Feature Friday! One Pot Mexican Rice Casserole

Hello Friends!

While I have things in the works for upcoming Fridays, this week has sped by, so I'm featuring one of my favorite recipes, One Pot Mexican Rice Casserole by Damn Delicious (click for recipe).

I love this rice! The veggies make it so refreshing! The first time I made it, it looked so good that I decided to skip the added cheese (most of our meals are fairly cheese-heavy anyways, and I wanted something light that night). I've continued to leave the cheese out, and it is just so good! I'm the only one in the house that will eat rice, much less the other ingredients, so when I make this, I have my own personal rice arsenal for lunch or side-dishes or even just a snack! My current favorite is to put in a tortilla with shredded cheese to make a cheesy rice taco, makes a delicious and quick lunch. I could see someone adding sliced smoked sausage, cooked chicken, or maybe even pork sausage links to this for a one-pot meal. Oh, and the in-laws love it too :)

Well that's my quick Feature Friday for the week, hope you enjoy!
Julia

Feature Friday - Mr. Selfridge

Hello there!

For today's Feature Friday I really must admit I've been up to a bunch of nothing. In that bunch of nothing I have almost finished watching the two seasons of Mr. Selfridge that are available on Amazon Prime.

This Masterpiece series is about Harry Gordon Selfridge (played by Jeremy Piven), an American businessman who opens a department store in London despite resistance from local influentials and the many bumps along the way. He (of course) isn't faithful in his marriage, which we find out is well-known by his wife, Rose. He has a gambling problem. (This series is based on Shopping, Seduction & Mr. Selfridge which is supposed to be a biography of the true Harry Selfridge - I haven't read it and don't know how much the show has kept to it- and it makes me ask, "Really? Were all men such scumbags?"-but it seems the women weren't much better.) To be honest I find the stories of the side-characters (Miss Agnes Towler, for example, with a drunken father who's determined to make trouble for her and a brother who needs looking out for) to be much more interesting. I think this partly stems from the acting, as too often it seems Mr. Selfridge thinks of himself as putting on a show because of his speech, and there is something weird about the way he blinks (I don't know if that is Piven or part of the show-I can't say I've [knowingly] watched anything else with him in it). Also in the first season (not so much the second), Rose has a weird, passive,  and frustrating speech pattern.

I can't say that the show has held my full attention for the entire time, and I started watching it because it seemed reminiscent of The Paradise, which I love (although I've only seen the first season, the second isn't on any of the streaming services I subscribe to). It is reminiscent of The Paradise, but not quite as captivating.

I don't know how accurate any of it is, but I really love watching just to see the styles of dress and the houses/buildings.

I really had planned on featuring a book from an author attending YAK Fest 2015, but I've been a sorry reader this past week and am going in only having read works by Rachel Caine. I still have today, so I might can get one in, but I doubt it (there are still episodes of Selfridge to watch).

Thanks!

Julia

Mindful Monday

When I first set out to write this post (you know, just a couple of days ago), I contemplated titling it "Mirror Monday," but landed instead upon "Mindful Monday" (other contenders were "Monday Madness" and "Mental Monday"--ok, I admit, I adore alliteration). "Mirror Monday," as it was originally intended, was going to be a time for reflection on the week, but "Mindful" sounded so much more thoughtful. Events of yesterday and this morning have made that title even more fitting.

The following account will probably not read like much, but to someone (like me) who is battling to overcome the slump that I've fallen into, it is amazing.

Saturday I took a not-as-pleasant-as-hoped trip to the mall in which I found the fitting room to be an enemy (the mirror in particular). I have gained a bit of weight in the past year. I am still a very small person and most people would hit me for saying that I am unhappy with how I look. But that's not for them to judge. I don't mind the numerical change in my weight or the change in clothing sizes, if anything they are goals that I have never been able to reach. But it is the look of myself in the mirror that I do not like, that baby fat I haven't ever quite lost (not that I ever really tried...) that really gets me. So in my frustrated state Saturday night I decided it was time for a change. So I found a YouTube channel (Yoga with Adrienne) with beginner-level yoga I felt I could follow along with and keep up with. My thinking is yoga would be a good place to start for me, and I'm hoping it is smooth enough to not aggravate my sciatica pain too badly, and that when/if I decide to do something more traditional (? I want to say intense, but I understand yoga can be intense, but I mean like, high-intensity...you know...workouts that aren't yoga) then I will have strengthened up enough to avoid aggravating it more than necessary (last time I tried working out I stopped because I hurt for so many days afterwards).

Saturday also found me on edX as my late night anxiety about employment began to rear its ugly head. I don't remember what I originally went on there for, but I realized the Walt Whitman poetry course I enrolled in has begun (and I love Whitman), and that Berkeley has some "book club" courses coming up. This is really exciting, because not only do they feature classics that I intended to (eventually) read, but also because I'm hoping they'll be a way to continue thinking about literature in a critical way with others.

Yesterday was a nice, dare I say warm day out (after the cold we've had the last week (?) or so). We woke up, had simple sandwiches for lunch (which were delicious, and I didn't have to make them), and went out to a few stores in search of something for my husband. It was an unhurried kind of outing that we don't get much, and it was really nice. One of the best parts is that we were able to talk. Not that we can't or don't while we are at home, but there is something for us about riding in the car that makes conversation so easy and flowing. I began to feel an old part of me (or a real part of me, I don't know what to call it, maybe both?) re-emerge, a part that I really like. It talked excitedly about my thoughts and ideas and it has been so very long since that has happened. I feel like the realization of that emergence of my old/real/true(?) self was a turning point.

When we got home little boy was tuckered out so he took a nice, long nap, and we each got to do somethings we've been wanting/needing to do. I (finally) took down the Christmas tree and got everything put away. I caught a cleaning bug and cleaned more than I have in probably a month (save for dishes and laundry). It isn't necessarily the things I accomplished yesterday, but the spirit in which they were done. I had energy and thoughtfulness that I haven't in a long time.

And so that brings me to this morning. When my husband left for work I got up and tried my yoga workout for the first time (which was really nice, and I spent some extra time with it, too, while my son was sleeping). I was feeling quite thoughtful and calm, and thought some poetry seemed like a good thing, so I pulled out She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo and read/contemplated some poems for a short while.

So that is why "Mindful" seemed so appropriate, not only have I been looking at myself, but I've also been contemplating.

I feel alive and human and happy and I have missed myself.

Julia

Feature Friday! Featuring "Double Life" by S. Usher Evans

Welcome to Feature Friday! Here is a new project of mine to feature something (a good book, article, thought, etc) that I really enjoyed from the week on Fridays. Today it's a book called Double Life, by S. Usher Evans.

Double Life is about Lyssa, an interplanetary explorer who is (as the title suggests) living a double life. Her other life is lived as Razia, a bounty-hunting pirate. The two identities show Lyssa/Razia's struggle with who she is and her search for acceptance from the pirate community and herself. Lyssa's struggles and emotions are palpable and compel you to keep going, especially as her plans for pirate domination keep getting a wrench thrown into them. There was never a dull moment. While Sci-fi/space opera is not my typical read, I truly enjoyed this and am impatiently waiting for the next book in the series.

Here is the blurb from the Amazon product page:

Piracy is a game. How much are you worth? 

Since she was a little girl, everyone - from her father to the Great Creator himself - told Lyssa Peate the same thing: she's worthless. But when she becomes the pirate bounty hunter Razia, she can see the price tag on her own head. Employed by one of the four pirate syndicates, she uses bank transactions and her considerable wits to capture rival members. At least, she would be if Razia's boss ever gave her a chance. It's a man’s world, and all she’s allowed to hunt are purse snatchers while she languishes on probation. 

To pay the bills, she's stuck in her old life as Lyssa, discovering and analyzing distant planets and selling them for cash. She's doing just enough to stay out of trouble, pretending to be continuing her father's mysterious research while away for long periods of time. Her slimy boss is always asking questions and even assigns one of her younger brothers, Vel, to intern with her. Already struggling to keep the balance between her double lives, she tries everything to rid herself of the kid... 

...until the universal police mistake Lyssa’s intern for Razia's hostage.

So what are you waiting for? Go check it out :)

TBT - Poetry from last year.

I posted this to my twitter account (@byersj09) some time ago, but it only recently came to my attention that it is actually a bit hard to read on there, so I'm reposting it here for a first throw-back-Thursday post. I wrote it during my creative writing class last summer, and probably my favorite from that time. Here is a link to the picture that was used as my inspiration (per the assignment's directions): http://holeinthedonut.com/2013/02/23/photo-easternmost-point-spain-cap-de-creus-natural-park/
I hope you enjoy!

The Cape

Two wheels of soft rubber whisper on the asphalt,

the chain gently whirs on the gears like wind against wings

until the salt water engulfs first

the nose,
            then tongue,

 then vision.

I walked this path some months ago

as leaves turned into individual flames

and danced on their branches and floated in the wind.

Small, smooth stones that crunch underfoot

then give way to rocks that skitter, and clatter

and boulders that stand strong,

like bolts holding the earth together.

Birds caw and squawk, specters in the sky

hunting the next victim, their calls swept out to sea –

lyrical accompaniment to the ocean’s melody:

surf slapping the strong, stony shore.

The ocean breaking over rocks time and time again

mimics the tumbling thoughts,

the regrets, and the question

“What if?”

“What if I got to say goodbye?”

and when you try to escape them

they crash loudly, repeatedly,

relentless waves against your conscience.

Tufts of greenery cling to the beaten rocks,

the only brave pops of color in this gray-scaled world,

their flowers rare glimpses of the life that thrives here.

In the horizon the gray-cloud sky meets

with the gray-reflecting water

pulling on the gray-rock fingers of the Cape,

pulling them out to sea against their will.

Even the air is gray and thick

with a drizzle that is not quite rain

nor the lack of it.

The gray invades the body, the mind, the soul,

devouring emotions and thoughts

leaving you even more

numb and empty

than the salt-filled shell of a summer locust.

I see you standing there, locust-girl,

blown by the battering gray wind,

and I’ve brought the Sun with  me.

Welcome, 2015!

Well, so it's been a while. Hello from a while ago!

What does 2015 have in store? Writing, lots of it! Well, that's what I intend for it to have in store at least.  You can see the bottom section of this post for something I wrote a couple of days prior to the New Year regarding my thoughts on resolutions and my decision to write (more).

My midnight hobbies have definitely come more and more to the reading and writing portions than anything else, so that's probably what will be found here, for the most part, from here on out.

In addition to trying to produce the characters running around in my head, I've decided that I will begin writing reviews for the books I read (I've been terrible at this the past few years). Lately I have become much  more involved in the writing world (or at least much more observant), and I want to do this as a way to support others in the writing community. So, hopefully, I'll choose a day to do a review of a book and post it in the relevant places and here on my blog.

Why wait for New Year’s to make a resolution? Isn’t every day the beginning of a new year? I have never been a fan of New Year’s resolutions; I have never been able to come up with one that I felt strongly about, so certainly never one that I’ve held to. I feel like waiting for New Year’s is a form of procrastination. It’s November, and you’ve decided you need to lose weight, but “it’s the holidays” or some junk like that. Really? You can put off making yourself feel/look better? Why not try it out now? I think making a resolution and getting started on it right away is the best way. For one, the idea is fresh in your mind and the excitement of the end-result is new. Also it isn’t over-thought or over-planned. Jump in head-first while the adrenaline is fresh, so that by the time it’s worn out your resolution has [hopefully] become habit. I fancy myself a writer. If I’ve read no other more resounding piece of advice, it is to write. To write every day, no matter what. I’m terrible at this. Of course, I haven’t really set myself a goal for it. So-it is December 28, 2014 (at least for another hour), and instead of saying “I’ll wait ‘til New Year’s to start that,” I’m starting it now. With this piece. Whether or not anybody ever reads it, here I am, getting my writer’s juices flowing and my fingers flowing over the keyboard. I won’t write about the same thing every day. Maybe I’ll get a scene down in one of the stories from my head. Maybe there is an issue in the media that really presses buttons for me. Maybe there is a book that is so good (or so bad) that it needs a review. Maybe there are emotions swirling around and eating my brainpower that absolutely must be let out so that I can continue on with my day. Maybe there is an e-mail that needs to be sent to a friend. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Certainly there is something every day that I can write about. Even if it’s something I’ve already said/written. And if all that advice I’ve read is true, then it will come more easily after a bit of practice. I hope to make it a habit, something I can’t go a single day without doing. So I am starting now, not later, because I will over-think it and make up some reason why it just isn’t possible for me to commit to it. Some reason it’s just not worth it. Because if there is something that leads you closer to your dreams, or discovering something about yourself, it is worth it. I say I like to write, but what do I have to show for it? Scraps of stories with no context. Characters with their stories untold. Anxiety and depression riddled journal-esque scrawlings written on nights my mind won’t shut off. I want more than that. I want entire stories, and character’s whose story has unfolded and left them imprinted in a reader’s mind. I want to have found a topic to have a passion about, to have a voice, an opinion, and be able to express it. And if I want a career that includes writing, I don’t want to struggle at getting the words out. So here I am, making my resolution and starting it out: I will write every day. I am not going to set a word count goal for myself, it will discourage me. If all I get it is one sentence in a bad day, then at least I’ve got that (although I think I’m verbose enough to get more than that). And even that one sentence would be a success, because it is something. Thank you, and goodnight.

Until next time,
Julia
The Midnight Hobbyist