I told you I would tell you about my experience with the Writers Meet Up that I attended on Thursday night.  Well… it was a great disappointment. 

It is very hard for me to put myself out there and decide to meet other people and this Meet Up sort of proves it.  I don’t want to harp on them, to be fair I was a new member and introductions are always awkward, on top of that they had another member there that never attends the meetings, but showed up that day.  She was monopolizing the conversation telling the other members in a very loud voice (she was elderly) things that are not appropriate for conversation in a family oriented restaurant, like how her son almost killed her and that she was bleeding and all sorts of horrors.  Worse, before I got there she had gotten sick on the table — and still refused to leave the meeting– thus the atmosphere was tense when I got there and I had no idea why until she left and they told me.  By then they really just wanted to get out of there, which was understandable, but still did not make for a good first experience.

While we were on the meeting there seemed to have been another new member there that did not introduce himself, so the group was not aware of him, but when he left he said loud enough for us to hear that, “You are the worst excuse for a writers meeting I have ever seen.”  I don’t really have any other experiences with writers group to make a comparison, but it was rather dull.  They also do not have any tips for bloggers and for writers of short stories and they sort of did not want to read or listen to any example of my writing.  Well, one group member did and I am forever grateful for that.  Poor guy, I must have put him on the spot!

Thus, my incursion into the world of writers meetings has suffered a rather premature ending.

Since my RA flared up, I couldn’t make it to the musicians meeting, something I really wanted to attend.  I will be there the next time they have a meeting.  The next step to go out there and meet people will be a Fiber Arts Meet Up where you bring the project you are working on and just sit and chat.  We’ll  see how that goes.  I am a little gun shy now that I have gone to a Meet Up and it was such a dreadful experience.  Well, there is a light at the end of the rainbow, at least for me.  There was a bunny in my garden yesterday afternoon and he allowed me to get near enough to snap a picture.   I love to see wild life in my garden, well, some wild life, I do not like armadillos and gophers, they make huge holes in the ground and just destroy my flower beds,  but I get a visit or two from Sandhill Cranes, monarch butterflies, bunnies, thousands of lizards, frogs (I don’t like those very much), red-shouldered hawks and ravens.

Here are the photographs:

Tomorrow I will be attending my first work shop as the Ventures Coordinator for the USF Chapter of Nourish International.  I am beyond elated about having the opportunity to put my skills to the benefit of humanity.  I’ll tell you all about it on Monday.

Have a great weekend, y’all.

Before I forget, I have update my book reviews website.  I reviewed Josh Lanyon’s Come Unto These Yellow Sands.

But enough of that, here I said I was going to update you all in Noteworthy news, so we’ll start with this one I found through my Tweeter feed from the Guardian, UK.  Apparently Erotic Art was present in London as well as in Pompeii.  I knew this was true (I do watch the History Channel every once in a while), but it was really awesome to see they had those little tokens in Londinium,  the same way they did in Pompeii.  And it is a cool reminder for those snobs I have encountered in countless occasions that erotic art  has been around since the beginning of the world.  It is not bad, just not for everybody, the same as cubism, impressionism and classical,  some people will love some and hate others.

The other set of news I found noteworthy was this, although I doubt this is news, but I liked it, especially the bit about Poker Face since in a few times during my life, these have been my sentiments exactly.  What… did you think since I like cooking, knitting, embroidery and I am happily married I am some sort of grandma with no big secrets of her own?  Well, not so much a secret anymore.   From the HuffPost Gay Voices, 10 Songs with a Queer Secret!  Also, the one about the YMCA is a hoot, everyone knows that and you don’t need to be a member of the LGBT community to be aware of that.  I mean, the Village people are probably as flamboyantly gay as they come.   Anyhow, I love to see the LGBT community get more exposure on the mainstream.  Now that I touch on the LGBT community and mainstream… what is it with Rick Santorum?  Doesn’t he ever learn?  Why would he defend those horrifying words of his?

I can’t believe that someone with this sort of idiosyncrasy ended up second runner to win the nomination of one of the most powerful political parties in the world.

Also noteworthy, Library Sends Cop to 5 Year Old’s House to Collect Books, well, it turns out that they were not after her, but after her dad.  Still, it makes you think twice about not returning those books to the library.  As a matter of fact, I am such a lousy library patron that I prefer to buy the book rather than borrow them from the library.  I end up paying 3 or 4 times the price of the books in overdue fines, so I simply buy the books.  Much nicer now that I have a Nook and can read anywhere.  I don’t have to worry about having damaging the books or misplacing them.

Well, I think that’s about what I have for you today.  I am going to be attending a writer’s Meet Up for the first time tonight, and I’ll give you all the juicy tidbits tomorrow.

I mentioned yesterday having gone out to the garden to winterize it, now I have the pictures for you.  It was too dark and cold last night to go out and take pictures, but this afternoon the sun was bright (although it was still really nippy and bitter cold, at least for Florida) and I snapped a few pictures.  I must have sprained my wrist or something yesterday while working in the garden because it’s been sore all day and I have a limited range of motion.  That or my arthritis is back.

I was especially diligent about my crotons.  They are very sensitive to the frost, last year alone I nearly lost all of them.  Only two or three made it back in the spring and the summer was a harsh summer, really wet and humid, so they were struggling  back then too.  Leaving them uncovered would have been their death sentence.

   I am sort of glad now that I only have done one side of the house and I haven’t planted the east side yet.  My house faces full south so I have to be careful about placing sun-hardy plants on the front of the house.  They get the brunt of the Florida sun and some of them (like my Azaleas) are struggling. Those plants that I haven’t planted yet or that were in pots are now huddled on top of the teak table on the lanai. It looks a bit like a jungle right now in there.

Here is a close up of one of my most favorite flowers, the azalea:

The menu for the day featured a Traditional Bean and Cabbage soup from Step by Step Italian, the book I mentioned yesterday.   Well, I made  a few changes… the recipe called for black cabbage, but I had left over purple cabbage, so I used that up and I also had left over Napa cabbage and that went into the soup as well.

I find that beans are easier to cook if you leave them to soak overnight, which I admit takes a bit of preparation, but since I make up my menus weekly, I had a bit of time and knew what I was going to need for the next day.  Here is a picture of my beans soaking:

The recipe calls for the beans to boil for an hour to an hour and a half, but since I soaked the beans overnight it only took about 45 minutes for them to be tender.

If you watch the food network, or if you have watched any cooking show worth its salt, you know that mise en place is a very important part of being a successful cook or chef.  It is French and it means “putting in place”, so you should gather and have your ingredients in place to make something that is a bit involved, like making soup, easy.  You can see an example of my mise en place in the following photographs:

I use a big chopping board so I have space to chop and set aside what I need.  Usually I don’t need to dirty up any other dishes, but today I was making a big pot of soup, so I needed something to set my ingredients aside while I chopped my cabbage:

I love the colors in these pictures:

Here are my vegetables cooking in my enameled-cast-iron dutch oven (and no, it is not a Le Creuset, I wish!)

I needed to drain the beans and save the water,  because I would use it later when I pureed the beans in the food processor.  It adds body to the soup without resorting to using flour or making a roux.

After the vegetables softened, I added some unsalted vegetable stock as the recipe called for and it tasted fine, a little sweet. I find that I like the complexity of flavors that beef stock adds to a soup, so I added both.  Also you can see I had my canned-chopped tomatoes there and a few rolls of day-old ciabatta bread to add to the soup at the end.  If you ever buy the book and are going to try the recipe, don’t skip the bread.  It really adds a nice texture to the soup.  The ciabatta I used was multi-grain ciabatta which is a bit meatier than the regular white ciabatta.

You add the nice cabbage mixture to the beef stock and the vegetables and you get something looking like this:

After fifteen minutes or so of simmering, you add your pureed beans and the soup will look like this:

And this is how it looks after I added the torn bread and I served it:

I broke out some salad plates that I never use for salad (I prefer to use wooden bowls for those) and served my soup in them:

The husband said, “It is yoomee, yoomee”.  Yes, he is funny that way.

I won’t be trying any new recipes tomorrow as I  made so much soup that there is a full pot for tomorrow.  Perfect for this cold weather!

See you guys tomorrow!

After quite a few months of inactivity, well, at least on the blog side of things, I have decided to once again try my hand at keeping up with this blog.

While I was away, I was involved in a few projects, some of which I have finished, some that are still waiting for me to complete them.  An example being my Leaf Pattern Scarf.

It took a few weeks to finish.  I finally got it blocked and ready to go a few days ago.  I got the pattern for it from 60 Quick Knits in Cascade 220.

It was a slow moving pattern, but I believe it was quite worth the wait.  It is an exquisite scarf and I love the deep blue color, although that was something I changed from the original pattern.  I didn’t care for the lilac they used for that pattern, so I switched it to a deep blue.  Lilac is hard to care for as it can get stained and it doesn’t look too winter-like for my taste.

I have also purchased a few new cookbooks and I am back at planning my menus for the week from the different cook books I own.  You can have a peek at tonight’s dinner.  It was Linguini with Anchovies and Capers and Cod with Thyme and Capers from Step by Step Italian, a cookbook I got while I was browsing the local Sam’s Club.  I was so exited about the clean flavors and the twist on the classic putanesca sauce that I bought it and came home and planned a menu for the week with recipes from this book and another one I got while I was there.  

You can see the little flags marking the recipes for the different days of the week.

I took some pictures and voilà, now there is food porn for the masses!  Step by step food porn for the masses, I should say.

Have a look at my amazing chopping skills and my huge bamboo cutting board!

We have some anchovies and Kalamata Olives:

Some tomatoes, chopped and seeded:

Another shot at my set up:

And now you can see my amazing stove at work:

The fish:

And the sauce for the fish, lemons, capers and olive oil.  You can’t go wrong with that:

And finally the meal:

You can all drop your adoring comments on the box below.  (Pretty please?)
Anyhow, I figure I shouldn’t promise things I am not able to keep.  I will try to keep this blog updated every day but things may come up.  There are a few things cooking up in La Casa de Mills.
Let me know what you think of the photographs and the projects.  Do you think I should sell my own creations on Etsy?
Oh, by the way, it is really cold today in Florida.  As a matter of fact it is so cold that I had to spend an hour outside along my husband wrapping all my plants in order to protect them from the frost.  It was an unpleasant but necessary task as most of the plants in my garden are very sensitive to frost conditions.  Last year I lost half of my garden because I was not as diligent with my plants as I should have been.

Well, I am taking this blogging thing one day at a time.  Hopefully, I’ll be back tomorrow, but if not, then I’ll be back when I am back.

Have a great evening.

I had so many activities scheduled for this week, like going to the swamps to get those sketches for my painting going, but that is not going to happen if it keeps pouring the way it has.  While I was busy and had absolutely  no time in my hands it was nice and sunny, and now that time is abundant it seems that it will never stop storming. The bright side of this never-ending  storm is that my garden is getting more than enough water.  I hope my roses don’t get too wet or I’ll be fighting black spot throughout the fall.

It has been a hectic three weeks and I really did not have any time to update my blog those days.  Now things are calmer and I should be able to start updating this blog every day.  I moved back to my house and I love it!  You never know the value of something until you are away from it, or you don’t have it anymore.  Well, I know my house’s value has depreciated considerably, but the sentimental value attached to it is immense.  There is nothing like being within four walls that you can call your own (well, sort of).  I am now watching the storm through the window of my office that faces my little backyard.  During this time of the year Florida reminds me a little of Britain during the summer.  The deep emerald green lawns, the trees set against the gray mantle of the skies and the splashes of color from the sturdy flowers daring to brave the weather make me go back to those days driving through the West country.  How I wish I could go back!

I should update that book review website soon.

Until tomorrow, people!

Many people find the university campus ugly, with its eclectic mixture of fifties bunker style buildings and modern architecture. I love campus, it is filled with green spaces and the trees surrounding the buildings look weathered and well loved. Those trees have seen many generations pass through these halls. They stand a silent watch over the thoughts that will shape the future of this state. When I find myself overwhelmed by my workload or I am sad or angry, I look out the window and rest my gaze on one of the gentle green giants. It doesn’t take away my problems, but at least it manages to give me a pleasant distraction. I wonder if anyone else here feels the same way about them.

I still haven’t managed to write anything other than this blog, although I have many projects due soon. I also have not gotten to prepare that canvas for the painting of the swamps near my house that I have been dying to do since I got all my supplies from the store. I could be doing some of that now, but it is pouring outside and has been for the last hour, and conveniently enough, I forgot my umbrella at home.

I am going to go sulk some and then brave the storm to get to my car and go to my singing lesson. I hope you all have a better day than mine,

I thought I would share something extremely funny — well, I think is funny.  It’s called “Fear the Boom and Bust” and it is quite obviously related to Economics, my field of study.

For those of you that have no idea of what they are talking about on this video… You should be ashamed!  Everyone should know a bit about Economics, at least understand what the Classical view and the New Keynesian view of Economics are about.  In short, this video contrasts and highlights the ideas of the two main schools of thought in modern Macroeconomics.  They choose John Maynard Keynes (obviously!) as the representative for the modern, or New Keynesian, approach and they have Friedrich Hayek representing the Classical school.  I am more inclined to follow the Classical views, but I am so green in my studies of Economics and I have no experience in the field, so you shouldn’t listen to me all that much.  After all, what do I know?

Anyhow, it is almost midnight, and I am tired.   I will have something better for everyone tomorrow.

Have a good night!

This is the start of my umpteenth attempt at blogging. We’ll see how this goes. Right now I am at the Starbucks closest to my home and I have been stating at a blank page for quite a while. There are a million thoughts swirling around my head, but I am finding them extremely hard to commit them to paper. The one that keeps popping up in my head is the extremely long to do list of things that need to get done, like updating my book review website. The books I have read and those that I have reviewed differ by about two dozen. That being said, I don’t think I’ll review all of them. Some of the books I have read lately are so bad that I feel if I were to review them honestly I would guarantee myself to be in the hit list of an angry authors mob. I also need to start packing again. I am in the middle of summer semester and I need to get ready to move house for the second time in six months. By now I am such an expert on packing that I should give out seminars on the subject.

It is very sunny and hot today in Tampa. It was about time too, it rained all of last week. For a while I thought I was living in England or Washington state. It was overcast and it rained nearly every day. We needed the rain, but I am very glad to see the sun shine again. We are the sunshine state, after all.

Today’s pictures are courtesy of your truly. I am showing the world my messy handbag. I carry around these big hobo bags filled to the brim with stuff… Like my leather journal, my iPad, my voice recorder, my microphone, my phone, my sunglasses, my copy of the Silmarillion (I am actually doing research for a story based on the Silmarillion characters), my Nook (because you never know when you may have a few minutes to get some reading done), a hairbrush, my wallet and my checkbook.

And no, I have not changed career paths once again. I still remain an Economics geek by day and Opera diva wanna be by night. The voice recorder and the microphone are to record my voice lessons and piano lesson, and the other stuff are the toys I usually carry with me. Oh, I almost forgot, I also carry around a notebook and my daily planner.

Maybe I should learn to streamline. People usually look at me as if I were some sort of weird bag lady.

Till tomorrow, people!