Dead Man on Valentine's Day

Sheldon Harris Came Home Dead -

Whew - my first mystery romance novel hit the market today. It's exciting and a wee bit scary, like watching your first born head off to kindergarten or your big boy jumping off the highest diving board for the first time. It may even rival parachuting, but I can't say for sure as I've never jumped out of a plane.

I have the privilege of being the first author highlighted in the Searching For Series and a team of knowledgeable folk stood behind its release. Thanks to them all.

Come on over the view the launch page, read about the story, leave a word or two for me if you like and Please, push the like button if you're so inclined.

www.facebook.com/SearchingForSeries

Book release - FINALLY

Folks, it has been a long journey to this stage in my writing career. Within days, my first mystery novel, Sheldon Harris Came Home Dead, will be available to the public. It is both exhilarating and scary. Putting your "first born" out there is a big step. It is, however, time.

Writing the book was hard. The forms, the legalities and everything else that goes with publishing was both confusing and trying. However with the help and support of Beta Readers, publishing teams and cover artists I made it to the goal line.

Sheldon Harris died to bring this book to life. This is a traditional mystery with clues and multiple suspects, secrets and lies. If you want to know how and why, you will soon be able to read the book and find out.

Watch for the "Searching For..." Series and it's first release:
SHELDON HARRIS CAME HOME DEAD by Mahrie G. Reid

BEATLES, FROZEN STOCKING AND 50 YEARS

Fifty years ago my friends and I gathered in my living room to watch the Beatles first performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. One girl friend was quite enamoured of them, and I remember her squealing, moaning and falling on the floor. Many in the audience on the TV were doing the same thing. Tears and fainting. Not being a music person (I can't carry a tune in a tin bucket), I thought they were nice, but not worthy of such adoration.

What I remember is that earlier in the day, my friend had told me that if I kept my nylon stockings frozen in an ice block in the freezer, they would be more resistant to runs.  We had put a pair in a container and frozen them to test the theory. (I don't remember the results.)

Fifty years down the road, I don't think the frozen stockings craze has caught on. Actually, I never wear stockings (or pantyhose) so I suppose somewhere out there she may still be freezing hers.

The Beatles on the other had TOOK. Their music is as popular now as ever, and over the years I came to appreciate and enjoy it. I now get nostalgic when I hear it and even though I sing off tune, I sing along to the familiar tunes.

Where were you that night? Did you see their first TV performance? And did you ever freeze your stockings on purpose?

CANADIAN WAR RATIONS INCLUDED LOBSTER

Last week, Diana Cranstoun (www.dianacranstoun.com) invited me to participate in her War Rations experiment. I was born in 1949 and many of the meals my mother served in my early years originated during the war rationing era.

My mother, Mary Grace Ross, was born 101 years ago on Jan 26, 2013. The changes she saw in the world were astronomical. She lived 90 years and 10 months and had her life changed dramatically by two world wars. During WWll her five brothers served overseas and Mom, who lived on the east coast, was a plane spotter, trained to identify every plane flying during that time and in particular enemy planes.

Although sugar, tea, butter and meat were rationed, Canadians ate more and better than during the depression and the healthy eating guidelines used during the war are the foundation for the current Canada’s Food Guidelines.

Canadians were encouraged to eat “patriotic” food, and apples and lobster were the first foods labelled as patriotic. Home canning was also encouraged and the process reached an all time high during the war years.

“Magazines such as Canadian Home Journal repeated such messages by publishing articles with titles like “It’s Patriotic and Pleasant to Eat Canadian Lobster” and which included recipes for patriotic dishes like Lobster Cocktail, Lobster à la King, and Lobster Sandwiches.” (Catherine Caldwell Bayley, “It’s Patriotic and Pleasant to Eat Canadian Lobster,” Canadian Home Journal 37/3 (July 1940), 28-29 and Canadian Home Journal 36/8 (December 1939), 1.) 

   The cheaper ground meat came into its own during the late forties. An episode of the Canadian TV show, Bomb Girls, realistically featured instructions on turning ground meat into a meal as tasty as steak. In Nova Scotia, fish was also a staple. Even after the war, these two items remained on the menu in our household.

The meals I chose for my War Ration Day were Fish Soup (no milk so not chowder) and a no-crust version of meat pie topped with “icing” made of mashed potatoes. Both include potatoes, carrots and onions as well as a small amount of butter, salt and pepper. I added dried dill from a home garden to the cod-fish soup and served the meat pie with previously home-pickled beets.

An Apple Betty for dessert rounded out both meals. Made with apples and cinnamon topped with oatmeal mixed with one tablespoon of brown sugar and some water, this tasty dish met the December 1939, Department of Agriculture instructions to: “Serve apples daily and you serve your country too.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON WAR RATION MENUS, VISIT DIANA AT www.dianacranstoun.com

Cookies are less fattening in Canada, eh?

At a recent ARWA meeting a friend gave me 3

wonderful GF cookies

Produced in the US these cookies which are truly delicious have stick on nutrition guides to make them bilingual for Canada's markets. After pulling the sticky off to get into the package (they are individually packed) I noticed a discrepancy between the US and Canadian nutrition labels.

Amazing - the cookie lost 60 calories and 8 grams of carbs by simply crossing into Canada! Go figure.  It's skinnier to take your cookies north to Canada, eh? The other two flavours also had similar reductions.



I am sure there is some logical explanation, but it was disconcerting to see that the original calorie count was so much higher than at first look.



Watch of for those WOW cookies. Enjoy them but be aware, they may not be exactly what they say they are.

TASTY GLUTEN FREE, EGG FREE COOKIES - Recipe included

   

This tasty gluten free cookie is adapted from one of my favorite recipes that used regular flour.  I substitute a gluten free flour mix and add 3/4 tsp of Xanthan gum. It works like a charm.

INGREDIENTS AND PROCESS

Step one: Cream together 1 cup of shortening, 2/3 cup of fancy molasses and 1/2 cup of brown sugar
Step two: In a separate bowl combine:
       3 cups of GLUTEN FREE flour mix, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp Baking Soda Mix well.
Step three: Gradually work the flour mixture into the wet mixture. At the end, you may use your hands to knead it together.
Step four: Shape the dough into a roll, place on plastic wrap and make it into a log.
Step five: Place the log flat in the freezer for a few hours or up to a few weeks.

NOTE: The dough is malleable, glossy and tasty but stays together for rolling by hand. (It should not stick to your skin.)

BAKING

PREHEAT oven to 375F Cut the frozen dough into thin slices, place on cookie sheet and bake for @8 minutes. Allow to cool partially before removing from the cookie sheet.

OPTION: Chill the dough for an hour or so in the fridge, roll out and cut with cookie cutters. Tricky to handle but it can be done.

PS This recipe came from Mary Grace Reid, my mother, who was well known in the family as a baker, a pie maker and butter-tart creator.

November 2, 2013

After 28 days away, getting re-oriented to home life takes time. You all know what I'm talking about: laundry, laying in fresh groceries, rounding up dead house flies, chatting with the neighbours- the usual.
     However, today is the day for getting back to work on my manuscript (as opposed to viewing research pictures and notes and considering the ambiance felt while visiting the story locale.) I am resisting washing my floors as a preferable option to writing. I know that once I start I'll be in love with my characters and their stories and be able to continue easily. It's the getting started that's tricky.
     As much as I love being a writer, there are times when I balk at starting the task. Not sure if it's fear (my story may be terrible), laziness (it's so much work, so many hours required to finish), or pure procrastination (tomorrow is a better day to start.)  Maybe it's simply that 28 days interrupted the habit of writing everyday allowing a new habit of not-writing to get established.
     Whatever it is, today I am just going to DO IT! and get back the writing habit.
     What side-tracks do you follow when you know you really want to write or paint or quilt or dance or...?