Carol
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Posts by Carol
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Oct 14th
WHAT CAME FIRST IS IN STORES NOW!
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A few years ago, I was watching my daughter’s soccer game with my friend Tammi, and she offered me some roasted pumpkin seeds. I took a couple, expecting a little crunch, a little salt — and was floored. Who knew seeds could be so tasty? I asked Tammi where she bought them, to which she gave the dreaded reply: “I made them.”
So much for that.
But then a week or so later, I was carving a pumpkin (yeah, I have my crafty moments), when I decided to give it a try. I couldn’t remember exactly what Tammi had told me, so I tossed the seeds with a little oil, put them on a cookie sheet, baked until they were golden — and voila! They tasted like crap!
(Side note: for anyone who follows this blog but doesn’t actually know me — do such creatures exist? — blog regular Tammi is not my only friend, but she’s one of those people who always knows how to do stuff and where to buy stuff. I told her she should have her own blog but she said no because “I hear they take a ton of time.” Well, yeah, there’s that.)
Here, then, is Tammi’s recipe, brought to you by the folks who invented the cut-and-paste feature.
ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS
Ingredients: Pumpkin seeds, oil (olive or other), seasoning. You can use other squash seeds with similar results.
Remove seeds from pumpkin. A large metal spoon or your hands work equally well.
Remove all pulp from seeds. Use a strainer and pick all of the pulp out leaving only the seeds.
Using cold water rinse seeds thoroughly.
Dry seeds on paper towels or in a shallow bowl. Overnight is usually enough time but longer is fine as long as the seeds are dry enough to hold the oil.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Coat seeds lightly with oil. (This is optional if you are going for a healthier version but helps the salt or seasoning stick).
Line baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.
Spread the seeds in a single layer on the baking sheet.
Sprinkle with salt and/or seasoning. Seasoning ideas : garlic powder, Cajun seasoning, popcorn seasoning, chile powder, or for a sweet version cinnamon and sugar.
Watch seeds carefully and stir every 5-10 minutes. Depending on the size and quantity of the seeds they should be done in 15-30 minutes. Look for a nice golden brown color.
Cool seeds and store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Share with your friends who can’t be bothered to do stuff like roast pumpkins seeds.
Song of the Week: “Werewolves of London”
Oct 10th
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Normally I start planning for Halloween sometime in late August, but here we are, a third of the way through October, and I haven’t even bought a pumpkin. This book release thing is really messing with my schedule. On the bright side, I’ve already got fifty dollars worth of candy (the big bars) because I forgot to “buy out” of my kids’ soccer team fundraiser. Go me!
If the real me is dropping the pumpkin (lame, I know), the virtual me says, Let’s get the party started! Which happens to be a go-to song on my Halloween playlist — but is not the song of the week. Throughout October, check back for costume ideas, autumn food faves and Halloween party suggestions — starting with this Warren Zevon classic, “Werewolves of London.”
Release Day!
Oct 4th
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What Came First is finally in stores! (At least I assume it is . . . if anyone sees it, will you take a picture?) To celebrate the occasion, I got my hair cut. And then I came home. I’m still home, eating honey wheat pretzels and entering baby names into a database. Later I will go out to get my kids . . . and then come home.
Here’s the thing about publication days: nothing happens. When my first novel came out, my sister Susy and I drove to the Hyannis, Mass., Barnes and Noble and stared at a pile of my books on the table (while giggling and acting kind of dorky). We stood there for a bit. Maybe someone would buy one! While we were looking!
No one bought one. Except Susy — who told the sales clerk that this was her sister’s first book and we were all really excited!!!! The sales clerk said that was nice. And that his daughter-in-law was an author, too — she’d written maybe a dozen books and had just made the New York Times bestseller list. He told us that his daughter-in-law used her bestseller money to buy new Ford Explorers for herself and her husband. And that, yeah, lots of people publish first books but most don’t ever go beyond that. But hey — congratulations and good luck.
That is the condensed version of the story. It was actually much worse. Afterwards, Susy and my nephew Connor and I went to lunch, where I spent the entire time jabbing at my pasta and muttering, “[Expletive] Ford Explorer.”
Obviously, I did go on to publish more books, which is why I have this nifty website and stuff. And all of the other Barnes and Noble people I’ve dealt with have been lovely. If publication days are a bit quiet in the physical world (once just known as “the world”), on the Internet they are a Big Deal because most reviews and blog posts are held off until the book is available for purchase. I got a wonderful surprise — shock is more like it — last night when What Came First popped up as an Amazon UK Editors’ Pick. They said, “Carol Snow explores motherhood, fatherhood and what it means to be a family in this brilliant novel about three colourful women and one lacklustre man.” I love the Brits!!! Even if they don’t know how to spell.
I also got a very nice review at Good Choice Reading, and I’ve got a guest blog post up at Bermuda Onion, in which I talk about those insidious What to Expect books.
What Came First: The Soundtrack to my Brain
Oct 3rd
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ONE MORE DAY till What Came First is out in stores! And know what is really exciting? I just figured out how to create an iTunes playlist and how to link it to this blog post.
I. Am. Awesome.
True, I posted a playlist once before, but I must have been in some weird fugue state because I had absolutely no idea how I did it. Anyway, if you’re just tuning in, I listen to music a lot (though never while I’m writing), partly because I like music and partly because it helps loosen up my brain and get me in touch with my characters. Or something.
What Came First is the first book I’ve written from multiple perspectives, and it took me awhile to get a handle on all of the characters. One thing that helped: deciding what kind of music everyone enjoyed. Laura, the single mom and lawyer, liked Michael Buble and sixties sunshine pop, while Vanessa, the dental office receptionist, preferred Rihanna. As for Wendy, the frazzled mother of two tantrum-prone five-year-olds — she just wanted silence.
Here’s the link: What Came First playlist
If you actually link on the playlist (c’mon . . . make me proud), you may notice that there are two versions of the Rihanna song “Umbrella,” but neither is sung by Rihanna. That’s because:
1. Vanessa and her boyfriend have different tastes in music, and she liked the original version, while he liked the mellower Scott Simons cover, BUT
2. This is my playlist and I don’t really like Rihanna so I took her version off, AND
3. When I put my list on Ping, I initially selected an All Time Low “Umbrella” cover by mistake, but I don’t know how to delete it .
Which means? I. Am. Not. Awesome. Damn.
Anyway, there’s no official Scott Simons “Umbrella” video on YouTube, but here’s an unofficial — and kind of comically literal — collage thing. And if you don’t like comically literal collages? Just close your eyes and listen. I think you’ll like it.
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