Top Five Friday: "No Soup For You!!"

First-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting.

~ Abraham Maslow

Looking through past posts from 2011, I realize I haven’t posted any menus or recipes since March or April of 2011.  Time to rectify that sad state of affairs!  As it is February (although these past few days have felt more like April), what better place to begin a new month of Top Five Fridays then with food?  So today I highlight my top five soups.  And given the roller coaster weather we have been having, some of these recipes are on the lighter side ~ in texture, if not in calories!

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Epicurious is the best recipe archive hands down.  And even my friends who do not like squash ~ or any type of vegetable ~ love this soup.  I made this for my cousins when they visited the United States for the first time in October and they were blown away.  I guess they don’t puree vegetables in Poland?

Since I don’t “do” dairy, I substituted coconut milk for the cream and a soy-based product for the sour cream.  I do not normally eat or recommend soy products (perhaps a topic for another post) but I have yet to find a good non-soy substitute for sour cream.  Love to hear your suggestions in the comm box!

Cream of Mushroom Soup with Sherry

Again, I substituted coconut milk for the heavy cream and didn’t notice the difference.  And yes, I do still use real butter (margarine is just evil ~ it’s chemicals, people! Blah!)  And even with a dairy intolerance, organic butter does not seem bother my system.  (Thank God! My reputation as a good Southern cook is intact!)

African Sweet Potato Stew with Red Beans

This is wonderfully hearty soup for when winter nights are actually cold!  Don’t turn your nose up at the secret ingredient ~ peanut butter. It adds a rich and creamy texture to the soup and you hardly notice it.  Serve this with corn bread dripping with butter and honey ~ yum!

Pumpkin Chili

Pumpkin pie, pumpkin custard, pumpkin bread ~ you name it, I’ve put pumpkin in it.  I love this sweet squash!  Having said that, you may not think pumpkin and chili could get along in the same pot.  But just like the peanut butter in the Sweet Potato Stew, pumpkin adds more texture than noticeable flavor in this chili.  I even served this to my manly men friends for Super Bowl Sunday in the past and they went back for thirds!

Corn and Crab Chowder

Ok, so corn is really a summer starch.  And I really try to do the seasonal eating thang.  But this chowder is too good to wait until summer to make.  And I love crab, although not as much as I love pumpkin (Crab pie? Crab custard? Ewww!)

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

What are some of your favorite soup recipes? Share your links or lists with us!

Writing Challenge: A Month of Letters

What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters.  You can't reread a phone call. 

~ Liz Carpenter

Really, nothing beats going to the mail box and finding a handwritten letter tucked between the utility bills, political posturing, and snail-mail spam.  Even better when that handwritten envelope is unexpected.  So it was with great joy that I read Tia’s post (of Depression Cookies fame) about the Month of Letters Challenge, brought to you by Mary Robinette Kowal. 

The rules are simple: during February, snail mail at least one item during the days the post office is open. And make sure you write back to everyone who writes back to you.  For more info, visit Mary’s website.

With several pen pals, one would think I had enough letters to mail for more than twenty-four days.  Perhaps ~ we’ll see how it goes.  I signed up ~ join me, and if you’re so inclined, drop me an email with your POB and leave the digital world behind for the next month!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Twitter Art Exhibit: Creativity + Charity

Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in. 

~ Amy Lowell

Sullivan just told me about a great art exhibit that any artist in the world can contribute to.  The caveat?  The artist has to be on Twitter.

David Sandum is a Swedish artist living in Norway.  Last year, he came up with the Twitter Art Exhibit to benefit the Moss Public Library and it was a roaring success.  This year the exhibit will benefit The Women’s Crisis Center in Moss.  All submissions are must be the size of a postcard and the deadline to send your artwork in is March 30. 

To learn more about David, his art and the details of this fantastic charity art exhibit, visit his website.

And let us know if you submit any artwork!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

2012 Goals: Mid-Month Check In

Goals are dreams with deadlines. 

~ Diana Scharf Hunt

Eighteen days into my goal setting extravaganza; time to check in!  How am I doing?

Writing – Blogposts

Five posts in January so far; that’s at least two blogposts a week ~  so far so good!  I am so glad I gave myself this goal; it is forcing me to write and let go instead of keeping my writing under lock and key.  The written word is like a child; it needs to get out and make some mistakes or it will never mature.

Writing – Letters

I said 2 weeks and it’s been about 2½.  But I did mail one letter yesterday and am in the process of replying to two more and writing another two after that. 

Writing – Submitting

Ok, I admit it.  This one I forgot about, but the month isn’t over yet!  I still have time! 

I did compose a new poem, so before the month is out, I need to submit [or another one] and let the words fall where they may!

Writing - Journaling

I’ve simply flown on this one.  I have journaled almost every day since the start of the month.  It was a rough start ~ being sick makes doing anything seem impossible, including lifting a pen.  But now I’m on a roll.  The strange thing?  I’ve found myself typing all my journal entries because my fingers can keep up with my rapid-fire thoughts and I don’t lose anything.  Writing it long-hand, I lose track of the thought or the emotion I want to capture.  My next lesson will be to not beat myself up for typing instead of the more romantic long-hand. I do still hand write my letters, so there is that.

Personal Growth/Giving Back Goals

Perhaps I should have broken my goals down by month. As in, focus on writing goals in January, personal goals in February, etc.  I say this now because the other two main goals (Personal Growth and Giving Back) have fallen by the way side.  And by that I mean that I haven’t even looked at them in the last 3 weeks.  Go me.  Ah well.  I can start tonight!

Not bad for the first couple of weeks!

How about you?  How are you doing with your 2012 Goals/Resolutions?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Top Five Friday: Fear the Thirteenth!

Fear makes us feel our humanity.
~ Benjamin Disraeli

Happy Friday the 13th! I am not a overly superstitious person nor am I OCD ~ although sometimes for the sake of my cluttered home office and bedroom, I almost wish I were! But I love stories that deal with the dark side. Not the blood-and-guts, chop-chop horror stories full of scantily-clad screaming teenagers and no plot. But stories that tackle the dark side of humanity ~ something I think we are all too familiar with.


So in honour of Friday the 13th, I offer up my top five picks for artistic explorations of the dark side of humanity.


Criminal Minds – CBS
In my opinion, Criminal Minds is one of the best dark police procedurals on television right now. I have been watching the show on DVD the past couple of months, starting with Season 1; I’m in Season 5 at the moment. The writers for this show are incredible ~ every episode I watch has some aspect that makes me green with writerly envy. I’m the type who becomes completely enmeshed in the story [i.e. do NOT talk to me while I’m watching]; however, there have been moments when the writer in me detaches and thinks “that was a brilliant line or plot twist!”


In terms of fear, CM has got it: they’ve had episodes dealing with almost every type of sick psycho out there, including a Satanic-esque cannibal. What fascinates me is the myriad factors that go into making a criminal who he or she is, family background being the most important.


Grimm – NBC
The Grimm Fairy Tales as criminal profiles? Brilliant! The development of myths, how they affect us and what they say about a culture is a fascinating study. And NBC has a winner with this show. The pilot was a little slow, but set the stage and the episodes after have not disappointed. Imagination is not dead, folks! It’s alive and well in the minds of Stephen Carpenter, David Greenwalt, and Jim Kouf.


There’s fear aplenty and it airs tonight at 9pm!

Fringe – Fox
J.J. Abrams is my hero. He comes up with the most amazing plots and story lines that push the boundaries of the mind. He must wake up every morning thinking “What if…?” Mad scientists, parallel dimensions, other selves, and Joshua Jackson. Plus a haunting soundtrack.


Downside? Also airs on Fridays at 9pm. Tivo, baby!


The Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
Remember reading this for English 101? A fascinating psychology study. A modern adaptation is Apocalypse Now, starring Martin Sheen and set in Vietnam instead of the Congo. Read the book ~ again ~ and then rent the movie.


The Tell-Tale Heart – Edgar Allan Poe
Picking five stories to read or watch for Friday the 13th is tough ~ there a re many great authors and stories out there. But you can’t talk about scary stories without mentioning Poe. The man was a master of the macabre and a brilliant writer. Masque of the Red Death is one of my personal favorites, but the Tell-Tale Heart is sheer brilliance because it Poe wrote it before “profiling” was invented. It’s a crime story told by the criminal who committed it.


I would love to see this re-imagined on Criminal Minds in Season 8. A violent and possibly schizophrenic yet organized protagonist becomes fixated on the old man’s eye, sadistically shines a light on it night after night for several weeks. After the vile deed is done, he chops up the body and arrogantly invites the police into the room and talks to them at length. Come on, it’s perfect!

What noir fiction do you like to read or watch and why?

Oremus pro invicem,
~ Mikaela

Finding the Right Words

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.
~ Buddha

Yesterday I attended the wake of a dear friend of mine.  Sharon was the light in the life of so many people: she always had a kind and encouraging word to say to everyone, was a tireless worker in the vineyard of the Lord, and had a mischievous sense of humour.  She will be greatly missed around here.

As I was tidying my hair before going into the chapel, one of her daughters-in-law came up to me and introduced herself.  She'd been crying and didn't seem to know what to do with herself.  I took her hand and told her who I was and how I knew Sharon, and how it was a shock to think she was actually gone from us.  And then I walked into the chapel and sat down several pews back from the family.

Every word of comfort, every poetic prose and turn of phrase I had ever thought of ~ out the window, up in flames, hidden behind a wall I couldn't penetrate.  Why is it that when people need the right words the most from me, I stumble and hesitate or merely grimace, hold their hand, and say nothing at all?!  I'm a writer for heaven's sake!  I should be able to say something worth remembering! 

After the wake was over and I was driving home, I thought of a few things I could have said that would have been sincere, authentic and comforting.  But to write them down for later use would be to run the risk of turning into a Mr. Collins!

I know I'm not the only one with this lapse of. . . what? Memory?  Prose?  What do you do in these types of situations?  How have you handled a loss of words before?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

You're Invited to Abbey's 54th Poetry Party!

Poetry is what gets lost in translation. 

~ Robert Frost

Christine over at Abbey of the Arts is hosting her 54th Poetry Party!  This party’s inspiration: the bare trees of winter. We are invited to write a poem and then post the image below (with a link back to Abbey of the Arts) and an invitation on our blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter.

Invite your friends to the party!

My contribution to the party:

The Naked Tree

Alone and forgotten

She stands straight.

Each gust of wind bends her back -

Bends but doesn’t break.

She stretches her limbs

Up, up

Toward the pale sun

And touches his warmth

In a fleeting embrace.

As the days wane

And the nights trace

Her outline by the moonglow,

She is transparent,

Vulnerable –

Stripped naked.

Still, none can see

The hope of spring

Hidden

Deep, deep

In her hibernating heart.

Oremus pro invicem,

Mikaela

Writing Without a Devil on Your Back

Words betrayed her: beautiful butterflies in her mind;

dead moths when she opened her mouth for their release into the world.

~ Glen Duncan

I said that I wanted to post at least twice a week, and here it is the end of the first week of the new year, and voila: my second post, just making it across the finish line like a sweat-flecked favorite at the Derby, his nostrils spewing white gusts of breath.

Better late than never I suppose.

G.K. Chesterton once said (or at least it is attributed to him) that a thing worth doing is worth doing badly.  But I don’t know about that.  Bad writing is just plain bad writing.  And usually when I read it (or see it played out on the big or small screen), I want to gouge out my eyes or have a book-burning party.  (Can one burn DVDs?)  Some writing should never see the light of day, it’s so bad. 

Unfortunately, bloggers have two demons chasing them: a daily deadline (if we want our words to get out there; you can’t change the world with words if no one reads them!), and no editor.

Deadlines.  I can live with deadlines.  Like most writers, nothing I write is ever perfect enough to publish, and without an editor riding my procrastinating rear, self-imposed deadlines can simply fade away like pixie dust. 

But editors!

Some writers will tell you they hate their editor.  I only wish I had one to hate!  Sullivan does a pretty good job of catching my grammatical mistakes and pointing out better ways to convey whatever it is I’m trying to say.  But for the most part, I’m on my own.

And I hate poor writing.

Actually, hate isn’t a strong enough word.  Despise?  Abhor?  Loathe?

You thought I was kidding about burning books, didn’t you?  I have two working fireplaces in my house and sadly, I have enough kindling in poor writing to get me through the winter!  

Who wants to be that writer?  I do not want to be that writer!

But of course I have been.  A lot of the kindling are my own scribblings, bits and bobs of poems never pursued, first drafts of stories that I strangled at almost their first breath, songs only half remembered.  But that’s ok.  Bad writing should never see the light of day, but it must still be written.  Think of it as getting the poison out, or sowing your wild writing oats.  Get it over with so you can get on to the good stuff.

And by the way, don’t burn the bad stuff.  It just might be the seed of something new. 

And good.

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Top Five Friday: Breaking Writer's Block

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible. 

~ Vladimir Nabakov

Day six of the new year ~ are you still psyched about realizing your dreams and goals!?  I have to admit, I’m not quite as energetic about it all as I was when I was laying out my goals and planning how to reach them.  A faulty thyroid, a severe vitamin D deficiency, and a low iron count may be contributing factors, but honestly, reaching any goal, no matter how badly we want it, involves sacrifice and hard work. 

Stares at a blank page for an hour.

What I wouldn’t give for Harry Potter’s wand!

Checks FB four times in that same hour.

Actually, what I wouldn’t give for J.K. Rowling’s brain!

Page still blank.  And now throat is dry.  Pours herself a drink.

Ok, there must be a better way than this to get motivated to write.  For crying out loud, six days in and I haven’t written one, single, bloody word!  The brand new journal is blank.  My poetry book hasn’t been written in since God only knows when.  My folders for blog posts has moths flying out of it.  And my pens and keyboards are covered with a fine film of dust.

Ok, Maybe it’s not that bad.

Looks at blank sheet of paper.

Maybe it’s worse!  What is an earth-bound muggle writer to do!?

And voila!  My own writer’s block is broken and I have my top five list for you today: Mikaela’s Top Five Ways to Break Writer’s Block.

Read

I love reading book reviews; a good one can be like Cliff Notes, giving you enough of the book to give you a flavor and the desire to read more. Tia Bach over at Depression Cookies recently read and reviewed Stephen King’s On Writing.   Tia pointed out that Stephen King reads a lot of books and he recommends that writers read a lot of books.  It’s an old but true proverb: the best writers are well-read.  Meaning, they read.  A lot.

Just Write

Stephen King writes 1,000 words a day, and there’s rarely a day he doesn’t write.  Now, perhaps 1,000 words a day is too much to tackle.  So make it 500.  Or maybe a timer works better.  Set a simple kitchen timer for 20 or 30 minutes, put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and don’t stop writing until the timer goes off.  Don’t worry about perfect prose and elegant poetry.  Just put words down on the page.  It’s amazing how doing this unlocks topics and connections you hadn’t thought of before; you won’t be able to stop writing.  The key is to write the same amount of words every day.

Get Active

Sometimes you just need to step back and get a different perspective on what you’re writing about.  Get outside and take a walk.  Or a jog.  Dance with your children, play with your dog, hug your spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend.  Just get away from the desk, breathe in some fresh air, and get the blood pumping.  But don’t dilly-dally.  Once you feel rejuvenated, get back to the desk and start writing again.

Talk to a Friend

Criminal Minds is one of my favorite TV shows, and I don’t watch a lot of the idiot box.  Right now I’m on Season 5 of the DVD set from Netflix.  Every episode my respect (and perhaps a little envy?) of their writing team grows.  And I realized something: it’s a team effort.  Most writers will tell you that the art and craft of writing is a solitary endeavor, and for the most part I agree.  But I have seized upon some of my best ideas when bouncing things off of fellow writers.  Sullivan is writing more poetry then blog posts these days, and we still get together as often as we can to watch the spark of creativity explode into some great projects. 

Meditate

In this plugged in age, you would not believe the benefits of just sitting in silence.  No text message beeps, no voicemail dings, no vibrating hum ringtone, no electronic hum at all.  The human brain can only handle so much.  Turn things off, get comfortable, and just breathe.  Empty your mind of your to do lists, schedules.  Breathe.  Relax.  Focus on one thing only: that you are loved and accepted by God ~ however you understand Him. Do this for 15, 20, 30, or even 60 minutes once a week, and you’ll be surprised at how much calmer you will be.  And when your body is calm, your mind is calm.  And when your mind is calm, oh the ideas you’ll think!

What about you?  Do you have any tried and true methods for breaking writer’s block?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

The Last Top Five Friday of 2011: Learning to Set Goals

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. 

~ Victor Frankl

This weekend, we will all make resolutions.  And we will keep them for about a week; two if we’re strong; all year if you’re Mother Teresa.   As I mentioned on Tuesday, I  set out to start 2012 out differently.  This time, I would make goals and by gosh, by golly, I was going to keep them and realize them!  But where to begin?  And how to  make it stick this time?

A wise man once said that you should surround yourself with people smarter than yourself so that you can learn from them.  So I did what I do best ~ read what other, smarter and more successful goal-setters were saying on the subject.

Some articles were about as helpful as a raincoat in Death Valley.  Others were too clichéd.  And some knocked my pen top off.  Today, I bring you the top five articles I found helpful in setting my 2012 goals.

Abbey of the Arts

I have mentioned Christine Valters Paintner here and here before.  She is an amazing person with a big heart, a gifted writer, and an affirming mentor.  In Give me a Word, she encourages us to do some soul searching and come up with a word for the year. 

I’ve been choosing a word to describe how I want my year to be for awhile now and was excited to learn that someone else does this too!  I’m still pondering and meditating on what my word for 2012 will be.

Goodlife Zen

In addition to Goodlife, Mary Jaksch is also one of the main writers behind the great writers blog, Write to Done.  Which reminds me, I need to do one of their blogging boot camps in 2012 ~ add that to the goal list!

While this article is not about goal setting specifically, Mary lays out some great steps to help find peace amidst the turmoil and chaos that life can throw at us.  I don’t know about you, but peace seems like a pretty good goal to me! 

I love how silence is step number one.  With all of us being plugged in 24/7, now is a good time to make an appointment with and for yourself to unplug, unwind, and take time to just think about where you are and where you want to be.

Live Bold and Bloom

I love Barrie Davenport.  She’s another great writer and mentor in the blogosphere. Her posts break things down in manageable steps and she’s always ready with an encouraging word. 

Personal Development highlights twelve steps to prepare for goal-setting.  She takes the tired old resolutions we all used to make [lose weight, exercise more] and repackages them in ways that make “the medicine go down” so to speak. 

For instance, Barrie asks “What have you been feeding your beautiful, amazing body over the last year?”  A question that forces you to examine your eating habits while at the same time affirming your beauty and the goodness of the body.  So much easier than “I resolve to lose weight.”

Mind Tools

I keep returning to this site for career and business advice.  But it can also be used for mapping out personal growth.  From this article, they link to several other ones on goals, such as Backward Goal Setting, and Motivate Yourself.

Untitled

Allyson Whipple is a blogger on SheWrites.  She has an excellant list of broad writing goals with a breakdown into categories and smaller steps for 2012 that is worth reading and adpating to your own writing goal needs.  I found it helpful when developing my own list. 

The key to goal keeping is to break things down to a manageable level, something most of these sites do.  Having one large list of broad goals is not only unrealistic, it’s overwhelming.  Not everyone throws up their hands at such a list and gives up right at the start, but for most of us, it’s tempting. 

Smaller steps give us opportunities to succeed early in the game and reward ourselves.  They also give us permission to fail and try again, thereby ensuring we actually will try again.

Here’s to growing stronger and healthier on all levels in 2012!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Goal Time!

It is never too late to be who you might have been. 

~ George Eliot

It is almost January.  Another year gone.  Where in the world does the time go?  A long time ago, when I was just turning thirteen or fourteen, someone told me that once I hit high school, time would simply fly.  They were right.  And each year it just seems to go by faster and faster.

This year is no different.  Once September hit, life began to resemble the Indy 500 and things didn’t slow down until yesterday.  Planning an arts festival, Thanksgiving dinner, and a Christmas party beats the stuffing out of you.  Not to mention having pesky gallstones earn you a couple of stays in the hospital and catching a nasty cold that leave you too weak to eat even the bland diet the gallstones have you on.  Autumn 2011 was a hell of a time!

Now I am pain-free (although not yet gallstone-free) and have some time to reflect on where this year has taken me and what path I’d like to take next in the coming months.  And since telling someone your goals makes it (hopefully) more likely that you will actually accomplish them, I am going to share mine with you, dear readers.

Goal #1: Write More

This is always the first goal/resolution I make every January.  And I do fairly well in January. February I lose a little steam.  March comes and I get a second wind.  April brings spring fever, and by the time May arrives, I’m exhausted.  It just does downhill from there!

So this year, I decided to tool around reading what other writers and normal people (ha!) were saying about their goal making.  I’ll be posting a list of  the top five ones I found, but I’d like to highlight one (consider it Number Five and a Half if you will) today: http://www.michelleschaeffer.com/.  Michelle always has great tips for blogging, marketing, etc.  Read her entire article on setting goals here.

She suggests breaking your goals down into steps and targets.  Doh! Why didn’t I think of that!?  Not only is this helpful for mapping out where you want to be in twelve months, you can break things down into manageable steps that hold you accountable, so this year you may actually not default on your goals!  Yes! 

With this new power tool in hand, my writing goals now look like this:

1.      Post to this blog at least twice a week.

a.      If I post more than three times a week for a month, I get to treat myself to a new pen! (I really, really, like pens.  Especially fountain pens.]

2.      Respond to all personal letters within two weeks of receiving the letter. (I have a lot of pen pals and friends who write deliciously long, snail-mail letters!)

a.      I would have put a reward of stationary here, but I already need a twelve-step program for the boxes and boxes I have already.

3.      Submit one piece of poetry or personal essay a month to five different magazines or journals.

a.      I think this is its own reward ~ especially if I get published.

4.      Journal at least three times a week. 

a.      This can include Morning Pages, poetry, or general personal rants and raves.  Just journal!

b.      I already have my reward for this: a gorgeous, new, hardback journal.  I hope to have the spine broken in by February.

Goal #2: Personal Growth

5.      Develop one new healthy coping mechanism.

a.      They say it takes thirty days to develop a new habit, and our coping mechanism are just that: habits.  Usually bad ones.  Learning a new, integrated one will help heal the wounds that the old mechanism was simultaneously protecting and scratching at.

6.      Develop a weekly exercise routine that is sustainable.

a.      This means fun.  And being outdoors as much as possible.

7.      Hire a professional organizer and be clutter-free in 2012!

a.      This will also help with Goal #1.

8.      Eat 80% raw (already doing this for the most part)

a.     Reward? My gallbladder will thank me.  Not to mention having to buy yet another new pair of jeans in the last four weeks because the old new ones are already falling off of me. Yes!

Goal #3: Giving Back

9.      Plant a sustainable, organic vegetable and herb garden in the Spring.

a.      This includes research, planning, and hiring some manly labor if necessary. 

1)     Beer and pizza are acceptable forms of payment for aforementioned manly labor.

b.      Donate any surplus produce to the local food bank or soup kitchen.

10.  Volunteer at least once a month at the charity of your choice. 

a.      Yes, The Saint Cecilia Group counts.

b.      No, it can’t SCG every month.

11.  Write your mother a letter.

a.      You would be surprised at how difficult this one can be!

12.  Go on retreat.

a.      Because if you don’t first give back to yourself, how will you be able to give back to others?

12 goals for 2012.  Whew!  That’s seems a tall order! Actually, that means I should add one more:

13. Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s okay to fail.  It means you tried.

What are your goals for 2012?  Feel free to share in the comment section!

Oremuc pro invicem,

 ~ Mikaela