A Shopping Trip No One Wants

Today I bought a condolence card for an old pal of mine. Her son has been killed in Iraq.

We send our children, filled with hope and energy, into the world.

We pray the world treats them gently.

Sometimes, the world does not.

Friday Meme

1. What are your five favorite stores?

Art supply stores, which in my little town, have all gone out of business except for the Ben Franklin. Office supply stores, ditto all the old neat ones here. Book stores. One lonely independent still holding on in town and we're about to get a Barnes and Noble. I'd go to the Coach store if we had one.

2. Is there any store you absolutely hate going to?
Wal-Mart.

3. Do you pay with cash, credit, debit, or something else?

Debits are so easy it's almost like you're not spending money.

Alas.

4. Do you prefer to shop in person or online?

Oh dear. Might this be a sign of serious addiction? I like both.

5. In the last six months, what single purchase has been the most important to you?

Well, I spent a fortune for an online writing course that is currently driving me more or less insane.

I got a new digital camera in April which turned out to have multiple non-functioning parts, and is currently returning home from the manufacturer after repairs. I've spent a lot of time thinking about that one since I had to go back to my old digital camera which is like returning to one's outdated computer, all the while telling myself I should be using film anyway.

But on the gleeful side, at the summer clearance I bought a new dress and shoes that will be just the thing come Christmas party time.

Let it snow.

From Five on Friday.

Wednesday Meme

Compliments of Scratching The Itch.

Are you more...

01) Banjo for the fun, danceable sound or violin for the soulful, spirit-lifting sound?

My Grandma played the banjo, but I like the violin.

02) Bus/subway for cheapness and ecological responsibility or cab for door to door convenience?

I don't know how ecologically responsible the bus or subway are. Have you ever smelled one of them? I've used all three. Don't be a slave to ideology. Use what works.

03) Paper grocery bags for the capacity and biodegradableness or plastic grocery bags for the convenience and reusability?

I like those paper ice cream bags, and I reuse the plastic ones.

04) Liking fruit that you peel (bananas, oranges, etc.) or fruit that you don't peel (apples, pears, etc.)?

Have you ever tried to peel a kiwi? I like fruit that's a bitch to peel. Pineapple also comes to mind.

05) Expensive 3-ply kleenex or discount 2-ply kleenex?

Puffs with lotion.

06) Super soft toilet paper or rough, no-nonsense toilet paper?

Why does rough equate with no-nonsense here? I vote for super soft. Cheap toilet paper is just stupid.

07) Watching fake wrestling for the kitchy drama or watching boxing for the realness?

I'll watch boxing movies like Cinderella Man and Million Dollar Baby, but I don't watch either, the real or fake, on TV.

08) Coy about telling people what you want when asked or upfront about telling people what you want when asked?

Coy is a waste of time.

09) Believing NASA is amazing for inventing the Space Pen (works in no gravity) or believing NASA is stupid for not doing like the Russians who just use pencils?

I don't think NASA is stupid, just expensive.

10) A Spanky fan or an Alfalfa fan?

Exactly how old do you think I am?

It's Going To Be A Hard Winter

After a couple hundred dollars and about a month’s worth of time, one tomato is growing in our greenhouse.

We are, possibly, the worst greenhouse keepers in the history of greenhouse keeping.

I call our greenhouse THE THREE BEARS.

First it was too cold. Then it was too hot. Now, it’s varying degrees of warm as if we’re in Hell, and someone keeps opening the door.

PARDON ME WHILE I DIGRESS:

Some people think it’s funny when they open the bathroom door and I yell, “Close the door, you’re letting my warm air out!”

“Shouldn’t that be, letting the cold air in? “ they argue.

In/out, I don’t care. What’s being disturbed is a carefully balanced temperature control system of steam, hot naked body and cooling pond of water. So, close the door.

END OF DIGRESSION.

As I was saying, we have four tomato plants, a single surviving cucumber, six pea plants who somehow managed to jump out of the raised beds and sprout in the dirt floor, two cabbages trying to live, four carrot tops and one lonely tomato.

If we had to live this winter on what we grew this summer, we wouldn’t last a day.

What spurred us into this flurry of garden insufficiency? Green tomatoes.

We had given up the garden because between Montana’s short – oh, wait, it’s over – growing season and marauding deer, it wasn’t worth the aggravation. At the end of last summer, I came across a wonderful recipe for fried green tomatoes, which my Dearest proclaimed, turned out better than his grandma used to make. So, we went begging to all our gardening neighbors for green tomatoes which everyone had in excess because Montana’s growing season is about this long, no wait, it’s over already.

Some time this winter, we realized that while we couldn’t grow ripe tomatoes here, because no one can, we could, we reasoned, grow GREEN TOMATOES, and voila, the great greenhouse experiment gained momentum and rolled right over us.

So, now we gaze upon our pea-sized tomato and fantasize about a dinner of fried green tomatoes and cornbread. We haven’t stared at something this intently, for this long, since the baby was born.

It’s going to be a long winter.

Best Fried Green Tomato Recipe

Although it passed through several sources before it got to me, it is originally attributed to Ronni Lundy’s book, In Praise of Tomatoes, from Lark Books.

The triple dip is the secret.

5 green tomatoes (I can only dream)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 eggs
¼ cup of milk
3 cups of bread crumbs (French bread works best IMHO)
Vegetable oil for frying

Cut the tomatoes into slices about ½ inch thick. Combine flour, salt and pepper in a bowl. In a second bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. In a third bowl, dump the bread crumbs.

Heat about ½ inch oil in a wide, heavy skillet over a medium flame.

Dredge the tomato slices first through the flour, lightly coating both sides. (That’s right, flour first.) Next, drag each floured slice through the egg-milk mixture. Finally, place the slices in the bread crumbs, coating both sides.

Fry the tomato slices two or three at a time, turning once, until golden brown on both sides. Serve hot.

Yum.

~ ~ UPDATE ~ ~

On second thought, slice the tomatoes thinner. Let them sit for a bit to lose some fluid. French bread crumbs are good. Cornbread crumbs are good. Sourdough crumbs are not.

Guaranteed to make a country boy smile.

Once Upon A Time

I’ve been thinking about my writing process lately.
It goes like this.

A feeling, idea or character will pop into my consciousness and BANG. I’ll have the Beginning and End of a story. Multiple scenes that go here and there. Almost always the theme, although I may not be able to frame it in a sentence at first. More characters and a nice juicy Villain.

What’s missing?

Always. Always. The entire Second Act.

Sometimes. Usually. I’ll vaguely know that, oh, say, something like this needs to happen in the middle before we get to the lovely planned End.

The script I’m writing now … haven’t a clue.

I have the entire First Act. The complete Third Act. What are the characters doing between pages 30 and 90? Currently, sitting in their homes until it’s time to gather for the Finale.

I said to myself, What the heck happens in the Second Act?

And Self said back, How should I know? Why are you asking me?

It’s a good thing I fall in love easily, or I’d never stick with any of the characters long enough to find out what happens in the middle.

Oh, it’s like life, she says philosophically. You’re born. That’s exciting. You die, that’s sad.

Everything else is the Second Act.