Prompt - The Coffee Shop (20 minutes): Go to a local coffee shop, order your favorite drink, and write a story inspired by an incident in the coffee shop before you finish your drink.
***
The coffee shop had that industrial look with a warren of exposed ductwork and lights dangling here and there from suspended tracks.
There were the usual tall tables that let my short legs dangle uncomfortably, and my feet fall asleep if I left them too long. It was May, and the fake Christmas tree was still up, though it was decorated with plain white lights and white silk roses.
As I sat there alone, facing the counter with its display of baked goods, I watched the people come and go in groups, urging the women in their parties to go first, getting their treats and coffees, and moving along. One man accompanied his wife, pushing an oversized baby carriage with a bored toddler who looked at me and grinned. I gave the child a half-smile and waved. She waved back. The wife carried an infant in a sling. Two babies in two years. I didn’t envy her.
“You first, honey,” the man said, placing a hand lovingly on her lower back, gently nudging her toward the counter.
She smiled tiredly but nodded. “I’ll have a latte and a caramel roll,” she said, speaking loudly to be heard on the other side of the plastic barrier.
“Two percent or skim?” the barista asked.
“Do you have whole?”
“Yes.”
“Then that’s what I want.”
Her husband ordered, though I didn’t hear his choices because the toddler had decided to escape the giant baby stroller and was squirming out from straps that held her in place. The parents didn’t notice as she climbed out and wandered toward the Christmas tree. She gently reached out a finger to touch the twinkly lights.
“It’s hot,” I told her.
She ignored me and reached out a finger and touched a light, then jerked her hand back.
“Put it in your mouth,” I said and poked a finger in my mouth to demonstrate. The toddler followed suit, but to my surprise, she didn’t cry.
The barista handed the coffee and treats to the husband, and he paid, then looked down and realized his daughter had flown the coop. There was an instant of fear in his eyes, then he relaxed when he saw the little girl at the Christmas tree.
Prompt - Prism Light, White Hot (three minutes): Write a stream of consciousness without stopping, for three minutes, using the quote below as an initial spark of inspiration. “Let the world burn through you. Throw the prism light, white hot, on paper.” – Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing (1990). Allow your thoughts to flow with complete freedom. Don’t be concerned with spelling or grammar (that can be taken care of later). Often the first line is the hardest to write, before flow fully kicks in. Don’t be afraid to just start writing - you can always erase the first line anyway.
***
“Let the world burn through you. Throw the prism light, white hot, on paper.” – Ray Bradbury
I sit at the kitchen table, listening to my daughter mutter and tap at her computer. The chair is beneath me, but I’m sitting up straight.
Coronavirus keeps us penned in like animals in our homes, though we seem to have a little more freedom than they do because we can still get outside if we want to or to the store, even if we have to endure glares from people who think we should be home.
I want to help so much, so I’m going to sew and clean my sewing room to find elastic for masks for doctors, masks, and nursing homes.
The kids are taking it harder, I think, because this is supposed to be spring break, a time of freedom and fun, while the older people are a little more content to just stay in. The college kids are especially bad, converging on beaches with no thought to who they might spread the virus to, should they catch it.
Grow up, little men and women, and have a care for your mothers, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, grandpas, and the workers who keep you comfortable.
I may be older and more content to stay inside, but even I’m getting stir-crazy.
--March 29, 2020
***
Notes:
I wrote this one in early 2020 - my daughter was finishing her senior year in high school and we were sitting at the kitchen table together when I wrote this.
I never quite know what to do with these. Is it a poem? Is it a paragraph? Vignette? Do I edit it into something more?
Prompt - The Wrong Number (350 words): Someone answers their phone but the caller has the wrong number. Write a story in which the call, rather than ending there, continues. What might the consequences be?
***
It was March 15th, the day of the year I dreaded most. The day my son was born and the day he died, 21 years later. I’d never see him marry, have children, or have a happy life. I’d been an older mother, so no other kids. A lonely only. And now I was a lonely only, too. Ten years lonely.
I hadn’t yet dragged myself from bed when my phone rang.
Who was calling on this of all days? My friends knew to leave me alone. I considered sending the call to voicemail but decided to answer. “Hello?”
“Hi, Mom?” It was a girl’s - no, a young woman’s - voice.
A pang. “I’m sorry, but I think you have the wrong number.”
“Mom, just listen to me. I know we haven’t spoken in years, but … I need to tell you something.” The wariness in her voice would tug at even an ogre’s heart.
I sighed. I wasn’t her mother, but damn, I wished I were. “I don’t know quite what to say, but I don’t have a daughter.”
“Mom, don’t you think you’ve taken this far enough? I know you disapprove of my lifestyle, but I’ve got news.” The hurt was oh-so-clear.
I wouldn’t ask. I shouldn’t ask. “What news?” I heard myself ask.
A heartbeat. A second heartbeat. “Jenny and I got married 18 months ago. And … we decided to start a family.” A third heartbeat. “I’m pregnant, Mom. You are going to be a grandmother.”
Tears. “That … that’s lovely news, dear.”
There was a long silence at the other end of the line. “Mom … Wait, am I speaking to Rhonda Jameson?”
“No. My name is Callie Kaiser. But … forgive my asking because I know it’s none of my business, but when is your baby due?”
I could almost sense her desperate wish for a reconciliation. “October 15th. It’s a little girl.”
“Oh, hon … I’m so happy for you. I wish you and Jenny all the best.”
“Thanks, Callie. Do you have kids?” I could tell she was smiling. A little.
“I had a son.” Another pang.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean…” The smile was completely gone from her voice.
“It’s OK. He’d be 31 now.”
“That’s how old I am.”
Our call continued for an hour. And we made plans to grab coffee at a local coffee shop. I’m not sure why it worked, but perhaps it was because she was a girl desperate for a mom, and I was a mom desperate for a child. And on October 15th, Julie named her baby Callie.
-- October 19, 2022
***
This is very much a work of fiction, and I have two (living) kids. :-)
Notes from the prompt: To draw out a story from a scenario, such as a wrong number, start a line of inquiry like a detective would. Follow a series of questions and answers. For example: why does the wrong number caller continue speaking? Because they recognize the voice on the end of the line. Why is the voice recognizable? Because it is similar to that of the caller’s deceased mother. As the line of inquiry continues, a narrative will emerge.
The Q&A I used to write this:
Why does the wrong number continue speaking? Because they think you are their mother who has disowned them.
Do you recognize the voice? No
Why did the mother disown them? Because the girl is gay
Why does the girl keep talking? Because she’s getting married to her girlfriend
Why do the narrator keep talking? Because she lost a child
"Make a list of ways to enjoy your OWN company. Complete three and collect your prize."
This one left me befuddled because I'm a total hermit and introvert, and being alone is kind of my natural state. I'm married to my best friend, so I'm not actually alone, but let's just say it's a good thing my husband is around to pull me out of my bubble because otherwise, I'd get really weird.
In other words, this is just too easy, and it seems to me that the point of these challenges is to stretch our boundaries. So I decided to flip the task a little to this:
"Make a list of ways to enjoy your PARTNER'S company. Complete three and collect your prize."
Making a list of ways that I enjoy my husband's company is easy because I like the guy an awful lot, but arranging for them will take a little stretching because despite being a lifelong fan of the romance genre, actually being romantic has always made me feel awkward.
So, here's my list (in no particular order)
Cooking together
Hiking
Road trips
Playing board games
Sharing crafts
Cuddling before and after sleeping
Eating good food
Exploring new places
Watching excellent movies and talking about them
Reading books and wiki articles together
I didn't - ahem - include sex in my list, because intimacy is private, and while I'm no prude, I'm just not going to blog about my sex life.
We'd planned to head up to Grand Marais on Valentine's Day for Fiber Friday at the Northern Folk School, but snow was forecasted, and the roads would have been iffy on the way home, so instead, we ate the picnic we'd planned for at the kitchen table: chocolate-covered almonds, lemon Italian soda, potato-leek soup, and mozzarella, arugula, and pesto sandwiches. We played the new-to-us two-player board game Undaunted: Normandy, and Chris taught me how to use his pin loom while trying out the new circular loom I'd gotten him.
It was a pleasant, low-key weekend spent with my best friend. Highly recommended.
When I started researching candidates for this category, one book came up over and over (plus some online friends recommended it): Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, first published in 2019, and it's won a bunch of accolades including:
NYT bestseller
Goodreads choice award winner for Best Debut and Best Romance of 2019.
2020 Alex Award Winner
Best Book lists in 2019 for: Vogue, Vanity Fair, NPR, Bookpage, Kirkus, Shelf Awareness
Best Romance lists for 2019 for: Entertainment Weekly, Library Journal, She Reads
It's even been made into a movie, with a sequel in the works (see the note at the end for more on the movie).
The book proved well-written and a lot of fun. Imagine that in 2016, a woman was elected President of the United States (no, not Hilary Clinton; the fictional Ellen Claremont). Now imagine that her son Alex, the FSOTUS (Get it? First Son of the United States) falls in love with Prince Henry, the younger grandson of the Queen of England (no, not Elizabeth II; the fictional Queen Mary). And the love story takes place in the year leading up to Claremont's re-election in 2020.
The sex isn't especially explicit, instead focusing on love and intimacy and emotions, and there was a lot of joy and pain, and sometimes horror at what people will do for political ambition (the older I get, the more I realize I have zero interest in living my life in the public eye).
Would I read it again? No, I don't think so, for the same reasons that I find Frankenstein and the Hunger Games a little tiring - the main characters aren't grownups. While Alex and Henry are in their early 20s, it was like reading about emo adolescents. Think Dead Poets Society crossed with The West Wing. I do recommend it though - it's a lot of fun, and if you enjoy a heavy dose of bildungsroman with your love stories, you really should give this one a try.
Note:one thing I've learned is that if there's a movie based on a novel, I really should start with the movie because if I read the book first, the movie is nearly always disappointing by comparison. So, even though it would spoil the plot of the book, I tried watching the movie, but it kind of dragged, and I gave up on it after 30 minutes. But the acting/casting is good, so you might enjoy it more than I did.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been making tortillas in various forms for nearly 15 years.
Coincidentally, it was twelve years ago today, that the very last bites of food my Dad ever ate were from a taco I made for him on a homemade tortilla. I will always remember seeing his eyes widen as he chewed and hearing his raspy, "Oh, it's good!" He died four days later of a long-term illness, and that dinner remains a treasured and bittersweet memory. But I digress.
So, anyway ... the hardest part of making tortillas (or any corn-based product) is grinding the corn. Turning partially-cooked corn into a meal is a lot of work. When I started experimenting with making tortillas from actual corn (instead using a dried corn flour product called Masa Harina) I immediately rejected using a metate - I just knew it would kill my back. Besides, where would I keep a very large stone mortar and pestle?
For those curious about metates, here's a longish video demonstration if you'd like to see it in use. Skip to about the 4-minute mark and watch for a few seconds to see the motion:
Pretty cool, huh? But definitely not for me.
For my first attempt at fresh masa, I milled the corn with my food processor, but it's a terrible way to grind masa - it dulls the blades and results in a wet concoction that is more batter than dough, and you have to amend it with masa harina to soak up all the excess water. That felt like defeating the purpose of making fresh masa, and I really wanted my food processor blade to remain sharper than a butter knife.
My next grinding tool was an inexpensiveVictoria Molino ($50) that I ended up using for the next six years. But hand-cranking partially cooked corn is enough work that it limited the amount of masa that I was willing to make. I tried out the Wonder Mill Junior Deluxe, and while it's a very nice dry grain mill, no amount of retrofitting makes it actually good for masa-making (it's even more work than the Victoria!).
Amazon has tons of electric wet mills for sale, but they were $200-$300 and had terrible reviews, so I doubted their durability. There were a few mills intended for dosa- and idli-making that looked like good products, but they had a very small capacity, requiring grinding in waves or produced a very wet dough requiring masa harina to dry it out.
The next step up was the Nixtamatic. One thing I liked about that unit was that it was specifically designed for masa. It was just expensive enough at $500 that I questioned whether it was a good idea for a hobbyist like myself. Plus there were no US-based distributors, so I would have to import it myself by purchasing it directly from the company and having them ship to me. But, due to the distance and language barrier, support for the product would be limited and expensive. But they've been in business for many years, so if I do need support, it's there. But the price was high enough that I hesitated, and kept making do with the Victoria.
Then my beloved Masienda released the Molinito, an $1800 grinder with stone burrs. The damn thing weighs 100 pounds (45 kg) and is about the size of a really large microwave, but taller. I really wanted one, but that was just a huge amount of money, and really out of our budget, and I'd have to give up a lot of counter space. And, the shipping from Los Angeles to Minnesota was pretty expensive - about $200 all by itself. Here's a little video (skip to about 7:00 to see it in action):
The Molinito is rated for commercial use, so ... overkill. I could sell it if I didn't end up using it, but still... it was huge. And heavy. And expensive. I hesitated even more than with the Nixtamatic, and years slipped by while I continued to use my Victoria.
Then came time for this year's bonus, and I suggested using it to upgrade the Victoria. My husband also likes masa-based food, so we decided to go for it, and I started researching molinos yet again. I found out that Masienda was discontinuing the Molinito, and I had strong misgivings about buying an expensive discontinued product - how would they support it once they ran out of replacement milling stones, for example?
I decided that the Molinito was not in my future, and went back to the Nixtamatic. There are very few of them in the United States, and the reviews are mixed. Steve Sando (of Ranch Gordo beans) got one back in 2008, but says he doesn't use it much anymore. At least two guys on Reddit deemed it crude, and stated that the grinding burrs were made of badly-cast aluminum (they are wrong - more on this later). Others complain that it doesn't grind finely enough.
Some people seem to like it, but no one is raving about it. But it's been around for at least 20 years (if not much longer), and it's still being made and sold, so it's probably a decent product, right? It's also a mere 31 pounds (14 kg), so if I need to move it myself, I can.
So, I ordered one. The shipping was painfully expensive (almost as much as the unit itself) because transporting a 40-pound (18 kg) package from Southern Mexico to the Northern US is just not cheap. UPS got it to me in only two days, and I don't have an unboxing video, but Nixtamatic did a GREAT job packing it - it was double-boxed, with sturdy baffles between the layers of cardboard.
Now, let's talk about what it is, so any of my readers who are considering one have their expectations set appropriately: it's basically a Victoria Molino, but with POWER. If the Victoria is a 1-speed bicycle, the Nixtamatic is a Ford F150. It has a hopper with an aggressive auger ("worm") that pushes the corn between two grinding plates, and the output is exactly the same quality as what comes out of the Victoria. If you want it more finely ground, you must put the masa through again, and you have to kind of push it through that second time. It's easier to clean than the Victoria, and it's FAST. It grinds 2 pounds (about a kilo) of nixtamal in less than ONE MINUTE. Holy sh-t.
Yes, the hopper is made of sand-cast aluminum, but that's not a bad thing - it's massive and would be very heavy if it were steel or iron. But the grinding plates themselves are made from cast iron (a magnet sticks nicely to it). I'm not going out on much of a limb when I assert that they've always been made from cast iron. No one would ever use aluminum to grind, well, anything - it simply isn't durable enough.
It lives on a wheeled stainless-steel table. Out of the way when not in use, easy to get it to an electrical outlet when it is.
You can make tortillas with one pass of the Nixtamatic, but you'll get a puffier tortilla that has more pliability upon reheating if you grind the masa a second time. But if all of the tortillas will be eaten in one sitting, I wouldn't bother running it through again. A single grind results in tortillas that are delicious and pliable enough to not break when served immediately.
Here's a short video we made showing it in use. Yes, it's just as loud as it seems in the video (though you can keep the sound off if you like):
One of the benefits of easy nixtamal-grinding is that I'm making a lot more masa-based recipes. In the month we've had the Nixtamatic, we've made tamales, tetelas, empenadas, tortillas, and arepas. Before we got that beast, I made tortillas maybe once a month. Now I'm grinding corn every week.
And yeah, I love it.
If you want to acquire a Nixtamatic of your own and don't live in Mexico, reach out to the company directly and fill out their online contact form here: https://www.nixtamatic.com.mx/contacto.php. They will provide the price and shipping estimate (based on your zipcode). I paid via PayPal, though they may be take other payment methods. You can also call them directly, but if you are calling from within the US, you will need to append "011-52-" in front of the phone number listed on their site. If you don't speak Spanish, when they pick up, say "Buenos días. ¿Hablas inglés, por favor?" and they will transfer your call to someone who speaks English.
For aficionados of corn tortillas, I offer this analogy: eating a grocery store tortilla is a bit like driving a Chevette*. It'll get you where you are going, but it's uncomfortable and not much fun to drive. And here's the weird part - people are driving Chevettes around but think they are behind the wheel of a BMW.
I've been making my own tortillas for nearly fifteen years, and early on, I used masa harina (corn flour made from nixtamalized corn that has been dried and milled to a very fine consistency) to make the dough, and tortillas made from masa harina offer quite an upgrade over commercial corn tortillas (think a nice new Toyota Camry, reliable and pleasant to drive, but not exactly fun).
But tortillas made from fresh masa, now that's the true BMW of the tortilla world. They are pliable (you can crumple them in your fist, and when you let go, they flop open again without splitting), and if they are made right they are pliable even when reheated. They also have a wonderfully strong corn flavor and aroma. But making them is undeniably a lot of work, particularly if you don't have the setup for it.
I started making my own masa about 6 years ago, after my daughter got back from a school trip to Costa Rica and had tortillas made from fresh masa during a homestay with a Costa Rican family. She urged us to try making them, because they were justso good (she was right).
You start by nixtamalizing the corn, and that part's easy - you just cook the dried corn in an alkaline bath (about 1:3 corn to water by weight, plus a couple of heaping teaspoons of cal/pickling lime) for 30-45 minutes, then let it sit overnight.
Then you grind it. That's the hard part.
Over the years, I used the following methods:
The food processor (terrible - it can be used, but it dulls the blades, and to get the masa finely ground enough, you have to add a lot of water, and that results in a watery dough more akin to oatmeal in consistency. To turn it into dough, you have to add masa harina to soak up the additional water.
An inexpensive Victoria molino (Spanish for mill). This has been my workhorse for the last six years. It's been around forever, and was designed specifically for making masa.
Wonder Mill Junior Deluxe, a very nice hand-cranked mill designed for dry grain that claims to handle masa, but it really doesn't work well for wet corn. Yeah, you can swap out the auger for one designed for masa, but the gloopy, cooked corn clogs the narrow throat, and you have to really shove the corn through. It produces a nice enough masa, but it's much slower and far harder to crank than the Victoria. Do yourself a favor, and if you want to make masa but don't want to spring for an electric mill, skip the WMJD and just get the Victoria, which is much cheaper anyway.
The electric Nixtamatic molino, which I ordered from Mexico. It's basically just like the Victoria but with POWER, and after 6 years of using hand-cranked mills this thing is a (very loud) delight to use.
Once the partially-cooked corn is ground, you add water to the masa until it's the consistency of play dough, then you roll it into balls, squish it flat and cook it. Make a stack of them and keep them wrapped in a dishtowel so they can steam a bit, then you are ready for Taco Tuesday.
Anyway, not long after I started making masa from scratch, we did a taste test: I bought a pack of grocery store tortillas, made a small batch of tortillas from a masa-harina-based dough, and also made some from masa, and the difference was startling.
I once heard that the James Beard award-winning chef Ann Kim tasted masa-from-scratch tortillas that were so good they made her cry, and I believe it. And here's the weird part: I was one of the people driving a Chevette but thinking it was a BMW. Even the very best grocery store tortillas, which I loved for so many years, now taste like cardboard - but if you look at the ingredients, they have very nearly the same list as my from-scratch tortillas: Corn, lime, water (plus some preservatives and gums that I don't use).
* Yes, my first car was indeed a Chevette. It had a four-speed manual transmission and no air conditioning.
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