Still alive. Still busy. Hormonal beyond belief.

I finally sat down to finish The Hunger Games a few days ago, a promise I made to Alicia after seeing the movie. I wrapped it up at 1:15 am and promptly burst into tears. The second book was just as bad. I started Mockingjay this evening and just put it down after getting halfway through because I'm too emotionally fragile to finish it tonight.

I'm relatively unspoiled for the last half of the book. I know some people have issues with the series, but...it's hitting me hard. Part of it is hormones. Part of it is my weakness for devoted heroes who can't get the girl. Most of my emotional upheaval comes from Peeta, though I'm not ready to say I'm a Peeta girl, lol.

I'm late to the game. I know it. The rest of the world has moved on, but I'm mired. Obsessed. I can't stop thinking about all these emotions. Or feeling them.

So I'm focusing on good things right now. I have to.

We're in the process of finally finishing the back yard. It's only taken us another year and a half since we had the first part done, and two and a half since we moved in, lol.

( Pictures behind the cut )

Title: The Road Taken
Recipient: chaosmaka
Author: eurydice72
Rating: NC17
Pairings: Arthur/Merlin
Word Count: 12,500
Warnings: Age difference (Merlin is 20, Arthur 35), American modern AU
Summary: Arthur does a favor for his nephew by giving his friend Merlin a ride across the country for the holidays.
Author’s Notes: Three things leapt out at me when I saw your prompt - age difference, road trip, and bottom!Arthur. I couldn’t shake them, and this is what happened. Thanks to cruentum for the beta!
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to Shine and BBC. I make no profit from this endeavor.

Part 1 is here.

( The Road Taken, part 2 )

It's finally the 30th here in California, so I get to post my fic for glomp_fest!

Title: The Road Taken
Recipient: chaosmaka
Author: eurydice72
Rating: NC17
Pairings: Arthur/Merlin
Word Count: 12,500
Warnings: Age difference (Merlin is 20, Arthur 35), American modern AU
Summary: Arthur does a favor for his nephew by giving his friend Merlin a ride across the country for the holidays.
Author’s Notes: Three things leapt out at me when I saw your prompt - age difference, road trip, and bottom!Arthur. I couldn’t shake them, and this is what happened. Thanks to cruentum for the beta!
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to Shine and BBC. I make no profit from this endeavor.

( The Road Taken, part 1 )

Concluded in Part 2.

So I'm being a lemming. I've wanted to try being better about blogging for a while now, and I keep seeing people on my flist signing up for this 100 Things Challenge, so I thought, "What the hell?"




{Take the 100 Things challenge!}


The problem rested in finding a topic. I've debated a few. The one thing I can talk most about are movies, so I considered Oscar-nominated losers. But...I dunno. It seems like everybody and their brother are talking about something popular culture related, fandom or otherwise. It felt overdone.

Next thought was things I do to organize my life. Because I probably could do that pretty easily. Hell, I could find 20 things I do in my closet alone. But then I thought that might expose me for the crazy person I really am and I don't know if I want to go there.

Another that tickled my fancy was 100 People Who Have Changed My Life....except that could get pretty personal, especially for other people since some of them are LJ, and do I have that right?

My final idea is 100 Dollar Store Crafts. I follow a blog called exactly that, and I've always wanted to dive in and try some of the things she posts, as well as try and come up with my own. Alicia would be in for it, too, and with school out in six weeks, it would help in keeping the kids occupied over break.

I haven't made my mind up yet. Whatever I do, it won't start until next week, because tomorrow, spikesgurl shows up to visit until Sunday, and I'm not losing time with her.

Which would you do if you were me?

Since I've had a truly awful day (busy, hormonal, then cramps and god even more hormones when trying to deal with Alex's game tonight), I'm going to focus on the positive, like how I got 1st place at the latest short challenge over at ag_fics. :) Originally, it was meant to be a co-authored challenge, and since I have so little time to coordinate my own writing let alone working with someone else, I figured I'd pass. Only problem was, they didn't have enough participants, so they opened it up to single authors. I decided what the hell at that point, and signed up, at which point they assigned a prompt to me.

I got time, and I came up with this short fic for it. The voting was *really* close.

And see my pretty?



Title: Entrapped No More
Author: Eurydice
Pairing: Arthur/Gwen
Rating: PG
Spoilers/warnings: Spoilers up to 4x10
Word Count: 2650 words
Summary: Morgana decides to take a more proactive approach to preventing Gwen from telling Arthur about her plans to invade Camelot.
Prompt: Time

( Entrapped No More )

( American Idol results )

So has anyone ever had a stress fracture in one of their toes before? I've been having this pain in my second toe on my left foot for a few weeks now, on and off, only when the joint is bent, but last night, for whatever reason, it was bad enough to keep waking me up (do I curl my toes in my sleep, lol?).

I plan on calling for a doctor's appointment later today anyway, but I'm curious if that's what I've done to my foot.

First day home, getting caught up on stuff. Which means grocery shopping, sorting laundry, tidying up, finding a routine again. I woke up this morning at 4am, then every fifteen minutes until 6:30 when I finally gave up pretending I wasn't still on Chicago time and got up. I'll probably crash tonight, though I'm going to do everything I can not to.

I'm trying to read more fic, and I knew I was going to do a Merlin rec today, so I ambled over to Buffy fic to see if there was something short I could recommend. I found this ficlet called Born Again by Maidenjedi, a short character piece about Spike. I liked the language in it, and it reminded me of how much I love him.

But what spurred this was the story cruentum wrote for sheswatching's birthday. It's an incredibly poignant Percival piece called Tales of Glachdroha. Canon, gen, with Geoffrey. I do loves me some Percival, and this is absolutely stunning.

Am home and so tired and achy. There is a steaming hot bath in my immediate future.

While I was preparing to travel, the latest short challenge voting started up over at ag_fics. There's only three fics, all around 2500 words or so, so if you're inclined, head on over and take a look.

Last night in Chicago. RT was way more fun than I thought it would be. I even got to sign a copy of "Whedonistas" at the book signing yesterday! Somebody had brought their copy in, but wouldn't you know it, when I needed a Buffy quote to go with the signature, I totally blanked, lol. I'm such an idiot.

But I'm ready to be home. I'm ready for my bed (I hate 99% of hotel beds; they're too soft), I'm ready for detoxing from hotel food, I'm ready to be surrounded by my family. I'm returning with 21 more books than I arrived with (gotta love freebies and book signings with more than 300 authors, lol) and oddly juiced from being around so many creative people for a week.

How that will translate into writing time, I have no idea. But hopefully it will.

Craig's mum is still in hospital. No change there. They're waiting to get her seen at Brompton so fingers crossed that happens soon.

Other than that...up early to catch a 10am flight. I'm in SF at 1, head straight to picking up the kids to take them to baseball games that night. Let's see how long I last...

I'm still in Chicago at RT, but since the masterlist has gone up, I wanted to post the drabble I wrote for camelot_drabble while I remembered to do it.

Title: All Better
Author: Eurydice
Rating: PG
Pairing/s: None
Character/s: Arthur
Summary: Young Arthur wonders on the healing powers of parents.
Warnings: None
Word Count: 484
Prompt: Skin
Author's Notes: Set pre-series.


( All Better )

I get on a plane tomorrow to fly to Chicago for a week. I'm exhausted and kind of want the trip over already so I can sleep for a month of Sundays. What's worse is that all the stress of worrying about things lately has made me stupid in silly ways. My head is currently pounding, and I really should get some sleep because we're going to be out the door just after 7am.

If this wasn't the big romance writers convention, and if I wasn't going to get the opportunity to meet people I never get to see in real life (and a couple that I've had professional relationships with for years and have never had the privilege of meeting in person), I'd totally stay home. Or find a local hotel and hide there for a week. This is basically a week long of socializing and networking, two things I hate the most. Unfortunately, it's a necessary evil.

Time to log off and pack my laptop away. Next time I post, it'll be from Chicago. :)

The events at merlin_games have ended, and though Team Historical didn't win, I'm proud of all of us. It also means I can finally post my story.

Title: The Seventh
Author: Eurydice
Pairing(s): Merlin/Percival
Rating: PG
Warnings: Minor character death (offscreen)
Word Count: 4500 words
Summary: Historical AU. Nobody ever knew how Percival felt about Merlin. But he made sure to show the sheriff in whatever ways he could.
Notes: Thank you to sheswatching for the beta!
Prompt and Prompt ID: 224: “We look at each other wondering what the other is thinking but we never say a thing.” (song lyrics ~Dave Matthews)

( The Seventh )

I have been a basket of emotions all day, all over idiocy and hypocrisy in the original m/m world. Right now, I've moved past anger to sadness--well, grief, really, at the shambled state of the world we live in. I have no tolerance for those who refuse to own their own hypocrisy, even as I recognize that most people would be incapable of seeing it in themselves anyway. Events like today remind me why I retreat to solitude so often.

I won't go into details. It's not worth bitching about because ultimately, those people are never going to change. But I would ask everyone out there to please, please, please, try and live your life by the Dalai Lama's 3 R's:

1. Respect your self.
2. Respect others.
3. Responsibility for your actions.

What you say matters. What you do matters. Be accountable for your words and deeds because you are not an island.

Even when you want to be.

( This week's Fringe )

( American Idol, top 10 )

I'm currently sitting at San Antonio airport with hours to kill before my flight home. Had a fantastic weekend (didn't win, but doesn't matter when I had so much fun), and will return home fresh and relaxed. I saw this on my flist, though, and have to keep it going because, well, pissed doesn't even begin to describe it.

Originally posted by marguerite_26 at All U.S. Internet Providers will be policing downloads by July 12, 2012

( Cut for the drama )

I'm off tomorrow to San Antonio for the weekend. It's a writing con but I plan on relaxing and having fun. I'll get online when I can to keep up on stuff. :)

Why the hell am I still watching Ringer? It started out as curiosity, then because I just needed to know what was going on, even though I wasn't really enjoying it, and it's morphed into watching a train wreck.

I didn't think I was going to do this again this year, but, well, I'm a creature of habit.

( American Idol, top 13 )

I know I have a few folks on my flist who do yoga. Somebody recently said something to me along the lines that yoga can help manage arthritis pain in hips and knees. Am I being snowed, or is this true? I ask just because I'm always looking for anything I can do to help the arthritis in my hip without meds. I hate that I cringe at moving sometimes.

So the other night, I took my first stab at making homemade mousse. I've never tried it before. Frankly, it always seemed like too much work for the end result. Honestly? I still think it's too much work for the end result, mostly because I found this recipe a little too rich for me.

However, Craig and the kids acted like they'd died and gone to heaven. I'm under orders not to lose this recipe (as basic as it might be). So with that in mind, I'm putting it here on LJ so that I've got it saved.

( Chocolate Mousse )

Again...not so thrilled, but here's the ones I like...

( Top 12 girls )

I'm...not that excited about this year for some reason. So not my usual breakdown, but a few thoughts.

( Top 13 boys )

Alicia's finger continued to bother her today, and the swelling wasn't going down. When we were testing how well she could bend it, I felt something move in the joint that didn't feel like it should, so Craig took her to Urgent Care to get an xray done.

Turns out, the tip is broken. We've now got a referral to an orthopedist. The piano test won't happen tomorrow, and she's off gym for at least a week until she can see the specialist and he adjusts her restrictions. Softball is momentarily sidelined as well. We'd done everything right, thank goodness, since we iced it and put her in a finger splint to keep it immobile. It looks like a very minor break, too, thank goodness, but that will pend what the ortho says.

Other than that, a better day today than yesterday.

Day. From. Hell. It was just one thing after another.

( Cut for graphic girl crap, pet trauma, tech trauma, and more )

It's only 7pm. We haven't eaten dinner yet. Please, world, no more today. I'm begging you.

ETA: Apparently, the phone is not toast. Craig played with it, and all of a sudden it started to work. So it's now charging and I'm keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't go weird on me again.

I've had a beer. I'm about to go soak in the bath. I'm trying to talk Craig into getting me ice cream.

This is one of those recipes that probably seems uber obvious to everybody but me, lol. But I tried it in early January when it appeared on my Food Network calendar, and it's become my go-to marinade for pork chops ever since, as much because I always have these ingredients on hand as it is how good it is. I've modified it slightly for my family (using only half the pepper noted in the recipe), since we're mostly wimps when it comes to pepper.

( Chinese Pepper Pork Chops )

See that icon? Days like this, it holds doubly true. Because you know, sending me emails telling me what a waste I'm making of my "talents" by falling into the "slash trap" and writing porn instead of continuing on in the Buffy fandom is totally the best way to get me to go back to it. /sarcasm

On the plus side, someone I think is immensely talented got offered a publishing contract today. That helps to renew my faith in the notion that talent will prevail.

What else...made chicken and andouille gumbo for dinner (minus the rice), and it turned out pretty good. I think I need to tweak it for future versions, though. Just a little bit. Even Alex ate it.

Other than that, life goes on. Kids have a four-day weekend, Craig has Monday off. It'll be homey and lazy for us, and hopefully, I'll be productive somewhere in there.

Overheard tonight at ball practice:

Father: "Pretty soon, you'll have four practices a week."
Son: (groans)
Father: "Don't be like that. It'll be fun. You'll be a baseball player whether you like it or not."

They were walking behind me as we were heading out to our cars, and it took everything I had not to turn around and deck the guy. I mean, come on. These are 7-10 y/o's. They're here to have fun, and you know, if your son doesn't want to play baseball, DON'T MAKE HIM.

Why is that so hard? Why do some of these parents have this overwhelming need to push their kids into activities they don't want to do? Alicia and Alex are involved in a fair bit, I know, but none of it was at our instigation. In fact, when Alex decided he didn't want to play baseball after his first year, we didn't make him. The only reason he went back to it was because Alicia's softball coach at the time instilled a love for the game back into him when he let Alex practice with them every once in a while. And you know, when Alex came to me before Christmas and said he didn't think he'd do chorus next year but that he'd stick out the rest of the school year because he'd made a commitment to it, I have never been prouder. Frankly, he could've quit at the end of the semester. It's a new sign up every semester. But he's mature and responsible enough to recognize that he'd said he'd do it, so he was sticking it out.

But these parents...god. Between the ones who make their kids miserable to the ones who epitomize poor sportsmanship by arguing with referees and getting themselves kicked off the field, I really wonder who in the hell they think they are.

Thank you to sheswatching, k_nightfox, and chrunchy_crunck for the lovely glass hearts! They brought me much-needed smiles today. :)

Fic Title: Two Words That Changed Everything
Author: eurydice72
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Gwen, background Merlin/Gwaine
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 13,800
Warnings: None
Summary: Modern AU. Rich and famous Arthur Pendragon is looking for a marriage of convenience to distract his father from controlling his life so much, but the last thing he expects is for his best friend Merlin to introduce him to a girl who has no idea who he is.
Notes: Written for this stunning artwork by neptune47 for the merlinreversebb. Very special thanks to cruentum for reading it over and keeping me honest.

Part 1

( Two Words That Changed Everything, part 2 )

Fic Title: Two Words That Changed Everything
Author: eurydice72
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Gwen, background Merlin/Gwaine
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 13,800
Warnings: None
Summary: Modern AU. Rich and famous Arthur Pendragon is looking for a marriage of convenience to distract his father from controlling his life so much, but the last thing he expects is for his best friend Merlin to introduce him to a girl who has no idea who he is.
Notes: Written for this stunning artwork by neptune47 for the merlinreversebb. Very special thanks to cruentum for reading it over and keeping me honest.

( Two Words That Changed Everything )

Thank you to everyone for your advice yesterday! I don't get heartburn often - though I've learned that it has a tendency to be a perimenopausal symptom, yuck - but this has been a bad week for some reason, so having alternatives is wonderful. I think I'm going to try the ginger tea and see if that helps. If not, then I'll try the Zantac. I'm just reluctant to add more drugs to my body if I don't have to, you know?

It's been a sore week for me. I started working out this week, because frankly it was about time, so there's that, but even before I started working out, I strained some muscle in my chest on Sunday night because it's been really sore all week. It's not internal, so no worries that it's something serious, but it's achy and muscular right over the top of my right breast and into the sternum. Annoying. Especially on top of the other aches that come from working out when you haven't for a long time.

But all will be good, because frankly, life is good. I'm really so blessed. I've been pushing myself to focus on those things this week, to try and relish every moment I have with my great family and friends, including you fantastic people here and online. I'd be lost without so many of you, so please know you're all loved and appreciated from my little corner of the world.

*hugs*

I come looking to my flist for tips.

I hate antacids. HATE them. To the point where they make me gag, and then get sick, which kind of defeats the purpose. That means I avoid anything like Tums or Gaviscon.

So what are your favorite remedies for treating occasional bouts of heartburn without going that route?

So today was the school-wide spelling bee at Alicia's middle school. Six weeks ago, the top sixth, seventh, and eighth grader spellers in each grade were selected to compete. Alicia and her best friend M both made the sixth grade cut.

Today, against forty other students, Alicia came in 3rd, and M came in second. They lost to an eighth grader. Not too shabby for a pair of smarty-pants sixth graders. :)

Needless to say, L (M's mom) and I are super-proud.

So in my bid to get back to my theater roots - because man, do I miss it - I'm trying to get out more, while I can, of course. Softball and baseball are starting up, so our schedules are going to be tight. And driving into San Francisco isn't always our easiest solution when trying to arrange babysitting if I want to see something not appropriate for the kids.

One solution is the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek. L and I took the kids there to see a production of Wizard of Oz last fall, and frankly, I was hugely impressed for it being outside of SF. Production values were strong, the performances solid, and the theater nice.

This month (well, February), Craig and I are going to take the kids to go see Legally Blonde, and I'm going to go see my favorite Shaw play, Arms and the Man. I'm probably seeing that one on my own. I'm really not fussed about seeing plays by myself, not like movies. L might go with me, but I doubt it. And I miss shows too much to keep cheating myself out of them.

The rest of the season there will be interesting. I'm dragging Craig to go see Rumors in April, largely because I was in a production of it in college and it remains one of my best memories. Marlee Matlin is also scheduled to speak there in April. That's also on the list if it doesn't conflict with ball.

In addition to the Lesher, Craig has arranged for us to see the new sports show that Reduced Shakespeare Company will be doing in Sonoma in March. SF has a number of shows I'm dying to go see, too, like "The Caretaker" with Jonathan Pryce, and "Spamalot." There's every possibility we'll switch "Legally Blonde" for "Mamma Mia," too. We haven't quite made up our minds there yet.

But I'm seeing more, that I know. And I can finally stop being jealous every time one of my friends mentions they're going to see a play, lol.

So I had a busy day, though I have yet to get to writing. We had to run out this afternoon on errands, one of which was me going to DSW because today was the last day I could use gift cards I got before Christmas. Alicia heard and the following exchange happened:

Alicia: DSW? Why? You don't need any shoes.
Craig (interrupting): Alicia, you don't get it. It's not about need.

And then he sent me on my way to buy shoes. Do I have the best husband or what, lol?

I ended up getting *cough* three pairs, one from clearance, one to replace brown casual boots, and one I just couldn't resist. ( Read more... )

So the other fic I wrote over Christmas busted my RPS cherry. I've always been uncomfortable about writing it, but curious for months, and well...I finally did it.

TITLE: Not Like Any Other
AUTHOR: Eurydice
RATING: NC17
WORD COUNT: 3400 words
CHARACTERS/PAIRINGS: Bradley/Tom
DISCLAIMER: Oh, how I wish they were, but no, they are not mine.
SUMMARY: When Tom discovers Bradley's hiding a copy of Gay Times, he decides to take matters into his own hands. Well, maybe not just his hands...
SPOILERS/WARNINGS: None. Unless gay shower sex needs to be warned about.
NOTES: Written for the KMM prompt, RPF, Bradley/Tom, Tom finds a certain well-thumbed copy of Gay Times in Bradley's possession (bottom!Bradley preferred).

( Not Like Any Other )

Tom and Lorenzo posted pics of Joe Mangianello in the new issue of Flaunt. Go. Gape. Lust.

This man is the sole reason I agreed to try watching True Blood again with L.

Alicia is away this week for an Outdoor Ed program w/school, Craig starts his new job tomorrow, and I actually posted BtVS fanfic yesterday. What a week, huh?

Alex decided last week that he wanted to try beading. He's always loved making stuff with his hands, and after watching Alicia, the MIL, and I doing it, he wanted a go. So I took him to Michael's on Saturday, let him pick out beads for the necklace he wanted to make for his teacher, and on Sunday, gave him my beading board to design what he wanted. Though I gave him the clasp and finished the crimping for him, he did all the stringing:

( Alex's necklace )

We've had a ton of winners off my calendar, so I've got more recipes to post in the upcoming week. This one is a light side salad that we've had twice now. The kids devour it, and it's relatively low in calories which is great. It's got a very refreshing tang to it. Definite keeper.

( Celery and soppressata salad )

The inlaws have left the building.

So L came over to watch a couple Buffy eps. Today was "Where the Wild Things Are" and "New Moon Rising." Because I have limited time, and because I've not looked for fic in so long, I'm coming to my flist for recs.

I *know* there was fic written for post-S7 about Oz and Willow reuniting. If you know of a good story - long, short, sweet or hot, doesn't matter - please tell me? I think I really need it.

I'm currently seething about a new rule at Alex's school.

Apparently, the principal has banned any kind of activity on the playground that has been made-up by a child as well as all games that involve chasing. Meaning, no making up games of any sort, no kind of tag, etc. Basically anything that involves using a brain cell or an ounce of imagination. She believes children will get hurt by the chasing (though how that's different from playing soccer during recess, I have no idea), and that eliminating any kind of play that doesn't have pre-set rules or methods of use (like sports, tetherball, playground equipment) will cut down on fights.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks this is utterly insane.

So I started watching PR All Stars last week, which looks like it's going to be fun. But that day, I read an article catching up on what previous winners have been doing. When it came to Seth Aaron (my favorite), I discovered that he'd just designed a line of iPad covers for Maroo.

And, well, I made an impulse buy...

( Pics )

So I gave myself permission not to write today. It was the kid's first day back to school, and I had an insane morning with a lot of administrative stuff to do as well as stuff around the house. I'm feeling a teensy bit guilty, but honestly, I needed to be honest with myself and admit I wasn't going to get it done and just focus on what I *did* need to do.

It helps that I finished a 12k short for MLR and got that submitted on Saturday, as well as learning that something I had scheduled due for 3/1 has been changed to 6/1. So immediate pressure is off.

But still...a teensy bit guilty. :P

( Once Upon a Time, speculation and thoughts on 1x08 )

So...this is going to sound silly, but I've always had problems with salsa. I can never keep the different kinds straight in my head, and I've always been more than a little intimidated about making it fresh. Which is all kinds of absurd considering some of the complex baking and cooking I've done.

One of my calendar recipes this week was for a breakfast burrito with a salsa verde asada. A salsa that called for chipotles, which I normally don't like. Plus, it used tomatillos, which I had never even picked up at the grocery store. I wasn't going to make it, but Alicia begged and begged and I caved and...ohmigod.

Not only was the salsa easy peasy, but so very good. So I'm putting the recipe here so I've got it for posterity. :D We had it with an easy breakfast burrito this morning, but there's nothing earth-shattering about that recipe at all. However, I'm going to have this in the fridge as my go-to dip for now on. Low-calorie and so much flavor...

SALSA VERDE ASADA

1 1/2 pounds tomatillos, husked and well rinsed
1 small onion, sliced and separated into rings
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1-2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp sugar

1. Preheat broiler. Line a pan with foil and arrange tomatillos, onion, and garlic in a single layer. Broil until soft and evenly charred, turning occasionally, for about 12 minutes. Remove from broiler and let cool.
2. Squeeze garlic out of the skins and puree with onion and chipotles in a blender until smooth.
3. Add tomatillos and pulse to a chunky consistency.
4. Add cilantro, salt, and sugar, and pulse to combine.
5. Transfer to bowl and let sit at room temperature so flavors will meld, about 30 minutes. Can be refrigerated, covered for up to 3 days.

So for Christmas, I got a Food Network day-by-day calendar from Craig. Each day is a new recipe or tip, so I figured one of my resolutions this year was to do as much from the calendar that it looked like we'd eat (meaning the soup with tofu that's up for this weekend will not get done because it would be a waste in this house since nobody will eat tofu if they don't have to, lol). Last night's recipe was a turkey sausage with spinach and a red pepper sauce, and while it was good, it certainly wasn't earth-shattering.

Tonight's was MILES better. This is a keeper and going on permanent rotation in this house. So now I'm sharing the recipe with you. :)

JASMINE RICE PILAF WITH APRICOTS

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
2 wide strips lemon zest
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp garam masala
1 medium onion, diced
1 cup uncooked jasmine rice, lightly rinsed and drained
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS
1. Place apricots and lemon zest in 2 cups cold water. Let soak while preparing other ingredients.
2. Melt butter in large pan over medium heat. Add garam masala and toast until fragrant, stirring constantly, about 1 minute.
3. Add onion and 1/4 tsp salt, and cook until onion is tender and translucent, stirring occasionally, about 6 minutes.
4. Stir in rice and bay leaf. Cook, stirring occasionally, until rice begins to brown, about 4 minutes.
5. Stir in apricots and lemon zest, along with the soaking water. Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper (or to taste). Bring to a simmer.
6. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 10 minutes. Then, turn off heat and let sit for additional 5 minutes undisturbed.
7. Remove bay leaf, fluff rice, and serve.

NOTES: Serves 4. The original recipe suggests topping with mint and toasted pistachios, but I didn't do that and didn't miss it at all. It would also be fantastic with grilled chicken mixed in to serve as a main course.