Grandma's Cookin'

Both my grandmothers loved to cook. Each one had signature recipes that were passed down to the rest of us.

These two I'm sharing because I'd forgotten about one, then the other. If I share them now, they won't be forgotten forever.

* * *

My maternal grandmother, Opal Quesenberry (aka Nonnie), was from the American South (Appalachia). Last year (or year before), my daughter read, then watched The Help. She was intrigued by this entirely alien culture. I had to explain how a few things were endemic to Southern culture. She asked about a chocolate pie. That was when I realised I'd been neglectful in a few vital things. "Your great-grandma has a chocolate pie recipe." "Does she? Why didn't I know about it?" It's one thing to let the attitudes of racism die out for the next generation, but one must never forget to pass on the chocolate pie recipe!!

Now, Nonnie's recipe lacks the special ingredient that makes Minnie's pie so special. However, should you feel the need, you could adapt the recipe to include it.

Nonnie loved her flowers.

Here's the recipe in her own hand.

Here, I've translated it for you:

Nonnie's Best Chocolate Pie

3/4 c white sugar

3 T cornstarch (corn flour for you Aussies)

3 T cocoa powder

2 c sweet milk

3 egg yolks. (You can save the whites to make a meringue topping for the pie, or you can save them for the recipe below.)

1/4 c butter (not margarine)

1 T vanilla essence

1 pie crust, blind-baked  (I recommend a traditional flaky Crisco Pie Crust. Aussies: I recommend using Copha or Mastafry in place of Crisco.) 

Sift together sugar, cornstarch and cocoa powder into a double boiler.  Stir in a few tablespoons of your milk to make a paste.  Bean in the egg yolks with a whisk.  Slowly add in the rest of the milk, whisking to ensure there are no lumps.  Cook over low heat in double boiler, whisking regularly to ensure no lumps as mixture thickens.  Once thick, add butter and vanilla and mix in well. Pour into a baked pie crust. Refrigerate at least two hours. Top with meringue or whipped cream.

* * *

My paternal grandmother Beverly Wessman had a cookie jar she kept full of homemade cookies. My favourite were these crunchy, fluffy pink ones. We called them "Jello cookies" in our ignorance. Later I learned they were meringues. Also later, I learned that meringues traditionally did not have chocolate chips in them. Beverly's did.

They're so easy to make. I am flabbergasted that I completely failed to include these delightful little puffs of deliciousness into my daughters' culinary history.  Today I have rectified that, much to their surprise and pleasure.

Beverly, with my Aunt Ann.

ETA: See the comments for a link to Beverly's original recipe (including the story of origin).

Grandma Beverly's Pink Meringue Cookies

3 egg whites

pinch salt

1 package (approx 85g) Strawberry Jello (Aussies: Aeroplane Jelly) (Really, you can do any flavour you wish.)

2/3 c caster sugar

1/2 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 120C(240F).  Whip up egg whites and pinch salt until soft peaks form.  Meanwhile, blend Jello and caster sugar together.  While mixer is still whipping, add sugar mix by the spoonful until fully incorporated into egg whites.  Whip a few minute longer until stiff peaks form.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Spoon meringue mixture onto a paper-lined baking tray.  Place tray in oven. Immediately reduce over to 100C(200F).  Bake meringues 90 minutes. Turn off oven, let meringues cool completely in oven.

Meringues are best stored in an airtight container, assuming they last that long. They often don't. Today's batch didn't.

Note: don't go out and buy caster sugar if you don't use it regularly. Caster sugar is often preferred in recipes for its easy dissolv-ability.  You can make your own caster sugar from granulated sugar by putting it in a dry blender and blitzing it for a few seconds, no longer. If you blitz it too long, you end up with powdered sugar.

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Her Grace reminds you to pass on your recipes.

Things One Can't Do with Only One Working Thumb

Actually, his hand looks an awful lot like this,
for the splint he has to wear makes his thumb stick out.

Last month His Grace suffered a hand injury that put his right thumb out of commission for a Very Long Time. This has been a challenge for him, for he is very much a right-handed man (unlike my good self, who is rather ambidextrous).

Thus, His Grace has been quite challenged. As he goes about adjusting to his new life, he regularly encounters things he cannot do because he does not have two thumbs.

You'd be surprised at what one can't do when one doesn't have a working thumb.

Now, some things aren't completely impossible, but sure are rather difficult when one attempts it with only one functional thumb.

This is the list of things His Grace can't do (or finds very difficult) without two working thumbs:

• Tie his shoelaces 
• Button up shirts (Guess who'd been helping him get dressed in the mornings.)
• Completely towel off after a shower
• Pull on thick socks
• Drive a manual vehicle
• Use the pepper grinder
• Remove an omelette from the pan.
• Cut Roma tomatoes or onions
• Certain sexual positions
• Type on a keyboard
• Play the entirety of Für Elise (and not just the noodly part everyone knows)
• Cut a piece of paper with scissors
• Read a hardbound book
• Climb a rope

No doubt we will add to this list as time rolls on.

Things His Grace can't do because it's his right hand:

• Left cuff button
• Fence
• Drive my car (the indicators are on the wrong side for him)
• Sign legal documents

All hail Sir Lefty.

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Okay, with Für Elise, His Grace can't play it even when he has two fully-functional thumbs.

Word frequency in a novel

My novel writing software (yWriter) has a word usage counter tool that lets you know how often you use a particular word.  (This is good to see if you use too may weasel-words like "just" and "that" or whatever else you might tic on.)

Here is a list of the top fifty words I used the most, including the number of times I used it:

the (2948), Her (1908), to (1753), she (1514), a (1511), of (1287), and (1034), he (991), was (987), his (949), it (944), miss (859), I (827), you (770), in (747), that (730), Felicity (719), Not (690), had (680), At (509), For (471), as (445), have (429), If (411), What (403), with (399), on (389), be (375), out (367), Wyndell (364), would (358), Mr (353), him (343), this (326), But (323), Smith (317), mother (314), so (306), about (306), they (303), one (298), lady (285), no (281), could (279), up (273), did (270), Abbot (251), is (246), been (237), all (233)


Here are the bottom fifty words I used the least, with only one instance of each word:

summers, loss, frivolities, riding, build, restitched, singing, emit, storing, desired, concentrate, imbue, jewellery, store, bracelet, talents, sensed, glide, powerlessness, relish, quilting, unlocking, stitching, frocks, stylish, sprawled, strand, curler, bowed, stake, selfish, debuting, tip, tempted, chide, returns, submitted, order, exuberance, blessed, department, wafted, touches, tucks, persnickity, awaiting, spinsterhood, mires, languishing, detested

(We know which words are the rice and which ones are the spice.)

Total unique words used in a 71,000-word book:  5796

Now that I know how many unique words I've used, and how many (too many!) common words I've used, I really ought to change those stats for my next novel.

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Her Grace is wondering how many epithets one can call Zeus before one gets zotted for insolence?

Obituary: Opportunity Rover on Mars

Yeah, I'm crying. And you're crying too. Admit it.

Essentially, the last message Opportunity sent before going dark in June 2018. (credit: REDDIT)

On 14 Feb, NASA officially declared the Opportunity mission at an end.

XKCD made a joke about Oppy's long life.

You can't help but cry. For a mission with a life expectancy of 90 days, Opportunity became our hero for living and exploring for a good fifteen years.   Every day beyond that 90 was a beautiful gift. Nearly every day we got data. We're still analysing it. We're so lucky we got so much science from it.

Oh, the science has been marvelous! 

I did a major research paper in my Planetary Science class on water and Mars, and some of my data came from the Opportunity mission. So yeah, I'm crying. We spent some time at school together.

Back in June, Mars experienced a planet-wide dust storm, as it does from time to time. Oppy had weathered them before, but no guarantee that it would weather them again. Each time a dust storm came, we'd cross our fingers and hope-HOPE-hope that Oppy would survive.

NASA had been trying to contact Oppy for eight months, with no luck. So when the Martian weather cleared and, unlike other times when Oppy was able to keep calm and carry on, there was no reply.

NASA finally accepted that we would never again hear from Opportunity. Winter has come where Oppy lies, and some components weren't designed to last the bitter cold without its heater.

It's okay to cry.

Lots of grief has been expressed online. You're not alone.

Here, go learn more about NASA's Spirit and Opportunity missions. 

Some day humans may make it to Mars. (We're awesome like that.) If/when we do, I hope we get the chance, no the 'opportunity' to go lei some flowers on Oppy's camera stem.

Abby Garrett expressed it well.

What impact did Opportunity have on us Earth-side humans?  I think XKCD put it best:

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Her Grace is going to go cry some more.

Old Dance Shoes

When I was young, like many a young girl, I danced. I loved it. The sense of motion, of expression, of moving through space.

During this verse of my life I don't have much time to seek out dance, but do not say no to any opportunity I stumble across. I'm happy to dance again once the chorus comes around.

A friend was telling us about her daughter taking up dance classes, and how she, the friend, wistfully thought back to her dance days. (I suggested she get dance shoes of her own.)

Just because we can no longer go en pointe in our advancing years doesn't mean we can't still put on our shoes.

Here are some of mine.

These are my ballet flats. They've served me well for at least 25 years. I danced CATS in these.

These are character shoes. They can be used for soft-shoe dancing, but are mainly for stagework and acting.

These are my Modern Dance shoes. I also use them for Bellydancing.

My tap shoes. I've been through several pairs. Tap was my first love of dance at age 3. While the weakest of my dance styles, I still hold a special place in my heart for the noisy shuffle of tappity-tappity.  I need to take more classes when I get time.

__________________________
Her Grace will post pictures of toe shoes as soon as she can find them.

Aussie culture: The Bunnings Sausage Sizzle

Generally, the weather is clement in Australia, so every weekend, Australians get out and Get Stuff Done.

Bunnings Warehouse is "Australia's DIY, Garden & Hardware Store".  They are he-yuuuge! You can get everything you could possibly want, need or covet for the improvement of your home. Want a new bathroom sink? Get it at Bunnings! Need heirloom tomatoes for the garden? Bunnings. Need a sausage with onions and tomato sauce? Bunnings.

Yep. You heard me right.

Every weekend all Bunnings Warehouses host a sausage sizzle (like a "barbeque", but you can only get sausages). These sausage sizzles are run by various non-profit groups as fundraisers. Schools, clubs, sports teams, and more will man these outside kiosks and for about five bucks, will sell you a sausage on a bun, topped with grilled onions and the sauce of your choice, plus a can of soft drink.

Sometimes people go to Bunnings just to get a sausage sizzle. It's a very Aussie thing to do.

_____________________
Her Grace has been known to succumb, even though she's not terribly fond of sausages.

My Journeyman Project: OF THE DARK

If you drill down through the archives, you will find the occasional mention of my series OF THE DARK, from talking about its beginnings to its eventual publication.

The ideas for OF THE DARK (fondly known to me at OTD) started when I was in High School in the 80's. What would become "God of the Dark" was the third novel I'd ever written, when I was still figuring myself out as an author.  I used it to work out everything about the craft, from how to outline, how to develop characters, and how to develop plots (which is why OTD ended up being a trilogy). It took me years.

Towards the end of university, I discovered the [then] Del Rey Online Writing Workshop, and spent many years there refining my craft. While I did work on other novels and plenty of short stories, the majority of my work ended up being on the OF THE DARK series. I went from being an apprentice author to a journeyman in skill, capable of being published (albeit short stories, etc).  I networked and got to know lots of fellow authors, many of whom have gone on to make writing careers for themselves.

While working on OTD, I worked on other projects as well. It's not good to devote so much time (aka years) on a single work. I wrote and published "As Good As Gold", "For Richer, For Poorer", "Marry Me" and "The White Feather" through The Wild Rose Press and released "Her Endearing Young Charms" as an indie project. I've got lots of other projects on the burner in various completion stages. I anticipate having at least one, and possibly three novels released in 2019.

Thanks to all my hard work on OTD, I was able to successfully and efficiently write other novels in a fraction of the time it took to get all three OTD books completed. I've managed to gain some mastery over the craft.

I attempted to get OTD published through traditional routes, but while many an agent liked my manuscript, none of them loved it enough to take it on. But I loved it and I knew others would as well, so I went indie with it.

Have you read God of the Dark? Get thee to the retail bookseller of your choice and sample the first chapter for free.


God of the Dark -  Amazon | Smashwords | Books2Read | Google Play | KoboBooks | Paperback (via Amazon)
Bride of the Dark - Amazon | Smashwords | Books2Read | Google Play | KoboBooks | Paperback (via Amazon)
House of the Dark - Amazon | Smashwords | Books2Read | Google Play | KoboBooks | Paperback (via Amazon)


While I would love for you to buy my books, if you can't or don't want to, please, by all means, ask for them at your local library (aka make them buy my books). OTD is available to libraries in both Trade paperback through IngramSpark and ebook form through OverDrive and other library distribution platforms.