Writing Again

I’ve been away from my writing pursuits for over three months, and it feels great to be back. This morning I pulled up a picture book manuscript I crafted last year. My youngest granddaughter had developed a fear of the wind, especially of the powerful Santa Anas we get in southern California. We think she connected the Santa Anas with the Palisades and Eaton fires that caused her family and me to evacuate for several weeks. I depicted the wind in new and friendly ways and she seemed to be comforted by the characters in the story who interacted with the wind as they played. Shortly after I wrote it, my critique partners made several great suggestions for improvement but I hadn’t revisited the story. I enjoyed developing those ideas this morning as I drank my coffee.

Then I unlocked the door, wiped off a wet patio chair, and sat down to drink a second cup as I talked to my plants. Like me, they’ve been enjoying the first rain of the season. They’re standing tall and inviting birds to come and drink from the puddles on their leaves. Accepting the invitation, a tiny finch took a bath in an Elephant Ear leaf. A hummingbird flew close to my face, reminding me that its feeder is empty. I arose, took it from its hook, and went back indoors to fill it with nectar.

Rain and a Fire in the Fireplace

Last night I lit a fire in my fireplace, and the condo still smells of the blackened embers. I love that aroma. Due to the dry conditions this time of year I only allow myself the luxury of a fire when it is raining, or just after a rain when the surrounding fields and hills are soaked through. Sitting in front of a fire reading a book brings back happy memories of my decade on the California coast when fires in my fireplace were a regular occurrence.

Then back to the keyboard, where I put some finishing touches on a chapter in my Whole Grain book, which I hope to finish by the end of the year.

And now here I am, writing to you.

Writing is a funny thing. Sometimes I get an idea and sit at the keyboard for hours, exploring it, ignoring tense, point of view, and punctuation as I rush to get my thoughts down on paper, or more accurately, in the screen.. Other times, like today, I fiddle with sentence structure, voice, and commas, only adding a few new words to the composition.

My latest book, Organic Cooking for (not-so-organic) Families, was born in the late 70s and sought to answer the questions I was asked by customers in my natural food store and readers of my weekly newspaper column, “Naturally Speaking.”

Bugs, Veggies and Meat

“Why are there bugs in my whole wheat flour?” “How do I get my children to eat vegetables?” What if my husband wants meat at every meal?” Several years in the making, that early edition (Organic Cooking for (not-so-organic) Mothers) was literally cut and pasted onto four-up sheets that were then printed, cut, and laid out on the floor of my friend Sue’s log house in San Diego. Each copy was assembled by hand and fastened with a spiral binding. The following summer, I went on the road with my children and 500 copies of the book stopping at bookshops, natural food stores, preschool parent meetings, and La Leche League picnics, speaking about healthy eating and selling books to pay for gas so we could drive on to the next city. I drove 10,500 miles that summer, and met hundreds of people who wanted to feed their children healthier meals. It was a life-changing journey and eventually resulted in me writing a monthly essay on Blogger when it launched in 1999. And here I am, still.

A few years ago, the publisher of my memoir, Back to the Land in Silicon Valley, suggested that today’s young families were returning to the pursuit of healthy eating, and encouraged me to expand the book and bring it up to date. It took another two years for me to do the research and rewrite the text but now it’s finished, and heading to bookstores. It’s a cookbook with a short course in healthful eating at its core, written for today’s young families with both parents working and children on the go. Organic Cooking for (not-so-organic) Families is available online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and bookshop.com and would make a great Christmas or Hanukkah gift.

OK, enough of that. Sometimes when I’m writing I don’t want to stop to eat. Yesterday I invented a new version of tuna salad that I spread on Wasa crackers and ate while I typed. I substituted yogurt for mayonnaise and added broccoli florets, and I have to say it was delicious. I’ll put the recipe below.

Marlene

Tuna Salad Crisps

I originally made these with a can of tuna filets. The photo shows crackers spread with canned salmon and the same ingredients. I didn't measure anything when I made them, so measurements are estimates.

Servings 2

Author Marlene Bumgarner

Ingredients

7 1/2 oz canned tuna or salmon, drained
2-3 Tbsp celery, chopped fine
2-3 Tbsp onion, chopped fine
2-3 Tbsp broccoli florets, chopped fine
1/4 cup yogurt or yogurt and mayonnaise or aioli, stirred together

Instructions

Open the can and drain the tuna or salmon
Place fish in a small bowl and chop into small pieces
Add remaining ingredients, yogurt last
Stir until well mixed, then adjust mixture so it is sticky enough to stay on crackers, but not so liquid it drips off. The texture will depend on the fat content of the yogurt. (Add a teaspoon of water if needed.)
Spread on crackers. or toast. I like to use WASA Rye Crispbread.

To add flavor, squeeze some lemon juice into the bowl. Or a few drops of chipotle sauce. Or an herb mix. Play around.

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Marlene Anne Bumgarner writes primarily about food, family, and traditions. Her 2020 memoir, Back to the Land in Silicon Valley, is about raising children, animals, and vegetables on a rural plot of land in the 1970s. Organic Cooking for (not-so-organic) Families launched September 30, and she’s working on an update to The Book of Whole Grains while also crafting a cozy mystery, Death on a Sunny Afternoon –- a Harriet Palmer Mystery.