“You have to guess what it is,”said my dining companion as my hand probed the contents of the brown paper bag. Inspired by my recent blog posts about sampling new, exotic fruit, Denise had gone through the trouble of picking me up a couple of worthy candidates. I’d failed to guess the first one , mangosteen, but this one felt oddly…familiar. I stroked its rough exterior. “It gave me an allergic reaction,”she informed me, perhaps by way of a hint. Which brought my groping to a sudden halt. What? “Yeah. My hands turned red.”And suddenly, I recognized the mystery contents of the paper bag – and the fact that what she suffered WASN’T an allergic reaction. SHIT! I took a peek. Sure enough, it was a prickly pear.
You may wonder why they call ’em prickly. Well, apparently by handling them you run the risk of being stuck by hundreds of tiny fiberglass like shards. No, not apparently. You do. Last week, when Ashleigh found out I’d be eating one, she cautioned me against touching it, giving me detailed instructions on how to peel the fruit with a knife and fork. And here I was, a week later, petting one as if it were a particularly adorable hamster.
Needles to say, soon after, I too developed “an allergic reaction”.
On the brighter side, we enjoyed a fiery good meal at Peaceful Restaurant…
- The beef tendon was excellent but a tad too spicy. I like heat but, in this case, it overpowered.
- The Peaceful Beef Roll. THE dish to get when you’re there. Love the sweet (hoisin) and savory combination.
Today, between follow the various NCAA match-ups (Curse you, Georgetown and Marquette!), I managed to squeeze in some Stargate-related business. In addition to further discussion on Remi’s episode and a meeting on a couple of the HUGE sets being built for the show’s second season, I took part in an audio commentary for Space with Director Andy Mikita and Visual Effects Supervisor (and birthday boy!) Mark Savela. Boy, does this episode move! It’s a visual feast and I look forward to hearing the fan reaction. I also think that, given the episode’s spectacular visual effects, it’s high time Mark made a return visit to this blog for another guest Q&A. Whaddya think?
Last night, editor Lou Anders sent me the final proof pages of the upcoming superhero anthology With Great Power.. (available for pre-order ici: http://www.amazon.com/Great-Power/dp/1439168822/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268968259&sr=8-1) which includes a modest contribution, Downfall, from yours truly. Lou instructed me to review my story and inform him of any requested changes by April 1st. Sure, sure. I’ll get to it. Eventually. But my story is over on page 227. Between it and page one, stories by Matthew Sturges, James Maxey, Paul Cornell, Mike Carey, Mike Baron, Daryl Gregory, Gail Simone, Stephen Baxter, Chris Roberson, Peter David and Kathleen David, not to mention the wonderful Introduction by our fearless editor. I spent last most of last night and early this morning reading the terrific contributions, then took an hour to re-read Downfall and, ultimately, limit myself to a mere dozen requested changes. Between the end of my story and the last page of the collection, stories by Mark Chadbourn, Marjorie M. Liu, Ian McDonald, and Bill Willingham. Looks like I’ll be busy again tonight!
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