ROBUST discussion

Hi!

I know a couple of people in this group and wanted to comment on the threads, so I thought I'd join. Seems like a friendly place. ;) I'm fairly new to goodreads and am trying to learn how to market myself better, so I'm always open to friendly advice on that front. I keep wishing there was a simple plan where by you wave your hand and marketing is accomplished, books are sold, and a good time is had. Sadly, it seems not so far.

Anyhoo, about me. I live in Portland, Oregon, married, and write kid's books. Hmm... what else is interesting about me... I like to hike, collect stuffed dragons, and make Polish paper cuts.

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Welcome.

Stuffed dragons? Don't let my daughter near your house!

Hi, Ardyth! Nice to see someone else I know.

Sierra and I, the only two ROBUSTERS who can cook, are keen on stuffed dragons. Rosemary, sage, breadcrumbs, chopped parsley, chopped onion, frequent basting of course. Yummie. You're especially welcome, Ardyth!

Hi Ardyth,

Good to see you around here.

Waves hello

Welcome to the group.

Andre Jute wrote: "Sierra and I, the only two ROBUSTERS who can cook, are keen on stuffed dragons. Rosemary, sage, breadcrumbs, chopped parsley, chopped onion, frequent basting of course. Yummie. You're especially we..."

If you want to retain the dragon's original flavor, include a pound of Portuguese Chourico, the hottest you can find, mixed in with the other stuffing ingredients. You'll find that politely restores the mouth-on-fire sensation that's so essential to well prepared dragon. :-))

Ardyth wrote: "Hi!

I know a couple of people in this group and wanted to comment on the threads, so I thought I'd join. Seems like a friendly place. ;) I'm fairly new to goodreads and am trying to learn how ..."

Hi Ardyth, Welcome to the group. We seem friendly? Boy of boy, we have you fooled. :-)

I deny Andre's accusation that I can cook.

Welcome to Robust.

You heat a can very well Patricia.

Thanks guys!

Also, I can't cook worth anything. Heating a can is about where I'm at.

Ironically, I'm the one at home, while my husband is an excellent cook, but only does any on weekends.

I miss my time in the kitchen. I love cooking but I have Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and a steamy kitchen makes breathing extremely difficult. I'm proud to say my cooking skills are a match for my wife's, I just can't do it any more. Bummer.

I'm not a bad cook, but I'm a much better eater, so my main focus is on the consumption side.
I guess the same applies to my writing and reading. :-(

Cook outside Larry. We South Africans love nothing more than a fire, a slab of meat, a few bottles of wine and the outdoors. All you need is a constant supply of decent wood.

And decent weather. Not much fun having a braaivleis in the rain.

ah but Andre you haven't lived until you have braaied in a hailstorm, dodging the golfball sized ice.

Welcome!

We grill out under the porch. NICE and dry in all kinds of weather.

Claudine wrote: "ah but Andre you haven't lived until you have braaied in a hailstorm, dodging the golfball sized ice."

Now we know who helped Sharon BBQ Bambi.

(God, I must sleep. I first typed "Barbie". Even for ROBUST that's a bit strong, especially so soon after Katie and The Hand of Onan!)

I think I'll still to keep cooking as a spectator sport. I'm likely to burn things. When we worked at the homeless shelter, everyone had to take a turn at staff breakfast, and my husband always did mine for me. Everyone else thought it was hilarious, but rules are rules, and my name had to stay in the rotation. Every time the house manager put my name down for it, she'd ask my husband what he was making.

I must say, he's such a wonderful cook, I'd have to be crazy to want to try to do it myself... and end up with something half as good.

Welcome Ardyth, nice to see a new face...

Patricia wrote: I deny Andre's accusation that I can cook.

Yeah, I thought it was Claudine who could cook, seems I recall Patricia doesn't even have a stove.

Just so y'all know, t'was not me who BBQ'd Bambi. Though I'm not averse to eating game and if I were a cook I would... Yesterday I picked up some buffalo sausage (from of all places a British Butcher Shoppe). Mmmmm, can't wait to cook those up.

Since she met us, Sierra has been so embarrassed by her shortcomings, she's bought a stove and been practising on it in the middle of the night, when everyone else is asleep.

Yeah, Andre, and failing. Today I made curried vegetable soup for the second time -- but it didn't taste the same as the first batch. Inferior. I thought I did everything exactly the same. Guess not.

Not so sure about curried soup. A bit trendy for me. I like peasant food with bite and crunch and a variety of tastes. My mother, who was famous throughout the country for her cakes, was a superb cook, but she insisted on serving a summer dish of cold fish cutlets in a thin curry sauce. I don't remember it favourably.

I'm a fan of curry. This soup has some bite and crunch because I don't cook the life out of the veggies. It's just a potato, onion, cauliflower, broccoli, crushed tomatoes, vegetable stock, a little flour and sour cream, salt, garlic, and curry powder. I think I'll make it again, hoping to get the same results I got the first time.

Tip. Nobody I know who cooks good curry uses powder. Paste from Sharwood, in a bottle, is the preferred style, in the mild version or medium version; the strong stuff is just horrible.

I've never met a curry I didn't hate. lol.

Quite right, Bethany. The reason I dislike the powder is it tends to lose flavour. The paste preserves the flavour better.

Of course, your real Indian cook makes her own curry powder for each meal from fresh spices with a mortar and pestle. Yup, I can just see us doing that.

The soup redo today turned out much better. I'm satisfied with curry powder. It's convenient and tastes fine to me.

I have had some curry that was terrible (the worst was at a Chinese restaurant). Some recipes overdo it to the point of bitterness.

I'm happy to hear you say "convenient", Sierra. I hate those people who lecture one on preparing stock from marrowbones.

I prepare my stock by opening the package.

Ha! I get my beef and chicken broth from a can - or I use the stuff from Ramen Noodles.

People still eat my cooking.

Speaking of cooking Bambi - a girlfriend of mine brought us some elk steaks - in a turkey roaster. There were a dozen people at the house that day - we ate elk until we couldn't eat any more. I froze some and made it into soup all winter.

It was so good that I toyed with the idea of getting a hunting license and trying for an elk myself.

Now it all comes out. I'll sell my Disney shares!

Thanks to y'all for the chuckles at the end of my day...

Amos, I'm the opposite, almost never found a curry I did not like. Thai is my fave, tempered with coconut milk. Since my visit there I seek it out.

Patricia wrote: I prepare my stock by opening the package.

Me too, but using Ramen Noodles as Kat does is going too far, imho. We have tons of soup broth being produced that is lower in sodium than the watered salt we used to get, I cannot even imagine anyone making stock from marrowbones, or carcases any more. I use it in place of water in my rice in most cases too.

Bethany, we went to Bangkok for a few days for the Buddhist temples (wats), the palaces and just generally to get the flavour of the country. Then we travelled south to some of the tourist areas. We had planned to visit Kanchanaburi, the site of the Bridge over the River Kwai, along the way (more or less) because my bro lived there at the time, but he was called away to work so we skipped that and spent a week in Chang Mai. Chang Mai was far and away our favourite spot. It was there we rode the elephants into the forest (a bit less touristy than the other areas of Thailand) and river rafted. If I were to go back again I would do the rafting trip from Chang Rai to Chang Mai, an overnight adventure. We loved the people, the food and the history (Thailand is one of the few (or the only one?) Southeast Asia countries that was never colonized - because its king - yes the one depicted in the King of Siam films - while loving all things British, managed to thwart their attempts at colonization). We ate from the beach huts each night (most gringos would not), had Thai massages on the beaches while watching boats sail by, chatted with the locals (where we discovered that the country was now a demo-crazy - said with a straight face), bought overnight-crafted clothing and raw silk to take home and just all in all had a wonderful time. We were only gone for 3+ weeks.

I would go back in a heartbeat...

Sharon wrote: "I would go back in a heartbeat...."

Who wouldn't, after such a super holiday,

Andre Jute wrote: Of course, your real Indian cook makes her own curry powder for each mea..."

That's the sort of cook my husband is. He has to mix everything in his mortar and pestle.

And now, I'm wishing I had that pumpkin curry recipe to foist on him. Yesterday I cheated on dinner and drove my husband to the Thai restaurant when he got off work. "Curry in a Hurry" it's called, and quite good.

It was to celebrate getting my proofs in for my print copies. I was surprised they gave fortune cookies (since Thai usually doesn't). Mine said "Your hard work is about to pay off." I was busy laughing and pleased over my proof and the timing. Then my husband opened his and it said "You will never have to worry about a steady income." Hah! If only!

I would _love_ to go to Thailand. Or Korea, or Japan. Love the food. At least I might manage Korea someday because my little sister lives there, so I have someone to visit.

Oh, and I write both middle grade and YA. My awesome cover for my soon to be released novel is here:
http://www.ardythdebruyn.com/?page_id...

Good covers, Ardyth!

I would love to soak up the culture of Japan, perhaps one day...

I see you are from Portland. We are planning another golfing road trip early next year and thought we might use your lovely city as a springboard. Will wave at you as we go by...

I love Portland. I'm hoping I can stay here... have to wait and see how my husband's job search goes. I wouldn't mind Seattle, but I'd prefer Portland. ;)

Ardyth wrote: "Oh, and I write both middle grade and YA. My awesome cover for my soon to be released novel is here:
http://www.ardythdebruyn.com/?page_id=12... "

My wife was just in my study so I read her the blurb for your book. When it comes out, send me an AZW/MOBI copy and I'll see what I can do about getting a review out of my family.

Ardyth, that page you linked to doesn't show for me, the image that is. However I noticed something on the left side :

You might want to fix this : She her first novel, "Chosen Sister," .....

I am anal this way. Sorry! :)

Claudine - don't appologize. In this business it is a gift!

I agree, Kat, and a service to our fellow authors when we point out little typos like this...

Pumpkin. We kids wouldn't eat plain cooked pumpkin. My mother would then turn the pumpkin into dessert, by making little flat cakes fried in a little butter and sprinkled with a ground sugar and cinnamon mix. We'd take seconds of that!

Oh boy, I'd be all over that one!

MMMM pumpkin bread and pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin PIE!

the secret ingredient is sugar. lol

Bethany, could you please supply ingredient quantities for a brand new cook like me? I don't know how to guess at that sort of thing, but I'd love to make that pumpkin curry soup. It sounds wonderful.

I love pumpkin. Just had a pumpkin smoothie! Thanks for the recipe.

Also, Claudine, thanks for pointing out the typo. I actually just learned that rule (I think it changed on me, sort of like the one about putting commas before and or not when you have a list and how many spaces between sentences). I'm sorry the pic didn't work... let me try another one.

http://www.ardythdebruyn.com/wp-conte...

And once I get the mobi ready (still need all the final art before I can finish it), I'll happily share with you Andre.

Thanks for the link. Nice cover. It's YA?

Patricia, a basic one that I mess around with from time to time - 1kg (I think that's 2lbs?) cooked and drained pumpkin, 1 onion sliced and diced thinly, some garlic, salt and pepper, 2 tsp curry powder of your choice, nutmeg around 1/2 to 1tsp, olive oil, cream. Fry up the onions and garlic in some olive oil, then add the curry powder. Bake half the pumpkin in the oven if you want a roasted deeper flavour and cook and drain the other half. Add to the onions in the pot, add stock or water (just enough to cover and cook up, depending on how thick or thin you like your soups). Cook for about 15 to 20 mimutes or so or until the water has reduced somewhat. Blitz it all in a food processor, add back to the pot and season with the nutmeg, salt and pepper. At that point if it is too thick add a bit more water or stock. When serving, chuck a dash of cream into the middle.

Fall has the best food.