Whet My Appetite: It's a Good Thing

Appetizers.  They are a good thing.  I'm sure Martha Stewart would agree.

Sounds so easy, unless most of your friends are foodies and will judge you.   Unless it's 100+ degrees and the thought of turning on the oven just kills any social desires.   Unless you find yourself too tired, or too bored with your usual repertoire.  Yes, I foresaw these obstacles long ago and purchased Martha Stewart's Hors D'Oeuvres as insurance.  Just in case I ran out of ideas, inspiration and appetite.

While Hors D'Oeuvres was voluminous and a little intimidating with its details in smaller fine print, appetizers is more casual and inviting.  The golden rules in the front are so useful for someone like me who tends to prepare way too much food and stress out.   Of course, to be fair, many of my friends are foodies with discriminating palates.   Stewart says her winning formula is 10 bite size hors d'oeuvres per guest, probably 12-14 per foodie?

Edamame with chile salt or with some heat (Garlic/soy blistered) is always a hit in my home. Roasted spiced chickpeas is another winner that doesn't require too much fuss.  I like the diversity of recipes so that you can choose a few really simple appetizers and a few that engage more of your culinary skills.   For example, I rarely deep-fry but Stewart's recipe for arancini looks quite tempting and do-able.   Signature cocktails have come back with a creative vengeance so her chapter entitled Sips is very handy.   The photos are spectacular and instill confidence that your spread will be visually stunning as well as nom nom delicious.

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.

Happy Students Make for Happy Lucy

Just finished a 40 min. video/chat with Lucy via ZOOM link. I gotta tell you she is one fine instructor. She's flexible, responsive and really in touch with the day-to-day problems of the student/writer.

 

I started out wanting to learn to do an adaptation and chose my own screenplay.  It became obvious, pretty quickly, that  I wasn't going to be able to divorce myself from the storyline or characters enough to think of the story on stage. Sooooo, we did a quick switch and I picked a movie I liked to adapt, to whit, "Casablanca". 

 

Again, pulling away from the original story and power of the actors proved to be really difficult, but Lucy was really good at pushing me and supporting me. The result is a one act play "Laszlo" (the title is explained in the Programme Note). 

 

Working with Lucy was a real eye-opener in terms of learning to see how my dialog and actions would play on stage.

 

Out On The Wire

Here in Los Angeles, we spend a lot of time in our cars, whether we like it or not.   Most of us don't. Listening to the stories on the radio, however, helps transport us to other worlds.   Helps us forget we're stuck in traffic.   Helps us be more interesting, compelling characters.

This graphic novel is a fun book to read wherever.  Helps you understand how stories get on the radio.   Explains what makes a good story great.   Why radio endures.

As a professional storyteller and a writing teacher/mentor, I often make the very same points Jessica Abel illustrates so well.   I just may  have to assign Jessica Abel's novel as required reading to my students.  Abel is a fellow University of Chicago alum so I'm thrilled for her success.

It's also fun to see names with faces.  So that's what Glynn Washington and Alix Spiegel look like. Everything you wanted to know about public radio, but didn't know whom to ask.

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.

Fried Chicken

Fried Chicken is a guilty pleasure enjoyed by everyone I know.   My Pleasure Palate Meet-up group just did a fried chicken crawl in hopes of discovering the best fried chicken in Los Angeles.  No one can agree.  Is it the Korean fried chicken with gochuchang?  Southern fried buttermilk chicken? West African?  Perhaps, the best fried chicken was served by your grandmother?

That's why this book by Rebecca Lang is fabulous.  There's no need to choose between them when variety is at your finger tips.  Sometimes the best fried chicken is the one made in your kitchen.   Lang offers tips on what oils to you, how best to drain the oil (rack over paper towels),  shares the pros and cons of skillet frying vs. deep frying, and stresses you must use the freshest high-quality chicken.  After reading this book, the act of making fried chicken seems less daunting.

Please save me the wings.  The whole wing.  Don't throw that tip/nubbin away!

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.

Why I Mentor

Choosing Lucy Wang to mentor me turned out to be an excellent decision. I started working with her in December 2014 and since then, kept going back to her again and again. The reason why I keep going back to her is that I trust her deeply and fully: I trust her talent and capacity as a mentor and teacher. I trust her warmth and care as a human being. I trust her respect for the art of playwriting; that she understands what it is that drives us as writers; makes us want to write.

With Lucy, you don’t just get a mentor who guides you with structuring your play and helping you improve dialogue and create a compelling plot. She’s not just a mentor who helps you identify your strengths and work on your weaknesses. She adjusts herself to her students’ temperament. If you have a crisis of confidence as an artist, if you suffer from doubts; she’ll be there for you. Standing by you and encouraging you but without a hint of pushiness. You just feel her presence and feel reassured.

When you submit your writing, Lucy’s feedback is prompt even when she’s in the midst of working on her own show. Even when she’s in the middle of travelling; even when there is a family crisis in her own private life. She gets back to you and her feedback is consistently specific and detailed. She reads your work thoroughly and gives you constructive criticism. I trust her so much that I look forward to her criticism. The more critical she is, the more confident I feel that my writing is going to improve. And every time, my writing does improve. I learn something new, I discover that I have skills I have not been aware of before. Lucy is just wonderful.

I count myself lucky to have Lucy as my mentor. With her I’m in safe hands. With her I can walk on unchartered ground, knowing that if I stumble and fall, Lucy will be there to help me stand up again and walk. She’s the best you can get. Go for her.

Nushin. A.