News and foods

I started querying agents again. My theory is that if the book is good enough, or at least, if the query letter is, I should get requests for reads coming.

So far so good--requests for partials are coming in.

We'll see what happens. With the "old" version, I had requests for partials, and fulls, but no offers. But it's the right length now, and much more exciting, and (dare I say it) better written.

So...to distract myself--FOOD!

I think I finally perfected my orange sauce recipe (you know, the oriental sauce that coats orange chicken). The key was a tidbit I learned from a muffin recipe: if you want good orange flavor in anything, forego the orange juice, orange zest, and orange extract. Instead, blend half an orange--with its peel still on--with the liquid for the recipe in the blender. Fast, easy, and the best orange flavor I've ever used. And cheap cheap cheap, especially in the winter.

So, my new and improved, modified and like no other, recipe for Oriental Orange Sauce:

1 1/2 c water
1/2 orange, sliced and with pits removed but keep the skin on

Blend these until only tiny bits of orange remain. It gets quite frothy. Pour into a small saucepan.

Add:
1 c brown sugar (I use light brown sugar)
1/3 c rice vinegar (red wine vinegar makes a nice substitute if necessary)
2-3 tsp soy sauce
scant 1/3 c lemon juice
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried snipped chives or chopped green onion
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes or a dash of red pepper powder

Bring to a boil. Remove it from heat and let it sit for 10 minutes or until you get back to it.

Mix 10 tsp cornstarch in a bowl with about 1/4 c water--enough to make it liquid. Pour this into the slightly cooled sauce. Return to high heat and bring to a boil. It will clarify slightly and thicken quickly after it begins to boil. At this point, remove it from the heat and let it cool.

It's done.

Use it to coat chicken pieces before or after you cook them, or mix with noodles or rice, or use it as a dip, or pour it over a chicken in a crock pot, or whatever you like sauce for! It's really really good.