Kendra Leigh Castle

Archive for September, 2009

I am so utterly boring this week.  Sorry, guys.  All I can do is ingest hot liquids and lay on my couch.  However, since that’s this week’s occupation, I figured I’d share (drumroll, please) a yummy soup recipe with you.  This one’s simple and excellent comfort food.  Definitely try to use the fresh basil, though…it’s good stuff!  I’m growing some out in front of my house now, along with rosemary and thyme (and mint, which appears to be trying to take over more space than I’d counted on).  Anyway, here’s:

RICH AND CREAMY TOMATO BASIL SOUP

Ingredients:
2 cans diced tomatoes
4 cups tomato juice
14 leaves fresh basil
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup butter
salt and pepper to taste
grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Place diced tomatoes and juice in a stock pot over medium heat.  Simmer for 30 minutes.  Puree the tomato mixture along with the basil leaves (I do this in batches in the blender, transferring the pureed mixture to a big bowl until I’m done, and then back in the stock pot it goes) and return the juice to the stock pot.

2.  Place the pot over medium heat and stir in the heavy cream and butter.  Season with salt and pepper.  Heat, stirring until the butter is melted.  DO NOT BOIL.

3.  Serve, garnishing with grated parmesan cheese if desired (I like it this way!).

Okay, now I’m hungry.  Again.  Smooth move on my part.  Hope you all have a great day!

Sorry I’m late today…still dealing with this head cold, and I can’t think of much except when I can take more medicine.  So instead of me babbbling, here’s a new song I’ve been playing a LOT that is totally the theme song to that vampire book I’m writing, the working title of which is Dark Awakening.  Um, yeah, it’s Muse again.  Their new album just came out on the 15th, and it’s AMAZING   This song is quite different for them, and I’m all about it.  Most definitely a vampire love song.  Have a great day, ladies, and with luck my head will be clearer tomorrow!

Happy first day of retirement Donna!  Just for you, we have not one, but three of your favorite men hanging out here, waiting to make your first official day off a little more interesting.  You can’t see them, but they’ve got their palm leaves ready to fan you, a full supply of drinks (with tiny umbrellas) to serve you, and I have disallowed them shirts for the day.  So let’s see who we have here…one newbie and a couple of mantastic all-stars   First, I’ve abducte…er, I mean, INVITED in Paul Gross, now playing Darryl Van Horne on the new series Eastwick.  Darryl is a very bad little devil, and just look at those eyes!

They’ve got the premiere up online now, so I’m going to check it out before the new episode this week.  Still playing television catch-up!  Next up we’ve got a familiar face (and bod) waiting for you down by the pool.

And finally, something new and interesting I found…apparently, our resident mantastic all-star Gerry has decided you should take up art.  You might want to give it a shot, anyway, because he’s certainly gone to a lot of trouble to look good posing for you!

Um, I think I was going to say something else, but I keep looking…at…picture…

Enjoy your day, Donna!

I totally zombie-fied myself last night, because not only did I watch last week’s AND this week’s episodes of Project Runway, I also caught the new ABC drama Flash Forward.  I’ll address the latter first, because one episode in and I am HOOKED!  I love the premise…one day, everyone on Earth blacks out at the same time for exactly two minutes and seventeen seconds.  During that time, they all flash forward mentally to six months in the future, some sharing visions of one another.  They’ve seen the future.  But is it inevitable?  And why, and how, has this happened?  Joseph Fiennes is just absolutely awesome, I’m so happy to have him on my television again!  But the ensemble cast as a whole is great, and we even caught a nice glimpse of the very sex-ay Jack Davenport, a reason to watch all by himself   Very cool show, a little Lost-esque (same creator, you know), and I’ll definitely be watching the show again.

On to Project Runway.  Wow, I missed some stuff the last couple of weeks!  Can’t say I was sorry to see Johnny go last week.  The absence of whining will be much appreciated!  I’m still having trouble remembering everyone’s names, though, isn’t that awful?  Too many designers yet.  Last night was great, the continued lusting over Logan is cracking me up.  Is he actually straight?  Gotta say, I haven’t been impressed much by Epperson thus far, but he totally rocked the Western outfit.  Also loved Chris’s Victorian Vampire dress!  Not a huge fan of the winning dress, mainly because I am verrrry weary of Nicolas’s fixation on stretchy white fabric and lace.  I get a kick out of his personality, though.  SO catty, but he’s a scream.  Gordana is totally on her way out soon.  I actually feel sorry for her…who wants to linger in the bottom forever?  The kicking off is pretty inevitable at this point!  Not shocked that Ra’Mon went, though at least he tried to be different.  I would rather have seen boring Louise’s exit.  Ra’Mon, to me, should have gotten extra points for even trying to make a costume for a lizard chick heading out to pick up Earth men.  Actually, some of my favorite outfits last night were the action/adventure costumes!  Those were awesome.  Logan and Carol Hannah wuz robbed.  Especially Carol Hannah.  I mean, if I were some kind of dark vampiress out to save the world, I would be in that outfit in a heartbeat.  Well, I mean, if you shrank my booty a little.

I missed Models of the Runway afterwards because I was falling asleep on the couch (ah, the scintillating life of a writer), so Lisa will have to fill me in!  Anyway, have a great weekend, everyone, and congrats on your last day of work, Donna!  I’ll try to come up with some pretty men to help you celebrate your first weekday of freedom on Monday   Any requests?

I can’t get the damn image to upload, so no picture today.  *sigh*  Anyway, it must be in the air, because I’m working on a nasty head cold (as is the rest of the family), so last night all I really felt like doing was curling up with a good book.  Luckily, when I was at the grocery store yesterday I discovered that Lisa Kleypas has a new book in her Hathaways series out, Tempt Me At Twilight.  My howl of joy could probably be heard outside of the store (Ms. Kleypas is at the point in her career where she doesn’t have to put out more than a book a year, so I’m usually waiting for one).  Her Wallflowers are some of my favorite books, like, EVER, and the Hathaways books are set in the same world, with a crossover character from the first series having been the hero in the first book of this one.  This, however, is the third book, and it is every bit up to Wallflowers standards IMO.

I know, I know, I write paranormal.  But I love me some historicals, and Tempt Me At Twilight is everything I love about them.  Poppy Hathaway is one of the beautiful members of a very unconventional family, the Hathaways.  Her brother Leo inherited his title from a very distant relative, and the entire family has been thrown into London society, and the peerage, without the all the usual training and pretensions that they would have had if they’d been raised in that world.  As a result, the whole family is refreshingly non-stuffy, and they don’t particularly give a damn what anyone else thinks of them.  Amelia (the heroine of the first book, Mine Till Midnight) is married to a gypsy, as is her sister, Win (Seduce Me At Sunrise).  Leo is a notorious rakehell (his story’s next!), and Beatrix has a fascinating menagerie of animals that provide lots of laughs.  Then there’s Poppy, who longs for a quiet, conventional life, the sort of thing that seems fated to be forever denied any member of the Hathaway family.

Poppy is being secretly courted by a respectable young man whom she loves.  Not the fiery sort of love we like to see in romance, but she does care deeeply for him, and he for her.  However, he’s dragging his feet about telling his father, because he knows the old man will throw a fit and likely refuse to accept the match, Poppy being beneath him.  Then comes the fateful day when Beatrix’s ferret, Dodger, steals a love note from Michael and leads Poppy on a merry chase through the Rutledge, the top notch hotel where the Hathaways stay in London during the Season.  A secret corridor is revealed, the ferrret drops the note in an inopportune place, and…enter Harry Rutledge, the enigmatic American owner of the hotel, ruthless, driven, and rarely seen…and immediately taken with the beautiful, bright, unconventional Poppy.  While Dodger destroys a very expensive chair, the seeds of love (or at least overwhelming lust) are planted, and after planting a kiss on Poppy she’ll never forget, Harry determines he’ll have her for his own, no matter what gets in his way.  And Harry always gets what he wants.

Harry is such a fantastic hero.  He tells Poppy early on that in one of her cherished fairy tales, he’d likely be the villain.  And…yes, he would be:-)  But as it turns out, the villain is a much better catch than the prince (one of my working theories in life, LOL), and despite an upbringing that will have your heart bleeding for him, this big, dark bad guy loves Poppy with an intensity that is the stuff of dreams.  Watching them bond and fall in love, and seeing Poppy teach Harry that she’s not one of his possessions or employees that will do whatever he says, was SO much fun!  And I won’t tell you any more, but you’ll finish the book excited to learn what happens to both Leo and Beatrix.  I can’t WAIT for Beatrix’s story!

Anyway, I completely loved this book.  On every level.  If you enjoy historicals, or just incredible writing, check it out.  This story was JUST what I needed to make me feel better.

Have a great day, everyone!

Hard to believe, but another summer has slipped away.  In the week I was gone, Southern Maryland has very definitely moved into early autumn, with a few trees beginning to show faint hints of color.  The temperature is no longer unbearable, and in the evenings and mornings has even been a little cool, depending on the day.  My lawn no longer looks scorched, but lush and green (a welcome change), and the smell in the air has shifted, ever so subtly. 

I love fall, nearly as much as I love summer, and of course for entirely different reasons.  The beginning of it always leaves me a little melancholy, though.  Probably because this is the time of year I’m most acutely aware of the rapid passage of time.  It also always leaves me a little homesick, even though my close family has all moved out of Northern New York.  The trees are a blaze of color, just like in that picture there.  The air smells of woodsmoke and ripe, decaying leaves, my very favorite smell.  The old cider mill cranks up the works, making apple cider the same way the mill has for well over a hundred years, by press.  They even fry up apple cider donuts fresh, and I can honestly say that I have never tasted anything as delicious as one of those sugared fry cakes.  I keep thinking I might make a pilgrimage back up there some year in October, just for donuts.  They’re that good:-)

I’m glad I’m living in the country again, at least.  Southern Maryland is beautiful in its own right, and I’m looking forward to seeing the leaves change and going pumpkin shopping with the kids (also to hitting Target for some decorations). 

Hard to believe I’ll have another book under my belt by winter’s end (at least if my head doesn’t explode or something), even though I’m having some foot-dragging problems this week.  Think it’s that vacation recovery.  And with some luck, maybe I’ll have yet another contracted book going.  It’s always a little terrifying, staring at work yet to be done from this side of things!  But I’ll get it done, and no doubt miss the characters I create when I’m through.  So today is about Dru the vampiress and Meresin the flamethrowing angel, and hopefully I’ll get them right where I want them by the time I’m through.  Characters are stubborn creatures, imaginary though they are. 

So what do you have planned for fall?  Is it a season you enjoy?  Happy Fall, everyone!

Sleepy today and attempting to think of writing.  Also attempting to get through getting the gears going around here again, which means that little Jack has a dentist appointment this morning, I need to buy food for my bare pantry, and there is a pile of laundry I still need to fold and put away.  Um, yay?  The good news is that my vampire proposal is being looked at right now, so keep your fingers crossed for me.  I think it would be a fun one to write. 

In order to invigorate myself, I thought I’d put up some visual inspiration today.  After all, I just came from a place where Captain Jack is everywhere…considered climbing out of the boat to make absolutely sure that the Jack Sparrow on the Pirates of the Carribean ride was totally fake, because, you know, hope springs eternal and he did look awfully real   Also, a very acceptable facsimilie ran right by me in Adventureland after assisting in some pirate demonstration.  Wish he’d held still longer so I could admire him, but he did do the run well.

Anyone heard any more about the next Pirates movie?  I heard it was all going to be Jack, his dad, and his brother or nephew or something.  Call me a hopeless romantic, but if they don’t give Jack Sparrow a woman and a good love scene this time, I’m not watching it.  Where is the payoff for us Johnny Deep fans, huh??  Off with his breeches!

Have a good one, ladies

Hi Everybody!  Yes, I made it back from my weeklong vacation in the House of Mouse down in Florida, complete with a tan (I plan to enjoy it while it lasts) and a large suitcase that arrived home full yet mysteriously devoid of clothes.  Some evil faeries seem to have stuffed it with Disney World merchandise instead.  My numerous trips to the Polynesian resort’s Bou-Tiki had absolutely nothing to do with it.  And, um, please ignore that stuffed Cheshire Cat hanging out of my purse.

Anyway, I had a really great vacation.  We so rarely take trips together that aren’t just a visit to the grandparents that this was sort of an event, especially because it was little Jack’s first Disney trip.  Now, “great” doesn’t mean “relaxing” in this case, because it mostly wasn’t…Disney World isn’t exactly a peaceful sort of place, though you can find a moment or two of zen on various rides.  But it was certainly fun!  And I am really going to miss my new buddies, the Polynesian Ducks.  Check out what greeted us the minute we got into our room.

These two were soon followed by about twenty more, who parked it on the grass outside the room on a regular basis to see if my kids had any more leftover bread from dinner (they usually did, and in fact saved it for the ducks).  They also liked to waddle over during breakfast on the patio of Captain Cook’s, which was very close to our room, and beg.  I have never before seen ducks beg.  They’re really pretty good at it.  I had ducks under my chair, waddling over my feet, and one of them snagged a piece of toast out of Jack’s hand when he wasn’t looking (I also didn’t know ducks could jump like that).  We all got a huge kick out of how tame they were, as well as how obnoxious they were.  I’m just glad they don’t have teeth, because they weren’t exactly dainty when I was hand-feeding them.  The kids thought it was a total riot.

So that was the entertainment right at the resort, along with the volcano pool, which our room looked out on.  Big waterslide through a big volcano, and I thought my middle son might hide in it so we didn’t have to leave!  I went down that a bunch of times too…VERY cool.

The week was full of us schlepping back and forth from various parks.  We did the Magic Kingdom the first day and then a bunch of times durin the week, and I got a few good shots of it.  It’s my favorite of the parks, because I’m a fairy tale girl and the place is loaded with whimsy.  Sadly for me, it was also often loaded with people.  The lines weren’t bad, but after a week of trying to keep my kids from being trampled I was starting to develop a twitch.  I’ve never seen the place decorated for Halloween, and it’s so cool!

Pretty, huh?  And we did the Not So Scary Halloween Party on Tuesday night, though it was kind of a bust because that was the ONE night it poured.  Not for the whole thing, but the Headless Horseman couldn’t ride the streets before the parade because they were afraid of the horse slipping, and I didn’t get to see the Villains do their little show in front of the castle because the stage was too wet.  Still, did get to see the parade, which was cute…you ladies would have liked it, they had an uncanny Jack Sparrow on the pirate ship float!  I tried to get a shot of him, but they came out all blurry because the ship was moving too fast.  Probably to keep the women from hurling themselves at it, I guess.  The man certainly got a lot of cheers   Here’s a picture from that night of me with my fave villain.  Yes, I waited in line for this!  My sons wondered what was wrong with the women in the family, I think, because Maddie ran off to get her picture taken with Cruella De Vil at the same time.  Brian played photographer.

Maleficent rules.  Is there a Disney villain more badass?  She informed me that all the other villains only wished they could be her.  You probably can’t read my hat, but it has a picture of the Wicked Queen from Snow White on it, and it says “Don’t hate me because I’m wicked”.  I wore it all over the place, of course.  The fireworks were just awesome.  They had a LOT of Nightmare Before Christmas in the music, and that’s a favorite of mine…Mr. Oogie Boogie Man did a lot of singing while things exploded in the night sky, as it should be

So, lots of Magic Kingdom.  Many fireworks.  The last night at the Polynesian I sat on the beach and watched the HalloWishes show again, but we did brave a mobbed Main Street USA to see the regular Wishes show up close on Thursday night.  I went on the Buzz Lightyear ride more than anything else (thanks, Jack, for making that your favorite…*sigh*) but never got any better at shooting the damn robots.  Went twice on the refurbished Haunted Mansion, and it’s back to being one of my favorite rides again…SO awesome!  My daughter freaked out and refused to ride it with me more than once, but Brian and I managed to get on it one more time afterwards.  My parents and Brian’s parents all went, so it worked out great for shuffling around kids who did or didn’t want to go on different things.  Maddie DID go on the Rockin’ Rollercoaster with me in Disney’s Hollywood Studios and loved it, so I guess she’s allowed to not be a big fan of Madame Leota’s floating head.  I also managed to get my butt soaked on Splash Mountain two out of the three times I rode it.  Note to self: do not wear white capris on Splash Mountain.  EVER.  Well, ever again, that is.  And of course it took me like two hours to dry.  Br’er Rabbit has some kind of issue with me, I don’t know why.

Other cool stuff: the new Toy Story Midway Mania ride in Hollywood Studios, which is all 3-D…you’d have to see the inside of the building, but the picture here is of Mr. Potato Head, life-sized, acting as barker as we all waited in line.  It’s amazing how the audioanimatronic technology has improved since I was a kid at Disney.  But the whole place makes you feel toy-sized, with Andy’s giant games all over the place.  I FINALLY managed to see the Beauty and the Beast show, too, and it was lovely.  I’m in awe of how many talented people work at the parks.  Oh, and of course, I rode Rockin’ Rollercoaster (the Aerosmith indoor coaster that gets shot off a catapult) a couple of times, and Tower of Terror, which drops you multiple times in an elevator.  Didn’t get to do much Epcot, but I did ride Soarin’, which is a simulated hangglider ride over California, and that was really cool.  I also had a pint, and some fish and chips, at the Rose and Crown pub in England.  Okay, okay, “England” I should say.  The bartender was a Brit from Leicester who’d worked there for 25 years, and he was showing us pictures of him back in the day when he learned how to wrestle alligators from some Seminole in Florida.  Really.  He was a doll.

Last day was Animal Kingdom, which I mostly hate because it smells like a zoo (it IS a zoo, mostly) and is always half again hotter and more humid than anywhere else in Disney World.  But I got dragged, just like last time, and I ended up sweating my ass off, sitting on a rock somewhere in Fake Asia, waiting with Jack for the rest of the lunatics to get off of the river rapid ride that drenches everyone.  I don’t really like having water poured over my head, no matter how sweaty I am.  We did, however, do the safari in Fake Africa, plus walked a trail afterwards, and I got some very cool views of the animals.  One in particular touched me…look at this big guy:

This is a male gorilla, curled up sound asleep by the glass.  The guide there told me that his lower lip being out means that he’s happy: gorillas lack the facial muscles that would allow them to smile, so the relaxed lower lip is the clue.  He also said that the gorillas’ only real enemy is us.  I think that’s heartbreaking.  These are beautiful creatures, and you can’t look at one without becoming acutely aware of the fact that there is much about our species that’s the same.  Anyway, I’m glad I got the picture of his sleeping face. 

Okay, I think that’s all I’ve got for tonight on the vacation storytelling (I’m writing this Sunday night).  It’s going to take me a week to recover, I swear, and all I can think about is climbing into my own bed.  There is Disney merchandise scattered from one end of the house to the other, and a bunch of laundry (done, at least) that I need to fold tomorrow.  After a good night’s sleep!  I never sleep as well away from home, but I guess most people don’t. 

So what did I miss while I was gone?  Hope you all had a good week too!  I got a few things to stick on my desk…I’ll have to take a picture if I ever get it cleaned up again.  I think the Cheshire Cat is going to park it on my printer for inspiration   It’s good to be home!

So sadly, I didn’t even manage to watch Project Runway last night, as I was caught in the throes of packing and burgeoning Disney mania, though I did consider going down to watch it about 3 am when I couldn’t sleep.  So don’t tell me, LOL!  I’ll watch it when I get back!  Or possibly this morning, if I get the rest of everyone’s crap together. 

Yes, I’m leaving for vacation today, and I absolutely can’t wait.  The kids are excited.  My husband is excited (possibly even more than the kids, he’s so cute about it), and I am all kinds of ready for a week of Disney World.  So I’ll  be back to blogging a week from Monday, and I’ll have pictures of whatever ridiculousness I manage to get up to while I’m there (I’m planning on buying Mickey ears AND wearing them around, for starters…hey, it’s Disney).  You all have a great week, and I’ll talk to you soon!  Oh, and for whoever’s interested, here’s what I’ll be doing tomorrow night…it’s one of my favorite things to see there

Today I’m celebrating, because my vacation is imminent, which means a week of unplugging and indulging in my inner Disney Dork.  I’ll take lots of pictures to share when I get back, no worries!  I’m also celebrating because apparently my instincts on the vampire piece I’m putting together were right…my agent loves it, and barely had anything for me to tweak, which thrills me to NO end.  Granted, it’s not sold yet, but the story is pulling me right along.  And this is crazy, because a week ago I had no intention of writing a straight-up vampire tale!  It’s lush, dark, dramatic, and I really think it could wind up being some of my best work yet if it goes.  Big “if” there, but hey, gotta stay optimistic!  So it’ll be a few weeks before I know, but keep your fingers crossed for me.  Anyway, I have to pack today (uuuugh) and get all of my pre-vacation stuff done, plus my little guy has a physical this morning (another ugh, there), but I’m feeling happy   So here’s a song for today, by one of my very, very favorite bands for a lot of years now, Muse.  If my imagination had a soundtrack, these guys would do the whole thing.  This one’s Bliss.  Have a great day, and enjoy!