Putting Sunday night in perspective 

On Sunday night, I whined about my busy, stressful weekend and the Monday that loomed.  

On Sunday night, after I whined, my mother called to tell me that Jon, a very good family friend and neighbor, had just died.  He was 55.  

While I was writing my whiny post, my mother was at his house house, where she was comforting his wife and two daughters.  I didn’t find out until after I’d hit the “publish” button.  

A few hours after that, I was in bed.  I wasn’t sleeping.  I didn’t sleep at all that night. All of a sudden, busy, boring Sundays didn’t seem so bad.  

We all get tired.  We all complain.  It’s human.  But times like this make me realize why the normalcy of spending a few hours at the laundromat, the routine of packing my bag and laying out my clothes for Monday, and even hearing the sound of my alarm clock should be considered luxuries. 

How I wish I could have realized that on Sunday morning, before the phone call.

Jon, you will be missed.  

Oh, honestly. How did Sunday get here so freaking fast?

Anybody out there remember the show “My So Called Life?”  In one episode, Angela talks about how the ticking of the 60 Minutes clock makes her want to kill herself.  I completely relate.  Who needs to hear a ticking clock on a Sunday night?

To me, Sundays are almost as depressing as Mondays. So much to do, so little time.  And if you’re a teacher, Sunday usually means hours of prep for the week ahead.  

As you can clearly see, I’ve got a very serious case of Sunday Blues.  Today involved house cleaning, grocery shopping, a voice lesson, lesson planning, and query letter editing.  And before I know it, I’ll be on that B train, on the way to school.  

So how’s that synopsis coming, you’re probably wondering?  As I’ve mentioned, it’s been an excruciatingly busy time with getting my last NaNo book ready to be sent off into agent land, non-stop holidays, work, and preparing for my next NaNo book.  

But here’s what I managed to do:

• Work on two versions of my query letter 
• Edit my first scene (again)
• Make an outline for my synopsis

It’s not enough.  But hey, I have until Friday to make my goal, right?  I’ll be home Wednesday, waiting for the cable guy, so I’ll be right here at my computer.  Sigh.

Cheers!  Here’s to a fabulous week!  We all need one!

Greek “Village” Salad

Welcome back to Recipe Week!

On the menu tonight:  Horiatiki Salata (Greek salad)

You’ll notice that this salad doesn’t involve any lettuce, capers, or other unnecessary ingredients.  A real Greek salad is so simple, but for some reason, it’s hard to find the authentic version outside of Greece.  So here I am, about to set the world straight.  

Rachael Ray, are you listening?

(Please forgive me for being such a snob.)

Ingredients:

1. Tomatoes (any kind, shape or color will do as long as they taste good)
2. Cucumbers (I like the small, crunchy Persian kind)
3. Kalamata olives
4. Feta cheese
5. Red onion (scallions or regular onions work well too)
6. Olive oil
7. Oregano
8. Vinegar (optional)

Method:

Chop the tomatoes, cucumbers and onions.  Mix together and stir in the olives.  Place a block of Feta on top of the salad.  Drizzle the olive oil (and vinegar if you choose) over the top. Sprinkle with oregano.  

See, that’s no so hard, right?

Here’s a side note:  In Greece, the salad is placed in the middle of the table.  Nobody has their own salad plate.  Everyone shares.

Next up — Fasoulakia (green beans and potatoes in tomato sauce)

The do’s and don’ts. . .

Welcome to Recipe Week!  First up — how to make tzatziki.

Let’s start with a few basics, shall we?

What is tzatziki? It’s a Greek meze (appetizer or small dish) made primarily from yoghurt, cucumber and garlic. It’s very thick.  So thick that you can serve it on a plate and spread it on bread.  And it’s absolutely delicious!

What tzatziki is not (or shouldn’t be):

Watery, runny, a sauce, bland, low in fat, easy to make

Ingredients:

1. 1 to 2 large containers of Greek or Greek style yoghurt
2. Garlic (tons of it – we’re talking enough to keep all the vampires in Sunnydale away)
3. Cucumber
4. Lemon
5. Olive oil
6. Salt
7. Dill (optional)

Note:  You’ll also need cheesecloth or a special yoghurt strainer.

A few notes on the ingredients:

You’ll notice that I didn’t include amounts/quantities for every ingredient.  I’m truly sorry.  I’m not good at that.

There are times in life to buy low or non-fat yoghurt.  In fact, my fridge if full of the stuff.  But get the real Greek yoghurt for this dish.  If it’s low or non-fat, it’ll be too runny.  Tzatziki is a bitch to make.  Don’t ruin it.

The world, unfortunately, if filled with non-authentic tzatziki.  Even in Greece. Sometimes, cheap restaurant owners add mayonnaise.

Uh – just don’t do that.

Like I said, dill is optional.  Personally, I opt against it.

About the garlic.  You know how the audience claps when Rachael and Emeril add garlic to their creations? O.k.  Seriously, those puny amounts of garlic won’t do squat for your tzatziki.  It’s supposed to be a garlicy dish.  Really, how much garlic you add is between you and your god(s), or perhaps more accurately between you and the person with whom you share a bed.  But you need to add enough garlic to satisfy the entire population of Gilroy, o.k.?  We’re talking at least 1-2 heads of garlic per container of yoghurt.  At least.

Tzatziki looks like an innocent, small little dish, but it is quite labor intensive.  As my mother says, Greek cooking requires a lot of pots and pans, which makes for a not so fun clean up.

But the stuff is good.  So worth it!  I promise.

You still with me?  Great!  Moving on. . .

Method:

Strain the yoghurt.  Because I make large batches of this stuff, I don’t use my yoghurt strainer. It’s too small.  Usually, I line a colander with cheesecloth, put the colander in a mixing bowl, cover the whole thing with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge overnight. The point of all this messy work?  You have to get as much water out of the yoghurt as you possibly can.  Sprinkling a little salt over the yoghurt helps draw out even more water.

Peel and grate the cucumbers (but try not to grate your knuckles, o.k.?  It’ll just make me feel guilty).  I like to use the small, Persian kind.  They’re nice and crunchy.  Put the grated cucumbers into a strainer and add salt.  Put the strainer over a bowl and press the liquid out of the cucumbers.  Let it sit for a few hours.  I know I said it before, but I can’t stress this enough:  When you’re making tzatziki, water is your number one enemy.  Conquer it, wish it well, and send it down the drain.

Crush the garlic (see note above) and mix it with the olive oil and the juice of 1 or 2 lemons.

Now you must ask yourself, objectively, if you think you’ve removed enough of the water from the yoghurt and cucumber.  Have you really done your best?  Are you going to take your first bite of tzatziki and wonder what life would be like if you’d just waited another hour?  Sometimes, I mix the yoghurt and cucumber together and let it sit in the fridge just a few more hours.

Mix everything together.  Put the tzatziki on a pretty plate and garnish with Kalamata olives and parsley. Serve with a nice crusty bread and veggies.

Enjoy!

Next up — Greek Salad!

Suzanne, I’m dedicating this post to you.  You live on through your recipes for tzatziki and lemonade.

Get your olive oil and garlic ready. . .

Because I simply don’t have enough to do before NaNo (like say writing a synopsis, plotting, going to work, etc.), I’ve decided to have recipe week here at my little blog.

Why?  Because my unfinished Recipes Page is just embarrassing.  Well that and I’m hoping that posting recipes from my last NaNo book (most of which are Greek) will inspire me for my next project.  It’ll also get me warmed up when I sit down to write.  (Hey, it’s called “Productive Procrastination,” people.)

Please note that I’ve never been good at following directions.  I’ve never met a recipe I didn’t adapt.  So don’t expect a lot of exact measurements.  (Yeah, I’m one of those cooks.)

I’ll be posting my first recipe, which will be for a Greek yoghurt dip called tzatziki, on Friday.  The Greek side of my family used to be in the restaurant business, so I know what I’m talking about with these recipes.

If you have any Greek recipes you want to share, of if you’re looking for a recipe, let me know!

And yes, I still promise the synopsis update Sunday night.  Urg. . .

It’s been a while, hasn’t it. . .

Well, in case you were wondering, I’m still around.  Just dealing with the beginning of the school year, holidays galore (the season’s over on the 23rd, thank goodness), editing, and getting ready for NaNo.  It’s not that I’m too busy to blog.  It’s more like my brain isn’t capable of coming up with anything over 140 characters long, which is why Twitter is still working for me.  

Well, come November, you should be expecting to hear from me a lot.  I can’t wait to get to work on my next project and I’m already going NaNo crazy.

This is where I need your help.  I’m overly excited about my next book, and I’ve been obsessed with research and plotting.  But last year’s NaNo book still needs some tweaking (to put it mildly) and it’s begging for a synopsis.  So I’m stating here, once and for all, that my query and synopsis for Daphna In The Rough will be in the hands of two agents by November 1st, if for no other reason than to make more space in my brain.

And if it’s not?  Well, I don’t know.  (Wiffers, if you’re thinking of making me drink Stout or sing something to the tune of Gilligan’s Island, think again.)  Won’t the humiliation and shame be enough?

I’ll post an update on Sunday, 10/26 to let you know how the synopsis is going. 

I must be going now, but it’s good to be back!

A tribute to two awesome (drink!) ladies!

We’ve all had those moments.  You know the kind where somebody has made a comment or you’ve discovered a piece of information that’s turned out to be life-changing?  You can feel it in your bones.  It’s like the Earth has shifted on its axis and you just know that life, as you know it, will never be the same again.

I’ve certainly had my fair share.  There was the moment during Yom Kippur services when my mother leaned over and whispered that I should spend my junior year of college in Israel.  There was the day I found out about a program that would allow me to teach and get my teaching certification at the same time.  There was the flyer I found at the Columbia Teachers College Bookstore that advertised an intensive MA program in Instructional Technology and Media.

Hello everybody!  Miss me?

So in the words of Mama Moose, “I’m suck.”  Here I promised you all a report on RWA Nationals, and I have completely failed to deliver.  What can I say?  I’m really and truly sorry.

Brace yourselves.  I’m about to make a lot of excuses.

You see, things have been a bit rough lately.  Remember that problem with my eyes? It’s not over.  I had an allergic reaction to some of the eye drops I was using.  I thought I was better.  I spent a day having fun with Twitter, commenting on forums, etc.  But then things got worse and I had to spend a morning in the emergency room.  I’m doing better, thanks, but I’m definitely not completely healed.  I’m still in a Benadryl haze and my eyes aren’t 100% open yet.  Plus, I’m still wearing glasses that are over two years old. Someday, when this allergic episode is just a funny story, I’ll go back to the eye doctor and beg for contacts.  

In other words, I’m still “blinder than a bat with cataracts.”  

How was that?  Did I make myself sound pathetic enough for you to forgive me?  

As for Sweet Talk, the winner was Tara (and yes, I sent her the book ages ago, I’m not that horrible).  I didn’t publish any of the comments due to a spam problem.  I have more books to give away.  I couldn’t carry them back to NY with me so they’re still at my mom’s.  When I go home again in December, I’ll have another contest.

Again, I’m sorry, especially to those of you who have sent or posted nice comments.  I’ll get back to you and/or comment on your blog soon now that I’m doing somewhat better.  

And I have a bunch of ideas for new posts.  Tomorrow, I’ll be posting a tribute to Will Write For Wine.

See you soon!  (Oh stop.  I really will, I swear. . .)