Barbara's Meanderings

I found a way to show you my soup. I don't know why I didn't think of it last night, but then again, I don't think well late at night. It's funny that I can write well at that time, but thinking and doing, not so much.:) I decided to take a picture of the soup in a bowl- with my phone. :)

Take a big virtual slurp of this soup. To steal the Campbell's slogan: "Hmmm hmmm good!".

So I finally got to see one of the movies I wanted to see last weekend, "The Wrestler" and everyone should see it. Mickey Rourke is amazing in it and so are Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood. Darren Aronofsky did a fantastic job of directing, because he directed both men and women well. There are some scenes in here that would be killed by a bad director or bad acting. Everything works together and creates a great movie. The scene is set in the beginning when you learn about the main character and his amazing wrestling career. But the story gives you a peek into the actual wrestling world and how they support each other. If you wanted to learn about wrestling this is the film for you. I won't lie and say everything works out okay in the end and then again, I won't spoil it for you and tell you the ending. You know how I hate that!!! But after the ending listen for the Bruce Springsteen song, "The Wrestler" which he wrote especially for the movie. It's very powerful. Yet as most Springsteen songs are, hummable.:)

Mickey Rourke's performance is so nitty-gritty you'd swear he was a professional wrestler. It's honest and somehow dignified. Rourke even has a few semi-comedic moments here too. And he really is buff for a man his age.

One film down and three left on my must see list: The Wrestler - Seen
Slumdog Millionaire
Doubt
The Reader

Of course, besides these I have a couple that aren't going to be blockbusters, but they are the kind of movies I like. They're either romantic comedies or they're exceptional in some way. So add: He's Not That Into You
Che
For Keeps

So I'll try to see those too. But getting back to The Wrestler the acting was so good and if you didn't know this, Mickey Rourke did his own stunts. When you see the movie you're going to say no way is that right, but it's true. Also a lot of real wrestlers took part in the making of this movie either in front of or behind the scenes. It's very authentic.

I'm skipping the weekend for highlighting blogs, but will return to this on Monday. Hope everyone is having a great weekend. I'm feeling almost like a new person with my hair done. I'll try to get the pics of me in my new hairdo for you. My daughters and I crazily stood outside in the frozen sunshine to take some pictures and then we retreated into the warmth of our still running car.:) By that time, though my hair was so windblown I'm not sure it looked good in any pictures.:)

Off to read more blogs. Nothing about politics today. I'm so shell-shocked from recent news so I'll digest it and be back on Monday. Well, one quick response to Obama's new shirtsleeves policy. If everyone thinks about it, when you get to work don't you take off your jacket and work in your shirtsleeves? I think the reason Bush wouldn't let people take off their jackets is that he didn't want any real work done.LOL. It's time we concentrated on getting work done rather than keeping up a formal and ridiculous for this century, dress code. Change is here!!!!!

Before I talk about what's wrong with people, because that is going to take way too long, I wanted to highlight another blog tonight. This one is about what I like a lot, cooking. Gabi Moskowitz has a blog called "Out of the Pantry". It's funny, because both of us made vegetable soup today.:) She used her whole pantry and I used most of my fresh vegetables. I hate calling them "veggies" which has become the standard way to refer to vegetables. 
What I like about this blog is her total disregard for whether or not something is going to taste good. She just drops in ingredients and hopes it will work. I think some of the recipes are a little more planned, but I like the spontaneity and I think you will enjoy reading this blog. The post before this one used food to describe a romantic situation. And then she described how though apples and oranges don't work in dating, it might be the opposite in cooking. She then gave a recipe for Pizza Dough Papusas where she substituted pizza dough for masa harina which is the traditional dough for the papusas. She didn't have any and made them anyway. See the recipe on "Out of the Pantry" and you can subscribe there too. I think you will enjoy this one very much. I like the layout too. It's a good color and easy on the eyes. 
So it was funny that we both made vegetable soup and here is a virtual bowl for all of you, but especially for Paula  of "Paula's Soul"  

I tried to give it to you, but my computer is not cooperating. I may have to post it in a separate note or email. I will post it on my Facebook page for everyone. Anyway, I've tried and can't do it. It was pretty awesome. My husband said it was delicious.:)

Anyway, will play around with it and see if I can't get it to you.

I've frittered away the time trying to post that picture, but instead I will give you the recipe:

Barbara’s Tomato Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:
½ large Vidalia onion chopped
3 stalks celery - chopped
3 small carrots – chopped (not baby carrots, don't scrape them)
4 cloves garlic – chopped
3 cans San Marzano tomatoes squished
dried thyme – about a tbsp
garlic powder – about 2 tbsp
dried basil – about a tbsp
dried cayenne pepper – about a tbsp
dried oregano – about a tbsp
1 pkg frozen peas
1 pkg frozen corn singles or half a pkg of frozen corn ( 8 oz)
broccoli crowns
French green beans kitchen cut in thirds
½ bunch parsley chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp unsalted butter
sea salt
ground fresh black pepper

In large soup pot, sauté the mirepoux (carrots, onions, and celery) until celery is bright green and onions are translucent in the oil and butter. Add garlic and mix together. Cook a few minutes. Add juice of tomatoes from all 3 cans and mix together. Then squish all tomatoes and add to pot. Mix together and add 3 cans of water. Fill each separate can so all the tomato goodness is there. Add salt and pepper and cook until it comes to a boil. Add dried seasonings except oregano. Add broccoli and green beans, peas, corn. Let mixture come to a boil and then add garlic powder, thyme and basil and chopped fresh parsley. When the mixture has been boiling for about an hour add the oregano and continue letting mixture boil for another hour covered. Serve with grated parmesan cheese and croutons.

Hope you enjoy it.

Now, what is wrong with people? I'm talking especially about Republicans. They seem to want our president to fail. People like Rush Limbaugh and some Republican Congressmen refuse to get with the program. When Democrats were in the minority they had to take whatever was handed to them. I remember people who were as esteemed as John Conyers had to hold hearings in the basement, because Republicans refused to open a real committee room for them. Are Democrats that way? No. President Obama went out of his way to try to listen to Republicans and even brought them to the White House and bent over backwards to try to compromise. Yet even then, a bill that will benefit every single person in the country could not get a Republican backing. No Republicans voted for the Stimulus bill. What is wrong with those people? Do they not represent people who need money and jobs? Or are they so stubborn and bent on destroying our government that they refuse to vote for a bill that will help their constituents? It's shameful!!

The other thing is the horrible murder suicide of that family out West. The parents didn't have a job, but why did they have to kill their children? What happened to the spirit of let's try and make the best of things? No, they had to kill themselves and their children and so helping population control, but snuffing out the lives of innocent young people. What is wrong with them? Didn't they want their children to live on and have lives? Or were they just too selfish to think about that?

It makes me sad to think of the waste of life. Let me know what you think. Also, try the recipe and tell me if you like it. You have to use San Marzano tomatoes, because they give it such a great flavor. If you don't use them you'll have to add chicken broth to give it more flavor. Also you can add any of your own vegetables, if they're raw, start them early. Good luck.

One more thing. Tonight we had a crescent moon. It looked like a smile in the sky. In fact, it tickled me so much I wrote a poem called "Cheshire Moon". I was reminded of my favorite book when I was a girl, Alice in Wonderland and Alice's encounter with the Cheshire Cat who kept disappearing leaving only it's smile. But in my poem I thought of President Obama as the Jaberwocky. Kind of bizarre, but he did smite the Republicans with his mighty pen.:)

I'm starting my post tonight with something that was forwarded to me. I think it covers two very important topics that we have all been thinking about. I haven't talked much about my political beliefs here, but I have always been against torture and for science.:) I think this cartoon combines the two feelings in one very well done package. Tell me what you think.


It's a little early for me to be posting, but I have so much to tell you that I decided to try to write when I was more alert. So here goes.

Today I spent the whole time joining more blogs and becoming part of an awesome network, the women's blogger network.

http://www.string-ring.com/

The second and last post today gave me such inspiration I was ready to send it to everyone who needs a little bit of a boost. She addresses us all and asks what we want to accomplish. It's standard motivational speaker stuff, but somehow Ashley makes it sound a little different. At the end of the post is a kind of quiz to see where you are with questions like:

"What personal legacy do you wish to leave behind?



What “story” do you most need to be told?



What does your life, your own work or today mean just to you?"


These are just three of the six or seven questions she has there. I think everyone should at least go and check it out. We all need a boost every now and then. I know that I certainly do. We live with people who sometimes don't appreciate us and we work in places where maybe we're not getting the attention we deserve. Or maybe you have a dream that is stuck somewhere and you're not sure you'll ever attain it. Or perhaps you never started your dream, but it's still there in your head to do. Whatever the place you are in, this post will help you become more motivated to maybe go back and try it. I didn't get a chance to do them, but I'm going there to do them soon.

This is January and the weather is getting worse and worse in most areas. Why not give yourself a boost and pick up your ego. As a writer, I get down sometimes. But today, one of my Facebook friends read the submission of my YA novel, IF I COULD BE LIKE JENNIFER TAYLOR, and her comments made my day. When she read it, she got what I was saying. If you remember, that was the topic I talked about last night. Does someone get what you write? Well this person did get it and her comments made me believe that an editor might get it too!! Oh my fingers are so crossed!!! Anyway, go and check out "Girls Rule" and see if you agree with me.

So that was the second blog that I have highlighted and I have no idea which one it will be tomorrow, but with so many blogs that I'm following I'm looking forward to the choice.:)

The other thing I wanted to say is that a lot of my friends are SCBWI members. If you don't know what that is it's The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. I am also a member and got my new card today. They changed the color a little bit. It used to be a deeper blue. This organization is having it's NY Conference coming up this weekend. I remember attending my first conference. I came on Friday night to meet some friends for dinner and we wound up sitting around in the hotel lounge with Linda Sue Park and her agent. She had just won the Newbery for A Single Shard and I being a new writer was so excited to be meeting not only a published author, but someone who had won the Newbery. She was exhausted after her whirlwind day of interviews. She'd been on The Today Show and other TV spots, but what I realized when we all hung out there together, and I think that Agy Wilson was in that group. If she wasn't I'm sorry, was that speaking with Linda was like speaking with any of my writer friends. In that little group sitting around in the bar I realized that I was a writer. I didn't need to feel inferior because I wasn't published. I was a writer and I was serious about it and I belonged there. At that time I had not had anything published, but in the next couple of years I did get several stories published and sold a children's story all online. But there is no difference when you see your name and your words in print either on paper on a computer screen.

Anyone who is interested in seeing my work can go here and read my children's story: "The Trouble with Follow the Leader". It's actually based on a true story that happened to me.

http://viatouch.com/learn/storystation/stories/troublefollowleader.jsp

Growing up in Brooklyn during the 1950's a girl had to pretty much fend for herself once you reached a certain age. My parents worked all day and so I spent the time after school either in the store or at a friend's house or on the streets depending on the weather. We played games like "Red Light, Green Light", "Hit the Penny", "Potsy", and last but not least, "Follow the Leader". When all you have are gated apartment houses and backyards overgrown with weeds with entrances through dark alleyways, Follow the Leader becomes a much more dangerous game. But kids didn't think about that, so climbing on ledges and walking across narrow spaces was the norm. This story captures that daredevil feeling and shows what can happen when kids will do anything to follow the leader.

Okay, enough shameless publicity for my story. Imagine what will happen if I ever get my book published?:)

Thank you to all my new readers and I hope you will leave me a comment to let me know what you think of this crazy meandering blog. That's me a meanderer.I don't go in straight lines. That would be too boring. I move in and out of things, much more exciting. Hope you can follow the leader.LOL

Tonight I spent practically the whole time joining blogs on the Facebook network of blogs. While I was going around and checking out all of these different blogs I met a lot of new people and learned a few new things. I realize it wasn't exactly the brightest thing to try to join as many as I could in a night, but it was fun!

A friend of mine, Chris, is hosting Lea Schizas on her blog. Lea has written new book called Bubba and Giganto about bullying. This is always a hot subject for me considering how much bullying goes on in school today. Go and check it out:
http://chrischatreviews.blogspot.com/2009/01/presenting-lea-schizas.html?showComment=1232877420000#c506658915019940970

I've been wanting to see a movie for weeks, but because of various reasons we didn't go. We usually go to the movies almost every weekend, so this was very unusual. Meanwhile the movies being released were of very high caliber and a couple were so good they've already received awards. When you are only one of four people in a family it's difficult to do everything you want all the time. We usually take turns on what movies we'll see, so I at least get to see the movie I want every fourth time. But the movies I wanted to see have piled up and now I have to classify them so I'll be able to see most of them. 

I'm practically jumping out of my skin. That's how excited I am about tomorrow's inauguration! I only remember being this excited a few times in my life. The first one will show my age, but I remember watching JFK's inauguration on my family's black and white TV. I was a senior in high school and we were given the day off to watch it. There was no recording, no Tivo, no videotape, so you had to watch it when it happened.:) I remember the pomp and the ceremony of Eisenhower getting into the limo and Kennedy shaking his hand. I remember Kennedy's speech and how excited I was about what he said. No one in government had ever asked me to do anything. Here was Kennedy, probably the handsomest government official I'd ever seen, and at 16, which I was at the time, he was the equivalent of a rock star to me. He and Jackie were the super stars we worship today. They televised the ceremony, of course, and the speech. Before that afternoon I had never paid much attention to what presidents said. After all I grew up during Ike and Mamie and things were always at a very low pitch. But here comes this firebrand guy with great hair that falls in his face and I was hooked. I couldn't stop watching it, even in black and white. So when he started speaking and in his speech he said that phrase that everyone now knows by heart: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.", I was ready to go to Washington. 

I probably could have watched the Obama train experience all day. There were commentators sitting on the roof of a building in Washington, DC who had been there for 10 hours just commenting on the events going on with the slowest moving train in history!:) But I was lucky and it was my daughter's birthday. So we had to leave the house around noon and didn't get home until around sixish. We got the tail end of the trip with the train inching into Union Station at a foot a minute. The cameras never left the train and recorded every excruciating minute as the train came into the station. Then they trailed Obama from the train and watched as he shook every single hand of every person who was guarding him and then showed us the procession as he left Union Station and went on to Blair House for the remainder of his time as president-elect. Yet the atmosphere around him and the reverence with which the commentators spoke of him was as if he were president. http://www.theevereadydiner.com/

Haven't posted much, because from Sunday to now I've been really busy. But I can't really explain what made me busy. It's more updating computer things and answering email. I should be writing more but haven't really been doing that. 

Writing has a way of sneaking in the events and feelings in our lives that we'd rather keep hidden. You're writing about a character and the events of this character's life aren't anything like yours. You're writing dialogue and suddenly you realize you've put in a flashback to an event in your own life. The character is reminiscing about your feelings concerning an event that has already passed. When that happens it can be pretty creepy. It's as if the character was searching around in your brain waiting to pick out relevant events and reclassifying them somehow. The events happened to you, but maybe not in the same way. Or the outcome is different. 

I have decided to post this at myspace.com and here. I have a blog there, but I'm liking this blog better. So if you want to read earlier posts go to: myspace.com to see them.