Sunday Wrap-up and Recipe Share

This has been a particularly productive weekend for me.

My Saturday run was very nice—we’ve had some cooler (by our standards) weather lately and for the first time since May, I ended a long run without being thoroughly soaked. Although it’s true that I learned to run in a Houston summer and can gauge my effort by how much sweat I wring out of my clothes, that doesn’t mean I don’t greet cooler weather with joy. But September is still summer for all intents and purposes, so the weather should be up to its old tricks by next weekend if Hurricane Ike doesn’t come here.

I have some new art project ideas so I went to Michael’s today to stock up on craft supplies. Although I wasn’t surprised by how high my total came to, it is interesting how quickly all those $3 and $4 items add up. It doesn’t help that I’m more likely to buy too much than too little, for fear I’ll get halfway into something and realize I don’t have what I need to continue. I’d rather spend $20 I didn’t need to than spend an hour or more of my time going back for that one thing I didn’t get. Sadly, there is every likelihood I’ll have to go back anyway since I'm new at this particular type of project and don't know what to anticipate, but that’s just how things go.

I’ll have more to say about my art project as time goes on. There might be a giveaway involved, if all goes well. For now, I'm still experimenting.

I tried a new recipe today and it’s a good one. Check out these Black-Eyed Pea Cakes. When I made them as directed I found them too wet to work into patties so I added extra breadcrumbs and some of Bag Lady’s dehydrated spinach. My next misadventure was trying to fry them, per the instructions. In spite of generous amounts of olive oil, they stuck to the pan, so I ended up baking these about 15 minutes at 450 degrees. Putting them on the broiler would’ve worked, too. I skipped the adobo sauce and instead I topped them with chipotle cheddar. The result was so delicious that Dan insisted on trying one, then ate the whole thing even though he had just finished a big lunch. He ate another one tonight and is pestering me for more. It looks like I’ll have no choice but to make more if I want to enjoy any myself!

I also made oatmeal cookies, Persian spiced rice and curry zucchini and broccoli. I have some leftovers from other meals in the fridge, so this ought to get me through the week and if not, it only takes five minutes to make a batch of couscous.

I have two new short stories up this weekend. Ordinary Miracles is part of the Will and Diana series, and The Beauty Queen is a Steal Tomorrow Extra. Check them out if you’ve got time.

And in bunny news, Cadbury did his first out-of-cage flop tonight under my chair by my feet. I wasn’t able to get a picture of it, so this picture of him under the computer chair will have to do.














I know he looks sweet but he's now in the corner trying to relocate the litterbox and chew fringe onto the sides. I have serious misgivings about his decorating ideas but there's no stopping him once he has a notion.

Have a good week, everyone!