Life's Definitions

Have you ever thought about how life defines you?
I was thinking about that the other day as I was working on my newest book.  I'd had a conversation with a friend, she introduced me to someone else and added, "She writes cookbooks"  I got this little glow going, and thought 'giggle' I'm a cookbook author, and laughed a little.  I'd kinda thought of myself as such, but really, all I did was put down some recipes, added some words to it, added some pictures I'd taken along the way, and put them into a book.
Then I realized, wait a minute, I've now done this three times.  I'm what is known as an 'Indie author' and have three cookbooks out, and people are buying them, people I don't even know are putting down their money, and buying one of my books, or even all three.
WOOHOO!!!!

Amazing, this journey, but one that my feet are firmly planted on.
I'm still writing, but have expanded my views and will be publishing a murder mystery by years end.

And who knows, I may even write more cookbooks, or expand and revise the current books.

BTW, if you're interested, they're all on Amazon.
Hygge- Danish Food and Recipes
Nibbles and Bites - A Compilation of Appetizers, Canapés and Finger Foods
Simple Shrimp Recipes - 25 + Easy Shrimp Appetizers, Entrees and Dipping Sauces

You can also check out my Author page  here .

And as for this blog, this is where I share random thoughts, rants and other stuff.   

Music everywhere

Music, Music everywhere and not a quiet place to think. 

I like music, really, I do. 
But why do I have to have it blasted at me everywhere?

I go to the grocery store, there's music playing, and not at a quiet level either.  It's LOUD...   When I'm trying to remember exactly what I can to the store for, I don't want to listen to music playing so loudly I can't think.  

I go to a bar to visit with friends, they have live music and I appreciate the talent but question why they need to make it so loud on an afternoon that I have to scream at my friends and can't hear what they're screaming back at me.  

Why this obsession with noise, whatever happened to quiet time? 

Why do we have to constantly be entertained?

WHY?

Customer Rewards Card? NOT!!!

I'm at the grocery store, find the BOGO's and hurry up and place them in the card, I may not need them right now, but I do love my Naan, and Pistachio's and oooh, I did come here specifically to buy chicken and they had a BOGO on that as well, so I grabbed two packages of frozen chicken breasts and threw them into the cart where they landed next to all the BOGO's I'd already grabbed. 
I filled up the card with a few more items, headed to the checkout, presented my loyalty rewards card and was told that it is being phased out and here's the new one. 
Cashier:  We'll activate it for you right now, and then when you get home, just go online and finish registering it. 
Me: OK, thanks
Cashier:  It's really simple, just give them all the info they ask for.   Here, see you've already got 38 points that you can use at any of the following stores or restaurants or?   And every time you shop at one of the linked stores you can earn more points to use.
Me: Why not just lower the price here at the store?
Cashier: Oh no, we can't do that, but you can buy gas or a meal or shop at a department store and get points towards your purchase somewhere else.
Me: OK, fine I get it, can we just check out now?
Cashier:  Here's your card, now don't forget to go ahead and finish registering the card so you can get those great bonus points.
Me: I just want to get great deals here, I don't really care about the rest of it. 
I go home, put the card aside for a couple of days and then think, alright, let me look at it.  So I do.  I start to fill out the forms and believe you me there were forms on forms on forms.   And then I get to the point  where they want me to allow them to release all the information I just gave them to their 'partners' so I can get in line for any great deals they're offering.
Ummm, you want me to give them my email, birthdate, phone number and everything else that you want everyone in the hacking world to have. 
I get it.
NOT!!!
I stopped right there and tweeted about it, and guess what they tweeted back and told me I could opt out at any time.
Ummm, excuse me, they already have all the info, what makes you sure that they'll not sell it ad nauseum to every scammer, and everyone else out there who wants to sell me the latest greatest deal.

I already don't stay at Marriot Hotels, and I don't want a free stay as a thank you.   I haven't called about the Back Brace as seen on TV, and my computer is not infected by some kind of malware that only some poor slob in a third world country can fix if I allow him or her access to all the info on my computer right now. 

I think I'll just stick to shopping at stores that don't require me to carry a card as proof  and use all the info from that to prove that I'm a loyal customer there.

Really?

So, I'm in the grocery store, pushing my cart, looking at the produce, weighing in my mind what I want to make for dinner for the coming week, and deciding how much room I have in the fridge.   A lady comes up behind me, proceeds to SQUEEZE the tomatoes, and then drops them and says very loudly that "all they have here is crap:".  

I may be an anachronism here but I try to handle the produce with gentleness, picking up tomatoes, turning them gently in my hands to see evidence of bruising or over ripeness or other reason not to buy them. 

It's no wonder produce prices are going up and the garbage bins in the back of the store are almost overflowing with produce that some asinine idiot handled so roughly that it's not saleable.   

I wish I had the room and inclination to grow my own, but I don't so am forced to go the store and buy my produce that some idjit has handled roughly, without consideration for anyone else but them. 

Noise Barrage everywhere

Am I the only who is bothered by the constant barrage of 'noise' that we are subjected to?  

I was in a store yesterday, and the music was blaring.  Not just as a background noise, but LOUD.  I had a couple of things I wanted to pick up, but honestly, I left before getting it all, as I simply could not think with the music blasting at me.

I'm not an old crotchety person, or at least I don't think I am.  But what ever happened to quiet in stores and restaurants?

Most restaurants now have two or three TV's tuned to different stations, one of which usually has the volume turned up to the point that having a quiet conversation with your lunch or dinner companion is almost impossible. 

Personally, I don't need to be entertained all the time, nor do I want to have my meal out interrupted by a TV blaring at me.   

I like quiet times, in fact I'll even go for a walk by myself so I can have quiet time.  My dog doesn't seem to need to talk at me all the time either, she's just as happy hanging out quietly with me. 

Too bad the world isn't like that.

Cook book fun

Awhile ago a friend suggested to me that I put together a cookbook.  I have to admit to thinking "Gee, what could I possibly come up with, theme wise that is.
So I stuck the idea on a back burner, kept the heat on, stirring it from time to time.  And every so often, taking it off the heat, letting it cool down, then putting it back on to simmer some more.

And...

I think I finally have a final recipe.

I think.

I'm going to concentrate on appetizers, or starters, or nibbles or whatever you want to call it.

Because, I just love making appetizers.   And since we host a Tapas Night at our house most months, it just seemed like a perfect fit.

Now comes the hard part, deciding on not only which recipes make it in, but how to define each section.

Some seem easy, but others, well...  Not so much.

At any rate, I'm at work on it now and maybe by years end I'll have something to share.

In the meantime, I'm off to the kitchen to play some more.

Who says you have to grow up and stop playing with food.  

Back in the kitchen, again and gone again

A couple of years ago I wrote about how I'd resigned from cooking at our local senior center.  I was sad, but relieved at the same time.

I knew I was going to miss going in every week, was going to miss my great volunteers, a couple of whom have since passed on.
And I did.
I missed the people, I missed the kitchen, I missed the adrenaline rush I would get every week, racing against the clock to make sure that lunch was ready, right at noon.

And we made it most of the time.  There was a time or two that we were late, not more than 5 minutes or so, but I'd say we made it with seconds to spare, most weeks.

Well, I got back in the kitchen again.
Started in January, and got that lovely adrenaline rush again, racing against the clock, and made it, every single week.

I was the kitchen manager this time round, I set the menu's, make sure we made enough food.  And that can be a tricky little detail, cause I never knew how many people we were going to be feeding.  I  ran out of food a couple of times, well, ran short that is.   I totally overestimated how many people would come in and had a surfeit of food left over.   But that was just part and parcel of the whole experience.

I really enjoyed watching our numbers climb week by week, most weeks that is.

But, it was time for me to bow out again, I just didn't have the time to devote to cooking every week.   Not only was I going in once a week to cook, but I had to take time to plan menus, take time to do the shopping, the prep work and it got to be too much.

I did enjoy myself, the volunteers were fantastic, the food was well received and it was a positive experience.

All good things do come to an end sometimes, and this was one of them.

So...
I'm back in my own kitchen again, experimenting, having fun and have the occasional offering to the Kitchen Goddess, otherwise known as the garbage can.
But that's life.