Wait; isn't this a writing blog?

Word Count: 87,310

Well, yes, yes it is a writing blog. But I am in limbo again; finished my first round of edits and revisions based on my first beta reader, and since I basically have a completely new draft, I told my mom to go ahead and wait til I got it over to her before starting her read while she's on vacation this week. So, that was the plan last night, but then my printer ink cartridge died (again) and the office supply store was closed (of course) so, yeah. On my lunch today, I will go get a cartridge and then drop off my MS on my way to my writer's group tonight.

The upshot of all that convoluted nonsense is that I can't do anything to my MS today. It's already a third printed, so if I make any changes it might screw up the rest of it. So, I thought I'd write about what the Julie/Julia Project I linked to on Friday did to me over the weekend.

It made me cook.

Gah, you don't understand--- I am the girl who won't touch raw meat, doesn't do more than three steps and NEVER makes more than one or two dishes that require more than that. Not from a lack of effort, mind you, but rather utter failure every time I tried.

Until Saturday night. I had Julie/Julia on the brain, and my grief for my horse needed to channel itself into something creative, so I looked at Wonderful Boyfriend and said, "I want to cook dinner tonight."

He promptly checked my temperature and, on reassurance that I was not terribly ill, nor possessed of an evil spirit or succumbing to madness, followed me patiently through the grocery store.

Perhaps I was actually succumbing to madness, or possessed of some spirit--- not evil, necessarily, perhaps a gustatory spirit?--- because what followed was somewhat insane, for me.

I decided I wanted Greek Food. Wonderful Boyfriend wasn't so keen on the idea (he has no taste, and I don't mean that all insultingly, he just doesn't appreciate a lot of food, and doesn't like very many flavors, so I often wonder if he literally has no taste), so I opted out of Greek Rice and into Cheesy Garlic Mashed Potatoes. But the rest of the menu would remain: Greek Seasoned Chicken, Tsatsiki Sauce, and Tandoori Nan (store bought--- I ain't THAT crazeh).

I started with the Tsatsiki Sauce--- a whole cucumber, seeded, grated into a sieve and left to drain for a half hour, then squeezed and pressed dry, mixed with a cup of yogurt (plain, non-Greek, though Greek yogurt would have resulted in a thicker sauce), 1 tsp of lemon juice, dill, salt and pepper. Chop one clove of garlic finely and add. (In retrospect, I could have done without the garlic, it adds a bite that I prefer it without.)

Then--- check this out--- for the Cheesy Garlic Mashed Potatoes, I sliced up another clove or two of garlic and sauteed it in butter until brown, then added about a cup and a half of chicken stock and let it reduce to half at a simmer. I boiled three small/ medium potatoes, chopped into chunks, in chicken stock and when done, added a 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk, a tbsp butter, and drained the garlic reduction stock through a sieve into the pan to get out the bits of garlic and fatty film. Then I added about a 1/4 cup of 3-cheese Italian blend (had parmesan, asiago, and one other kind, dangit I forget), mashed, and let sit to melt the cheeses while WB made the chicken on our grill. Toasted the Nan to dip in the Tsatsiki and OH MY G I actually COOKED SOMETHING.

But it didn't stop there, my friends--- the spirit was quite prolific and encouraged me to bake cookies, as well. White chocolate chip cookies following the directions on the Toll House Premier White Morsels bag, *but* I added pistachios instead of macadamia nuts.

I followed it up the next morning by making WB scrambled eggs and toast.

Wow, reading this over again makes me realize I really MUST have been possessed by something.