Jenyfer Matthews

First things first – Congratulations Maureen! You are the lucky winner of your very own copy of Isabelle’s Diary. Drop me an email and Anita will get that out to you ASAP.

I was feeling a bit restless after my long weekend away. I am in a funny place – I enjoyed my time away tremendously and really want to find a way to enjoy a little more downtime in my every day life, yet I don’t do downtime very well. I’m used to being productive. I have trouble being idle. I sit for a little while and then have to pop up to find something to do.

This is what I did this weekend. The colors are eye-popping and prettier in person but you get the idea.

I promise that I’ll get back to writing soon. I’m in the homestretch with Aurora.

So, I’m sitting in my friend’s house, waiting for the taxi to arrive to take me back the way I came – back to Cairo and to my own life. It’s been a wonderful weekend full of talking and laughing and lots shopping. (Hey – it’s Dubai. What did you expect?) It’s only been 4 days but it feels like a month. That’s when you know it’s been a good trip.

One of the things I miss about living in the UAE is driving. I like driving. I took my friend’s car for a short spin yesterday morning and it was such a nice feeling. I was only running a couple of local errands but somehow just sitting behind the wheel of the car, I felt like there were so many possibilities open to me. I’m sure I wouldn’t have felt so nostalgic about driving had I been battling the traffic in town, but I was in the outskirts where there were few cars so I could afford to dream a little.

Tomorrow my feet will be firmly back on the ground dodging the Cairo traffic as it goes whizzing past me. I’ll take all the dreams I can get.

I’ve taken the week off writing to catch up on a few projects that I’ve had on the go. Like this queen sized triple Irish chain quilt in autumn colors which I was commissioned to make by a friend for an October wedding:

and this baby quilt I made because I liked the fabric and I need to replenish my dwindling stock:

I’m going to Dubai for the weekend to visit friends, talk quilting, and yes, buy more fabric. A quilter can never have too much you know.

I leave for the airport at dawn Thursday to arrive in Dubai mid-day. Today I’ll do some pre-trip organizing and packing. My son has a pow-wow at school Thursday – of course, because it’s not convenient timing for me and life is that way. He’s supposed to go dressed as a Native American and the moms have to supply the food! (the memo the school sent home was very excited about that announcement – me, not so much) The teachers very kindly sent home a recipe for me to make – a casserole that calls for four cups of wild rice, broccoli and cream cheese. It just so happens that I have wild rice but you know – it’s expensive and not available in Egypt. I don’t think that I’m going to waste four cups worth of my supply on kindergarteners who won’t appreciate (or even eat) it anyway. And cream cheese? Tell me where Pocahontas got cream cheese. I’m making some alterations to this recipe and will send a wild rice pilaf instead – white rice with a handful of wild rice for decoration and texture cooked in broth and tossed with dried fruit. Not only will it taste better at room temp I can make it tonight.

Fortunately his costume is all sorted out and he will look adorable.

So you won’t miss me too much while I’m away, Karen McCullough will be here this Friday to talk about her story “A Vampire’s Christmas” – she’s even going to give a copy to one lucky commenter. Whatever else you have planned for the weekend, make sure you stop by and leave a comment for Karen!

Ta-ta!

When I’m not surfing the internet, writing, or being a mom, my other passion is quilting. I love working with the colors and patterns. I listen to music and sing as I sew. Often my mind drifts to my story and characters and stumbling blocks disappear and the next bit of the action reveals itself. All in all a very satisfying process.

I personally own a lot of quilts. I started making quilts to sell because 1) I work fast and can only use so many, 2) by selling them I earn fun money to buy more supplies / toys / and travel money. I’ve bought myself a pretty snazzy sewing machine and financed many mom’s getaway trips with my earnings.

Lately, I’ve been concentrating on making baby quilts. Not only are they small, manageable projects but there are always lots of babies being born in the expat populations in which I’ve lived. I’ve toyed with the idea of finding a shop where I can have a selection on permanent display or at least putting up a few fliers to advertise that I’m here. But lately word of mouth seems to be doing the trick.

I sold two baby quilts this week. One when I went to pick up a ticket to Dubai from my travel agent (mom’s getaway trip coming up soon!). She’s got a new grandchild and was thrilled to hear I make baby quilts. The other I sold to my downstairs neighbor. I never keep more than six “in stock” because I don’t have the space and actually I’ve been busy enough as it is working on two large bed-sized commissions. But I had another request last night for a “girl” baby quilt so I guess I better get busy whipping up a few more.

It’s going to be a busy weekend for me so I may not be around much. But don’t despair. Marcia James is my featured Cerridwen author this weekend. She’ll be talking about her book “At Her Command”. If you like your romance with a bit of heat, this is the book for you!

My husband sent me the following video clip from CNN:Damaging din in Egypt

It explains a lot about why I find going downtownsuch a draining experience and why he's so tiredafter work every night. (Permission to lounge onthe couch granted, dear.) Fortunately we don't livedowntown - it's bad enough where we are. Butwatching the video will give you some perspectiveon the crazy driving and why I have lived here fornearly two years now without a car, quite happily.

I have mentioned a time or two before that welive in a fourth floor walk-up. It occurred tome yesterday that by American standards weactually live on the FIFTH floor. What is calledthe ground floor everywhere else in the world isthe first floor in America, the first floor hereis the second floor in America, etc. It doesn'talter the fact that there are still 75some odd steps from street level to my home,but saying it is on the fifth floor makes itsound worse.

The weekend in Egypt is Friday - Saturday andwe have a busy one planned. Tonight we are havingdinner guests. Menu:Hungarian Mushroom Soup, salad, and spice cake.It's a first for me on the cake, fingers crossedit comes out. (I used some of the less-nice goldenraisins in it!) Going out on a date with my husbandto a new restaurant on Friday night and meetingsome friends for lunch after soccer practiceon Saturday.

In the virtual world, please join me onSaturday when I'll be a guestblogger at Killer Fiction.

How about you? Any plans?

It’s Sunday, the first day of the week here in Cairo. Time to get back to the business of writing.

I spent the weekend doing other things. With the kids and hubby at home, there are too many distractions to try to concentrate on writing anything. Instead, I quilted…and let my mind wander. Quilting is actually productive on several levels. When I’m done I not only have a lovely handcrafted item in hand but I usually have a glimmer of the next part of my story too. My characters talk to me while I sew.

We had our dinner guests over last night. Now I remember why I don’t have guests over more often. It’s not the cooking (though that is part of it). Mostly it’s the mad dash to clean up the house – pick up the toys the children leave scattered around, fluff the pillows on the couch, clear away all my sewing things from the dining table and get out the best napkins and place-mats (which we only ever use when we have guests!)

And the dishes….I always forget how many dishes are created when you have a couple of extra people over for dinner. I cleaned up the pots as I went along but still had a sink full of bowls and plates and glassware to wash at the end of the night. No dishwasher here – strictly handwashing for me. As much as I would have liked to have left it, I had to get it finished. Not only do I hate waking up to a mess, but we didn’t have any clean silverware left!

Does it sound like I’m complaining? Nope. It was a very nice evening with good friends and great conversation.

But unless I can talk hubby around to doing the dishes (or getting me a dishwasher) it will be a while before I do it again!

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Saturday was the beginning of Banned Book week in America. Books are challenged and banned for a variety of reasons. You may or may not agree with the books on the list but isn’t it everyone’s right to make up their own mind? I’ve read about a third of the books on this list, many of them as class assignments and most in complete ignorance to the notion that there was any problem with them. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell was a childhood favorite. How many of these books have you read?

It’s the last day of the week here in Cairo and I’ve suddenly conceived a desire to have dinner guests over. Probably the result of all the socializing I’ve done this week.

The menu: potato soup, salad, and beer bread with apple crisp for dessert. It’s vegetarian fare at my house in case you were wondering. I haven’t decided who to ask just yet – maybe we’ll just eat it all ourselves!

What’s for dinner at your house? Any special weekend plans?

EDITED TO ADD:

Since Nina asked, here is the potato soup recipe I’ll be making:

Potato Cheese Soup (from The New Laurel’s Kitchen, 1986)

4 medium potatoes
2 carrots
1 onion chopped
(1 whole clove garlic)
1-2 Tbls butter
3 cups milk
1/2 – 1 cup grated sharp cheddar
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 Tbs chopped parsley

Peel and cook chopped potatoes and carrots in water (or stock) to cover in a large, heavy pan. Saute the onion and garlic if desired in butter and combine with potatoes and carrots. Puree in batches.

Return puree to pot and add milk. Heat until steaming but do not let boil. Add cheese slowly and stir until melted smoothly. Add seasonings.

Makes 8-10 cups.