Seafood Sticker Shock

On Monday I decided to try my hand at making sushi. I had bought a book and a bunch of serving ware at World Market, and I was ready to go. California rolls sounded like a good beginner's sushi, because there is no raw fish (it contains roe, cucumber, avocado, and shrimp).

Now, normally I would shop for groceries at the commissary on base, but that is about a 35 minute drive each way. Since it was already Monday afternoon by the time I went in search of ingredients, I decided to just go to the Safeway that is only about 20 minutes away. I figured that I would save enough money on gas to make up for the higher prices. Boy was I wrong.

The cheapest frozen jumbo shrimp at Safeway were $13.50 per pound! I couldn't believe my eyes. I knew shrimp was expensive, but that was just too much. Plus, they didn't have roe of any kind at Safeway. So I drove to the commissary after all.

At the commissary, the shrimp was a much more reasonable $4.50/lb. They also did not have the kind of roe I was looking for (smelt, flying fish, or ocean trout) but at least they did have caviar (black lumpfish). I figured that was close enough.

I arrived home with my ingredients and opened the sushi book, only to discover that the rice needed to be rinsed and then drained for 30 minutes. At this point it was already 5:30. I plopped Tiger into her highchair and gave her a snack to play with while I ran around like a madwoman putting everything together.

We finally ate at around 7pm, but it was definitely worth the wait. The caviar did taste a little bit strange, but otherwise the rolls turned out quite good. We sipped warm sake with our meal and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

In the future, I most likely will plan a little better before making sushi. For example, I just found a place online where I can buy masago, the kind of roe I needed. If you are strongly detail oriented and you feel like a little adventure, you might try making sushi. Just don't shop at Safeway if you do.

Nature's Bounty, At Last

Or so we hope.

It is difficult to garden in the desert. Not only are the summers hot and dry, but there is an abundance of hungry pests. Every night, the cottontail rabbits come out and nibble their way through the garden. You can put up a fence, but that won't stop the round-tailed ground squirrels from getting in and eating your greens. And if that weren't enough, there are the dreaded harvester ants. These ants assiduously remove any foliage within a 5-20 foot radius from their nest. They also dig up seeds and carry them away. The ants have caused more damage to our gardens than the other pests combined.

But finally, after nearly two years of failed gardening attempts, it looks like we'll actually get a decent harvest this year. Allow me to take you on a virtual tour of some of our plots. But, first, I must mention that we use the square foot method of gardening, as described in Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholomew. This method allows you to fit a lot of plants in a small space, and it drastically reduces the amount of time and effort involved in caring for a garden, compared to traditional rows. I highly recommend this book and the method. All blocks are 4'x4'.

This is the corn block. The corn is much taller than it was last year, and it seems to all be producing pollen at approximately the same time, so hopefully this year the corn will actually have kernels on the cob! Last year we had to go out of town for a week in August, and so the corn only got rainwater that week. It didn't die, but it did end up significantly smaller than this year.

Here is the densely planted bean plot. About three quarters of it wasn't fenced at first, so rabbits ate all of the unprotected plants. But after the plot was fenced, the eaten plants put out fresh leaves. That is why the beans are at two different levels. Also, Corvus finished up several different packets of beans and then raided the pantry when he was planting this plot. There are green beans, wax beans, burgundy beans, Tohono O'odham beans, and pinto beans. We'll be definitely making some strange hybrids, but we don't intend to plant any of our harvest next year so it's not an issue. Behind the beans you can see Corvus' pumpkins.

Corvus is immensely proud of his pumpkin patch. He has four plants in there and they are HUGE. They are starting to produce male flowers. There is no need to fence pumpkins, because rabbits and ground squirrels aren't interested in eating anything in the squash family. At least, they aren't interested in eating the leaves. Last year I had some troubles with something eating the flowers.

That's why I'm training my pumpkins up a fence. This is something I learned from the square foot book. If you train your climbing plants like squash and cucumbers up a trellis, they will be much healthier. And they take up considerably less space! He tested squashes as large as hubbard squash, and found that they had no difficulty supporting their fruit. All of our pumpkins are the small pie variety, so there shouldn't be any problems. And unless rabbits can start climbing fences, I shouldn't have any problems with my flowers this year.

These are cucumbers in Corvus' garden. They are already starting to put out flowers, so soon we will have lots of cucumbers! He planted the Straight Eight variety of slicing cucumbers, while I planted pickling cucumbers between my pumpkins on the fence. They haven't come up yet, so no pictures of them.

Writing a Novel in 60 Days

A writing site that I belong to, Notebored, will be hosting a three-month novel writing session. It is based on the concept of NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, which takes place in November each year. Participants sign up to write 50,000 words of a brand new novel in the month of November. Those who make it get their names on the list. It is a fun way to force a novel out of your psyche and onto paper.

One of the Notebored members had this to say: "If I can write a really bad novel in one month, what about spending three months on it to make it good?" And so, TriMoNaNo has been born. Currently 14 people have signed up to spend September, October, and November writing a novel of at least 50,000 words. A small group of us (myself included) have an even bigger goal: to write the TriMo novel in the first two months, and then jump into NaNoWriMo in November with a completely new story. If all goes well, we will then have completed two novels in three months. We probably won't be coherent by the end of it, but there you go.

So beginning in September, my posts will probably be limited to daily wordcounts and not much else. My goal is 1000 words per day in September, 1500 words per day in October, and 2000 words per day in November. Yikes!

But this isn't as bad as it seems. Earlier today I wrote over 700 words in 45 minutes for a writing challenge. That works out to about 1000 per hour. So if I work during Tiger's two naptimes every day, I should be fine. Plus, my speed should improve as I get used to writing that much in one sitting.

Only four more days to go. It's going to be quite the ride.

Returning a Defective Goat

Tomorrow, we will be returning our goat Nutmeg to her original owner. We had been told that she was pregnant when we bought her. Well, the due date came and went, and there were no kids. At this point I was pretty sure that she was not pregnant, but I called the vet just to be certain. One ultrasound and eighty dollars later, the vet confirmed it.

Not long after I bought the goat, I had looked through her medical records (such as they were) and discovered that she had never had a successful pregnancy. Of course the owner mentioned none of this when we were looking at the goats. Since we keep goats for dairy, I found it highly unlikely that this goat would ever be worth the feed she eats. Luckily, the previous owner agreed to take her back for a full refund. This is just as well, because Nutmeg is a big bully to the other does. She doesn't allow them to eat at the same time as her, even though there is plenty of space at the feeder.

We have learned a couple of lessons from this fiasco. One, always read the medical records before you buy the goat (or any other animal.) Two, if the owner claims that the animal is pregnant, insist that a vet confirms this with an ultrasound, at the owners expense.

A Trip to the Mall

On Wednesday, Corvus, Tiger, and I went to the mall. The main order of business was to get new tires for my car, as I will be driving to Yuma and back this weekend. We dropped the car off at Sears then wandered off to the rest of the mall. Tiger had a lot of fun holding onto a set of socks her daddy was buying (and chewing on them too!)

I decided to get my hair trimmed, as it had been over a year since the last time. This was the worst haircut I've ever gotten. My hair was past my waist, and I told the woman to cut off six inches. This would be enough to get rid of the split ends and even it up. I suppose I should have been worried when she didn't know how long six inches was. "As long as this comb?" she asked. The comb was about the right length, so I told her yes.

Well, I knew when she was done that she had cut off more than I wanted, but I was so focused on getting my car fixed and keeping Tiger happy (she was getting tired), that I didn't really notice how short it was until I got home. I had Corvus measure the difference in lengths, and she had cut off ten inches! Sheesh. Now my hair is at the really obnoxious mid-back length: not short enough to be any easier to take care of, but too short to do any of the neat hair tricks that I like.

So if any Tucsonans are reading this, don't go to Planet Hair Care at the Park Place Mall.

As for the car, not only did it need new tires, but the front brakes were worn down to the metal. So they had to keep it another couple of hours to replace the brake pads. By the time it was ready, we were thoroughly sick of the mall. But at least I'll make it though Telegraph Pass now.

Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson (no spoilers)

I just finished reading Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson, a science fiction novel. Here is the beginning of the publisher's description:

One night in October when he was ten years old, Tyler Dupree stood in his back yard and watched the stars go out. They all flared into brilliance at once, then disappeared, replaced by a flat, empty black barrier. He and his best friends, Jason and Diane Lawton, had seen what became known as the Big Blackout. It would shape their lives.

I first saw this book when it was reviewed by John Joseph Adams at The Slush God Speaketh. I was thoroughly hooked just by the blurb!

For the most part this book was wonderful, although it suffered from a weak ending. It is in first person, with about a third of the book devoted to the current action and two-thirds devoted to backstory. There is a plausible reason for this: at the beginning of the book, Tyler takes a drug that has one side-effect of graphomania, or a strong desire to write.

Unfortunately, the back story is far more interesting than the current action. This leads the reader to expect that at the end of the book we would discover who the aliens were and what they wanted, and that would be the climax. But really, the forestory (I don't know if that's a word, but I'm going to use it) is about Tyler and Diane trying to escape Earth because the United States Government is after them. The only problem is, we don't discover that until around three-quarters through the forestory (and almost finished with the book). I think that if that information had been shared at the beginning then the ending would have been more satisfying. Since the author wouldn't tell what the point of the story was, I had to guess. The backstory got far more words, so it was natural that I would guess that the end of the book would answer the questions, "Who are these aliens? What do they want?"

However, even with that flaw, Wilson pulls off a darn good story. The characters are interesting and believable.

A warning: there is occasional profanity in the dialogue. It's not overwhelming but it is there. Also, characters engage in casual sex several times in the book, although none of it is graphicly described. Some of Orson Scott Card's writing is racier than what you will find in Spin.

Relatives can breathe a sigh of relief...

...because they don't have to worry about getting Pickled Devil's Claw for Christmas anymore. A few nights ago we decided to try some of the devil's claw to see what they tasted like. I whipped up some tasty cajun batter and fried them like okra. Oh my, they were bitter. I couldn't eat them, although Corvus said that with ranch dressing they were edible.

I really doubt that pickling them will improve the flavor, so I think I'll just compost the rest. Supposedly you can eat the dried seeds from a fully-ripened devil's claw, so we'll probably try that later in the season.

However, the prickly pear juice actually tastes pretty good. I bought some pectin and will try making jam this weekend. So you're not off the hook yet. You may get prickly pear jam for Christmas instead.

Magic Street, with minimal spoilers

I just finished Orson Scott Card's latest novel, Magic Street. It was okay, but rather disappointing.

The majority of the book was written in a rather distant voice, so I never felt like I was solidly in the head of the main character, Mack Street. Consequently, I found that I didn't really care about him, or whether things turned out the way he wanted.

The pacing seemed a bit off as well. The first two-thirds of the book was a long, slow setup that covered seventeen years. Then, Mack suddenly finds out what is going on, the good guys make their plans, and the last third of the book was a flurry of activity covering maybe 24 hours.

Mack was a pretty passive character. I never really felt in touch with what he wanted, his deepest desires. This may have been deliberate, given who and what Mack turns out to be. Still, it would have been nice if he had at least noticed how he didn't have any desires and wondered about it.

I'm really glad that Word found redemption, and didn't turn out like Reverend Thrower in the Alvin Maker series.

This was an entertaining read, but unfortunately not particularly special. Here's hoping that Card recovers his spark for the next novel.

History Rant

I was one of those kids who hated history in school. I'm sure part of the reason is because I have a horrible time remembering names. Here is a typical introduction for me:

Stranger: "Hi, I'm [insert name here]."
Me: "Hi, nice to meet you." OK, I'm gonna remember it this time...
Stranger: [insert small talk here]
Me: Oh no, I already forgot it!

And then I panic. You can see how this would make history class less than enjoyable. I have been trying to remedy my appalling lack of historical knowledge lately, starting with Chinese history. Look, I like a challenge, ok?

I just finished The Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another and am now working on a biography of Chiang Kai-Shek (Jiang Jieshi in Mandarin). I've noticed that the authors of these two books seemed to have been trying to borrow techniques from fiction in order to make the material more interesting. However, since they aren't actually fiction writers, they make typical newbie mistakes.

Both books start with an exciting event at the end of the timeline they will be working with. It's clear that they are trying to "hook" the reader into reading the rest of the book to find out what led up to that event. This is the equivalent of starting a fictional story at the most exciting moment and then immediately flashing back to the rest of the story. This is a big no-no. A big reason is because the reader is forced to face the excitement and emotions of the scene without knowing who the characters are or why it is so important to them.

Unfortunately, in "The Opium Wars" the authors also used such a beginning for spin. They describe in great detail how the British army sacked the Summer Palace outside of Beijing, destroying incredible wealth and culture. After several chapters of this, they mention (in an offhand manner) that the reason the British did this was because the Chinese had tortured to death several POWs. I lost a lot of respect for the authors after that.

Unfortunately, I'm beginning to suspect that the "start with the exciting event and then go back" is a popular writing method amongst historians. Well, I shall struggle on. Maybe someday I'll get a chance to work with a historian to produce a book that really is readable.

On the domestic front, Tiger's eighth tooth is breaking through. This would be the second bottom incisor on the right.

Napolean Dynamite VS Rushmore

At the urging of my sister-in-law, we recently watched Napolean Dynamite. I had thought that it sounded very similar to Rushmore, a movie that I love. Well, yes. Both are about high school misfits who gain acceptance of a sort by the end of the movie. Utimately, though, I found Rushmore to be the more satisfying movie. In Napolean Dynamite, the characters are caricatures and we are shown very few glimpses into their deeper motivations. In Rushmore, although the characters are almost as strange, they feel so much more real.

Utimately, Napolean Dynamite is an entertaining piece of fluff, but Rushmore is entertaining and satisfying.

But, try them both and see which one you like better.

Desert Harvest

The devil's claws are setting their fruit. The prickly pears are ripening. The mesquite pods are turning yellow. This year, we are determined to harvest the wild foods growing on our property. Yesterday Corvus collected a bucket full of prickly pears, and hardly made a dent in one cactus. He describes the flavor as "a little bit of watermelon, some pears, raspberries and citrus."

This year we have gotten some good rain, so the devil's claws are growing profusely. I've read that the immature fruit can be treated like okra. I'm hoping it will be good pickled. Now there's something cool to have in your pantry: Pickled Devil's Claw. I think that would make an excellent Christmas gift. OK, I'm kidding. You hope.

On the domestic front, Tiger has begun to crawl and now she is getting into everything. She is definitely geek material: she loves the stereo and the computers. Yikes! Also, she sat up on her own for the first time on Wednesday.

Crow's Nest weather sighting: Blue skies with scattered clouds to the east.

Dramatis Personae

Cast:

Mel - the mildly OCD writer/mother/attempted farmer/animal lover
Corvus - the talkative raven
Tiger - the baby who is too smart for her own good

'Mokey - the curmudgeonly old cat
Spirit - the cuddly calico
Spook - the aloof tortoise-shell
Nemo and Fluffy - the obsessive nest-building zebra finches
Speck, Normal, and Wraith - the baby zebra finches
Houdini - the bunny

Phantom - the livestock guard puppy
Paprika - the milk goat
Nutmeg - the queen goat
Rhet Butler - the epitome of billy goat sexiness
Juliette - Paprika and Rhet's wild daughter

The Ducks, may they rest in peace - eaten by badgers