All in a Name

 This isn't exactly writing related except that it is about words.

 It all started years ago when I saw the listings of cheeses on a cheese plate.  One of them was called Humboldt Fog.  The name captured my imagination but when I saw that it was goat cheese I thought  I wouldn't like it.  Even so the label with the cypress tree logo stuck in my mind.

When I thought of goat cheese, I thought of feta and while I like it in Greek salad, I couldn't really envision it by itself.

Time passed and I discovered that I liked the cheese that came with beets at a restaurant we go to a lot.  They called it goat cheese, but somehow I kept thinking it was feta cheese that was particularly good. It was more like background noise in my mind than anything else.  .

Then by chance someone told me that feta cheese and goat cheese weren't the same.  All it took was some searching and I found out all about feta cheese and why the cheese with the beets was so different.  Feta is a combo of sheep's milk and goat's milk and it's brined which makes it drier with a salty flavor.  The cheese on the beets was creamy and had a richer taste. 

As soon as I realized that I liked goat cheese I thought of  that Humboldt Fog and wanted to try it. Online, I found out  that it tastes like buttermilk and citrus and has a lines of grayish vegetable ash around the eatable rind.  I also found out that its pretty pricey.  On Valentines Day we went to Ojai and stopped in a market there.  The cheese case had small pieces of Humboldt Fog cheese and I decided rather than chocolates, that would be my valentine treat.

The next morning when I was getting ready to have what I call my French breakfast--a croissant from Costco with something on it along with  some fruit,  I took out the Humboldt Fog cheese and cut off a small portion.  And then the big moment as I finally went to taste it.  It wasn't exactly a disappointment..It just wasn't the big moment of deliciousness that I expected.  The name though is appropriate.  The vegetable ash and the translucent consistency near the rind does remind me of fog.

 I was too impatient with the first taste and found that it needs to be room temperature.  I so want to love it all because I love the name.

 

 

 

Entering a Contest Here

            This week, after Valentine’s Day, I saw an organization that supports wildlife’s request for online entries into a contest where you write a six-word story expressing your love of nature. They’ll have several winners, and the prize is just getting your story out there. I wrote two and decided to wait till the next day to send my entries in, even though the deadline wasn’t till a couple of days after that.

Well, when I clicked on the site the next day to send my entries, I got word that they weren’t accepting any more. Apparently a lot of people decided to enter, so many that they had enough to evaluate and choose already.

So, no entry on my part. But I can still let others, like you, read them. Hope you enjoy them. I assume those of you reading this know my love of dogs, but I love most animals, including wildlife.

So, here they are:

Wildlife, wow. Beauty abounds in nature.

Phenomenal world forever? Cue the wildlife!

Hope you liked them.

They didn’t take a long time to write, so I’m continuing review of the final edited version of my first book in my K-9 Crime Solvers series, K-9 Evidence. I’m also working on my third Harlequin Romantic novel in the series.

Back to them--and watching the wildlife in my backyard, mostly squirrels and crows.

Looming Danger

 We had a reminder that it is winter earlier in the week when we got rain and the temperature dropped.  It was short lived and now the sun is back.  Though three storms are predicted to pass through next week.  I'm going to soak up the sun in the meantime.

The rewrite of what I'm at least for now called LOOMING DANGER is going along slowly. Poor Casey has so many problems in this retreat.  There's a princess on the run, a woman who claims she's come to get over a breakup, but she seems confused about her ex's name, some old friends  who have become estranged and only one of them seems to want them to makeup, a woman who has brought her unhappy niece to give her a special weekend, and then there's Doris who is outspoken and very unhappy about how she was treated by the leader of the travel writers seminar which is also going on at Vista Del Mar,  To make it even tougher almost all of them are novices when it comes to yarn.  Casey wants them to have a finished project, and have their problems  worked out by the end of the weekend.  And that doesn't even count the murder she has to solve or her own issues.

There are a lot of characters and I think I'm going to take a readers advice and put a list of them at the beginning.   

And now to grab a little sun while its still here.

Still Writing Slowly

           Still working more on my third Harlequin Romantic Suspense K-9 Crime Solvers novel, not going fast but making some progress. And my head’s still swirling a bit with the mystery idea I had, but not too far along with it yet.   

            So, not much to say now. I’m still trying to convince my mind, and sore hand, to write more and faster, but so far they’re not paying much attention.

            Oh, but yes, like Betty, I take time out from my writing to do crossword puzzles. They can be puzzling, yes, but I enjoy intriguing my vocabulary that way.