Today is the end of my weekend. This week, I finished my pre-revision for chapter 11 and content revision of chapter 12. I sent off ch 10-11 to my writing group for next week's critique.
Tempura broccoli is one of the great pleasures in my life. Seriously, I don't know why. Actually, I do know why - it is delicious. If you don't eat tempura, with actual tempura sauce, you are missing out on crazy good eats.
Making is not difficult, even in my tiny kitchen, but it does result in some significant mess, since I am a messy cook. You should try it anyway, as you are probably much more organized in your kitchen than I am in mine. Here's all you need:
Your favorite variety of chopped vegetables or seafood
1 C all-purpose flour
1 C ice water
1 egg, beaten
Some oil for frying
Heat the oil - 340-360 is what you want
Mix the egg, ice water, and flour until there are only medium sized lumps - not until it is smooth!
Dip the veggies in the batter and let some drip off
Fry 2-3 minutes
Drain on paper towel, and eat with tempura sauce (Kikkoman is a good brank, IMO)
YUM!!
This weekend, especially most of today, was dedicated to boiling my entire job down to a few brief outlines for training. Tomorrow and Wednesday we are training our seasonal Assistant Rehabilitators. This is the first time we are trying this particular format for training them, and we are hoping for great success.
I'm very optimistic; I think it is a great idea and an effective format. However, it is the most difficult thing in the world for me to be brief, especially when I'm talking wildlife nutrition (kind of my specialty, who knew?). I want to be accurate. There are so many wonderful things to consider! I want everyone to have the joy of this knowledge! Oh the intricacies!
Practicing brevity is a good thing, though. Learning what one should include and what can be saved for later is an important skill. And not just for training, but also for my writing in general. (I know, you thought this post wouldn't talk about writing! Fooled you!) I like the details I include in my stories, but as demonstrated by some wonderful flash authors I've been listening to recently on The Drabblecast, sometimes vicious trimming can result in a tighter, stronger story.
And as for thesauri (thesauruses? thesaurusi?) - let me just say that I love them. I depend on Thesaurus.com because I can't really afford to go out and buy a real thesaurus. Have you looked at the price tag on those suckers recently? An arm and a leg, really! However, when one has a sketchy internet connection, it can be seriously problematic when one hits that word that you just know, it's on the tip of your tongue... what is it??? I endured this pain several times this weekend, and have decided I will be visiting the second-hand bookstore tomorrow to find myself a proper paper thesaurus. Whatever the cost, it is worth it!