Cooking and Eating for a Good Cause: Raising Money for the Greenview Hepatitis C Fund

**I wanted to remind everyone about this opportunity to share recipes for a good cause. I submitted three recipes the other day. Have you submitted yours yet? **

Debbie Green is calling for recipes and tasters for a second cookbook to support the Greenview Hepatitis C Fund, a nonprofit. The Fund raises money for Hepatitis C research at the University of Michigan.

As avid writers and chefs, I thought I’d share this with you. 

The cookbook will focus on special diets (think: allergies, glutton free, low carb., etc.) I look forward to contributing some corn syrup-free recipes for dishes that are impossible to order in a restaurant without being saturated in it. The first two that come to mind are pecan pie and meatloaf, but I’m sure I’ll think of more.

When you are thinking of recipes to share, keep in mind that Debbie prefers recipes that are easy to prepare and don’t have too many hard to find or unusual ingredients. Also, she prefers things that are made from scratch. 

To submit your recipes, send them in a Word document or regular email to Debbie(at)hepcfund(dot)org or mail to:

Debbie Green

2773 Holyoke Lane

Ann Arbor, MI 48103 

Be sure to include and check:

1. correct measurements (T=tablespoon, t= teaspoon, c=cup)

2. oven temp.

3. cooking time

4. nutrition info if available

5. clear and precise instructions

6. ethnicity of dish

7. if this dish is for a special diet (gluten-free, vegetarian, allergy, etc.)

8. any suggestions for accompanying dishes

9. your name and contact info

10. any comments you wish (Try to keep comments to 4 lines, unless it’s a really good story!)

Through the Fund, Debbie has raised a total of $30,000 so far. One of her best fund raisers is her first cookbook, Cooking Around the World, which sold over 1,000 copies. (This cookbook, along with a few free recipes, is available from her website.) Help make this next cookbook just as, if not more, successful!

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Occassion Poetry

I recently took Bartlett’s Poems for Occasions out of the library. As a writer of occasion poetry, I enjoyed not only the poems, but how they were organized. The sections range from the seasons, to holidays to celebrating to family to life cycles to the human condition. There is even a “Public Moments and Ultimate Matters” section.  My favorite section was “The Unknown and the Unknowable.”

Back to wedding poetry… 

I particularly enjoyed being introduced to beat poet Gregory Corso’s poem “Marriage.” You can read it online here. His poem moves through various emotions: desire, rejection, humor, lost love. I laughed aloud and later read the poem to my husband. Now that we are married, we can more easily laugh at the more humorous aspects of weddings and even marriage itself. (More on that tomorrow.)

You can find a great collection of poems for every occasion at Poets.org. The list ranges from weddings to aliens to birds. You never know what you might need.

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First Date Poem… on an Anniversary

You might remember Alli Shaloum Brydon from a guest post about an interfaith and intercultural wedding. She recently posted a poem on her blog that she wrote after her first date with her husband. The poem is titled, “Agnostic First Date” and was posted on their one year anniversary. I think you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

Stay for a while on the blog she shares with her husband, Ed, to take a look at his amazing photography.

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Poem “Voyage Dream” published in Expatlit.com

My poem “Voyage Dream”  (page 10) was recently published in the online literary magazine ExPatLit.Com. I am particularly happy to have placed a poem here since it is a literary magazine after my own heart – a collection of pieces by or about expats. While I no longer live abroad, sometimes I still feel “abroad” in many ways. It is hard to describe where, with whom or what language contains “home.”

This poem, along with the image my mother, Melabee Miller, created for it, comes from our manuscript Cent’Anni. Cent’Anni contains poems paired with images that recount the story of our family emmigrating from southern Italy to New Jersey. It includes the story of our family history research and connection with Italian relatives a few years ago.

The poem “Voyage Dream” narrates the experience of Carmela, the daughter of my great grandmother’s sister. It is mostly based on research I’ve done about the boat rides to America, stories I’ve heard and what I imagine the experience might have been like for a young woman at the time.

If you are interested in reading other published poems, you are welcome to see my website ChloeYelenaMiller.com, which links to the online publications.

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Countdown: (15) Details, details, details

I didn’t believe people when they told me how much there was to do before the wedding. I thought that it would mostly be done a few weeks (months?) before. What was I doing before if there is still so much to do? 

Music details, seating, centerpieces, table markers, transportation, alcohol… there are many final details to work out. It is hard to focus on much else right now.

I’m starting to wonder if it was a bad idea to try writing daily blogs. I am “wedding” (and working with folks “wedding” with us, thanking people who are “wedding” with us). Noting the number of days left everyday seems a little more stressful than I’d expected. Fifteen? Wowsers.  

Am I ridiculous to try to write during this period? Every writing teacher has said that writers have to write as often as possible. It is like playing the piano; you have to practice. If not, how can you keep up your skills, let alone improve?

 And so, I continue. Writing teachers also say that if you have nothing to write, you should write about having nothing to write. So here it is folks. Perhaps a little of nothing.

I’d prefer to watch a show about nothing. Seinfeld, are you on demand? I need a break between the items on the To Do list.

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Guest Blogging @ Practicing Writing:Writing Your Family History

 

Writing expert Erika Dreifus kindly invited me to write a guest blog entitled, “Writing Your Family History: Five Hints.”  Erika’s blog Practicing Writer and her newsletter  are incredible resources for writers. When I need some advice, I always turn to her list of resources. I hope you will check it out.

 

My mother, a professional photographer, and I compiled a collection of paired poems and photographs documenting our family’s emigration from southern Italy to New Jersey. These pieces are based on visits to the town where our family originated, oral histories collected with Americans and Italians, historical documents and cultural history about the towns and time periods involved. What we created contains an emotional truth and some facts, but the stories mostly contain facts as we experienced them or as they were told to us. We continue to translate the experiences in the form of our art.

 

Here are some of those poems published (sadly without the photographs):

 

Poem “Question of Return” in Lumina.

Poems “Spring Pool Water,” “Noisier Than the Milk,” and “Statue of Liberty, 1890 Spiralbridge.

Poem “Teresa serves dinner at 20:00” in Conte: An Online Journal of Narrative Writing.

 

My personalized wedding poem company, Word Arrangement and this blog grew out of these experiences. I enjoyed collecting oral histories and translating them into poems and found a way to continue with this interest. Through wedding poems, I am lucky enough to be able to hear other people’s stories. I particularly enjoy hearing love stories!

 

If you are interested in learning more on the subject of Writing Family History and you are in the Ann Arbor area, here are two upcoming opportunities:

 

I am presenting a workshop entitled, “Writing Your Family History” at the Ann Arbor Book Festival on Friday, May 15th from 10 – 11 am.

Here is the program description: Researching and writing your family history doesn’t have to be a daunting task. In this session, learn tips on how to gather information and brainstorm ideas before translating the stories and research into a form that you can share with family members.

 

 

I will also be teaching a related one session class through the Ann Arbor Rec & Ed the evening of May 7:

Here is the class description:

Preserve Family History

Don’t let the intimate stories of your unique family history pass on with loved ones. Learn how to collect these special stories from your family. Discover how to get started and complete an interview. Develop a better understanding of how to craft the questions, answer questions and what to do with the final product. 1 class.

5/7

6:30 – 8:30 pm

(Page 12, Spring 2009 catalogue)

 

 

An essay of mine about writing about your family history was published in the Canadian geneology magazine Family Chronicle last summer. Thanks to the Anglo-Celtic Connections Blog for the shout-out!

 

 

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DIY Holiday Love Poem

Want to write your honey a poem for the holidays but you don’t know what to write about? A free writing brainstorming exercise will solve that problem.

 

Free writing exercises usually involve pen, paper, time and a writing prompt or two to get you started. The rules are simple. Find a quiet space and work for as long as you can. Even if you work on the poem for twenty minutes a day, you’ll have something soon enough.

 

Then, choose your own prompt or one below. Write, write, write for five to ten minutes. Do not stop writing, even if you suddenly feel empty of ideas. You can repeat the phrase, “I have nothing to write” until something comes to you. Don’t give spelling or grammar any mind.

 

Repeat this a few times. When you read over your work, take a pen and underline the phrases or ideas that are most interesting to you. You’ll find that you now have something to focus on in your writing.

 

Here are some prompts to get you started:

 

Describe a tradition the two of you have developed over the holidays.

What is your favorite food to eat together over the holidays?

How do you imagine future holidays together?

What is your favorite childhood memory from this time of year?

What has your love told you about holiday childhood memories?

 

You will probably find that you stray from the prompt. That’s ok – they are there to get you started.

 

After you have some underlined ideas from your free writing, choose one and focus on that idea. If you find that you aren’t sure where to take the idea, a good trick is to use the journalist’s questions to think of different angles (who, what, where, when, why and how.)

 

I guarantee that you’ll be happily surprised by all the ideas you’ve generated in just ten minutes of writing.

 

Advice:

Writing takes time, both to think about your ideas and to complete the writing, revising and editing processes. Give yourself that time by spreading out your work over a few days. Your brain will be working on your ideas when you are doing other things, even laundry and sleeping!

 

Feel free to use the comments section to add to this list of prompts. If you are looking for books with prompts and more suggestions, I would recommend Natalie Goldberg: http://www.nataliegoldberg.com/books.html. I particularly like her book Writing Down the Bones.

 

I’d love to read your poems and offer feedback. You are welcome to post them here or email them to me: ChloeMiller(at)gmail(dot)com.

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