Holidays, Real and Fictional & Everyone Wins - Day 1

I have been asked why I put holidays into my books so often. I guess it's because holidays were happy times for me growing up. Holidays are pivotal times for my characters, drawing them closer together, whether it's a happy time or sharing sadness and loss.

SPECIAL BLOG POSTS

I'm doing a special holiday blog series over the next few weeks. I'll post one real holiday memory of mine, along with a short holiday scene from one of my books. 

Everyone wins! I'm giving away a pdf of CHAMPAGNE FOR CHRISTMAS to everyone who leaves a comment and an email address. I plan to have at least 7 posts. I hope you'll tag along. Here's the first. It's Thanksgiving.
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REAL LIFE MEMORY

     When my parents got older, doing Thanksgiving at their house in Rye became a burden. So we invited them to our small apartment. My mother always baked her fabulous pumpkin pies and brought them along in the trunk of the car.

One year, we had snow for Thanksgiving. Not just a dusting, but a good four inches. I remember my anxiety as I watched out the window and the damn snow kept falling. I enjoyed Thanksgiving with my parents. They were always in a good mood and grateful to be invited to our house. I didn't want to do the holiday without them.

 They called about ten o'clock in the morning. I remember my father saying they couldn't come because they couldn't bring the pies, as driving was out of the question. I told him to come anyway. I could always replace a pumpkin pie, but could never replace him. He chuckled.

     In the end, they did schlep the pies on the train and took a bus almost 40 blocks, each one shepherding a pie in a shopping bag. I remember being so surprised and impressed they were able to handle everything. If I ever wondered whether or not they valued coming to our house, I had my answer. 

Not exactly your typical mother//daughter Thanksgiving moment from THE RENOVATED HEART.

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Snow still floated down from the heavens at eight in the morning on Thanksgiving Day, spreading a quieting blanket of white on the world. Kit awoke to find Tunney asleep with his arm around her. She stretched her legs and arms, feeling deliciously happy. He had declared his love for her, there was snow, and Zoe was here. Soon the great bird would be in the oven. She’d be elbow deep cooking her favorite meal.
She rolled over, snuggling up to him, pushing her breasts against his chest and winding her arms around his neck. He opened his eyes. A grin slowly took over his face, his mussed dark brown hair fell in his eyes. His hand squeezed her shoulder while he nuzzled her neck.
She raked her fingernails down his back, eliciting a moan from him. He rolled over on top of her, pushing the quilt down to his waist. She wrapped one leg around him. They shared a passionate kiss when the door burst open.
“It’s snowing outside!” Zoe announced, standing in the doorway, struck speechless by what she saw.
“Zoe!” Kit exclaimed, sitting up, covering herself with the quilt.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she said, backing out of the room, closing the door.
“Oh, God,” Kit groaned, falling back on the bed.

A bit about the book 
Can a craving for mint chip ice cream and a passion for the theater spark romance? Hunky Clint is younger than Nina. He’s a budding playwright. Nina, an actress, is a beautiful, lonely, wealthy widow.  Mint chip ice cream brings them together but there is more to life th an ice cream and steamy romance. Can their love of the theater keep them together or will it ultimately drive them apart
 More on the book here

                                                                   
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Don't forget to leave a comment with your email if you want a copy of Champagne for Christmas. Thanks so much for stopping by. Watch for a new post in a few days.

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COOKING TIPS & A PEEK AT FOOD IN MY BOOKS

Cooking and writing are creative pursuits. I often have food in my books because I believe sharing food is romantic and appetites for love and food are often connected. And I simply like to write about food. I've been cooking for 30 years. Here are a couple of my "secrets" I'd like to share with you and a couple of "food" snippets from some of my books.

     1.     Use an egg slicer to slice mushrooms. 
    2.     Mixing batter for toll house cookies in the Cuisineart, using the metal blade, not the dough blade, produces perfect cookies and saves your arm.

   3.     You don’t really need to brown the meat when you make chili. If you buy very lean meat you can throw it in raw with the tomatoes and stuff and it’ll cook through. Refrigerate it and you can easily skim the fat off the top.

   4.     Melt butter in a microwave. Much less chance of burning it.  

   5.     Make a roué for gravy. Never have lumps again.

   6.     Pie pastry is lighter and flakier if you use orange juice instead of water.

   7.     Cook a turkey upside down for at least 60% of the cooking time for a juicier breast.

 

LOVERS & LIARS
Christmas dinner at Clare Quill's house in Maine. She's Gunther's mother.

A tempting, spiral-cut ham shared a place of honor with a roasted turkey on the long table. Casseroles of spoonbread, green beans almondine, and mac and cheese were lined up, along with a green salad. Platters of chocolate pixies, almond crescents, lemon bars, and molasses cookies graced a sideboard. A punch bowl filled to the brim with warm, spiced wine stood on a cart with other alcoholic beverages and mixers.

The doorbell began to ring and new people seemed to arrive every ten minutes all night long. The crowd varied from young to old as Clare’s friends and neighbors stopped by to sip some Christmas cheer and graze at her buffet.

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RED CARPET ROMANCE

 Romantic dinner ordered in at Quinn Roberts house.

He nodded. The buzzer rang. The food had arrived. She poured the wine while Quinn answered the door. Hunger gnawed at her stomach. Camping out at her sister’s apartment, sleeping on the couch, and helping with her kids, meals had been slapdash at best. A steady diet of chicken nuggets, scrambled eggs, and fast-food hamburgers made her queasy. She survived on as little food as possible to keep her stomach from objecting. She craved real food, grown-up food, a civilized meal.

Quinn raised a large bag as he came through the archway into the kitchen. Susanna’s mouth watered. He unwrapped the food—Coquilles Saint Jacques, wild rice, and haricot verts. Napoleons for dessert. She tucked into her food, chewing slowly, closing her eyes to savor every bite.

“You look like you haven’t eaten in years.” He popped a scallop into his mouth.

“I haven’t eaten grown-up food in a long time. Bunking in with Annie and her kids. We ate kid food all the time. If I never see another chicken nugget…”

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THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!

HONORING JOHN F. KENNEDY ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS UNTIMELY DEATH

Welcome, today I'm honoring the wisdom of John F. Kennedy, a beloved president, cut down before his time

THE WISDOM OF JOHN KENNEDY

• Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
• Democracy and defense are not substitutes for one another. Either alone will fail.
• Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
• I would rather be accused of breaking precedents than breaking promises.
• If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.
• Let us never negotiate out of fear but let us never fear to negotiate.
• Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.
• Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.
• So, let us not be blind to our differences - but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved.
• The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly.
• The ancient Greek definition of happiness was the full use of your powers along lines of excellence.
• The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
• The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, 'In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon!
• The stories of past courage can define that ingredient-they can teach, they can offer hope, they can provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each man must look into his own soul.
• The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.
• There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.
• Democracy and defense are not substitutes for one another. Either alone will fail.

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We miss you President Kennedy, and the contributions you could have continued to make had you not been stuck down.

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Do you remember? Where were you when you got  the news. Please feel free to leave a comment. Thank you for coming.

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