News and Appearances

All the Killer Hobbies Blog Sisters hope you enjoyed our Thanksgiving recipes, notes, and good wishes!

On December 7, we'll start our annual Last Minute Homemade Gifts parade. Be sure to join us for gifts you can create from your heart and hands without dipping too far into your wallet.

On December 14, we'll discuss Favorite Gifts for Crafters including a peek at gifts we could have lived without...

Monday’s author, Joanna Campbell Slan, is hoping to read some, write some, and buy mattresses for her second guest room today.

On November 13-15, she'll be appearing at Murder & Mayhem In Muskegan MI.

On November 18, at noon, Joanna'll be teaching a mini-album class at the Washington County Free Library, 100 S. Potomac Street, Hagerstown MD. Call 301-739-3250 x 186 for details.

You can always follow Joanna's appearances by logging onto http://www.booktour.com/ Put "Joanna Slan" in the SEARCH box.

Tuesday’s author, Camille Minichino (Margaret Grace) has finished a dollhouse for donation to a local school raffle. Watch for a photo on Tuesday!

Wednesday's author, Monica Ferris, tells us that next Saturday she will be speaking at the Public Library in Ortonville, MN, from 1 to 3 pm. Her books will be offered for sale, too.

On June 12 and 13 she will be at a grand quilt show in Duluth. The show, Great Lake, Great Quilts, is sponsored by Minnesota Quilts, Inc., and will take place at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center (DECC) located right down on the harbor. Lessons, exhibits, merchants -- and our own Monica, signing books!

On October 3 Monica will be debuting the thirteenth Betsy Devonshire needlework mystery at "Gaylaxicon," a science-fiction convention in St. Louis Park (a suburb of Minneapolis). Details to follow.

Thursday's author, Linda O. Johnston is busy being ordered around by her dogs, but reports these special appearances: On Saturday, October 17, Linda will be on a panel at the Bonita Branch of the San Diego Library on Chick Lit, at 2 PM

On Sunday, October 18, she'll be at the Los Angeles Romance Authors Book Fair at noon, at the Barnes & Noble at the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Hayvenhurst in the San Fernando Valley.Please go see her!

Friday's author, Terri Thayer, is probably quilting.

Saturday's author, Betty Hechtman, is busy writing and crocheting.

Visit us every Sunday for updates and news. For specifics or to contact any individual author, click on our personal websites listed in the sidebar. Thanks for stopping by--and be sure to sign up to follow us as we have all sorts of fun adventures planned for the future!

Hold the Turkey

Thanksgiving with it nickname of Turkey Day isn’t exactly my best holiday since I’m a vegetarian. I’ve been a one for twenty-five years and no one else in my family is a vegetarian, so long ago we realized that going to a restaurant was the best option.

The first question people usually ask is what I eat. The answer is simple. I eat everything except meat, fish or fowl. And no I’m not a bean freak or a tofu nut. I don’t worry about what I’m going to eat either. It does turn out that Thanksgiving is usually carbs on parade for me. Salad and vegetables seem to get short shift on holiday dinners.

One year we went to a restaurant that had a vegetarian option. It was located in Topanga Canyon and the outdoor tables were built into a hillside overlooking a creek. Very picturesque, but very small portions. My son ate his turkey dinner and then ate most of my not turkey dinner. I’m still hearing about that Thanksgiving.

Lately we’ve been going to a place at the beach. Yesterday they offered a buffet with turkey, shrimp, fish ham and roast beef, along with stuffing, rice, mashed potatoes, green beans, carrots, and caesar salad. Like I said, my dinner ends up being a carb fiesta. But who cares. The company was good and watching the sun sink into the ocean was serene. I had a great view of Catalina and was on the lookout for dolphins swimming by. I didn’t see any this time, but there were lots of pelicans swooping into the water picking up their dinner. The window next to me was open and I thought one of the sea gulls was going to step in and join us.

We took Malibu Canyon to get there. It goes from through open meadows dotted with California oaks and then between tall rocky mountains before the ocean opens in front of you. It was dark and mysterious on the way back.

I don’t have a favorite Thanksgiving recipe to share, but then by now everybody is probably fooded out anyway. Christmas/Hanukkah are my favorite food holiday. They're about cookies, holiday bread, donuts and potato pancakes with a yule log cake thrown in. If we share Christmas recipes, I'll have one to share for sure.

Leftovers

Let's face it. The best thing about Thanksgiving dinner is leftovers. Everything tastes better the second day (or the second dinner on the same day). On Friday, I'm usually content to eat the entire meal again. Isn't this why microwaves were invented? Saturday, a turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce is sublime. By Sunday night though, the turkey is looking dried out and picked over, the stuffing is all gone, and the gravy looks like something you'd spread on tile to set it.

Time for my favorite recipe: Turkey Croquettes. When I was first introduced to them as a young married by my mother in law, my first reaction was EWWWW. Why would anyone eat little balls of turkey? But they soon become another reason to roast a turkey.

Especially when I eliminated the frying. Here you go. Give them a try.

Turkey Croquettes

3T flour

1/3 c butter

1 c milk

salt and pepper

2 c chopped turkey

1 T parsley

1/4 c of chopped onion

bread crumbs

egg

Make a white sauce by whisking together the melted butter and flour over med heat and gradually adding the milk, stirring until thick. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the turkey, parsley and onion.

Chill. Form balls of the croquette mixture and bread. Dip into egg, then bread again. You can chill again at this point.

Bake for 20 minutes at a 375 degree oven. Enjoy.

Croquettes usually signal the end of the turkey. Time for looking forward to the Christmas bird.

Hope you have a wonderful holiday season with plenty of leftovers.

Quiet Holiday

This is the first Thanksgiving I can remember being so quiet. We’ve usually had both of our sons around, or at least one. But our older son is now married and lives in Chicago. He and his wife will be visiting us in December (yay!) but not for Thanksgiving this year. Our younger son is traveling out of the country. So, it’s just my husband and me as far as family goes. And the dogs, of course, but they don’t get to join in the turkey dinner fun with us--just puppy snacks.

We enjoy celebrating with other people, though, so we’ve invited our next door neighbor, who had been considering plans out of town but decided to join us instead. He’s more of a gourmet cook than I and he’s bringing some stuff. I’ll stick to basics.

I’m going to be the first Killer Hobbyist to break with this week’s traditions. No recipe from me--sorry! As I said, I stick with basics, especially with so few to cook for, so I’m not pulling out my old favorite formulas, even to pass them along.

Anyone else having as quiet a holiday as I am? I wish you all a very happy one!

Thanksgiving Memories

I am the oldest of six children, so my memories of Thanksgiving tend to be jumbles of noise and children, both from when I and my siblings were youngsters and later, when they brought their own youngsters to the feast. The sheer exuberance of those times are golden sparkles in my memory. I remember one time going to Marshall, Illinois, to have Thanksgiving with Aunt Mamie, Uncle Paul, and a set of aunts, uncle and cousins, some of whom I had never met. There must have been forty people in that house! I remember it because I got to sit at the grown ups' table, a gratifying experience, even if most of the talk was about crops and canning -- they were mostly farmers on that side of the family.

But there is one exception to those times. I was working a killer job, full of stress, and trying to go to college in the evenings as well. Thanksgiving came on the horizon and suddenly I couldn’t face the racket. I begged off and spent the day alone in my apartment half a state away from my sister Therese’s house, where the others gathered. It seemed everyone else in the building had a home to go to for their feast, so it was really quiet. I had somewhere found a half of a turkey breast, so I roasted that, and made a salad and baked a single potato. I found a great old movie on television and watched that. I read a favorite book. I was so grateful for the peace and quiet, I felt no guilt at staying away from the home gathering, and returned to work refreshed and renewed. It was and remains one of my favorite Thanksgiving memories.

This year I am celebrating Thanksgiving twice. Once today, a day early, and again tomorrow, on the actual day. The early Thanksgiving started some years back when a dear friend of mine and my husband’s complained to us that he had to go home to his raucous family, at that time full of ructions and quarrels, for Thanksgiving dinner. He asked us what we were doing, and I said I was roasting the smallest turkey I could find (we LOVE leftovers!), then lighting a fire in the fireplace and settling down with favorite books. He said immediately, “Can I come?” We changed our plans to celebrate Thanksgiving a day early so he could store up the peace and quiet before facing the noisy Thanksgiving. He liked it so much that we continued the custom even after his family stopped marking the holiday by shouting at one another across the dinner table. One year my sister-in-law called to ask if we were holding early Thanksgiving and asked if she could come. She had been caught in the middle of one of those family quarrels whose terms seemed to be, “If she’s coming, then I’m not cooking.” All Margaret wanted was a slice of turkey. We told her she was welcome. After a hiatus of several years, we’re doing it again -- we agreed to do it before we got the invitation to a regular Thanksgiving meal with my husband’s family.

This year we’ll have three guests, all seeking something quiet. We’re in our new place and we don’t have a fireplace. But I bought one of those imitation wood-burning stoves with the fake fire for my office and I may haul it out into the living room to create a little nostalgia.

One dish I’m serving is Aunt Velva’s Bean Salad, which I only make twice a year because it’s so fattening.

Two cans of dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
One small onion, chopped
Four or five little sweet gherkins, sliced into rounds
Two hard boiled eggs, chopped

Mix these ingredients in a bowl and make the dressing:

One-quarter cup cider vinegar
One-half cup sugar
One cup sour cream

Blend well and pour over the bean mixture. Stir. This tastes especially good if you make it the day before and let it marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Have a Happy, Joyous Thanksgiving

Home -- or not -- for the holidays

My favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner is the group around the table. For one reason or another many people don't make it "home" for this holiday and for us that often means an eclectic group of people, not just family, come together. One of our friends who moved into a new house is hosting this year, so my husband and I and my in-law family will join her and other friends to help "bless the house."

The only rule every year: whoever shows up must contribute to the pile of Christmas presents we wrap and send off to those with less to be thankful for -- one year it's through a church facility, another year a disenfranchised family; this year a woman's shelter. Last year a college student in our family drew the name of a teenager in a struggling family. With her presents, she included a note inviting the girl to visit her college for a day. The girl took her up on the offer and a new, unlikely friendship was born, to the enrichment of both young women.

While most of us wrap presents, the cook is arranging our feast!
As I confessed yesterday on Joanna's blog, I'm kitchen challenged and can't turn out anything complicated. Here are two day-care level recipes. I'll take these to share and hope there's someone like Joanna at the dinner!

The irony is that both recipes were given to me by my cousin, who could make a 20-step recipe without breaking stress level #1.

CRANBERRY SQUARES
2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1/3 cup melted butter
1 1/4 cup fresh whole cranberries

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Mix everything together. Batter will be sticky. Spread in greased baking dish, 8- or 9-inches. Bake in 350 oven for about 30 minutes, until golden brown. Tester should come out clean.

CRANBERRY CHUTNEY
2 cups sugar
1 bag. fresh cranberries
1 cup whole raisins
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups pineapple tidbits
Mix everything except pineapple. Cook to boiling, then simmer 20 minutes. Add pineapple tidbits. Remove from heat and refrigerate when cool.




If anyone has a one bowl, one stir recipe, please share it!
Happy Thanksgiving!

One Prayer of Gratitude and Two Recipes

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Here is my favorite quotation about gratitude. It's by Meister Eckhart:
If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.

I am grateful for so much and for so many people in my life. Most especially, I'm grateful for my family. The photo above is of my grand-nephew, Skyler. Babies are a constant wonderment. This little guy has awesome power because he can always make people smile!

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You know, when we focus on what we have, not what we want, our eyes open to our good fortune. Behavioral scientists have discovered that people overestimate the amount of happiness aquisition of any "thing" will bring them. So we move through life relentlessly trying to possess this and that, hoping we'll find elusive joy...and it's only that: elusive.


I once heard a motivational speaker tell a story about a man and his wife who had struggled to build a beautiful house on a farm. They lived there for years in contentment until a tornado destroyed the building. In the aftermath, the man and his wife walked the site, viewing the destruction. The woman was crying but the man was smiling. She asked him, "What's wrong with you? Don't you care that we've lost all this?" And he said, "I'm gladder than sadder. Gladder that I had the years of enjoyment than sadder for my loss."

This Thanksgiving, I will try to be gladder than sadder. I've lost my mother this year, and we sold the house where we raised our son. But I'm gladder that I was by my mother's side when she needed me, gladder that my sisters and I could pull together and lean on each other, gladder that I have good memories and a strong family--and as for the house? A house is just an edifice for storing good memories. I have a new home, and with every day I add a new memory to my mental album.

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Meanwhile, here are a couple of recipes to share--and I hope some of you will send in your recipes as well! We had such a great response last week to our Writing Clinic that all of us plan to do it again soon. So, stay tuned!





Apple Tarte Tatin





I actually attended a Cordon Bleu class when we lived in England. I kept waiting for one of the chefs to come toss me out! But no one did, so I took a lot of notes. I've made this, and it's a glorious desert. When you tell people it came from the famous Cordon Bleu, their eyes light up!





1 sheet 8 x 8 inch puff pastry thawed or pie crust rolled flat


8 apples


2 T. fresh lemon juice


1 T. butter


1 T. sugar (or more. More sugar is always better, IMHO)


4 T. water





For topping--


4 oz. sugar


2 T. butter





Roll the pastry to 1/4 inch thick.


Peel, core the apples, slice into quarters or so, toss in a bowl with lemon juice.


Place 1 T. sugar in cast iron skillet, pour in sugar in an even layer. Put on stove at medium heat. Don't touch until this turns golden brown, then stire in butter and pour all into an 8" round baking pan. Place apples tightly in pan. Brush with melted 4 0z. butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 30 minutes at 375 degrees.





Remove from oven. Place puff pastry on top and tuck in around. Cook another 30 minutes. Allow to cool to room temp. Run a knife around the outside. Flip onto serving plate. Serve with ice cream.





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Persian Spaghetti





Tired of turkey? Or do you need a pre-holiday meal for your guests? This is an excellent way to stretch a small amount of meat. Don't let the spices scare you. The finished mix is a wonderful savory meal. A college friend who married a man from Iran dreamed this up. I find it a lovely comfort food when the cold weather approaches.





one box of spaghetti (whole wheat)


1/2 pound of hamburger


1/2 large onion


2 cloves garlic


one small can sliced mushrooms


1/4 tsp. cinnamon


1/4 tsp. tumeric


3 pinches of nutmeg


1 can of tomato paste


butter or margarine





Start water boiling for spaghetti. (I like the whole wheat pasta because it's more chewy.)


Put in pasta when water is boiling. You can try 1/2 a box and later up the amount of pasta if you wish. (It depends on the amount of "sauce" pasta ratio you prefer!)





Meanwhile, brown 1/2 pound of hamburger with 1/2 chopped large onion and drain. Add one clove of garlic, crushed, if desired. (You can do without the garlic if you're a vampire.) Add one drained small can of sliced mushrooms, if desired. Add 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. turmeric and three pinches of nutmeg. Stir in one small can of tomato paste. Mix together well. Add the hamburger and tomato paste "sauce" to the drained pasta. You want to try to coat the pasta with the mixture, but the mixture will be dry as opposed to wet sauces. Serve in a bowl with a heaping tsp. of butter on top. (Or more butter!) Yum.