Tag: food

Truffle Me Not

On By Sherrie CroninIn features and reviews7 Comments

Today it is my pleasure to welcome author M. K. Scott and their cozy mystery Truffle Me Not.

Authors’ description

The future of Cupid’s Catering Company hangs in the balance. With a rival bakery, owned by the queen of all mean, rich girls, Della is at a distinct disadvantage.

 

Della hinges her financial future on winning the local truffle contest. As if there wasn’t enough on her mind, additional problems arise, including missing cats, jewel thieves, and her desperate attempt to find the incredibly kind man who’d lent her hand when she had tire trouble.

 

Can she solve all these problems and find time to whip up a cookbook at the same time?

About the Authors

K. Scott is the husband and wife writing team behind The Painted Lady Inn Mysteries and The Talking Dog Detective Agency. Morgan K Wyatt is the general wordsmith, while her husband, Scott, is the grammar hammer and physics specialist. He uses his engineering skills to explain how fast a body falls when pushed over a cliff and various other felonious activities. The Internet and experts in the field provide forensic information, while the recipes and B and B details require a more hands-on approach. Morgan’s daughter, who manages a hotel, provides guest horror stories to fuel the plot lines. The couple’s dog, Chance, is the inspiration behind Jasper, Donna’s dog. Overall, both are fun series to create and read.

Find the Author

Website: http://www.morgankwyatt.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorMorganKWyatt
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/morgankwyatt
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5826299.Morgan_K_Wyatt
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/morgankwyatt/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/M-K-Scott/e/B01M4JGK1A/

Buy the Book

The book will be on sale for $0.99 on the day of the tour.

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Truffle-Cupids-Catering-Company-Book-ebook/dp/B08Y771ZR8

Yes, there is a giveaway

The author will be awarding a $40 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Enter here to win.

This post is part of a tour sponsored by Goddess Fish. Check out all the other tour stops. If you drop by each of these and comment, you will greatly increase your chances of winning.

My Favorite Excerpt

Even before she picked up the phone, she felt apprehensive. Why call when she’d see her mother at the bakery in less than thirty minutes. “Hello, Mother. I’m almost in the car.”

“Good! I need your help.” Mabel rushed the words together, forcing Della to decipher the bunched words before answering.

For most of her life, her mother had helped Della. Sometimes, almost too much, which came from being a surprise baby to a couple who had given up hope on having children. As the only child, Della felt obliged to be the best she could be after one of her school mates pointed out her parents had invested all their hopes and dreams in her. A staggering responsibility for a primary school-aged child to handle, but she had dealt with it.

“What’s wrong?”

“I need a jeweled cat collar. Red. Lots of rhinestones.”

“Mom…” she stretched out the word, making it into more of a question.

“Buy whatever styles they have. We can return the ones that don’t work.”

Even though her brain might not function at its full capacity without coffee first, almost anyone could deduce an incident occurred involving Prince Purrfection of the jeweled collar. There was a good chance Tony could be the culprit.

“Ah, did Tony hurt Prince? Did Prince hurt Tony? What’s up with the collar?”

Her mother inhaled audibly. “Time is of the essence. Vanessa is going to start looking for her cat once the storm passes. I need a new collar on the feline diva before I push him out the door. Tony thinks I’ve gone traitor by even letting her into the house.”

Thank you!

M. K. Scott — we appreciate your sharing your book Truffle Me Not  with us! Best of luck with sales, and with all of your future writing.

Day 26. To Stop a Hurricane

On By Sherrie CroninIn travel11 Comments

This is another long drive, made worse by losing an hour as we enter central time. We leave early, knowing rain is in the forecast for much of our route.

What we don’t know is that the rain is coming from a wannabe hurricane that has moved up from the gulf. It won’t rain much of the day, it will pour. It starts around Odessa and continues for the rest of the day, with only short breaks in the action.

We’re talking the kind of shower that makes you feel like you are driving through a car wash; one that is so loud you can’t talk or listen to music, and is so intense that you can barely see the tail lights of the vehicle ahead of you. We change drivers often because it’s exhausting at best and downright dangerous at worst. As we near Fort Worth, we start to run into the inevitable weather-related traffic accidents, and from then on we find ourselves in stop and go traffic in a downpour until we reach our destination.

A few years ago I made a play list of songs with the word “Home” in the title. I was moving across the country at the time, leaving my home of fifteen years, and I was trying to generate enthusiasm for making a home elsewhere. It helped.

As I take my turns driving, one of the songs keeps running through my head, I think because the chorus has something to do with stopping a hurricane.

Tonight, I won’t be in my own house but I’ll be staying at the home of someone I love, and I’m looking forward to it. There will be a home-cooked meal (and probably a very good one) and fine wine and a soft bed that I haven’t had to pay to sleep in. It feels welcoming as I drive through the storm.

I don’t have a rule of the road today; the best I can do is a guideline. (Thank you Jack Sparrow.) Avoid extremely difficult days as best you can and when you can’t, do your best to see there is comfort waiting for you at the end of the day. If you’re lucky, you’ll arrive at your own home, or that of someone who loves you.

 

Homemade gravy and hand-built furniture

On By Sherrie CroninIn writing

Authors note: My third novel z2 is currently on blog tour through the fine folks at Reading Addiction Virtual Book Tours. The post below is part of that tour and it appeared a week or so ago on a wonderful blog called Coffee Break.  My thoughts were inspired by a post I wrote on my x0 blog back in 2013, two whole books ago. A lot has changed for me since then, but apparently other things haven’t changed much at all.

We are a thousand miles from home, traveling to visit my husband’s family in a part of the country settled by Italian immigrants. A confluence of scheduling has left us with one night on our own.

Buca“Italian food,” he insists. “Absolutely,” I agree. He’s heard of a new place and we head over eagerly. What do we find? Buca di Beppo, a good Italian chain restaurant that also has a place about five miles from where we live in Texas. We have to laugh. No way.

As we go off in search of more interesting food, I think about my writing. Traditionally published novels are like chain restaurants, I think. Some are okay and some are great but they are seldom awful. You have a pretty good idea of what you are getting. Self-published novels are more like tiny mom-and-pop restaurants. Some are really bad and some are absolutely fantastic and there is no good way to tell the difference from a distance. Good or bad, the contents are always something of a surprise.

We stumble on a tiny place where the menu is hand typed, and the Pollo Maria Teresa that catches my eye is described with honesty as being a pasta dish served with chicken and “some lobster”.  I smile at the lack of polish. It’s like homemade gravy or hand-built furniture. One makes both with love and with all the skill that one can.

handmade furnitureEach of my self-published books has been similarly created, edited and rewritten to the best of my ability at the time that I wrote them. Then, because I wanted the product to be better, each was professionally edited with what I could afford. Although both I and my editor have gotten better with each one, my books don’t have the polish provided by industry experts. They are homemade gravy and hand-built furniture. They make no pretense to be otherwise, even though I hope that they can be enjoyed by those who also appreciate the style and predictability of chain restaurants.

The Pollo Maria Teresa arrives and it is wonderful. I smile as I enjoy some of my “some lobster” and I think that it is good to have variety in ones life.