persimmonfrost | Jan. 7th, 2012

Or what I'm thinking about while I put off writing. It's not that I don't want to write -- I've actually vowed to write one short story a month -- but I've reached one of those question mark points in "Spellbound" (The story of a young man with a horrible lover and a very protective demon half-brother.) where I'm not quite sure how I should proceed. I start out thinking I know what's what and end up confused and irritable. So I go off and do other things.

Last night I used three pounds of ground meat I had in the freezer to make köttbullar or Swedish meatballs. I ground the meat twice more with the Kitchen Aid grinder attachment which took about two hours, and fried the first batch as the recipe called for. But I hated the way they tasted. I don't know why. So I baked the rest (this recipe makes about 45-50 meatballs) and they're much better, IMO. I'm going to toss the fried ones into some tomato sauce and eat them with spaghetti this week. And I froze three bags of them. I even labeled them! What is this world coming to when I put labels on what's in the freezer instead of playing "I wonder if this is an entree or a dessert?" with the dishes and bags. Or "How the hell long has THIS been in the freezer?" Yes, I dated the bags too. What is this world coming to?

So did we have meatballs for supper? No. I have no noodles or spaetzle, no potatoes to mash, and by the time I had finished the grinding, shaping, frying, baking and clean up -- seriously, I did three loads of dishes yesterday, and I have a big dish washer! -- I was so tired I told Glinda that I was not about to start making gravy or sauce or anything else. She said "How about a pizza?" and I almost wept with gratitude. But I ended up having a salad from Suparossa. They do a Cherry-Asiago salad that I just love once they leave off all the roasted red peppers. Mixed greens, candied walnuts, dried cherries, cherry tomatoes, cukes and a generous helping of asiago cheese, all served with a raspberry vinaigrette. It really hit the spot since I haven't had greens in way too long, and will be getting some this week as part of the I-will-buy-fresh exception to not buying any more food this month. I need to anyway since there are oxtails in the freezer that I need to cook, and the recipe calls for a few things I don't have.

Tonight though we're having baked sweet potatoes stuffed with cranberries and Brussels sprouts. It's a recipe adapted from Martha Stewart, and it's so pretty to look at. And for afters, a big hot cup of chocolate. Nice for a cold night. Tomorrow I want to bake a loaf of bread.

One of the things I've been doing to procrastinate is trying to find out if there's a DVD or even a VHS tape of a production of Hedda Gabler I saw years ago on PBS. It starred Fiona Shaw, Donal McCann and Stephen Rea, all of whom I really like, and it was nothing short of harrowing. I would love to see it again, but it seems to be the most obscure version ever. There's not even a video excerpt on YouTube for heaven's sake! Does anyone else remember this one? I have this list of stuff I saw once and never managed to find again; this Hedda is at the top followed by "The War Widow," "Mr. Axelford's Angel," (Both of which I just would like to see again, not necessarily keep.) and a really good copy of "She Loves Me."

I also cleaned the litter boxes and took out the garbage. Now I think I'll have a bit of a nap. *g*

How do I get anything written?