What's Up, STEEMIT?! I'm Monique Finley, a Blogger, Poet, and Author of the Free E-Serial: Terra Damnata!

Hello! Hallo! Hola! Salvete! What's up, STEEMIT peeps? I'm Monique. I usually answer to Moe, Finley, or "Hey, Dude!" I've been known to answer to names not appropriate for a first meeting. Later, perhaps? I turn phrases. Sometimes they turn into poetry, other times they turn into blog posts, and over the last year they've turned into a weekly e-serial. I bleed ink. Well, that phrase might be bit dated, since blogging is more like bleeding code. Either way, it comes down to living a nomadic blogger's life.

Every Saturday, I post a new chapter to Terra Damnata, Book 1 of The Pu'Shing Bhu'Tons Series. As I write this, I'm containing my excitement. You see, this October, Terra Damnata will be finished. What can I say? It's been a decade long ride and if feels wunderbar to near the destination. Plus, it's my first novel. Can you keep a secret? Ignis Fatui, Book 2 of The Pu'Shing Bhu'Tons Series starts 31 October 2016. Wait... don't keep it a secret. In fact, please share with whomever you think might like to read a free post-apocalyptic fantasy e-serial. (Um. You should probably tell them about Book 1 first.)

Did you notice the four different languages in the intial greeting? In case you're uncertain, those were: English, German, Spanish, and Latin. For me, the love of language started with my native American-English. I was fascinated with the myriad possibilities for story-telling. I mean, think about it... There are countless ways to combine words to create vastly different works (stories, instructions, advertisements, dissertations, et al.). Can you imagine the story-telling possibilities available to polyglots? I can. But, I'm not a polyglot. Yet. Are you?

When my focus turned to Latin, my understanding of English grammar greatly improved. Consequently, Latin has also helped me with learning German and Spanish. That said, I've got a long way to go before I can confidently step outside of the elementary level in those last two. I love languages. Do you? If you do, please leave a comment about the languages you're studying and why. If you don't, would you leave a message, too? I'd love to hear why not.

A Recipe for Adventure

Learning new languages has perks. For instance, knowing enough German to navigate Kaufland is supremely helpful, if you happen to be in Germany looking for a store comparable to Wal-Mart. (IMHO, Kaufland is better.) I had that privilege last year. It was an amazing time. I even got to visit ancient Roman ruins in the foothills near Herschweiler-Pettershiem. Even though we were in Germany, we wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. We invited some American friends over. Everyone was supposed to kick in a family dish. I have this awesome recipe for a chili-cheese dip (thanks, Saucier). But, the ingredients I normally use were all sitting on shelves back in America. So, no Hormel (or Wolf). What to do?

When we made it to markt I immediately cruised the aisles looking for anything that remotely resembled the ingredients I needed:

• Eine Behälter Schwarz Bohnen
• Eine Behälter Rot Bohnen
• Zwei Frischkäse
• Eine Kilo Hackfleisch
• Eine Tasche Chips

Entschuldigung! Wo ist diene rot bohnen, bitte?
(Excuse me! Where are your red beans, please?)

Ah! I totally looked right at the red beans. In fact, they were two shelves down from the black beans. Super. I feel—Sehr danke!—special. Back at the house, I put the kilo of ground meat onto the stove and browned it. When the meat was cooked, I added the two cans of red and black beans, stirring occasionally. Once the beans were also cooked, I turned off the stove, plopped the two packages of cream cheese into the pot, and stirred thoroughly. A sprinkle of salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper later and *poof* the dip was ready!

That experience absolutely changed the way I make my dip. Sorry, Hormel, but there's no going back once peak deliciousness has been reached. I used to make the dip with 2 cans of Hormel Chili con Carne (with beans) and 1 package of cream cheese, seasoning to taste. Today, I use: 1 can of red beans, 1 can of black beans, 1 package of ground meat, and 2 packages of cream cheese. Still seasoning to taste, of course. That means with extra cayenne pepper the dip will get spicy. The other bonus to this new way of making the dip is that it doubles the output. I was even able to send our guests home with bowls full of extra dip. (They weren't complaining.)

PRO TIP #1: Take your chili cheese dip to the next level with Tony's Extra Spicy Creole Seasoning.
PRO TIP #2: Lactose intolerant? No problem. Use 500 grams of tofu instead of cream cheese.

I'm completely looking forward to discovering what these ingredient names are in other countries. As I said in the opening paragraph, I'm a nomadic blogger. And, I'm currently exploring the world. Do you like to travel? Leave me a comment with where you've been or where you'd like to go.

Thanks for reading. And, thank you in advance for your upvotes, shares, and comments! It's a wide world out there. I hope you to see you in it.

Take it easy! Auf Weidersehen! Hasta Luego! Valete!
Finley

P.S. Here's a few other Net places I frequent. Click the links below to keep in touch:
Twitter @MFinley80
LinkedIn's ProFinder Finley on LinkedIn
YouTube Finley's Channel
G+ +FinleyExperience