Old and New

 Most of my social media feeds show people reflecting on 2020 and planning for 2021. I am not a planner–not even what’s for dinner–but I do make an effort to at least sketch out a calendar with important dates. This year I tried to at least look at what I accomplished in 2020. In a year of global ups and downs, I have to admit my year was mostly up.

Ups: I opened the year getting 3rd place in a local short story contest (Transplant), then got 1st place in August (All Saints). I published my 4th book (Valkyrie) in May, finished my 1st manuscript for a new series-The Cerveza Chronicles, and made headway on the 2nd novel. I participated in National Write a Novel Month for the 5th time, and PitchWars for the 1st time.

My learning process continued with (in person and online) meetings and classes for Skywarn, TCU Center of Texas Studies, Texas Discovery Gardens, Sisters in Crime (North Dallas, Heart of Texas, Houston, North California, National), Bourchercon-Sacramento, Writer’s Guild of Texas, Dallas Mystery Writers, Dallas Area Writers Group (DAWG), Roanoke Writers Conference, Writer’s Organizations ‘Round Dallas (WORD), and Frisco Area Writers Group (FAWN). Basically, if they let me in, I took notes.

My oldest–Myrtle the Elder–came to visit in January and bought her first home in February. She also got a new puppy–a Boston Terrier name Moose. My other granddogs are doing well. Doc had a bloody ear, but otherwise avoided having his stomach pumped again (win!). I’ve been able to keep in touch with friends through Zoom, Discord, texting, and the occasional porch or driveway visit.

T’s Adventures in Cooking including learning to fill tamales (yum!), making my first chicken and dumplings and beef stew, my first cobbler (blog post-Drunk Peaches), not-my-first-but-it’d-been-awhile Thanksgiving turkey, and the best smoked Christmas ham with a cranberry-dijon glaze (seriously good and ham isn’t my favorite meat).

Downs: In March, my husband and I had to put our 15 year old black lab to sleep (blog post-My Boy). I still miss my boy.

Covid-19 affected everyone I know in one way or another. One family member (a nurse) caught it early on but recovered. Friends went into strict quarantine due to health concerns, and most transitioned their work to home. My job (occupational therapist) doesn’t have the luxury of working from home, but we did have to decrease our hours temporarily. Fortunately, my employer did everything they could to keep us working, and I had over 100 hours of vacation time (because I forget to plan time off) accumulated to offset the difference.

Personally, I haven’t allowed the pandemic to limit me. I live my life, wear a mask, and respect others space. It doesn’t work for many, but it works for me.

What does 2021 hold for T?

No clue. I’m attempting to make a few plans. I’m going to take the leap and query agents for The Cerveza Chronicles. Honestly, I’m not sure how patient I will be with that process, but we’ll see. I am a new board member of Writers Guild of Texas (pray for them, they know not what possessed them). Any and all classes, meetings, critiques, contests, etc that I am capable of participating in, shall be participated in. And Myrtle the Younger and I will continue our Adventures in Cooking (she got a tiny waffle maker for Christmas-yummy!) so stay tuned for whatever crazy whim we get a taste for, without setting the kitchen on fire (it’s a skill I haven’t mastered yet. My mother has achieved that greatness at least 3 times that I know of).

Many blessing to all for a HEALTHY and SAFE 2021!

T.

Drunk Peaches

 I have mentioned in the past–more than once–that I am not a cook. It’s not that I can’t cook, I don’t like planning to cook, preparing to cook, cooking, and cleaning up after cooking. Except on special occasions like when I have help, inspiration, or a really good reason to darken the kitchen doors. Let me just say that I haven’t killed anybody or anything with my cooking–yet.

I should also mention that–despite not possessing the will to cook wholesome food for my family on a daily basis–I apparently inherited the family trait of collecting recipes and improvising, which I have passed on to the Myrtles. Myrtle the Eldest is quite amazing in the kitchen and Myrtle the Youngest is my partner in crime when I want to test out something wild and crazy.

The latter was the case a couple of weeks ago, but let me first give a little background. I live in Texas which has many “state foods”: BBQ, chili, Tex-Mex, corny dogs, to name a few. Cobblers might be considered a “state dessert” and are a staple at many pot-lucks. That said, I had never ever made a cobbler–homemade or otherwise. So June, 2020 rolled around along with my father-in-law’s birthday and I decided I would attempt to make a peach cobbler for him.

Now when I do cook, especially for a special occasion, I make an effort to do it right. I follow a recipe (not always–rarely–with precision), and, when possible, I use fresh ingredients. This peach cobbler had to have fresh peaches (it took freakin’ forever to peel and cut up six or seven peaches only to find one of them was bad). It smelled good, it tasted good, and everyone in the vicinity wanted a repeat. Which I proceeded to do a few weeks later for mi espouso’s birthday.

Moving on to a couple of weeks ago, I decided that peach cobbler with brandied peaches sounded kinda good. Have I ever had brandied peach cobbler? No. Have I ever sampled brandied peaches? No. Have I ever had brandy? No. Am I going to modify the current successful recipe to meet my current yen? Why yes, yes I am.

Fortunately, Myrtle the Younger is on board with this idea, so off we go to the liquor store (because one must have brandy to make brandied peaches, don’t you know–did I mention that I’ve never had brandy before?). Obtaining peaches and brandy, we proceeded to skin the poor little darlings and I decide that a cup of brandy in the pot oughta do the trick. But first, as all good chefs should do, we must taste the brandy.

I do not like brandy.

But I continue with the plan and allow the peaches to soak up as much alcohol as they wished while the bowl sat in my fridge. Every few days, Myrtle the Younger would ask when we were going to do the cobbler. I kept putting it off because–you know–I don’t want to cook. We even bought a few more unsaturated peaches to mix with the drunk ones so we would be able to drive after sampling the cobbler (not that we needed to go anywhere, but just in case someone had to go buy another dessert or go to the ER).

Finally, she corners me and I agreed we needed to do the deed today. The first thing we did, with great trepidation, was remove the lid of the sloshed peaches in hopes that they would still be edible. They seemed happy, so we moved to the fresh peaches. The three remaining ones were REALLY RIPE by this time but were still usable.

While I’m peeling the fresh peaches, Myrtle looks up the recipe and happens upon a recipe (get this) for brandied peach cobbler. It called for 1.5 TEASPOONS of brandy over fresh peaches without letting them set. If I recall correctly, I doused my little guys in about 1 CUP and let them percolate for two weeks. OOPS!

We continued with our endeavor, deciding to follow the original recipe, and lo and behold, we made a darn good drunk peach cobbler for dessert!

Now I have to get more peaches, before they are out of season, and set them to swimming in a new bath of brandy. I also have reserved peachy brandy marinade that I need a use for. Stay tuned.

T.

What Is This...Uhm...Stuff?

I am either the best wife ever or the worst mom ever. Not sure which, maybe both.

Queso is a food group in Texas and considered a perfect alternative to soup on a cold day. I normally make mine with cream cheese because I know what cream cheese is and can pronounce most of the ingredients. Now I am not necessarily a food snob, but I do appreciate fresh veggies, nice meat and real cheese. (I appreciate someone else doing the cooking even more.)

My spouse does not like my version of queso. He likes what I refer to as the glue version. I think you know that to which I refer.

Labeled as a pasteurized recipe cheese product and has a shelf life of infinity, it is known to melt quickly in the microwave into creamy yellow sauce without any needed additions. It also turns into glue within five minutes and contrete in ten. Clean-up can take hours.

I think it goes without saying that I do not purchase said product, so imagine my chagrin when I found a yellow box sitting on my pantry shelf. Yes, the spousal unit decided that, since I was going to the church youth super bowl party, he would indulge his craving.

Well, he forgot and the box has remained on my shelf, taunting me. Until today. A day known as sleet-magedon (or however you spell it). School is out so both spouse and Myrtle the Younger are lounging around. So after making the spouse breakfast in bed (he NEVER returns the favor!), I decided to eliminate the garbage from my pantry which primarily consisted of the yellow box of goo.

After making the queso, I watched as my spouse inhaled and my daughter laughed hysterically at speed of plasticization. Even the dog questioned the edibility of said product, although ultimately he will eat whatever Daddy eats.

I wonder who will clean up this...stuff. Anyone got a chisel?

T.

Another One for the Win Column

I am pleased to announce that my Sunday School class has yet again won Best Theme for this year's Crossfire Youth Annual Chili Cook-Off. I am not sure how many years we have won, but it be a bunch. I cannot say we are undefeated, but we are pretty darn close.

Although we have fabulous cooks in our class, each of which make a mean pot of chili, we do not go for the Best Chili. That being said, I do have to admit to being a bowl of red conoisseur and I side with the International Chili Society rules. Chili must have at least 1 pepper (other than black) and may consist of any variety of meat although the preferred versions are some flavor of beef. There are red varieties (Red Chili) and green varieties (Chili Verde). There are no white chilis (sorry to disappoint). Chili should also be not too watery (that's called soup in Texas) or too dry (that's called dip).

No beans or pasta or other such nonsense. It is acceptable to put your chili over beans or pasta, however THOU SHALT NOT MAKE CHILI WITH BEANS OR PASTA. (It's a rule. Trust me. I looked it up. See for yourself. http://www.chilicookoff.com/Event/Event_Rules.asp). Personally, I can tolerate a black or white bean, but kidney beans make me want to...well, let us just say I no likey.

Now with full disclosure, I have come up with an acceptable vegetarian version thanks to Myrtle the Younger. She became concerned the year that her sister, Myrtle the Elder, became a vegetarian and would have nothing to eat at the chili cook-off. I, being a good Texan, dutifully informed Myrtle the Younger that there was no such animal as vegetarian chili but she insisted that I could accomplish the impossible. So I masqueraded a spicy bean soup as vegetarian chili.

So what, you might ask, makes for a successful Best Themed Chili Cook-Off booth? Insanity, people. Much insanity, with an extra helping of details on the side. Our class motto is 'go big or go home' with plenty of room for 'what have we gotten ourselves into?'

This year's winning theme: FIRE IN THE HOLE!

Yes sirree, we had a mine shaft, mine car, and a dead canary. I would post a picture, but for some reason it no worky. So trust me, IT WAS AWESOME!!!

Now for some antacid.

T.