Good evening, Dear Readers:
Last time I posted was before Valentine’s Day. It’s been 10 days. . .you knew something was up, right?
In addition to what I’m about to explain, I got sick. No kidding–bronchitis this time. I couldn’t figure out why I kept needing naps last week. I was curled up under my little lap quilt in the living room with cold feet during a week of 75F days and I was again wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Really, really glad I finished it.
Coughing, fever, pain and fatigue and. . .sugar cravings. No kidding. I went through an 8-pack Graze box, a can of pineapple rings (not all at once), several oranges, and I don’t know how many Kind (chocolate-cherry-cashew) bars in a few days. I really wanted to go back to Starbucks for another Molten Chocolate Latte, but. . .they’re gone.
Yes, I made a trip to the Redi-Clinic in Friendswood, where I was prescribed an expensive inhaler, in line with the updated protocols for bronchitis. But the fever didn’t last long, didn’t get to 101, and I am only feeling fatigued and wrung out now. The sugar cravings are gone along with the fever. (No, I am NOT saying the sugar “cured” the fever.) The fake smoker’s cough is still with me too. “Fake,” because I’ve never smoked, ever. The inhaler will keep my lungs open while they heal up from the bug. Finally I’m well enough to type; I didn’t sew anything, think about or even look at sewing; I was just happy with my little quilt.
Friend of the blog LK was sick a week or so before I was, and when we went to visit last week, she offered both me and AC the loan of some of her huge DVD collection. Oh, my–stuff I’ve never heard of or seen! Then she said, “if you like Downton Abbey, you’ll like this one, Cranford.” Um, what? Never heard of it. LK went on to explain that it’s based on three books written by Elizabeth Gaskell. (Who?) Well, with Judi Dench, it can’t be bad, right? I had no idea I’d be sick, and thanked her for them. LK has good taste, of course, so I knew she wouldn’t hand me rubbish. I watched them almost back-to-back, because I was too sick to do anything else. I’m all done, and will return them next time I see LK. Cranford is highly recommended if you like that sort of period drama, and, quite frankly, even if you aren’t–it’s that good. (Just turn on the closed-captioning. You’re welcome.) As in other BBC TV shows and movies, I saw two actors who later starred in Downton Abbey, two actors who went on to play a husband and wife in Broadchurch, and one lady who guest starred in, yes, Doctor Who. She was in a season premiere show with Matt Smith. (I notice these things, I can’t help it.)
Now, then.
Did you enjoy Valentine’s Day, or did you ignore it? Did you head out for a #StarbucksDate? I did, and in the next blog post, I’ll tell you about it. I even have pictures. I wasn’t “sipping coffee,” I was knocking them back. Don’t worry, it was decaf, and I’ll explain more in that post.
I referenced an article last time on The Kitchn about what you should know about being in a relationship with a foodie, and here it is. Short, but well worth the read. I sent it to my friend in Louisiana; he *should* actually read it. Although he is a fine mechanic, he makes a tasty jambalaya on his own, too. But mishandle my knives, or mess with my sewing shears? Oh, anyone (including total man package Mike Rowe) will get in trouble for that one.
Also referenced in that article is another about what to do when your partner does not want to go to the Farmer’s Market with you. The writer lives in New Orleans, oddly enough. I haven’t been there in many years, but the last time I went to one in NOLA, I found delicious blueberry wines, wonderfully ripe tomatoes and fresh mozzarella for a homemade grilled pizza for me and my then-husband, and a plastic thermal coffee cup I could tote anywhere and let people know I went to the Crescent City Farmer’s Market. (We’re talking 1995-1998, before I moved to Houston.) Farmers’ markets abound in Houston, and the one closest to me in Nassau Bay. It’s small, has adequate parking, and great vendors with very nice products.
I’ll also tell you about our shiny new HEB here in Clear Lake soon. Big, bright and beautiful, it’s the grocery store I’ve always wanted. . .in an area of Houston I never really wanted to live in. More on that, with pictures, on the adventure with Neighbor E. (He loved it too, went back with a couple of other neighbors the next day, and was a great compatriot for the blog.)
Have you seen the new installments of The X-Files? How about Mulder’s wild “magic mushroom trip” he took last week that led him into country bars in stereotypical “Southwest Texas?” (Talk about embarrassing the FBI!) After seeing that episode, I was really not sure I wanted to try Sue Moran’s new Wild Mushroom Polenta Packets. They look delish, and I’ve cooked in parchment many times, but. . .wild mushrooms kind of scare me after seeing the Babylon episode. And this week’s cliffhanger means. . .they’re going to make more.
Now. . .the times, they are a-changin’. Yes, again. Yes, on this blog. Allow me to explain.
I finally grew up and bought the domain last week. The new blog is almost ready at HeatCageKitchen.com. It’s live, and I’ve got all the content transferred into a new, cleaner theme, but will be recreating the recipes page soon. The media and content transferred over, just not the recipe page. That’s OK, it won’t take long to replace and update.
This is important: if you’re subscribed at this website, please head on over and re-subscribe so you’ll start getting the emails like you do here. This website will be going away in the near future in favor of the new one. If you haven’t, you’re certainly welcome to go over to the new site and sign up there too, and you will start getting emails the minute I publish my first post there. I found and installed the “subscribe” widget, and may add a few more widgets and/or plugins as the need arises. It’s another WordPress site, and I’m about to get better with WordPress.
It was about that time when I got sick. I was working my paws off getting everything set up and working and then. . .the next minute I was under my little quilt in the living room snoozing or watching some DVDs.
I have three topics in the draft folder, and am always looking for more. Topic suggestions are welcome, you can email me at (for now) heatcagekitchen@gmail.com. (I have a couple of emails set up for the site, but won’t publish them until later.)
I will also be changing my copywriting niche to-what else?–food writing. Guest blogs, and anything else I can procure. With some help from friend of the blog AK and another copywriting friend of hers, JM, they came up with a “road map” for me to follow (because, frankly, I don’t know how to do that kind of thing the way they do.) My original site, AmyCopywriting, will stay where it is for now, and I’ll decide in a couple of months whether to retire it and build up this site, or leave it and add more samples. I’m overdue to write more articles for it.
I almost changed the name of the blog, and I might still do that, maybe in a year or so. (I have a few names picked out.) Let’s see how this goes. I’ll give plenty of warning, I promise.
You’ll notice a new theme, too. Cleaner, and my social media buttons are also at the bottom. I’ll be publishing to several social media sites as often as I can (hopefully daily) and the blogs should also feed into the Facebook, Twitter accounts and my personal LinkedIn page as well.
Included in my hosting service are a whole suite of tools and things to make HeatCageKitchen do more. SEO, or “search engine optimization,” is something I need more experience with, and that’s one set of tools for me to utilize. There are a number of database tools, most of which I may never use, but are available if someone ever gives me the wild idea to do so. I really, really want to increase traffic and attract. . .advertisers, but that will be coming later. Obviously, the blog is not the only thing I have to work on, it’s the back-end marketing. But thankfully, I have a few good friends like AK who I can bounce things off, and other supportive friends like Neighbor E, Neighbor R, AC, LK, and of course, the infamous GER.
This is the last blog post for this site; all future posts will be on the new HeatCageKitchen.com. This site will stay for a while, and will eventually redirect traffic to the new site. The plan is to offer much of the same on the blog, increase what’s good, and have fun with it too.
So, for everyone who has been with me since the beginning, thank you. And for everyone who came along later, I hope you stick around and enjoy more of what I have to offer from the HeatCageKitchen.
Here we go!