Wordsmith Weekly 07/25/2022

With growth comes change and for me, the last few months have been transformative. It’s only natural that my projects should follow.
With that in mind, I want to announce that I’ve changed the identity of my weekly blog.

Spoken in regal, queen-like voice: hence forth this blog shall be known as Wordsmith Weekly. Same content, new name and graphic.

Thank you to everyone who has followed my blog, I appreciate you. I hope you all enjoy the upcoming content I have planned. Which starts today! 😉

In Healthy Eats, Sweets & Treats: a recipe for parmesan garlic potatoes. I have been obsessed with these lately. They are cheesy, savory and oh-so-yummy. Not to mention, super easy to prepare. You won’t regret trying this recipe! 🙂

From Do.It.Your Self-care: a recipe for homemade exfoliant. I ran out of mine a while ago and my skin has been missing the polishing action. I just had to make a fresh batch. This time I’ve added citrus oils, perfect for fading spots and correcting discoloration. They also make your skin shiny and bright. I call it Citrus Glow Scrub.

At the Book Nook comes a review of The Folk of Air by Holly Black. Everyone has been talking about this young adult series and for good reason. I fell in love with these books, reading each of them within a few hours after opening them haha. Holly Black’s dazzling world and morally grey characters will keep you on the edge of your seat and ignite the deepest depths of your imagination. I can’t say enough good things about it.

In the Writing Corner we have part 3 of my short story, The Unicorn Bounty, a harrowing tale of one unlucky man’s brush with death and unicorns.

I love comfort food and one of the most comforting foods (according to my belly) is roast potatoes. They’re salty, savory, slightly crunchy with a pillowy center. I could eat them everyday haha. This recipe with the parmesan cheese and rosemary is so decadent and easy I’m sure you’ll be eating potatoes every day too after trying it :-p

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl place the potatoes.
Coat potatoes in canola oil, followed by the garlic powder, onion powder, salt&peper, rosemary and half the parmesan cheese. Mix well.
Place potatoes on a baking sheet and place them in the oven.
Cook for 30-35 minutes, turning them at ten minute intervals.
Remove from oven and allow them to drain on paper towels.
Top potatoes with remaining cheese and enjoy.

Exfoliating your face can be a harrowing experience if you have the wrong product. I recall some horror stories from my youth where I’d used St.Ives apricot exfoliant for red, splotchy and pained results. It wasn’t until I discovered essential oils that I started making my own products, then, everything changed and so did my skin.
Today I share a recipe, slightly modified from the past but one I’ve used for years. It’s gentle, safe and effective. No more splotchy horror stories just healthy, happy skin haha.

Instructions
Mix all of the above ingredients together in an air-tight container until properly combined. That’s it, it’s as simple as that.

We made a disheveled trio, sauntering in tandem through the mire, our wet hair plastered to our determined faces, mine long, blonde and stringy, like rays of light trying to escape the dim peeking out from beneath my black hood. 

Mikhale’s shorter and black dragged across his forehead in one thick chunk, and Jarvis’ rusty red whiskers drooped low from dampness, tapering into a dribbling point, his bald head reflecting the moonlight like a mirror.

The trail to crystalline forest turned to quicksand from the rain. With each step we took, it threatened to suck us down. Mikhale lost his boot several times as we walked, forcing him to un-link arms with me along the way and erupt into a chorus of obscenities each time he went to retrieve it.

As we reached the entryway to the forest, the grip on my arms was so tight that my fingers  numbed.

I glanced wary and anxious at both their faces, trying to read them or garner some clue to what they had planned, but they only stared back at me, stony, unreadable. Beyond a hint of gleeful menace, I could glean nothing from their blank glares.

“Well, laddie, it’s the end of the line,” Jarvis loosened his grip on me. 

Mikhale followed suit, and I shook my arms with vigor, willing life back into them amidst the pins and needles. 

Still rubbing my hands, I responded, my fingers tingling I said. “End of the line? What’s that supposed to mean?” 

I knew what it meant. “You’re coming with me, aren’t you?” I asked, a hopeless plea.

I regretted it the moment the words left my lips. Desperate is the fool. Desperate.

The pair bust out into raucous laughter. “C’mon kid, you can’t be that thick.” Mikhale said, eyes alight with dark, sardonic joy. “Did you get the impression we’d be doing this thing together? Truly?” 

The rogue. I considered attacking him, thought of smearing the smirk clean off his dirty face for forcing me to come on this fool’s errand, humiliating me every step of the way.

“Look Mik, you made him mad,” Jarvis said, eyes observant. His tone was teasing, but he was over to me in seconds with my hands clasped behind my back.

“Time to pay the piper, kid.” he said, words ominous. He inched me towards the forest. “Get your ass in there and get that horn. We’ll be waiting.”

With force and violence, he kicked me forward, propelling me like an arrow released from a bow past the forest’s entrance.

Unsteady after my violent departure, I stepped forward on precarious feet, slipped, and fell into the mud. The tumble knocked the wind out of me, leaving me wheezy, as Jarvis and Mikhale burst into an uproar of laughter once more.

Ashamed, bristling beneath their mockery, and shaken by their brutal treatment, I didn’t pick myself up. Instead, I crawled into the brush and out of sight without a backward glance.

Thanks for perusing Wordsmith Weekly, I hope you’ll come back for next week’s issue.
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