“STORIES TO TELL OUR KIDS” A (soon-to-be) Novel

I was inspired suddenly, at two-something in the morning, to write a blurb of a novel I have yet to put into existence. It feels so real to me. It is like a sleeping child that will one day grow older. I will make this tangible, one day.

The title of it, is called, “STORIES TO TELL OUR KIDS.” I hope you’ll enjoy it. Feel free to leave any points of constructive criticism.

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“STORIES TO TELL OUR KIDS,” manifests itself as a non-fiction hybrid, sketching a portrait of the seemingly-mundane life of a twenty year old named Claire. She retells, in skin-touching detail and breathtaking clarity, her whimsical and capricious experiences around the globe. Told in either first or third person, her unconventional writing style of quirky vignettes, prosetry and short stories strewn together as an unpredictable collage induces any reader into her metaphysical and lucid reality. She finds this comparable to the rhythm of a brief summer rainstorm, or the sensation of standing in the midst of an unpredictable wind.

Haruki Murakami, her most reveled, fiction-writing muse, puts this exact feeling into words: “It’s hard to tell the difference between sea and sky. Between voyager and sea. Between reality and the workings of the heart” (Kafka on the Shore).

In no particular order her tales consist of metaphors and similes rooted in simplicity. They are cherished old photographs at the bottom of a drawer. Claire’s voice wields emotion like a great river. Running the length of the Garden State Parkway, through the intimate stretches of time etched between herself and her true love; It runs north to Montreal, a city of shimmering chartreuse and marigold scents and across the Mediterranean, where paper-skinned grandmothers smile toothless in stone villages on the Mars-like surface of Crete. Wearing the soles of her mother’s worn shoes, she finds herself traversing her heritage along the clear-water coasts of the tiny Philippine island of Coron. This is her unending adventure.

At the end of each day, Claire will watch the sky grow heavy in its tangerine succulence. And in this sweetness, wherever she may be, she will daydream of small children to lovingly tuck into sleep.

“These,” Claire will whisper to her lover, “are the stories to tell our kids.”

The Mercury Retrograde, An Early Spring, Part II

I made lumpia for the first time.

Filipino Eggrolls! Heck yeah! I was in my local Asian market Kam Man Food when it hit me: let’s call up mom and ask her to list off ingredients for lumpia! It’s always been up there in the ethnic foods i’ve wanted to learn how to make, you know, to continue tradition and my gastronomy, as Patrick says.

My mom texts me this:
Bean sprout, cabbage, green onion, carrots, green beans, sweet potato. Slightly brown the ground pork, then saute garlic and onion with it. Salt and pepper and little soy sauce, then put sweet potato and carrots til halfway tender then put all the rest of veggie! Half cook as much as possible then drain it. Don’t put water ! Juice will come out from the veggies. When it’s cold, you can start to wrap it. Don’t forget to buy wrapper. Wet the edge of the wrapper at end of folding. You could add shrimp for more taste. Enjoy!

I spent a good hour and a half slowly browsing the market, inspecting every package, vegetable, fish head and Asian candy.

It was a Thursday evening, sometime after midnight, and I decided: I want to start cooking this now. It was just after 1 a.m., right after a small house party, when I cleared the left over beer off the table, laid out the cutting board, strainer, and cutting knife. I put music onto the 8-Track player. Now, without further adieu:

Perfectly crispy with the sweet, soft, vegetable inside. I was so proud of myself! With just a little bit of Thai Sweet Chili Sauce, (or vinegar, if you prefer) you have yourself a delicious, filling meal. I double wrapped the ones I planned on freezing. When you want to fry them up, there is no thawing necessary! Throw them right into the hot oil and within minutes, you have fresh tasting lumpia! Hooray!

My plans for this weekend?! Hang out with my buddy Hope Thomas and Allie Allie Mason (we’re hanging out right after the last bell rings; she’s a high school teacher.) We’re going to get Thai food in Bloomfield. Then I’m driving straight down to pick up the love of my life, Kyle, and we’re going straight to Philadelphia!

Enjoy the sweet beginnings of spring, my friends. :)