Wednesday Writer’s Update 12/7

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 2 Comments

It’s December, how did that happen?

So I failed Nano this year. I did not finish my edits by the end of November. However, thanks to an unexpected snow day Monday, I did finish my edits and my spy novel is out to reader feedback. Now I just need a name for it. Feel free to suggest some. The guests at my Sinterklaas party certainly did. LOL.

99% Lethal. Although that one might have economical/political overtones I don’t mean to imply.

Goldie Pox and the 3 Spies. My book isn’t really a comedy though.

Anyway, I am glad to have a few weeks break because there is baking and present wrapping and shipping and parties and friends (who’ve been way too neglected) to lavish with a little time.

How about you? How was your nano? What’s your holiday plan? Any snow for you yet?

Book Review: Much Ado About Muffin

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 6 Comments

And the cozy mysteries just keep on coming. Much Ado About Muffin by Victoria Hamilton.

I don’t know what to say about this one. It’s another one I read all the way through but not with any real joy. It was ok. The mystery was easy to figure out and some of the clues….well there were many opportunities for the amateur sleuth to apply some logic but she never does. I’d like to think the author was saving the deduction for the big reveal but since we hear the main character’s thought process constantly….

I couldn’t really identify with the main character either. Her problems were just too far a field from my own maybe? I don’t know, I had trouble buying into them. They keep referring to taxes she has to pay but she already has possession of the house she inherited and in the US the executor pays the estate taxes before the inheritor gets the property. I don’t know. I suppose I am over thinking what should be fluffy reading but I like my books to follow factual lines.

℘℘℘ – Three Pages, it was readable. I won’t get more books in the series although there are several others.

Sunday Sup: Stuffed Chicken

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I don’t know where I got the idea for this one. It was definitely one of those “what’s in the house?” moments. Where I throw various things together and hope it tastes good. What you never do that? Liar. LOL
Next week’s recipe will be another “What’s in the house?” recipe and it happens to make an excellent side dish for this one.

Stuffed Chicken wrapped in Bacon

Start the oven pre-heating to 425.

Mince a couple of shallots. Add them to some EVOO in a medium skillet over medium ish heat. Roughly chop some mushrooms, I like Crimini, add those to the pan as well. Stir occasionally.

Microwave half a bag of frozen chopped spinach, or a box one, until the frozen is mostly knocked off. Add to the shallots and mushrooms until the mixture gets wet and then dry again. Continue to stir occasionally.

In the mean time butterfly your chicken breasts, four of them.img_20161115_171748 If you know how skip to the next item, if not read on. Lay the chicken breast on the cutting board flat side down. Grab the little flap and cut into it slowly from the inside out so that when you are done the flap is still attached to the breast but lays flat on the cutting board. Now you should have a big obvious mound. Cut from the middle out, dividing it in half so that when you are done, that piece is still connected but lays flat.

If the veggies aren’t dry yet, get down a baking dish, spray with oil, I like EVOO. Get out a package of bacon, open it, and loosen up the pieces.

img_20161115_171757Ok turn the heat off the veg. Add goat cheese to the pan, to your taste. I like it cheesy, so I add 5-6 ounces of goat cheese. Stir the cheese around until it melts slightly from the residual heat and you get a gooey mess. You don’t want it so melted it starts to separate or is hard to handle because next you’ll be putting it in those chicken breasts.

Get your assembly ready. Grab a chicken breastimg_20161115_171927 in one hand, put a spoonful of filling in the middle. Flop the chicken over on itself to make a chicken “taco.” Wrap the taco in two slices of bacon. Nestle it down into the pan. Sorry about the pic, I don’t have an assistant and somehow having only two hands wasn’t enough. LOL

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Slide the pan into the oven for 35 minutes.

Then up it to broil, high, for five more minutes so your bacon gets crispy. Now I’m hungry again.

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Fiendish Friday: Legoland

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 2 Comments

So a few weeks ago the hubs and I took the kiddo and went with another family to SoCal. We went to Universal for Harry Potter World and then to Legoland because my son was desperate to see the new Ninjago ride.

So we fly down. Go to Universal, drive to Lego, first thing in the park we beeline for Ninjago Village and discover the ride is closed. For refurbishment. For the next 2 weeks. The ride just opened Memorial Day weekend, it needs refurbishment already?

So we go complain and this is what Guest Services says “We have a sign out front which tells you which rides are closed today.”

Wow, a sign out front. That doesn’t help when we booked the trip in July. And no they do not tell you online which rides will be down when or even which rides are down NOW. Disneyland does. Universal does. Even Knotts Berry Farm does. But not Legoland. Boo, Legoland, boo.

In the end between our various complaining we got some front of the line passes and some fees taken off our hotel stay. But of course the kiddo still wants Ninjago and wants to know when we are going to Legoland next year so he can ride.

BLEEEP. I am so done with Legoland.

The trip was actually fab other than the damn ride issue. sigh. I almost feel bad complaining about it but since the kiddo is still asking when we’ll go back so he can ride Ninjago, I’m irritated. And how do I know if next time I pay a couple hundred dollars each for a flight, a hundred plus each for a ticket, plus rental car, hotel, etc – the ride will even be open?

Book Review: Parchment and Old Lace

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 5 Comments

Cosy mysteries abound my friends. This one, Parchment and Old Lace by Laura Childs, was the blahest book in the blah blah world. Laura Childs has published 37 novels and 2 anthologies, so she must have something going for he somewhere but it wasn’t this book. This book was boring. And to be honest I think I only finished it because I needed a review to post, that wasn’t one star. LOL

Ok, my first problem is that the author paints the victim as a vacuous and brain dead and then you find out she’s and ADA. Really?

Problem number 2: the book is slow and not all that interesting, possibly because it’s baseline is scrap-booking. Long passages about how she scrap-booked something. Long passages describing the things you would buy to scrap book. Or maybe they just seemed long because I could not care less about scrap booking. LOL

Problem number 3, the main character isn’t all that bright. She breaks the law, big time. She does stupid things constantly, like tainting chain of evidence or running screaming at the bad guy – spooking him and causing him to take a hostage just 90 seconds before the cops arrive to arrest him, which she knows is about to happen but still she acts like an ass.

℘℘ – Two Pages. It’s not at all offensive, it just lays there.

 

Sunday Sup: Potato Leek Gratin

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This is another recipe with uncertain origins. I found it on my recipe shelf, scribbled on a note card. I am sure I got it somewhere sometime. It’s one of the hubs fave things. But even he recognizes that more than a couple of times a year is too much.

Potato Leek Gratin

Preheat your oven to 400.

Butter a nice medium bordering on large casserole dish.

Start a large pot of water to boil.

Peel and cube 3 large russet potatoes. Throw them in the water as you go even if it’s not boiling. Keep an eye on the pot though, you only want to par boil, 2-3 minutes at most.

In the mean time, crescent two medium-large leeks. Rinse thoroughly. Melt 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat. Add the leeks. Stir occasionally until softened.

The potatoes probably need draining now. Drain them and toss them into the buttered dish.

Now that the leeks are soft, turn the heat down to halfway to LO, add 2 tbsp flour. If you’re going gluten free I like tapioca starch for this recipe, it gives a nice thick sauce. Stir until incorporated and a little cooked, 2-3 minutes.

Turn the heat back to medium and slowly add 2 cups half and half while stirring. Once incorporated you can change to stirring occasionally. Bring to a boil, slightly lower heat to maintain a simmer for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add 1/2 c Parmesan cheese, 1 c shredded Gouda, 2 tbsp Dijon mustard. Stir until thick and combined. Pour over potatoes. Top with more shredded Gouda to taste.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, golden brown and yummy.

Sorry about the pic, my FIL was here and the boys totally dug in. My husband was like, “It’s a good thing you made so much steak or I would have totally eaten all the potato stuff.”

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Fiendish Friday: Black Friday

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Happy day after Thanksgiving, also known as Black Friday. I’m not out shopping. I go to the PJ write in now and eat delicious omelets.

But once upon a time, I loved Black Friday. Back when it was a sport of iron will. Back when you had to have the determination to get up at 330 in the morning and brave the freezing cold to get the best deal. Man I loved Black Friday then.

Seriously, the hubs and I would go to the Target in his parents area. They would keep the kiddo and we would creep out of the house at like 345. Be at the Target by 4 and then the Toys R Us by like 530. The shopping was so fun because the in-laws lived in a nice area. So the Target had a different vibe. It was down the block from Tiffany’s, Burberry, and Gucci. People didn’t shop it much. So there were employees standing at the end of every other aisle waiting to help you. They would load your new 70 inch TV onto a dolly and roll it out to your car for you. They handed out free lattes and mochas and coffee cake. Heaven. And the deals were amazing. I could buy pajamas and games and books for the giving tree without needing to worry about my bottom line.

Then we’d go get breakfast and be back at his parent’s by the time the rest of them were rolling out of bed.

Now it’s lame. The stores start their Black Friday deals a week or two in advance. They open on Thanksgiving evening. Not only is that jacked for people who work for these stores but anyone can go shopping after a day off work doing nothing more than eating and watching football. The sport has been ruined, diluted down to nothing. Bah.

So like I said, no shopping for me. Pajamas and omelets and write in.

Book Review: Death Among the Doilies

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Feeding my new addiction I went to the library and grabbed every cozy mystery I could find before my SoCal trip. I expected to read a number of them while waiting for people to get off roller coasters and I did.

Death Among the Doilies by Mollie Cox Bryan was …. ok. A day later I had to think hard to remember who committed the murder. It just sort of was. It laid there, not doing much but not offending, so I read on.

Cora and Jane are our main characters. They have started a crafting retreat business. It’s a cute idea but the reality of it sticks in my craw. Perhaps because I have a hard time imaging people paying enough money to support both of them, pay an expensive mortgage on a historical mansion, and pay back investors. For crafting? shrug. I don’t buy it.

Jane is accused of a local murder. Then a second murder occurs all while their first weekend retreat is occurring. A lot of the issues turn on Cora’s complete failure to run background checks on anyone she hires. Which given her double digit years as a counselor in a women’s shelter is completely believable. LOL

℘℘℘- Three Pages. It was fine. I read it. I can’t say it was funny. But it was ok.

Sunday Sup: Nacho Glop

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I think this recipe has been around the block more times than well … it’s been around a lot. My friend Missy makes something similar. My friend Christine makes something similar. But my recipe is so easy you can do it half asleep, hung over, and drunk all at the same time.

Nacho Glop

Brown one pound of ground beef with taco seasoning.

Add one can refried beans, one can fire roasted tomatoes, one can green chilies. Stir.

Simmer a few minutes until everything is warm and gooey.

Put glop in a bowl, top with cheese, sour cream, guacamole, tomatoes, lettuce, olives, etc.

Scoop it up with tortilla chips.img_20161114_182753

Munch, Munch, Munch.

Fiendish Friday: Sing!

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I found myself singing in the car on my way coop. On a Monday no less. A Monday. And not just the cool songs. I was singing everything. And when the commercial came on, I stopped and took stock. Yep, I was feeling happy and content. Such a good place to be.

So what was different? Well I managed to yoga, shower, and home school my kiddo prior to leaving the house at 9. That’s nothing short of a miracle. Ok not exactly a miracle, more like daylight savings time. 720 became 620.

But I think the deep level of contentment has more to do with me giving up Zevia soda. I haven’t been able to drink diet soda for a long time. I am included in that 20% of the population who’s brain chemistry is drastically effected by diet soda. I get depressed, like clinically depressed, lock me up before I kill myself depress. So I don’t drink diet soda. I used to drink Zevia now and then with no issues but this fall I started to feel different about it and so gave it up for a couple of weeks.

I think the results sing for themselves, because I love rock and roll, put another dime in the jute box baby. LOL