Micromacreme - aw knots !

Check it out - this is one of the illustrations for Annika's book on micromacreme. Yes, I did this, and even though it's not finished I'm quite pleased with it. Annika is finishing up the writing portion as I write this and I've just got a couple of things to finish - this being one of them. So stay tuned, I'll update with publishing and release details as soon as I hear about them.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving
I must say a pleasant day, it's been too long since I've had the opportunity to cook for such an appreciative audience. Marcus and his mother were quite lovely and I will cheerfully cook for them whenever I can. Marcus brought two beautiful pies, and his mum did the sweet potatoes. It was a lusciously-lazy afternoon with the lot of us snoozing in front of the fireplace after dinner.

Once upon a time I wanted to be a chef. That was before I discovered that there is a world of difference between cooking for a living and loving to cook. I tried to work in a restaurant for a time, it was great fun until I killed a prime rib (it made a lovely pot roast) and made my boss cry. For food mangers out there a bit of advice - never leave a vegetarian in charge of an expensive cut of meat without very explicit instructions. So my cooking career went the way of my vegetarian diet - gone but often looked back on with fondness and a vague sense of longing.

I still love to cook, and love feeding people. Since I don't have a family to feed my friends get pressed into fulfilling my inner Grandmother tendencies. Come on over and the first words out of my mouth are, "Can I get you a cuppa tea?" Tea usually comes with whatever nibbles I have on hand, fresh fruit, cheese, and gluten-free goodies.

Speaking of nibbles I made the most amazing scones on Friday. Pamela's Baking Mix has been a sanity-saver and on the back of the package I found a recipe for scones (I love scones - and missed them terribly when I gave up gluten a couple of years ago), to which I then added a couple spoonfuls of cranberry-orange relish to the batter. Yum...I was in heaven. Try it with your own recipe, it rocks.

Monday, Monday

It's the first Monday in quite some time where I haven't had to drag myself out of bed and to work. I love my job, I do. But it's nice to be typing at the kitchen table with slightly-dated rock and roll playing in the background. Peaceful y'know. Our house lives out in the country, with older, somewhat neglected landscaping. Nothing pretentious, gnarly old apple trees, grapes that wrestle with the blackberries for dominance (with a little help from me and my pruning shears), rhodies, volunteer roses and asian plums. We didn't get any plums this year - the neighborhood raccoon swiped them all just as they were getting ripe. I don't mind, I'd much rather a vegetarian raccoon feasting on plums than a omnivore getting into the garbage and threatening the cats.

Vacation.....of a sort. I'm taking this week off to take care of all-sorts of neglected things. Including my blog. So stay tuned - I'm learning to use Adobe Illustrator and will be uploading some of my tests.
I'm also doing Thanksgiving this year - as a single person, cooking a turkey is normally an exercise in excess, but this year there's Jennifer, Rosie, Annika and a couple of friends coming over. So I've ordered the bird, and am planning the menu. I'm thinking a wild-rice risotto/stuffing dish, sweet potatoes, cranberry orange relish, a fluffy salad and snacks. Oh and mashed potatoes, just so there's something to put under the gravy. And how does one make gravy without the evil wheat you ask? Why with potato starch, it gives a smooth texture somewhere between cornstarch and regular flour and absorbs all the wonderful flavor from the drippings. And there is no learning curve, since it works about like a regular flour roux - in fact I've used potato starch to make a roux for cream-based soups, macaroni and cheese and other sauces. Even when I could eat wheat, I preferred it in soups, because of the creaminess. One note though, it seems to take less salt in the final product, so be gentle with the shaker. :)

Another Saturday....

Homework - gotta love it. Today I'm trying to refresh my memory regarding rationals, radicals and roots. Sounds like a lawfirm doesn't it? The firm of Rational, Radical and Root, specializing in tax shelters and corporate law. Hmmmm....wonder if they can set up a trust. Maybe I should do a Leona Helmsley and leave my vast fortune to the cats.
This is Gatto (a little unimaginative, I know) -he came with the name and any attempt to change it has been met with supreme indifference. Indifference describes him very well as a matter of fact. He's currently curled up on the sofa snoring. Loudly. Imagine how hard it is to stay motivated when you are sharing the room with someone so intensely asleep.
I should mention that although he technically belongs to Annika - he feels he's above the whole ownership thing. He treats all of us as staff, when he decides to notice us at all.
Oh well, enough of a break - back to work. Wish me luck.

Fall.....ing asleep.
It's hard to believe that another summer has slipped away. School starts on Monday and before I crawl back into the world of academia I wanted to get some random thoughts on the nature of reality out - you know, light stuff.
As a society we tend to identify ourselves with various archetypes, I'm currently dealing with a group of folks who identify strongly with the victim stereotype (I did at one point in my life - but that's a post for another day). It's true that they have been wronged at various points in their lives and, rightfully, have a lot of anger and fear from those experiences. But I'm coming to realize that a victim is a very powerless place from which to live, true that there is a certain amount of sympathy that can be gleaned from that position, but a victim has given all of their power to the people around them, and can only gain power from pity.
The other problem with this world view, is that a victim requires a villain. That paints any relationship as fundamentally unequal. So- how does one move beyond that victimhood to reclaim one's power and grow from these toxic experiences? Any thoughts?

Ah Changes.....

It's been a hectic summer here - my fabulous niece, Jennifer,and her lovely, six-year-old daughter Rosie have moved in with Annika and I. Unexpected - yes, a big adjustment - you bet, but an opportunity to get to know a couple of really beautiful souls. Jennifer and Rosie have been dealing with some troubling circumstances with more grace and dignity than 90% of the people on the planet.
So there's some major adjustments going on in my homelife. I'm in the process of clearing out my office so Rosie can move in there. Jennifer is taking the guest room which, thankfully, was in pretty good shape. So I'm busy weeding out a dozen year's worth of art and crafting supplies, paperwork and junk. Some of which I still need to unpack from the move, the rest I'm trying to decide if I'll need to get to it in the next year or so. Why so long? Well, Jennifer is pregnant, and I don't expect her to be in a position to move out until at least next summer. Did I mention that there are some radical adjustments being made at home?
So the first thing Jennifer did was go out and find a full-time job. She intends to work as long as possible, and get back to work at least part time soon after the baby comes.
Annika has been amazingly cool through this whole process, and Rosie has cheerfully adopted her as a surrogate Auntie. We have a hard time keeping Rosie from pestering her though, Annika is busy writing a book on micromacreme, and Rosie sneaks downstairs whenever she gets the chance. It's cute.