Salsa Recipe

Three more weeks and Summer is finished. Fall starts in September. Time to harvest and store food for the winter. These days with all the different food scares one feels more and more inclined to grow vegetables in the garden. I’ve had a garden for years. Yes, it is a lot of work but it is well worth the trouble. Vegetables taste so much better and they are safer. No pesticides and other dangers to worry about. There is nothing better than a slice of homegrown tomato on a sandwich. Mind you, you need to put a slice of ham on the sandwich and that is where the problem arises. The Listeriosis found in packaged meats and sausages which caused the deaths and illness of so many people across the country makes me think twice about that slice of ham or sausage. Now it is so much more attractive to buy fresh meat and sausage from a local butcher than packages from a grocery store.
But let’s come back to the homegrown stuff. My pepper and tomato plants have produced well this year and I made some Salsa today. There are so many recipes out there. This is my own version and it tastes great.

Chop:
5 - quarts ripe tomatoes
3 - hot peppers (Hungarian banana peppers)
7 - large sweet peppers
3 - medium sized onions
5 - tablespoons fresh parsley (finely chopped)
3 - leaves fresh basil (finely chopped)
2 - teaspoons fresh Oregano (finely chopped)
3 - cloves garlic (crushed)
1 - tablespoon salt
Juice of 1 lime


Boil tomatoes for about 15 minutes in a large pot (6 quarts minimum). Remove most of the liquid to decrease cooking time. Dip a ladle into the boiling tomato pulp and let the foam run into the ladle. Don’t discard the liquid. Save it to make tomato soup.
Add the rest of the ingredients.
Boil for 30 minutes on medium heat, then simmer on medium low until thick, stirring frequently. (Total cooking time about 60 minutes or more, depending on how much liquid is in the pot). Don’t overcook, otherwise Salsa will turn to mush.
Cool and put into freezer containers, freeze, but don’t forget to leave out one container for immediate consumption.
Enjoy.

Notes: This recipe makes a mild Salsa. If you want a hotter Salsa, add more hot peppers or add some hot sauce. All of the ingredients are approximate amounts.

Here is a recipe for Tomato soup:

Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
2 cups of liquid from the tomatoes
Salt to taste (if needed)
Preparation:
In heavy saucepan, heat oil and cook onions and garlic until tender. Add the tomato liquid, seasonings, stock, and pepper, and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain through a fine strainer.
In clean saucepan, melt butter and add flour; cook and stir for 2-3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of the tomato soup; cook and stir until thickened. Add remaining mixture, cook and stir with wire whisk until soup is hot and slightly thickened. Stir in orange zest and serve.

Here is the link to Tapestry of Dreams. And here is the cover.

End of August

Time for a bit of an update. Not much has happened lately and I can't believe that August is almost coming to an end. I’m busy with domestic chores and hardly did any writing, except for doing an edit for Mark of the Cobra, which is due to come out soon, I hope. There were a few things I needed to change. I approved a cover for Outpost Epsilon, which is also on the list of releases.
My other books have fallen back in sales at Fiction Wise. It’s like anything else. Unless you advertise constantly, the customers (readers) move on to other stores (authors).
My Science Fiction novel Epsilon is not going anywhere either. I wrote some background stuff. Introduced a couple more characters, but I don’t really know where I’m going with it. My mind just isn’t with the story. Sometimes that happens. Mark of the Cobra took me a long time to write because there always seemed to be another story that wanted to be written. I hope Epsilon isn’t one of them. I really like the world I created there. The novelette Outpost Epsilon is a forerunner of the novel. I’m torn if I should write in some erotic scenes or leave them out. I’m kinda getting tired of writing erotica. Maybe I’m getting old. Maybe I wrote too many erotic novels. I don’t know.
I wish I knew if my readers buy my books because they are Science Fiction or because of the erotica. One of my stories ‘For Love of Arilee’ is part of the digest Sweet Challenge. It contained no erotica. Just a sweet love story set in the World of the Xandra. I don’t believe the digest sold that well.

Tapestry of Dreams is alive and well

Tapestry of Dreams, my Anthology of eight stories ranging from vampires to time travel, is available now from MSFiction. Just follow the link. Click on Tapestry of Dreams.
Thanks for visiting. Send me an e-mail to hegro@shaw.ca and I’ll send you a free download of ‘Seeds of Chaos’, Eden’s Gate.

Tapestry of Dreams and a few other things

I’m still waiting for TAPESTRY OF DREAMS to be downloaded to the Midnight Showcase Fiction site, but so far, it hasn’t happened. Probably because of the tropical storm in Texas. That is where Mae Powers, my copy editor, lives. She sent me the copy for one last look-over on Monday, but my eyes were going blurry from writing all day (my blog, postings on the different groups, and some other stuff). I never got a chance to check it out for a last minute edit. So if there are still any mistakes in the finished product, I’ll have to live with it.
I went through a couple of my released novels and, to my unpleasant surprise, I found many mistakes. Even though the novels were checked over to death by me and then again by my editors, mistakes still slipped through. I’m talking about typing errors. I can only hope my readers are forgiving and not nit picking. There are always those.
That, of course, is the reality of life. Plenty of people find great pleasure in hurting others, either physically or mentally. Writing a nasty review seems to give some people a high. No writer makes a mistake on purpose. Most of us want to create a perfect piece of work. Unfortunately, life is not perfect. Sometimes you just have to overlook mistakes. To err is to be human. (I know it is a cliché, but it is the truth).
Then again, I admit, if a novel is riddled with too many errors it can be distracting, unless one is blessed with a mind that connects the dots and ignores misspelled words.
Too many errors spell: SLOPPY or HASTE. It is natural for a writer to have his (or her) work published as soon as it is finished. We can’t wait to have other people read the product of our dreaming minds. It is a fault most of us suffer from. Therefore, if you do find a mistake, don’t be too critical. Be forgiving and enjoy the story. After all, that is my purpose. To give my readers a few hours of escape from reality. So, forget about everyday life, forget about rules and conventional customs, sit back, relax and dream.
Stardogs Two has slipped to number 11 position at Fiction Wise. I’m losing hope for the number one spot. There were just too many releases last week and the readers have only so much money to spend. Maybe they like Erotic Romance better than Erotic Science Fiction, I don’t know.
I’ve noticed that M/M and F/F stories are selling well. I don’t write that kind of stuff. If I write Erotica, it is M/F, that’s it. My characters might be aliens, but males are attracted to females and females to males. The way nature intended. It may not be politically correct these days, but, hey, that’s the way I feel. I make no apologies. Same goes for using words like ‘server’ instead of ‘waitress’, or ‘flight attendant’ instead of ‘stewardess’. If it’s a man, I will say so by using the word ‘waiter’ and ‘steward’. Why should I limit myself to certain words just to satisfy those kooks who feel insulted every time somebody says or writes things that don’t fit into their little world, when the English language is so rich and colorful. The words are there. Therefore I use them. It’s like telling a painter he (or she) can only use certain colors.
Another thing that drives me up a wall is when a writer can’t make up his/her mind if he/she should use ‘he’ or ‘she‘. He/she might come up with a solution to please everyone, like using ‘he’ in one paragraph and ‘she’ in the next. Or ‘he/she’. That’s when I want to shout: MAKE UP YOUR FRIGGEN MIND! Use EITHER, but not this crazy jumping around! It makes me dizzy. Again, it may not be politically correct, but it only makes common sense.
Okay, I vented again. Just a little.

Fiction Wise sales update

Just checked Fiction Wise. I am happy to report that ‘Stardogs 2’ has moved from yesterday’s position 46 to number 9 in sales. ‘Stardogs 1’ has moved from 35 to 14. ‘Cliffs of Time’ is at 23, Beyond the Stars digest with my story ‘Time Flares’ at number 24. ‘Orion, the Hunt’ at 27. Things are looking gooood.
Stardogs 1 reached only the number 2 spot in December 2007. Never got to number one. Maybe Stardogs 2 will make it. One can hope.

Stardogs Two and other releases

My latest books are finally available from Fiction Wise. Stardogs Two was at number 46 in sales last time I checked. Midnight Showcase Fiction put quite a number of new releases on the Fiction Wise site. My book will have a hard time competing with them all. We’ll see, if Stardogs Two manages to move into the ten top positions. I hope so.
My other titles are Cliffs of Time, Orion--the Hunt, and my novella Time Flares, which is part of the digest Beyond the Stars. Fiction Wise is not a money maker for us, but it gets us exposure to more readers. We prefer that our readers buy our books from Midnight Showcase Fiction The links to all of my books are listed on the sidebar.
Anyone visiting for the first time, I bid you welcome. Stay a while and check out my blog. As stated in one of my last posts, if you are interested, send me an e-mail at hegro@shaw.ca and I will send you a copy of my story ‘Gin and Tonic’. It is not available anymore, but maybe soon it will be again as part of another digest. The first two who send me an e-mail will get a free download of 'Tapestry of Dreams' as soon as it is released. Please, ask for it.
I just renewed my contracts for the stories ‘The Anniversary Gift’ (my very first published story) and ‘Remember me next Christmas’. They will be published either individually or as part of a digest this year still.
Tapestry of Dreams should be released soon. The cover looks good.

Update and a few thoughts on writing

It’s been a month since my last post. Nothing much has happened except I’ve been battling this stubborn cold for a month. Summer colds are the worst to get rid off. My garden is growing well. Unless the weather turns nasty, like hail or strong winds, I should have a nice crop of tomatoes and peppers. Even my onions are getting large. The beans are also growing and so is the corn. I’ve planted corn only once, years ago, and it didn’t do well. I’m hoping this year it will have cobs we can eat.
The basil plant I thought was frozen out, did actually make it. It is growing. Basil is great in tomato sauces and even makes a nice tasting tea.
We have this little jackrabbit in the yard. He’s as cute as a button and not shy at all. First, he ate the tops of my red beets and the lettuce. When I put a fence around the bed, he began munching on my Swiss chard. Now I covered that with wire. I tried to chase him, but he runs circles around me and just looks at me. Even though I’m a hunter, I don’t want to hurt him. After all, he’s part of the yard and almost a pet.
I’m feeding the wild birds. We get many of the North American Finches. They are so beautiful with their bright yellow and black colors. We set up one of those tubes and fill them with Niger seeds. They love those, but the birds go to the other feeders also. Strange how some birds are. The females all get along, but the males won’t tolerate another one on the feeder. We have a few sparrows. Not as many as in the winter. Years ago, we used to have more. Maybe there are people in the neighborhood who feed them better food? Birds can be fussy; we know that from our Canary. He has his preferences.
Last week I sent away the final edit on ‘Tapestry of Dreams’. It should be released soon from Midnight Showcase Fiction.
When I have some spare time, I write on my new novel ‘Epsilon’. So far, I’ve written about 8,000 words. I have some ideas in my head but I don’t really know yet where I’m going. Can’t seem to get into it. There are always other things demanding my attention. I still have to fix some errors in my other novels and novellas scheduled for publishing this year. ‘Outpost Epsilon’ is one of them. It is next on the list. And then comes ‘Mark of the Cobra’. I read them again, found many mistakes, fixed them on the printed paper, but now I still have to do it on the computer. It all takes time.
When you write for your own entertainment, it doesn’t really matter if the grammar is correct. You don’t worry if you have the commas in the right place, if you used the proper words to describe something, if you misspelled a word, or if you use adverbs and adjectives correctly. Who cares about point of view, passive voice, past tense or present tense, or even being politically correct. It is the story that is important, nothing else. That all changes when you write for the public. Some readers will take a story apart and will painstakingly look for errors. That is a fact of life for a writer, and in a way, you can’t blame the reader, who spends money on the book. The reader expects an entertaining story but also one that is free of errors.
It should be easy to have a book without errors considering that our computers have a built-in spell checker, right? Well, it isn’t that easy. To trust the spell checker is like trusting a blind man to take you across a floating bridge without a railing and a bunch of boards missing. Maybe that is not a good analog but it’s the only one that pops into my head. A spell checker will never find the wrong words. Mine always tells me not to end a sentence with a preposition, not to start one with ‘but’ or ‘and’. Totally wrong. You are allowed to do both.
Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to have my stories published electronically. There certainly is no monetary reward. I could use my time better to just keep on writing and not worry about getting everything right.
Ah, here comes the clincher. Ego for one thing. It is nice to have my name in print. It also is nice to have my stories read by others and, hopefully, enjoyed. It also forces me to be disciplined and not become sloppy. Writing for me is not just a way to pass my free time and let my mind roam in realms of fantasy. It helped me to become more fluent in the use of the English language, helped me to learn new words, helped me to see, for instance, when to use ‘I’ or ‘me’. I am always surprised how many people don’t know the difference, even public speakers who should know better.
For me writing correctly is a challenge and it keeps my mind sharp and active. Very important as I grow older.
And there is always the hope, that some day my books will be discovered by more people and maybe, just maybe, one of them will become a worldwide bestseller. (If I am already dreaming, it might as well be big).
In the meantime I keep putting my fantasies into words and share them with you, my faithful readers, hoping you enjoy them as much as I. If you find a mistake, don’t be too harsh. It was not done intentionally or out of sloppiness. Sometimes our minds ignore them, even if our tired eyes notice them.

Time Flares

My novella 'Time Flares' is out. It is one of the stories in the digest 'Beyond the Stars'. Available now from Midnight Showcase Fiction. This is my second time travel story. The last one was 'Cliffs of Time'.

Welcome Visitors

I hope you like what you see. Stick around for a while and check out my postings. Since it is almost summer and just for visiting I'll send you a free download of my story 'Gin and Tonic', originally published in the digest 'Summer Heat'. It is no longer available because some of the other authors didn't renew their contract. Hopefully, it will soon be available again in a different digest. Be the first one to read it. Send me an e-mail and ask for it. My address is hegro@shaw.ca

An Intruder?

What is this? An intruder looking through the window? Well, it's a Luna Moth. I took this picture in Ontario. I tried to photograph it from the front, but the picture didn't turn out. It is hard to get a clear picture through glass, especially at night. The Luna Moth looks like an angel from the back and like a devil from the front. Kinda scary. For more information on the Luna Moth click on the link.

Hello Spring

It looks as if Spring is finally here to stay. Just look at the chokecherry tree. There’ll be a lot of chokecherries this year but we won’t get any. The birds are pretty quick gobbling them up. My garden is growing nicely, even though we had a bit of frost May 26 and some of my plants did get a touch of freezer burn. I lost my only basil plant. Maybe I’ll buy a new one. I usually buy the tomatoes and the peppers, the rest I seed. The beans and radishes are popping out of the ground and I hope the rabbits don’t show up to nibble on the beans. As cute as those little critters are, they can ruin a garden in no time.
I can’t believe it is already June 3. Where is the time going? Not much time left for our summer. We can get frost sometimes in September. My plants better hurry up. I need those peppers and tomatoes so I can make Salsa. I planted 2 hot Hungarian Peppers this year to give the Salsa a bit of a bite.
My book ‘Tapestry of Dreams’ still isn’t available but I hope it won’t be long now. The new Midnight Showcase site isn’t quite finished yet. However my books can be found there and are ready to be bought.
Click on the links or on the book covers.

Something is wrong

What is wrong with this picture?

Nothing really, not with the picture, except this was taken out of my window today. It is May, not December. There should be no snow.
This is something the weather people didn’t forecast. Sure, we live in Manitoba, but even here it should be warmer at this time of year. I want to plant my garden in a couple of weeks. The summer is short enough as it is. Sometimes we get snow in October and it stays.
I’ve worked hard in my yard last week, getting it ready for the summer. A managed to rake all the dead grass and take it to the dump. I had a whole van full of it. It’s always a grueling job but it is done. My joints ache. Actually, this snow is not bad because as it melts it will soak into the ground. We do need the moisture. My yard is ready for the next step, which is putting on fertilizer and weed killer. Those dandelions will make an appearance soon enough.
In my spare time, I worked a bit more on my novel ‘Epsilon’. I don’t know yet where I’m going with it but some ideas are beginning to take shape. I’m busy writing some of the background, which has been hinted at in my short story ‘Outpost Epsilon’, soon to be published.
MSFiction is up and running again. There may be some glitches still, but minor. Check it out.

Tapestry of Dreams

I sent away my Anthology ‘Tapestry of Dreams’ to MSFiction. It contains 8 of my short stories. Most of them were written years ago, but I re-wrote them, changed them, and added some stuff to make them more interesting. I’m happy with the way they finally turned out.
Actually, this is the second time I sent it to Midnight Showcase. The first time was last year. It is scheduled to be published this month. After reading the stories again, I discovered many errors. It is funny how our minds play tricks with us. Sometimes you just don’t see the mistakes. Spelling mistakes, the wrong words. Awkward sentences. Everything looks fine until you put it away and read again after some time. Suddenly, there they are…all the mistakes. For the world to see if they don’t get fixed.
When I wrote the Author bio, I realized how much stuff I have already published. And it all started with ‘The Anniversary Gift’ in 2005.

Here is a list of my books:
The Xandra series (3 books)
Seeds of Chaos, Book One, Eden’s Gate
Seeds of Chaos, Book Two, Hell’s Gate
Stardogs, Book One, Return to Redsky
Stardogs, Book Two, Redemption
Orion--the Hunt
Cliffs of Time

Short stories: (Digests in brackets)
The Anniversary Gift (Sweet Revenge)
Remember me next Christmas (Holiday Voices)
Gin and Tonic (Summer Heat)
For Love of Arilee (Sweet Challenge)
Orola, the Kiir (Launch the Raunch)
A Taste of Paradise (Men of Eros)

Soon to be released:
Outpost Epsilon
Mark of the Cobra
Time Flares

2009:
Orola, Warrior Priestess
Orion, Symbiont of Passion

Wow! I can hardly believe it.
Time to write some more.
All the books and stories are available from MSFiction.

Progress Report

I’m doing my very last edit on ‘Tarnished Valor’ and it is tedious. This is the first novel where I take my time. I don’t want any mistakes. The novel is 350 single spaced pages. Usually I print out the novel and then I read it, fix errors on paper and then I do it on the computer. Because this novel is so long I don’t want to waste paper and ink, so I’m doing the last edit on the computer. I find it is easier because I don’t have to do the work twice, but it means I have to sit in front of the computer instead of reading it wherever I am with a printed copy. The going is slow, I’m only at page 135.
My novel Stardogs 2, Redemption, is finally available from Lulu but not yet from MSfiction, the new site for Midnight Showcase. It should happen any day now. Here is the link to Lulu: http://www.lulu.com/content/2322629
The short novellas ‘Cliffs of Time’ and ‘Orion, the Hunt’ are also available now from Lulu. Here are the links: http://www.lulu.com/content/2324360 (Cliffs) and
http://www.lulu.com/content/2325264 (Orion)

Check it out, if only just for the covers. They’re looking good.

180,000 Words

180,135 words, to be exact. Hurray, I am finally finished with my novel ‘Tarnished Valor’. I never dreamed I would get to 180,000 words. That’s 350 pages single-spaced). When I started writing the novel in January 2007 (One year ago in the Dominican Republic), my goal was 150,000 words. I took a break from it last fall, because I sort of ran into a bit of writers block. So I worked on two shorter novels (Orion, Symbiont of Passion and Orola, Warrior Priestess). Both books will be published in 2009. Once I started up again with Tarnished Valor, I found my interest again and from then on it was write, write and write.
Well, here I am today. Finally finished with the first draft. My mind is clear again, but now the work begins. Editing and editing. Make sure there are no spelling errors, of which there are many at this time. I’ll have to iron out some inconsistencies in the story because as the story started to progress, new ideas popped into my head and I eliminated some stuff that I had planned, ideas that didn’t pan out. The ending turned out differently from what I had in mind, but I’m happy with it. I believe it’s a great story.
Once I’m finished with editing and fixing errors, then I’ll be looking for an agent. I don’t really want this book published as an e-book. It actually is too long for that. Rather, my dream is to find a print publisher. But we’ll see what happens. It will be a slow and possibly a long road, but that’s okay.
My next novel is probably going to be another Science Fiction novel. It’s been kicking around in my head and I had to suppress it. I already have the title. Epsilon. It is based on a short story I wrote ‘Outpost Epsilon’, to be published by Midnight Showcase in August. I liked the world I created there and it calls for a longer novel. We’ll see. For now I am as happy as a clam.

Will they ever learn?

Sometimes I wonder about the mentality of people. The east coast of the US and Canada has been battered by a huge snowstorm these last couple of days. Now anyone with a partially working brain should know that when snow is blowing across the highway, visibility is low and the road surface is slippery. Why then don’t drivers slow down? I can understand it at the beginning of winter when the first snow is falling and drivers have to get used to the new conditions. Even then, the logical part of a person’s mind should kick in and say: “Hey, this is just like last year. We better slow down.”
I was watching TV last night and they showed a highway somewhere in Ontario. A car was spinning out of control and sliding down the highway at a speed much too fast for the situation. As it came finally to a halt, another car slammed into it. There were over 600 accidents in a very short time on another stretch of highway.
Are people actually that stupid or ignorant they don’t realize that they have to slow down? I don’t understand it.
We’ve had our own bad weather here in Manitoba. Bitter cold and another snowfall with the resulting usual vehicle accidents that follow. Living outside of Winnipeg, I’m on the highway a lot. How many times have I driven in bad weather, barely able to see the road, when a car or truck would pass me, I don’t know. Many times. I’ve wondered often if they are driving in a different dimension where there is no snow with slippery road conditions.
Of course, I’ve seen quite a few of these ‘I-am-safe-in-my-car’ drivers in the ditch or worse, smashed up down the road. I’ve just witnessed an accident where one car tried to beat the yellow light and had a near head-on collision with another car. An accident that should never have happened, because there is a warning light ahead of the intersection signaling the change of the traffic light from green to yellow to red. Once that warning light flashes, there is no way you can make it across by green, or even yellow, unless you speed up. And that is the greatest danger and the most stupid move.
Will they ever learn and smarten up?
On a lighter note. Today the clocks were set one hour ahead into Daylight Savings Time. It’s earlier this year. Why they did that escapes me and it makes no sense. We’re supposed to save electricity. How? The time we turn on our lights just shifted from evening to morning. Anyway, now we have to get up an hour earlier. Yak. Even our canary didn’t like it. Usually he is chipper and hops around. Sings. When I say to him ‘good morning, how are you today?’ he comes, spread his wings and bites my finger. (It’s a ritual we have. I know it’s silly, but what the heck! Other people take their dog for a walk) Not this morning. He just sat there on his perch, all puffed up and just opened his beak a couple of times to acknowledge me. No chirping, no singing. I guess we’re all creatures of habit. Even the birds. I wonder if the birds outside have Daylight Savings Time? I didn’t see them in the birdfeeders.
Have a nice day.

March update

I’m waiting for Stardogs 2 to be released. I haven’t even seen the cover yet. I’m a little disappointed about that. The book was supposed to be available in February already. My publisher Midnight Showcase has some problems with editors. Not enough editors. That of course drags all the new releases. All my other books are moving up and down at Fiction Wise.
I’m busy with my novel ‘Tarnished Valor’. My goal was 150,000 words, but I’ve passed that number. So far, I’ve written 162,000 words and still not finished. I might even reach 175,000 words. That would be nice. It’s funny, sometimes when I look at my outline of the story, I’m wondering how I’m going to reach my goal, but then when I write, the ideas seem to just come and I have no problem filling the pages.
The last 20,000 words or so I wrote into a scribbler, because I was away from my computer. Then when I came back, I transferred it into the computer, doing the first edit as I wrote. It takes longer that way. I find writing it on the keyboard is in a way easier, because when I want to insert something I can do it right there. It is harder when I use a scribbler. Then I have circles, and arrows and triangles everywhere.
Getting spoiled. Maybe some day I’ll have a laptop, which I can take with me.
I just came back from a little walk to pick up my mail. It is snowing outside and minus 11 Celsius. The wind isn’t bad, which made it bearable. Now I’m back in front of my computer, warm and toasty. It is difficult sometimes to take a break when the writing flows. But it is important to get the exercise and some fresh air.

Split Pea Soup

I love soups. I love to make them and to eat them. All my soups taste the same because all the vegetable ingredients are the same. The only thing that changes is the meat. I make Chicken soup, Turkey soup, and Beef soup.
I decided to branch out and make split pea soup. I soaked the peas overnight (My wife’s suggestion. She is usually the cook in our household. She is a great cook. I just make soups. She tolerates my little ‘hobby’).
Anyway, after soaking the peas overnight I put all of the ingredients into a slow cooker and cooked them for 8 hours. By this time, it was 6 pm, time to eat. Unfortunately, the soup wasn’t ready. The peas were hard. We had to eat something else. I cooked the soup for another 3 hours. And another 2 hours the next day. That still didn’t help. So we boiled them for an hour in a different pot. That did the trick and the soup tasted delicious. The peas were soft.
What went wrong? I checked some sources on the internet and found that other people had the same problem with peas, beans, and lentils. Some suggested the peas might have been old, they’ll never get soft, no matter how long you cook them. Well, I found that is not exactly true. The boiling in the pot made them soft. I figure, doing them in a slow cooker is probably not the right thing because it doesn’t get hot enough.
Maybe I’ll try something different next time.
Here is the recipe for anyone who wants to try it. The soup tastes yummy.
2 cups dried split peas
2 cups chopped onions
2 large carrots, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
1 tsp. each dried oregano, basil, rosemary (crumbled)
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
1 can (355 ml) chicken broth
5 cups boiling water
1 tbsp. finely minced garlic
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 or 2 cups chopped ham (a smoked ham bone adds great flavor)

I used a frying pan to sauté the garlic in 1 tbsp. olive oil, then I added the chopped onions and sautéed them also until they glazed over. (Don’t let the garlic turn dark. It will get bitter). Then I put everything into the slow cooker. If you want to forget about the slow cooker and cook the soup in a large pot, then you have to boil everything for about 3 hours, until the peas are soft. (Maybe even longer!) You want them mushy. The soup will look green. If the peas are really fresh then it may not take this long.
If you use a whole bay leaf, take it out before serving, because if accidentally swallowed it could cut a person’s throat. Bay leaves don't get soft. They can also be crushed or even ground before put into food. Apparently, a crushed bay leave imparts more of its flavor than a whole leaf. Bay leaves are not poisonous when eaten, as some people believe.
One thing that I always wondered about. Why doesn’t anyone ever mention soaking beans and peas in their recipes? Apparently, lentils don’t need to be soaked.

Now to some other stuff. I was pleasantly surprised when I checked Fictionwise to find ‘Seeds of Chaos, book One’ at number 3 position. Book Two at number 9 and ‘Stardogs, Book One’ at number 6. The three Xandra books are at number 14, 16, and 18. Wow! Six of my books in the top twenty position. That is wonderful. I can’t wait until ‘Stardogs, Book Two’ is coming out to see what it does to my sales.

I crossed the 130,000-word mark with my novel ‘Tarnished Valor’. I’ve got the next chapters sort of mapped out, but as I’m writing, new ideas pop into my head. Now it’s just a matter of bringing everything together and wrap up the story. After that comes the real job. Editing.

Happy Valentine’s Day to anyone reading this blog. Buy a book for the person you love.
Check out http://www.midnightshowcase.com/ or go to http://www.fictionwise.com/

February update

I had to take a few days off writing to do some other things. Tarnished Valor is proceeding nicely. I’ve managed to write 125,000 words so far. Right now, I’m taking a little breather and doing some organizing with the story. I’ve created some new characters (important ones) and they have to be incorporated into the story to make them believable as important pieces of the puzzle. That is one of the hard parts in writing a story. All of the characters have to have a place. You can’t just introduce someone and then forget about him or her. Each character has to play a role. It is fun to create a new character and then flesh out his/her background. Sometimes that is important. I might just mention some incidents in their past in the story. That doesn’t mean I’m writing a whole history for each character, but I give them some thought where they are from and what they are doing. I don’t do that with minor players, only with the more essential ones.
All the stuff I still have to write to bring Tarnished Valor to its conclusion, I should have no trouble to reach 150,000 words. Maybe even more.
I just checked Fictionwise and found that Stardogs 1 has had the position 6 in sales for the last 20 days and Sees of Chaos, Hell’s Gate number 7. Not bad.
Right now Stardogs is at number 4 from 80 just 2 days ago. Eden’s Gate is at number 7 and Hell’s Gate at number 8. Book 3 of The Xandra was at 18, but when I checked a few minutes later, it had moved to a different position. It seems they’re changing the positions so fast sometimes that you don’t really know where their at. At other times, the list just sits there for days without changing.
If you’re new to my blog check out http://www.midnightshowcase.com and see what my books are about. Or maybe even buy one. Or you can log on to http://www.fictionwise.com/
Midnightshowcase dot com is in the process of changing to M/Sfiction.com. I don’t know when exactly, but anyone logging on to the old address will be routed to the new site. There will be our own bookstore, which means we (Authors) will make more money than just selling our books on fiction wise. The money we get from those sales is laughable. Hardly worth the effort. But then again, our books get good exposure to a large readership. We can only hope that our fans switch to our site and buy the books there.