book project

Shattered Reflections – Rough Draft Excerpt

Storm Brewing

Trying to think of what was going on over the next few days, the girls still held on my mind because they both stated that joining them would be the best move for me. There was other things that soon took my attention. I was in the car before I knew what happened while the street lights passing by as we made our way to the motor hotel. Spring break had just started leaving the town nearly empty while we took our bags up filled with what we could pack right then. My bag had enough stuff in it to entertain myself more about catching Mewtwo that kept me from falling asleep.

Janet had made a comment about Pops touching them. My brother had it happen as well. There were moments where flames were in my eyes. These actions occurred when I was at a friends, and my mother allowed it. Turning to her sitting on the bed I had to ask.

“What was the point of coming here if you heard about this and did nothing for a week?” My volume was higher then expected.

It would not have surprised me if the room next door could hear. Fuck’ em was my thought because Madre just sat there on the bed looking at her hands telling how we needed the money he brought in for everything. Really needing that money was not a reason that added up to scratch in my mind. My mother allowed a week without telling me. She had taken effort to make sure I was not to be told. After my knockout she was afraid my response would have me in a cop car. The whole thing was crap in my eyes. The Cozies were a family that I had taken a lot of time after helping her son out of a couple spots. They also had a fair grasp of things. I had to leave from this situation because it was clear they did not want my help with anything.

Sarah, their mother has had to see me tape myself up on a few occasions. Mom had asked her not to tell the cops while I was spending the nights at their place after I got back from Sean’s. Giving the excuse that they needed a little time to put affairs in order financially before he got sent out. What they told them was just based off the physical abuse against me.

Being corrected on the actual relations on the next night over there that Pops was in hot water made them feel played. They were feeling played, and that was started by my mother making sure that no one else would know. It was only after they talked again, and assured that he would stand trial provided that Sarah gave the week they originally agreed on. After that shouting match she had with mom over the phone Sarah had made her way to the couch where I was sitting that night after my friend had gone to sleep. Wondering where everything was at in my life made me just feel numb.

My friend never had to fight for his friends, or for his own life. He never had to bandage himself up, clean the blood out of his hair, or check older injuries. Part of me just broke down in that living room crying in a throw pillow to quiet the sobs. Up to this point I never got to let myself cry much. Everything was just too hard to find time to decompress for a period of time. There was always a danger, a fight, a problem, a knife in the back, gang problems, and now the family situation. Between all the problems that was piled on it was just an effort not breaking down. On that couch with the room half dark the years of pain finally had to let go, and it was the first time since the week after Sylvia’s death that I cried. Sarah really felt sorry for me as I cried while I just felt sorry for crying.

Going back to my house Madre did not want to say anything. Their friends would not say anything. From past experience the police would not believe someone like me. I didn’t have the power to make them listen. Then it came to me. I did not have the power to make the police listen, but maybe someone else did. Letting the idea roll over in my head it was clear that time had to be of the essence, and if they would not tell me the first time things had happened then my family could not be informed of my efforts. Despite some people not liking it this was one of those things that had to be done.

School was one of the few places where saying anything that the communication would travel up the chain to go uninterrupted. My health class was starting soon which would also give me access to possible resources or avenues of research in case any other skills would have to be demonstrated health wise.

When we had gotten back it took a little time to find my spine after the class period that day to explain the situation. Wondering where do I go with the information where it can’t be intercepted. Madre would want everything in house, but this time there was not going to be any change or mercy. Pops had to go for what he did for if any justice existed then he would have to pay for what he had done. Miss Logan said it was brave to do such things while I explained that it was more of a vengeance thing. True to her word the teacher made sure the word was not intercepted, but Pops was a couple days from collecting retirement from the military. His pleas to stay that way they could collect it gave him time to put his affairs in order. That week was hell in it’s own right.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Shattered Reflections – Excerpt

Every week there was a semester being made up and over my year there at CALC my challenge was never lost. Testing was monotanous to a degree, but it was something I excelled in so it worked.While I was trying to salvage my grades there had been some who wanted to beat their chest before fighting for various reasons. To save space all of them will be here as there was not a grand fight among them.

One pair of gang banger wannabes were grabbing at a girl at lunch one day. She had come to talk to me to get them to stop. After trying once talking like human beings she had come out saying  and it ended with Harper kicking one in the skull while I tackled the other in the doorframe hard enough to break the doorframe.

Invented an armbar waltz when another male student tried to push a smaller female teacher around. The armbar waltz was just holding the standing armbar while I would negotiate him around spinning this way and that just to anger them and if I ever needed I could resort in to a hammerlock transition or give up the arm to take the leg.

One of the baby daddies thought he could sleap his girl around which is the theme of this place. Not a gang banger wannabe though he was a goth metal deadhead who got floored by a nut kick/ facejam combination then proceded to maon how that was fighting against the rules.

I did not understand such behaviors so Harper had to explain to me after another such incidents why people did such things. Supposedly it is because they think the girls are cute or they have some relationship with them, but I had to think that it would be much easier if they were treated like people first. Relationships were never a strong suit of mine. Thinking about such thing as the meaning of beauty or the understanding of the common students when I was choking someone out or grappling with them. No one got serious enough that a couple hits couldn’t stop. Put enough people on their head and eventually the message will sink in at least until the headache subsides.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Excerpt – Time, Fire, and Cuisine

To this day I cannot say how this classifies. It does not have recipes on every page like a cookbook, but it does have a flow I think so it just remains as a food book. Which if you do not know seems to be a good way to surmise my writings so far. I write about food, how food reacts in the world, how it can be made, how it can be tasted, and really I think you get a better appreciation for it that way. Otherwise it is just another food porno in the world where you can get just get a good camera and some clay and tell people what you created.

From one book to two, with pages that will be switched in and out before it is done.  Then begins the illustrations slash the getting the agents to look at it. If they like it then great if not then I will just have to learn and move on

December 1st – At the beginning

Writing this “little project” has been at the best of times vexing and at its worst one of the fastest routes to a migraine I have had to go on. Trying to figure out what recipes would be best suited while balancing the stories and techniques were difficult with some of the experiences as unique as any piece of fiction.

The reason those pages are there though are to help shed light on the kinds of people and situations that may have gone one. To eat a restaurant is a complex issue of so many things done well that sometimes it is just as much fun to watch the whole thing as it is to just eat what is on the plate. In every kitchen around the world there are many people trying to make their way through life from the server to the chef each with a story to tell. Since you cannot make it through the world without listening to a few you might as well enjoy the ones you do listen to.

Now, with the last month of this project I can truly say that with all the techniques, experiences, terms, ideas, and of course recipes there should be something for everyone to learn one thing at least. If I managed that I would call this a success whether it is how to plate, cook, do things on the fly or even my own little opinion in a grand world.

We all seem devoted to the end product without thinking about everything that made it get there. It seems to happen to me whenever I do go out and I have a great plate that I think of the stories that plate of food told of how it got there to the hands making it. Machiavelli, the man often credited to such a school of thinking, is dead. If people sold in to it as much as they say then at least he would have found a way to continue breathing.

Enjoy the last portion of this book as much as I did writing it, even if it just a couple laughs at my own opinion in life.

December 31st – Final Test

This book hopefully has taught some valuable lessons or at the very least made you chuckle once. Now for the exam. In previous tests you had to use what you gleamed to make a meal. After your finished you need to compare to the dish you had to make at the start. For this time make three dishes from previous experience two of them have already been chosen.

For the first dish: Remake your first test dish and improve upon it using everything you have learned.

Made:_____________________________________

Second dish will be the dish incorporating recipes or formulas in your own plates. Improve upon this recipe and truly make it your own.

Made:________________________________________

The last dish will be your own. Have a friend pick one protein, one starch and one vegetable without your knowledge. Cook for them in the span of one hour a dish a full composed plate of food with the three main ingredients and whatever you have in your pantry.

Made:_______________________________________

Friend: ______________________________________

Protein:______________________________________

Starch:______________________________________

Vegetables:___________________________________

See how far you have come in the span of a single year. Every day you spent reading this either for a few minutes or few a couple hours. Learning what can be in the kitchens as well as the techniques and a good many recipes can be enough for a book. If anything I hope this will not sit loveless on a shelf instead being carted around as a fun read or even as a foot stool because this thing was much bigger then I thought at the beginning and I am proud to see it done .

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Excerpt- Time, Fire, and Cuisine

Sometimes when you need to impress people you need to just get them some food. When you use an alcohol for cooking it is always good to use something of a mid shelf booze. A lower one if you need to burn it off first never get the bottom shelf stuff as most times that stuff is not fit to remove fingernail polish let alone drink.

September 17th -Fruit Romanoff

This dessert comes from much the same line as the zabayon sauce. Both are sauces that work to best show the texture and flavors of fresh fruit. Made from whipped cream folded in to an equal part of sour cream this is easier then to whisk heavy zabayon.

1:1 Heavy cream before whipping to sour cream

Mix the sour cream with a shot of brandy for every cup. Then add an equal part of brown sugar to brandy to the sour cream.

8:1:1 Sour cream to brandy to brown sugar

Whisk the heavy cream until it reaches medium peaks. If you have an electric hand held mixer I would suggest using it especially if your not to strong in the elbow or are not making large batches at a time.

Fold your whipped cream in to your sour cream in thirds as to not lose any of the air you worked to put in to it. For making desserts for events it handles well in if it is made the day of the event. If you hold it for more then twelve hours the bacteria in the sour cream will continue to do their work making your sauce more tart and throwing off the balance. It becomes a sweet crème fraiche and is definitely usable just not for the original purpose.

You can use it to layer different fruit between layers of sauce. Compotes of pear and apple can also be used as well as any small dice in a small amount of sauce. Being dairy based it gives you a lot to work with for what else you can use. Other alcohols in reduced form, cheeses, other fruit, some vegetables, classic dessert sauces, chocolate. Being only slightly sweet makes it an easy tool when creating desserts to your own will.

This is not a bad desert when time is working against you and you have some energy to spare. Warmer months and fresh fruit with a homemade sauce

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Excerpt – Life, Love and Cooking

April 27th – Beef by numbers

Cooking cuts of beef to preferred doneness can seem rather scary to the uninitiated. Ending with an overcooked or vastly undercooked slab of meat can unnerve someone. When you ask how things should be cooked and get a half dozen different answers you need to learn the signs of difference which can come from one of two ways. First way it can be measured is by touch for as the protein cooks it gets tougher. Now there are some numbers you can check if you have a digital thermometer it will be the quickest way to get the temperature only do so when you feel you are just about done. Heat will continue to cook the meat so you want to aim just a few degrees lower then your target and let carryover heat finish the job. Take your reading from the top of the meat until you are comfortable with your skill. For the sear most look for on thicker steaks marks you will need to make them faster with a hotter grill. All numbers are in degrees of Fahrenheit

Blue – This is the rarest of all and you should remove it from the grill when it reaches 115 and the carry over should take it to 120.

Rare – Remove as it reaches 120 and let the residual heat push it to 125

Medium Rare- Remove at 125 and let residual heat push it to 130

Medium- Remove meat at 135 and let the residual finish it at 140

Medium Well- Remove at 145 and let residual heat bring it to 150

Well done – Remove at 155 and let residual heat finish it at 160

Brick – Cook to 165 and the finishing heat will bring it up to 170

0 CommentsLeave a comment