Cherry Slice revisited

I posted my Cherry Slice recipe on the Pink Fuzzies today. It's a great holiday treat. Enjoy!

More of the Giveaway - Elizabeth Rolls

It's Day 5 of the Harlequin Historical Holiday Giveaway, and today's author is Elizabeth Rolls. For a chance at both the daily prize and the grand prize of a Kindle-3G, click here.

Wassail! and the Harlequin Historical Giveaway

I've posted a recipe for wassail at the Pink Fuzzies today. It's delicious and nutritious!

Also, I talk a little about the Harlequin Historical Holiday Giveaway. Today's featured author is Jeannie Lin. Her debut novel, Butterfly Swords, is fabulous! To visit her site and enter her contest (and get a chance at the grand prize of a Kindle), go here.

Glorified Cabbage

It's a bit late to post this recipe for Thanksgiving, but thanks to Thanksgiving, I had the recipe out and am posting it in plenty of time for Christmas or any other time you want to pig out. There are lots of recipes for Glorified Cabbage out there, but this is the one I use. It's fairly quick and easy, contains Velveeta (which I love but rarely allow myself to indulge in), and is fattening and utterly delicious. 

1 large cabbage, chopped small

¾ cup butter

2 onions, chopped

1 can mushroom soup

½ pound Velveeta, cut into chunks

1 cup bread crumbs

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Boil the cabbage till done (you decide what that means, but I would suggest NOT boiling it to death), then drain it. Sauté the onion in the butter. Add the soup, half the bread crumbs, and the Velveeta, and cook on low heat until melted. Add the cabbage. Put the mixture in a 9 x 13-inch pan and top with the rest of the bread crumbs. Bake 25-30 minutes. Yum!

Harlequin Historical Holiday Giveaway

                               
Coming December 1st: the Harlequin Historical Holiday Giveaway. 

During the month of December, twenty-two Harlequin Historical Authors have teamed up to create an online Advent Calendar.  You can find a bigger calendar here, with links and all.  Each day, click on the calendar to visit the host author's website, and you can win prizes such as signed books, gift certificates, and holiday goodies. 

 

You will be asked to complete a task, such as posting a blog comment, searching for a hidden ornament, or answering a question about an excerpt.  Please check the author's web page for your instructions and to see what the daily prize is.  You can enter once at each of the twenty-two websites. 

 

On December 23^rd, a random drawing from among all 22 authors' entries will determine the grand prize winner of a Kindle 3-G.  Please see the official eligibility rules (http://www.michellewillingham.com/blog/official-rules) for this giveaway. 

Gems from Georgette Heyer: Dr Ratcliffe's Restorative Pork Jelly

I wallow in all the historical detail Georgette Heyer put into her novels, and today I'm at the new Harlequin Historical Authors blog at e-harlequin, talking about one of those details that has stuck with me for years -- Dr. Ratcliffe's Restorative Pork Jelly. For a virtual taste or a whole chocolate-cup full, go here.

Contest Final!!

Hooray! Notorious Eliza finaled in the Epic e-book contest. (The winners will be announced at the fabulous Epic conference in Williamsburg in March.) I'm so proud of Eliza!!

Parkin with Applesauce - Yum!

 

For a little history and a recipe, go here.

To Obey or Not to Obey

Today I'm at the Pink Fuzzies talking a little about fairy tales (specifically the one I've been ordered to write), and also about the October Treasure Hunt at the Petit Fours and Hot Tamales. To read more, go here.

These swans are in Aquitaine, France. Did the renowned Eleanor see their ancestors? I like to think so.

Did one of the great-great-many-times-great-grandparents of this stork deliver Richard the Lionhearted? Maybe not, since Richard seems to have been born in England, but the bird sure looks proud and strong enough to have carried a king!

Meandering in Europe

Today I blogged at the Pink Fuzzies about the trip to Europe. Isn't this dude great? I assume he must be Bavarian (since we were in Bavaria, so I'm taking a wild guess). I don't know much about the history of the area (except what I got from reading 1632, a fabulous book, by the way). This guy might be the model for a hero to write about some day. He's obviously plenty strong and brave, and he's just plain different from your standard modern cool-looking dude.  :~)

 
To read more, go here.

FREE READ

Sunrise in a Garden of Love & Evil is a free download this week from Borders.com!

http://www.tinyurl.com/sunriseoct5-12

Not sure why there's no cover pic there at Borders, but there's one right here on this blog. :~)

Inspiration has a will of its own

Just back from the European trip, and I'm guest blogger today at Pamela Turner's site, talking about inspiration taking me everywhere but where it's supposedly supposed to. :) Go here to read more and see the stork and the faerie king.

September Spider

This year's September spider has cleverly built her web to accommodate our entrances and exits. Isn't she gorgeous?

The Pantser Laments Some More

Today at the Petit Fours and Hot Tamales, I'm placating the muse I dissed yesterday.

BTW, the PFHT are currently running a free read in installments.
It's called Atlanta Expose, and like their previous free read, it's a hoot. Do stop by! 

www.petitfoursandhottamales.com

Tomorrow, if I can find my camera and take a picture: The September Spider. :)

The Pantser's Lament Road Show

I guess two blogs don't really qualify as a road show, but it looked good in the title. Today I'm a guest at Romance Writer's Revenge, a majorly hoppin' blog, with Part One of my Pantser's Lament. Help me corral my muse over here.

Red Beans and Rice and the Ghost Cat

Wooooooooo...

I'm over at the Pink Fuzzies today with my unauthentic recipe for Red Beans and Rice, and Pause the ghost cat came along just to give the post some of that New Orleans graveyard flavor. For more, go here...

What's in a Name?

I'm guest-blogging with the fabulous, prolific, and astonishingly energetic Emily Bryan today about choosing character names. It's one of my favorite occupations! Now, titles I'm not crazy about -- in fact, I don't usually have a title until a book is finished, if then -- but names are a lot of fun. To toss in your two cents worth, go here.

Kindle Author Interview

Found out this morning that I was interviewed last night. Twilight Zone music playing...

Every interviewer's questions are different! David Wisehart's were easy and fun to answer, and I like the look of his site -- clean and uncluttered -- and he has a lot of interesting interviews there. Thank you, David!

Things I Can't Do

Today I'm a guest at the Romance Bandits talking about how much fun it is writing about heroines who do things I can't. (Such as landscaping, fabric design, costume construction...) Fortunately, there are many, many more things I can't do, so I have fodder for plenty of stories. :)

Pop over there to see some examples of the work of Australian artist Dale Rollerson, whose fabric was the inspiration for the dress made by Rose, the heroine of Tastes of Love & Evil.

Tastes of Love and Evil - Release Day

Today is the release day for Tastes of Love and Evil. Yay!

To celebrate, I'm blogging over at Patricia's Vampire Notes on how paranormal characters take over and be whatever they want to be. :~))

Reading the Signs

No, I'm not talking about reading bones or I-Ching coins or anything remotely woo-woo, although that would probably be more appropriate, seeing as I write paranormal romance, and my characters have a whole slew of strange abilities. I'm talking about foreign languages. I love words--probably one of the reasons I write--and I love them in any language. Just recently, I visited Montreal...



To read the rest, go here. Elisabeth Naughton invited me to participate in the promo for her new release, Entwined, and let me blather on about sign-reading on her blog. She has a great contest going with prizes and all. My post is a ways down the page.

Writing and Reading Series

When I was invited to guest blog at Write in the Shadows, I asked my hostess, Suzanne Johnson (who has a very cool New Orleans urban fantasy series debuting next year) what I should write about. (This was laziness as much as politeness. It always kills me to come up with a topic.) She suggested that since the second book in my Bayou Gavotte series, Tastes of Love & Evil, is a September release, I might want to talk about some aspect of writing a series. I’m writing the third book now, and I’m contracted for a fourth. My deadlines are very reasonable, but still, I do feel the pressure.


Before I go further, I have to confess—as a reader, I’m not a huge series fan.

For the rest of the post, go here.

Matrimony Cake ???

I got this recipe from my mother, who I assume got it from her mother. I have NO idea why it's called Matrimony Cake. It's not like any wedding cake I've ever had. In fact, it's a variety of what is normally called date squares or date bars. Is it named for the institution of marriage? It has oats -- because hopefully all the wild oats have been sown and from now on there will only be domestic ones. It has dates -- lots and lots of dates, of which a happy marriage should have many. Sugar -- well, yeah. Cinammon and salt for spice. Okay, so I'm getting carried away and should stop, but if anyone knows the real reason for its name, please tell me!

Crust:
1/2 cup butter
1.5 cups rolled oats
1 cup flour (I use whole wheat pastry flour)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon soda

Mix together to a crumbly texture and spread half the mixture on the bottom of the pan. My recipe doesn't specify the pan size. I seem to remember my mother using a rectangular pan, but I used an 8"x8" pan and it worked fine.

Filling:
1 pound dates, pitted and chopped. I suggest using those very sweet lovely dark Mediterranean dates.The lighter-brown California dates just aren't as good, in my opinion.
1 cup water
Salt. The recipe doesn't specify; I used 1/2 teaspoon
Cinnamon. Again, the recipe doesn't specify. I used 1 teaspoon.

Cook filling until soft and spread over the bottom crust. Then spread the rest of the crumble on top.

Bake for 1/2 hour at 350 degrees. Cut into squares. They're great hot with ice cream or cold just by themselves.

Sunrise in German

This is the cover of the German translation of Sunrise in a Garden of Love and Evil.

Isn't it gorgeous?

New Cover, and the Demon Wisteria

 Tastes of Love and Evil is Book Two of the Bayou Gavotte Series, due out August 24th. Yay!
 (If only I get the ending right. Please let me get the ending right.)

Also, I received a letter from Dorchester Publishing on Friday, saying Sunrise in a Garden of Love and Evil will be translated into German. Yay again!

OK, so I'm not a master photographer,
but this is the Demon Wisteria last week,
in full bloom and looking deceptively pretty (while actually it's choking the life out of some poor hapless tree).

Bwa ha ha! Here it is a week later (after last night's storm --hence all the twigs and sweet gum balls), preparing to strangle my deck chair and anything else it can latch its nasty tendrils onto.

Hard to believe this voracious weed is a cosseted darling in northern climes!

Socks

If I have a fetish, it's for socks. I adore socks, and I seldom resist buying them.

I'll be giving this pair away, along with a signed copy of Sunrise in a Garden of Love & Evil, at Patricia's Vampire Notes on Tuesday, February 23rd.

Please join Patricia and me! I'll be talking about why being irresistible sucks...

Toronto pics

Birch tree hoping for more snow

 

Cat totally fine with no more snow

Rock and Unrock Pics (blog will come later)

Unrock cakes

Henry hoping for cookies or crumbs

Mrs. Beeton's Plum Cake

“A Nice Plum Cake” adapted from Beeton's Book of Household Management by Mrs. Isabella Beeton, 1861.

3 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. soda
½ tsp. salt
1-1/2 cups currants
1/3 cup diced candied lemon peel
1 stick butter
1-1/4 cups milk

Bake in a greased loaf pan at 350 degrees F for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out more or less clean. It’s good! There was too much batter for one loaf pan, so I made six muffins with the rest, and they were fine, too.

Chichester Churches mentioned in Notorious Eliza

Chichester Cathedral, where the 10th Earl of Arundel and his second wife Eleanor of Lancaster, a Plantagenet (whoa, how cool is that?) lie buried.

St. Olave's Church in Chichester, a thousand years old and now a bookshop nestled between much newer buildings.