by Charlene Teglia | Feb 13, 2011 | Uncategorized
Writing while pregnant is hard. Mainly it’s hard because I forget things. Here’s an example: I need to get a chthonic beast near Tysons Corner, Virginia in a plausible manner. I look at maps. Since this is a water beast, I decide the logical route is for it to enter Chesapeake Bay and swim up the Potomac. I make notes of this, including correct spellings of the bay and river, and save in my notes file.
When I reach the actual part of the story where this becomes important, I a. cannot remember the name of the river and b. cannot find my notes so painstakingly researched and documented.
But I remember how to spell “chthonic” because somehow that made it into longterm memory. Never mind that every thriller set on the east coast has the words “orders from across the Potomac”. *headdesk*
We won’t speak of what I keep doing to the timeline, despite HAVING a timeline which I made sure did not contradict Animal Attraction or Red Queen.
Will finish the story this week but there will be many Bad Words mumbled, shouted, and possibly sobbed in the process.
At least my playlist is fun: Yellow, Coldplay. Help I’m Alive/Monster Hospital, Metric. Death and Glory, the Clash. #1 Crush, Garbage.
by Charlene Teglia | Feb 8, 2011 | Uncategorized
I needed a new pair of walking shoes, for two reasons; my high-top walking shoes were getting harder to put on and take off due to extra lacing on the high top, and my feet had gotten about half a size bigger. So I investigated walking shoes and asked via Twitter and Facebook how the experience with shoes like Sketcher’s Shape Ups was.
I got lots of feedback. The rocking-style walking shoes are made by several brands, and almost universally those who tried them swore by them and not at them. So I set out to try some on and see how they felt. I found one pair in my size, made by Danskin.
I wasn’t sure how stable the rocker sole would feel, but once I had my feet in them, I discovered that they really do stabilize you side to side and force the forward/backward motion instead. If you stand in them you have to rock to your toes or heels, but it’s comfortable either way and you can easily shift position back and forth. Walking, the stride is slightly different; you rock along with the shoe, but it’s easy to get used to.
They really do increase the workout, too. My muscles worked harder on the same walks and my joints were better cushioned and supported; win.
So now I’m rocking the walk. And the next time you see somebody in those funny looking rocker soled shoes, you might be tempted to try a pair yourself.
by Charlene Teglia | Feb 6, 2011 | Uncategorized
Since somebody else blogging about their weekly menus spurred me to start getting organized about mine and thereby simplifying my life, here’s my menu plan for the week:
Today I’m making seafood lasagna and cheddar bay biscuits, which will be good for 3 dinners for the four of us. I’ve also got a roast slowly shredding in the crockpot which will become filling for a double batch of hot pockets, making lunches or the odd quick dinner. (This roast is the second of a buy-one-get-one-free deal at the local grocery store; watch for deals like these and use your freezer to take advantage of them!)
This week’s menu also includes a
tamale pie, which may use more of the shredded beef since I’ll probably have more than I need for the hot pockets. Or, if I use it all on pockets, I’ll defrost some hamburger from the freezer. I have organic corn meal on hand for this.
I’ll do teriyaki chicken with rice and vegetables one night, and I can use the stockpile of organic pasta in the cupboard along with the wild-caught shrimp and bay scallops I bought for the lasagna to make a seafood alfredo dinner. I also have all the ingredients to do a crockpot of soup for a soup night.
And that should cover the week. Two of those meals are crockpot, which I will prep around lunchtime to be ready for dinner. I’m making the lasagna today since it’s the most labor-intensive, but then again since it makes 3 dinners, it’s actually very efficient time-wise. Likewise, I’m doing the hot pockets today so that through the week lunch is a five-minute fix. Everything else I’m making will take about 15 minutes of prep time during the week.
Eating at home and eating well takes a little planning and thinking ahead, but no more than the time you’d otherwise spend trying to figure out what to do at dinner time. For me, it’s a time-saver since I only have to think and plan once instead of repeatedly.
Which leaves me more time and energy to write.
by Charlene Teglia | Feb 5, 2011 | Uncategorized
So the big news this week, aside from Egypt’s revolution in progress, is that eating out and eating convenience foods causes weight gain. I had to laugh, because really, how can this be a surprise to anybody?
While I think it’s pretty unfair to blame this on working moms, implying that dads are incapable of reading and following a recipe, it is one of those things that maybe isn’t as obvious as it seems on the surface, though. The truth is, if you eat at a restaurant or buy convenience foods at the grocery store, unless you read labels carefully and ask a lot of questions, you may not really know what you’re eating.
Hidden sugar, for instance. The percentage of fat. The number of calories. Salt. It’s very easy to have a reasonable sized meal that’s much higher than you expect in calories, sodium, fat, sugar. Since something like 3 meals a week on average are eaten at home in this country, it’s not surprising that there’s also a national health crisis. The nation’s health crisis isn’t going to be solved by Washington. The
solution might require an ad campaign to change public perception of
the value of cooking, however.
Once you start looking at nutritional information, it’s very easy to come to the conclusion that a coronary isn’t convenient at all and maybe it’s not that hard to cook at home.
It isn’t. It really isn’t. We pay a high price in health (not to mention our wallets) for convenience, and with a little organization and planning, you can shift to eating at home and find that it doesn’t take more time than it does to drive to a restaurant.
The Betty Crocker Cookbook is an old standby that covers the basics of everything from what to do with various kinds and cuts of meat to breadmaking, main dishes, desserts, the works. Basic kitchen equipment like a set of pots and pans and a set of utensils, will cover 95% of what you need.
Making a menu plan a week in advance means you can grocery shop for the ingredients you need and on the weekend, and an awful lot of meals can be put
into a crockpot in the morning to be ready at dinner time, or prepared in 15-20 minutes before going into the oven.
If the grocery store gives you sticker shock, here are some ways to save: get a Costco membership and buy in bulk. Shop your local farmer’s markets, join a co-op, or buy a share in a local CSA, which sometimes includes meat and eggs in addition to produce.
Most of all, give yourself credit for having the ability to do something humans have managed to do for thousands of years: make your own food. If you are a working parent juggling a job, parenting, household chores and other responsibilities already, you’re more than qualified to handle a pot of pasta. Make it a family project and have everybody pitch in; even small children can learn to do a lot of basic kitchen tasks and they love to help.
Your health will thank you, your waistline will thank you, your budget will thank you, and you might even find it enjoyable.
by Charlene Teglia | Feb 1, 2011 | Uncategorized
1. New blog post at Genreality about objectively analyzing our own ideas. Or at least trying. (Are writers ever really objective?)
2. Latest kitchen test: lasagna with unbaked noodles. I was a bit skeptical thinking the sauce wouldn’t all cook in and noodles might crunch, but the consistency was perfect. Will go with uncooked noodles from now on, it’s much easier to assemble when they’re not floppy. (Recipe from Ronzoni Healthy Harvest box) Also, organic sauce, cheese and hamburger do not cost that much more but taste FAR better.
3. Latest TV discovery: Eureka. Yes, I’m way out of date. Because usually I write books instead of watching TV, but Eureka owns 45 minutes of my evenings after kids go to bed now, thanks to Netflix Instant Watch. It’s smart, funny, and riveting and you all should go watch it now so they don’t cancel it or something now that I’m hooked.
4. Speaking of TV, Red Dwarf returns with a new season in 2012. So the Mayan calendar had better be wrong.
5. And I’d talk about what I’m writing but I don’t want to jinx it. Happy Tuesday!
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