I love to make Dukkah, ok well technically it is some strange evolving seed, spice and herb mixture that is inspired by Dukkah and other delicious spice traditions throughout the world. In my imagination there are probably as many Dukkah recipes as there are Egyptian grandmothers. Food is a dynamic and adaptive creature moving to different climates, intersecting with different cultures and different foods have been available. My Dukkah has traits that are more similar to Za’atar, especially with its high sesame seed content and I’ll keep tweaking it and playing around with it. I am sure it is also influenced by delicious Japanese rice seasoning (that I still call shaky stuff thanks to good friends back in Australia). It’s a constant exploration and excuse to buy interesting looking spices. I never use measurements or make exactly the same Dukkah twice.
Read on for my ‘recipe’ and what to do with Dukkah.
I’ve recently added a handy dandy widgit called skribit. This lets you post suggestions on the dashboard on the right over there and looks like a pretty cool idea. It should be easy and intuitive to use, just write in a suggestion. Let me know if it isn’t easy to use.
I love creating as part of community, so I would love to hear what you want to know – be it how’s America, what do you miss about Australia or what are your views on Kant’s Critique of Aesthetic Judgment (which can be surmised by saying watch Douglas Wolk’s Ignite Portland Talk).
Over time I’m going to write my lurking ideas for blog posts in the suggestions box as well. You can then support posts you’re keen to see written and say please noooooooooo.
Cracked Leather, a flash fiction piece I wrote during my first week at Clarion, has just been published at The Pedestal Magazine. I am delighted to be included. Go to go to, and, if you have time in this hectic festive season, I would love to know what you think.
To anyone who wandered over here from The Pedestal website. Hello and welcome, make yourself at home. Let me know if you have any questions, thoughts, or if you would like a cool refreshing beverage.
If you would like to discuss Cracked Leather in the comments section please feel free to do so (there may be spoilers).
As part of its monthly maintenance program The Clarion Blogs Collection has grown. This month Philip Brewer, Pamela Rentz, Wendy A. Shaffer and Neile Graham have been added. Currently the collection is sorted chronologically, by when I stumbled across the blog.
What a joy it is to read, and how important as a writer. It is joyful to read different texts and see how they fuel the creative process. Cosmicomics has inspired a short story. Love in the Time of Cholera reminds me how fluid time, language and can be reminiscence. I always think about Marquez’s writing as non-linear and yet in some ways it is quite linear; my mind darts like a fish between the then and now, a collage of memory. I’m afraid Jonathan Livingston Seagull reminded me of what I don’t like in beast fables and what I especially don’t like in spiritual teaching stories – but even there there was benefit. Jonathan Livingston Seagull reminded me of the down to earth fables and teaching stories from China and Japan I loved and read as a child.
Well Thanksgiving was a blast, and my strange fears totally unfounded. We attended two vegetarian thanksgivings with delightful company at both. A Thanksgiving that included a small child talking about how Earth is the best planet and Venus is the worst planet (because Venus will crush you with its enormous gravity) gave me strong hopes for the new generation. I highly recommend at least renting a child of this type for all such occasions.
’tis the season of festivities and events. Lee and Annaliese Moyer (our lovely hosts who kindly keep us in their basement) have both just had shows open. Lee is showing at the Radio Room and last night we went to the opening of Elementum, which is showcasing Annaliese’s photography. Mike took photos of her art with his iPhone, I love how you can see the reflection of happy viewers in the glass
Annaliese's Gallery Show - Mermaids and ObserversAnnaliese's Gallery Show - Photographer and Mermaid
In other delightful news Cracked Leather be published in The Pedestal Magazine on 21 December. Cracked Leather was the first story I wrote at Clarion Writers Workshop, I wrote it during Holly Black’s tutelage and it was critiqued under the care of Larissa Lai.
Love and Spandex, a comic I created with Ben Hutchings, has just come out in Tango – Love and War, the ongoing romance comics anthology by Cardigan Comics. This edition shared it’s launch with The Tango Collection launch, which has been published by Allen and Unwin. It’s a fantastic recognition of the hard work Cargdigan Comics have done over the years bringing together diverse, independent Australian comics. I heard the launch was fabulous and would expect nothing less.
You can also hear a small snippet of me describing the Hawaiian shirt I was wearing at the Jay Lake recording during Orycon. The snippet is in Banter 2, but you should really check out the other recordings as a source of delight. Mary Robinette and her stalwart crew did a fantastic job reading stories by Jay Lake (different fab writers doing the voices of different characters and Mary Robinette as the narrator). I am astounded by the sound quality of the recording given the terrible acoustics of the space. I imagine that is a big bravo to Robert Kowal, sound guy, for doing such a splendiforous job.
I hope you all have a happy and safe festive season and a joyous 2010.
