A first...

[j_cheney]

I ate a salad for dinner.
Never done that before. Ever. Never had one for lunch either, for that matter.

It was doable. Field greens, olive oil, pine nuts, bacon. Bacon makes almost anything tolerable. Almost. ;o)

Got directed by pabba to the WOTF blog and discovered that I didn't hit semi-finalist either, so the story is definitely going to be a free agent again. It's a wierd story that has been out to four places, got three 'thumbs down' and one 'almost' from the top editor. (It's my 'unreliable narrator' story, which some people just won't get) Thought I'd give it a try at WOTF, but evidently it didn't grab. Hmmmm....must start thinking about another home for it.

ETA: My media player reset itself to "Play All" mode. (Yes, I know how to fix that, so you don't need to advise me on it). Just odd. Harp Consort, followed by Sting, followed by Helm's Deep, followed by Ofra Haza.....brain will explode...

Comments

[yourbob.livejournal.com]

Bacon makes almost anything tolerable. Almost. ;o)

Yeah, he's made a couplea bad movies.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

For example...green beans. I don't think anything would help with that. Blech!

[yourbob.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. Green beans is one of my favorites. But yeah, if not done right. Blech.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

possibly lots of butter, garlic....and bacon?

[tchernabyelo.livejournal.com]

Green beans with minced pork and ginger, as done at Yang Chow's in LA. Delicious.


On the subject of bacon - all I've ever come across in the US is either the crisped-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life-(and-that's-an-inch-the-wrong-side) breakfast variety, or massive slabs of what we would probably call gammon or even ham. The full range of "proper" bacon (back, streaky, smoked, unsmoked, drycure, weetcure, and the most joyous of all, lardons) doesn't seem to have penetrated the American psyche.

We now make our own bacon. It's surprisingly easy, and pretty damned good.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

No. When I was in UK, the first time I saw bacon, I said....that's not bacon, it's Canadian bacon.

Honestly, I LOVE the crisped-to-death stuff. Dried out, crunchy, salty...hmmmmm

In American folklore in college, one of the things that we studied was food....and how our ready supply of beef severely limited our national culinary creativeness compared to other cultures. When I tell people here we had haggis, they act disgusted, because most have never had organ meat at all. We're a very limited 'beef and potatoes' sort, aren't we?

I'm told that you can ask a butcher to do the special cuts of pork for English bacon, but it's not the same a Canadian bacon, because CB is actually leaner than English bacon (from a different spot on the pig)

[displacedtexan.livejournal.com]

Mmmm...now "lardons" that's a real bacon name! Another thing we found the Brits did really, really well when we were there were sausages. Very good stuff.

[keesa-renee.livejournal.com]

Never?!?! Oh, my gosh...that's one of my FAVORITE meals of all time! A nice salad with veggies and croutons and chicken strips is the best, but I even like iceburg lettuce with salad dressing. mmmmmm!!

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Never. I'm not a veggie eater. Never have been.

I'm trying to reform, though, but iceberg lettuce is on my list of things never to be touched. Nasty!

[orogeny.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the salad! What about cheese? Do you like cheese? Cheese can make a salad very tasty, and add protein.

Sorry about the WotF. Are you sure your story was in last quarter's judging and not being held to be judged with this current batch?

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Well, perhaps I'll try cheese the next time.

The WOTF thing isn't a surprise, nor are my feelings hurt. (I got the entry in early (I always do that) so I'm pretty sure it's not in next times.) The story, while I believe it is a strong one, isn't easily accessible. You aren't supposed to like the narrator....which makes it a hard sell anywhere.

It was my first shot at WOTF, so perhaps next time? Thanks for the commiseration.;o)

[orogeny.livejournal.com]

I'd really like to place in WotF. First of all, I really, /really/ want to go to that workshop. Second, it can make all your other stories more saleable.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Very true....perhaps we'll be there together!

[orogeny.livejournal.com]

That would rock!

[kara-gnome.livejournal.com]

No, Iceberg is not much better for you than a few sips of water. Not caring for Iceberg is not a problem :-) Any of the leafy lettuces are better--the darker the color, the more nutritious.

I'm so glad you're beginning to get in touch with your inner vegetable! :-)

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's about time.