The State of the New Year

Happy New Year everyone!

I have to say that I'm incredibly excited about the start of 2010. There are good things in the works over here people. I'm still unemployed, go figure, but I'm now moving full steam ahead on two projects. Two big projects.

One of these big projects is my novel. I've brought the first little bit to my writing group, I've started revisions, and I'm really excited to be working on it. My goal is to have it finished and readable and out in the world by the end of the year. Will see how life cooperates with me but I'm feeling rather confident at the moment.

Project two I can't really talk about yet but it's shaping up nicely into a very solid, very real thing. Project two is a film project. Project two has its first meeting scheduled for tomorrow. The monster is coming to life.

Can't really say much else about it yet but don't worry, you will hear all about it. It's very exciting. There will be things for you to get involved in. Just you wait and see.

Consequently I haven't been on this blog nearly as much lately. I'm going to try and continue updating but for the next couple of months I expect to be concentrating mostly on these two projects along with any work I may be lucky enough to find. Okay, the work thing may also not be that desperate at the moment. The maybes have also turned into at least one very real possibility. So we shall see.

Hope everyone has had a good start to 2010. And here's hoping that 2010 is an improvement over the last couple of years. I'm looking forward to a good one.

Blueberry Pancakes

I don't really have anything to say about blueberry pancakes other than the fact that I just ate them and they were really tasty.

NaNoWriMo is almost over! The intrepid soon-to-be novelists have until midnight tomorrow to finish their 50k word count. Then a month of madness will be finished, thousands of new stories will have come to life, and I can actually get a decent night's sleep.

Oh man, I have a lot of words to get through before tomorrow night. Around 7k or so? It's doable for sure but still. A lot of words.

More regular updates will in theory start soon. For now I really should get back to that novel writing thing if I wanna hit my 50k in the next day and a half. Wish me luck?

Until then, you can enjoy this poem that's in my head. One of my characters decided to make reference to it. I dunno, my girl is a smarty-pants apparently? I didn't even remember this thing until she mentioned a line from it. Funny how brains work.

Time Long Past
by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Like the ghost of a dear friend dead
Is Time long past.
A tone which is now forever fled,
A hope which is now forever past,
A love so sweet it could not last,
Was Time long past.

There were sweet dreams in the night
Of Time long past:
And, was it sadness or delight,
Each day a shadow onward cast
Which made us wish it yet might last-
That Time long past.

There is regret, almost remorse,
For Time long past.
'Tis like a child's belovèd corse
A father watches, till at last
Beauty is like remembrance, cast
From Time long past.

Unemployment Tuesday: Happy Thanksgiving!

Another installment of Unemployment Tuesday here. Let's keep our fingers crossed that we only have a couple of these left. There are glimmers of hope, good things on the horizon, possibilities. Like I said, fingers crossed.

Hey, so Thanksgiving is this week! Happy Thanksgiving!

This year's been pretty rough for a lot of people. There are always folks in need and this year is certainly no different. There are a lot of great programs out there, food banks and whatnot, and it would be great if we could all give something small. For example, in Santa Monica there's this Turkey Dinner. Or Amber Benson is running Tara 4 Charity where if you buy a Tara doll this week 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank. If the price tag of the doll is a little steep for you, you can make a donation directly to the foodbank and send your receipt to Amber for a chance to win one of three dolls they'll be giving away. Check out her blog for more details.

For those of you not in LA, there are food and clothing drives going on in pretty much every city. A quick google search should find you a good one.

Other links!

My friend is still trying to go to China. Only one week left for him. Click to vote and help him get out of here!

Another friend of friend has a video trying to get on TV. Check out Be Like A Duck (it's really, really cute) And click it a vote if you're a fan. I think you will be.

Inkwell Bookstore had this link up the other day for this super cool little video. It's recommended viewing that's definitely worth the two minutes.

PC Pro ran this feature on the correlation between science fiction and, well, science. For anyone who's ever been inspired by a sci-fi story, seen the possibilities for the future, it's an interesting read.

LA Times has a couple of interesting reads this week. First there's this one about the changing of the guard at Disney. Disney's new chairman Rich Ross is changing the game on the lot. Several execs are out all ready, the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea remake has been nixed (thank goodness for that one), and who knows what's next. The question remains whether or not these changes will all be for the best. (Thanks to L for linking to this one)

On a lighter note is this piece by Scott Timberg about Cormac McCarthy and the upcoming release of the adaptation of his novel The Road. If anything involving McCarthy can be considered light that is. The Road opens tomorrow and stars Viggo Mortensen. Whatever Timberg has to say about women relating to McCarthy's work, well, I'm a fan. The Road is a fantastic book and I'm looking forward to checking out the film. (And thanks to DL for this)

If nothing else it's gotta be better than New Moon. I actually went to see it this morning, don't ask what possessed me, and yeah. I almost walked out after an hour. I probably should have.

That's all I've got at the moment. Need to get back to my novel writing. We're into the final week here. I've got a lot of work to do.

Unemployment Tuesday: Still there

Another Tuesday, still unemployed. Sent my resume out to a bunch of different places over the last week, have so far gotten zero phone calls. Ah well, next week is Thanksgiving. I'm going to eat lots of food and more pie and by the end of November I'm going to weigh 500 lbs. Who needs a job when there's pie?

SPEAKING OF PIE!

I've spent a lot of time in the last week baking it. On Saturday I took part in KCRW's Good Food Pie Contest that was held at the Westfied Topanga Mall. Didn't win but I did get to eat a lot of pie so really, who lost? 

Actually, speaking of winners, I happened to be standing next to the winner of the cream/custard category as we were all waiting to hear the results. Her peanut butter pie looked amazing! She's got some pics up on her blog, they make me wish I could have tried it.

Congrats to all the winners :)

My pie all plated for the judges and stuff

My pie was okay but it was nothing wonderful. I made a Raspberry Marzipan pie which was pretty tasty but due to an unfortunate power outage the night before I never had time to make a test pie. Heh, I'll plan things better if I ever try this again. I did however have a chance to make a few adjustments and redeem myself on Sunday for a potluck I hosted.

Actually, you can see my pie in one of the pictures in the LA Times article about the contest! Okay, it's not even close to being featured but they did take a pic of the table my pie was on. It's the second from the farthest end in the picture of all the pies. That's at least a little bit neat, right?

Pear & Blackberry Marzipan I made for Sunday's dinner. 

Soooo much better than Saturday's effort!

See, I told you, this last week involved a lot of pie.

Otherwise I'm still just focusing on my writing. Got a little behind for Nanowrimo with all the pie baking but after 3k or so words today I'm starting to get caught up. This novel writing in a month thing is intense! It's also taking up most of my words.

Links! (Because I really am out of words now)

Meant to post this bit about Ginger Snaps way back before Halloween. Oh well, it's still an awesome movie which you should watch. Then you can read this. Lots of talk about the horror of female puberty. Mostly about the horror of being a female going through it, but also the damage that our raging hormones can inflict on others. Why do I enjoy these movies so much? Well, actually, I guess that's probably obvious if you've seen them.

Another link probably more Halloween than Thanksgiving related but whatever! Martin Scorsese's Top Eleven Scariest Films. Some obvious choices like The Exorcist or The Shining but also some other pretty great selections.

What else? NASA found water on the moon! Neat!

Entertaining blogging about the spectacle that is Megan Fox, her (fake)boobs, and how this all relates to feminism. One of these days I really will write about what it's like to be a woman in the film industry. Sometimes it's everything you'd think it would be, sometimes it's entirely different. Either way, it's pretty hard to forget about gender and the politics that result from it.

So anyone else think Left For Dead 2 looks pretty rad? I kinda wish I had a way to play it!

Since I haven't had a chance to scan things that need scanning, I haven't really written everything I've planned to write on my trip to Israel. My friend Jen is more proactive than I am! Check out her blog Creative Confectionary and see some great pics of the delicious food we ate.

That's all I've got for this edition of Unemployment Tuesday. Should I keep doing this every week? At least until I find a job? I'm thinking about it! We'll see how many words I have left next Tuesday.

Unemployment Tuesday: November Edition

A couple of months ago I posted this entry here mostly just talking about my mental state after a month of unemployment. Since that post I've had one job and have left town once for my trip to Israel. And now here I am, once again, unemployed and sitting on my couch. So now what?

(If you find my rambles about unemployment boring and/or depressing skip to the end for links to fun stuff! I promise fun links!)

What do I do with myself as an unemployed girl in LA? My lack of job doesn't leave much room for any sort of activity that requires money. Los Angeles is not a cheap place to live and I have to be incredibly careful about what I spend when and on what. Want to buy groceries this week? Guess I'm skipping the movies! Want to go to out with a friend on Tuesday night? Let's see if I can stretch the groceries I bought last week through til next. I don't have to cut out every single thing I'd like to do, I just have to be very, very careful in my planning.

What else do I do? Socially, things like hiking are wonderful. It's a mostly free activity (there's always gas to consider but I don't do that much driving in general), I get outside to enjoy the nice weather, I get exercise, I get to spend time with friends, and the combination of all of those things is wonderful stress relief. When I have groceries (I'm kidding, I eat) I spend a lot of time cooking. Another wonderful way to relieve stress, be creative, and save money. I usually get not just one meal out of whatever I cook but several. Fabulous way to save money and stay healthy! Woo!

I don't know what to say really about the state of the economy. Last report from the L.A. Times puts National unemployment over 10% and California's over 12%. The highest since 1983. The year I was born. Not sure what that means other than the fact that I don't have a job and I'll be lucky to find one before the end of the year.

One of the problems with my industry and trying to find a job this time of year is that typically productions don't start up now. The holidays are kind of deadzone. Hollywood shuts down for almost two weeks and what's the point of starting up a film office or a television show if you're just going to have to close it all down for two weeks anyway? Why not just wait until January? Most productions do. I would love to find a job in the industry now but I can't count on it. What else can I do? Troll craigslist, register with temp agencies, continue to send my resume out to wherever I can. This wherever now includes jobs that are not necessarily film or television related.

Another question I'm frequently asked by friends is what I do with my day when I don't have a job. I do things like go for hikes with friends and ride my bike of course. Mostly though, I do actually work. I write. A lot. I read, another important activity for anyone wanting to write. While I have this free time I spend several hours a day at my computer just writing. I spend another big chunk at my computer job searching. I take advantage of the time I have being unemployed but I don't relish the idea of remaining in this state forever. If for no other reason than the difficulty it causes for things such as paying rent. I like to pay rent. It's nice having a place to live!

Hey also, guys, this whole healthcare thing... Dude, healthcare is expensive! I'm not completely thrilled with the bill that passed the House on Saturday but hey, it's something. When did trying to care for people become such a bad thing? Don't we all deserve a basic level of care? The healthcare system as it is broken. Any step towards actually fixing it seems like a step worth taking.

ANYWAY. Not trying to start a political debate on my film blog.

Hmmm... what else? How about you guys go see some movies for me and tell me how they are? Suggestions: Where The Wild Things Are, Antichrist, An Education, Inglourious Basterds, Paranormal Activity... anything else out worth seeing? I'm also super excited about the upcoming Mr. Fox movie. Looks great!

How about some books? There are good reading things to do! I finally finished Stays Crunchy in Milk
which is fabulous, especially if you like fun stories about cereal characters (and you should really). Actually that's the only book I've read lately. I have another pile of reading things to do from friends so I'm focusing on those. I have a lot of talented friends!

Speaking of friends, a couple of mine and the things they've done have been mentioned places lately. A few days ago Roger Ebert's twitter (@ebertchicago) linked to this piece at Etheriel Musings about "Medicine For Melancholy". Elsewhere my friend Amy and her film "City On A Hill" was mentioned here. Nice things were said in both places about good people doing good things! Check 'em out.

Finally, my friend is trying to go to China. Vote for him?

Oh, while you're at it, you can check out my pie video on youtube (like you haven't all ready), rate it, and let me know if you think I should make another one. Maybe this week? Not that I'm going to make a video EVERY week but I am making more pie anyway... so maybe? What do you think?

National Novel Writing Month

I have what feels like a billion tabs open on my browser right now. Instructions on how to do something nifty to the formatting of this blog, links to cool new works by authors and musicians and artists that I like, articles about various film happenings and reviews and thoughts that I'd love to share, a page for something I'm researching, another page for a skirt I really want to buy and can't afford... They've all been open like this for the last week. Everyday I keep meaning to go through them, do what I've been meaning to do, post links to things I've been wanting to link to, and every day the number of tabs open gets larger rather than smaller.

Why don't I just sit down and get through it? The same reason that I suspect will keep me from blogging quite a bit over the next month. That's right, it's November which means it is once again National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo for those in the know (i.e. big nerds like me).

I've been wanting to participate in NaNoWriMo for the last couple of years. Last year I even went so far as to sign up, write 100 words, and promptly give up. Let's just say that I was not in a novel writing place.  I blame it one work?

This year I vowed would be different. I had an idea for my novel two months ago. I changed that idea about a week ago. I'm sticking to my second idea, thankfully. I didn't really do any pre-writing but I did think the plot through, I have a pretty solid idea of where things might be going. Then on November 1st, Halloween recovery complete, I sat down at my computer. I actually began to type. Then I began to type faster. Before I knew it I was past my daily word goal for the day. It was exciting!

It's now day four and I haven't yet reached today's goal. I've written a chapter about a new character which was a bit harder than I had thought it was going to be and now I have to take a break to do life things. I'll come back to it this afternoon or evening to finish off my daily goal. Hopefully this will happen before the baseball game starts (Go Phillies btw!). Either way, I found that what worked for me while getting through the first rough draft of my screenplay this summer was setting a daily goal and sticking to it. For the screenplay I sat time goals, an hour a day, two hours a day, whatever, since I had no real page or word requirement. NaNoWriMo is different, the whole point is to reach 50,000 words by the end of November. So each day I have my word goal. I'm going with the unambitious break 50,000 words out evenly over 30 days plan giving myself a daily goal of 1667 words. During the first 3 days I surpassed that goal every day. I'm hoping to continue to do so. I'm sort of trying to bank my words if you will. You know, in case I ever actually get a real job and loose all of my wonderful free time.

I know I'm only on day 4 here and that things will most likely not continue to be this wonderful in Elissa writing land, but at the moment I am enjoying the heck out of this. It's such a pleasure to watch the word count grow, see the story develop, get to know my characters. Everything is still flowing in that wonderfully organic way that happens at the beginning of a writing project, when everything is still shiny and new and exciting. Week 2 I hear is harder. Then there's week 3. Finally week 4 comes around and you're just happy that the light is visible at the end of the tunnel. Writing is fun?

I say this and yet really, it is! I love writing and I am so unbelievably thrilled that this year has given me the time for it.

The even more wonderful thing about NaNoWriMo? Anyone can do it! That means you! If you want to of course. The beauty is, it doesn't matter what you write. It doesn't have to be good. You never even have to show it to anyone. You are doing this thing purely for yourself. To exercise your brain muscles, be creative, have fun. Spread the word-use love. We have words! It's a wonderous thing to be able to use them. Tell a story! Make up some nonsense! Who cares what it is!

I'm hoping that at the end of this I'll actually have something good. I like what I'm doing so far. I plan on sharing it with my writing group once I get a little farther along. I'll do the rough draft this month and see where I'm at. If I still like it after 50,000 words and a month of crazy, then who knows? Rewrites in December!

If you're at all curious about NaNoWriMo, I strongly encourage you to at least go browse the website. It's definitely not too late to get started on something for the month. It's only day 4!

If you need a pep talk, although I hope you don't this early but maybe you will want to come back here in the next week or two, there are lots on their website from various wonderful authors. This one is from Neil Gaiman.

Oh! And if you're all ready signed up, be my writing buddy! Find me by my user name theladysrevenge. Let me know if you do. We can be writing friends!

Good luck guys! Let the writing madness commence. Or, at least, continue.

West Hollywood Book Fair... and Cookies?

The Ginger Cookie madness is never ending. Mostly because I will not let it end. Delicious, delicious madness.

I was meeting a friend for dinner at Real Food Daily Sunday after the book fair and as I was a little early, I decided to grab a beer at the counter while I waited for him. On display they have a variety of tasty looking baked things under protective, pretty glass covers. What happened to be right in front of me? Giant Ginger Cookies. It was fate. Or destiny. Or some such thing. It was also an incredibly tasty way to finish a very satisfying dinner.

At least this time I included a picture.

Book Fair was great! I knew there was a reason I linked to it ten billion times. I forgot about the triathlon or whatever it was going on Sunday morning which unfortunately meant I was stuck trying to make my way up from the westside in the most oblique manner ever. But after two hours of back tracking and driving in circles and getting vaguely lost (why have I been getting lost so much lately? Thomas Guide, where did I put you???) I finally arrived to find free parking and the Border Grill truck. And my roommate who was very confused as to how she managed to beat me there.

We wandered around, caught a few panels, got things signed, I bought more books as I figured I would. We took a break at one point to grab some water from the grocery across the street. That ended in an almost awkward disaster as I saw a former co-worker I had no desire to ever make casual chat with again. Luckily I was able to escape before being noticed.

Panels! I didn't make it to all of the ones I wanted to check out (like the one about Zombie stuff with Amber Benson) but I really enjoyed the few I saw.

Bryan Lee O'Malley and Joshua Dysart talk Scott Pilgrim

Josh Dysart (Unknown Soldier) had a great panel chatting with Bryan Lee O'Malley about Scott Pilgrim and the process of adapting that comic into a film. I'm such a nerd for things like this. I love hearing about the different experiences people have from various angles of getting into Hollywood. It's always a challenge regardless of whether your experience is good or bad. I also found interesting how the movie and comic evolved sort of together and yet end up in different directions. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all compares.

Josh also did a a great job as a fan and fellow comic person leading the discussion. It was fun to watch them both talk.

Gerry Conway, Asterios Kokkinos, John Rogers, Laura Valdivia, Kevin Seccia

The Comics on Comics panel was hilarious. Good points were also addressed and the super enthusiastic kid in the audience made for some additional entertainment. He was really into his Venom.

D.J. Kirkbride, Darren Clavadetscher, Ed Laroche, Kiyoshi Nakazawa, Joe Matt

(Jordan Crane eventually showed up too!)

The last panel I caught was the Indie Creators panel. I think it was actually one of the more interesting panels I've seen. The guys up there had quite diverging opinions on various comic type things, from the practical side of marketing to the more esoteric question of "what is the perfect comic?" They got feisty!

And if you've been following my comments section, you'll be happy to know that I did manage to say "hi" to D.J. Kirkbride after the panel. I also bought Jordan Crane's comic which I'm very excited to read. I would have grabbed more (including Popgun which is just a bit out of my financial grasp at the moment, sorry D.J.!) but I'm still broke. Oh the glamorous life of the freelance filmmaker...

I really did enjoy the book fair and I can't recommend attending next year's enough. My afternoon focused pretty heavily on the comics but that's by no means all that's there. They had a variety of panels on all sorts of genres, poetry, theater, etc. I talked to various booth people about indie publishing, writing classes at UCLA, some cool sounding theater stuff, more comics, books, and lots of writing.

There are also a number of things going on for kids and families. Kids should be encouraged to read and love books! This is a great thing! I would totally bring kids if I had any! Maybe next year I can borrow few. Parents won't mind if I just pull a few off the street, right? I'll return them after the book fair...

What I did manage to buy:
Uptight #3 by Jordan Crane
Unknown Soldier by Joshua Dysart
Death's Daughter by Amber Benson
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

Completely unrelated, I've been listening to a lot of Neko Case, Regina Spektor, and David Byrne lately. In case you were wondering. I don't know, it seemed pertinent that I share this information with you... um... yes...

Go read stuff!

Thinking Things Through

There are always lots of things to think about. My mind has been mostly full of one of them for the last few weeks.

In just over a week I'll embarking on one of the biggest trips of my life. No exaggeration! I'm leaving L.A. for two and half weeks and what's more, I'm leaving the COUNTRY for 10 days. This is huge guys. I'm 26-years-old and I've never left the country. Maybe it's my socio-economic place in this world, but from where I'm coming from this is not really normal. Almost everyone I know has at least been to Mexico or maybe Canada. I never have. Up until two days ago I didn't even have a passport.

Needless to say, I'm very excited. Excited and nervous as heck. Mostly emphasis on the excited though. My plan for the weekend involves lots of last minute shopping and packing. I don't need to get much but there are few items that need to be purchased. I've already picked up my shoes.

I'm also not planning on bringing my computer with me so this means that as of a week from Saturday I will be offline. No blogging, no Facebook, no Twitter once I leave the states... no more online timesuck. I will have my ipod with me so I could potentially be updating from there when wireless makes itself available. But that's about it.

I have to admit that I'm almost as excited about the prospect of disconnecting as I am about the trip itself. I love the internet and what it does for me but sometimes... I just need a break. This sure is going to be a big one.

In the meantime, there are still other things to occupy my brainspace with.

Roman Polanksi. Okay, not going to say much more about this but I think I can better articulate my thoughts on it all after reading more and talking to folks and thinking about it. Here's what I think. Looking at the crime - reprehensible. There's no excusing it, plain and simple. Looking at the reactions to the story - ridiculous. On the one hand, we have people yelling for his head. People who up until a week ago couldn't have cared less. 33 years and you get offended now? Come on. On the other hand, this petition to free him? No matter what else, he's still guilty. Whatever other absurdity is going on, how can you justify signing a petition to release someone guilty of the crime? And Woody Allen signing in support? Seriously? I feel like I'm watching a satire, not real life. It's all absurd.

And I'm done. That's all I'm going to say about it. I didn't much care about what Polanski was doing last week beyond a passing interest in what his newest film might be and I think it's probably best to stick to that. There's all ready enough hypocrisy to go around.

More fun things!

For the Vegans: Came across this site thanks to @ecovegangirl. Curious if your beer/wine/liquor is vegan friendly? Check out Barnivore! Happy to see that some of my favorites like Stone and Abita are on the list.

Also on the vegan front is Vegan Oktoberfest  at Verdugo Bar on Sunday. I probably won't make it since I'll be at the book fair all day but it looks tasty!

And how many times can I link to the book fair? Really?

Rashomon is playing at the Nuart! I have so much going on and I've seen this movie not just a few times but still. A nice new 35mm print? Tempting...

Thom Yorke is doing a surprise show tonight but good luck getting tickets to that! And if you did get tickets, don't tell me. I don't want to know. You jerks.

Adam P. Knave has an interview up about Stays Crunchy in Milk. It's good! Go read it! And then read his book that my favorite grammarmonkey edited.

That's all I got at the moment. This work thing is actually requiring me to work. So back to that!

Paramount Ruined My Morning

Okay, maybe it was more the cop on Venice with the radar gun, but Paramount isn't helping! Remember that hilariously wonderful clip I posted of Alan the Marmot and the Not So Scary Sharks from BBC's Walk on The Wild Side show? Yeah, we're not allowed to watch it in the US anymore. The sharks singing the Jaws music is apparently copyright violation or some such nonsense. BOO Paramount. Boo!

Whatever Paramount, I'm just going to watch the Nighttime, Daytime bird instead. So there!



In other news... I had three ginger cookies for breakfast...

Hey LA, what are you doing this weekend? Nothing you say? Well, you should be going here! The West Hollywood Book Fair is this Sunday from 10 AM - 6 PM in the West Hollywood Park.

I'm excited to check out some of the panels, attend a workshop, say hi to people, spend too much money on more books... you know, the usual Nerd things that typically excite me.

In tasty food news, Eco-Vegan Gal put together a great list of Vegan bakeries in LA. I know this isn't necessarily of interest for everyone, but there are some really great places on that list! Even if you're not vegan! It's worth looking at by anyone who enjoys tasty baked goods. Extra points for tasty AND responsible eating.

Other things that are making my morning happy beyond eating too many cookies include my pizza that I picked up from Pizza Port in Carlsbad last night. Sooo good. I love that place. Sort of the opposite of vegan with all of the cheese covering everything... ah well. I went with onion, tomato, and PINEAPPLE. A pizza guaranteed to put me in a brilliant mood. Well, a brilliant mood as long as I'm not sitting in a parking lot on the 405 or getting a speeding ticket on Venice... Um.

Okay, ignoring the bad, focusing on the good.

I think it might be time for another cookie.

The Work Excuse

This is it, it's finally here. Thursday. Maybe not as good as Friday but certainly better than Wednesday (minus the Reno Happy Hour of last night, that makes any Wednesday brilliant). There are lots of reasons why Thursday is a great day. For one, it's bagel day in the office. I don't care if they're not healthy, if I shouldn't eat so much bread, deep down I'm still a Jew girl from New Jersey who loves her bagels. I also love free food.

Thursday is also great because it's Girl Talk Thursday. Sadly I will not be participating in this one. As comfortable as I am with many things, talking about my underwear on this blog is not one of them. Sorry guys, you don't get to read about my panties this week.

Mostly though, Thursday is great because it's only one day before Friday which is the last work day of the week. Then comes the weekend and sleep. Glorious, glorious sleep. Sure, Thursday is the new Friday or some nonsense like that but no matter what else it is, I still have to wake up and go to work Friday morning. I'm looking forward to the weekend morning when that doesn't happen.

All this being said by the girl who was unemployed for most of the year. I'm one to talk about waking up and being tired from work, right? You know what though, I'm about to play the Work Card. Because for almost the first time all year I can! I'm tired because I'm working. I am probably not going to go out tonight because I'm working. I'm not writing or sketching as much because I'm working.

Wait, what? That last one isn't good! That last one kind of makes me sad! It's true though. I've been working and cooking and socializing and not writing nearly as much as I'd like. Saturday was supposed to be a writing day but after spending an hour staring at the screen, writing nothing, I gave up and made it a reading and sketching day instead. Which isn't a terrible thing but it's not what I wanted to be doing either. The sketching was my tree climbing story that I still haven't been able to scan. The reading was a bit of Harlan Ellison.

Why Harlan Ellison? Why pick up another book when I still have a stack of three next to my bed (and one in my purse, two in my back seat, and one more next to my TV...)? I blame it on Josh Olson. Last week two friends, independent of one another, linked to articles by Josh Olson. The first was a story he wrote about a friend who had fallen victim to an emotionally abusive con artist. The second was about screenwriting and how he will not be reading your script. I read both and recommend both. In the first he mentions Harlan Ellison. After reading so much about Harlan Ellison it seemed logical that I actually read a little Harlan Ellison. Put it all into context, you know? Not that I haven't read him before, but it's been a while.

This is how my brain and my life works. One thing links to another, connects to another, flows to something else. It's how I discover new and interesting things. Hopefully I can occasionally share a little of that all here with my dear readers (all 5 of you).

I digress.

What was I talking about?

Oh yes, Harlan Ellison and Josh Olson and how I haven't been writing. Forget about the part where I'm slacking on my writing for a moment, I'm playing the Work Card remember? Let's go back to Josh Olson because it's an interesting discussion.

As a writer, I have to admit that I'm still quite insecure in my writing. I've only ever taken one screenwriting class and beyond that I've never really had any kind of instructional feedback or peer review or any of that. In lieu of that, I send my writing to my friends and family. Who I send something to depends on what it is I've written and I always send it to at least two people. Two people because I figure that 1) I like different opinions and 2) if I send it out to two then I know at least one of them will get back to me. People are busy! Yes I want feedback but I also don't want to force my writing on people who have lots of other things to do. If someone doesn't get back to me, that's cool. I totally get that. I hope it's because they haven't had the time to read rather than they thought it sucked and were afraid to tell me. Even bad feedback is good.

Even so, these are my friends I'm talking about. Beyond the fact that I don't believe my writing is anywhere ready for professional reading, I can not imagine approaching someone of bare acquaintance and asking them to read my script. It just seems so awkward to me. Awkward and rude and an imposition. As far as it goes, I love talking to writers. I love hearing stories and tips, ideas and techniques. I see value in good conversation, you can learn a lot just by listening to what people have to say. If someone happens to offer to read what I'm working on, then great! Honestly it's an offer that I may not even take you up on, yet at least. When I'm ready to share I will. At the moment I am very not ready. However, it is still not something I am going to ask.

So if I've asked you to read something, it's because I think of you as my friend. I respect your opinion and you, I believe you're going to give me honest and full feedback. Along with that, I respect your time. I'm not going to be pissed off if you don't have time to read what I've sent. I'm also going to do my best to ensure that what I'm sending you is something that I feel is ready for others to read. Time wasting is bad! I don't want to do it to myself or others!

That's my opinion as an amateur trying to work work my way towards professional. I find the opinions from the professional side even more interesting. You should go read what Josh Olsen has to say ("I will not read your fucking script") and then follow the discussion over to POV online. Mark talks about Josh's article a couple of times.

I'm sure there are even more people talking about writing and sharing their opinions and whatnot. I'm going to play the Work Card again. I'd love to read more but I just don't have the time at the moment to find the more to read. Feel free to share links if you have them!

Happy Labor Day!

What did everyone do for Labor Day?

I know I sure had an enjoyable weekend, even if I wasn't at Dragoncon. I feel like I really needed the three days. Two days is just not a long enough weekend. Even with the extra day I still managed to not get everything done that needed doing. I did relax though and that is important.

Highlights from the weekend included:

Friday night seeing my wonderful neighbors and their band Ocelot Robot at The Good Hurt on Venice Blvd. I'm still not quite sold on Good Hurt (the Stella was warm! What up with that?) but it's growing on me. Mostly I just enjoy seeing the guys play and hanging out with everyone. They have another show coming up on October 17th. Sadly I will be out of town but if you're in the area and need something fun to do, check out The Good Hurt and Ocelot Robot! If nothing else, it's always cool to support your local bands.

Saturday I actually got down to it and spent the day writing. Yes, as usual I've been slacking on the writing around work. Saturday was good though. The screenplay re-write is still going slowly but I did make a little progress. I also cleaned up a short story I've been working on. I think I'm fairly satisfied with that one so I may even release it into the world soon we'll see.

Sunday was delicious. After spending the morning dealing with the plumber (boo!) I ventured into downtown to one of my favorite new spots Wurstkuche. Sausage and beer really has to be one of the best combinations of tastiness to ever have been discovered. This place does it's beer and sausage right. They even have veggie sausage for me! Throw in the exotic Rattlesnake and Rabbit or Alligator and Pork with the sausage classics and you've got a little something for everyone. If sausage isn't your thing but you like beer, this is still an excellent spot to try. They have an impressive selection of beer on tap that always seems to include something new or rare or just plain not on the menu. The guys working there all seem to love the beer and will enthusiastically recommend something to your taste.

I should look into this more but I believe that veggie sausages are even Vegan as are the fries. There's apparently some question on the buns. Either way, it's a super tasty place to go for the eating.

My Chouffe beer. An excellent recommendation.

Veggie Chipotle Sausage
 

After an incredibly satisfying beer and sausage adventure, we made our way out to Hollywood Forever Cemetery for the Cinespia screening of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. If you live in LA and haven't checked out the movies in the cemetery yet, well, what are you waiting for? This season is almost over (they only screen in the summer) but there are a few flicks left. Go catch one! It's $10 a person and you can bring blankets, food, drinks, or whatever with you for a picnic and movie on the lawn. It's a lovely way to spend an evening with some friends. I'm also always impressed with the range of films they screen over the course of the season. It includes everything from the classic to the artsy and it's almost guaranteed that they'll show at least one movie you love by the end of the summer. I try and go a couple of times a year and I have yet to be disappointed.

Ferris Bueller, you're my hero.

Monday, the actual Labor Day, I finished off a few errands while pretending to be a responsible adult and then said Screw the laundry, I'm going to the beach! Well, I never did make it to the beach but I did make it to a sailboat. We sailed off of the beach though, so that sort of counts right? Seriously, it was amazing and completely made my weekend. Sailing is one of my favorite things ever even if it is something I haven't done nearly enough of yet. It was the perfect way to spend the holiday.

At times like these, I enjoy living in LA

Once I got home last night I somehow managed to find the energy to actually pull together lunch for the week. I made a slight variation of this Tomato and Corn Biscuit Pie and it is AMAZING. If you need something simple and savory and wonderful, go make this right now. Seriously. I stayed pretty close to the recipe making a few substitutions based on what I had in my kitchen. I only had white onion so I used about half of one of those. I sadly also had no fresh basil so I went with dry. Finally, we didn't have any lemon (my bad, I thought we did) so I used about a tablespoon of orange juice. It was sweeter than the lemon would have been but I thought it worked out quite well. Really, the key to this dish is the tomato and corn. If those are fresh (my corn was soooo sweet and good) then you're pretty sure to get a tasty meal. The biscuit crust is also super, super easy. I can't wait to try just making actual biscuits with that recipe.

OMG delicious

Yes, I am very, very satisfied with the state of my lunch this week.

We shoot this weekend so I don't expect to be writing much for the rest of the week. Today was all ready super busy and I suspect that will continue for the next few days. I will try and get something out for Girl Talk Thursday though. This week's topic is Halloween costumes! A topic I dearly love to discuss. I'm all ready thinking hard on what this year's costume will be. Maybe I'll let you in on the possibilities come Thursday.

On that note, I am out. Hope everyone had an excellent weekend!

Bad Art, Cont.

I need to make one thing abundantly clear. I cannot draw. I really can't. My sketches are beyond silly. Their quality however is thankfully not the point. The point is that it's something I'm having fun with.

The bad art has continued.

For some reason, the requests I've been getting have mostly involved sea creatures. Although J has now requested a sketch of our local favorite, Jeremiah. That damn devil eyed varmit... So as soon as I'm done with the Chupacabra meets Narwhal, I'll be giving the possum a go. Who knows what will happen after that.

For now, here are my latest two. A happy Narwhal and a Monkfish.





Now if you're following me on Twitter you've all ready seen these guys (and if you're not, why not???) Just for you folks who have all ready experienced the wonder of the happy Narwhal, I'm also giving you some failed sketches. I know, if my successful ones are this bad, how awful are the failed ones? Pretty terrible!



Follow me on that tweeting thing! www.twitter.com/theladysrevenge

Now that I have a small handful of these silly sketches, I'm considering taking this another step. Since I'm not an artist and have no real aspirations to become one, I'd like to do something that relates a little more to what it is I am trying to do. Writing. I can't make any promises on this, since I am still neck deep in a screenplay that needs lots of work, but I do have a writing project in mind for this bad art. I'll keep you posted and hopefully even have a start on it soon.

Sometimes I Do Things: Bad Art and Baked Eggs

Believe it or not, unemployment can occasionally be boring. Shocking to hear, right? I fill my time with a lot of things: my writing, cooking, reading. The internet can be a huge time suck. However sometimes, that all is not enough. Or sometimes I just need a little additional inspiration.

The other day the boredom got the best of me. So I reached out to my dear friends and asked for suggestions. I've gotten a couple of interesting ones.

Unfortunately the one involving a trip to Portland isn't quite possible for the girl who has hardly worked this year. Drawing a Mermaid Punk Band though? That I can handle.



Even more exciting than my bad art, is my baking. My friend Liz suggested I bake but left the What up to me. After some thought I decided to go savory with some baked eggs. You can bet I am happy I went with that decision.

Combining ideas from Tastes Like Home and 101 Cookbooks (I love this site), I made this incredibly satisfying lunch.



Baked Eggs

3 Eggs (or 2 or however many you want, I was hungry)
Butter
1/2 Tomato
1/2 Onion
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 clove Garlic
paprika
cumin
red pepper flakes
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 375.

Heat Oil in a skillet. Add Onion, garlic, paprika, cumin, red pepper, salt (and any other seasoning you want). Saute a few minutes until the onion is soft but don't brown the garlic. Add the tomato. Saute another few minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Line a small oven safe dish with butter (or whatever buttery spread you prefer). Crack one egg and add to the dish. Add the onion and tomato mix. Add the next egg or two. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.

I decided to top my eggs with salsa and it was delicious. If I had planned ahead a little more I think I actually would have made some salsa from scratch. The tomatoes from the Farmer's Market were that good. I also had a couple of pieces of toast and a side of blueberries.

I think next time I'd go closer to the 15 minute end rather than the 20 minutes. Or possibly try the oven at 350. Either way, this oven I'm using runs a little hot and I generally like my eggs just slightly less done than they were. I think next time I'll also leave off the salt. The cumin and paprika were more than enough and the red pepper adds a nice kick.

I seriously need to make this all the time. It's so amazingly good. I also really want to try a few of the variations suggested on 101 cookbooks.

Sunday Brunch anyone?



***

I've also received a few other suggestions I plan on exploring over the next couple of weeks. Or however long it is I end up being unemployed for. Next week there will be cake baking. There may also be some knitting. And more bad art. Definitely some more bad art.

Feel free to suggest anything else I should try! I'm open to almost all things new.

Flash Fiction: The Wiseness of Cats

A few days ago photographer Kyle Cassidy posted a writing contest on his Livejournal. Any fans of Neil Gaiman or Amanda Palmer (or both) may know Kyle's work from the book Who Killed Amanda Palmer?

The rules were simple, write a 350 word story about his cat Roswell and mer-people. The prize was a copy of Chris Howard's novel Seaborn. And Chris Howard himself was the judge.

I sadly didn't win (oh well!) but it was a lot of fun to participate in and I really enjoyed a lot of the other stories. The winning ones are all pretty rad. You can read them all over on Kyle's LJ.

You can read mine right here! So now, without further ado, is my little Flash Fiction.

***

The Wiseness of Cats

She stood alone on the vast, empty shore. The great waves roared, crashed, frothed over sand and raced towards her feet. She shivered in disgust. To step foot in that awful ocean was the last thing she wanted.

She daintily slapped at it with one sandy paw. The water swirled around her claws and she pulled back, hissing.

It was so cold!

However, the call had come. She sighed, onward it must be.

With one powerful thrust she let herself fly through the air and into the waves. After a brief moment of swirling mayhem, her feet found purchase and she settled on the ocean floor.

Seawater filled her lungs. Choking, she gasped for air. The water filled her mouth and she felt herself begin to retch. Her whole body convulsed and she hacked an impressive cough.

At her feet sat, or rather floated, a hairball. She knocked it away in distaste.

She crossed many leagues before finally arriving at the undersea palace. The distance would have been annoying but she had traversed it many times before.

The Sea King was waiting. Ten stories to Roswell’s tiny stature and yet she stood before him, mighty in her pride.

“What do those Humans think they are doing?!” He bellowed.

“How should I know?”

“You are the ambassador.”

“I’m just a cat. You’re a King.” At once he deflated, his anger giving way to sadness.

“They have forgotten me. I no longer have even a name.”

“Then you must remind them. That is the only advice I have. You were once a god to them, they trembled in fear at your power. Make it so once again.” He stared glumly at her, not deigning to reply.

“Is there anything else? I dare say it’s time for my lunch and I will soon be missed.”

Back on land Roswell regarded the horizon; an angry storm of justified anger would soon be on its way. Roswell supposed she could attempt to warn them, but humans had forgotten the wiseness of cats. That memory was buried deep along with the names of their forgotten gods.

Girl Talk Thursday - Showers!

This is a Girl Talk Thursday post! Mommy Melee explains.

To be honest, my shower/bath/bathroom routine is incredibly boring. I’m sort of the opposite of a girl when it comes to all of this stuff. My routine involves showering. Top to bottom: start with the hair, end with the feet. Sometimes I shave?

After the shower it’s just slap on the deodorant, mess some gel in my hair, and apply the Oil of Olay moisturizer with SPF 15 on my face.

Teeth brushing happens at some point. Hair drying usually doesn’t.

And that’s it. There’s no make-up, no extended routine or ritual. I like showers and all, I’m sort of OCD about taking them, but there’s nothing particularly special to report.

I like my Aveda shampoo and my Tom’s toothpaste. Although I have to admit that for financial reasons I’ve just been using random drugstore shampoo lately. I adore Lush anything but don’t really have the money for that either. And frankly, I’m too lazy to go through the routine of three different products to make me clean and soft and smelling nice. Um, those are all great things. But yeah, lazy. I settle for clean and the basic body wash.

Ha, somebody help me here? I’m feeling like I’m at a loss with this subject.

Actually, now that I’ve said that I know exactly what my shower time does for me, beyond the whole part where I get clean.

I have to shower every morning, almost always before I do anything else, not only because I’m really weird about having to be clean but also because it wakes up my mind. The creative part of me gets moving and shaking. I use the time in the shower to reflect on any dreams I may have had, go through them step by step as a way of remembering what they were.

More significantly, when I’m writing my shower time is when I think about what’s going on in my story. I think about my characters, consider where they’re at, and figure out where they’re going next. It’s an incredibly important part of my creative process because when I’m in the shower there is no distraction. There is no internet trying to tempt me, no phone ringing, no trucks driving by or gardeners mowing the lawn. There’s just the hot streaming water and myself.

I think through ideas and sometimes I’ll even live an entire conversation in my head. All that remains when I finish is to get on the computer and type it out.

So I really do need my showers. They are essential. Well, the showers yes. And the coffee. I can do nothing without my coffee.

The Shower (I like the window. And most of that stuff isn't mine)

My shelf of stuff. I use maybe two of those things on a daily basis.

And the bathroom. A little small but not too bad for three girls.

Rough Draft

I have a Rough Draft! 95 pages of scripty goodness. I've been resisting the temptation to post constant progress updates (which became harder and harder to resist the farther along I got) but I think this is an okay one to post.

I have a screenplay. With a beginning, middle and end. There are characters, dialogue, plot, structure, there's even a climax. Of the narrative device, story telling variety; get your minds out of the gutter people!

This is such a huge thing for me. It's my first feature length screenplay. It's something I never actually thought I could do. And while I know it's far from finished, I still have 95 written pages! Written pages that I wrote!

So what now? Now I print it out, read through it, and make notes on the myriad problems which I know still exist. Scenes need to change, some need to go away all together. The ending will probably change completely depending on something I think needs to happen to one of the characters. A lot of dialogue still needs fixing.

All in all it's a long ways away from actually being readable by anyone other than myself.

So I'll try to refrain from more progress updates until I get to the first draft. Until I send it off to friends for feedback. No promises on a time frame there. And no promises I won't talk about it more until then.

Is this what it feels like to be a writer?

Thoughts: I'm a Writer?

I’m doing this thing that I’ve mentioned on occasion called Writing. Right. Write. Really. I know that’s a weird thing to say, of course I’m writing. I write all the damn time. Sometimes I write in this blog. Daily I write in my journal. Hourly I put words on Twitter.

I’m obsessive with writing. It’s this weird thing I’ve been doing ever since I learned that putting letters on paper in a certain order made words. Frequently they were the wrong letters in a bizarre order. But still, words! Sentences! Paragraphs! Thoughts! Ideas! Stories? I started keeping my first diary when I moved to Florida in 3rd grade and while there have been periods of quiet I’ve never stopped.

I have notebooks full of stuff. I have notebooks half full of stuff. I have notebooks with a page full of stuff. I have a quote book that I’ve inflicted upon my friends (and filled with our nonsense). I have a self-inflicted rule that I’m not allowed to buy any more notebooks until I use more of the ones I all ready own. I frequently break that rule, but I try.

However, in all of this writing and babbling I never actually believed that I could write anything of any real length. Sure, I’ve written a few short stories, some really bad poetry, a short screenplay or two. A novel though? Not bloody likely! What about a feature? I don’t have the patience or the focus for a feature!

Yeah. Belief. What a funny thing.

I know I've all ready talked about it but I'm saying it again. Guys, I’m writing a feature. For real here. I know, I’m probably jinxing myself talking about it as it’s happening. I’m not allowed to keep a running page count anywhere (I’m on page 87). I shouldn’t be so giddy when it’s not even done.

I am though! Giddy that is. I’m giddy and surprised and pleased. I honestly don’t really think it’s very good, yet at least, but the fact that I’m actually writing this thing. I’ve been working on it for a solid two months now, after leaving the idea alone for two years, and it feels so real.

And please don't ask what it's about or if you can read it or anything like that. We'll get to that but we're not there yet. Yeah, I shouldn't talk about it if I don't want to TALK about it. I do a lot of things I shouldn't do.

This writing thing is such a strange development. It’s my work. I’m unemployed sure, but I’m still working. Every day I write something. Sometimes it’s just notes in one of my many notebooks. Sometimes it’s five whole pages. Sometimes it’s not even one. Some days I write for twenty minutes. Yesterday I wrote for over four hours.

I think what’s most exciting about this for me (other than the fact that I’ve written 87 freakin pages) is that I’m discovering things about myself. I’m learning what works for me. I’m realizing that I actually have a process. A process! My very own!

I’m putting together words that are forming sentences that are telling a story.

I don’t think of myself as a writer. I don’t think of myself as a director. I only vaguely think of myself as a filmmaker. I feel like these are all titles that I need to earn. How can I be a writer if I’ve never really finished anything that feels substantial? How can I be a director when I’ve only directed one short film? I work in the film industry so I guess I can sort of get away with the filmmaker thing. Even that I’m not so sure of yet.

I don’t know. When do I get to call myself these things? These are the things I aspire to. I suppose I’ll get there eventually.

For now, it’s just one word in front of another.

****

In the meantime, other things!

Movies!
There are good movies out right now that people should see. I highly recommend Hurt Locker and (500) Days of Summer. I also really enjoyed Harry Potter. Transformers 2 I skipped but I have to admit that I kind of really want to see The Ugly Truth. Funny People looks possibly worthwhile and Humpday I cannot wait to see.

Photos!
I gave in and made my Flickr Pro. I'm very pleased. The photo posting will not be stopped. My Photostream

Crafts!
I love crafts. I love people who make cool, original things. Sometimes I buy them. Some recent cool discoveries from the Renegade Craft fair:

Vital Industries: They make cool shirts with bikes. I love all things bicycle related.


Supermaggie: More fun t-shirts. And notebooks! I adore the little notebook I got.



And finally, Ex Libris Anonymous: Not only do they make super cool notebooks, they are SUPER cool people.



(This is the part where I fail at not buying more notebooks. So worth it though.)

That's where life has me right now. Broke, unemployed, writing. It's certainly been an interesting year so far. What's the rest of '09 got in store?

Production: Returning to Unemployment, Quiche, Bicycles, and other Summer Activities.

It’s official, or rather has been official since last Friday. I’ve returned to Unemployment-Land. The land of… well, unemployment? Job(less)-centric anxiety attacks fueled by a dwindling bank account balance, uncertainty over the future, and infinite amounts of boredom. The question of “Why am I doing this?” being asked countless times a day, in between cups of increasingly cold coffee and a phone that remains stubbornly silent. WAITING.

At least, that’s what it could be (and I have to admit, has been). It doesn’t have to be that though and I am determined to not LET it be that this time around. It’s summertime and I live only 30 minutes or so by bike from the beach. I have a basket full of projects I had to put on the back-burner while I was working, including a feature length screenplay that I’m all ready 60+ pages into (yes, seriously, I’ve actually been writing something beyond a blog. How weird is that?).

So rather than lamenting about my lack of prospects, my financial uncertainty, or any of that other stuff, I am going to instead focus on the things I enjoy spending my time doing. Writing. Taking pictures. Bike riding. Cooking. Spending time with my friends and family. These are the things I’m out here for after all. What’s the point, I ask myself? Well, all of that really.

Writing: As I mentioned, I’m working on a screenplay. Yes, I know everyone and their mother in LA is working on a screenplay. I’m working on incorporating all of the clichés into my life. Screenplay? Check!

I am really excited about this writing adventure though. Sure I’ve written things before but this is by far the longest, most real feeling project I’ve worked on. I don’t know how good it is or anything like that but honestly at this point my goal is more to finish something. The rest of those concerns are for the next draft.

Bicycle: I got a new one! After my old one died (the rain killed it, I swear) I was feeling rather helpless and stranded. So on Friday, just in time for the 4th of July festivities, I ventured up to Hollywood and bought my new ride out of some random dude’s garage. I love you, Craigslist.

She was a little rusty but some steel wool and scrubbing took care of that. Really the bike is in great shape and kind of completely perfect for me. I now even know a tiny bit about Raleigh bicycles. Yes, I googled it almost as soon as I got home. NERD.

Here she is:



Photography: (I know, I’m going out of order here) Back in December I purchased my friend’s old Nikon D40X. He was upgrading and since this was the camera I’d be lusting after for months, it was the prefect opportunity. I took it on a road trip and played with it a little but now I’m finally, actually, attempting to learn how to really use it. So far my photo subjects have included flowers, my friends, my cooking experiments, my new bike, bees (poor idea), and an onion (um, better idea than the bees?). I don’t know that I’d call my photography “Good” yet, but I’m learning! I’m pleased. You can see some of my efforts over on Flickr.

And, finally,

Cooking: Quiche! I made one! I’ve been promising my mom I’d post this recipe (I’m only two weeks late) so here it is:



Adapted from Vegetarian Times

Vegetarian Times has this whole cool crust part of the recipe involving phyllo dough but I have to admit to laziness on this part. I went with the store bought Pillsbury variety. Which is apparently vegan, good news for the roommate! Not that she’d eat an egg filled quiche anyway, but I digress.

As they also note in the magazine, a quiche is perfect for customizing. Add the ingredients you love. The original recipe called for Feta cheese, which I don’t really like, so I used Gruyere instead. It also called for a red onion but since I had a yellow one all ready on hand, I went with that.

Crust:
Pillsbury Pie Crust (usually found with the pre-made cookie dough and biscuits and all that stuff)

Filling:
Fresh Spinach (You can also use frozen. 1 10-ounce pkg., thawed and all liquid squeezed out)
1 Yellow onion, finely chopped (depending on the size of your onion, you might not need all of it. I had a bit left over)
½ cup cheese (I used Gruyere, one of my favorites and GREAT for baking)
10 cherry tomatoes, halved

Batter:
2 eggs
1 cup soymilk (or your milk of preference)
pinch ground nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat a 9-inch pie pan with cooking spray. Make the crust at this point if you’re going from scratch. Press your crust into the pie pan.
2. Filling: Stir together spinach and onion. Sprinkle cheese over crust. Top with spinach mixture. Arrange tomato halves over quiche.
3. Batter: Whisk together all ingredients in medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Pour quiche batter over the filling in the crust. Set quiche on baking sheet, and bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until top is brown and center is set.

And that’s it. Seriously. How easy is that? If you’re making a bigger pie, it’s ½ cup milk for every egg used.

The recipe really is great. I think my favorite part was the nutmeg. It added such a perfect, subtle touch. The cheese on the bottom keeps the crust from getting too soggy so it held up really nicely for meals over the rest of the week. I think I may actually make another one this week. Maybe trying out a few different ingredients. Maybe not.

Other upcoming culinary adventures: Whole Wheat Pasta Stir Fry (also ganked from Vegetarian Times), a spinach smoothie, and a Rhubarb-Mango crumble my lovely friend posted over on her blog Do Not Feed the Editor.

I suppose that’s enough chatter for now. I should probably actually eat food, not just write about it. And there is more screenplay writing to be done as well. Maybe I’ll even make it outside today.

Unemployment-Land, here I am.