What would you add?

Okay, my foodie friends, I'm counting on you for this one!

Today I made this recipe. The only changes were

• I used fresh rosemary instead of dried (didn't measure, but more than a tsp)
• the spinach looked dodgy so we skipped it
• turkey kielbasa instead of the regular kind

It was yummy enough, but…kind of bland. At about 6 hours I tasted it, thought it was bland, and dashed in some sea salt and dried parsley. When we ate it, we both added a bit more sea salt.

What herbs and/or spices would you recommend adding to punch it up a little? Not necessarily spicy (hot spicy), as we eat a lot of that already. Just more flavorful.

(Please answer here on the blog rather than FB/Twitter, because I'm about to leave town for almost two weeks and won't have time to check those sites regularly, and by the time I get back any responses will have disappeared into the gaping void. I can never find anything on FB after a few days, if that!)

Question for my photography-minded friends

This question is for my phenomenal photographer friends.

I'm updating an older story to publish via Soul's Road Press, and given that it was written nearly 20 years ago (egads), technology has changed.

The story opens with an amateur photography enthusiast taking artistic boudoir shots of his girlfriend. At the time, of course, he was using film - and I know that some photographers still prefer film for some projects.

Of course, the photos get steamier….

In the original story, they plan to send the steamier rolls of film to a discreet developer, and to have the boudoir shots developed at their local photo developing place. It's important to the plot that they accidently give all the rolls to the photo developing place, because that's how they meet, er, a new friend.  ;-)

While I don't want/need to get technical in the story, I need a reason why he wouldn't switch to digital once things got steamy. One thought I had was that he'd been planning to set up a home dark room but hadn't yet, so he was going to save the steamier photos to develop himself, and got the rolls mixed up.

Is there a better (but still simple) explanation? Am I over-thinking this?

(Please leave comments here so I can reference them again. If they're on Facebook, I'll lose them w/in a week...thanks!)

Healthy mac and cheese?

Okay, here I am with another question for my foodie friends! (Note: I'd be grateful if you posted your responses here rather than FB/Twitter/G+, so I can keep everything together in one place. I cannot find anything on FB after a day or two after it's been posted, and I rarely even check Twitter, and I'm on G+ even less. Thanks!)

This time, I’m looking for a reasonably healthy macaroni and cheese recipe. I say “reasonably” because it’s hard to make something full of cheese super-healthy, but I want to strike a balance. I’ve been eating Amy’s Organic frozen mac and cheese, but it’s expensive, and doesn’t use whole wheat/whole grain pasta. I’m choosing it over boxed mac and cheese – which I can get as whole grain and organic – because if I make a box of mac and cheese, I will eat the entire box. And it’s still more processed than I’d like.

So what I’m thinking is, if I make my own (either in the crock pot or oven, or on the stove), then I can freeze it in portion-sized amounts.

I’ve done a little research and found bits and pieces of recipes that sound good, but I can’t seem to find one that covers everything I’m trying to do – and I’m not a good enough cook to know how to combine recipes.

Here are my parameters: 

• Ideally less than 400 calories per serving (where a serving is a reasonable size, not a quarter of a cup or some such bs).
• Whole wheat/whole grain pasta – doesn’t really affect the recipe; I can just substitute.
• No ingredients beyond pasta, cheese, and things that make it saucy. No breadcrumbs, no onions, no cauliflower. Those things are all fine and sometimes I do want a dish like that, but right now I’m looking for bog-standard comfort-food mac and cheese.
• When I see the phrase “low fat,” I think “chemical shitstorm.” I’d rather have a strong-tasting full-fat cheese and use less of it than use a blander low-fat cheese that will trigger my body to eat more.
• A little flour or cornstarch is fine, yogurt/milk is fine. I’m open to suggestion.

Here are some of the recipes I’ve looked at online. None of them fit all my parameters, so one question is, how could I combine these ideas?

Fitness recipe. What I like is the idea of using Greek yogurt for creaminess. What I don’t like is the onion-garlic puree (I could see trying it later, though), the breadcrumbs, or the reduced-fat cheddar. Would ditching the puree and using regular cheddar keep it below 400 calories, I wonder?

Food Network Squash Recipe #1. I know I said nothing funky, but eventually I’d like to try something like this one, with squash. Will it appreciably change the flavor? (I add squash, carrots, all sorts of stuff to spaghetti sauce and it doesn’t change the flavor, but then again, tomato sauce is different than cheese sauce.) What would happen if I left the squash out but used the same basic recipe? Likes: Ricotta, regular cheese. Dislikes: Lowfat milk (it’s not enough to make a big calorie difference, though), doesn’t give calorie count.

Food Network Squash Recipe #2. Ditto questions about squash above. Likes: Yogurt (would use regular, not non-fat), decent calorie count (but how far would it go up w/regular yogurt and cheese?). Dislike: The low-fat/non-fat options.

AllRecipes recipe. Likes: Basic and simple. Dislikes: Low-fat stuff, and what’s the calorie count?

Blissful recipe. Would cauliflower puree make it bland? Otherwise, my biggest issue with this one is the lack of calorie count…I’m guessing it’s high, given the cream cheese.

Help! [Preposition] Her [Body Part]!

Okay, you wildly creative people, you, I need help.

I need an occupation, a title, and a cover image.

Ah, if only it were that simple. See, I need these things for the third of a series of erotic romantic novellas.

The first one, which is already on sale, is In Her Hands – the heroine is a sculptor and the hero is a model-turned-photographer. The opening scene was a finalist in the Brava Novella Contest a few years ago.

The second one, which I’ve started writing, is On Her Lips – the heroine is a torch singer and the hero is a 1940s-obsessed art gallery/club owner.

When all three are finished and published, I’m going to do an omnibus edition called From Her Heart (or maybe With Her Heart; haven’t decided yet).

The heroine of novella #3 originally was going to be a voice actor (as was the hero), but that made the title too close to On Her Lips (With Her Mouth? On Her Breath?) Plus, what would the cover art look like? (See below.)

I also considered making the heroine of novella #3 a tattoo artist and calling it Under Her Skin, but it’s not quite the same (technically, unless she’s tattooing herself, the title doesn’t exactly work). Since the first two titles are about what she does…

Or maybe I’m overthinking it all. You tell me.

The other issue is the covers. Phaedra designed for me a smoking-hot cover for In Her Hands, but since I’m branding the Andrea Dale titles so they all have a similar feel, I’m looking at redoing it.

Here are the images I’m considering for the first two:

You can probably see how those create an added dilemma for novella #3: tattoo guns aren’t sexy, and finding one on a blue background has proved futile (although I could put one on a blue background. Still, though: Not sexy.). Of course, the cover image could relate to his artistic endeavors.

So not only do I need an artistic occupation that allows a title form of [Preposition] Her [Body Part], I need a striking single object that evokes one of the two characters’ artistic occupations for the cover. The occupation needs to be different from the others and use a different body part than the others.

(And you all thought writing was easy!)

The winner gets a free electronic and print copy of any of the three novellas, plus a thank you in the acknowledgments of the third novella. If there are multiple winners (say, one person comes up with the perfect occupation but I like someone else’s title better), they both get the prizes. Hell, I’m likely to give all of you the ebook just for playing!

And please leave your suggestions here rather than FB/Twitter/G+/email/etc., so I have them all in one place. Thanks, and have fun!

Question for my foodie and health-conscious friends

I think I’ve mentioned here a few times that Ken and I have revamped (and continue to revamp) our eating habits, cutting out processed foods as much as we can, eating as clean as possible, etc. I’ve cut out sugar and am frequently dairy free (barring milk in my tea). And so on.

Another step in that direction was to send all our old nonstick cookware off to a charity shop and replace it all with Pyrex (charity shops, ebay, and one of my sisters have been fabulous in that regard). Now I’m frowning at all the plastic cooking spoons, spatulas, etc., and wondering what to replace those with (especially since they’re starting to flake off at the edges. Ew!). That’s where I need your advice, my pets!

Wooden? If so, are there some that are better than others? I have one set of wooden spoons and one of them is developing splinters. I don’t want to eat wood…

Stainless steel? Or would this scratch the Pyrex?

Silicone?

And what about food storage? Are BPA-free plastic containers really safe? Or should we switch to glass (which has the downside of being pricey)? Our current containers are old and also flaking, and I’ve already gotten into the habit of transferring contents to a glass bowl before microwaving. I’ve also been slapping plastic wrap over leftovers on a plate or in a bowl rather than transferring the contents into a container. I don’t use the plastic wrap when I re-heat in the microwave, but there’s a part of me that doesn’t like the waste of plastic wrap (i.e., use it and then toss it).

Bonus points to suggestions that are eco-friendly as well. Thanks! xo

Question for erotica readers

To my lovely erotica-reading friends:

If I were to put together a collection of BDSM short stories (which I am indeed about to do), would you prefer heterosexual stories only, or should I include lesbian stories? And if het only, would you prefer male dom only, or  should I include female dom/male sub?

It's entirely possible I could do two collections, one het and one lesbian, or even three (one het male dom, one lesbian, and one het female dom), but the only one for which I have enough stories to make up a print book is het. The other one (or two) would end up being e-books only.

Thank you for you input!

Runners/joggers: What music makes you gogogo?

Question for you fellow runner/jogger types (or, I suppose, anyone who works out in a bouncy fashion): What's your favorite workout music? Do you have a playlist and if so, what's on it?

I'm looking for some new tunes to add in to my playlist, just to shake things up a bit (and not hear the same songs every day). What do you recommend? No rap or hip-hop, please, and country will be a very hard sell. Bonus if the song's on iTunes.

I'll show you mine if you show me yours…in fact, I'll go first!

Dayle's Workout Playlist

Can't Get You out of My Head, Kylie Minogue

Dancing With Tears In My Eyes, Ultravox*

Everything, All the Time, Styx

Firework, Katy Perry (Best. Workout. Song. Ever.)**

Follow You, Glen Burtnik

Get the Party Started, P!nk

Girls, Girls, Girls, Mötley Crüe

Hooks in You, Marillion

I Don't Need No Doctor, Styx

I Drove All Night, Cyndi Lauper

I Kissed a Girl, Katy Perry

Intro/Blue Collar Man, Styx (a live bootleg. Sssh!)

Let’s Go Crazy, Prince

Life Is a Highway, Tom Cochrane

Love Is the Ritual, Styx

Love Like a Rocket, Bob Geldof*

Mr. PC, Rick Springfield

No Such Thing, Tommy Shaw*

Nowhere Fast, Fire Inc. (Streets of Fire soundtrack)

Pour Some Sugar On Me, Def Leppard

Renegade, Styx

Shake It Out, Florence + the Machine

Tall Cool One, Robert Plant

Welcome to the Jungle, Guns N' Roses

What the Water Gave Me, Florence + the Machine

What You Waiting For? Gwen Stefani

You Spin Me Round (Like a Record), Dead or Alive

1985, Bowling for Soup 

___

*These have been a part of my workout playlist since at least 1988. I remember having them on my running/workout cassette in my Walkman when I was in law school… The other ones I can remember are Heart’s “Magic Man” and “Crazy on You,” and Kate Bush’s “Cloudbusting” (perfect for an upslope on my daily 3-mile run).

**In fact, I sometimes listen to this one over and over.

What do YOU think?

Ignoring the watermark in the center, of course, what do ya'll think about this cover?

(Not entirely wedded to the pen name, either, so comments are welcome about that as well. I was originally going with Andrea Loewen for my [sweet-to-spicy, non-erotic] romance name, but I really hate being asked "Do we call you Dayle or Andrea?" so I thought keeping Dayle for all genres except erotica made more sense. And since people sometimes think Dayle, even with that spelling, is a guy's name, I figured I'd add a clearly feminine middle name—and I've been struggling with that for weeks. The only other option I kinda like is Holly. Is Dayle Holly Loewen better than Dayle Ivy Loewen?)

In the market for a new camera - thoughts?

Okay, folks, I’m in the market for a new camera, and I’m looking for advice and suggestions.

A little background: Way back in the mists of time when I was a reporter, I used a bells-and-whistles camera, plus my husband at the time was a great photographer and we had a proper camera. But over the years, I’ve moved to point-and-shoot (and digital, natch). Now I want to get back to real photography again…but I’ve forgotten a lot.

So the questions of “What do I want?” is hard to answer.

Here’s what I want to use the camera for:

1. concerts. I need to be able to shoot decent pictures without flash, and the camera needs to take pictures quickly with little down time. Concerts mean I’d need a camera without removable lenses.
2. book covers. I need to be able to take reasonably high quality photos for covers (300 dpi for print covers).
3. travel. I want to take nice pictures when we travel. The camera doesn’t need to be waterproof, but reasonably light, small, and hardy are pluses. Extra lenses might be too bulky for motorcycle travel, so again, I’m probably looking for one w/o removable lenses.

I like the idea of having one that has point-and-shoot capability as well as all the manual controls.

I’m somewhat flexible on cost. This is an investment and I’m not necessarily looking for the cheapest camera; however, I want to find a balance between quality/functionality vs. break-the-bank/more features than I’ll ever use. So far, $500 doesn’t scare me; more than that and I’ll have to be convinced the cost is worth the added features.

Thoughts, suggestions, recommendations? Feel free to ask me questions to help me refine what I’m looking for! And thank you!

(And please leave comments here rather than FB/Twitter/G+…that way I don’t have to look four places to compare everyone’s suggestions. Thanks!)


Update 2/20/12: I think I've narrowed it down to the Canon S100, the Sony HX100V, and the Sony HX9V. Which is not to say that I'm still not completely waffling…see the comments for more!