chicken and sweet potato stew

Riding report update: Ow, my knees!. Everything else feels fine. Guess I'm in better shape than I thought. Or we didn't work as hard as we're gonna...

And, because I promised varkat:

Sometimes I walk into the kitchen with a recipe, or a plan, or an idea. And some days, I have no idea what I'm doing. Last night was one of those totally improvisational nights, where I started with chicken, and everything else got thrown together out of the pantry.

As usual I didn't write anything down, but this is an approximate reproduction...

1 lb chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized bits
2 sweet potatoes, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 white onion, diced
1 lime, juice of, and some zest
3 c. chicken broth
1 glass dry white wine
double handful french-cut green beans
handful of farro
teaspoon of sifted flour

Season the chicken with cumin, corriander, kosher salt and white and black pepper. Saute the onion, garlic, lime zest and a splash of the broth in a dutch oven, then add the potatoes and the rest of the broth. Simmer for a few minutes, then add the chicken and the wine. Let cook for about 10 minutes, add the farro and the beans. Add the flour in the last minute, stir well, and let thicken.

Next time I'd probably add more spice to the mixture about halfway through the cooking (maybe red pepper flakes?), but mmmmmm. Light enough to serve in warmer weather, but hearty enough to take the edge off a chill night. Serve with more of the white wine used in the cooking. Yummy.

Feeds 3-4, deepending on level of hunger.


And now, 2500 words or bust!

mid-day break

1,450 new words, and some reorganization of old words. On track for 2,500, and maybe more. Yay!

Soundtrack of the day seems to be Sting (specifically SACRED LOVE), with assists from Mark Knopfler.

Bonnie really needs to stop calling her boss "DB." Although she is totally justified at the moment, true.


Meanwhile, in the allegedly-real world, the Times is reporting that Clinton and McCain's passport files have also been illegally riffled through, along with Obama's (reported yesterday). Color me so very not surprised. Privacy? Hah.

Also, NM Governor Richardson has endorsed Sen. Obama. Not a surprise, but interesting to observe, nonetheless...

Right. Time to stretch my legs, have some lunch, and then back to't....

The Day's Tally

1. one realtor trying to show my apartment. Much taken-abackness on all fronts when she realized someone was in residence. Either it was a scam [I already have a call in to the seller's realtor] or someone is going to get flayed alive for incorrect information/embarassment in front of a client. Pass the word -- the apartment's sold, folks.

2. A "liked but not enough" rejection, to balance out last weekend's spate of good news. (Three sales minus one rejection equals 2 in Submissions Math)

3. 3,003 new words by dinnertime. Yay me!

4. 4 mini-hamentashen. The only thing better than a well-made hamentashen is a well-made hamentashen half-price, because it was the last batch they had for the day, and the bubbe behind the counter was amused by my adamant stance of "prune or nothin!"

And now, dinner.

clearly, I am not observing the "strike" zone today....

business first:

My first boss in publishing, Neil Nyren, speaks out at Murderati. Go check it out -- he's a seriously smart guy, and a damned good editor, too. I learned a hell of a lot from him. You can too. If nothing else, what the voice of an Old Time Editor sounds like.

an excerpt:

"Because, in fiction at least, we’re always buying the author, not a particular book. We’re trying to establish a career. Which is why it is absolutely not true that we’ve stopped planning for the long-term. The long-term is what we plan for most."
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and, for those of you jonesing for feline picspam...


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and deire gifted me with a portrait of P.B.!