by Christine | Writing
Hey everyone! Black Friday should be about more than just spending money so retailers end the year “in the black”. Let’s call it “Support Your Local Author” day! (“Local” being nebulous on the interwebs.) Or even, “Read A Book, Love An Author” day!
I’m participating in a Black Friday Blog Hop with nine other fantastic authors. All of us are giving goodies away, and in many cases those goodies include copies of our books. All you have to do is comment, and you’ll be included to win! I’m giving away a $15 Amazon gift card and an e-copy of DEMON SOUL to one lucky winner! (Click on the link, which will take you to reviews.) And hopefully, if you don’t win, you’ll be intrigued enough to buy a copy of our books anyway!)
Black Friday. All my hubby wants this year is a new refrigerator. Not that ours is old; but it’s a side-by-side, with water and ice dispenser. Nifty and all and what all the cool kids wanted (about 10 years ago), but for our family it just doesn’t work. You can’t, for instance, put a regular sized frozen pizza in either the refrigerator OR the freezer.
He’s been wailing and gnashing his teeth for months now. He picked the fridge; he’s allowed to hate it. But this year he really wanted to pitch it. In the spirit of the upcoming fridge-centric holidays, and peace of mind, he even went online to look for Black Friday deals on refrigerators.
No go. So our refrigerator continues to run…and if it really did pick up legs and bolt, we’d not only wave as it ran down the street, but we’d lock the front door and not allow it back in.
BLOG HOP DETAILS: Simple, really. Not many rules. Just click on each blog address below, leave a comment, and hopefully win prizes! Here’s hoping your Black Weekend is a bright, happy and uneventful one.
Stop One: Chris Redding http://chrisredddingauthor.blogspot.com Chris is giving away – OMG – an iPOD!!!
Stop Two: W. Lynn Chantale http://wlynnchantale-decadentdecisions.blogspot.com/ This lovely author is giving away a $15 gift card and a mug full of goodies!
Stop Three: ME! And you’re here, so just relax and look around, lol!
Stop Four: Chelle Cordero http://chellecordero.blogspot.com/ Chelle is giving away a book and a tee shirt – go check it out!
Stop Five: Tammy Dennings Maggy http://tammydenningsmaggy.blogspot.com/ Tammy is giving away some beautiful framed poetry.
Stop Six: Shelley Munro http://www.shelleymunro.com/blog/ Shelley is giving away an ebook download of your choice from her backlist!
Stop Seven: Jane Wakely http://www.janewakely.blogspot.com Jane is giving away a journal, a pen, and a bookmark – all terrific start-the-New-Year items!
Stop Eight: Debra Holland http://drdebraholland.blogspot.com/ Debra’s giving away a copy of her fantasy romance, Sower of Dreams!
Stop Nine: Smoky Zeidel http://www.SmokyZeidel.wordpress.com Smoky is giving away a pdf copy of the second edition of The Cabin!
Stop Ten: R. Ann Siracusa http://backmybook.com/authors/r-ann-siracusa/blog Ann is giving away a copy of her ebook, All For A Dead Man’s Leg!
So hop on over to the others and comment – and remember to always SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL AUTHORS!!!
Cheers – and remember to Shop Responsibly!
by Christine | Life, Observations
It’s begun. The rush to the holiday season is upon us. Madness in the form of turkey recipes, shopping lines, or the perfect gift for the frenemy in the office is descending upon everyone who has enough money in their pockets to be concerned about such things.
Holiday decorations. Pies. Uncle Jack’s drinking problem and Aunt Sally’s really bad wig. Underdone turkey and burned dinner rolls. One half of the family not talking to the other half, but both halves coming to YOUR house. Working too hard at work. Not having a job to go to. Battling your own sense of entitlement while trying to curb your kids’ “gimme” attitude. Battling your sense of despair while wondering how to provide a special, memorable time for your kids when the cash isn’t there. There’s a reason the holiday season accounts for more cases of depression than any other time of year, and strangely enough a lot of it seems to revolve around the having, or the lack, of money.
I’ve got the beginning of a solution. It doesn’t matter how much money you have in your pocket; it’s not a complete solution, either, and I’m pretty sure I’ve stolen this from someone else. But it’s a start. Ready?
Breathe. Take a few deep breaths. Stop your kitchen/shopping/bill-worrying madness. Go outside, spread your arms wide, breathe deeply. Feel the sun (or, if it’s night, the chill) on your face, and give thanks for being able to breathe. If you can, get your hands into the dirt. Plant something, or pull weeds. If there’s snow where you are, burn some frustrations off by building a snowman of any size (NOT as easy as it seems). Remember, you are not your bank balance. Remember to laugh!
Next, understand your place in the world – not in “bank account” terms, but in geologic terms. The mountain you can see outside your window (or the ocean, the plain, the forest, the desert) doesn’t give a rat’s ass about your Aunt Fanny’s tendency to blurt out uncomfortable truths at the dinner table. In fifty years, will anyone still be alive to remember the upside-down pumpkin pie on the kitchen floor, or that your child dumped hot gravy down your mom’s silk dress? Um, probably not. In the grand scheme of things, and whether you’re religious or not, as the decades pass the stuff that has your guts tied up in knots today won’t matter. They just won’t.
Does that mean that what you do doesn’t matter? Of course not. Kindness wins over selfishness. Happy memories win over mere things. Love – shared, expressed, and heartfelt, wins over all the pettiness that this time of year can call out in people.
I worry. Don’t for a minute think I’m immune. I worry about what to give my family this Christmas – my boys are grown, so the toys of previous years aren’t appropriate. My hubby and I have everything we need, really. How to make this year special? I don’t know, but I’m determined to figure it out. I will never say I’m not a worrier.
But… the old adage “you can’t change the things that happen – you can only change your attitude toward them” is true. So I worry, then I put it away. Nothing I can do about it, so I look to the bright side of things. I know “the papers will show up in the mail”. I know “you’ll get the job”. I know, deep in my heart, that what I TRULY desire, as long as I focus on having it, will come about. It may not be in the package I think it should be, but it’ll be there. All I have to do is accept it.
So what it comes down to is, you have a choice. You can handle the holidays the way you’ve always handled them – spend too much, eat too much, bicker too much, worry too much, get pulled in a dozen different directions and battered by everyone else’s opinion on how you should live your life – OR…
You can Breathe. Resolve to put worry away, even if it’s just for a few hours at a time. Share your love. Let your family, friends, heck even your boss (if it’s appropriate) know how much you appreciate them. Change your attitude about things that normally get you tense or upset (in 100 years, will this matter?!). Let loose your inner Pollyanna. If ever there’s a time to play the Glad Game, it’s now. Go around the dinner table. What are you Glad about this year? If (or when) it degenerates into a bitter-fest, sit back and laugh, because heck – why not?
Wishing you love, and joy, and peace. Wishing you the perfect memories of the upcoming, imperfect, holidays. Wishing for you the gift of laughter, good health, and good friends. Sending hugs out into the world to all my friends, old, new, and not-yet-met.
by Christine | Cooking, Wine Friday
A couple weekends ago, Hubby texted me from his movie shoot. “I’m freezing. It’s been sleeting/snowing/raining/snowing/hailing/snowing and I’ve been outside all day…I’ll be home in an hour, give me something HOT and ALCOHOLIC to drink.”
I had a couple open bottles of red wine in the fridge. Without bothering to look up a recipe, I tossed them into a pan, threw in a cinnamon stick, a few cloves, and a cup of water (because I remembered that, somewhere in the back of my brain). After it heated (NOT boiled), I tasted it – bitter. So I added some brown sugar – about 3 tablespoons’ worth, I believe.
It did the trick. He came home only half frozen – a hot bath and a mug of mulled wine unfroze him the rest of the way.
I got to thinking, though. Who “invented” mulled wine? Why? What’s supposed to go in it, and what type of wine should you use? All the sites I found on the internet seemed to crib off each other. To distill it for you, basically mulled wine has been around as long as wine has been around. It warmed people up in winter (and some people said it was to make bad wine taste better – a winter version of Sangria, I suppose) as well as gave them something “healthy” to drink (because water – well, it wasn’t very clean “way back when”). It can be found in almost every European country, and is often called “boiled” or “burned” wine. Of course, you don’t want to boil or burn the wine! (Boiling burns off all the alcohol.)
Ingredients
First off, start with a hearty red wine. Cabernet Sauvignon or Zinfandel will work nicely. If you’re making enough for a crowd, use two bottles – pour into a non-reactive pan (or hey, use that crock pot you got for your wedding and has that thick layer of dust on it – make sure to clean it first). If just for two to four people, use one bottle. DON’T use the cheapest wine you can find (although if you must, go ahead…); but likewise, don’t waste an expensive bottle. Anything that you like the taste of non-heated should be fine.
Next, add the spices. This will totally depend on your tastebuds. I like two cinnamon sticks – hubby likes only one. I generally put six to a dozen whole cloves, and if I had allspice, I’d toss that in, too. You can add ginger – either 1/2 teaspoon grated, or a small slice; or you could put in 1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger (but fresh is much better). I’ve seen recipes that include cardamom pods, star anise, even bay leaves. Experiment!
Your next addition should be another liquid. Amounts kind of depend. You can add up to a cup of plain water, a cup of fresh squeezed orange juice, or a cup of apple cider; many recipes call for adding 4 ounces of brandy (some say cherry brandy). I started with water; next time, I think I’ll add brandy AND some OJ.
Then comes the sweetener. The amount depends on how much wine you start with. So you can add anything from 1/2 cup of white or brown sugar to 1 and 1/4 cup of honey; start on the stingy side, and taste as you go. Add more if you need to. My guess is if you’re using Agave syrup or Stevia for your sweetener, you can use them here, too; just be VERY stingy with your amounts until it’s where you want it.
Lastly comes the fruit. Whether or not you’ve already used orange or apple juice, you might want to add strips of orange zest or lemon zest; thin slices of orange and lemon; either in the pot, or in the bottom of the mug.
Let everything sit on low; either on the back of your stove, or in your crockpot. As the day goes on, the spices and the fruit really open up into the wine, and turn it into something magical. Plus, it leaves your house smelling really festive.
Recipe Heaven! Here are a couple of recipes, for those of you who don’t want to guess at amounts.
From Cooks.com:
2 bottles Cabernet Sauvignon, 1 1/4 cups honey, 4 cinnamon sticks, 1/2 cup sugar, 8 pieces cloves, 1 qt. strained fresh orange juice.
Cook to nearly boiling, then add 8 ounces brandy. Cut ingredients in half to serve six.
From Just Hungry:
1 bottle inexpensive yet tasty dry red wine, 2/3 cup of raw cane sugar or white sugar, or non-artificial sweetener of your choice, juice and peel of one small lemon, 2 cardamom pods, 4 cloves, 2 bay leaves, 2 cinnamon sticks.
Put everything in a heavy-bottomed pan. Sitr to melt the sugar. Heat the mixture over low heat, and leave for about an hour; it should never boil, just sort of seethe. Serve in small mugs (straining out the peel and spices), with optional shot of brandy, kirsch or other liquor.
Of course, if you Google mulled wine, you’ll get a ton of recipes – but you have the basics with what I’ve given you here. Play around, and do share if you come up with a new, tasty mulled wine treat!
From my house to yours, I hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving. Come on back the day after Turkey Day, as I’m participating in a Black Friday Blog Hop!
~ Until the next time, cheers – and remember to drink responsibly! ~
Demon Soul is available for the Kindle and the Nook! Have you read it yet?
by Christine | Wine Friday
In these days of high unemployment and global financial crisis, it’s nice to relax with a bottle of wine that doesn’t break your pocketbook. I’m here to sort out the memorable from the truly awful, and each bottle is under $10 unless otherwise noted.
I’ve got two rich red wines to discuss today – one Pinot Noir from a vintner I’ve never heard of, and a red wine blend from an old friend. Settle back and enjoy!
Barrel Ranch Pinot Noir, 2009 Terravant Wine Company, Buellton, California Exclusively for Fresh N’ Easy Neighborhood Market Inc. $9.99 on Special at Fresh N’ Easy
On the Label: “Ranches once dominated the cool regions of California’s expansive coastlines, built by settlers in pursuit of the American Dream. Today many of these heritage ranches are surrounded by the finest wine vineyards, each quietly paying tribute to the early settlers by continuing the very dream they once established.
“This stylish Pinot Noir excites with bright red cherry and earthy aromas. Elegant and complex flavors of newly picked raspberry, ripe strawberry and hints of locally grown mushrooms complete this showcase of a classic fine wine.”
My Take: I liked this wine. It has a warmth to it, a big – yet not too big – mouth, and is a come-sit-down-relax-and-sip wine. It’s a, you’ve-had-a-hard-day wine. Undemanding, yet full of flavor and just the right bite of spice (not too heavy, I swear), it’s another go-to pinot noir for me. From what I read online at Fresh & Easy Wine Reviews, it’s an exclusive to their stores so don’t go looking for it elsewhere. I’m not a fan of the label, though – I just had fresh strawberries and raspberries for lunch – the best strawberries I’ve had all year, too – and I didn’t taste either of those flavors in the wine. Please, wineries, don’t tell me what I SHOULD be tasting! Let me figure it out for myself.
My Rating: ~ Very Drinkable ~ But don’t look for it in your local grocery store!
Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Summation Red Wine Blend California 2008 $9.99 at Vons
On the Label: “The whole is more than the sum of its parts. Inspired by Bordeaux style wines, Summation blends classic red varietals into a beautifully layered, complex whole. Smoother than Cabernet Sauvignon, richer than Merlot, more balanced than Zinfandel, this red wine blend offers intriguing flavors and aromas; roasted coffee, dark chocolate, pomegranate and black cherry intertwine to offer a multi-layered mouthfeel and sumptuous texture.” –Founder, Jess S. Jackson
My Take: I liked this wine. Not as much as the Barrel Ranch Pinot, but it was a nice wine, complex and yet balanced. Maybe deeper in flavor than the Pinot. It went very well with grilled hamburgers (a rare treat now at our house) and smashed potatoes. This is another far too chatty label, telling me what I should taste in the wine. So I do loathe labels like this one. However, it doesn’t stop me from liking the wine!
My Rating: ~ Very Drinkable ~
Next week, I’ll post some terrific recipes (in advance of Thanksgiving) for mulled wine. Stay tuned!
As usual, this is just my honest opinion and depend upon my mood, the weather, and what cycle the moon is in. Your taste buds will differ.
~ Until the next time, cheers – and remember to drink responsibly! ~
One more thing…
DEMON SOUL was nominated for an award! Go check it out!
by Christine | Uncategorized
I’m interrupting Wine Friday to talk about Veteran’s Day. I don’t see how one day among the rest of the year can possibly be adequate in honoring our veterans of all the wars since the end of The Great War, but I am grateful that our government chose to so honor them.
Veteran’s Day began as Armistice Day, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, when a cease-fire went into effect; the beginning of the end of the Great War. In 1919, the first recognition of Armistice Day was held; but not until 1938 was Armistice Day declared a legal holiday. In Emporia, Kansas, a man named Stephan Riod, working with veterans from the Korean War, actively campaigned to change Armistice Day to honor ALL veterans; and in 1954, after many veteran’s groups applied pressure, the day was renamed Veteran’s Day.
Joseph Ambrose, a then-86-year-old World War I veteran, attends the dedication day parade for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982, holding the flag that covered the casket of his son, who was killed in that war.
In the early 70’s, the holiday was wrapped up in The Uniform Holiday Bill, a proposal to celebrate Washington’s birthday, Memorial Day, Columbus Day and Veteran’s Day on a national basis on Mondays, thus giving the American Worker a three day holiday. Vigorous campaigning saw Veteran’s Day return to the proper 11th day of the 11th month, but not until 1978.
My father fought in Korea – and he never talks about it. My cousin Mike went to West Point Military Academy, was in the military for 10 years, and went into the Reserves when he went to work for IBM. He was involved in Desert Storm. My Uncle Kenny was a POW – captured by the Japanese on Wake Island, and imprisoned for 5 years. The happiest day of my Grandmother’s life was when she got to hug him again, thin and changed though he was. My Uncle Lyn (Aunt Janie’s husband, my dad’s and Kenny’s sister, and Mike’s dad) was also in WW2, but he came through relatively unscathed. I come from a family of proud veterans. My husband does, too – his brother fought in Vietnam, and has terrible PTSD that he is just now, slowly, beginning to come to terms with. Their dad was also in Korea. Their grandfather took part in WW1. War tears families apart, and even when the servicemen and women return home, often they are never the same again. They deserve all our respect, every day of the year.
Oh yeah, something else is happening this 11-11-11. Many people are choosing to get married on this “magical” day; or to have their c-section babies this day. Whatever floats your boat, man. A quick scan of the internet shows more than one site declaring it to be “just a fancy number” while another site declared it the “Sun God” number; and still others warn that it’s bad luck. I guess it’s all in your perspective and in your belief system. So all you wonderful people getting married and having babies, good luck to you! Work hard at your relationships; that more than anything will “bless” your future.
Whether you get married, engaged, become pregnant, have a baby, buy stock, sell stock, have good or bad luck this 11-11-11, please do one important thing. Remember a veteran. Thank a veteran. Say a prayer, light a candle, be thankful that someone out there is fighting for our country (because I sure as heck wasn’t willing to do so, when I was able – were you?).
My dad, Chet Cunningham, wrote a book about Wake Island, mainly to include his brother’s reminiscenses of that time. You can find it on Amazon – it’s called Hell Wouldn’t Stop , an Oral History of Wake Island by the soldiers who lived through it.
To all the veterans out there – I give you hugs, and smiles, and a boat-load of respect. Thank You.
