WWW Wednesday 5-15-2013 Guest Post from Steven Piziks
WWW Wednesday. As always, this meme is from shouldbereading.
Steven Harper Piziks
Put your hands together and give a WWW Welcome (do I sound like a demented camp counselor, yet?) to Stephen Harper Piziks! Yesterday, Roc Penguin released the fourth in his steampunk series. Read more about it (and see its wonderful cover) after he shares his current WWW with us.
To play along, Stephen, just answer the following three (3) questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?
• What are you currently reading?
I’m alternating between two books, actually. On my nightstand is Marvel Comics: The Untold Story
• What did you recently finish reading?
Bill Bryson’sA Short History of Nearly Everything
• What do you think you’ll read next?
Probably yet more non-fiction. I have to do some research about trolls in folklore. And I just got Carpe Jugulum
Hey, it’s me again. Pooks. Didja miss me? Okay then. Finally, as promised, more about The Havoc Machine
In a world riddled with the destruction of men and machines alike, Thaddeus Sharpe takes to the streets of St. Petersburg, geared toward the hunt of his life….
Thaddeus Sharpe’s life is dedicated to the hunting and killing of clockworkers. When a mysterious young woman named Sofiya Ekk approaches him with a proposition from a powerful employer, he cannot refuse. A man who calls himself Mr. Griffin seeks Thad’s help with mad clockwork scientist Lord Havoc, who has molded a dangerous machine. Mr. Griffin cares little if the evil Lord lives or dies; all he desires is Havoc’s invention.
Upon Thad’s arrival at Havoc’s laboratory, he is met with a chilling discovery. Havoc is not only concealing his precious machine; he has been using a young child by the name of Nikolai for cruel experiments. Locked into a clockwork web of intrigue, Thad must decipher the dangerous truth surrounding Nikolai and the chaos contraption before havoc reigns….
Paisely Vandermeir requests the pleasure of your presence.
What about you? What have you been reading lately? Put the link to your WWW Wednesday entry in comments, or just tell me!
I’m keeping a running total of my reading challenges–the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge (see banner at the bottom of the right sidebar) and my own challenge, the Embarrassment of Riches Challenge. The January wrap-up is here and here is the February Wrap-Up! And if you missed it, the March Wrap-Up is here and April here. (I haven’t posted mine yet, either!)
WWW Wednesday 5-8-2013
WWW Wednesday. This meme is from shouldbereading.
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?
• What are you currently reading?
I’ve yanked myself up by the short hairs on the back of my neck and forced myself to stop reading the series that have swallowed me whole recently. I’ll soon have finished them and then will have to wait for more, so I decided to try something different.
And I’m glad I did. I am loving reading The Chalice
I’m listening to Tana French’s Faithful Place
Frank Mackey is a bitter, snarky, wonderful Irish undercover cop and his mother is amazing. Just saying!
• What did you recently finish reading?
I finished The Remains of an Altar
I also am flying my way through the Maisie Dobbs
• What do you think you’ll read next?
I’m just overflowing with wonderful books, but the one that has me most excited is the first of Martha Grimes’ Inspector Jury series. I’ve waited years for them to come out in digital. My battered paperback has been read several times and I’m looking forward to collecting them all on my Kindle. I prebought it today so that it will arrive on my Kindle automagically on May 14! I can’t wait. Each of the books is titled with the name of an actual English pub, and the first is: I Am the Only Running Footman
Paisely Vandermeir requests the pleasure of your presence.
What about you? What have you been reading lately? Put the link to your WWW Wednesday entry in comments, or just tell me!
I’m keeping a running total of my reading challenges–the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge (see banner at the bottom of the right sidebar) and my own challenge, the Embarrassment of Riches Challenge. The January wrap-up is here and here is the February Wrap-Up! And if you missed it, the March Wrap-Up is here and April here. (I haven’t posted mine yet, either!)
WWW Wednesday 5-1-2013
WWW Wednesday. This meme is from shouldbereading.
But before we get down to business… I’m looking for a few New Adult readers/reviewers. It turns out that even though it was written before NA was a thing, I am being told that Scandalous is NA. That I should let people know that. And I hesitate, because I don’t want to hop on a bandwagon and mislead people if it doesn’t really fit. So, anybody who likes NA and wants to read it and review it (honest reviews, whether you like it or not, that’s fine) or at least confirm or dispute the idea that it’s NA? Truth in advertising, that’s my goal. Let me know! I’ll get you a copy in either epub or mobi format. Thanks.
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?
• What are you currently reading?
I’m still reading Phil Rickman, his Merrily Watkins series, and still loving it to bits. I think seeing me talk about it gets old and so I haven’t been posting a lot about it, but how do I love it, let me count the ways… It gives me a glimpse of a dream, living in an English village. It dabbles in spiritual matters from Celtic pagan to High Church Anglican to Roman Catholic to agnostic. It delves into history with plots that are rooted in each village or town’s unique story, finding the seeds with which to build a situation that calls for investigation by a reluctant exorcist.
It turns out that even the bookcovers are historically and locationally accurate, for each of them is a photograph of location significant to the plot of the book. I like how the publisher is staying as true to the series as the author is to the world he writes about. Although I have to admit that these covers don’t particular call to me. Ah well.
Right now I’m reading The Remains of an Altar
You might have heard the old chestnut, “Write what you know.” Well that’s just silly. What does JKRowling know of wizards? She invented her wizards. They didn’t exist for her to “know” until she created them. No, the chestnut should be, “Write what you want to know.” Where want equals passion, desire, fascination. Where the idea of digging more deeply into a location, a time in history, the actual research involved is enticing and magical. That’s what to write. I can tell Phil Rickman ascribes to that theory, as well. It shows up in his plots and the worlds he writes about.
Phil Rickman is a superb writer. His plots are intricate and his characterizations rich and nuanced. I can’t recommend this series highly enough.
How about a spot of Elgar?
• What did you recently finish reading?
In The Smile of a Ghost
I also am listening my way through the Maisie Dobbs
• What do you think you’ll read next?
I’m giving this old supernatural novel a shot, The Human Chord
Paisely Vandermeir requests the pleasure of your presence.
What about you? What have you been reading lately? Put the link to your WWW Wednesday entry in comments, or just tell me!
I’m keeping a running total of my reading challenges–the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge (see banner at the bottom of the right sidebar) and my own challenge, the Embarrassment of Riches Challenge. The January wrap-up is here and here is the February Wrap-Up! And if you missed it, the March Wrap-Up is here and April here. (I haven’t posted mine yet, either!)
Embarrassment of Riches TBR — April 30 Check-in!
It’s time for April stats!
The original blog meme is here, along with the links to the previous months’ check-ins.
What are you reading? Did you like it or not?
I’ll tell if you will!
Harvest Monday April 29, 2013
Today’s post is mostly about the cooking. Whilst I harvested salad greens and we ate the odd strawberry here and there, it has been a sparse harvest when judged by volume. But not flavor–oh no, not flavor.
A few years ago my mother and I drove out to East Texas to Blue Moon Gardens, a beautiful garden center in the middle of nowhere. They had so many different types of rosemary and I went from one to the next, rubbing, sniffing. It’s interesting how different some of them were. Some of them had a fragrance that smelled almost like pine or some other room spray, but one had an aroma that was savory, that just smelled like something I wanted to eat.
I promptly bought it and forgot which one it was.
That’s the one I used on my rosemary turkey breast yesterday.
Along with the peel/zest of one lemon, salt and pepper, Greek seasoning, all held together by a blend of soft butter and Lebanese olive oil.
It was fantastic.
A couple of weeks ago Norma asked me about my red lettuce. It’s called Red Sails. Here it is after a recent rain.
It’s really flourishing and I quite love it.
Finally, in order to get in closer to my beds and free up some room for my container growth, I cut back the Old Blush triffid that would take over the back yard if I allowed it. It will survive. It will be covered with the same gorgeous pink next spring, although hopefully smaller, as I did a very drastic hair cut. Now I just need somebody with a chainsaw to get after the dead under growth I exposed.
BEFORE: April 22, 2013
AFTER the carnage: April 27, 2013
We ate breakfast at Garden Cafe again. Their gardens, as always, are inspirational to me. Check out their bed o’ greens.
See what gardeners are harvesting around the world at daphne’s dandelions. Add your pictures, too, if you have some!
Harvest Monday 4-22-13
I am not a girly-girl. So why did I join the Sally Beauty Supply club this morning? Why was I even in there? Because when none of my sprayers worked and I wanted a small one to spray soapy water on aphids, I went looking online for sprayers and to my surprise, found that Sally’s has a wide variety for cheap. Not surprising, really. But once I got in there, oh my. More little goodies than I can begin to describe, for gardeners, travelers, all sorts of people not necessarily interested in beauty supplies.
9 oz bottles in various colors, around $2.40 each if you join the club, still under $3 if you don’t. Sweet!
I got two. One for foliar spray and one for my Dr Bronner’s soap spray. I’ll probably end up with a larger one for foliar, though.
Not much else to say today. Harvest same as before, some salad greens, some herbs, and I continue to work in the garden and enjoy it. I bought a tomato plant that was about 3 feet tall and already had ‘maters on it. Caddo tomatoes, never heard of them. Decided to nab it and see how it does, so I actually have tomatoes ripening in the garden! (Cheating, much?)
Oh. And I’ve been seeing bees. Good times.
April 22, 2013
See what gardeners are harvesting around the world at daphne’s dandelions. Add your pictures, too, if you have some!
Harvest Monday 4-15-13
See what gardeners are harvesting around the world at daphne’s dandelions. Add your pictures, too, if you have some!
This week I harvested several salads which were DELICIOUS. I’ve said it before. It’s impossible to imagine how wonderful various greens taste right out of the garden. For example, when we were shopping at North Haven Gardens back in early March one of the guys told us that they had a kale that was so delicious raw–he went on about it the way people go on about coffee or wine, and I thought, okay, so there are even kale aficionados? Weirdo.
But then he pinched off a small leaf and told me to try it. Because at North Haven Gardens they don’t spray their stuff with chemicals so it’s safe to pinch and taste anything (that is edible, anyway). And to satisfy him, I said, “Erm, sure!” Very brightly. You know, the way you talk to somebody who is not quite on this planet and you are humoring them whilst wondering how quickly you can move on without offending.
OMG.
YOU HAVE TO TASTE THIS KALE.
Seriously, I found the Resident Storm Chaser and said, “You have to try this,” while the weirdo culinary genius stood by, smiling.
RSC gave me a subtle dirty look, the too-polite-to-refuse-in-front-of-strangers but I’m-going-to-get-you kind of look. And he gave the obligatory couple of chews and then his expression changed. “That’s really good,” he said.
Not much to look at, but tasty!
We bought two. I don’t know how to describe them, except kind of… rich? Mellow? Not sharp and hot and spicy like mustard greens, but more like a very rich, buttery, slightly sweet broccoli? [OMG I am a weirdo, I am discussing kale like it's a fine wine.]
Now I’m thinking I need to get these Nero Di Toscana Kale seeds this fall and grow more. At first I figured only the tender new baby leaves were tasty, but I was wrong. These are tender and tasty even at full size. I have loved adding them to salads but I rarely am outside working that I don’t pinch one and eat it, and the main reason I don’t do that more often is because I wouldn’t have any left. Thus my desire to plant more.
So, last week I decided to make an omelet with fresh stuff out of the garden. I still had some small leeks so I sliced one. I took small leaves from swiss chard, from spinach, from the kale. I pinched some thyme and some chives and some oregano–I dunno, just this and that. I had a tiny carrot remaining from an earlier harvest which I shaved thin, then minced the herbs and mixed together and…
I was in the mood for a fried egg.
Not an omelet.
But I had all the stuff ready for the omelet.
But I wanted a fried egg.
So I sauteed all the veg and herb in butter, then cracked in the egg.
My grandmother’s ancient 8-inch iron skillet.
Then, because I didn’t want to flip it, after it sizzled a bit I got a palm-full of water and sprinkled it around the edges of the skillet and put a lid on it and waited a minute or so. The resulting steam finishes off the top of the egg.
Perfection!
I have a feeling that the dish I “invented” which is an egg fried with veg and herbs probably exists already. If it does, let me know the name.
The only thing I would do different is have more savoury flavor. I would add onion or garlic, I think, because there wasn’t enough leek to give it that bit of sumpn-sumpn I wanted. Or maybe some bell pepper. Or even just go heavier with the herbs. Just a bit more flavor. Because the kale was so mild, it didn’t add a lot.
But it turned out great and gave me exactly what I wanted. That rich, buttery runny yolk stirred around with all the fresh stuff from the garden was delicious!
Delicious!
If I didn’t do anything but use it on sandwiches, lettuce would be more than worth its keep. Just think of all the money we save by never having to buy lettuce. We’ve been pinching off leaves since the day we put it in the ground and look how pretty it is. For some reason the red lettuce did better than the green, but the green is starting to catch up now. These were bedding plants we bought at North Haven Gardens the same day we bought the kale.
To my total shame, I broke my rule about buying things made in China. I bought this little hummer at Home Depot. I was weak. I admit it. But they were so pretty. [I bought three.] And I am ashamed but hey, human. Moving on, the dwarf snaps are to draw pollinators. I probably won’t leave them in once the initial burst of blooms is over. Last year I had trouble with pollination so this year I decided to stick flowers around here and there hoping to remedy that until my herbs start blooming.
And finally–Friday morning I am almost certain I saw a hummingbird. A real, living one. Either that or some sort of largish insect that was rather locust-looking, which I am pretty sure it couldn’t have been. It zipped around from a snapdragon over to the rosebush.
Very early. And today we will hit 90 degrees.
Summer is coming, people.
Brace yourselves.
April 15, 2013 – when the Old Blush monster rose stops showing off we will whack her back again. Last year we had to cut her back to half her size to put in these square foot garden beds. She covered the ground all the way to the sidewalk, where the smaller bed is now on the left! Oh, these antique roses. They are hardy! But we need the space for more beds.
