Sweet Pickle Juice, Oh Yeah

Feeling guilty about throwing that sweet pickle juice away after the gherkins are eaten? It happens alot during the holiday season, and immediately thereafter.

This blog can't promise you'll feel better, or anything else about what follows. If you try anything, do so with the utmost of care.

So when the sweet pickles are gone ----

1. Add the sweet juice to fat-drained pork chops that have been browned in a skillet. Heat covered, turning the pork chops over once or twice. The sweet pickle juice should tenderize and glaze.

2.  Grind leftover ham, add finely diced green pepper and celery, stir in pickle relish and sweet pickle juice. Spread on bread and enjoy.

3.  Whip the sweet pickle juice with cream cheese and use as a vegetable dip. Friends have used potato or other kinds of chips.

4. Make pickled peppers. Cut green, orange and/or red peppers, add juice, seal in jar, and leave for about two weeks. You may try this also with zucchini, although I'll say it's not my favorite.

5. Cook green beans in pickle juice, add bacon bits or slivered almonds.

6. Put your dill pickle slices in sweet pickle juice for a distinct new flavor.

7. Add sweet pickle juice to stews, soups, and homemade spaghetti sauce or cole slaw.

If you don't wish to consume, sweet pickle juice can help keep drains clean and sweet.

And, can't vouch for this, but a gardener told me that sweet pickle juice poured on gardenia bushes or azalea bushes once a year makes them thrive.

Happy New Year and may all your pickle days be sweet.

Character - A Poem

Character

 

The character appears on page,

but of his design who’s to gauge?

From the printed word we decide

where in our favor he’ll reside.

 

If he’s battered with rags-a-tatter,

from him we will all scatter.

If he’s in tailored coat and tie,

for his rapt attention we’ll vie.

 

If he staggers up from the gutter,

we expect all profanity to utter.

If high society lists him by name,

our invite to dinner won’t shame.

 

If he knows how to bow with style,

we suspect a nature without guile.

After all study our mind’s decided,

this character is really divided.

 

Copyright Donan Berg 2010

Copyright DOTDON Books 2010

Happy Thanksgiving

To all who celebrate and give thanks, we wish a Happy Thanksgiving.

Halloween Candy Whimsy Part II Answers

Here's the answers from this corner on the Halloween Candy Whimsey, Part II.

1.  Babe Ruth

2.  5th Avenue

3.  Mr. Goodbar/Millionaire/SugarDaddy

4. Milk Duds

5. Skor

6. Hollywood

7. Kit Kat

8. Hershey

9. Almond Joy

10. Candy Kiss

Thank you all for comments, tweets, and having fun.

Halloween Candy Whimsy, Part II

We tried this a week ago with success and suggestions. The encouragement strained our minds to expand the test to identify Halloween candy treats. (Ps, the answers at the bottom of this post relate back to the prior October 17, 2012 post.)

1.  Famous former baseball player.

2.  Famous New York street.

3. Single women look for him.

4. Dry cow.

5. Determines who wins the game.

6. Home of movie stars.

7. A feline.

8. Two female pronouns.

9. Nut happiness.

10. A sweet sign of affection.

Good luck. The only sought after prize is your enjoyment.

(Answers to October 17, 2012 post: 1. Three Musketeers; 2. Mounds; 3. Milky Way; 4. Bit O Honey; 5. Life Savers; 6. M&M's; 7. Mars Bar; 8. Snickers/Chuckles; 9. Butterfingers; and 10. O'Henry. If you guessed me for the author, I blush, but you're wrong. Don't you think, however, that a nice candy name could be made from the book title A Body To Bones changed to be called "Body Sweets" so it isn't too ghoulish. Happy Halloween, and parents check your child's candy just to be safe.)

Can You Identify the Following Halloween Candy Treats?

Halloween is always a good time for whimsy. And, candy, candy, candy. Test your
sweet tooth memory with the following clues that identify candy brands.

Example:  Superman's favorite hangout; answer: Clark Bar.

Now it's your turn:

1.  A favorite swashbuckling trio

2.  Indian burial grounds

3.  Galaxy

4.  What bees make

5.  Round flotation device

6.  Twin letters

7.  Red planet

8.  Not laughing out loud

9.  Can't hold on to anything

10. A famous author

Answers will be forthcoming.

To Revise Is Not Failure

To Revise Is Not Failure

If you were halfway through a Scrabble game with lines of words and random letters on the board in front of you, do you consider yourself a failure? Of course not. You stay in the moment, organize the letters you have before you and summon potential strategies to choose your next move realizing there may be no exact right or wrong word to be chosen. For example, the word initially played commanding the most points may lock out subsequent words that will garner a greater sum.

Each joining together of separate alphabet letters is not a failure. So too, the combination of ideas, thoughts and emotions written in a first draft may fill a page, but not express the volume of ideas, thoughts and emotions that will be sculptured into a greater vision.

Revision is not editing. It is not changing a comma to a semicolon or any other similar grammatical correction task. Revision is to bring forth from the initial draft the essence or understanding or desire the writer wishes the reader to come away with. Consider the initial draft as raw material. It is the iron ore that will become steel and frame the tallest skyscraper that touches the sky.

Therefore, the first tool for revision is to jettison a focus on grammar and read the entire piece, aloud works best, with particular attention paid to the substance, rhythm and evoked emotion. If desired, have a sheet of paper to jot down any reaction. The key word is jot, not an extensive writing that keeps you away from continuing with the read-through.

It may be hard, but trigger your subconscious to visualize the scene created by the raw material.

Pay special attention to the ending. Does it satisfy the ongoing theme? Was the most important element of the raw material highlighted and fully explained?

Are there underlying themes? Do they choke the main theme or add fashionable jewelry to an already stylist outfit. For example, a romance element can be either a distraction or a spotlight on a character’s defining trait.

After, and only after, the first complete read-through, is it time to focus on specific parts. Do the same technique with the parts as with the whole, i.e., read the entire part.

At each reading, cut the distractions and everything else that doesn’t fit in, mold the ambiguous into a recognizable shape and sharpen the feel and expression of what strikes you as being on target.

Jettison the notion that there are set number of revisions to be accomplished. There isn’t. Your heart and gut will tell you when the best is achieved.