Faithchick

How to cook fresh parsley?

Camy here! And yes, I’m serious.

Whether you love or hate vegetables, I’d like some ideas from you guys. Here’s the setup (and a little gushing):

I belong to an organic co-op (which I luuuuv!!!) that delivers a basket of fresh organic veggies every week (to a pick up spot close to my house). We don’t get to choose what veggies are in the basket, but there’s always a huge variety and lots of it.

The cost is only a little more than what we spend on non-organic veggies at the supermarket. The quality is also ten times better because the veggies are picked when young and tender, since they’re being delivered from only a couple hours south of us in Central Valley.

We sometimes get veggies I’m not nuts over—radishes, for example—but luckily there really aren’t that many vegetables I don’t eat. I’m finding new ways to cook the ones I’m ambivalent about, like beets, and starting to like them a lot.

The good thing is that I’ve learned to cook and actually like veggies I’ve never eaten before. I’d never had Brussels sprouts or fava beans or fennel, and now I love them (now that I know how to cook them properly).

The co-op has been really good for my family too because I’m trying to lose weight, and on Sparkpeople.com (friend me!), they strongly urge people to eat more fruits and vegetables. Getting the co-op basket every week forces us to eat all the veggies before the next basket comes, so we’ve been eating a lot of vegetables, more than we would have if we went to the store to choose our veggies every week.

Okay (finally) here’s my quandary: We sometimes get herbs with our veggies. I have no problems using cilantro (after all, I am Asian, and cilantro is almost another food group) or basil (Italian dishes are my absolute fav—in my family tree, there must have been some obscure Italian who traveled to Medieval Japan and had kids), but what to do with parsley?

Parsley is one of those where I’m ambivalent about it, but I don’t hate it (radishes are a different story! Yuck!). The parsley is really good quality—very young and not big and tough; a bright, pretty green color.

I’ve been trying to cook different types of dishes with parsley, but for most of them, parsley is a garnish and the flavor of raw parsley is really strong.

I figure, if I can learn to cook parsley properly, maybe I’ll start to like it better (like what happened with fennel).

So…do you guys have any ideas? What do you use parsley for? Do you have any favorite dishes that call for some parsley?

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she runs the Story Sensei critique service. Her humorous romance, Single Sashimi, and her romantic suspense, Deadly Intent, are both out now. She also gives away Christian fiction on her blog and her newsletter YahooGroup.

I’m so ready for the rain to stop ...

Camy here! Give me a hollaback if you’re tired of winter yet???

I know I shouldn’t complain because we don’t have snow here in Northern California, just lots of rain. The above picture is my cyclamen in the backyard. (And those of you who know me know that the fact the cyclamen is alive is a miracle in itself, considering my black thumb!)

One big problem with it raining is that I get lazy, exercise wise. I have the perfect excuse not to run or, even worse, not to walk the poor dog who has been cooped up in the house all day. My laziness comes out in full force at the first sign of falling water.

There’s also the fact the house is so cold! Again, all you Northerners will poo-poo my wimpiness, but remember that I’m originally a Hawaii girl! It’s probably good my husband is from Arizona so we can be wimpy together.

So as I write this, I am sighing at the rain turning my backyard into a swimming pool (thanks to poor drainage). But my bearded irises are loving the rain and growing well (no thanks to me) and hopefully will flower in a few weeks. Some neighbors with greener thumbs than mine already had some pretty bearded irises in their front laws that I saw when I went running on Saturday.

What’s the weather like at your house?

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she runs the Story Sensei critique service. Her humorous romance, Single Sashimi, and her romantic suspense, Deadly Intent, are both out now. She also gives away Christian fiction on her blog and her newsletter YahooGroup.

Dog or cat person? Or both?

Camy here! My dog Snickers has been getting lots of love yesterday and today because she went for her yearly vet appointment. She got poked and prodded (and was not very polite about it, to my mortification) and also got a slew of vaccines.

She’s a bit tired after all the “excitement” and maybe from the vaccines, and she’s been very clingy today, always coming to my office and leaning against me. My dog is very much like a cat, come to think of it.

I never had cats growing up because I and my family were allergic to them, but my brother and I would play with any of the stray neighborhood cats we happened to see. My parents hated the strays because they pooped in the backyard and it really smelled rank, so I couldn’t blame my parents for not liking them (especially because my poor Dad had to be the one to pick up the poop right quick to prevent our dog from snacking). But for us kids, the cats were fun to stroke if they let us near them. Their fur felt very different from our poodle.

I’ve had friends who had cats and they’re still nice to stroke but they seem to know that I’m not familiar with cats and I don’t think I stroke them correctly. I’ve been startled to be scratched a few times. I’d really rather have a dog who makes his displeasure obvious with a few lip curls and growling before he bites.

So how about you? Are you a cat or a dog person? And are there any tips for how to pet a cat? Are they all moody?

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she runs the Story Sensei critique service. Her humorous romance, Single Sashimi, and her romantic suspense, Deadly Intent, are both out now. She also gives away Christian fiction on her blog and her newsletter YahooGroup.

Do you finish every book you read?

Camy here! I had an interesting conversation with my friend Danica a few weeks ago about finishing books.

Danica reads super fast and she says she will almost always finish a book, even if it’s so bad that it’s torturous. She can’t not finish a book.

I, on the other hand, feel that my life is too short to waste on a book that doesn’t interest me (for whatever reason). So if I’m not really into the book by the end of chapter three, I’ll put the book down and pick up a new one.

Not all those books that I don’t finish are BAD. Many of them just aren’t to my taste. Sometimes I’m not that nuts about the plot premise—for example, I tend to not like romances where the heroine is older than the hero, or stories where the hero and/or heroine are both over 45. I have plenty of friends who like those plot premises, but I’ve tried reading books with those plot premises and just don’t enjoy them that much.

Or maybe I’m a bit bored because I personally don’t care that much for the main characters—but often, many of my friends liked the characters of that book, so I know it’s just my own personal taste. On the flip side, sometimes I’ll like characters in a particular book that my friends only find so-so.

So here’s what I’m asking—do you complete every book you start like Danica, or do you put a book down like me?

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she runs the Story Sensei critique service. Her humorous romance, Single Sashimi, and her romantic suspense, Deadly Intent, are both out now. She also gives away Christian fiction on her blog and her newsletter YahooGroup.

Spinning! And not just my wheels...

Camy here! I just recently got into spinning yarn.

Yup! As in, sheep wool into yarn. With a drop spindle. I’m going waaaaaaaaay old school!

I’m not sure why I started spinning. Probably because a lot of knitters spin yarn, and they talk about spinning a lot on forum boards, on Ravelry, on podcasts. And I think I just figured, why not try it out?

I got a couple spindle recommendations and bought a lightweight, nice spindle as opposed to a “student” spindle, as well as some really nice merino wool roving, because if there’s one thing I learned from knitting, it’s that if you have nice tools when learning something new, the soft yarn (or wool) and good tools makes up for the frustration (slightly) of learning a new skill.

And then I learned to spin the same way I learned to knit—online! I watched all kinds of videos and played them over and over again. And then I just practiced.

It took me a while but I finally got the rhythm of the motions. I’m not entirely sure I’m doing it the right way, but most teachers say that whatever way works for you is okay.

One thing that has surprised me about learning to spin is that it’s extremely soothing and calming. Something about the motions of drafting is rather zen-like, and the tactile feel of the wool is very relaxing to me.

So while I had originally started spinning to just to try it out, it has given me a surprising and wonderful gift—a hobby that is extremely soothing, as well as being fun and challenging if I want it to be.

How about you? Have you had any hobbies like that, where it ended up being just a terrific thing you picked up for various reasons?

PS: I recently bought a spinning wheel cheap thanks to Craigslist! Now I get to learn how to spin on a wheel!

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she runs the Story Sensei critique service. Her humorous romance, Single Sashimi, and her romantic suspense, Deadly Intent, are both out now. She also gives away Christian fiction on her blog and her newsletter YahooGroup.

Bedtime discipline

Camy here! I’m seriously hurting in the bedtime discipline area.

Hurting as in, I totally suck and couldn’t make myself go to bed on time even if I had an all expenses paid shopping trip to a yarn store in the morning.

(And trust me, I could spend thousands of dollars on yarn. Thousands, I tell you!)

Ahem. Anyway, I’ve been trying to set my alarm for earlier so that maybe I’ll be tired and want to go to bed early.

Nope, not working.

Once in a while I’ll actually make it to bed on time, but I usually end up lying there staring at the ceiling and listening to my husband snore. (He’s kind of loud, if you ask me, but then again, he’s not as loud as my dad.)

But then the next night I’ll stay up late reading or working or playing Bejeweled Blitz. (I LOVE THAT GAME!)

See my problem? I really do suck, I think.

Anyway, I’m going to try to get to bed early tonight and hopefully keep it that way. Because staying up late is not good. I end up not getting enough sleep (but apparently I’m not tired enough to go to bed early! Sheesh!)

Any advice that doesn’t involve pharmaceuticals?

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she runs the Story Sensei critique service. Her humorous romance, Single Sashimi, and her romantic suspense, Deadly Intent, are both out now. She also gives away Christian fiction on her blog and her newsletter YahooGroup.

Veggies

Camy here! I’m still going strong on my New Years resolution to eat healthier and exercise!

Believe it or not, I’ve realized recently that I’ve grown to love veggies. Who’da thought? I hated veggies growing up. But now I’ve come to see that it might have been just that the veggies my parents liked weren’t what I liked.

For example, Mom served us raw cabbage tossed with mayonnaise dressing. Yuck! (The cabbage, not the dressing.)

However, last year I discovered a French recipe for cabbage sauteed with onions, a little butter, and a little bacon. Yum! Cooked cabbage is darn tasty!

We got served salads a lot, too. While I don’t hate salads, they just don’t really appeal to me, especially in wintertime because I’m always cold (especially my hands). My parents don’t get cold very often, whereas I’m always freezing, so they couldn’t understand my aversion to cold veggie dishes.

But now that I’m cooking for myself, I take the option of choosing to cook vegetables, and I rarely make salads. Instead, I’ve been experimenting with different vegetables that I never ate when I grew up, like Brussels sprouts and collard greens.

I love Brussels sprouts! Can you believe it? Sauteed with garlic and olive oil and a dash of parmesan cheese—fantastic!

And I love collard greens! Boiled first for about 10 minutes, drained and then sauteed with bacon (see a trend, here? LOL)—delish! I never had it growing up.

Radicchio! Sauteed in olive oil with garlic, then tossed with sausage and pasta!

Kale! Boiled for about 10 minutes, then sauteed with chicken and marsala wine and pasta!

Rutabagas! Diced and thrown into minestrone soup!

I’m going nuts these days finding out new ways to eat new vegetables. It helps that we belong to an organic co-op that delivers a basket of organic veggies to us each week (we don’t get to choose what we get, but we get a huge variety of stuff, all great quality, that costs only a little more than the non-organic stuff at the grocery store).

How about you? Any veggie recipes you want me to try? Any tips? Any ideas for how you can incorporate more veggies into your daily diet?

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she runs the Story Sensei critique service. Her humorous romance, Single Sashimi, and her romantic suspense, Deadly Intent, are both out now. She also gives away Christian fiction on her blog and her newsletter YahooGroup.

Joy

Camy here! This past Sunday my worship team led the music for worship service. Our pastor talked about Joy, for Advent season, and one thing he asked our worship team to do is to have one of us share about Joy and then light the Advent candles.

One of my high school girls shared about Joy, and she did a great job. She talked about how she had recently lost her grandma and that one thing she realized was that God can give joy even in the midst of sadness and suffering.

Our pastor talked about that theme, too. That Jesus gives a joy that exists even in the midst of trials, as shown in James. Paul tells us to rejoice always and to always be filled with joy.

Not happiness—that’s different. Happiness is dependent on external things, but joy is dependent on the promise God has given to us that we will live with him forever, that this life is not all we have, because our sins have been wiped clean by the blood of Jesus.

So during this Christmas season, I pray Jesus will give you His joy, no matter where you are—if you are happy or sad, sick or in good health, unemployed or have a great job, alone or surrounded by people. Jesus is our joy.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she runs the Story Sensei critique service. Her humorous romance, Single Sashimi, and her romantic suspense, Deadly Intent, are both out now. She also gives away Christian fiction on her blog and her newsletter YahooGroup.

Style

Camy here! Recently I’ve been working on my personal style.

This has mostly been instigated by the book, Women, Work, and the Art of Savoir Faire by Mireille Guiliano, the author of the book French Women Don’t Get Fat (which I loved).

Mireille’s Savoir Faire book is mostly for businesswomen, but I’ve found it useful to help me understand how to present myself in my work and create a stronger impression. Not all of it is applicable to me, but it’s mostly pretty useful.

The first thing I did was get my hair cut and styled, and while I like how it looks now, in order for it to look that good every day, I have to spend TWENTY MINUTES DOING MY HAIR. For a wash-and-go girl, this is torture.

So, I don’t do my hair every day, just the days when I have to see more people than my husband and the mailman.

I’m also experimenting with different perfumes to figure out what I like. I took a poll on Twitter a while ago and got some suggestions. I’m intending to go stalk the counters at Nordstrom’s and Macy’s to nab some free samples.

I’ve also been looking at my wardrobe, and realizing that a lot of what I have has been influenced by my husband and my mother.

My husband’s taste is a bit bland. My mother’s isn’t bad, but just different.

I am realizing that I like frilly. I like PINK. I like French style.

So I have culled tops from my wardrobe that I don’t absolutely love and donated them to Salvation Army. I have also gotten rid of any bottoms that don’t fit or that are too old, style-wise—I had several that were 10 years old, when waists were higher than they are now.

My closet is still depressingly FULL, but at least it’s not overflowing. :)

So now I’m on the lookout for tops that will be my own style—things that both appeal to me and don’t make me look fat. Oh, and which won’t make my husband walk on the other side of the street from me.

I’m also thinking of sprucing up some old, plain tops with lace. Still thinking over that one.

So how about you? Ready for a fluffing up of your own personal style?

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she runs the Story Sensei critique service. Her humorous romance, Single Sashimi, and her romantic suspense, Deadly Intent, are both out now. She also gives away Christian fiction on her blog and her newsletter YahooGroup.

Gratitude Journal

Camy here! Recently I’ve been reading Debbie Macomber’s latest nonfiction, One Simple Act, which my best bud Cheryl Wyatt bought for me (and she got Debbie to autograph it for me, too!).

Here’s the back cover blurb:

What if you, personally, could make the world a better place...by tomorrow?

Debbie Macomber knows the secret to doing exactly that! In a world that seems too often stingy and grudging, she has witnessed how one simple act of generosity can yield unforeseen miracles.

You are about to discover, through true stories, what happens when we commit intentional acts of generosity. Lives are changed in ways we never envisioned. Come with Debbie late one evening through the checkout line at the grocery store. Visit a midwestern train station. Discover the link between a submarine, a few bread crumbs, and some minnows. Visit ancient Galilee as a young boy volunteers his fishes and loaves to Jesus only to see his meager gift multiplied many times over to feed five thousand. Listen in on a touching phone call with an elderly widow. You will stand amazed at what God accomplishes when we make ourselves available through simple acts of generosity.

This blend of true stories and motivating messages will delight and surprise you as you discover how giving the gifts of time, encouragement, hope, laughter, prayer, hospitality, service, and even forgiveness can have lasting, life-changing impact, not only on the recipient of such gifts but on the giver as well.

Debbie Macomber, through the power of story, invites us to live with open hands, offering who we are and what we have to God, to use in the lives of others. When we do so, lives--including our own--are changed in ways we couldn't have imagined. All it takes is one simple act.

One thing I have really liked right off the bat is in the first chapter, Debbie talks about a gratitude journal that she started many years ago. She has a pretty journal in which she writes five things she’s thankful for every morning before she starts her Bible reading.

She said it has helped her to be thankful for even the hard things in her life, and ever since I followed her example and started my own gratitude journal, I’ve discovered the exact same thing.

It has helped me to remember God’s sovereignty over everything in my life, and that gives me a deep-seated comfort in the midst of difficulties.

The gratitude journal has also helped me to have a more positive outlook on my life rather than always complaining (to God, to my husband, to friends) or worrying about bad things that could happen. I don’t think God wants us to complain or worry, and this simple journal has helped me to release some of that negative energy and reduce the stress in my life.

And who wouldn’t want less stress?

So during this Thanksgiving season, I would encourage you guys to consider starting your own gratitude journal. It’s quick and easy and I think it’ll help us all in our walks with the Lord!

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she runs the Story Sensei critique service. Her humorous romance, Single Sashimi, and her romantic suspense, Deadly Intent, are both out now. She also gives away Christian fiction on her blog and her newsletter YahooGroup.