Writerly Wednesday ~~ Interview

Hey y'all. We've got a great new interview up at Rose & Thorn Journal's blog. If you've ever wondered about the inner workings of a very small press, hit this LINK and find out. And thanks to Glen Bergeron for doing the Q&A with me.

Hope your fingers are pushing pen across paper at record speeds, or that your keyboard is on fire trying to keep up with your typing out thoughts, scenes, narrative and all manner of great writing projects in progress.

Tasty Tuesday ~~ Rotel Bloody Mary

Need a new twist on an old favorite? My twin sister's got the goods with her delicious Bloody Mary. (Thanks, Alaine!)

Rotel Bloody Mary

1 Can Rotel (Mild)
12 oz. plain tomato juice
6 oz. water
3 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. lemon-pepper
6 stalks celery
6 oz. vodka
Seasoned salt

Place first five ingredients in blender. Puree until smooth. Fill tall glasses ¾ full with ice. Add 1 oz. vodka, then your Rotel mixture to each glass. Stir and finish with a dash of seasoned salt and a celery stalk for garnish.

Writerly Wednesday ~~ Cup of Comfort Calling You?

Hey, writing blogger friends. I hope your projects and plans are panning out nicely. You'll be excited to know that I'm once again working on my womens fiction manuscript. :D It's been too too long!

Up next week will be an interview I think you'll enjoy.

In the meantime, here's the news from Cup of Comfort editor Colleen Sell about what CoC is looking for:

A Cup of Comfort for Christian Women

Story Length: 700-1,500 words
Submission Deadline: Sept. 15, 2010
Finalist Notification Deadline: Sept. 20, 2010

(See Call for Submissions, Writers Guidelines, and other information at the official site. While there, browse around the forums, discussion areas, sample stories, workshops, critique service, etc.) 

Here's a title some of you might be interested in purchasing from Amazon for yourself or a friend~~~

QOD (Question of the Day) ~ What do you look for in inspirational stories?

Tasty Tuesday ~~ Something Spicy!

I've got a yummy recipe full of awesomeness and Rotel goodness today, straight from the brain of my twin sister Alaine. Enjoy!

RO*TEL Roll-ups
2 cans crescent rolls
1 block softened cream cheese
1 can MILD or HOT RO*TEL
12 slices cooked bacon
6 slices cheddar cheese (halved)
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. pureed garlic, salt & pepper to taste
 Preheat oven to 350°. Mix cream cheese, RO*TEL, and spices in small bowl. (Can fork-blend or use hand-mixer for creamier consistency). Unroll crescent roll dough on ungreased cookie sheet. Spoon one Tbs. mixture onto center of each crescent. Add crumbled piece of bacon, then top with half a cheese slice. Roll and bake according to can directions.

Friday Foibles ~~ Politically Incorrect BP Solution

Oh boy, a doubly (or triply?) offensive photo to share with my friends today. Let us all bow our heads and give thanks for our women engineers, and while we're at it, a serious prayer or two for the Gulf Coast states and their people being damaged by the oil spill.

Writerly Wednesday ~~ Big News for Blogger Friend!

Guess what? Chicken squat. (No, not really...I just wanted to share a quaint childhood exchange we used to have the pleasure of hearing quite often.) :D

The real news is about Kimmi Richardson. Go see what's going on, then bookmark the cool Behler blog so you can read future interesting and informative insider scoop from a fun corner of the publishing world. I did! And check out Lynn Price's nifty-fied book over in the sidebar. I may have to buy myself that real soon. [Hey, pssst, Lynn -- are there signed copies available???]

Mailing out the book title contest winner prizes today...finally. Sorry for the tardy post office trip, y'all. What can I say except summer's here, new routines are being established, and well, I ran away for a few days last week. LOL.

Back soon with more cool writerly stuff. Before you pop over to see whazzup with Kimmi, leave me a little note and tell me how your writing (or life, for that matter) is going, k?

I'll leave you with a lovely photo of one of life's TRUE winners~~~~~

Photo by: Andrew Eccles, Andrew Eccles Studio NY NY

Friday Foibles ~~ Bad Ol' Boudreaux

Happy Friday mes amis! Hope your weekend is brimming with good, relaxing (or exciting, if that's what you're after) good times with friends and family.

Enjoy the latest installment of our adventures with those crazy Cajuns, Boudreaux [Boo-droe] and Thibodaux [Tib-uh-doe], or as they're known around these parts, Boo & Thib.

@@@

Boudreaux owned a large farm down in the St. Martinville, Louisiana swamplands, and had enjoyed playing at being a farmer for many years. He especially loved his large pond nearby. It was properly shaped for swimming, so he'd fixed it up nice with picnic tables, horseshoe courts, and some apple and peach trees so his buddies (including his best friend Thibodaux) could enjoy the surroundings when they came over to crack open a few cold ones together.

One evening, ol' farmer Boo decided to go down to his pond, as he hadn't been there for a while to look it over. He grabbed a five-gallon bucket to bring back some fruit for his wife Clotilde.

As he neared the pond, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee. Getting closer, Boudreaux saw a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in his pond.
 He made the women aware of his presence and they all went to the deep end. One of the women shouted to him, "Hey! We're not coming out until you leave!"

Boo frowned and said, "Mais, dis mah pond, but I didn't come down to watch you ladies swim nekkid, no, or to make you get out my pond nekkid! Mais non, dat not da kinda ting a Cajun gentleman do." (Hey, no, that's not the kind of thing a Cajun gentleman does.)


The trespassing lady skinnydippers shuffle around nervously in the water not knowing what to do.

Holding the bucket up high for them all to see, wiley ol' Boudreaux says, "Mais, I'm juss (just) here to feed mah alligators!" 

Writerly Wednesday ~~ And the Winners are...

Thanks to all you who entered the book title contest. Such wonderful entries! I tell ya, I'm glad I had someone helping me judge. It was hard to narrow down to just three winners.

Without further ado, the winner and prize list...

First Place ($25.00 bookstore gift card) Hilary at The Smitten Image

Pier Pressure
Teen Romance
A summer coming-of-age story.

Second Place (Cajun Goody Package) DL Hammons of Cruising Altitude

Ripples in Time
Literary Fiction
Three generations of the DeWitt clan must each come to grip with a family mystery/tragedy that keeps surfacing from the past.

Third Place (Writerly Gadgets) Carrie Clevenger at Mindspeak

The Same Deep Water as You
Horror
Mary's world seems very black and white until one afternoon the sun glows golden and the victims at La Penche Docks come out to play.

Congratulations! (Please send your mailing addresses to me at AngieDLed@aol.com )


Now taking suggestions for the next contest. Feel free to leave 'em in a comment. And go see what Debra Schubert and Allison Winn Scotch are up to over at Deb's blog. It involves a book giveaway!





*Photo by Snap

Tasty Tuesday ~~ World's Best Pork Chops & Gravy

I'll be serving up the book title contest winners tomorrow (some great entries as always!), but first...here's something to whet your appetite, unless you're a vegetarian. If that be the case, please skip today's recipe, and know I love ya anyway. :D

World's Best Pork Chops & Gravy

You'll need a bowl for the egg wash (beaten eggs and a little milk), and a bowl for the coating/seasoning. (I season the chops as well as the flour so they are well flavored.) Plenty of garlic powder, some salt & pepper, and a little Tony Chachere's or cayenne pepper do the trick for my tastebuds.

Heat your canola oil while coating your pork chops. Double coat the chops for an extra delicious crispy result -- dip in egg wash, dredge through seasoned flour, repeat. Now you're ready to fry 'em up!

Brown meat for about five minutes without lid, then cover with lid until golden brown and completely done. (The lid will allow the steam to stay in and help cook chops perfectly without drying them out.)

Mmmmm. Can ya smell 'em?

When chops are done, cover your platter with foil and put them in a very low oven to keep warm. Now it's time to make the gravy. (And, yes, this is southern gravy...therefore it must be brown and thick! LOL) You should have plenty of flour left from coating your pork chops to make your gravy from. If not, you can start with fresh flour you've seasoned. Measure out two cups of milk and add in a few drops of Kitchen Bouquet for coloring.

There should be plenty of oil left in your frying pan from cooking the chops. To it, add flour and stir clumps continuously over medium heat until lightly browned. This is real similar to making a roux.

Add milk mixture and continue stirring until lumps are gone. Adjust heat to a bit lower if needed. Taste for seasoning, and add more if needed.

Lower heat after flour lumps are absorbed and simmer for about five more minutes, stirring frequently. If gravy is just too thick for you to love, you can thin it by adding water. Turn off heat and cover until ready to serve. Fantastic over rice!

Now, slice up the fresh summer tomatoes, toss a salad, and a lip-smacking supper's served!

Friday Foibles ~~ Redneck Engineering

Before we let loose with some TGIF funnies, don't forget to  enter the book title contest by scrolling down to the previous post! I'd love to send you a prize, but you have to tickle my writerly fancy first. :)

Now -- y'all have a wonderful weekend, ya hear? Enjoy these good old fashioned downhome DIY examples...

Writerly Wednesday ~ FABULOUSLY SHORT CONTEST!

In celebration of my new SHORT CROPPED FABULOUS FIFTY haircut, it's time for a writing contest! As usual, the rules are simple and the goal is to have fun. 

And yes -- fabulous prizes await you, but you must enter to win. :) This is what you do:

• Look at the picture below and think up a title that's full of panache, pow, zing, zowie. You know...one that an agent or publisher would just have to have.
• Name the genre of the book.
• In FIFTY words or less, add a synopsis or tagline...whatever you want to call it, as long as it says concisely what your book is about.  
• If your email address isn't connected to your blog I.D., add that to your comment too.
• 1st prize -- $25.00 bookstore gift card. 2nd prize -- Cajun Goodies. 3rd prize -- Writerly gadgets.
• Winners announced next Wednesday, June 9th.
• Easy peasy, hunh? So what ya waitin' for? (Feel free to tweet, link, post, toot, Facebook, or otherwise spread the news!) :D

*photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/emzee/

Tasty Tuesday ~ Southern Goodness in a Skillet

Hey y'all! I'm back from my runaway vacation with Kathryn to Florida's "forgotten coast" at Mexico Beach, and it was some great  escape! (She's got a few photos posted at her blog, so check 'em out if you want to see what we saw.)

It was wonderful to just sit and soak up good conversation, coffee, peace, sunsets, beach views and walks and such without having to worry about a thing. Hope you all get a similar break from life's routines this summer.

Today's recipe comes from a dear family friend who agreed to share an excellent summer veggie dish with us all. (For you hunting enthusiasts, J.P. is the inventor of the PeeWillieWick scent dispenser thing-a-ma-bob.) He's always creating something fascinating and original, whether it's in the kitchen, at his drawing board, or in the shop! 

Here we go..................

Okra and Tomatoes (An Original Recipe by J.P. Averette)

  
          

INGREDIENTS:

Okra, Cut, Frozen ------------------------------- 1 Lb. Package
Tomatoes, Diced -------------------------------- 1 Large Can
Rotel Tomatoes, Original with Peppers ------ 1 Can
Garlic, Fresh ------------------------------------- 3 to 5 Cloves (Chopped)
Onion, Yellow ---------------------------------- 1 Large (Chopped)
Bell Pepper -------------------------------------- 3 TBS (Chopped)
Seasoning --------------------------------------- 1 TBS Tony’s or “Cajun”
Salt ----------------------------------------------- 1TSP (To taste)
Pepper ------------------------------------------- Fresh Ground
Olive Oil --------------------------------------- 5 TBS
Chicken Broth --------------------------------- 1 Can
Ground Meat ---------------------------------- 1 to 1-1/2 lbs (Good Quality Meat)

PROCEDURE:

Place the Olive Oil in a LARGE Deep Black Iron Skillet or Black Iron Pot. If you don’t have a pot like this; stop until you get one! Place the Ground Meat in with the Olive Oil, Chopped Onion, Chopped Garlic, and Chopped Bell Pepper. Stir constantly, adding the Seasoning and Salt, and sauté the meat until it is cooked. This operation will not take long over medium heat.

Add the can of Rotel Tomatoes, can of Diced Tomatoes, can of Chicken Broth, and finally, add only half of the 1 lb. Package of frozen Okra. Yes, add the Okra while it is still frozen! Adjust your heat until the mixture arrives at a very slow boil and cover the pot with a good top. Cook for only 20 to 25 minutes with the top in place until the Okra is done. The Okra will not take long to cook! Stir in the Black Pepper. Add Salt to taste.

Note: Best when served with CornBread!

Note: This recipe freezes well for later use.