, no longer worried with what I sense, simply wrapped in feeling.  In my music I can see. I can recall blue skies; red and yellow leaves; neon lights; gray, misty mornings.  Sunsets, paintings of sunsets.  I’m crying.  I get up and count the number of turn to the front door.  The number of steps to the bus stop.  The number of stops home.  The number of days since I saw the sun. 

The Puppy Who Grew Wings

Original concept by Alex Blair

There once was an adorable little puppy—as cute as a fuzzy brown ball of fur could be—with floppy ears, a whippy tail, big brown eyes, and oversized paws.  His name was Puppikins.

Puppikins had one dream—to fly and soar in the clouds.  He would try to fly by jumping off the ottomans and chairs in his master’s house, but he always fell on his floppy ears.  He wished and wished for wings.

One day, he noticed little feathers growing out of his back.  Gradually, his little wings grew and Puppikins tried to fly harder than ever.  Eventually, he could glide a few feet across the room, and soon he learned to use the right muscles to flap his wings.  Now, he could rise up right off the floor.  Everyday his wings grew stronger and he could fly higher.  Puppikins looked forward to the day he would soar up in the clouds.

The time came that he could fly longer and higher than ever before, and he decided that that was the day he would try to reach the clouds.  So, Puppikins gathered his strength and took off.  His joy grew as he flew higher and higher, until—WHAM! —he hit the ceiling fan and was flung back to the floor.  Not to be deterred by set backs when he was so close, Puppikins got back up and tried again, only to be flung back again.  On his third try, he dodged the fan!  Now, he was flying higher than ever.  Soon he would be soaring in the clouds.  Higher and higher—WHACK!  He hit the ceiling and fell to the floor a sadder and wiser dog.  For he remembered—he was an inside dog.

The moral of the story is that if you try hard enough and dream big enough, you can overcome seemingly impossible obstacles only to discover your achievements are useless.  The end.

Author's Note

I've been doing a lot of thinking and my blog is going to reflect that. Previously, I have restricted posts to linguistics and book reviews, with the occasional TV or movie reference.  While I don't mean to abandon that track entirely, I am going to open up to different kinds of posts.  Most notably, original works. The idea behind this blog was to encourage me to write more and I have recently made a resolution to focus more on writing for more public forums.  I will be entering writing contests to see what feedback I get.  And I will be posting some of my work to this blog.  These will still be observations of a literary cynic, but in a more creative form.  Not that my lone reader cares about my content. (Hi, Mom.)