Perpetually 5k Words Behind and Other Updates

Two posts ago, I mentioned I’ve decided to embark on NaNoWriMo. Which, for those who don’t want to poke around that link, is an attempt to write a 50,000+ word novel in the month of November.

Amazingly, I have written almost every day this month. I think I’ve only missed two days so far. But while some days the words just flow, like yesterday, some days are pulling teeth to get anything down. Heck, I’m writing this post partially to avoid writing my novel…

If I write nothing today, I’ll be 5226 words “behind”. That’s not going to happen. If nothing else, I’ll write one word. But my hope is that by exercising my writing “muscles” here, I’ll get jazzed to get a thousand or so words there.… Continue reading →

Meeting Bill’s Family in Seattle, WA.

After Salt Lake City, Bill and I hit the road again. Well, the contrails or something. We flew, is what I mean. Flew from Salt Lake City to Seattle, WA. While there, we saw a ton of friends. We made new friends. I got to meet some of Bill’s extended family for the first time. That was super awesome because Bill’s aunt makes an amazing dinner. You all? You’re disappointed you didn’t get to eat with us.

This is actually something Bill’s Uncle Russ made. The morning of our arrival, he and Bill’s cousin Jack went down to some place in Seattle where you buy fishes and bought two big salmon. When they got them home, they discovered one was full of eggs – an amazing and lucky treat!… Continue reading →

Rosa’s pesto salmon

This recipe is a tale of two seasons: summer and winter. Summer being when I first enjoyed this dish. Winter being when it’s most convenient to defrost my freezer and make discoveries like, hey, I have a chunk of salmon in there! (Including a very long aside about the current weather and trials and tribulations of defrosting.)

I first had this meal at Rosa’s house. Rosa is now my mother-in-law, and she’s a really wonderful person. It was in May of 2011, and we were in New Mexico to meet our new nieces (Hazel on Bill’s side & Zoey on mine), visit our families, and plan a wedding. Or get started on planning a wedding.

It was warm, gorgeous and a really fun trip. We made some good memories.… Continue reading →

[79] Seared Salmon with Orange Glaze

Cover of The Healthy Kitchen, by Andrew Weil and Rosie Daley

I generally love fish. I love everything about them, from watching them swim to knowing there’s some creepy fish out there to the way many of them taste.

Fish rule, basically. That’s what I’m saying. I’m also saying I wish I had the contents of my friend Claire’s freezer after she gets back from a trip to Alaska. Her husband and her father go out fishing. And, apparently, “fishing” isn’t code for “gettin’ away from the wimmin folk & drinkin’” the way so many of those trips are, but it actually means “fishing”, because she ends up with a big ol’ pile of halibut.

Halibut that her husband’s not a big fan of, because he disagrees with me on the “fish rule” thing. Oh well. Can’t win ’em all.… Continue reading →

[5] Slow-Roasted Salmon with Yogurt and Cardamom

Big City Cooking

As you can probably imagine, right now a lot of our meals start with, “What do we have in the house?” and “What recipes do we have in cookbooks?” This was particularly hard until 2 June 2010 (when we made this dish) because we had been holding off on buying very much food until our first CSA share arrived. We purchased a few things at one of the city’s farmers’ markets two days before the share arrived to supplement what we already had, but that was it.

This salmon dish was the first recipe we made after going out for groceries. I was rather hesitant about it, but it turned out fairly well. The best part? Having leftover salmon to top salads with the next day!… Continue reading →