Good food and good books

Because the fella is on this gluten-free diet, I get all excited when I find new stuff that he can eat that’s really good. I have probably a year’s worth of Southern Living magazines in the house–I read them, and then set them aside to go back through later and pull the good stuff out–and sometimes (most of the time) it takes me a while to go back through. I think this particular magazine was around a year old. Don’t think it was more. (I hope.) Anyway, the recipe was sort of Italian-Southern-Southwestern, because it was browned polenta slices topped with black-eyed peas heavily laced with fresh cilantro and tomato. Basically, you slice up one of those pre-packaged tubes of polenta, brown it in olive oil (they call for a non-stick skillet and cooking spray, but since I don’t have a non-stick skillet…). Then you cook a can of black-eyed peas and chopped onion, and a little salt and cayenne, till the liquid’s almost gone, add in some cilantro and tomato and top the polenta slices with it. Very simple. Very good stuff. I don’t know that anyone but a Southerner would have thought to put black-eyed peas with polenta–but hey, fried polenta is just a fancy name for a round, flat hushpuppy! Maybe it’s Texas cuisine, since it’s peas plus cilantro and tomato, which has a lot in common with “Texas caviar.” Anyway–good stuff.

I’ve been reading some good books lately too. Picked up DARK MOON DEFENDER by Sharon Shinn. I liked it better than THIRTEENTH HOUSE–which I liked, just not as much as DMD. This one takes place in the same universe, and is Justin’s story, about how he comes into his own, and falls in love. There are TWO happy endings in this story. Very good read, IMO.

I need to make maps for Eternal Rose. I have paper and everything, just haven’t done it yet. Going to Galveston and the beach for a day or two beginning tomorrow…don’t know as I’ll take the paper with me. I wonder if I need to use the legal-sized paper for the maps… I’ll ask. Also need to write a short bio. I hate writing bios. I want to sound cute and clever, and just can’t seem to do it. At least I don’t sound clever to myself. Maybe it sounds better to other people. I’d post two bios here and let y’all vote on which one sounds best–but that would require that I WRITE two bios. I don’t even want to write one. But I will do it! I am brave.

Okay–have to share this with you. When the boy was still at home and studying WWI history, they were doing some kind of project looking up the early efforts at propaganda, and he stumbled across a cache of French WWI war posters online, the “Loose Lips Sink Ships” sort. One of these posters showed a chicken sitting atop a pile of eggs and said in large print: “Je suis une brave poule de guerre!” Which translated means: “I am a brave war chicken!”

And now, every time I think “I am brave,” I also think “I am a brave war chicken!” Je suis une brave poule de guerre!

So there.