One Word/One Minute: Dim

The bare bulb hung from the cord in the center of the room giving off a dim light and buzzing gently. How many hours had he been in this windowless tomb? What had he done to deserve imprisonment. There was a knocking at his door and the sound of a metal latch sliding, grinding against it's socket. Long enough for a beard he thought, long enough for that latch to rust.


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oneword.com

Rock & Roll Cookbook: The Ventures

Take a stroll over to the 111 Lex Wine Blog.

Walk, Don't Run to the Table

UPDATE 7/10/12
The Lex Wine blog is totally down :(
So I've reposted these articles here.
Thankfully I retained the rights to this project


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The thermometer is dropping and fall is finally asserting itself. Dark evenings and chilly days are upon us, for many of us that change is met with a mix of joy and sadness. This week I’m encouraging you to hold onto the sun just a little bit longer with a kid-friendly meal inspired by surf-rock gods The Ventures.

THE BAND

The Ventures are one of the most famous bands you’ve never heard of; a living symbol of the phrase “Big in Japan.” Their playing style and use of guitar effects was revolutionary; remaining one of the most influential groups of all time, inspiring such musicians as Peter Frampton, Ray and Dave Davies of The Kinks, Blondie, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and Brian May of Queen. Yet who was this all instrumental, surf rock before surf rock group that championed upbeat melodies and wrote the theme song to Hawaii Five-0?

Formed in Tacoma, Washington in 1958 by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. Later Noki Edwards joined the group. Their first hit was a cover tune Walk-Don’t Run, and they pioneered concept albums with their 1961 record The Colorful Ventures, with each song on the album reflecting the central theme.  Though they had much commercial success in the USA, the 1960’s and early 1970’s brought a sharp turn in the musical cultures. It seemed that there was no place for an upbeat surf band in the edgy and frequently dark new market. Japan was calling however, and the boys hopped over to the Island. Their unique sound and lack of lyrics turned out to be a huge help breaking into the musical scene in a new country. 1965 saw The Ventures charting over and over, gaining 5 out of 10 of the #1 songs in Japan that year. To this day The Ventures continue to perform live and tour.

THE MEAL

A Japanese spin on a American mainstay today’s meal is Walk Don’t Run Burgers, Japanese inspired slaw, and the always popular finger food edamame.

The Walk Don’t Run Burger

Named after one of the groups most enduring popular songs, this burger is infused with ginger to give it a zesty flavor that everyone can enjoy.

You’ll need:
2 pounds of ground beef
1 egg
½ a cup of dry bread crumbs
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs minced garlic cloves
3 tbs minced fresh ginger

1. Beat the egg in a large mixing bowl.
2. Add ground beef, breadcrumbs, soy sauce, garlic, and minced ginger.
3. Mix using your hands. This can get messy, so if you have kids helping you in the kitchen, you might want to put them in an apron.
4. Form the meat into 8 equal sized hamburger patties.
5. Either grill the burgers on high heat, or cook them in a slightly greased pan.

Eat them as-is or put them on a bun!

Colorful Asian Slaw

This Asian slaw, inspired by The Ventures’ ‘61 album is a great way to get kids to eat their veggies, and since cabbage is low-cost it’s a great way to stretch the budget in a tight week.

You’ll need:

2 cups shredded purple cabbage
2 cups shredded napa cabbage
1 cup shredded daikon radish
3 chopped spring onions
½ a cup shredded carrots
¼ a cup rice vinegar
¼ a cup sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey
½ a teaspoon salt

1. Simply mix all the cabbage, onions, and carrots together.
2. Sprinkle the salt over the cabbage mixture
3. Put the honey, oil, salt, and vinegar together in a jar with a lid. Shake vigorously.
4. Pour the mixture over the cabbage.

Pro-Tip: To add a little crunch put some crushed almonds or cashews on top of the slaw.


Edamame

A fun finger food, these green soybeans are eaten by squeezing the beans out of their pods with your fingers. They work great as an appetizer or a side dish. Put leftovers in lunches or use as an after school snack.

You’ll Need:

½ pound fresh of frozen edamame in pods
3 tbs salt (more if you deem necessary)

1. Cut the stems off all of the pods
2. Wash edamame and well and in a bowl salt all of the pods.
3. Boil 6 cups of water in a large pot, add 2 tbs of salt to the water.
4. When the water has come to a rolling boil drop in edamame for 4 minutes
5. Drain the edamame in a colander and allow to cool before serving.


WINE

This meal works best paired with either a dry Merlot that has accents of plum, and blackberry or a Pinot Gris. Pinot Gris is made from the same grape as it’s popular brother Pinot Grigio, but is dryer with a similar citrus flavor and light spice.

One Word/One Minute: Horses

The thundering of their hooves echoed over the valley. The wide swaths of grass crushed beneath their feet were the source of fascination for Will all his young life. Roads to nowhere, on and on into the horizon. ------------ OneWord.com

Just an observation...

Read in succession, these posts make me seem like a real sad sack. I'm not. "I just like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things."- ToM WAitS

One Word/One Minute: Laughter

The sound of the laughter echoed though the hallways. The house's architecture was entombed in her mind. The dark green damask wallpaper extending, yearning forward for what seemed like ever, & the oil lamps giving off their orange light. It was the only place she’d ever been happy and she knew that, and lamented it, especially here; at the end of her life. ________________ OneWord.com

One Word/One Minute: solitaire

When she opened the door, a musty smell wafted over her. Stacks of yellowing newspapers were everywhere. Nobody had been inside for years, a hoarders paradise. In the corner a man lay slumped over a card table. The game solitaire spread out before him.
“How fitting.” Julie thought before tripping over a box of glass figurines.

One Word/One Minute: Hearts

She picked up the cards that the dealer gave her. A swath of red spread out on her hand. All hearts. If she was her grandmother she would have taken it as a sign, but she was only herself, and a gambler, so she put down a card and motioned for the dealer to hit her again.

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oneword.com

One Word/One Minute: Left

The only sound that Mike could hear was his own heart beating in his chest. The thudding of his feet on the pavement, only a few feet away, was not close enough to be in the singular world of his head. How many miles left? When did I start running? There were perks to having retrograde amnesia as a marathon runner.



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OneWord.com

Rock & Roll Cookbook #2

Take a trip over to the 111LexWine Blog and check The Rock & Roll Cookbook! This week we've got Rush and Honey Glazed Salmon.

One Word: Positively

When Mary looked down at the old barca lounger she tried to be optimistic. Perhaps it was just a transitional device, this piece of furniture. A transitional object like her pacifier or blanket had been. Yet she worried. Its slightly stained upholstery seemed to glare at her. The issue at hand, echoed the voice in her head, was not that it was a transitional object, but that this morning he had even called her by his long dead sister’s name again. Lately her father had been forgetting that there had even been a transition. 


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www.oneword.com

One Word: Relate

It took her a long time to get to a point where she could relate to the other animals in the woods. To be honest her father hadn’t been very encouraging. “They’re just different from us, too many legs or not enough! What would you even have to say to them?” Jerry changed that. ________ www.oneword.com

One Word/One Minute : Still

Her hair hung around her shoulders, dripping wet. The tub drained its water down in a tornado. She stood still by the door waiting to hear the noise. The drain sucked the last of the water sloppily down the pipes. The scratching echoed from the window again.

The Rock and Roll Cookbook: The Manifesto

I'm a featured blogger over at the 111lexliquors blog. Check out my first post in what's going to be a weekly column.

The Notes from the Rock & Roll Cookbook: The Manifesto

One Word : Obsession

www.oneword.com

you have 60 seconds to write about a word that is chosen by the website above

One Word Project: obsession

The doctor called it obsession but he never agreed.
“I’m just a passionate person. Like Da Vinci, or Michael Jordan.”
Granted sometimes his passion made him do unusual things, like what happened to the cat.

One Word Project: epiphany

you have sixty seconds to write about it
click ‘go’ and the page will load with the cursor in place.

simple. you’ll see one word at the top of the following screen.

don’t think. just write.
www.oneword.com
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TODAY'S WORD: epiphany 

The idea came to her suddenly.
“If I re-route the pipeline back into the coolant sector, we can reduce the heat of the barium crystals and save the ship!”
The android whirred with the calculations,
“Where do ideas come from in humans? Organic spontaneity is hard to compute.”