So as I posted earlier the rough draft is done. This year I'm classified as a winner I finished the book just about three in the afternoon.  No last minute rush and not being short by just a few words.

After uploading and being validated I treated myself to a bottle of Jameson.

Went to town with #61 and bought the bottle. Bought the makings for taco's because #61 likes my taco's better than anyone else who makes them in his life :). Made some homemade tortillas and whooped it up but not really. Or at least not yet. Maybe it will happen. I just know I finished the rough draft. I just know I officially have wrote my third book.

I did end up whooping it up a bit. Nick was proud and made announcements along the way. 

I did it it! The rough draft of 'The Good Life' is finished.... complete... and uploaded. What a ride!

Holidays

The holidays are upon us again. November as always brings heavy rains, low fog and the wish of snow. This week it is Thanksgiving and I love my family and I'm thankful too see them soon. This year we are saying a big off is the general direction in which you should fuck to the grind of tiring preparation for the ten minute ritual of eating the great feast.

I'm excited to be part of this ground breaking, breaking of tradition with my sister. We imagine a wet, steeped in low clouds and fog kind of a day. Some sideways blowing wind would be rather exciting as well because when it does this....it is the best time to be at the beach. And yes we have a hike planned to the beach because we will not be slaving away. The soup will simmer, the fine china will stay in the closet and the day should be sweat, stress and fight free.

Nick is heading over the hills and through the woods to his Grandmothers house. I have to work till ten on Wednesday night. But get to enjoy the holiday paid off with my family. As I told Nick the other night "I would rather have my fingernails removed then shop with the masses on Black Friday." So no, I won't be shopping whatsoever... I hope to be writing and working on my book and maybe enjoying a snow storm on the trip back over the mountains.


Our menu: Cioppino, French Bread and traditional desserts.

Ingredients for Cioppino:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 large shallots, chopped
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 5 cups fish stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 pound manila clams, scrubbed
• 1 pound mussels, scrubbed, debearded
• 1 pound uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 1/2 pounds assorted firm-fleshed fish fillets such as halibut or salmon, cut into 2-inch chunks

Debbie Downer

I slept well and heavy last night. I wrote with success and abandon today on my NaNoWriMo project. Titled "The Good Life." Work has been easy with plenty of avail and phone problems adding to quite a bit of 'down time'. Life is good so why suddenly.. is the world dreary and I'm tired and down.

Oh yeah.. must be PMS..

residual catching up on sleep... boredom... all of thee above.

So let me write about something happy. I saw my peeps this last weekend. I got to hang with my parents, my sister and her daughters, Vick.. I shopped and I sewed. I drove a hot red camaro...Gosh it was good to be back.
And then I also had a slice of heaven. Check out the large amount of butter this fabulous cake takes.

The best cake I have ever eaten in my life. Hands down.

Jack Daniel's Buttermilk Cake.

• Cake:
• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 1/3 cups sugar
• 3 large egg whites
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 cups cake flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 
  
• Buttercream:
• 3 large eggs
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 Tbsp. Jack Daniels whiskey

DIRECTIONS

1. To make the cake: Place one baking rack one-third from the bottom of the oven and the second two-thirds from the bottom. Preheat the oven to 350-f degrees. Line three 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper rounds, grease with butter, and dust with flour (or spray with Pam with Flour).
2. Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl on medium speed about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg whites and vanilla and beat on medium speed for about 1 minute. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Add about one-third of the flour mixture to the batter and beat on medium speed until incorporated. Add about half of the buttermilk and beat on medium speed until incorporated. Continue adding dry and wet ingredients alternately, scraping the bowl down and beating until incorporated after each addition. End with the dry ingredients. The batter will be thick and glossy.
3. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared cake pans. Stagger the cake layers on the oven racks so that no layer is directly over another. Set two layers on one rack and the third on the other. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean and tops are flat and browned. Monitor the layers carefully for doneness; each one me be done at a different time.
4. Set the cake pans on racks to cool for 10 minutes. Invert the cakes onto the racks and cool completely before frosting. At this point the cakes can be tightly wrapped in a layer of plastic wrap and a layer of aluminum foil and frozen up to 3 weeks.
5. To Make the Buttercream: Using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the eggs and yolks in a large bowl on high speed about 5 minutes. In a medium saucepan, combine the water and sugar; simmer until it reaches the soft-ball stage, registering between 234-f degrees and 240-f degrees on a candy thermometer. Immediately transfer the syrup to a large heatproof liquid measuring cup. In a slow, thin stream, add the sugar mixture to the egg mixture, mixing on low speed the entire time. Increase the speed to medium and beat about 7 minutes, until the syrup has cooled (the bowl should be barely warm to the touch). Add the butter, half a stick at a time, beating on medium speed about 20 seconds after each addition. Once all of the butter has been added, beat on medium until the frosting thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Stir in the salt and whiskey.
6. Place 1 cake layer on a serving plate and spread a thick blanket of frosting on top. Add the second layer and spread thickly with frosting. Add the third layer and cover the top and sides of the cake with an even layer of frosting. Covered, the cake will keep for 2 days at room temperature.
7. Sweet Variations: Instead of whiskey try substituting Grand Marnier or Amaretto. For chocolate-flavored buttercream, substitute 8 oz. of melted bittersweet chocolate for the Jack Daniel's. Make sure to cool the melted chocolate for at least 15 minutes before adding it to the buttercream.

We enjoy each others company

The 'non relationship' has progressed to a relationship.
We are fools... thinking we can outsmart the system of how relationships progress.

In the last three weeks we have settled into something. While we are still defining it to ourselves locals have started putting more pressure on us to define it to them. Nick has maybe progressed faster than I have... to succumb to their demands for clarity.

He has been asked numerous times in this one evening and as we leave Marko's and stop in to the Eagles for a game of pool and finally for a final nightcap head to the Pasttime. At each stop he has been asked and he mentions it as we make our final approach to the nightcap. I chuckle and say yet once again. "Why do we have to define it?"


The bar is busy and one stool on each corner is available so we separate and he sits at one corner of the bar and another "couple" set between us. They smile and we share small talk for awhile.

     They ask... the question?? "So are you two together?"

     Nick full of piss and whiskey stands suddenly and blatantly and also very loudly announce's across the entire bar, "Yes we are, we are fucking..we like each other. I'm telling everybody right now yes, we are together and yes we are fucking." I promptly choke on my drink and start coughing, laughing, sputtering... all while blushing.

It appears to be settled now.

Now as it progresses it has become a game of sorts. I gave him a response the other day as we walked to town. "You can just tell people that we enjoy each others company." OR "You can tell people that I like your kielbasa better than Glondo's kielbasa.

stay tuned..............