Clever K – Open Book Blog Hop #381

June 19, 2023 By Captain Maiel 6 Comments

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #381

Besides writing, what other ‘subjects’ are you good at?

Welcome back to another Open Book Blog Hop! The authors included in this ongoing series wish to thank you for your reads. Even more so, we appreciate that you share our writings with friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors engage and impress weekly. Prepare to become a regular reader.

The odd knack to know just about every dog breed has been a strange facet of my knowledge base. It’s a lot less strange if you understand my background: my grandfather bred and showed dogs, but I also had aspirations of being a vet for a good portion of my high school years. Dogs have always been at my side. However, that is not exactly where I ended up going in my higher education days.

My family would often cite how clever I was. Reading and writing was a huge aspect of my life from early on, however it wasn’t the only thing. Exploring the land was one of my favorite hobbies. Getting outdoors and seeing the animals on our few acres was exciting. There were deer, salamanders, frogs, pileated woodpeckers, fox, and all kinds of critters in-between. At my side was our trusty family dog.

When I began my bachelor degree, my focus was biology. Being the clever kid, I knew what I wanted fairly early on. The point was to gain the base for either zoological work or carry forward into the veterinary sciences. When I faced my shortcomings in calculus, I had to reexamine my future plans. This really put a dent in my ideas that I was clever. Yet, at this time, I already wrote books and honed my craft as an author. I figured I would keep this as a happy little hobby.

Regardless of what I thought I knew or how clever I was, life had other plans. While my high school days and early college days gave me a strong understanding of the biological sciences, coupled with my preoccupation with canines, I also really enjoyed historical topics. Most of what I read was historically based and I consumed a lot of documentaries with my dad. World War II was my major interest and behind that came Victorian Era culture (mostly the arts: textile-including clothing, design, writing, and so on). The rest of history would split my remaining interest pretty fairly.

As you likely surmise, the next natural path for me was to pursue my writing and focus on history along with it. The presence of film and documentaries influenced where I ended up focusing my specialization along these lines. My masters studies amalgamized history, film, and writing into several epic years of study that renewed my interest in writing and allowed me to delve deeply into World War II spy history, along with consensus building and propaganda use in the mid-twentieth-century.

You guessed it! I specialized in my second book‘s topics. It was an amazing ride of which I enjoyed every bit. This is also the period when I met the editor of several of my books: Kara Storti. I worked with her sister who introduced us. If it were not for Kara, I don’t think I would have continued publishing. I know the books wouldn’t be presentable! Editing, strangely enough, is just not my strongest skill–at least when it comes to my own work. I might think I’m clever but I am not foolish!

My love of the biological sciences and history have fed into my writing projects in more recent times. You’ll see wolves featured heavily in Trailokya, paying homage to my most central and oldest loves. Likewise, screenwriting studies have heavily influenced my style and process. I can’t say that this began after my degree, as I had pursued screenwriting earlier than this on my own.

Cutting Board that reads Culinary K, The Blue Honor Blog - culinary K

Something that you may not have seen coming is the influence my science background has had on a hobby (and daily activity) of mine: cooking. These culinary interests are about as old as my love of dogs. Common memories of childhood heavily lean into this subject. Just like I had thought about being a veterinarian or zoologist, I also gave some thought to becoming a chef. That said, I didn’t want to deal with the hours and very real stresses of such a job. The work is hard (understatement). Growing to despise culinary arts was just not something I was willing to risk.

One of my favorite celebrity chefs is Alton Brown. He uses science (chemistry) and historical/cultural knowledge to explore food and recipes on a show called Good Eats, which featured on Food Network back in the 1999-2012. What could be better? If that doesn’t sound right up my alley, you should know that he delivered every episode with humor and unconventional elements. Alton was someone like me, and I wager he’s very clever in real life. I still hold him on high in my list of influential professionals.

In the end, writing won out over all the other subjects that I love. However, each of the other interests developed into skills that appear alongside my art in surprising ways. They’re deeply entrenched in my thinking, so it only makes sense. After all, you write what you know! Maybe I should start a series called Clever K…

Click on the links below to see what the other authors are good at. To get this blog hop delivered to your inbox every Friday, drop your email address in the box on the top right. See back here next week!

Cooking Hell – Open Book Blog Hop #357

January 9, 2023 By Captain Maiel 3 Comments

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #357
Have you or any of your characters experienced cooking disasters?

What a great question for an author who also enjoys cooking/baking! I like to think of it as my untapped talent, which I keep for the benefit of family and friends. Cooking or baking takes a lot of effort, and the payoff is limited. Very little about the culinary arts is permanent.

If you took a photo of your culinary masterpiece, passed on a recipe, or managed to preserve a sample for posterity–it would never be the same again. I guess you could argue the same for the experience of any art. Once experienced it will never be the same experience again. Even if someone made the recipe to exacting specifications, it wouldn’t taste the same. I know this because I make Toll House Chocolate Chip cookies using the recipe on the morsels packet the same way as everyone else with the same ingredients. However, mine come out (pardon my ego) amazing. I even beat out my mother who I thought made the best chocolate chip cookies in my life.

So what happens in the process of making a recipe that the result is changed? You’d need to analyze every piece of the process from one cook/baker to the next. Even a brand change in ingredients (such as flour) can alter taste. Did you know that a sack of flour by the same producer can be different depending on harvest time and the details of the process it underwent (such as weather, moisture, etc)? It’s true. Butter from one cow will taste different from the next cow’s butter.

That said, how do you account for consistently different results using the same ingredients at the same period? For instance, I used to make those chocolate chip cookies at the same time of year as my mother (the holidays). They’d still differ. We lived in the same town, shopped the same grocer, and bought the same products to make our cookies. Still different. It is so wild!

One thing that I do know I do differently is melt my butter not just soften it. The microwave process may affect the molecules of the butter, but there is documented proof that the state of the butter alters the taste of the resultant food. I will never go back to simply softened butter. The mostly melted version creates such a great tasting cookie with amazing consistency.

How did I discover this? It wasn’t through research per se but through experience. I forgot to thaw the butter to make the cookies. Disaster loomed! When you don’t have time to mess around, you can’t just buy another pound because that would be too cold as well. Hence, microwaving the butter to soften it. Well, the uneven heating causes melting, not just softening. Butter melts super quickly in the microwave and there is no way to do this to simply soften it–especially with a frozen stick of butter. Additionally, in a rush to have the cookies done for the next day, I just melted the butter to get it done. What’s the big deal? The butter is going to melt once you bake them, right?

That was the best thing that could have happened. It taught me a different way to create the same recipe with even better results. The cookies were a major hit.

What you put into your recipe and how you put it in affects the results you get. If you make cookies with margarine instead, They will be different. If your measuring cups are off, they will change the outcome, too. Brands affect taste, consistency, and even appearance. If you skimp to save money, it will show in the results.

Exploring changes in a recipe is a great way to find something that works better. You can always improve a recipe, regardless of feeling it’s good enough as is or that you’re comfortable with what has always been. I loved my mom’s chocolate chip cookies and wouldn’t have changed a thing about them. They were a comfort. Yet, when I found myself pressed for time but was willing to explore that opportunity with a risky solution, the result was the best cookie yet! Don’t let yourself get stagnated. Explore.

Exploring changes in recipes could result in absolute disaster, but if you’re familiar with cooking and baking then you shouldn’t be afraid of that. You’ll rely on your experience and knowledge to make those choices. The truth is, anyone can cook/bake. If you follow the recipe and pay attention to the task at hand (that attention thing being the hardest part), then you are going to do great. Time and experience will build the rest.

None of my books carry any of these cooking experiences. Sure, there’s food and cooking going on in them because that is a shared human experience, but I don’t get too much into it. Emily does focus on the heavy details because of her depression, which makes her hyper-focused on the mundane stagnating her life. When things change for her, you see a lot less hyper-focus from her. You won’t be seeing the detail of her breakfast any longer. That’s because her focus has changed. Claire focuses on food like an anchor to keep her anxiety from spinning out of control.

Click on the links below to find out what culinary exploits the other authors have had or what their characters have gone through in the ways of food.

Butter or Sugar Cookies – A Great Year Round Recipe for All Holidays

December 5, 2014 By Captain Maiel

This recipe has been used by mother and myself since I could walk. No Pillsbury rolls for me and my brother! (I love Pillsbury roll cookies!) I have fond memories of sitting around the table painstakingly applying the colored sugars, my brother neatly fitting them into the lines (the first signs of his compulsion for orderliness?). I remember coveting the Rudolph cookies with the cinnamon button nose; the ones with the bottom browned just a little more than the others.

My mother still makes them several times a year, even though we’re all out of the nest. I suspect, when I have a wee one someday, that I will make them with him or her and mom, too. I can promise you, that if you don’t skimp on ingredients (yes, butter is an absolute must. Remember, margarine is literally one carbon off of plastic. Yuck!), that you will have a new family favorite recipe for your roll out cutter cookies.

Enjoy! They’re fantastic with coffee, tea or hot chocolate. Do them with sugars or royal icing. It’s up to you!

Butter or Sugar Cookies

Butter/Sugar Cookies – http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

3 ¾ cups sifted flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1-teaspoon salt
1-cup butter or margarine
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 375°F. Sift flour with baking powder and salt and set aside. Cream butter sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Slowly mix in dry ingredients until just blended (lowest speed if you use a mixer). If your kitchen is very hot, wrap dough in wax paper and chill for 1 hour so it will roll more easily. Roll ¼ of dough at a time on lightly floured board to 1/16”-⅛” thickness and cut with plain or fluted cutters (a 2” or 3” size is good). Transfer to lightly greased baking sheets with a spatula, spacing cookies 2” apart. If you like, brush with milk and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake in top 1/3 of over 8-9 minutes until pale tan. Transfer to wire racks to cool. Re-roll and cut trimmings.

For softer cookies:

Roll dough ⅛”-¼” thick and cut with a 3” cutter; bake as directed 10-12 minutes until edges are just golden.

For slice-and-bake Cookies:

Shape dough into a log about 2” in diameter, then chill several hours until firm or freeze. Slice ¼”thick and back about 10 minutes until firm but not brown.

About 55 calories per cookie

Decorative cookies:

If fancy cutouts are to be made, increase amount of flour in basic recipe by about ½ cup (there will be less breakage while you decorate cookies). Roll and cut cookies. (About 60 calories per cookie.)

Makes about seven (7) dozen