Sea Moss Custard

Sitting on the beach last Sunday, I noticed a woman walking amid the rocks at low tide, bent over to collect seaweed. I have seen many people search for starfish and seaglass and shells on these north shore beaches, but never this stuff, which is the opposite of showy -- nearly colorless.

As she passed by, her hands full of the the small, tan, crenelated leaves, I had to ask. "Why?"

"Sea moss custard," she said. It's something her mother and grandmother made. "You wash the seaweed till all the sand is gone and then boil it with milk." The seaweed gives off a rennet-like substance that binds into a custard.

"How does it taste?" I asked. "Like seaweed?"

She couldn't describe it.

When I got home, I went to the computer and there, at www.hungrybrowser.com I found recipes for sea moss "pudding." Simplicity itself: milk, sugar, vanilla, and sea moss, boiled.

Perhaps some smart, thrifty New England housewife figured this out a hundred years ago...

There were no reader comments, reviews, or descriptions.

Wondrous strange.

Slowing down

Oh dear. I am relaxed.

Now what happens?

I finished the book (and various edits) over a month ago and I have not yet plunged into my next big project. I'm not sitting on my thumbs, of course. I'm not built that way.

I've been reading for fun. Frivolous books; titles I'm not going to share. I've been taking more yoga classes than ever before. I've been having coffee with friends I haven't seen in ages. I've been doing the email stuff: setting up the fall book events mostly. Responding to interesting queries from the Israeli Hebrew translator.

For creative fun, I've been writing a "revue" format/frame/show for the songs from Requited, the CD of original songs to which I contributed lyrics. (Music by composer Bert Seager.)

To hear the music, go to: http://cdbaby.com/cd/bertseager3

Writing for the stage and for music is now officially a passion/hobby. Don't know if this will ever go anywhere (though I do think what I'm up to is commercially viable as well as meaningful and beautiful)but I need to be engaged in some creative project to be happy.

Sounds like a lot, but really, it's not. Or maybe it's just different. This is the longest period of time in memory that I haven't been committed to the next book. The ideas are there... just not the oomph to write proposals and get up on that horse.

Instead, I feel ... light! Uh, relaxed even.

I enter this posting from a quiet spot near the ocean, on a glorious sunny day, with no obligations. Though I do have to head back to the city later. And the dog will need another walk at some point ...

But for now, I think I'll go sit on the porch and read ...