Where There's Smoke

A tasty, healthy option for Sunday dinner...or any other night of the week, for that matter. 2 Whole (or 4 half) boneless skinless chicken breasts 1 cup cooked red quinoa (season with 1 tbsp olive oil, 2 tsp Goya Adobo®, and 2 tsp Mrs. Dash® Tomato, Basil, Garlic seasoning, then cooled) 2-3 cups raw baby spinach 2/3 cup sliced baby portabella mushrooms 1/4 cup diced sweet onion 1/3 cup feta cheese 1 box Oven Fry® Extra Crispy (chicken) mix 1/2 cup parmesan cheese 1 egg 1/3 cup coconut milk 1 teaspoon lime or key lime juice Brine chicken in warm water with 1 tbsp natural maple syrup and 2 tsp soy sauce for approximately 2 hours. Rinse thoroughly and pat dry. Heat oven to 400° and spray glass baking dish with olive oil cooking spray. Mix seasoned cooked quinoa with roughly chopped spinach, roughly chopped mushrooms, diced onions, and feta cheese. Set aside. Pound the chicken breasts to approximately 1/2 inch thickness. Mix egg, coconut milk, and ...

On July 21, 1996: Bill Clinton was still in his first term as President of the United States The number 1 movie in the United States was "Independence Day" with Will Smith (et al) The number 1 record in the country was 2Pac's "How Do U Want It" (A side, featuring Jodeci) / "California Love" (B side, featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman) Robin Williams turned 45 We were 1,878 days away from September 11, 2001 My Father was still alive I was a 34-year old college dropout and an underachieving Air Force Master Sergeant whose second marriage was circling the drain And... I launched on a journey to an unknown destination, that I never wanted to take, but that has changed my life in ways I never knew needed changing. Since July 21, 1996, I have: Retired from the Air Force Graduated college Transitioned into a satisfying, good-paying career Become a published writer, including a stint as an 84-year old Southern woman named Matilda Mae ...

Writers are faced with seemingly innumerable distractions, life stuff that comes between the ideas blowing across the barren wasteland of our minds and the words that somehow magically appear on our computer screens. But the single greatest impediment to this successful thought transfer is the Internet. This is a documented fact.   I know because I just documented it.   And it may even be true (though that’s not likely). In fact, my dear friend [1] Chuck Wendig  even included Freedom Internet Blocking Productivity Software as NUMBER ONE on his “ Ten More Gifts for Writers (2013 Edition) .” Some blame Al Gore.   Others blame Bill Jobs or Steve Gates or one of those other computer-box dudes. Personally, I blame Bush.   Vannevar Bush .   But that’s another story for another time. Photo credit: MIT Technology Review The point is that the Internet gets in the way of writing. So I’ve come up with a solution. Mind you, this is...

Faithful Followers of this blog (thanks, Mom), may recall my post from February 2012 in which I promised to chronicle the adventures of a fat man (yours truly) in a little surya namaskar . For the uninitiated, surya namaskar is a sequence of asanas or body positions involved in the practice of yoga.  Of course, I thought it was something one wears when practicing yoga which would have made my Chris Farley/David Spade reference actually funny, but no sense crying over spilled curry chutney. It has taken some time and a confluence of circumstances to get me into the ashram or, as I call it, “the place where a small woman makes me do things that hurt,” but I’ve finally taken the plunge.  For those considering taking up the practice, I’m here to report back what to expect once you decide the recliner just isn’t meditative enough. So without further ado (which in and of itself is superfluous and, in fact, further ado), I present Seven 7hings: About Yoga. 1.   ...

Shane Battier , current Miami Heat backup and erstwhile Duke Blue Devil, recently said "Sometimes you've got to eat a turd sandwich.  Makes the ribeye taste better next time." Happy breakfast, sports fans! While his choice of analogy was perhaps somewhat inelegant or distasteful, his point was perfect for recent (and current) events in the life of this fancy-pants writer and wanderer. For a multitude of reasons, I've recently taken a position far, far away from home, with "home" being defined as that place where I live in peace and harmony with my beloved Miss Aunt Lisa, Toby, the Notorious Z.O.E. (she loves it when you call her big Paw-Paw), and sometimes the lovely and wholly insane Lady Lauren. While at an intellectual level these circumstances did not appear to be particularly daunting, the effect has been unsettling to say the least (though I rarely ever say the least). I traded our beautiful home in Winter Springs, Florida for a on...

Given my somewhat scathing critique of Houston , it only seems fair that I turn the Light of Truth on my current home state, Florida. You really need to know these Seven 7hings   before you come visit. 1.   The News :   Residents of Florida know all too well how many notorious weirdos from Florida have made the news.   We’ve made national front pages with Ted Bundy, Aileen Wuornos, Casey Anthony, George Zimmerman, and Rudy Eugene (the dude who ate another dude’s face off), among other notables. 2.   Thanks a lot, Rest of America :   Since nearly two-thirds (65%) of Florida’s residents were born in another state, we’re not taking full blame for the knuckleheads in 7hing number 1.   In fact, the names and birthplaces of some of the principles of Florida’s more infamous news stories: Aileen Wuornos: Rochester, MI Ted Bundy:   Burlington, VT Casey Anthony:   Warren, OH George Zimmerman:   Manassas, VA Rud...