Tasty Tuesday: A Good Cuppa

Noon and Wilder Posted on by

Okay.  Let’s get down to brass tacks.  It’s morning, but doo tamned early.  Whadoyoodo?

Coffee.

Rinse the pot.

Get fresh beans.  We keep ours in the freezer.  There is debate on this.  Some say don’t freeze, it’s not good for the oils.  Others say freeze, otherwise the oils go rancid.  Others say refrigerate.

As I was saying, get the beans out of the freezer.

Don’t use ground.  Why?  Because grinding DOES make it stale.  It’s better to grind your own if you can.

Grind your coffee.  I fill the grinder lid halfway full, but you’ll get used to how much with practice.  You could, gasp, read the manual.

After you have some coffee.

Get fresh water, fill the reservoir, put the grounds in the filter, and PUT THE BOT ON THE PURNER.  Don’t forget that part.  Leave the pot off and you get a mess.  Ask me how I know this.

~shudder~

Don’t ask.

As it’s brewing, and I highly suggest you get an interruptable brew pot, get some Valrhona cocoa.  If I’d meant some other kind of cocoa, I’d’ve said some other kind of cocoa.  Valrhona is the best.

Get some Raz al Hanout.  Sprinkle into your cup.

Get some good, high quality, dark honey.  I like Polish pine honey, but there are many many MANY to choose from so go nuts and try different ones.  Put about a teaspoon in the mug.

Pour coffee.  (Now you see why I told you to get an interruptable pour pot, yes?)

There.  That’s better, isn’t it?  For one thing, now you can spell.

Coffee.  It is necessary.

For some other scrumptious recipes for Tasty Tuesday, visit my buds.  Selena’s got something toothsome (I swear, that woman could cook pocket lint and make it to die for) and Nancy shares her special shortbread.  ~watering mouth~  Who wants to stage a raid and steal these two ladies?  We need something to go with our coffee, after all.  And mulled wine!  LOFF! ~gets map~

Mulled Wine, by PG Forte

My Grandmother’s Shortbreads, by Nancy Lauzon

Pouding Chomeur by Selena Robins

Tasty Tuesday – Rolled Sugar Cookies

Noon and Wilder Posted on by

As we approach the holidays, I wanted to share an excellent basic recipe for cookies that anyone who has made simple drop cookies (like chocolate-chip cookies) can make without much fuss.  It does, however, require a cookie cutter; I invite you over to my post at the Torquere Press today for my post, “Christmas Cookies – A Cautionary Tale.”

Here, without further ado, is the recipe:

Cookie Baking 101:  Rolled Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 C butter (anyone that tells you to use margarine in cookies should be shot) (just sayin’)
1 C sugar
1 egg
1/4 C milk
1/2 t vanilla (do NOT use “Vanillin.”  This is an artificial flavor.  Buy real vanilla.  You’ll thank me.)
2 1/4 C flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 t ground mace or cake spice

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:  the world’s best cake spice is from The Spice House.  Check it out.  You won’t be sorry.

Directions

  1. Soften the butter.  Either let it stand at room temperature or beat it with an electric mixer until creamy.  Do not let it become too soft or melt.
  2. In a mixer bowl (I love to use ceramic bowls for this but any large bowl will do), cream together the butter and sugar.  Wooden spoons are very helpful for this purpose or you can use your handy dandy electric mixer again.  (Just don’t go nuts with the sugar or it’ll splash everywhere.)  (Ask me how I know this.)
  3. Add the egg, the milk, and the vanilla; beat well.
  4. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and mace or cake spice.
  5. Add to creamed mixture and beat until blended.
  6. Divide dough in half.
  7. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
  8. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, 191 C.
  9. On a lightly-floured surface, roll each half of dough to 1/8 inch thickness.
  10. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters.  (You can use an overturned glass if you aren’t fortunate enough to have cookie cutters; you can really go nuts with fancy shapes if that’s your thing.  You can find them on the internet, second-hand stores, and antique shops.)
  11. Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 7 to 8 minutes, until golden.
  12. Remove from cookie sheet with metal spatula.  Cool on wire rack.

Yield: about 4.5 dozen.

Join our other Tasty Tuesday Compatriots!

Nancy Lauzon brings us Headless Chicken Soup!

Selena Robins whips up a Fun Fabulous Focaccia Feast!

A Taurusless Tasty Tuesday

Noon and Wilder Posted on by

Yes, I know.  Tauruses and food go together like cats and catnip.  Would I disappoint?  Would I stay up too late and forget to post a recipe for my faithful readers?

Moving right along, then, to share with you my other compatriots’ offerings, who did not stay up too late, who did not forget to type or post, and who are lovely human beings galloping into the void of fast food to bring us real food and real conversation!

Without further ado, then, I bring you…  TASTY TUESDAY!

PG Forte rings in the season right with “Pumpkin Martini.”  Say, YUM!

Nancy Lauzon brings us something as American as Apple Pie.  Or… “Spaghetti Pie.” (Which is extra fun since she’s from Canada.  I just adopted her as an honorary countrywoman.  Or she adopted me.  Or we adopted each other.  There was an adoption going on.)

Selena Robins wonders, “So, How Does One Eat a Taco?“

Please stop by and peruse these wonderful choices and be sure to tell ’em, the Tauruses sent ya!

Tiger Tiger and NaNoWriMo

Noon and Wilder Posted on by
Photo from The Ultimate Guide to the Largest Cats on Earth

TIGER TIGER is coming from Samhain Publishing in July, 2013. We’ve signed the contract and will start edits in January, after the holidays. We decided to share a bit about the process for those of you who are curious.

First, a short blurb: TIGER TIGER is the second in the Chicagoland Shifters series, which started with BURNING BRIGHT. brings us back to the world of animal empath and veterinary surgeon, Doctor Sasha Soskoff.  Sasha has found a sense of belonging with Neal Harrison and his small band of Siberian tiger shifters.  When a mangled body is found, clearly the victim of a tiger mauling, they must find the rogue tiger before it destroys everything they’ve built and causes a war between the tiger shifters and the jaguar shifters.

Since we’ve already worked with our acquiring editor at Samhain, the submission process involved sending the manuscript directly to her.  It still required a synopsis and blurb, like a normal synopsis “over the transom”, but had a little less pressure since we knew she knew it was coming.  That didn’t mean she’d accept it, just that she knew to look for it and review it when it came.

The submission process can be scary for any writer, but it’s not the mystery some make it out to be.  Publishing is a business, not an art, and the acceptance of a new manuscript isn’t just about whether the editor likes the piece or believes in it.  It also involves what other manuscripts the publisher has already accepted, what similarities it has to pieces already in the publisher’s catalog, and the upcoming releases that are scheduled.

Now that we have the contract in place, it’s a matter of starting the editing process.  It takes an average of nine months from acceptance to publication and we will start our edits in January.  There are two rounds of content edits where we will work with our editor to fine-tune the story and tweak or change elements as she believes it necessary.  Once that’s done and everything is as ready as we can make it, it will go to a final read-through with a beta reader.  They will look at it from the point of view of a potential customer and see if there are any plot holes or continuity errors that need to be fixed.  This is also an opportunity for final line edits.  The final step is to review the galleys, which is the final chance to see if there are any minor grammar or spelling errors.

In the middle of this process, the cover art will be given to the author.  We get a chance to submit ideas of what we would like it to be, and then the art department does their magic with it.  This is also the time to do the marketing paperwork, which includes the blurb.  The blurb, or the material that goes on the back cover of the book, is critical to the success of the book.  Once we draft our blurb, the Blurb Magicians do their work and it comes out as a finished product.

In the meantime, we’re working on NaNoWriMo.  National Novel Writing Month, every year in November, involves writing 50,000 words or more on a draft of a novel.  This year, we decided to write the rest of EMERALD KEEP, our sequel to EMERALD FIRE.  Of course, what came out of the keyboard is totally different and is a new novel, a science fiction war thriller with a working title of “In the Lane.”  It’s been loads of fun and is totally different from anything we’ve done before.

Are you working on NaNo?  How is the experience for you?  Tell us in the comments.  We’d love to know!

Resources

 Photo from “Siberian Tigers,” by Alex and Gregory.com, the Ultimate Guide to the Largest Cats on Earth, website URL http://www.alexandgregory.com/siberian_tigers.html Accessed 11/18/2012

A Taurusless Tasty Tuesday

Noon and Wilder Posted on by

I know, I know, what’s a Taurus without food?  Sadly, she is me, again this week.  My pals do not disappoint, and have cooked up some come-hither comestibles to please even the most discerning of palates.  Please stop by and give them some love.  Tell ’em the Tauruses sent you!

Pumpkin Spice Cake (yum!!!) by Pg Forte

Pizzeria by Nancy Lauzon

Honey, I Shrunk the Dinner (Love the title) by Selena Robins

Around the Web with Noony

Noon and Wilder Posted on by

Join Noony today as she has two posts on team blogs. Happy reading!

The first is a post at LGBT Fantasy Fans and Writers.  Our theme this month is “Where We Come From: the Influence of Our History, Either Immediate or Long-Gone”, and I share a personal take on the idea of history.  Our own stories influence the people we are today.

The second is a conversation with the lovely and talented Kimberley Troutte in an interview at the Writer’s Retreat.  Kimberley recently finaled not once, not twice, but THREE times in writing contests and I wanted to see what made her compete.  Come on by and check it out!

Tell ’em the Tauruses sent you.

Taurusless Tasty Tuesday

Noon and Wilder Posted on by

I know, I know, Tauruses love food.

They also love sleep, ergo this is aTaurusless Tasty Tuesday – but my compatriots do not disappoint!  Check out these awesome entries (and I love the Mars Bars idea, I totally have to try that).

Red Flannel FTW by Pg Forte

Lentil and Sausage Soup by Moira Keith

Men are from Mars Bars by Nancy Lauzon

Dinner a La Leftovers by Selena Robins

Taking a Chance

Noon and Wilder Posted on by

“Taking a Chance” is available for purchase on Torquere Books and Rainbow Ebooks today!

“Taking a Chance,” by A. Catherine Noon and Rachel Wilder

Doctor Jacob Davison has outgrown the hookups of his younger days and wants to settle down. When he’s abandoned by the side of the road, a leather-clad stranger stops and offers him a ride. Chance Renton is different from anyone Jay’s ever met. He’s caring and helpful, yet cynical and world-weary.

From the first moment of their shared motorcycle ride, an attraction begins to simmer between them. Between Jay’s ex-boyfriend showing up and the misconceptions they have about each other, does this relationship have a chance?

Tasty Tuesday – The Allure of Ice

Noon and Wilder Posted on by

Ice cream.  Licking.  The two go together like long, slow kisses that last for three days.  (Thank you Bull Durham and Kevin Costner for that particular bit of yumminess.)

Where was I?

Oh, right.  Ice cream.

I can’t have it.

~howl~

So what’s my alternative?  You’re gonna love this.  It’s not exactly a sexy recipe, but I have a good imagination and this is Tasty Tuesday, so I’ll tell you how to make this sexy.  I mean, come on.  There’s honey, and frozen berries, and…

But I digress.

Okay.  Go get a bowl.

No, not one of those pansy tiny little ice cream lispy bowls, I mean a real bowl, like a real man, something with some roundness to it that you can really get your hands around, like a woman with a real set of non-plastic boobs.  You know what I mean.

If you don’t know what I mean, close the computer and go find a date first.  Then come back when you’ve had some fun and this will make a lot more sense.

Okay, what were we talking about?

Hey, how’d that get in here?  We’ll never get to the recipe if you keep distracting me like this.

Ice cream. But I can’t have it!  Why are we talking about ice cream?

Ice cream alternatives!  Right.  Got it. Jeez.  Somebody needs to make some coffee; Noony’s brain is mush.

Bowl.  Get a bowl.  You have your bowl?  Good.  Now get a spoon.  A real spoon, not a child’s spoon or a tiny spoon.  You have a big mouth, get a big spoon.

Go to your freezer and get out your favorite frozen fruit. What??  You don’t have any frozen fruit?  GO TO TRADER JOE’S RIGHT NOW!  If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s, or it’s not open, then go to your grocery store and wander to the frozen section.  They have whole bags of things like blueberries, mangoes, cherries, and berry medlies.  I’ve even seen frozen melon balls and grapes which sounded so odd, I had to try it (and, for the record, it was odd, but good).

Go to your fridge and get out the Greek-style yogurt. Haven’t got any? Don’t you shop for food? Sheesh. Okay.  Go back to Trader Joe’s or your grocery store and go to the yogurt section.  (Hint: it’s by the milk.)  If you are fortunate enough to have a Trader Joe’s, then try their store brand Greek-style yogurt; if not, the Fage brand is awesome.

If you don’t have either one, then try a good, plain yogurt and bring that home, pour it into a strainer lined with cheese cloth, and put a bowl under it in the fridge to drain.  The resulting liquid can be thrown out and the thick yogurt left behind is strained yogurt.  Poof.  That’s how it’s made.

Why’s it cool?  It’s thick and creamy, like ice cream. (Ah, see where I’m going with this?) Put your fruit in your bowl, and use your big spoon to ladle yogurt on top.  Go get your honey and drizzle a bunch on top, and sprinkle some Cake Spice on top of that.

This dish is healthy enough you can have it for breakfast.  If you use 0% fat yogurt, it’s even Weight Watchers friendly.  It tastes enough like ice cream that it’s like having ice cream every day for breakfast.

Join the other Tasty Tuesday authors for some more Tasty fun:

I Heart NY Cheesecake by PG Forte

Just a little Devilishly Sweet Red Velvet Cookies! by Moira Keith

I died and went to Italy by Nancy Lauzon

Soups On by Selena Robins