I hope the new year brings good health, happiness and great things for all of us!!!!  BBQ wouldn’t be a bad thing either.

Writing is a lot like football. Being an athlete takes talent, lots and lots of practice, lots of losses–and only a few spots are available on the team. There’s a lot of rejection in football. Sometimes you don’t make the team. Sometimes you make the team, but not on the spot you really wanted (you get published, but maybe it’s by a small magazine or a small publisher). Then, you make the team, but it turns out you lose your first four games (your book is not carried in the big chain stores, no one has heard of it and there is no money to get the word out). All of a sudden your spot on the team is in jeopardy because there’s this hot new player in town…

A lot of writers whine about how hard it is to get published. And it is. But it’s not much different than making a team and then getting to the next level and then the next. Every game is either win or lose. Every performance matters. Lose enough games and…there’s going to be some removals from the team.

With writing, there’s a lot of competition for very few spots. Once you get noticed, you still might not make the team–maybe you get pulled from the slush pile by slush readers only to have the editor turn down the story. Maybe you make the team (get published) but the sales are so lackluster, it’s considered a loss. The editor isn’t going to ask you to the next anthology or to write the next book in the series.

At each level of a sport, high school, college, pro–there are people that don’t make the team. They either keep trying (some go to minor leagues, for example) or they must give up that particular dream and follow another. Writers actually have it easier than football players. Age is rarely a problem for a writer. They can pursue other dreams (marriage, another career, etc) and still pursue writing at the same time. Most athletes that don’t make a team start to run out of options. Sure they can play pick-up basketball with a few guys at the gym (write for a local newspaper or other small writing achievements) but it really isn’t the same.

I suppose the beauty of making a sport’s team is that, in general, the pay is a lot better. As an athlete your score is right on the board for everyone to see–there’s no subjectivity to it. You either scored or you didn’t, your team either won or lost. With publishing, your book might be published, but the score line gets a little muddy. The book might get great reviews, but not make any money. It might break even, but not impress the publisher enough to want to continue working on a new project. Either way…the author isn’t making much, if any, money on the first few books/stories. Of course, athletes don’t either if you think about the entire training period. They aren’t allowed to make money in high school or college, but they have to play through anyway. Most will gain an education, and while their dream might be football, the vast majority will be unable to make it in the pros. Sort of like getting a book published–you will learn a lot, but you won’t necessarily make the pros or enough money to make a living.

Of course, pro football players make oodles more than a pro writer. Oodles and oodles.

But still. When writers talk about writing and art being unique, difficult professions, I can’t help but think that what they really mean is that the odds are against them. And they are right. But odds are, most football players probably feel the same way.

Seems to me whether you’re a writer, a football player, a hair stylist or a crab fisherman–it pays to have a backup plan. It’s important to follow dreams, but it’s equally important to have a survival plan that runs alongside it. And never think you’re the only one failing–there will be times when the dream works and times when it doesn’t. Life is bigger than a dream; you’ve got to look for different paths when climbing a mountain–and keep your options open because most people won’t make it all the way to the top. That doesn’t mean the view has to be bad. And if you want to keep the bean pot full, no matter what career you choose, it’s probably wise to have a backup plan. Or two.

Whoa. There really is nothing quite like bathing a cat. I suppose it could be worse. Bathing a skunk would be worse. Probably.

Junior has had a lot of partial baths in the last week. I can usually get a leg or a side done while BMHusband holds the squirming furball. He really needed a more extensive bath so we finally braved the waters. All of us, as it turned out. A change of clothing was necessary, Junior yelled “Torture” the entire time and the bathroom mirror was drenched…but the kitten is clean. Well, he was when he went tearing down the hallway yelling, “Freedom or bust!”

All of us are looking forward to the removal of the “lampshade” or helmet thingie. Then Junior can just give himself baths. I’m thinking God probably designed the whole procedure that way for a reason.

I braved a store or two after Christmas, still in search of a few staples. What did I find? None of the big sales. I went to the local athletic-type store (happens to be Academy here in Texas.) They generally have reasonable prices anyway so I was hoping for the big 70 percent off…no luck. I did find a pair of sweatpants, but despite the ad saying there was a storewide sale on sweatpants and athletic suits, this particular pair was not on sale. It was 80/20 and cost 18 dollars. That’s the high end of what I am willing to spend, and I had to buy men’s because they had nothing in women’s that was even close (no pockets, wrong material, just generally nothing). The nice pair of Nike sweatpants (also mens) was in my size, but even at 30 percent off they were still 30 dollars. That is not a sale price, I don’t care how you look at it.

The store had their brand of 50/50 on sale for 7 dollars, and they would have worked also (men’s again) but none in my size. As before, the 50/50 ones can be had for 7 to 10 most of the time during the season, so it wasn’t exactly a huge bargain anyway. Some of the wool socks were 30 percent off, but not the really nice ones that have the highest content of wool. No dice.

I then went to another store, this time a local feed store (they have pet supplies, various hardware supplies, and hard to find outdoor items.) Wow. I think the only thing on sale was Christmas lights/supplies and they had very little of that. Some of the ornaments appeared to be full price. Their section of clothing that I believe is brought in just for Christmas was all full price except for some short-sleeved t-shirts that were regularly 9, marked down to 7. Their flannel, hooded sweatshirts, light jackets and heavy jackets–all full price.

The grocery, as usual, didn’t have any hugely great deals either, but I don’t really expect them to have a clearance on turkeys or hams that didn’t sell…

Well, Junior plugged again the day after we got him home (Thursday). Really, it was somewhat expected. We thought it would be the end of the line for Junior–what else could possibly be done?

The vet at Premier Animal Hospital, the great Dr. Daigle, wanted to try perineal urethrostomy. There were a ton of issues with this surgery–cost being a huge factor, but also, I didn’t want Junior to suffer any further. The poor thing has had problems for over a month–never comfortable and just really too distressed. Dr. Daigle had only good things to say about the surgery; I admit, I was skeptical. P/U basically cuts the urethra off wherever the problem is (usually the very narrow end) and sort of extents things back out. This seemed…extreme.

Never mind how long we talked about the possible pros and cons. The bottom line: Junior did unbelievably well in the surgery. He looked good the day after when we went to see him. Well, he actually looked a bit like an orangutan–he is orange and his butt was shaved!!! He ran around a bit, sat and slept in BMHusband’s lap.

On Saturday, he was fritzing out, a combo of the pain meds and the very busy vet’s office. A little girl had gotten stung by a bee and she was screeching at the top of her lungs. In general, cats don’t care for that kind of thing. (Neither do some humans, but I won’t name-names.) Junior ran off some of his excess energy and then began to calm a bit. He’s hating the helmet they keep around his head so that he can’t pull stitches or otherwise cause himself death and destruction. The vet’s office calls us daily with updates–the main one being that “Junior is doing good. He hoovered his food again this morning/afternoon.” Yes, Junior and mom Scamp are both good eaters. I’ve never seen two cats plow through food like they do.  I’m not sure I’ve seen *anything* plow through food like they do.

Junior, the outdoor, live-feral-and-free is going to be a housecat under close supervision for at least two weeks.

Don’t worry about us–we obviously lost our minds, oh, about 3 months ago. The damage isn’t even hardly noticeable anymore…

What a delightful read! Dead Woman’s Shoes by Kaye C. Hill is a cozy/mystery with a lot of suspense and great characters including Kinky the chihuahua, a missing cat, a vet, a policeman, an entire drama club, and of course, an amateur sleuth, Lexy, who must sort it all out even though she is on the run herself!  There are twists and turns, capers–many threads woven into a completely captivating tale.   This one would have easily made my top 2008 list had I not already turned it in.  Guess it’ll just have to push over into 2009.

I plan on doing a full review over at BSC.  I may do a cover discussion also because there’s some interesting history with the covers.  Dead Woman’s Shoes is put out by a small indie publisher in the UK (Creme de la Crime).  The publisher wanted to give their books a distinct, recognizable look, thus all have the red borders with a black/white image and the black type at the bottom.  It is recognizable–the question is, is it a good idea?  I would imagine it keeps the cost of redesigning covers down, but does it help sell books?   I don’t shop by “cover” or even by publisher, but such an idea might help just like any branding–booksellers might recognize the cover design and decide to carry titles based on the fact that previous books have done well.  But if the covers are too similar, does a reader pick it up and think, “Oh I recognize this cover–I must have read this one?”  And does it allow for enough uniqueness between the various subgenres of the mystery world?   For example, I’d say this particular book is humorous and a cozy.  This cover certainly isn’t typical of such books–it doesn’t really convey the fun inside the book.  It reminds me of a two-color newspaper ad copy (not a bad thing necessarily, but not something that makes me think of a fun mystery caper either.)   Other books by this particular indie are mystery, but I think the subgenres range from suspense, thriller to cozy and probably lots in-between.

When I see branding ideas like this, it always makes me wonder how people shop.  If I didn’t know the history of this cover, I would likely be one to see the cover and think I’d read the book–no way would I realize that all books by this publisher had this lookalike thing going.  At best, I’d think all books with this style were by the same author and belonged in a series.  But that’s me.  What do other shoppers and readers think, I wonder?

I follow the financial markets a lot. I keep reading article after article talking about how many things are being discounted HUGELY for this last weekend before Christmas. Um, like anything I need? Apparently not. Oh, I’ve looked at the ads. But discounting a TV that I don’t need that still costs nearly 1000 dollars isn’t going to lure me in. Yeah, the flat screen computer monitors finally broke down to 100 dollars for a 19 inch. That’s nice, and if we get to 50 bucks, I might be tempted. But let’s face it. They could be had for 120 on sale before Christmas, so I don’t view 100 as HUGELY discounted. A nice deal? Maybe, if I *needed* one.

More importantly, I have been looking for 3 years for my favorite winter uniform: sweatpants, 100 percent cotton WITH pockets and preferably with the elastic around the ankles. Oh–and if they aren’t under 20 bucks, they don’t count. I am not paying 54 dollars for a pair of sweatpants (the only ones I could find in “my” preferred configuration so far). I’ve checked the normal places and I can find the usual sweat pants of 50/50 for about 6 to 7 dollars. No pockets, material that is scratchy and not likely to hold up. Hmm. Not much of a bargain there. And last year they were 5 dollars at WalMart. At 6 to 7, I’d say that’s a fine price for what you get, but it’s no better than is available every Christmas.

So. Just where are these HUGE discounts? When I hear stores are offering 70 and 80 percent off–why is it that the price is the same on items that I priced during the back-to-school sales? Or am I just looking at the wrong areas?

Anyone out there having better luck? Finding eye-googling deals and if so, on what items???

Yes, it is past time to get seedlings into pots. I’m probably a month later than last year, but I finally got the tomato seeds in their little starter homes today. Today it was 72. Tomorrow the high will be around 35 or maybe 40. Oh yah! But I have to get them started now because depending on the weather, they will go out late January or middle Feb (middle Feb being a whole lot more likely.) Then too, some of the seeds don’t start, and I have to get them going again. Worst case, I put the plants out too early and lose some of them. I actually dug them back up one year. They were out a week when a longish cold front (two or three days) was predicted. Covering them is risky and a pain so I just dug them up and moved them back in. I recommend this activity if you need to work off pounds or angst. Going in and out and planting twice works off a lot of calories…

I have one tomato plant started that is close to blossoming. This will be a nice early plant for me. I am always scamming to have tomatoes by the end of January. So far so good. Okay, I’ll probably have ONE tomato by the end of January, but a girl can dream, right???

We were just going to catch a couple of feral strays, get them fixed and let them live happily ever after. But as you may have noticed, Junior hasn’t exactly been the fountain of great health. We’ve had him on antibiotics for two weeks to no avail. He’s got some issue with his urinary tract that refused to be fixed. On Tuesday, he plugged. We took him into the Vet, not really knowing what was going on, but knowing that howling in the litterbox wasn’t a positive. Even the vet was surprised he was plugged, given Junior’s energy levels and demeanor. Junior had also gone quite well throughout the night, so he couldn’t have been plugged for more than an hour or so.

Yes, well. It took a small operation and catheter insert to get things moving again. The vet, the Good Dr. Whitehill, highly recommended we leave Junior in the vet hospital until Friday or Sat. Hmm. That was going to run rather higher in expenses that we ever planned. Actually, at this point, let’s say we’ve already run higher than we imagined. But at any rate, we left him in overnight with plans to discuss again.

The follow-up call I received from Dr. Whitehill today informed me that Junior took matters into his own paws. Today, a mere 24 hours after his surgery, he pulled the catheter out, packed his bags and demanded to be sent home. Poor Dr. Whitehill. He really had no choice. What else could he do?

Home with us went bags of medicine and instruction sheets long enough to be a tax form…and a kitten that is rather annoyed to find the cat collar was *not* removed. Don’t worry though. He’s feisty and determined. We suspect that by morning, he will have figured a way to shred the “unbreakable, unshreddable” plastic.

I lived and worked in Houston for about 12 years. We still find ourselves going back that way now and again for one reason or another. We haven’t lived there now for about 8 years. You go back and it’s the same, but vastly different. It’s almost like a dream where you recognize that you’re back in high school, because you’re in a certain building, but everything is out of place. The faces aren’t always the right ones that belong in that time frame and there are other buildings that don’t belong. Houston is like that–new buildings, more traffic–the city has stretched outside the boundaries that marked it when we lived there. Landmarks might be there, but they are obscured by new buildings. New roads veer off to new subdivisions that didn’t exist 8 years ago.

We went to Tubtim Siam for lunch–only it was now called Panang. It is always a little eerie to go back to those old places. The same, but not. The color of the restaurant was the same; it still had the same puce chairs and glass tabletops. The food was almost exactly the same, but no one there knows us anymore; we were once again anonymous. We used to go there almost once a week and over time, we knew the faces of the regulars, we knew the waitresses and the owners. This time, we were all strangers passing through, a one-time blur of already forgotten faces.

I ran into one of my old bosses while we were in town. She didn’t recognize me. It was odd–I worked for her for 3 or 4 years…she looks the same, just older. Strange, those faces I knew so well to see them older. It was a fast forward scene–in my head, she looked one way, but in life, she had fast-forwarded, aged before my eyes. Strangely, when I walked away, the younger picture promptly re-inserted itself. She’s in my memory that way; that is the way she will stay.

I’ve never attended my high school or college reunion. I wonder if it might be like that–expecting someone you know, but finding odd angles, a different voice–the same person with the edges blurred and redefined.

Yanno, 50 ain’t 32.  And 32 ain’t 50.  I can appreciate that getting the weather right isn’t all that easy.  But…we’re talking a difference of almost 20 degrees and an important difference at that.  It was 70 yesterday and the weatherman (or woman) said it was going to get into the low 50’s overnight.  Get up this morning and it is 31.8.  Thirty-one point eight.  That would be freezing.  This reading was on the house thermometer, which tends to stay a little warmer because it’s next to the house.

See, 31.8 means the plants need to be covered.  50 means, well, nothing.  But if we farmers know it will get to freezing or close, we cover the plants during the day while it is SEVENTY.  This not only helps keep the farmer warmer, it keeps the plants warmer because that nice warm heat is trapped underneath the covers in the soil.  But when we don’t KNOW about 32 sneaking up on us, we have to go out in the early morning, shivering.  We have to hope that it doesn’t get colder.  We have to hope the plants aren’t already toast.  Or in this case, freezer burned.  Check the weather, you say?

Hmph.

Not all of these were published in 2008, they are just the best reads (for me) of 2008.  This year, most of those on the list were new authors.  I’m still reading the tried and true, but not every book in every series is a standout.

Without further rambling, here are the best reads of 2008:

Science Fiction

One Jump Ahead – Mark Van Name A great little read–space opera mystery meets tough guy.  This story includes a space ship with AI and a lot of personality.  The characterization is particularly strong–not only for the two main characters, but side characters as well.

The Automatic Detective – A. Lee Martinez Just a wild, wacky tale of a futuristic robot with a heart–a hard-boiled detective on a mission, only he has the power to destroy more than mend. A funny mystery that uses sci/fi as a setting.

Fantasy

New Tricks – John Levitt (his Dog Days, first in the series, quals for the top reads of 2007!) This was my favorite read of the year. A jazz player with a knack for improv–both magically and musically. This series is made quite special by Mason’s sidekick and trusty partner, a dog name Lou.  He’s no ordinary dog though.  Be prepared for tricks and twists!

Glass Houses – Rachel Caine (Morganville Vampire Series–YA) A good read–emotional teenage angst with vampires and other worries thrown in.  The progtag is a young teenager quite out of her element. I think what I liked best was that while there were vampires and other paranormal elements, the protag is dealing mostly with normal insecurities, trying to fit in and worried about doing well in school.  Some of the early college scenes sure brought back memories–and not necessarily good ones!

Magic Bites – Illona Andrews – An enjoyable urban fantasy with some very interesting characters–not just your standard werewolf here!  Definitely one of the better urban fantasy series out there.

Jim Hines – Goblin War — Jig the Goblin is still an underdog, but he’s learning a few new tricks to survive.  He’s going to need every one of them because he has to go…earthside in this adventure.  Goblin War is the third and last book in the trilogy–and a very satisfying ending it was.   I truly appreciate series that end with a reasonable number of books.   I’m not much of a series reader to begin with, so it’s really great to come across a “complete” series that starts and ends so well.


I almost forgot to list ShadowMagic by John Lenahan. This book is probably only out in the UK, but most books can be bought via Bookdepository. ShadowMagic is a fast YA read with good characterization, great action scenes and my favorite element–humor! From the back of the book:

Conor thought he was an average 21st century teenager. OK, so his father only had one hand and was a bit on the eccentric side but, other than that, life was fairly normal. Until, that is, two Celtic warriors on horseback and wearing full armour appear at his front door and try to kill him.

Mystery

Cozy:

Late addition! Dead Woman’s Shoes by Kaye C. Hill. This wonderful cozy/mystery has a lot of suspense and great characters including Kinky the chihuahua, a missing cat, a vet, a policeman, an entire drama club, and of course, an amateur sleuth, Lexy, who must sort it all out even though she is on the run herself! There are twists and turns, capers–many threads woven into a completely captivating tale.

The State of the Onion – Julie Hyzy. I enjoyed this “chef at the White House” story. It was a nice, breezy read with some unusual, very light history thrown in (such as the fact that the tableware is changed out for each president).

Short Story

This year the pick was very, very easy:

Todd McAlty’s The Soldiers of Serenity in BlackGate, Issue 12.  As I said in my review on my website at the time:  The Soldiers of Serenity by McAulty read like a novel. In so many short stories, the payoff is quick, sometimes dirty. Just as you “get” the characters, the story is over. Not So Here. McAulty took his time. He introduced characters. He ran down corridors. He twisted a bit…he teased. It’s all ordinary, right? But you knew every character held a key, every detail mattered. I kept wanting to check to see how much story was left because I just KNEW the pay-off was a few pages away! I couldn’t read fast enough! WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN, DAMMIT?????

Two late entries that deserve honorable mention:

Dead Men Don’t Cry by Nancy Fulda (I read via www.anthologybuilder.com)
and
A Buffalito of Mars by Lawrence M. Schoen (Also via www.anthologybuilder.com)

Scamp is looking awfully good with her full winter coat.  We haven’t had much time to “train” her or play with her–we’ve been pretty busy with Junior, trying to get him healthy and keep him that way.   As you may recall, he started out with constipation and he also had either a urinary tract infection or it came along the way shortly after.  We got the constipation cleared up (a tiny bit of aloe vera in his food) but the infection/irritation set in with a vengence.  Off to the vet we went.

The antibiotics helped, but not quickly.  Little guy was pretty uncomfortable for the better part of a week.  He was obviously getting used to us, as you can see by the picture (he’s always in motion, thus his pictures are always blurry!)  Once we had to handle him at the vet, he seemed to get used to the idea that we weren’t actually attacking. He still scampers if either of us make sudden moves, but he’s quite playful and generally trusting.

After almost a week of antibiotics, Junior got diarrhea…so it was off to Walgreens to get some yogurt and metamucil.  That is probably helping, although, keep in mind, he is a mostly outdoor cat so these things can be very hard to track.  And frankly, who wants to know that much about their pet’s pooping habits???  Yes, yes, I know.  It’s one of the only ways to monitor their health.  Still.

Junior has had a variety of “diets” as we try to get him balanced.  I’ve made him a batch of chicken and chicken livers with gravy (He loves that.  He will take any medicine in it without a single complaint, which is a LOT easier than trying to shove pills down or liquids).  He also gets plenty of fluids from this smelly mess of food.  (I didn’t even know they sold chicken livers in the store before this…)

We learned that giving cats medicine is actually easier if you get the regular medicine–not the stuff for children and pets, which tends to have banana or bubblegum flavor.  The smell is so strong, the cats instantly reject it.  The slight bitter taste of amoxicillin with no additives?  He never seemed to know it was there.  We also put some dried cranberry pills in his food–never a complaint.  We don’t know that craberry will help him at all (it never did a thing for me when I had such an infection!) but there are people that praise the stuff quite highly for soothing the bladder and helping keep certain bacterias from growing.

We also gave him some pumpkin, but either he wasn’t getting enough of it (how much do you give a 4 pound kitten anyway?) or it just didn’t help get his pooping system back to normal.  There are a number of people that swear by it for normalizing the poop.

So the feral cats aren’t *quite* so feral these days, at least the kitten.  Scamp has a ways to go.  She watches pretty carefully when we pet Junior, but does not look at all jealous.   She plays with the toy and the catnip, but not with a great deal of enthusiasm.  She’s a good cat, but she’s still all cat at this point–not crossing over into human territory just yet.

I recently ordered myself another short story anthology from Anthology Builder.  Wow–this one is gorgeous.  At this point, that statement has more to do with the cover than the stories. The cover was done by Jacquelyne Drainville.   The Green Dragon on deep purple came out really, really nice.  The yellow eyes and scales almost glow.   It really turned out nice.

As before, it’s a super glossy cover. I’d like it a little less glossy, because it picks up fingerprints and those mar the beautiful picture.  But all in all, I’m pleased.  Now I just hope I like the stories!  I have already read “Cat Futures” — it’s a great little story–bit of supernatural as befits a cat, and a bit of a romance.  Good story.

Here’s the table of contents:

Dragon Time by Ruth Nestvold
Fantastic Companions (Anthology edited by Julie Czerneda), 2005.

Haunting Clues by Maria Schneider
www.TheTownDrunk.org, 2007.

Cat Futures by Lawrence M. Schoen
The Town Drunk, 2006.

Confessions of a Zombie’s Wife by R. L. Copple
Fear and Trembling Magazine, 2008.

Aunt Agatha’s Amazon Agency by Jacey Bedford
Scheherezade #23, 2002.

You Are What You Don’t Eat by Joy V. Smith
EOTU, 2002.

Dead Men Don’t Cry by Nancy Fulda
The Sword Review, 2007.

The Jewel of Locaria by Jacey Bedford
Warrior Princesses Edited by Martin Greenberg & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Published by DAW, 1998.

Tabloid Reporter to the Stars by Eric James Stone
Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, 2007.

A Buffalito of Mars by Lawrence M. Schoen
Visual Journeys. Hadley Rille Books., 2007.

Around the Bend by Maria Schneider
www.coyotewildmag.com, 2008.

Even Dragons Dance by Christopher Kastensmidt
Forgotten Worlds, 2006.

The Ghost Girls of Rumney Mill by Sandra McDonald
Realms of Fantasy, 2003.

Huntswoman by Merrie Haskell
Strange Horizons, 2005.

Love Spells by Barbara A. Barnett
Leading Edge, 2007.

Toil, Trouble and Rot by Maria Schneider
Coyote Wild Magazine (www.coyotewildmag.com), 2008.

Lapp Dancing by Tracie McBride
Pulp Net, 2006.

An Almanac for the Alien Invaders by Merrie Haskell
Asimov’s, 2008.

Monument by Nancy Fulda
Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest, 2007.

This exact anthology can be ordered here for 14.95 with about 4 dollars shipping. Of course, stories can be added, deleted or you can choose to build an anthology from completely different stories!

I’m particularly looking forward to “Dead Men Don’t Cry” and “Aunt Agatha’s Amazon Agency.”  That’s based just on the titles, although I did read the previews.  There’s also two dragon stories in here that intrigued me greatly–and helped me choose the very appropriate cover!

If you’re panicking because the recipe category is missing from the left sidebar, don’t worry.  I moved it under hobbies.  Gardening is moved under hobbies also.  I’m getting ready to move the sidebar categories across the top for a streamlined look.   Or maybe it won’t be streamlined, it’ll just be remodeled.  Just a bit of a new look for the coming new year.

Of course, if you have suggestions, we’ll take them under consideration.  Probably.

The perfect spaghetti sauce is hard to come by.  I started out with a recipe from my neighbor and went from there.  You can use different tomato ingredients (puree versus paste versus sauce).  The main taste comes from the mix of tomatoes, herbs and fat.  If you’re a vegetarian, you’ll want to add olive oil to this recipe in place of the meat.  Fat–whether in the form of olive oil or meat juices changes plain tomato sauce and gives it depth.

This is a crockpot recipe.  If you simmer in a pan on the stove, you’ll want more water in the mix (ie use puree and add some water and then let it cook down).  When I have fresh tomatoes from the garden (or frozen ones) I use tomato paste in place of the tomato sauce, because fresh and frozen tomatoes have a ton of water in them.  When I don’t have fresh tomatoes, I use tomato sauce as the base.  You need to fill your crockpot about halfway with either tomato paste/tomatoes/sauce or just tomato sauce.   Here’s what I do:

3 or 4 large cans no-salt-added tomato sauce (depends on the size of your crockpot)

1 small can tomato paste

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Hold in reserve 1 tablespoon white sugar–taste it when it’s nearly done; you may want this additional tablespoon of sugar.  I almost always put it in.

1/2 tablespoon to 1 tablespoon dried basil

1 tsp oregano

4 medium garlic cloves, minced

4 bay leaves

Grill 6 Hot Italian Link Sausages.  Cut in half and add to the crockpot.   Even if you don’t like to eat the sausage, herbs from the Italian sausage, along with pork flavor really help flavor the sauce.  My neighbor also grills a boneless pork chop or two and adds them to the pot.  They are quite good soaked in sauce!

Meatballs:

You can leave the meatballs out–but again, it’s the meat that really help flavor the sauce.

1 pound or slightly less, hamburger

1/4 to 1/2 cup extremely well-minced onion

1/4 to 1/2 cup extremely well-minced celery

2 slices of finely shredded bread

8 ounces grated parmesan or romano cheese

1 egg

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp thyme

Mix all ingredients very well in a bowl.  Form into 1 inch balls.  Heat a skillet with 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil.  Place meatballs in skillet.  Cook very brown on one side before trying to turn.  Some cheese may melt onto the skillet and cause the meatballs to stick a little, so use a fork or thin spatula to work them carefully over onto the undone side.  Cook well on at least two sides.   As the meatballs are done, gently spoon them into the crockpot.  Once all the meatballs are in the sauce, add a scant amount of water to the bottom of the skillet.  Scrape the oil and remnants and pour into the crockpot.

After the meat has been added to the sauce, cook on low for several hours (at least 3).  You may want to add a little salt, but if you added Italian links, there will be plenty of salt in the sauce.  Also check the ingredients on the tomato products–many of them contain salt.   The cheese in the meatballs also contains quite a bit of salt, so you may not need any additional.

Once the sauce is done, serve over spaghetti noodles.  Good sides?  Salad and French bread!

Cholesterol?  What do you mean I need to start watching it???!???  Isn’t it apparent I already do that?  I mean, I eat oatmeal.  Granted, it’s usually once a week, instead of 3 or more times a week, but sometimes I have cookies with oatmeal in them (oatmeal-chocolate chip) and that has to count for something, right???

Yes, last annual exam, the doc reports that my cholesterol levels bear watching.  Hmph.  I don’t like oatmeal all that much.  I suppose that like most people, I prefer alfredo sauce to oatmeal, but surely there is a compromise…maybe the key is to eat oatmeal for breakfast on the days I intend to eat alfredo sauce.  Or Stroganoff.  Or creamy clam chowder.  Or steak. 

Really, I do get exercise.  I checked the charts and we are generally in the middle of the requirement (8 to 12 miles of walking per week).  Well, sure, we don’t always go over 3 mph like you’re supposed to, because we do stop to chat with the neighbors which means we’re going zero miles per hour, but we do walk every day and we get in the whole 1.5 to 2 miles.  Sometimes it just takes longer.

You don’t suppose it is old age, do you?  I checked just this morning and there were no *new* wrinkles.  And really, I’m not *old,* it’s just that I spend time outdoors, and I laugh a lot.   Those activities cause the wrinkles, not *old age,* right?

I grow a garden–fresh veggies!  Even some fresh fruit if you count the 1/2 cup of raspberries per week for a few weeks in the fall!  (Someone tell me which of these veggies/fruits will get rid of wrinkles, will you?  I mean, cholesterol!  Which get rid of bad cholesterol!)  And I eat those veggies too.  Okay, so quite often I put salad dressing on them…and I only make my own caesar dressing, but I would make the other dressings if I had a good recipe for them!  Then I could use only olive oil and take out some of the salt…

Hmph.  I better go to the grocery store and buy some bananas.

I review over at BSC and often see book posts from Pat whose blog is FantasyHotList . He does reviews at his site and shares tidbits with BSC.   I just came across the news that he’s venturing into the world of editors–yes, he is going to edit an anthology–with some nice, big-name authors.  The anthology is being published by Subterranean Press.  Some of the proceeds will be donated to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.   Anyone that uses his site to make purchases at Amazon will also be contributing to Breast Cancer research because he’s donating any money from the links also.  Here’s the post:

http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2008/12/talking-talk-and-walking-walk.html

Yes, folks, it’s almost the end of 2008! I hope it’s been a good year and if not, I hope next year is better.

Books:

I’ll be posting my favorite reads for 2008 (they are not necessarily books released in 2008, but books I read during the year.) The list will also be available at BSC but I’m thinking of scooping it and offering it here first.  Because I can.   If you have favorites for the year, be thinking about them–and feel free to recommend any top choices!  I’m always looking for more good books!

Garden:

Believe it or not, I’m still getting tomatoes.  While I was visiting my parents, most of the plants froze, but a couple made it and those tomatoes are now turning.  I’ve got snap peas just starting to come in and the lettuce is looking very lettuce-like.  We’ll get close to freezing tonight, so I’ll probably have to cover whatever I want to save.  I’d like to plant more onions, but the soil is now too cold for the seeds to germinate.  I’ll have to wait and buy starters or try in Jan!

It’s time to get the spring plants started indoors too. I can hardly believe it.  But in Texas, this gardening thing is pretty much year round if you want certain things.  The lettuce grows well now, but doesn’t grow well during the spring/summer season.  If I want snap peas–gotta grow them through the winter season.  Same with the onions really, although you can get away with planting those from starters in January or early Feb.

We’re off to another very busy month!!!