by Christine | Life, Observations
I’ve never been to a midnight movie opening. Ever. But tonight, I’m going to see Breaking Dawn Part 2 with a gal I met briefly at a friend’s opening night of a play, over a month ago. Yes, that’s right. I’m going to see a movie with a person I barely know.
Why? She asked, plus she said if I’d never been to a Twilight Saga midnight show, this would be my last chance. She said it’s fun – everyone’s reactions are over the top, and you get as much a kick out of the audience as the film.
So, even though I’m going to see BD2 tomorrow night with friends, I’m also going out to the ArcLight on Sepulveda to see the 12:20am show tonight. I’ll hole up in a coffee shop prior to and write my fingers off, but then – the movie. My first time in an ArcLight – we’ve got reserved seats (no waiting in line!).
My hubby told me to make sure my phone is charged, and to text him a couple of times so he knows I haven’t been abducted or anything, which I think is a hoot. But – I did recharge my phone!
I will say, this is way out of my comfort zone – and I’m determined to enjoy myself. See a midnight movie, meet new friends, have new experiences – what’s not to like?!
What have you done lately that’s been out of your comfort zone?
by Christine | Cooking
It’s taken me almost 40 years to learn how to make the best scrambled eggs. That ubiquitous breakfast food, the food that most tender tummies can handle, the very first comfort food I remember shouldn’t be so difficult to make.
In my 20s, I went through phases of adding – milk, heavy cream, sour cream, cream cheese. I tried them one at a time, but none of these really made the eggs taste better. So then I thought, it must be the pan I’m using – and promptly absconded with the small copper-bottomed skillet that my mom used to use. Nope. Not the flavor I was looking for, sad to say.
Mom’s small skillet. Probably bought in the mid-1960’s. Purloined from her house in the mid 1980’s.
In my teens, I spent one memorable Spring Vacation at a friend’s beach house in Laguna Beach while my parents were in Oregon, and my friend’s older really cute brother made us scrambled eggs and he put everything in them. Cut up pieces of salami, cheese, onions, bell pepper, mushrooms, worcestershire sauce, and a little bit of mustard were stirred into a whole dozen eggs before they ever hit the hot, sizzling pan. That is still my second favorite way to have scrambled eggs.
In our first house, my husband found a small skillet in the dumpster behind our condo complex, a perfectly good pan that looked like it would be perfect for omelets. So for years, I made my eggs in that pan, and it served. And slowly, I forgot about my quest for the perfect scrambled eggs.
Pan rescued from Dumpster, late 1980’s early 1990’s.
Then, this year I was talking with one of the geologists in my office about cooking, and he said to me, you know the secret to good scrambled eggs? My whole body sprang to alertness, like a hound dog on a scent. I begged him to tell me.
Fat. A good solid pat of butter or tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom of the pan, melted over high heat. Then once the eggs go in, cook them as fast as you can. The less time on the heat, the better.
I took his words to heart and went back to looking for the perfect scrambled eggs. But it wasn’t until, in desperation, I ended up using a cast-iron skillet about six inches across that I got closer to perfection. And once I just kept stirring the egg, dragging the fork through it again and again and never lifting that fork from the pan, that I got it even closer.
Small cast-iron skillet with bits of breakfast egg still inside. Added to the kitchen late 1990’s, during our camping/cast iron love affair.
The last bit that sent the eggs to perfection? Taking them off the heat when they were still just a little bit shiny. I’d been so used to cooking them until they were dull that it never occurred to me that I was over-cooking them. The first time I served the eggs that way, my oldest son and I had an epiphany over them.
“Good eggs,” he muttered.
“Oh yeah,” I answered back. (Our epiphanies aren’t very eloquent.)
They were very slightly buttery, light, creamy and perfect. To recap – Good pat of butter + cast iron pan + high heat + quick cooking and lots of stirring = Nirvana Scrambled Eggs.
I discovered how to make the perfect scrambled eggs…and it only took me 40 years to do so. The lesson to be learned? In the words of Winston Churchill…”nevah, nevah, nevah give up”.
~ Until the next time, cheers – and remember to drink responsibly! ~
Demon Soul, Blood Dreams and Demon Hunt are all available for the Kindle! Have you fallen into the Caine Brothers’ world yet?
by Christine | Life, Observations
I’d spent most of the day today working. First a blog post (which will go up tomorrow) and then on the play. The first half is being read aloud by actors at Fierce Backbone, the play development group, tomorrow.
But there came a time when I desperately needed to get outside. So I grabbed my camera, panicked because the battery was dead, found the fresh battery, charged the other one,and finally set off for the arroyo, where the hubs and I walked last Sunday morning. Here’s a little of what I saw. All photos, of course, taken by me.
The Arroyo.
Gorgeous, ain’t it?
Then I caught sight of the birds. Here we go, lots of pretty birds.
Crane, posing.
And this one…
Crane, upset.
Here’s another one…I really liked this bird…
Crane, showing his wingspan
And we switch to a peaceful pond…
Peaceful Pond
But the most majestic animal still waited. I probably passed him on my way downstream; but I didn’t see him until I was on my way back.
Gray Bird
I managed to get him as he flew away, below.
Leaving for the evening.
After such a wonderful walk, I felt much refreshed and went to the grocery store, where I promptly bought a turkey which I shall cook this coming weekend, since we’re going to my nephew & niece’s house for the actual feasting day.
Thanks for hanging out and checking out my photos. I had a wonderful walk. The only thing that would have made it better is if Tom could have been with me. But I know we’ll both be out there again. I took over 400 photos in around an hour…easy to do with a digital camera.
What do you do when you need to unwind?
~ Until the next time, cheers – and remember to drink responsibly! ~
Demon Soul, Blood Dreams and Demon Hunt are all available for the Kindle! Have you fallen into the Caine Brothers’ world yet?
by Christine | Wine Friday
In these days of high unemployment and global financial crisis, it’s nice to relax with a bottle of wine that doesn’t break your pocketbook. I’m here to sort out the memorable from the truly awful, and each bottle is under $10.
It has been years since I regularly purchased Two Buck Chuck, the ubiquitous Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw wines. Since the ready cash has been less ready as of late, the hubby thought it would be a good idea to give some of them another try. So here we go, delving into the mysteries of Two Buck Chuck.
Charles Shaw Merlot 2011 Alcohol 12.5% by Volume; $1.99 at Trader Joe’s
On The Label: “Cellared and bottled by Charles Shaw Winery, Napa and Sonoma, California”
My Take: Well, the label is interesting. They take grapes from the premier growing areas in California and use those in their wines. Hm…
The last time I had a bottle of Two Buck Chuck (actually I’m talking several years ago now), it was awful. I have a strange tolerance for bad wine – after the first few gulps, you can get used to anything – but that bottle turned me away from the wine for a very long time. This Merlot, however, was flavorful, with lots of fruit and a hint of depth. It went well with the chicken quesadillas and guacamole we had that night for dinner. Plus the lower alcohol content was nice; reds tend to hover between 13.5% and 14%.
My Rating: ~ Drinkable ~
(TIP: If you don’t want your dinner guests to know what name brand of wine you’re pouring, decant it first and hide the bottle. There’s no need to tell a soul!)
Charles Shaw Sauvignon Blanc, 2011 Alcohol 12.5% by Volume – $1.99 at Trader 
Joe’s
On the Label: See above, lol.
My Take: Like almost all Sauvignon Blancs, this one has a crisp, almost sharp flavor. It’s a terrific spritzer wine, very like the Shaw Pinot Grigio, though we are past spritzer season here at Chez Ashworth. Will I rush out to buy it again? Um, not until next summer. Perhaps.
My Rating: ~ Drinkable ~
Overall, I was pleased that, should the worst happen and I be out on the streets with my hands out, begging, I can still find a bottle of wine that I can drink and only pay $1.99 for it. I still have a Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon in my wine cellar to try…I’ll admit I’m a bit scared! But as I was poking about the internet, I saw an article that said since Two Buck Chuck started selling, they’ve sold over six hundred million bottles. So they must be doing something right!
Have a great weekend, folks – and be good to one another.
As usual, this is just my honest opinion and depend upon my mood, the weather, and what cycle the moon is in. Your taste buds will differ.
~ Until the next time, cheers – and remember to drink responsibly! ~
Demon Soul, Blood Dreams and Demon Hunt are all available for the Kindle! Have you fallen into the Caine Brothers’ world yet?
My Rating Scale: Undrinkable, Barely Drinkable, Drinkable, Very Drinkable, and the ever popular Stay away! This is MY wine, you slut!
by Christine | Life, Observations
Most of the time, I know my place. I love my place – it’s got hubby in it, and my kids, my cat, my relatives, my friends, a terrific garden and a comfy bed to snuggle into at night. It’s also got stuffed animals that like to greet me when I come home from a writer’s conference.
My welcome home from Desert Dreams – stuffed animals guarding an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne. Isn’t my hubby the sweetest?
But it’s taken me some time to get to this place. I stumbled across what I thought was a brand-new journal book and took it along to a new playwright’s workshop I take on Monday nights. Imagine my surprise when I opened it up and found notes from a scam possible job opportunity, back in May of 2010.
I read through my notes (which were substantial – I believe I went to a week’s worth of “training”). There was a lot of leadership stuff in there – really good leadership stuff, I might add, which I will re-read again. Plus there was a lot of manipulation stuff in there, too; which bugged me at the time. But it took actually trying to sell this stuff before I realized that this job was not for me, no matter how much money I could make doing it.
Which got me to thinking about another job I had, spanning four months, not many months before I checked into the scam other possible job opportunity. That was a real job, with a real paycheck and real expense reports and real work. I was good at it, too. By the fourth month, I knew what I was doing, I could handle the work with my eyes shut and hands tied behind my back, and I was absolutely and positively miserable. Part of the misery was some family issues that were happening, and I was far away from home each day. So when I quit – and that, in fact, has been the only job I have quit – I did so as politely as I could, telling them that I was needed at home and this job wasn’t the right fit for me. They tried to keep me but I held firm. More money wouldn’t have done it (and boy was I underpaid). I spent the next two weeks getting everything in order, making sure the people who were taking my accounts knew what was going on in each area, copying my boss on all the details. I didn’t want to be badmouthed about my work when I left, and I wanted to make sure that if I ever HAD to, I could go back.
I have thought about these two jobs quite a bit in the last few days. I knew I could have handled them both, but there comes a time when you should just back away. Just because you CAN do a job doesn’t mean you SHOULD do it. Not at the expense of your own personal health and happiness, or how your mood affects your family.
Writing is a job. Luckily, I can and should and do write, and even though it can be difficult at times I never feel like I’m wearing ill-fitting clothes. I never feel out of place. I am never insanely miserable.
Writing, I’m happy to say, is my “place”. (So is my current day job, which I’m lucky to have and I’m grateful that it’s a good fit for my personality.)
At Desert Dreams Booksigning, with a part of the Arizona contingent of the Ashworth clan. One of the good writing days! (The one that voids warranties is Young Son.)
I’m thinking young people today are trying to find their own “place” almost too quickly, thereby abandoning part of the journey to self discovery for “place”. Later, they wonder why they’re unhappy. Maybe choosing your “place” too young is a bad thing?
Or maybe not enough people are lucky enough to find their “place” early in life? I don’t know. But heck, I’m happy where I am.
I guess you could say I’m in my happy place, lol, every time I sit down to write or go to the day job. Yes, I count myself lucky!
I also know that I’m a strong, intelligent woman and I’m friends with other strong, intelligent women (and men). Amidst all the change and upheaval and births and deaths and angst and incredible happiness and terrible storms, it helps to remember we are all human. What divides is is minor compared to what should unite us. We are strong and breakable; we all live, love, laugh, cry, eat, sleep, dream, bleed and die, and the earth is our “place”. Right now, it’s the only earth we’ve got.
I guess I’ve said enough. I’ve got dinner to make and more words to write. Peace out, people – and remember to be gentle with each other, even when we may disagree. Hugs!
~ Until the next time, cheers – and remember to drink responsibly! ~
Demon Soul, Blood Dreams and Demon Hunt are all available for the Kindle! Have you fallen into the Caine Brothers’ world yet?
I’ve never been to a midnight movie opening. Ever. But tonight, I’m going to see Breaking Dawn Part 2 with a gal I met briefly at a friend’s opening night of a play, over a month ago. Yes, that’s right. I’m going to see a movie with a person I barely know.
