Two of us going over the copyedits in succession… way to go. We’re exhausted. And I have the implant posts done tomorrow, so I don’t think I’m going to be too spiff tomorrow. Sigh. Another pasta diet.
Jane and I are finishing c/e’s for Alliance Rising.
by CJ | Jul 30, 2018 | Journal | 13 comments
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Great news about the book, and I hope the post implants go well, too.
Pearled barley, buckwheat groats, bulgar wheat, wild rice, etc. All can be substituted for pasta in most recipes, and each lends a different taste.
Good luck on the implant post. Persevere. Having a working tooth again is worth the wait. Just keep your eyes on the prize.
Eagerly awaiting being able to get my hands on the book. Jonesing for a good read.
At the moment I’m busy re-reading Downbelow Station again, after an interval of many years. It still holds up very well, and the characterization is better than in 99% of SF. I’m looking forward to Alliance Rising.
Much sympathy and hoping your implants go well. This could be in my future also. I like Tommie’s idea, and maybe some of the options people discussed in that earlier thread will help too.
Really looking forward to Alliance Rising, and I will be rereading some books as well.dI love that I want to reread your books, and each time I do, I find something new. As the years have gone by, my perspective keeps changing, and I find new enjoyment that way too. Sometimes it brings fresh insights, and other times it shows me I need to change something about myself.
Sympathy on the implant post. I’m nearing the end of 3 months / $6,000+ dental work. The 7-tooth bridge is at the lab (color match appointment yesterday), and I should be able to get rid of this plastic temporary bridge in two weeks. At least, I’m allowed to eat anything I can cut into small bites–like PB&J with a knife and a fork.
And now for the, “My life continues to be wacky, but in a slightly better way at the moment,” vein.
I was dragging my feet about insurance and disability coverage, and eye and dental care. I’ve resolved to find where I put my paperwork when I last was serious about this, and move forward with it somehow. I can’t really figure out why I’ve been avoiding this so hard. I know it needs to be done. But something in me just hasn’t clicked with it, after a long round of activity that had too little real progress / benefit. So, I will be making the effort again. News as I make any progress. Sigh, this being an independent adult business sure isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Just when you think you’ve got the hang of it, you find out you dropped a ball or two, or three.
More immediate news: The joys (?) of apartment living. My smoke alarms acted up again for no reason, after replacing batteries, vacuuming, etc. I checked, and yes, I can and should replace the units as needed, and am responsible / required under the lease terms to do so. OK, cool, I will get that done quickly. Nothing like waking up to a loud klaxon from a sound sleep, convinced there’s a dire emergency, only to find out, no, there is none. Great motivator, lemme tell ya, haha.
But more urgently: The apartment pest problem, of the six to eight legged tiny horde variety, reached intolerable proportions, and so I asked the office. Huzzah, it is covered under the normal rental payment, and oh, I lucked out on scheduling. The guy came, saw, has not yet conquered, but promised doom for the horrid little horde. He will be by again to test, and then has promised weekly visits until we are sure it’s terminated with extreme prejudice. Which I am very much in favor of. This is more serious and developed much faster than I knew, so I’m glad it will be underway. But it will mean that at least once, about a week from now, the cats and I will have a grand sojourn for a night or two in a hotel room, while my apartment gets fumigated. I am telling myself this must be a celebratory thing, or at least positive, and not to begrudge the hit to my budget. I need to ask when I see him next if the weekly maint. will require me to take once-a-week stays away from the apt. — Unplanned hit to my budget, which will have to support it. No avoiding it, as I want my home clean and decent for me, my cats, and anyone who might ever visit. — As m new vacuum cleaner and carpet cleaner just arrived last week and I haven’t yet used them, the place looks the worst it has been the entire time I’ve been here. Sigh. Them’s the breaks. — But there was progress cleaning out one kitchen cabinet, and more to follow. This place will look good again, and will be clean and tidy, though it may take a little initial effort.
A friend offered to find a pet-friendly hotel for me, mindful that I have two cats. I asked him to ask about rates per night and typical cost for the hotel cafeteria / restaurant, or for room service, so I know the sticker shock in advance and can plan accordingly how much this-here one-person and two-cat shindig will cost me. But my Spanish textbook and a Cherryh book or will accompany me as entertainment. No idea if my ancient Win7 laptop will charge its battery and fire up. That, and checking the bag I’d packed in case hurricane evac was needed, months ago, will be tonight’s to-do items.
The difference between fantasy and reality: I have never quite figured out how to get a guy. I do not expect Mr. Right will fall from the sky into my lap, or vice versa, alas. So, no romantic sleepover at a moderately classy place is likely to occur. Darn it. And my younger self would possibly have been scandalized that my current self would admit to wishing for any such. Both selves are still such a hopeless romantic that, ah, I’d really want a good relationship, not just, well, y’know. But this enters into my blockage, I guess, in this area of my life. I would not have thought that by this point in my life, I still would not have worked out such a basic and hoped-for part of life, a love relationship. But, well, I somehow still am however I am about this, that has not worked out how to accomplish this simple thing, a love life, a special someone. I think it would’ve been so much easier if I’d been straight, but, well, that isn’t how life worked out, early on, so, here I am, still trying (or avoiding) figuring out this part of life. (Oh, do I wish some friend had been able to reach me in my teens. That would’ve been simpler too.) Well, anyway, so it’s likely to be just me and the cats. Not bad, but I caught myself wishing for more. My path in life has been so strange for so long. I’m fine in some ways, but in this one thing and a few others, I still do not have it figured out. And I do not know if I’d know who I wanted, if he were standing right in front of me and asking. So…I’m just me, I guess.
I am so glad, though, that things are improving a little. I’d been down for a long while, but a recent bit of news from friends got me thinking, and somehow a thing or two shook loose, and I’ve felt a bit better since then. Just bumbling along in life, still.
Hope the post installation went well (since I’m not reading this until Aug 1). And definitely looking forward to the new book.
Ah tooth problems; toes crossed that all is going well.
As you know kitteh acclimation takes time. I had a pair that took two years to gain enough confidence to come upstairs and join the gang. The easiest introduction has been LuckyPeach and babies (two of which stayed with us). I think it’s because Aloysius loves all cats.
Recipe idea that might help —
I didn’t have whole bell peppers, but I did have frozen, chopped, 3 peppers and onions, which I keep on hand for burgers or ramen or what have you. Of course, CJ and Jane would omit the onions and use only chopped bell peppers, tricolor or as desired.
This would have been stuffed bell peppers, but it morphed into an approximation between that and beef and peppers with rice, and it’s so simple, it’s possible y’all do it anyway.
You’ll want a bottle of Mae Ploy or Maggie Chu’s (Chung’s?) Sweet Chili Sauce — secret ingredient recommended by Lila from her Chinese and Korean cooking channel. — I use mild; you could get hot, I think. This adds a wonderful zing to beef, pork, or poultry for BBQ or basting. As long as I don’t add too much, I’m good on the hot/spicy chili factor. Translation: It’s mild enough for me, so nearly anybody could like it.
1 cup cooked Jasmine or other favorite rice
1 or 2 bags, 24 to 36 oz. chopped bell peppers, tricolor (I’m guessing the pkg. amt. — say 3 to 6 bell peppers?)
1 lb. hamburger (Note 1)
2 to 3 tbsp. Sweet Chili Sauce
Season Salt (or salt and other spices to taste preferences)
1 tbsp. Olive Oil
1 tbsp. Margarine or Butter
Cook rice as usual with water or vegetable broth, olive oil, and season salt. While rice is cooling and finishing the cooking process, stir in margarine or butter.
(You could reduce or omit the oil and margarine, as the hamburger has plenty will/fat, but I started on track as usual.)
Microwave or in a frying pan or wok, cook the chopped bell peppers until done. Add to rice and stir thoroughly. Set aside. (I didn’t see a need to sauté them, since they’d go in with the rice.)
In a frying pan or wok, crumble and brown hamburger, add season salt, and sweet chili sauce.
In my case, I didn’t then combine the meat and the rice-and-peppers mixture, but this is the natural step. I ate the two separately and had a tortilla with the hamburger. Pita bread or other flat bread would do fine.
This was simple and tasted great, and yes, of course you could reorder to brown the meat, add the bell peppers, and then add the pre-cooked rice, with the sweet chili sauce. Either way, ti’s just the pot for your rice and the frying pan or wok for the others, and a storage container.
My note was, I could see this working equally well with shredded stew beef or roast beef, or shredded or chopped beef, pork, or poultry (chicken or turkey, typically). If the meat or poultry is shredded or chopped finely enough, it would be fine for you, CJ, while your teeth are healing, though it may be days or a week or so before you are to that stage, I don’t know.
I realize how simple this was to throw together, but it occurred to me, you might like it quite a bit and it should be fine as long as your mouth is healed enough for soft foods or semi-solid foods. Conceivably, you could even purée the meat in a blender before or after cooking, since that’s the main trouble spot for your teeth right now. The rice and peppers are soft enough to do OK. Or cook them down into a pudding or mash if that’s too risky? At least you keep the taste factor. Anyway, it was my meal for tonight, so I thought I’d share. Maybe soft cooked or canned fruit for dessert?
Best Wishes!
^^ I’m calling that, “Unstuffed Bell Peppers.”
Hoping no news is good news, and you both are well and the copyedits are going well, and the teeth are doing better.
Would kolaches be doable right now? — I ask because Sunday, friends brought over a couple of kolaches and a half-dozen donuts from Shipley’s. Ah, this was most welcome and unexpected.
Although I think those kolaches were not more than regular frankfurter wienerrs and American cheese, inside a bun, and thus a sort of (very) Americanized fast food cross between a hot dog and a kolache, well they still provided two meals, that evening and the next morning, satisfying.
I have had “real” kolaches, either sausage or fruit/jelly, and very good, a combination of savory and not-too-sweet for the fruit. Very good stuff.
Possibly, some warm fruit kolaches or jelly donuts could satisfy a craving now without too much stress for your teeth, and sausage kolaches in a week or so? Just a suggestion and not meant to frustrate you if your teeth are being exceedingly inhospitable.
I fixed ribs in the oven for the first time, Sunday, with BBQ sauce ad (oops) sweet and sour sauce instead of the sweet chili sauce I thought I was using. LOL. This went very well, tender and tasty and er, very satisfying for the inner primitive carnivore. (I suspect hani would like bbq ribs.) — The meat was ordered through my grocery store’s delivery service; and thus ordered online. I’d thought it would be a rather smaller pack, giving the price, but oh, it was a bargain, more than I thought. So this will be an occasional treat on the menu. I was quite pleased with how they turned out.
Given the mention in Downbelow Station and Finity’s End, I wonder whatever will happen with Ms. Quen, whether she’ll ever get to see a ship for her family name again. No idea if it comes up in some way in Alliance Rising, but I’m sure looking forward to the new book(s) just the same.
@CJ and @Jane — Curious — I just looked again regarding C.J. Cherryh books, and Alliance Rising is showing for pre-order, with cover art for the Kindle edition, but a plain teal and silver-grey cover shown for the hardcover edition. I wondered if this was an error lagging behind. The cover art is new since the last time I’d looked. It’s showing what appears to be a male crew member raising a helmet or some ovoid object over his head, with an orange-red background, in which we can see what a fan would know as jump vanes, and in the foreground at his feet, two lines./ tubes / projections of some sort. He appears without a helmet and in what could be a uniform or an EVA spacesuit. Difficult to tell a lot of details without enlarging that image. Curious image and in the middle of something. The teal and silver-grey cover is daringly minimalist, but the artist and ad-conscious parts of me say an action image showing any person or aliens / critters / droids or ships always grabs more reader attention, even for a well-known author. (Er, and yes, scantily-clad and attractive persons of either sex sell even better. Because humans are like that more than they want to admit. Heh.) The cover art’s interesting. Hard to tell if the person (I am presuming that’s a guy. If I’ve managed to misidentify from the small image, I’ll be chagrined and wonder why.) (A crewcut or bald has not been unheard of on women SF&F characters, of course.) The guy appears to be either about to put on a helmet or perhaps bash the ovoid thing held above his head into the foreground, or perhaps more carefully place the thing. Hmm. Could be a part? Or a proximity mine? Hmm. Could be more intriguing. Too bad I can’t get a very good look. Might be able to enlarge it if I copy to disk and view separately. — Thought you’d want to alert the publisher, in case somehow the art was not uploaded for both editions, or has not yet propagated to same, or, oh, whatever space oddity it might be. I will add that the thing he’s holding does look like a machined metal or composite object, and not, ah, a giant flatcat or tribble. Heheheh. Just for your amusement. 😀 Also, auto-incorrect is still convinced I must have meant a flatcar, rather than a flatcat; although if he were holding a flatcar aloft, even in zero g, that would be quite noteworthy in itself, huh? 😀 We shall not attempt to heckle said crewman further, as he’s busy and perhaps perturbed, and one would not wish to have an altercation in such a situation. Hmm. We do know it doesn’t end well if you’re an uruus in a spacesuit…. Heh.