Book Nook: The Perils of Paella

Title: The Perils of Paella
Author: Nancy Fairbanks
Series: A Carolyn Blue Culinary Mystery
Number: 5


I believe I wrote a review on one of these books a while ago....[brief pause while I go and look] .... never mind. Guess not.


This is a series about a woman who loves food. She used to love preparing food for her two children and scientist husband. Now that her children are grown and out of the house, she finds her time more suited to writing columns about others making and preparing food than actually making it herself.

In book one, "Crime Brulee", she is asked to write a column for a local newspaper in El Paso titled, "Have Fork Will Travel".

Though the following novels she becomes well known and at the start of "The Perils of Paella" she has been asked to write a book.

Traveling to Catalan (Barcelona) to meet with a friend currently working at the museum, Carolyn enters a rather morbid art exhibit. While it resembles a hospital ward with patients dying, one of the student actors isn't acting. With a fresh corpse that closely resembles her friend, things slowly spiral out of control.

With a missing child, a murderer, and an artist intent on starting fights, this is one mystery that's sure to pull you in. From the wonderful old city, to the Tapas recipes, flamenco dancing and more!

Though I would recommend the first book first, this one keeps the series fresh and intriguing!



What are some of your favorite genres to read? Leave comment below.

Master Builder

I've decided to take this week and briefly (as in a paragraphys, if that) discuss something that everyone loves. Or has at least played with temporarly.

LEGOS

There has been some point in any school course where you've had to use LEGOS for math. I can almost guarantee it. Whether its been for adding and subtracting, or multiplication and division, these little bricks can help with little kids learning their fractions.

They can also be used for music. Think about whole notes (the 4 dot blocks), half notes (2 dot blocks), ectra. It's a wonderful way to learn how to handle the notes on the page and read the sheet music.

Also - let's face it, who hasn't tried making their own massive pyramid before?

(Disclaimer: I found this pics using Google, I do not own the rights to any of them. No copyright infringement intended.)

What are some of the cool creations you've made with LEGO's before? Post a pic!

Working Through Life

So - it appears as though I've stumbled across another Tuesday.

I swear, I work so much - or so often - that I completely forget what the day of the week is!

.......

Maybe that's why I never seem to have a decent topic. Hmmmmm


Okay okay okay - something positive for this week.

Did I already do a list of writing prompts ..... yes
How about food recipes?


Ooooo! Food!

Thank you Pinterest!

Have fun with some of these delicious ideas taken from our favorite website.


Fruit Smoothie(s) - Alright - the staple of healthy food. These are all great choices for a healthy drink.

Mexican Chicken Soup - partly because I love slightly spicy foods. These is a fantastic recipe, equal parts delicious. Quick, easy, delicious!

Easter Carrot - Here's one that's great for the Easter season. Perfect center piece, or something else.

Lemon Cheesecake - Dessert is the best meal of the day. Plus: lemon + cheesecake = bliss.

Egg Rolls - Gotta love the egg rolls, no good Chinese meal is complete without it.

Three Bean Salad - I know, another Mexican dish. Sue me, it's heritage.

Lemonade - A rather refreshing drink for the upcoming summer months.

Summer Salads - Also in time for the upcoming summer months - SALAD! Who doesn't love a good salad during a rather hot and depressing day?

$5 Dinners - A rather easy sort of way to get things done. Cheap, effective, and awesome.

More Smoothies - You thought the smoothies were over - but there back! More of the best recipes for a cool, delightful, and soothing drink.



Have a great week, and leave a comment, if you feel so inclined. :)

April Fools No Fool

With one of the best prank day's of the year (if only the only official one) a few days behind us I'd like to prepare you for next year.

Now everyone loves a good prank.

Scaring the bejeebers out of a sibling, pranking a parent, getting the one up on your co-worker (bonus if it's the one who keeps nabbing your snacks or pilfering your yogurt). A great prank is one that everyone can laugh at.

If the intended victim of your prank isn't laughing at the end - then it's not a prank it's just plain mean.

I've seen a few websites with lists of pranks that are nice for everyone. I've compiled my favorite ones together here for your viewing.

1. Changing their background on their i-device.
     This is super easy if you know their password. I did this to my mom's iPad last week, scared the Jenkins out of her. And it's easy to fix after the prank is over.

2. Put a bowl of Reese's pieces and M&M's in the breakroom.
      This could either be fun or extremely dangerous. Mixing up chocolate like this is likely to have different results. I think it would be a wonderful prank though. Imagine watching someone scoop up a handful of those candies, thinking they're getting M&M's when BOOM, Reese pieces with peanut butter. (You might not want to fess up to this one, people are extremely particular about their chocolate.)

3. Pretend there's a fire.
       My mom pulled this one me one year. She woke me up, screaming there was a fire. I was almost out the door before she yelled, "April Fools!" This might be a bit on the iffy side - bonus if you can get a fireman.

4. Dye the water in the faucet.
       Add a little food coloring to the inside of the tap, that way when your family turns the water on it will run red. (or blue, yellow, orange, mix it up!)

5. Flip the Computer Screen
      My little brother loves pulling this on any day of the year. All you have to do is hold down CTRL and ALT, then hit any of the arrow keys. This will change the direction of the screen. And it's super frustrating to fix - and fun to watch if you're the one pranking.

6. Daylight Savings
      Switch back their clocks an hour. Watch them head out an hour early for your appointments. Surprisingly this can be done with an iPhone too, though I'm not sure how. Check out the page for the manual and read up on it.



Enjoy your own day of pranking. Though be on the look-out for these done to you.

NOTE: These can be done anytime of the year. Just remember, don't yell "April Fool's", it won't make a lick of sense.

Family - Easter - Mixing it and Enjoying it

This past week I’ve had time to think about all sorts of ideas, things, conversations, and how to become better at what I do. Somehow the topic of “family” seemed to stick. So in honor of family – and Easter this upcoming Sunday! – here are some family (and Easter) tid-bits and recipes.

I don’t know about all of you, but families fight. Everyone does it, it’s nothing new. Here I have a few hard-earned tips from a rather wonderful fighter.

1)      When fighting and you know you’re wrong and don’t want to admit it – ADMIT IT.

a.       Everyone can be wrong. Sometimes it’s you sister, your brother, you mom, your dad – and then 90% it’s you. You are wrong. Yes, it bites, but admitting it means you are closer to getting closure.

2)      Take a Break

a.       Take five mintues, or even ten. Gather your temper so that you can return to the situation with a level head.

3)      Know when to accept Truce.

a.       There can be arguments in which no one wins. That’s a given.

4)      Hug.

a.       This is something my dad always made us do. Whenever we argued he always made us hug when it was over. That way, no matter the argument, it always ended with a hug.

Some on to some fun Easter recipes I found on Pinterest – links via Pinterest. (I don’t get paid for any of these name drops.)

1)      Easter Marshmallow Bark http://www.butterwithasideofbread.com/2013/02/easter-marshmallow-bark.html

a.       I cannot wait to try this out! It looks super fun, delicious, and easy to make!

2)      Easter Oreo Bark http://lilluna.com/easter-oreo-bark/

a.       Similar to the first one, but with Oreos! Who doesn’t love oreos?

3)      Carrot Cake – an Easter favorite! http://www.cookingclassy.com/2012/01/best-ever-carrot-cake/

a.       This is one of the best things to have to an Easter dinner. Well, after dinner. J

4)      Easter Fruit Pizza http://www.delish.com/holiday-recipes/easter/a41803/easter-dessert-fruit-pizza/

a.       So, a rather simple, delectable easy make. Really delicious too.

A few, simple tips for a fixing a family feud, and finding food for them on Easter. Enjoy your Easter weekend folks!

Post-Chocolate

I've been finding it rather - well, tedious - after so many weeks to find time during the day to blog.

You'd think with all those "Idea!" posts about how to blog going around, it would be easy to find things to write about. That's not the problem -

I am now starting to lack the desire to write this blog.

I know, I know - I was all pumped and enthused about doing this. Thought it would be a great idea - find a way to make myself some extra cash - amuse whoever stumbles across this.

I even had a plan for each week - indicating what sort of post each week would be about. the first week would be a basic, the second would be a theatre related post, the third about food, the fourth a list or something.

However - I didn't really do much cooking this past week - unlike my post last week (go try that recipe!).

Perhaps I'll try and post today about finding the drive to continue posting.

No matter how difficult it gets to continue with a blog - there's always a way to sort through it. I mean, sure one of my posts was made around 11:55 PM, but I got it done before the end of the deadline.

Let me tell you - finding a drive to blog each week can be tough. I know that there's a few hundred people out there who can get an entire month's blogging done in one day, that way they don't have to worry about it each week like I do.

(Then again, I do like a challenge, and tormenting myself needlessly.)


If you want to start blogging: do it.

If you think you can't: look at me, I have no drive, but I am.

If you have people who tell you negative things about it: Ignore them. You can do anything you put your mind to.

If is a strong word - but If is only temporary.

If becomes two words "I Did".


This is a post to help boost you up!

This is to tell you - you can do it!
You can achieve anything!

Love - Lust - Nope

Okay – so we’re in the wonderful month of pink and red; hearts and chocolate; wine and roses.

Unless, like me, you are single with no chance of (or much cares for that matter) of getting into the whole dating game by the time Singles Awareness, er, I mean Valentine’s Day rolls around.

With only 12 days to prepare (well, 11 for any men out there reading this) there’s dozens of things to help with either preparing to have a wonderful night out, or a wonderful night in.

This post will be for those who plan to spend this night home. Alone.

Candles in the window

All kids aside, there are plenty of things to help keep your spirits up while all of your non-single friends are out at fancy restaurants, drinking wine – or champagne if your beau is super fancy.

Here I will list a few things to do, at home while cuddling with your favorite bottle of bubbly.

1.   

     1.    Netflix

This one is obvious. So obvious I had to add it.

This time of year there’s going to be lots of lovey-dovey flicks to watch on the Flix. I would recommend the following:

“Desk Set”, with Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. A wonderful old-fashioned flick (in color) with tons of wit and sarcasm.

“High Society”, Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. Sinatra, ‘nuff said.

“How to Marry a Million”, Betty Garble, Lauren Bacall and Marilyn Monroe.

All three of these are in color, but are old fashioned, clean with wonderful endings and lots of fluff.

22.       Fancy Dinner for One

You don’t have to go out to have a fancy meal. There are lots of recipes on the internet. 

Seriously. 

Have you seen Pinterest?

Far too many on there to count. Because of that, it’s super easy to find and plan the perfect meal (okay, all you dating people. You can use this one too.)

With all the ease of cooking and baking at home, it will taste just like one of those super fancy restaurants. The plus side, if you’re cooking for one, you can make for “two” and have super delicious leftovers the next day. (While your other friends are doing the walk of shame.)

33.       Have a girls night in.

Now I know Galantine’s Day is on the 13^th.

But what if you spread the love over two nights, instead of one? On the 13^th gather your friends at for a night out on the town. Grab some drinks, a fancy dinner, but the 14^th?

Stay in, watch a few movies, order in some pizza. Oo, better yet – have a chocolate bar!

And, no, I don’t mean a small, 12 piece individual wrapped bar.

I mean, lay out a chocolate spread: chocolate sauce, individual wrapped chocolate bars, chocolate cake, chocolate cheesecake, chocolate soda, chocolate ice cream.

The chocolate is endless!

Is anyone else craving chocolate . . . . ?

45.       Sleep

If you can’t beat it – sleep through it.

While some of these may not be for everyone, there are plenty of single activities around that you can get yourself involved in. Doing a book blub date night – try an action novel.

Whether or not you’re going out or staying in, there are plenty of things to avoid doing on this wonderful Singles Awareness Day.

Twisted Tuesday - Tasty Treat

Week two of my new blogging adventure!

This week I thought about what I was going to post about. It had to be something interesting, to keep 

your attention.

Ironically enough I was going to do a food post, and I just so happened to make a meal last night based on recipes found around the internet.

For the side dish I used a recipe for “Green Beans and Orange”. Sadly, I did not mark where I got the recipe from, so if you find it along your travels among the culinary side of the internet – please let me know! I would love to credit the original maker of this fantastic recipe.

I highly recommend this for any side dish. Its equal parts classy, easy and delicious.

The Recipe: Green Beans and Orange

Ingredients:

1 (8-oz) bag fresh microwaveable French green beans

1 orange

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt-free garlic/herb seasoning

Directions:

1.       Microwave beans following package instructions. Zest/grate orange peel (no white), 1 teaspoon. Remove remaining peel and cut orange into segments.

2.       Preheat large sauté pan on medium, 2-3 minutes. Place oil in pan, then add beans, seasoning, and zest. Cook 1-2 minutes or until beans are crisp-tender.

3.       Remove pan from heat; stir in orange segments. Serve

Calories (per 1.4) 100 kcal; fat 7g; chol 0mg; sodium 0mg; carb 9g; fiber 3g; protein 1g; vita A 10%; vita C 45%; calc 4$; iron 2%

This makes about four servings.

It’s a super easy way to prepare your green beans with some added flavor and bonus flare. The blend of orange and garlic is so delightful you’ll have to make more. This is the easiest recipe for the dinner.

The main meal. This one was a wonderful surprise, and tasted better about an hour after it was made and there was time for the sauce to really sink into the chicken. (We’re all anticipating the round of seconds today for lunch – so much that my family hid the leftovers last night so our company couldn’t take it home. This one is a winner.

I do have the source of this recipe and gladly post the link right here: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/almond-chicken---strawberry-balsamic-sauce

If you don’t want to take the time to click the link, I will post the recipe right here for you.

Almond Chicken & Strawberry-Balsamic Sauce

Total Time: Prep: 20 minutes; Cook: 20 minutes

Makes: 4 servings

(I found out that the first time you make this, it takes far longer. So if you plan to make this for a group of people, then make sure you have at least an hour and a half, possibly two.)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup panko (Japanese) bread crumbs (I used the regular bread crumbs – but I plan on using the other later)

1/3 cup unblanched almonds, coarsely ground (this one could take time too – plan accordingly!)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 ounces each)

Butter-flavored cooking spray

3 teaspoons canola oil, divided

1/4 chopped shallots (be prepared for some crying while you chop these)

1/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

1/3 cup strawberry preserves (sounds weird, right? NOT! This makes the meal!)

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary OR 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

1 package (9 ounces) fresh baby spinach (Ok…. I forgot this entirely when I made it, but it tasted alright)

Directions:

1.       In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the bread crumbs, almonds, salt and pepper. Add chicken, one piece at a time, and shake to coat.

2.       In a large nonstick skillet coated with butter-flavored spray, cook chicken in 2 teaspoons oil over medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. Remove and keep warm.

3.       In the same pan, cook shallots in remaining oil until tender. Stir in the broth, preserves, vinegar and rosemary. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 5-6 minutes or until thickened.

4.       Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, bring 1/2 inches of water to a boil. Add spinach; cover and boil for 3-5 minutes or until wilted. Drain; serve with chicken and sauce.

     Yield: 4 servings

     Nutritional Facts

      1 chicken breast half with 1/4 cup spinach and 2 tablespoons sauce equals 439 calories, 13 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 63 mg cholesterol, 476 mg sodium, 31 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 29 g protein

     I cheated for dessert, due to the fact I started late and our guests were helping make the meal (which was a great way to knock out the basic chit-chat). Instead of a wonderful recipe meal, we made a box mix of brownies. Adding whipped cream to the top when they came out, it was a simple, easy way to end a wonderful meal.

     

     For drinks I leave it up to you to decide which would go best. We had ginger ale and basic Fanta (not to classy, but it was still delicious).

      I hope you all try these recipes out – and tell me what your results are!