How To Make Tortillas

For years I've tried to make my own tortillas using the Mexican corn flour found in most grocery stores, masa harina (you don't pronounce the 'h') and was never pleased with the results. Forget masa harina. Instead, visit your local Mexican grocer (they're in every city large or small) and purchase these ingredients: masa (you'll find it in bags in the refrigerated section), a tortilla press, and a comal (it's a thin metal flat wok). You can use a griddle or heavy frying pan but a comal works best.

Step 1. Heat the comal (the correct setting on my gas stove is just a tad higher than medium. Don't add oil.

Step 2.
a) While the comal is heating, prepare your first tortilla. I don't use wax paper in my press because it often sticks to the tortilla. Rather, I save those thin plastic bags from the grocery store's produce section.
b) Cut two sides of the plastic bag, open and lay it onto the tortilla press leaving a large overhang all the way around.
c) Scoop out 1/3 C. masa and form into a small patty and place it onto the plastic near the middle of the press (a tad toward the back) and press the lid down with your hand until the handle catches. Press down lightly.
d) Open, turn the tortilla (which may not be evenly thin) until the thinnest side overhangs a bit. Then press again a little harder.
e) Lift the lid and slide the plastic onto your flat right hand, then flip the tortilla onto your left hand and gently remove the plastic (do the opposite of course, if you're left handed like my granddaughter and step daughter).
f) Slide the tortilla from your left hand onto the hot comal (don't flip it over and slap it down).

Step 3.
a) While the first tortilla is cooking, make another but don't let the first one burn.
b) When the tortilla on the comal starts to puff, flip it over with a metal spatula. It should be lightly browned (you can always flip it back if it's not sufficiently cooked but that's not too cool).
c) Next, use a square wooden spatula and press down lightly near and around the center of the tortilla to help it puff.
d) When the tortilla has puffed in places and is lightly browned on both sides, you can transfer it onto a dish towel and cover it to keep warm. The new popular tortilla warmers, which you can also find in the Mexican markets in the U.S., are straw with a styrofoam liner. Line it with a dish towel and it keeps tortillas warm for a very long time.

Step 4. Repeat the procedure and enjoy those tortillas plain or in enchiladas, fried and cut in strips for tortilla soup, etc.....they're GREAT!

The Mexican Cooking School

My husband and I returned last weekend from our week at The Mexican Cooking School in Atlahapa, Tlaxcala, which exceeded our expectations in every way. Estela Silvas is a lot of fun. She began her cooking career at the age of seven working in her family's restaurant in Puebla and she is a brilliant cook. The secret of central Mexican cuisine we learned, is in the sauce. There's a different sauce for every dish. We were amazed at how many variations existed from the same basic set of ingredients: chiles, tomatoes, tomatillos, onion, garlic, and of course, tortillas. I'll post a 'how to' for tortillas because whether you make an occasional Tex-Mex meal at home or you're into some serious authentic Mexican cooking, making your own tortillas dramatically changes the taste of the dish.

how to get a short story published

The latest issue of a respected literary magazine to which i subscribe arrived by email today, and by respected i mean a magazine that publishes the likes of joyce carol oates and t. coraghessan boyle, and i downloaded the first short story anxious to confront the literary touchstones to which i might aspire in my own writing journey and as i read i was struck by the style and a light kindled in my brain, igniting the most blatant realization that oh my god, this is how you have to write in order to get published, word after word, sentences running into each other wildly, never ending, consuming the page, leaving you breathless as you read them wondering what in the hell the writer is thinking and doesn't he have a clue about periods and capital letters and how to parse a paragraph in ways that make sense or maybe it all makes sense to him even if it doesn't to some narrowly focused reader like myself who enjoys knowing when one thought ends and another thought begins but to him the eminent writer, the published writer, the writer published in an eminent literary magazine, all thoughts are amorphous, integrated one into another like waves into the sea crashing and blending and melding in a never ending . . . . you get the idea. Or maybe you just have to know somebody.

Google Street View

If you haven't used Google Street View yet, take a look. To check it out, click on Maps on Google's main page, then click Street View. You will see a map of the U.S. covered in cameras. Everywhere you see a camera you'll find Street Views available for those cities. The streets photographed are outlined in blue.

You can drive up and down the streets and click around for a 360 degree view. It's a terrific writing aid. Right now, I'm working on a novella that's set in West Hollywood. I visited there numerous times when my son lived there, but that doesn't mean I remember street names or where the nearest LAPD station is located (it's on Wilcox) or where there's a Money Mart, for example, but between Google's search engine and the street views, everything is easy to find (and thus describe).

Thank you Google!

About Writer's Contests

In the course of researching pressess, I've run across a number of contests for writers. Short story contests, first novel contests, best novel contests. I'll start a list here of those that do NOT require a fee. If you know of others, post a comment and I'll add those to the list.

1. The Nero Wolfe novella contest (ends May 31): http://www.nerowolfe.org/htm/neroaward/black_orchid_award/BO_award_proc.htm
2. Idaho magazine fiction writing contest (current contest ended Jan. 31)
http://idahomagazine.com/news_fiction.asp

Short Stories

Today I decided to post three of my short stories on my website. You can view them by going to: http://www.harolmarshall.com/new.html

They're all 'firsts'--my first short story, my first 'flash' story, and the first chapter of a 'noir' (or sort of noir) novella. The protagonist is a female private investigator by the name of Pauline (Polly) Isabel Berger. Yeah, she goes by P.I. Berger. Oh well, she's fun...we'll see how it goes. I'm still busy with Anna and Commander Cortez in book three of the Mexico series.

Small Presses, Agents, and Salt Lake City

Whew!! I dedicated most of this week to researching small presses (with occasional lapses given over to viewing Salt Lake City houses for my daughter who is moving there this summer). Oh yes, and I researched an agent or two.

Researching small presses has been a HOOT. Of course, there are the mystery presses, some of which are receptive to a little romance with their mystery, others want only hard-boiled detectives. Some love cozies others hate cozies, etc., and that was just the tip of the iceberg. There are the Christian romance publishers who allow nothing more than hand holding and kissing (even by implication) and their opposites the Erotica presses which made me blush just to read their submission guidelines. And the lesbian presses, the gay/lesbian presses, the presses with special requirements such as the 'big girl' heroine (she canNOT lose weight to please a man, for goodness sakes), and the horror, sci-fi publishers with their own weird set of requirements.

So, I'm thinking that maybe I should go back into my novels and add a few pounds to Anna, take away her penchant for fitness, eliminate the scene (though no details are provided) where she spends an overnight with (oh gosh) one of the male characters. Or maybe I should add a (chaste) lesbian, a ghost, a spaceship and some Bible verses. Voila! Publishing success.

Something to consider. . .

Flash Fiction

Sent off my first 'flash fiction' piece today, titled: "Mama's Little Boy," which I spent far too much time editing last week and over the weekend. My son-in-law had a few good suggestions about what he thought the story was missing. It's much better now, I think. A flash fiction story is under 1,000 words. This one was 998.

Also added a Short Story section to my harolmarshall.com website. I think I'll post some short stories there since it takes a lot of time to get them ready for publication and even longer to send them out. I really need to let them sit and fester for awhile before I go back and edit and revise, so why not fester on my website. Maybe someone will tell me what they like or don't like.

The find of the day was http://www.duotrope.com/ with lots of information on publishers. I found many new outlets, but was equally surprised to see how many I've turned up on my own that were NOT listed on duotrope.

All in all a pretty good day, though I need to get back to work on book three before I forget what's supposed to happen! Less than a month before we leave for our Mexican Cooking School trip...I can't wait.

Once in a Lifetime Story

On a visit to see my son in Melbourne Beach, Florida last month, I saw an unusual sight. About 9:30 in the morning, standing on the balcony of our hotel room with my binoculars, scanning the ocean, I spotted a group of dolphins moving toward the beach. Suddenly, in their midst the square black nose of a whale surfaced.

After watching the group for several minutes, I realized the group of about a half dozen dolphins were turning the whale away from the beach and guiding it back out to sea. I couldn't help but think they put humans to shame.

I have no idea how common this behavior is for dolphins, but I know it's a once in a lifetime scene I was fortunate to have witnessed. Wish I'd had a video camera instead of the binocs!

The Harol Hoffman Movie

This is funny (at least to me). The other day I googled myself (using my legal name, not my pen name) and I turned up a listserv posting about The Harol Hoffman Movie," which, it turns out "never got made." I couldn't resist emailing the person at Liberty Pictures who posted the comment. He wrote back asking if I was from Dallas. He told me "Harol Hoffman" was the money man behind the movie, but that's all I've learned so far and I've yet to turn up this 'money man' on the Web.

Seemed odd to me since I've never met anyone with my first name let alone both names, but as my son reminded me, 'there are 7 billion people on this rock.' I guess he's got a point about probabilities.

On the other hand, an old boyfriend of mine lives in Dallas. . .

Crunching Lunch

Florida weather today in the 70's so I'm outside on the patio editing manuscripts when my cat Savannah decides to present me with the gift of a dead mole (or vole, I can't tell the difference).

After tossing it in the air several times hoping to amuse me, she turned it into lunch. I tried to ignore the spectacle since I'd just had lunch myself, but tuning out the crunch of skull bones taxed my powers of concentration. This happened not once but twice.

On the upside, my stomach's getting stronger.

Oh, I went to see Juno last night, mainly because it won the Oscar for best screenplay. I was underimpressed and came away thinking Hollywood must be seething with hard working experienced screenwriters who choose not to pave their way to success via the route of hype and porn. (Just my opinion.)

Re-Naming a character

Okay, at least three people have told me they dislike my female protagonist's last name, which sounds like a "German charlady," says one friend. I need to come up with a different name now while I still have time to save her. The name Anna is a keeper. It's "Diehl" that's the bad deal (sorry).

Maybe Ryan? Or Slade or Shaw? McKensie, McKinnon, McPherson, McMaster?
Fury, Bartholomew, Bevin-Evans, LaRouche?
Higgenbottom, West, Dean, Romero? I don't know. I'll sleep on it.

Okay, I slept on it. Anna Merino. Spanish (not Mexican) surname with no charwoman overtones.

Patience is a Virtue

Whether you're waiting to hear back from a publisher, agent, magazine, contest, everything(one) takes FORever. Getting published requires far more patience than writing (or even editing). I am convinced, though...once you get that one break....

Maybe I should have been a stripper in my prior life instead of an anthropologist (as in Diablo Cody?). . .No, that wouldn't have worked for me, I don't have the necessary ah, um, fortitude, that's it, fortitude. :-)

Kill and Be Killed

I was reading through the NY Times Book Review section today (it's Sunday afternoon after all), and ran across "Kill and Be Killed," the title of the Crime novel reviews. I know it's a cute title describing the books but it seemed an equally fitting description for the plight of the authors whose books were under review.

I could feel the pain and I haven't been there. How about this one—"For all her impressive command of the action...April Smith couldn't write a stock thriller if she tried." I read the review three times and still couldn't figure out whether the statement was meant as a compliment.

Oh well, I can't feel too sorry, even a bad review in the NY Times substantially increases book sales. Or, so I've read. . .

CATS (are good for your health)

Today's paper carried an article about the health benefits of cats. A study by University of Minnesota researchers collected data on over 4,000 people and found that cat owners were less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke. Those who lacked a feline for company were 30 to 40% more likely to die of cardiovascular disease.

Dogs? They don't count.

Jerry and I should be in good shape with our four cats: Savannah, Samantha, Polska (aka Eightball) and Sprinkles (aka Badass).

Breakthrough

Today's a good day! I've finally finished working out the plot for book number three, titled: In the Arms of Santa Muerte.

I have the first four chapters written (based on a sketchy plot outline), but reached the point where I had to finalize the plot and subplot before I could go on. After a poor night's sleep tossing and turning, I finally got up around 5:00 and put the petal to the metal. Early morning is a good time for thinking....it's dark and quiet, except for the purring motor running on my cat Samantha who wants to sit in my lap as soon as I park myself in front of the computer in the morning. After five or ten minutes, if I've petted her to her satisfaction, she leaves and I can get down to business.

Sue Grafton & Harol, er rather, Hairl

I'm reading Sue Grafton's "S is for Silence" currently, and noticed a character's name is Hairl (p. 72, paperback), the 'Hairl' being a homonym of my name. In the acknowledgments, Grafton thanks Hairl Wilson for the use of his name.

When I told my husband, he said the names aren't homonyms, and he's correct if you have a mid-Atlantic accent like his, which distinguishes the 'a' sound in these two words: marry and merry. In my northern NY accent, I pronounce these words the same.

So, to him my name sounds as though it's spelled: Hah-role (like the ahhh sound in the dentist's office) and I pronounce it: Hair-role, or Hairl. (If you're wondering, my father named me after his oldest brother.)

My British grandmother (you have to roll your r's or your dees on this) pronounced it: Hah-d(roll)ul, which fascinated me when I was young. I tolerate almost all pronunciations except the one that puts a 'd' on the end...in the fashion of at least one of my in-laws (I won't say who).

Grafton has a very funny Author's Note in this book. After reading it, I've decided to appoint myself Tlaxcala Planning Commissioner. BTW, Grafton has a great website!

More About Huitlacoche

Also known as the Mexican Corn Truffle, cuitlacoche is a delicious smoky fungus as versatile as the mushroom (maybe more so). For more information, visit the Gourmet Sleuth website:

http://gourmetsleuth.com/huitlacoche.htm

You also can purchase canned Huitlacoche online from Gourmet Sleuth, at:

http://gourmetsleuth.com/pdetail.asp?i=2&p=248&s=1&price=5.85

And here's another great site with LOTS of recipes--"The Sweet Corn Disease Nursery" website. They even have a recipe for cuitlacoche ice cream!! (What do you say to that, Pattie?)

http://www.sweetcorn.uiuc.edu/Common-smut/Recipes.htm

Border Fence

I have to comment on this....the silliness of the U.S. government constructing a 'fence' along the border with Mexico. Read Michelle Roberts' (AP) article about the impact of this decision on the neighboring towns of Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negras, Mexico at:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080205/ap_on_re_us/border_fence

I agree with John Stockley. . ." a 74-year-old native of Eagle Pass. 'I keep thinking if we took this money that's going to be spent not just here, but all along the border, and put it into the Mexican economy, we'd probably have people going back the other way.'"

What if, in fact, we had taken the trillions of dollars spent to protect oil company profits (Exxon profits set a new record this quarter at $44 billion) in our war with Iraq, and instead invested it in both Mexico's and our own economy?

Finally, when we're bemoaning the number of Mexican immigrants (legal or illegal) in the country, let's remind ourselves that our whole country is composed of illegal immigrants who stole this land from native inhabitants. For a further reality check, how about the U.S. war with Mexico in which our "Manifest Destiny" policy led us to steal from Mexico most of what is now the U.S. southwest? A quick and dirty summary of that war, can be found on wikipedia at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican%E2%80%93American_War

Mexican Hominy Soup (Posole)

I'm in the midst of editing my Shallows of the Sun book and came across the place where Anna Diehl and Commander Cortez are having lunch and she orders posole. Anna loves soup of all kinds as you'll see when you read the books. This is one of her favorites, so thought I'd post the recipe since it's one she made up back in the fieldwork house in Belén where she's staying for the course of her fieldwork. :-)

Posole (or Pozole) -- Mexican Hominy Soup

Soup Ingredients:

8 Country Style Spareribs
Water (enough to cover ribs)
1 large (or 2 medium) white onion, roughly chopped (quartered, then halved)
2 cloves garlic (remove at end)
2-3 cans chicken broth (Posole)
2-3 cans hominy (I use 2 white, 1 yellow)

Cooking Directions:

Cover ribs with water, add onion and garlic and simmer until meat is tender and falling off bone. Remove ribs and strip off the tender meat, cut up if necessary and return meat to pot. Add hominy and broth and bring just to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Serve anytime, but it's better the next day.

To Serve:

Add the following to each empty soup bowl--
1/4 avocado sliced
1/2 c. chopped lettuce
finely chopped white or green onions
chopped cilantro to taste.
Optional: sliced radishes and lime wedges. Ladle soup over top. Then season with a teaspoon (or more) of green sauce (salsa verde).

My current favorite salsa verde is Del Primo green sauce, which I buy in a Mexican grocery. It tastes most authentic to me.

Number Of Servings: A lot
Preparation Time: 1/2 hour + cooking time.

Website Problems

If you access my website today, the menu items aren't working, but that should be fixed soon.

My webmaster is trying to solve a problem with what I call porn hackers. Apparently, if you have an open forum or blog and don't maintain the site with vigilence (something I didn't do for the previous blog on my website), the porn purveyors will find your site and start leaving 'comments' that include links to their websites.

Soooo, we took down my previous blog and are trying to 're-program' Google, so that it no longer points to the old pages, though there are still 'links' out there on porn sites that now point to my site (groan......what a mess!). I will be diligent with this blog and not allow that to happen. It's called learning the hard way. . .

About Huitlacoche (or cuitlacoche) Soup

In Shallows of the Sun, the second book in the Anna Diehl/Commander Cortez series, Anna orders cuitlacoche (or huitlacoche) soup for her lunch with Cortez. She learns that the black fungus is the 'corn smut' that sometimes invaded her father's corn field (as it did my father's).

Never as a youngster picking corn in the field to sell at our vegetable stand, would I have dreamed of eating the fungus, let alone loving it!

However, the cream of cuitlacoche soup that I experienced in Tlaxcala was heavenly. You can find recipes on the web as well as places to purchase cans of cuitlacoche (which is a lovely Aztec word meaning 'raven's excrement'). See, in particular: www.gourmetsleuth.com/huitlacoche.htm

Below, I've posted a recipe for a Pseudo-Cuitlacoche Soup that I devised. The flavor is milder and lacks the distinctive musky taste of the true Mexican truffle, but it gets you close to the true experience. The taste (and color of the soup) is more authentic if you use mushrooms that are starting to brown, so don't overlook those supermarket bargains!

Pseudo Cream of Huitlacoche Soup

2 T. butter
1/2 lb. mushrooms, chopped
1/4 C. sweet onion, chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
1 C. cooked corn (frozen or canned)
[1/2 tsp. sugar (scant) if using frozen corn; omit for canned corn]
2 C. chicken broth (or vegetable broth or water)

Melt butter in 2 or 3 qt. pan being careful not to burn. Saute mushrooms, onion and garlic in the butter for about 3 minutes. Remove about 1/4 C. mushroom pieces, chop and set aside. Add corn and sugar and saute 2 minutes more. Add broth and simmer for 20-30 minutes until vegetables are soft enough to puree [especially see that the corn is very soft]. Puree vegetables in blender with part of the liquid. Add puree plus remaining liquid to white sauce and bring to bubbling simmer before serving.

Meanwhile make the following white sauce:

2 T. butter
1 T. flour
1 C. milk (I use Lactaid. Besides being digestible, it adds a hint more of sweetness)

Melt butter in large frying pan being careful not to burn. Stir in flour and milk, stirring until sauce is smooth and thickened. Add broth and puree to white sauce and stir until blended. Add reserved mushroom pieces, stir and serve.

Dreaming of John Irving

Good Morning Blog,

Thanks to one inch of snow (our first in four years) and some freezing rain, John Irving's talk last night was postponed. Who knows how long before I get to see him (sigh).

A friend told me he's very cute--wavy hair, etc. Here's what I was wondering.... Irving's in his mid to late sixties, yet women think he's cute. How many men would think a woman in her mid to late sixties was cute? Something to think about. . .

Right now, I'm procrastinating about packing for our drive to Baltimore today (7 hours), because I don't want to go. My husband is attending a physics conference (groan)....boooring. It may be my last one, so I should try to enjoy it.

I spent some time yesterday online with a friend who critiqued some of my short stories. He's a good editor, I wish I could hire him. However, he's willing to help out for free right now and that's nice of him, I appreciate it. Well, back to packing.

Getting Started

A good friend encouraged me today to start a blog, so here I am, a little uncertain about the whole process but willing to give it a try. I hope this decision isn't the result of one of my two weekly Margaritas. Tuesday and Saturday are Margarita days at our house, so c'mon over. ;-) Add another half glass of wine and you have the extent of my alcohol consumption any given week.

My news for today is that a publisher wants to see the first 30 pages of my book, plus a synopsis, counterbalancing the slew of agent rejections currently parked in my inbox. Can anyone tell me why writing is SUCH fun, but getting published? Not so fun.

I know, I'm just getting started in this business and need to learn patience [yawn]. Which reminds me, I still have editing to do and its nearly bedtime, so I'll sign off on this my first (of many, I hope) blog entries. Of course, the more comments I receive, the more I'll be motivated to post.

There. That wasn't so bad, I guess.

Goodnight Blog.