Fruit Pizza on Cassava Bread

/ Karina Pinella / 1 Comment

As an alternative to a wheat base, try cassava bread. I found it in the Produce section of a grocery store (Market Basket). The bread has only one ingredient—cassava pulp, or yuca. A product of Dominican Republic, the brand name is Caridom. It’s flat and triangle shaped, like a big pizza slice, so it’s perfect for this recipe, which is great for snacking. The recipe also makes for a nice breakfast, lunch, or dinner now that summer is here and if you are so inclined to have a smorgasbord of fruits in one sitting.

Fruit Pizza

Image contributed by Hymn

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The Forgotten Room by Lincoln Child (a book review)

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A suspense story about a mysterious room within a haunted mansion that now houses an exclusive think tank. A gruesome suicide occurs in the mansion so Professor Jeremy Logan is asked to investigate because he is an expert in cases that are strange or supernatural in nature. The story takes place along the coastline of Newport, Rhode Island.

The writer, Lincoln Child, always comes up with a somewhat unusual or unique protagonist in his suspense stories. The Forgotten Room is his sixth book. I’ve read all the fiction stories he’s written, and they are listed below in the order they were published.

Utopia
Death Match
Deep Storm
Terminal Freeze
The Third Gate
Full Wolf Moon

Lincoln Child also co-writes with another author, Douglas Preston, another writer I follow. I’ve read all the books they’ve written together, but I will list those when the next book they write together comes out. I’ve also listed below the books Douglas Preston has written, and I will continue to update it as I finish reading his new books.

Impact
Panic in Level 4
The Demon in the Freezer: a True Story
The Kraken Project

At the Dump

/ Karina Pinella / 2 Comments

We haul in our garbage;
Glimpses of our lives revealed.
Empty boxes shipped from Amazon,
Paper bags from Trader Joe’s brimmed
Full of glass, paper, and plastics.

The transfer station makes it easy—
No need to separate the recyclables.
Bring all in one big receptacle.

The bordered grounds contain our mess and stink;
We drive away feeling light and free,
Happy to dump our stench,
Thinking all our trash is gone for good.

But they come back to haunt us,
In ways we connect with other causes.
Next time, let’s pause . . .
Try to limit our toss.

©2015 Karina Pinella

Bro’, You Heavy

/ Karina Pinella / 2 Comments

My bro’ is stew, or in the sewers. I am sorry for what I did, but I was tired.

Bub, my bro’, weighed a ton. For breakfast, he would eat six bowls of Honey Monster Puffs, five fried eggs, four strawberry Pop-Tarts, three buttered waffles, two thick slabs of bacon, and a partridge in a pear tree. I exaggerate. He did not eat the tree. I will not bother writing the rest of what he would eat during the rest of the day; it will just make my journal look like a grocery list. And remind me how close to broke I was getting because food is not getting cheaper. It is a good thing I get to take home some leftovers from Hog Heaven, where I wash dishes and bus tables. I also get a 10% discount at the Food Mart, where I stock the shelves three days a week.
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Two Night Stand (a movie review)

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This is a fun movie to watch. Clever lines and a nice take on one night hook-ups. As the movie title indicates, what starts as a one night stand becomes more because the two get trapped together in the man’s apartment the morning after due to blizzard conditions.

Set in Brooklyn, NY, the man’s apartment is the main setting, where the couple gets to know each other, warily, at first. The main actors, Miles Teller and Analeigh Tipton, have a good chemistry between them and are believable within their characters because they look average and have concerns that are relatable. Each is experiencing hurt from their respective long-term relationships that they later realize are with the wrong people.

The movie doesn’t get maudlin and it’s just the right amount of patness when they see they have more in common with each other than they thought. An uplifting movie for anyone who just got out of a relationship.

Red Lentils with Cilantro and Shredded Chicken, Or . . .

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The “or” in the name of this recipe indicates the many dishes you can make with red lentils; two variations of the recipe are presented below. Red lentils are great because they’re split and cook quickly, usually in less than an hour. The base of each recipe described below is a 16-oz. bag of red lentils (2 bags if you want to make more), chopped onions, and crushed garlic–1 or 2 onions and four or more garlic cloves, depending on your preference. If you want to make more, you can use two 16-oz. bags of red lentils. Continue reading →

Truth be Told, Dare I Say

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In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Truth or Dare.”

White or not, lies are simply untruths, no matter what. No in between. Gray is only a color when it comes to honesty. Either you ate that last sliver of pie or not. Either you cheated or not. Either you stole or not. Either you killed or not. So blatant, is it not, if you are guilty or innocent of such acts? Must we hire someone like Alan Dershowitz, Esq.?

We end up mincing words or saying it is all a matter of semantics when confronted to tell the truth. A simple admission with no qualifiers or modifiers is what honesty truly means. The phrase, “being too honest,” is mistaken for earnestness. As if adding any more to the truth, if you take the meaning literally, would make it that much more truthful. Instead, it borders on gossip or making excuses.

As for honesty being the best policy, I say yes to that for the sake of self-integrity. If there is only one rule to follow, I dare say, always be honest to yourself if to nobody else.

The Face

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Fancy Pants Andy they call him behind his back. He wears suits designed by the likes of Hugo Boss and Calvin Klein. He sits behind the Cherry polished wood reception desk that is set low, as the slate gray wall behind him prominently displays the occupants: Georges, Mason, Twissler & Krane, LLP, Attorneys-at-Law. The much sought after services of the firm’s Ivy League of attorneys make Andy’s job challenging meeting and greeting clients. But on this particular day, more than the usual amount of litigious clients have been coming in. Continue reading →

A Nod to Monadnock

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From the Marriott to New Hampshire’s Mt. Monadnock in the early Sunday morn. Breakfasted at T’s where the omelet fillings fell short due to the cook’s lack of skill with the skillet. Arrived at the foot of the mountain and parked next to a blue SUV with a license plate from Miami. On Memorial Day, they chose crags over skittering crabs along the seashore. Followed the White Dot Trail, so full of energy at the start. Panted as the steps got steeper. Dripped sweat as legs felt heavier. Sighted the summit and reached the top at last. Refreshed by the breeze and a long drink of water. Savored the beauty of my expanded horizon. Headed back down by way of the White Cross Trail. Wobbled halfway to the parking lot. Knocked out by the grand Mt. Monadnock.

©2015 Karina Pinella

An Immorality Tale

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Half-Chechen and half Avar—the Tsarnaev brothers—Tamerlan and Dzokhar. They came to America, received love and welcome from us Bostonians. In return, they cooked up nails, ball bearings, and black powder to show the world their militant Islamic power. A showdown in Watertown—one down, one to a holding cell. Thus, the hearing began. Silent, stoic, Dzokhar displayed no remorse, no affect. His tears trickled only by reason of mirror neurons. His wailing aunt a touch away would have moved him to yawn instead had that been her lead. At last, the jury is out—death penalty for one who lost his morality. A sentence to life or death still seems not enough for the marathon effort the survivors have to bear until their dying breath.

©2015 Karina Pinella