I’ve been busy this week, and blogging hasn’t been at the top of my To Do list. Sorry! But sometimes other creative projects (writing, designing a costume for the Fairy Tale Ball, watching David Tennant as Hamlet) take precedent.
One thing I’ve been working on this week is redesigning The Parking Lot Confessional’s blog site. Check it out. Let me know what you think.
Yesterday I wrote a post over there on How to Handle Critique. This is something I’d been planning to blog about after a recent, awkward critique session. I hope you find it useful.
Today at the PLC, we’re doing the 500 Club. Basically, you choose one of the two posted writing prompts, write 500 words, post them on your blog and put a link to what you wrote in the comments at the PLC. You get a writing warm up AND traffic to your blog. All good. Here is my entry. It’s quick and not edited. (*gulp*)
Green Smoothie
She read through the recipe — twice — then looked at the ingredients on the counter before her. Pineapple, mango, ginger, romaine lettuce. She’d never cored a pineapple before. It looked dangerous. All kinds of pokey bits. What if she got it wrong? And the mango? Before yesterday she didn’t know the difference between it and a papaya. Still, she knew this was good for her. Would make her skin glow. Give her energy. Clear the cloud in her brain. All the things she knew were necessary. She ignored the Coco Puffs calling from the pantry and got to work.
The knife’s teeth sawed through the pineapple flesh with surprising ease. She scooped up the pieces and put them in the blender. Next, she slit the mango’s leathery skin, cut the meat away from the middle and added it to the pineapple. She used the smaller knife — a paring knife? she wasn’t sure — to slice the ginger. As she stripped the outer bark away, the sharp scent pricked her eyes. Her nostrils flared. What was she doing? There was no way this would taste good. And all the effort for what? Coco Puffs had added vitamins and minerals, didn’t it? She’d check the box later.
She punched the Chop button and the blender spun to life. Scared the cat. He scampered away to the bedroom, claws scraping for traction on the smooth tile. She watched the pineapple merge with the mango, all of it spinning into a pale yellow slew. It looked good. It smelled good. She considered stopping there and drinking just that.
She looked at the lettuce and made a face. Really?
The blender continued its frappe-ing as she pulled the lettuce leaves from the stalk. One by one, they grew smaller as she neared the heart. She cut the larger leaves into chunks. It’d make a beautiful salad, maybe for lunch. No. She’d come this far. May as well see it through. If it was bad, she could just pour it down the sink, right? She stopped the blender and grimaced as she added the lettuce to the mix. The smells didn’t mix, leafy green and tropical fruit. Still, she held down the lid and press Frappe. The lettuce swirled down the vortex to the blade and the motor worked to blend it through. The pale yellow turned to pale green. Leafy bits floated by. She thought of Dorothy in Kansas. The tornado picked up cows and cornstalks, zapping generators and air conditioning units along its way.
She let the blender run longer than necessary, using the time to get some quick chores out of the way. Take the trash out. Wash some dishes. Fold the towels. Then, when there was nothing left to do but listen to the growling of her stomach, she stopped the blender, pulled a mug from the cupboard and poured herself a cup of green smoothie.
A straw would help. Maybe keep it off her tongue.
She sat at the kitchen table, her to-do list there to distract her as she drank. She took a deep breath and then took a sip. Then another. And another, surprised by how good the gack actually tasted. Tangy, sharp and…green. As the ginger warmed her belly, she smiled. Maybe the effort would be worth it after all.
# # #
One of the other things I’ve been working on this week is redesigning my site. I’ll also be changing up this blog a bit. I’m working out a schedule of posts in hopes of keeping myself consistent about blogging. So, stay tuned.
Oh, and for the record, I really did have a green smoothie for breakfast. And it was surprisingly good. 🙂
Thanks for reading!