Reviews, Recipes, and Random Slices of Life

Fictionwise.com, provider of fine e-books, says, "The Nebula Awards are hosted by the Science Fiction Writers Association every spring, and each year Fictionwise promotes this special event by giving away preliminary ballot nominees for FREE!" They're starting with Journey Into the Kingdom by M. Rickert (click to read excerpt), and they'll keep giving one away a week. Pretty nifty, and a good way to catch up with what's being considered the best science fiction short stories being written.

I do love my slow-cooker. My crock pot, as my mom would have called it. Right now, it's making dinner, and anything that makes me dinner--or makes cooking that much less of a hassle for me--gets a little bit of love. Chopped up potatoes, carrots, some frozen green beans. Dehydrated onion. Chicken on top. Half-cup chicken broth (2x strength), half-cup sake (recipe called for white wine, I consulted with the Mad Scientist, and we decided to try using the cloudy sake that nobody particularly likes). 2 tsp salt, 2 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp basil. Cook for many hours and resist temptation to open lid. I look forward to seeing what this results in.

Somehow, I got out of the habit of prepping dinner the night before and sticking the crockpot in the fridge, ready to set in to cook all day the next day. It was very nice to come home to a house that smelled like somebody'd been cooking all day, just for me. I look forward to having that back.

Tomorrow--barbecued lentils?