It has been a busy couple of weeks. Yet another procedure under my belt.

And that was a very unintentional pun. Mostly I have been heads down writing and then I will be getting everything ready for GRL. I had hoped this situation would have been taken care of before I had to leave but I am pretty much going to be in the same physical state as I was last year. Maybe less tired. So there is going to be a lot of pacing and energy expenditure in Portsmouth.

There is really not much going on other than writing. I’ve been reading a lot of books but nothing that I feel is so fantastic that I need to share. Except TA Moore’s Footwork which I really enjoyed because it was a fun read. Everything else has been urban fantasy and not all of it is good. There have been some that I have really enjoyed and am following for the next book.

Purchase Footwork on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCJVYLRT/

I did read the last JD Robb book as well. And while I enjoy the characters, I didn’t feel like the story was super engaging but it was okay. One thing I do notice about my reading habits is that sometimes I’m just not in the mood for the, that I’ve got if I recognize something is good writing but it’s not grabbing me I usually put it aside to read later. I had that experience with Karin Lowachee’s Warchild which is a fantastic book and the rest of the series is as stellar but I wasn’t in that mindset when I first picked it up. Under the writing was incredible but I wasn’t in the mood for that drama so I put it aside until I could come back to it and really enjoyed it and I have no regrets with that.

Purchase Warchild on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Warchild-Karin-Lowachee-ebook/dp/B0C6VG67PF/

I noticed that the Hawai’i Pickle Lady did a segment on one of my favorite dishes which is a Asian garlic eggplant. I love eggplant in nearly all of its forms but I do not care for baba ghanoush. No idea why. It’s like my hatred of split pea soup when I absolutely adore peas.

I hope today finds you all well and that you are headed into the next season in good health and surrounded by your favorite cookies.

Grab yourself a copy!

Bode Harlan has never claimed to be a good guy, but he’s trying to keep his nose clean and his head down these days.

After a year in prison for assault–and to be fair, he did it–he isn’t looking to go back. Admittedly, his pretty face being the star attraction in an illegal underground fighting ring seems to run counter to that goal, but he’s gotta pay the bills and there ain’t much else he’s good at.

And it keeps his parole officer off his back…since she runs the place.

Then his mom skips town and her boyfriend kicks Bode’s 14 year old brother out on the street. Bode grew up in and out of foster care, he doesn’t want that for Danny. It’s not like he can take the kid in, though. He’s an ex-con who gets beat up twice a month for money. That’s how he ends up on his good-natured ex-boyfriend’s doorstep. Sonny is a soft touch. At least he always was for Bode. All he wants is somewhere to crash for a couple of nights, nothing more. Sonny’s got his life together now–a home, a boyfriend, even a dog–and it would take a real asshole to want to blow that up.

…of course, Bode’s never said he wasn’t an asshole.

Purchase Footwork on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCJVYLRT/

I joke about #teamnoketchup (on eggs) because it’s just something to tease about but if you like ketchup on your eggs, I’ll make sure there’s some in the house when you come to visit.

When I was a kid, I loved to draw. I loved art. It didn’t matter if I was good at it, I loved it. My father told me I was really bad at it and I’d never make a living at it so I should stop. He ruined years of pleasure before I regained my interest again but I can never go back and rebuild what I lost.

I was also made to feel ashamed of reading. Ashamed is the wrong word. I was emotionally and verbally abused… and sometimes struck… for reading a book. I was asked if I thought I was better than everyone, smarter than everyone, simply because I loved to read.

It was my escape from a violent and painful time in my life. Reading turned into storytelling in my head. I could turn inward and shape worlds. And I continued to read. Because if I didn’t, I had no other way out.

So let people enjoy their things. Simple things like a fall drink or sweetened tomato sauce over their eggs.

Shitting on them can ruin a pleasure. (And do not make that weird).

Okay. I do love Uncle Roger and when I saw the Dollar Store Pad Thai video he was reviewing, I was torn between horror and intrigued. I have made pad thai in the past and while it is fairly easy to make, it does have a lot of ingredients and there is always some controversy about how sweet it should be. So I went into this video knowing the original creator was doing this dish with only things from the Dollar Store which would be a huge challenge for many reasons. First, I can’t imagine the store would have everything needed. Second, the guy cooking was the first to admit he was pulling a non-authentic recipe from just a random blog. I do give him massive credit for attempting this because he was pretty much giving no fucks and going full speed ahead.

But the hot dogs…

Tonight’s dinner is dumpling rice which is actually made in the rice cooker. In a lot of ways it is a cross between bibimbap and fried rice except you throw everything into the rice cooker and walk away. And then when that is done, you can either fry or poaching an egg or two to put on top.

You can really mix-and-match whatever goes into it. It really is going to take me longer to describe how to make it that it does to put it together.

You start off by a washing and rinsing 2 cups of calrose rice and use the finger method to add the water to cook in. Now at this point you can either start off with water or use broth to cook the rice in. I used water in this case and added some better than bouillon roasted chicken flavor and that became my base broth.

To the broth and rice you add shoyu (soy sauce), garlic, ginger, black pepper… Really any kind of Asian aromatics that you want to like lemongrass or even chilies. Sesame seeds are also good I always add minced green onion — the bottom section and I save a little bit of the top for garnish afterwards.

Mix that all up thoroughly and at that point you can add any vegetables that you want to. Just be sure not to add a huge amount because it does need room to steam but you can add sliced mushrooms, bok choy, really any kind of cabbage or greens, even sliced eggplant if you want. Or frozen vegetables. What you want to do is make sure that it isn’t so dense that it can’t cook so if you do add cabbage or anything with a thick stem, please be sure to spread it out.

Once that is done, you add whatever dumpling you have. In this case I had pork gyoza but any kind of dumpling will do. You can also add a protein like shrimp or tofu or scallops. You can also use frozen fish balls or imitation crab — even Spam.

What is really important is that you choose a protein that is slender enough to steam quickly because it is too thick then you end up with raw meat — not something you want if you are using chicken or pork. Shrimp will always be a good option as is tofu. Your dumpling choice really can be anything. This is also a dish you can make totally vegan.

Now put the lid on the rice cooker and hit the cook button. Make sure the keep warm function is on if it is separate from your cook function. What you want to do is let the rice cooker go through its cook function and then let it keep warm and steam for 20 to 30 minutes afterwards so everything is cooked through.

After everything is cooked and you are done with the steaming time, you can carefully scoop out the finished dish from the cooker and topped with a fried or poached egg if you want.

Finish it off with a drizzle of sesame seed oil and shoyu if you like. Garnish with the rest of the minced green onions and really you can add any other kind of sauce you want or sliced chilies or chili oil if you want to punch.

It takes less than five minutes to pull this all together and put into the rice cooker. It is a walk away kind of dish and really something delicious to make but don’t want to spend a lot of time cooking. I usually make 2 cups of rice and layer everything on which gives me two servings. It is definitely enough for two people to eat for dinner or one person for dinner and then leftovers take for lunch.

I do not recommend cooking an egg in this dish or rather inside of the rice cooker if you do not have a Teflon coated rice cooker — which I do not because my rice cooker is old-school and really could use a good scrubbing. If you have a Teflon rice cooker then you can actually crack a couple of eggs on top either in the beginning or right before it goes into the keep warm stage. If your rice cooker is not Teflon coated then it is a bitch and a half to get clean because the egg just bakes onto the pot.

I do also prefer the egg to be fried because you get that crispy texture on the edges and I also really like the runny yolk.

As many of you know, Southern California is currently experiencing a tropical storm. So far where I am the rain is steady but nothing that I haven’t experienced before as far as the severity goes. I think the largest obstacle in our area is the warmer weather so it is kind of humid. In a lot of ways, it is like being in Hawai’i.

Mind you, there are other spots in California that are under severe flooding so if you are in one of those areas please stay safe. Also, I just got a message from one of my friends up in Ventura that there was an earthquake. Now, all we need is a mudslide because we already had a wildfire and we will have pretty much taken care of all of the elements.

Just stay safe.

I am slowly but surely hacking away at my manuscript which while it is going slowly for me at least I am able to get words down. That has been the hardest thing to overcome with all of this is the surgical fog. My doctor and I actually spoke about this in our last call because coming out of the surgery was really rough compared to the others and she just thinks my body has finally said; I am done with this shit. I am going to fall apart for a little bit.

So been able to get words down is good.

The cat in the photo at top is Gojira who is the chunky one a bunch. While I have been reassured by the vet that she is an okay size, I swear to God she just gets bigger and bigger. Harley and Badger are doing well, although Badger has become extremely needy and wants to be held a lot.

There has been a lot of contribution and factors that has made it possible for me to attend GRL this year. I am better than I was last year but I still am definitely not even 80% yet but I will do my best. One thing I am really excited to see is the illustrated hardcover of Wolf at First Sight and I was lucky enough to be sent a picture of my hanai puppy, Zoey, doing a Price Is Right model of the book for me. She is a very good girl.

That is all I have for updates because the wind is picking up a little bit but not so much that it’s alarming. Hopefully everything will stay calm and once again, if you are in this weather, please stay safe.

As we talk about what is happening in Hawaiʽi, please remember that “Hawaiian” refers to the native people of Hawaiʽi. It does not mean someone who resides there. We are a people with our own culture, language, and history. Hawaiʽi residents or locals are a term for who live there.

And no, telling me that Hawaiian is an acceptable term for Hawaiʽi residents is erasure. When a Native person asks you to recognize them, please respect that. We shouldn’t be made less just because it’s easier for people. Be better. Be respectful.

If you would like to help with the tragic consequences following the wildfires in Hawaiʽi, please consider donating to the Maui Strong Fund.

https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/maui-strong

Now, I do love this song and Brenda Lee fucking killed it, like she does so many songs. But oh, she’s 13, I think in this clip, and I would like to point out that yes, she IS old enough to chick but a girl her age shouldn’t. She still should be allowed to be a young woman learning her way around the world.
There are still states in the US where a 13 year old girl is considered to be of marrying age. It’s another war front to fight, one of many in the battle to gain body autonomy for women. We have so much to do.

Phone call with my mother usually has some kind of tech support involved.

Or rather… hunting something down.

This time, it was a poi making business. Poi is very expensive and there are many varieties. Also, it gets sourer as it gets older and there’s a point where it’s just too far gone for the palate. So finding fresh, thick poi is key to having great poi.

I had two possible clues… Honoka’a and a word that started with K.

This leads us to the Mokuwai Piko Poi Inc which is not far from Tex Drive In. Gave her all the details. Owner’s name is Kahealani (I’m assuming no okina in hea because hea means “call” and he’a means “fire-burnt, bloody red”).

So now my mom has a place she can go get some poi from. Their taro patch is a bit lean and sometimes there just isn’t any ready to be turned into poi. Also, a lot of poi companies apparently are making very watery poi and not using a good taro variety. So she’s happy to find Mokuwai Piko.

Now if only I can find fresh ‘ulu in San Diego. Or even frozen. ‘Ulu as in breadfruit. Not the knife used by Native Alaskans.

Today is the Fourth of July and for the first time in forever… like over three decades… I’ve not had a pupper to worry about with the fireworks. It does make me sad in so many ways but I also know that others are trying to keep their fur babies safe and not scared. So I hope you all are doing okay.

I’ve been really nose down trying to finish this book. I do need to get a cover for it and figure out where I’m going. It’s a bit of a two path book and whichever one I choose will change its tone. That’s always the case of things, isn’t it?

I’ll probably be messing around with this blog’s appearance at some point this month. They changed the tools and look of how my posts are done and as many of you know, change isn’t good for the spicy brained. It’s actually kind of annoying.

So if you are around anyone setting off fireworks, please be careful. Also, stay hydrated and if you’ve a chance, be sure to pamper yourself a little bit. You deserve it.