Spent the last couple of days pounding the keys for a new tale, which I'm
writing for a specific market. For all the pounding, it doesn't seem to be
moving very quickly, but at least it's heading in the right direction. It's been
a rather ugly week, which I won't get into here, and certain situations have
about left me quite spent, energy-wise, so I'll take whatever consolation in
having made this much progress.
Possible (very) good news on another of the writing fronts, but I'm not at
liberty to disclose details at the moment, so I won't. I shall happily keep
you-who-really-want-to-know in suspenders.
The day's highlight was easily the batch of spicy clam chowder I made for
dinner. Mine is a Manhattan-style concoction, which I devised just by
throwing stuff in a pot. Tell you what, I'll give you my recipe. Bear in
mind, when I make it, all of the below are subject to much variation.
Ingredients:
Four 6.5-ounce cans of minced clams
Four or five stalks of celery
(diced)
Four or five carrots (or equivalent in baby carrots)
(diced)
Whole white or yellow onion (diced)
Two jalapeno or
habanero peppers (diced)
Two whole lemons
Two tbsp. soy sauce
Two
tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
One tbsp. Tabasco sauce
Two–three
tbsp. Old Bay seasoning
One tsp. salt Dash of dill weed
Dash of
garlic salt
Two 10.75-ounce cans Campbell's Tomato soup
32-oz.
bottle of Mott's Clamato juice
Next...
• Dump
the clams, diced veggies, spices, and sauces into a large pot.
•
Squeeze in the juice of the lemons.
• Heat on medium-high
until liquid is bubbling happily.
• Stir in the cans of tomato
soup.
• Once the liquid begins to bubble again, add the whole
bottle of Clamato juice and stir vigorously for several minutes.
• Reduce
heat to simmer, and let it cook for 30–40 minutes, stirring
occasionally.
Makes eight to ten servings. I often add more in the hot pepper department, but I'm a masochist.
