Not so much a recipe as . . .

Sometimes i just want to through a bunch of stuff together and hope that it tastes good. about half the time I win. means next week i'm going to have two experiments that don't taste real good.

Berry Cobbler (very similar to Peach cobbler
1 bag frozen sweet cherries
1 bag frozen raspberries
thaw frozen fruit at room temperature for about an hour, or all day in the fridge.

1 1/3 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
5 tbsp cold butter, cut into peices
1/2 cup milk

topping
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp butter

preheat oven to 375 and grease a 8x8 baking dish pour fruit in. in a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, and baking powder together. blend butter in with a pastry knife. when well blended, add milk and stir well, adding more milk if needed to make a soft dough. put dough by the heaping tablespoon on top of fruit. sprinkle brown sugar on top and dot with butter. bake at 375 for 45-55 minutes.

and this is what comes of craving beans, lentils and rice, and really not wanting to go out to the store on a snowy winter day:
Sort of Southwestern Rice
Small onion, chopped
1 cup diced carrots
olive oil
1 can chicken broth (or veggie broth, or water)
1/4 cup green or brown lentils (dry)
1 can kidney beans
1 cup salsa
1 cup uncooked rice
1 cup frozen corn
1 tsp chili powder
good pinch hot pepper flakes

saute onion and carrots in oil till soft. add broth and lentils and bring to a boil, then cover and simmer 15 minutes. still in all remaining ingredients, and again bring to a boil. cover and simmer another 25 minutes until rice and lentils are tender. If it starts to burn, add some water.

Book news is also on the tasty side, but probably won't clear your sinuses like that rice dish is bound to.

I'm still deciding how I feel about Tim Power's Three Days to Never. from page 10 on, i couldn't put the book down, and it's got the usual Powers paranormal time travelling relic hunters. I think i finished the book in 2 or 3 days, because it's one cliff hanger after another, after car chase, after near death experience, after real death experience. Quite the ride. But thinking back, there were bits and peices that were muddled, and just didn't resonate with me. Powers is till on my fave authors list, but i think he's done better work that this.

I gave up about 100 pages into Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. It had the typicall cyberpunk flavors - a virtual reality world (think Second Life) where people go with their avatars to hang out with other people, do business deals, etc. and you know what? Cyberpunk really isn't all that and a bag of chips. watching Hiro Protaganist (is that sarcasm or lazyness?) fart around his virtual world having all his dreams come true got old fast. In a world where you can have anything you want with a snap of the fingers, nothing is special, and nothing is worth anything. SO that one went back to the library unfinished. and of course, i can't take something back to the library without bringing something home.


I was hearing about Ai Yazawa's Paradise Kiss manga a few years ago, but i never saw it at any bookstore. It looked cute, but i couldn't find it anywhere!! Now it's everywhere, and I got volumes 1 and 2. First off, I hate super cute super saccharine super lovey dovey manga. give me some comedy, some drama, anything other than the two forlorn lovers who could never tell each other how they feel staring forlornly into each others eyes across the courtyard. Boring! that said, Paradise Kiss is the cutest, most romantic manga I've ever read, without ever crossing over into the boring/barf arena. Highly suggested.