do you know what's IN that bottle?

Seriously, have you looked at the ingredients list of a bottle of even "healthy" salad dressing recently?*

Challenge: to create a salad dressing that was as good as (or better than) what came from the offered bottle, made from ingredients a decently-stocked kitchen would have on-hand, and could be made in the time it took to take the salad out of the fridge and plate it.

Challenge accepted.

1 small bowl, 1 whisk or a fork.
honey
olive oil
white wine vinegar
Dijon mustard

Put a decent dose of olive oil into the bowl (approximately how much dressing you want, minus a spoonful). Add in a spoonful of honey, and an equal dab of mustard. Splash just a bit of vinegar. You can add a bit of lemon juice if you'd like - I used a lemon-flavored vinegar.

Whisk until it all blends. Use as desired.

Challenge: met.

This is why I haven't bought salad dressing in years. :-)

You can dress it up or down as you see fit - I personally don't add herbs, although I know some folk prefer it. Ditto salt.

As always, the quality of what you get is equal to the quality of what you put in. If you're only splurging on one thing, I'd say make it the mustard. Mediocre mustard is a very sad thing.

Also: if you see diced jicama in your supermarket? Grab it. One of the best additions to salad since ever, and worth the premium to have it ready-to-add.



* Stuff to give it a longer shelf-life while stored in warehouses, stuff to give it color (the honey alone will do that), chemicals to fight off other chemicals, and BTW, that "non-fat" stuff? Unless you're drinking your dressing, there's nowhere near enough fat in a salad dressing to really freak you out. And the drops of olive oil clinging to your greens will make you want to eat more.

Available only in digital.... (DRM-free)

Because some of you may've gotten shiny new e-readers recently, and some of you may've missed my flailing when these were first released, and because hey, if I'm not going to tell you about my books, I'm falling down on part of the job, right?

Dragon Virus
$4.99 at BookView Cafe Amazon B&N

“Laura Anne Gilman makes you care. You care about her characters and their choices; you care about what’s happening to their world.”
—Walter Jon Williams

It began soon after the Millennium. Reports of newborns with strange malformations, too weak to live…caused by a single genetic mutation. Or, as the press quickly dubbed it, the Dragon Virus. Scientists predicted that it was an evolutionary dead end; that the mutation would burn itself out quickly; that it was nothing to be worried about.

They were wrong.

Everything was about to change.

Six connected stories, charting the end – beginning – of everything we know, everything we fear, everything we hope for….

With an Introduction by Walter Jon Williams

From Whence You Came: A Lands Vin Novella
$4.99 at BookView Cafe
Centuries before the Vineart War, massive sea-serpents roamed the seas, endangering the lives of all who sailed there. Only the greatest magic could keep them in check, and protect the coastlines from their depredations. And then…they disappeared. Legend credited Master Vineart Bradhai, and called him a hero.

Legend…. is not always accurate. And often, the truth is a better story.

Set in the world of the Nebula Award-nominated Vineart War trilogy


Practical Meerkat's 52 Bits of Useful Information for Young (and Old) Writers
$2.99 at BookView Cafe

Writing is a craft. Publishing is a business. Today’s world requires you to understand both.

A year’s worth of first-hand advice from the popular “Practical Meerkat” series, including:
• Knowing When Not to Complain (and how to do it)
• Bar Schmoozing with the Big Dogs (even if you don’t drink)
• Dealing with a Difficult Editor/Agent
• and 49 more!


Anthologies:

Beyond Grimm
Edited by Deborah J Ross and Phyllis Irene Radford
$4.99 at BookView Cafe

Not your grandmother’s fairy tales…

From the far-ranging imaginations of Book View Café authors comes this delirious collection of classic tales newly twisted into dark, dangerous, and occasionally hilarious re-tellings. From the golden isles of Greece to the frozen north, from fairytale castles to urban slums, join us on an unforgettable journey!

Breaking Waves
Edited by Tiffany Trent and Phyllis Irene Radford
$4.99 at BookView cafe

All proceeds from the sale of this anthology will go to th Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund f the Greater New Orleans Foundation.

Breaking Waves offers glimpses of maritime splendor, poignancy, and humor through the works of poets, essayists such as Rachel Carson, and Hugo and Nebula-award winning authors such as Ursula K. Le Guin, Vonda N. McIntyre, and David D. Levine.

Link RoundUp

 Some of the amusements and thinky-things I've been linking to elsewhere, in one place for your clicking.

 

 

No, you're not a geek if you recognize these characters. That just means you're reasonably adept at the culture. You're a geek if you immediately start arguing over the placement of most, and discussing who would have been better in that slot...

 

 

 

io9 explains why I was tweet-flailing Thursday night...  RT @io9 Person of Interest delivers a dark, weird, soon-to-be-cult-favorite ep    God, I love that show.  A lot.  With Leverage gone, it's my only "I need to see the new ep!" show currently airing.

 

Wonder what "zero tolerance" means?  This might help explain it.  

 

and, if you were hiding under a rock and issed it:  The Geek-in-Chief approved this message....   

 

(some friends have taken offense at a warmongering etc government having a sense of humor, however geeky. I prefer to think of this as a pro-ISS campaign, and heartily approve.)