Writers with Books

Two friends have come out with books over the past months.
Julie Klappas with "If You Give A Mom a Martini" a gift book for a mom who just had a 3rd child and Margot Berwin with "Hothouse Flower & the 9 Plants of Desire". I just started reading Margot's book. Already translated into 13 languages and I see a movie in her future. I love the way she writes and I'm envious. It's as if I know her characters. Everyone has stories but few can write with such clarity.

At 8 months pregnant, I used to run up to her office when I needed a break from work. I remember her talking about her surfboard friend. I remember her talking about her marriage. I remember her apartment. I remember her looking for a place to write.

When Cutie was a few months old, Margot brought over "Water Water, Everywhere" and gave her a bottle.

And we saw Margot for the last time about a year later. I tried tracking her down a few times, but I guess she was doing important work. I was just moving to the burbs and starting a new life, sometimes yearning for the old.

Since I'm off to Fire Island this weekend, I will save the rest of the book for the train trip.
More to come.

The Lazy Cook

My job at Medco ended last Tuesday. I'm home tending to my garden. I'm not really in the mood to go shopping so tonight we will eat whatever's in the house.

We've had zuccinni muffins for the past 3 weeks. So tonight it needs to be something different.

Items from the garden:
Basil
Green Beans
Peppers (hot)
Peppers green
Tomatoes
Zucchini

Pesto
2 Basil plants - remove leaves.
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
Green bean seeds - don't have pine nuts (remove beans from over ripe green beans and substitute for pine nuts)
Salt
Parmesan cheese

Place in mini chopper. Pour on any cooked pasta. Toss with fresh zucchini and green beans from the garden.

Zucchini brownies.
1/2 cup sunflower oil (it's what I have.
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (it's supposed to be 1/2 cup but I only have 1/4 cup)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini
2 oz bittersweet chocolate melted (to make up for the missing 1/4 cup cocoa powder)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x9 inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar and vanilla until well blended. Add egg. Combine the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Fold in the zucchini and melted chocolate. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies spring back when gently touched.

Frosting to come.

Tomato Salad
4 tomatoes sliced and cut in half
1 large slice red onion chopped
chopped mint
oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper

Pickled Peppers
1-3/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (ran out of white)
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon olive oil
whole juniper berries (no idea I had)
whole allspice (who knew I had)
1 clove garlic

Bring to boil and remove from heat. Put peppers, cut zucchini, green beans and slice red onion in jar. Pour hot liquid over vegetables. Wait a few days.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

On Hiatus

My freelance gig at Medco ended abruptly yesterday. I'm actually cool with it. I can take some time getting cutie ready for K.

At the start of my gig, they were doing all the right things. They hired the right Agency - Ogilvy - who came up with Making Medicine Smarter - a million dollar tagline. They did the social networking thing in DC during the healthcare debates. I was happy when working on the case studies of The Medco Therapeutic Resource Center. I really liked Medco.



But at some point, I realized that at the end of the day, I'm just a pill pusher. And since every company sets up different rules for prescription drug coverage for different price points, Medco gets blamed when things go wrong. The thyroid issue that happened last week annoyed me. I wanted to make things right.


Most of my freelance gigs allowed me to be the slave in the thick of things. I had to take a back seat for this gig. I am happy to have had the experience. I hope they call me back for another gig.