It is Christmas Eve. No matter what your beliefs or what holidays you celebrate, may you have peace and be circled with loved ones during these long winter nights. And may you have the strength and will to achieve your dreams and goals in the New Year.

Christmas Dinner

What is it about food and holidays? Why is it still such an important part of our celebrations?

I understand in the old days having enough food to invite all your friends over and feed them enormous quantities was a sign of your wealth and success. Sometimes just surviving the winter was a sign of your success.

I understand certain festivities involving food had practical reasons. For example, the pancakes of Shrove Tuesday used up the eggs and milk that you weren't going to be able to use for the next 40 days of Lent. And certain feasts probably used up food that was not going to last the season.

But is that really applicable any longer? I mean we have gigantic grocery stores with huge aisles of preserved food. There is no worry that I will make it through the winter. And yet here I am, ten days before the big day, going through my cookbooks and deciding that I'm going to spend the entire day baking cookies.

Now I do love baking and I do find it relaxing and zen-like, but I could achieve the same effect by baking a couple of dozen of them rather than several dozen in six or seven varieties. Perhaps we need Tevye to walk through the room singing Tradition.

Whatever it is, we celebrate it with food. When I received the first copy of my first book, I planned a party. I invited everyone I had met, practically, and most of them came! And we spent the morning chopping and dicing and mixing and arranging. And that was just me. My friend the brilliant cook also pitched in. We had my entire dining room table laden with food (it groaned - but that's such a cliche that nobody will believe it), the coffee tables in the living room, the kitchen island, and the desk and coffee tables in the office. And whatever the historical reason that I was genetically programmed to provide that much food, it was a great party and we ate leftovers for days!

So no I'm off to make further food and try and figure out who I should give it away too. I mean, you can't fight your DNA, right?

Plus cookies are great to nibble on while you're writing. But then there is the other author's dilemma - how many calories do you burn an hour typing????

Writing and Travel and Secrets - oh my!

First of all, we're approaching the New Year which means it's Arthur Ellis time! Yes, the big awards for the best of the best in Canadian Crime Writing and here's the link if you want to enter.

http://crimewriterscanada.com/cwc/awards_2007%20submission%20rules.html

There is also a great new award for best UNPUBLISHED crime novel - so all you writers without deals yet - here is your chance. If you don't think winning this award will get you noticed you're crazy!

http://crimewriterscanada.com/cwc/pages/award_best_unpublished­_firstcrimenovel.html


So I'm going to be away for a couple of days on a top secret mission. How's that for creating a buzz? Is it working? But keep tuning in for information on where I've gone and what I'm doing. It will all appear here sooner or later.

And other than that, I don't have much to say today. I'm off to work because I'm about to lose two days of work and I don't want us to get behind ... and with the Christmas break coming up, we don't have a lot of time to catch up.

So I'll be back next week. Talk amongst yourselved until then!

Zen and the art of slow cookers

You know, sometimes it takes so little to make us happy. A little food, a couple of friends and lots of laughs.

For example, this was my bright idea one day. I had two friends over, one who cooks and one who watches us cook. We pounded out chicken breasts, stuffed them with feta cheese, basil, and asparagus and put them on the BBQ. They were delicious. The only thing we didn't do was grease the grill - turns out skinless chicken sticks a bit.

But I remember the giggles and the laughter as we leaned how to tie the chicken (well, I learned, Carol seemed to be a natural). These lovely little days stick in our heads. And somehow, when we're distracted by cooking, conversation because freer and laughter more easy. Or maybe that was the vodka coolers!



So in that vein, I got a slow cooker for Christmas last year. It took me a long time to use it. I was afraid that if I left it on while I was away, somehow the house would burn down or something. So I used it on a bunch of Sundays and convinced myself it was safe and now I am in love with my slow cooker. Oh - the best BBQ ribs ever, pulled pork, roast beef stews, curry split pea and ham soup, ham and cabbage and apple and pineapple bake...it's amazing. And I just got a new cookbook - so I think the next one is a cauliflower and chick pea curry soup. The best thing is (being a single person) coming home to a hot meal. Plus how great the house smells. Even the cat starts howling for supper if I have a roast or something like that cooking.


So what's the moral of this story? Well, in the short term it's about cooking new dishes and the endless search to try and eat healthier. In the broader spectrum, it's about conquering a fear. (although cooking with friends like this might instill fear in anyone!) Sure, leaving the slow cooker on while I'm out is not a huge, life altering fear. But it's a little one and I didn't let it rule me, I beat it.

It's also about constantly learning new things, and surrounding yourself with friends. But those are stories for another day.

For today, conquer your fears. Write, don't just talk about it. Send your writing out somewhere. Try a new genre, a new style, anything new and send it out into the world.

And celebrate the little things, like being brave enough to turn to the slow cooker on when you're out!