I’m not saying you can tell which cat is in trouble because they are the only one that runs when you pick up the Squirt Bottle of Doom™…. but you can TOTALLY tell.
Author: Rhys Ford
Rhys Ford is an award-winning author with several long-running LGBT+ mystery, thriller, paranormal, and urban fantasy series, including Murder and Mayhem, a 2016 LAMBDA finalist. She is published by Dreamspinner Press and DSP Publications.
oooooo dragons!
Aren’t these gorgeous?
New October LGBQ+ Event: Northern Rainbow Romance Retreat in Toronto, Canada
This unique event will bring together published authors and PAs in the queer romance genre for a two day retreat, with the opportunity to write, collaborate, and learn from each other together and separately. VIP readers will then join for a personal weekend experience with their favourite authors. The retreat will also include a fabulous public signing event featuring all participating authors, with dedicated time for VIP readers.
Dates: October 2-6, 2024
Location: Toronto, Canada (near an international airport)
Retreat Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/870322401223965
All events will take place within the same facility. We will have a group rate for hotel rooms, discounted parking, and airport shuttles.
Register for the event here:
https://northernromanceretreat.ticketspice.com/northern-romance-retreat
Guilty Pleasures and Food Videos… Sorta
I absolutely love watching a food channel that features small diners and food shops in Japan. I have no idea why but there is something very comforting about visiting these places through video and watching them cook. Often times they are dishes that I have seen countless times before and have even made myself but still… I will watch an old grandma beat a pork cutlet to death to make tonkatsu.
Some of them are very long and I actually watch them in small chunks because I think two hours or even three hours is a bit much. I really prefer the ones that are under an hour or even under half an hour. But I thought I would share with you an episode of a Chinese food shop located in Kyoto.
One thing I really enjoy about these is sometimes I learn how to make a dish a different way than how I make it so it adds to my culinary awareness. Of course, usually I also marvel at some people’s knife skills. Especially anyone who can make daikon ribbons.
Got Ramen?
A long time ago — or at least a decade ago — a very good friend of mine asked me to show her how to make ramen. Not the kind that you do on the stovetop with a seasoning packet but rather a ramen that was more in line with what you get in a restaurant. I told her, much like fried rice, ramen can contain anything. Whatever you have in the refrigerator is okay.
Now I get what she was asking because ramen can be very involved and time-consuming if you want something that is in three minutes on the stove with flavoring packet. But there are lots of layers of elevation between a cup of noodles you pour water into and something you get at a high-end ramen restaurant.
Food is a funny thing because if you grow up with something that is considered a street food or something you get at home, it’s perplexing that people will pay way too much money for way so little. You are definitely paying for ingredients and culinary skill at a good restaurant but that isn’t to say you can’t give yourself a better bowl of ramen at home for less than five bucks.
You can purchase better ramen noodles than a $.25 packet but honestly, it’s okay to use those noodles. Ramen is a comfort meal. A street food much like sushi. What you have on hand is good enough and let’s face it, isn’t going to cost you $20. I mean it could if you wanted to but how about just something for dinner?
Instant miso packets and a broth made with Better Than Bouillon can give you a very hearty base. This is to replace the seasoning packet that comes with the instant noodles but you could also hold onto that packet and use it to season chicken or pork later on. Or you can just use broth.
But what to put on top of the ramen? Pretty much anything you have in the fridge or freezer. Minced green onions are good. So are frozen peas and carrots that you run under hot water. You can add a hard-boiled egg cut in half or you can lightly beaten egg and fry it then chop it up into strips. Some people use corn. Some people toss in the leftover meat that they had the night before after they slice it up. Or even squares of tofu if you have that. The key is to make sure that they are small enough that you can pick it up with chopsticks and put it in your mouth as one bite.
Bean sprouts. Strips of seaweed. Hell, even fish sticks. Ground up Vienna sausage or hot dog sliced diagonally or even Spam. So long as whatever you’re adding is good for you.
Boil the noodles. Make your broth. Put the hot noodles in a bowl then pour your broth over the noodles. Garnish with whatever you pulled it together and then go have dinner. A bunch of little things goes a long way in making ramen. If you have wontons or any type of dumplings, cook those and toss them in. Add shoyu (soy sauce) to taste and if you have it, drizzle a little sesame seed oil on top or even chili crisps.
It doesn’t need to be elaborate if you don’t want it to be. It just has to warm your belly and give you a sense of home.
And yes, sometimes the best ramen can be found in the sketchiest places.
OOoooooo… Glitter Tattoo!
Now I badly want a glitter dragon. Asian Style. Maybe eating ramen or won ton.
Rambling and Korean Fried Chicken.
Hello from sunny but cold San Diego! It’s supposed to be fairly warm today but so far I haven’t seen sign of it. And that’s really okay. I don’t mind the cold so long as it stays outside. I would like some rain not because we necessarily need it but in California we always need the rain. More because I just really like rain. I also really like thunderstorms but those are few and far between here in Southern California.
It is been a hot minute since I have entered a blog but I just really didn’t have anything to add. I can ramble about all of the mundane things like my cat Goji attacking the printer when I send off a postage label to be printed. So now I have shreds of my postage all over the spare room and have to print it again. She wasn’t even in the room. She heard the printer start up and took off to apparently kill whatever was coming out of it. She is such an oddball.
But I guess you could say that about any kind of cat.
I am really looking forward — and also apprehensive — about the release of Port in a Storm. As of this writing it is on sale at Dreamspinner press which is really the best place to buy it because if you buy an author’s book at the publisher’s site, they actually get more royalties.
All of that being said, I tend to purchase nearly 99.9% of my books at Amazon. It’s kind of funny how that is because I guess it’s like a path in the grass you’re used to walking. There is often sidewalk you can use but you are so used to walking in that direction you don’t consciously shift your behavior to the better path.
But if you are so inclined, here is the preorder link for Connor and Forest’s newest story.
https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/port-in-a-storm-by-rhys-ford-12421-b
Lastly, I wanted to share with you Hawaii’s Pickle Lady and her version of Korean fried chicken. If you thought had this dish, I highly recommend it. It is a variation of a dish that we call mochiko chicken and is quite tasty. I sort of made it last night in a way. I tend not to fry foods a lot. The oven works fine for me but you could also do them in an air fryer. Whatever you do, you should also make a pot of rice. Preferably Calrose rice. Mostly because that’s my preference. I admit my bias.
Port In A Storm Preorder Up (Connor & Forest Novel / Sinner’s Gin
I am very pleased to announce the long-awaited Sinner’s Gin novel, Port in a Storm, is now available for preorder on Dreamspinner Press and Amazon. As many of you know, I had to take a break from writing while I dealt with medical issues but there was always one story that I really wanted to tell and now I have a chance to share it with all of you. So I hope you enjoy Connor Morgan and the Forest Ackerman’s journey as they tackle the obstacles of bringing a lost little boy into their home and teaching him what family means.
Preorder Port in a Storm at:
Dreamspinner Press — https://dreamspinnerpress.com/books/port-in-a-storm-by-rhys-ford-12421-b
Amazon — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNMBJMNP/
And Other Online Booksellers.
About Port In A Storm
San Francisco SWAT Lieutenant Connor Morgan and Crossroads Gin drummer Forest Ackerman make an odd couple. Connor, an Irish-born cop from a tight-knit family, never imagined he’d find his happily-ever-after with a raised-on-the-streets musician, but Forest had the gentlest soul he’d ever met. After a long, hard road of heartbreak, murder, and trouble, they fell hard in love and married.
Then Fate intervenes and throws their lives into a chaos neither one of them is prepared for.
During a brutal SWAT raid, Connor stumbles on Tate, an abused, vulnerable little boy caught in a shoot-out with his father’s drug-running gang. As heavy fire riddles the walls, an injured Connor rescues Tate from the fray… only to be struck numb when a caseworker pries a sobbing Tate from his arms.
Scarred from his own childhood experiences, Forest doubts he can be a good enough father, but Connor assures him they can give Tate what he needs and more. Soon they are on an insane ride where trust and affection are hard-earned, especially when coming from a little boy raised in society’s filthiest gutters. Facing down every challenge thrown their way, they battle to give Tate what Connor treasures and Forest never had—a family to call his own.
Mmmmm… Manapua
Hello everybody and thank you all for being patient while I try to get parts of my life together. The crazy thing is I am very busy but I kind of have nothing to show for it which I think is pretty much typical of any author. And since I also do graphic design for projects that won’t be out for a few months — if not over a year — I really can’t share or talk about what I’m working on. And about the time when I can, I usually have forgotten that I worked on it.
The holiday season is upon us with my most favorite holiday actually already have happened — Halloween — and for the first time in years, I actually have no one in the house but me and the cats so planning a large meal is kind of silly. Once I a get the medical issues under control, I have to do a serious thinking about if I’m going to remain in San Diego because there is no one here anymore or do I have to the cats and go elsewhere to be closer to family and friends.
Thing is, I am very much a Californian and the idea of living someplace with even a hint of red makes my skin crawl. And it’s not necessarily the people in the area but rather the governmental entities that have been voted into power as their representatives. And I know that the residents of the state or location are ultimately responsible for who they put into office but I also know that it is very easy to fall into a dogmatic-fueled mindset if that becomes your only source of information. Religion and politics both operate on information gathering and it is beneficial for either structure to be able to craft their message as the sole focal point that a person uses to make decisions on.
And I’m not going to fall into any long-winded discussion about politics and religion because when it’s all said and done, we pretty much all just need to stand out side and get right with ourselves before going in.
This is obviously going to be a very rambling post because I swear as soon as I started I get interrupted with texts and cats.
I am currently working on Saint and the biggest problem with writing his not throwing in everything. Because I am writing something more suspense oriented I am reading more urban fantasy. I never read in the genre that I am writing in because there is a potential for someone else’s voice and plot points influencing you as you write. Which is not good. I have noticed a tendency for some writers to toss in everything when writing urban fantasy. I mean I get it because there have been times when I was like oh I really want to add this to the story and it’s hard not to power up your characters like a three-year-old telling a joke but I think we all walk a fine line between being descriptive and over seasoning the book.
What I really enjoy about urban fantasy is not just the world building but also the supernatural constructs. How does the magic work? Has it always been there? Are we hiding it from the general populace or is it out in the open? A magic system isn’t something that you can make up on the fly… Well you can but that will come and bite you in the ass later.
There are so many possibilities but you also have to build in restraints and make sure that you have your own set of rules which you may or may not break later on the series. So like if you say nobody can magic up a grapefruit and then the main character pulls a grapefruit out of thin air, you either have fucked up your magic system or are you are using it as a harbinger of how powerful your main character is. It’s kind of the old adage of if you are going to put a gun on the mantelpiece and talk about it then you have to use it in some way later on.
So that’s pretty much what I have been thinking about lately. That and a nap.
On a final note, I am going to share a video by Hawai’i’s Pickle Lady. And it is making one of my favorite foods which we call manapua but other people know as char siu bao. This is one of the things I could eat until I’m sick.
Rhys Ford 