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Book Two is coming along nicely and now I'm going to ask for your help.
As we all know, I may know how to write a book, but my skills at choosing a title are, shall we say, less than stellar.
So, to my readers -- you know what the books are about --- let's launch a little contest -- submit your title suggestions -- I'll post them here and then we'll have a vote - the winner will receive credit in the next book and a big selection of products!
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Phoebe is still hanging in there! She's 12 1/2, which is old for a Bouvier but she's handling herself gracefully. Sure, she's slowing down but she has the heart and soul of a true fighter.
We still take her to breakfast every weekend and she enjoys the attention she gets from patrons and staff. She has a standing order for a box o' bacon and naturally when she polishes that off she sits and quietly stares at us until we share some of our breakfast with her.
The Florida heat
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Phoebe is getting older - she's now 12 1/2 and is experiencing some health problems. It makes me so very sad to see such a dear friend and companion age but she is doing so with the dignity only a dog can show. Her back legs are getting arthritic and she now has a cystic tumor that is growing ever larger. We hope to have her with us for a long time but will keep you posted on her condition.
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It's Official!!! We've received our Certificate of Registration from the Copyright Office. The book is now park of the Library of Congress and the Copyright Office. Oh joy, oh bliss -- we're a 'real' book!
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That's right -- our little book is on a European cruise with our wonderful friends from the Pirates of Fun ( www.piratesoffun.com). You should check these guys out - they're a ton of fun and super nice. The journey began in Fort Lauderdale and the book is now on its way to Bermuda -- Capt. Cochrane and the other Pirates will be sending us photos of the books adventures. I can't wait to see where the book goes and who ends up with it. Fair Winds and Calm Seas to you all |
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WOW! We're in six stores now and the product line is about to be launched!
Come back in the next day or two and stop by the eShop to see what the Cook is bringing you next!
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Pork, the "other white meat" -- my earliest memories of pork chops were dried up little things my mom put on our plates. They were chewy, dry and with all due respect to Mom - they were awful.
It wasn't her fault - she was afraid we'd get sick if we ate undercooked pork.
Luckily the pork of her youth is no more and with some care, pork chops can be tender and juicy.
The secret? LOW HEAT - slower cooking -- you don't want to be searing chops with high heat, you want a nice, slow heat to
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We have just gone into our fifth retail location!!
Books may be purchased online at this website or at any of these fine establishments:
The Creative Native,
The Shoppes on the Avenue,
The Back Alley,
Ginny's and Jane E's,
Restless Natives
For more information on these fine stores, please visit our News and Events Page!
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It's Sunday and Phoebe wants her "Phoebe Day" - the one or two mornings each week she gets to go in the car for a ride and have breakfast and lots of attention from people!
She is a long haired, double coated dog so we have to be careful with her in the heat but we finally had a cold front move through this weekend.
Phoebe is in heaven - she is dancing and prancing like a pup.
I love it when Phoebe is super happy -- and she was SUPER Happy today -- looking forward to winter in Florida for
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That's right -- Phoebe is in love. The object of her affection? a Shih Tsu (which weighs about, what, 5 pounds?)
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Phoebe has been a Florida dog her entire life. I just wanted to get that out there because she has an almost obsessive fascination with frogs.
Tree frogs, toads, whatever kind of frog comes hipping, hopping, jumping, croaking or singing - there she is - sniffing, pawing, pulling, climbing, jumping, whining, moaning (yup - moaning) and crying to get to these little creatures that she wants to learn about.
She's never hurt one. Its as though she understands the size difference and
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I had a recipe for a creamy soup. I thought it sounded lovely and wanted to serve it (for the first time) at a dinner party.
(Lesson I - don't use untried recipes at dinner parties, if they fail or if things explode, you have witnesses!)
The recipe said that I needed to put the soup in the blender prior to serving. (do you see where I'm going yet?)
So, picture it -- it's fall, the table is set with autumn colors, a blown glass pumpkin surrounded by leaves sits in the center of the
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Research has begun on the second book - The Journal and Cookbook continues!!!
We'll be going to South America and the Southern Caribbean.
We'll also be meeting an old friend of the Captains - another Privateer who's been to the Mysterious Far East.
More stories, more recipes from around the world are coming! Legends, myths and monsters - I fully expect the second book to be bigger and better than the first with many more recipes.
Oh, to those who have been asking about some of my
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On Friday a gentleman asked for five copies of the book (Book I). He was buying them as Christmas gifts and asked if I would sign them and put in a personal message for each of the recipients - what a nice idea! We had a lovely chat while I learned about his family and wrote messages to each of them based on their personalities.
I just had to share that - what a thoughtful thing he did!
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Did you know you can freeze eggs? Yup, you can. From time to time eggs go on sale for a super price and you know you want to stock up, but don't want them sitting around forever. Here's what you do - get some ice cube trays and crack an egg into each chamber. When they're frozen, you can store the 'egg cubes' in plastic baggies.
Shrimp and Scallops - fragile little things aren't they - prone to freezer burn and get icky fairl quickly. There are a couple of ways I
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Sometimes I think that Phoebe knows her days and can tell time. Other times, I think that she just recognizes a change in our morning routine and has made the connection between no alarm clock and what we call "Phoebe Day".
When we got Phoebe from the shelter she was not well socialized and humans frightened her. We began taking her to this lovely little restaurant with outside dining for breakfast every weekend. Within six months she decided that humans were put here to pet
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So here it was, Saturday afternoon and I wanted to do some grilling on Sunday. I prepared the marinade for the coconut shrimp marinade and popped it in the fridge.
Well, Sunday came and 'stuff' happened, you know how that goes -- you make some plans then other plans come up and what you planned doesn't happen.
Monday was a holiday and we fired up the grill, skewered the shrimp (which had been beautifully cleaned and butterflied) along with some lovely pieces of lobster
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Remember Phoebe from Book I - that big clumsy loveable dog? She does exist and she is ours.
She was found wandering the streets when she was a pup and soon was adopted. After four years she was returned to the shelter for a really stupid reason. We found her and she simply stole our hearts.
Eight wonderful years have passed and while Phoebe is aging, she still has the heart of a pup and we're convinced she's not a dog but a person in a dog suit.
Turns out our
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