Best Cheeseburger EVER

It's summer, it's BBQ time and it's always cheeseburger time. Yesterday Ron (my husband, he's on the left side of the picutre) was in charge of dinner for our guests. He'd heard a secret about the perfect burger. And all I can say is, it was the best cheeseburger I'd ever had.

He went to the store and found Tri-tip and then had the butcher grind it 2 times. Yup steak. A bit on the expensive side. The measurements are done guy style meaning, I'm going to do the best I can telling you how much to use.

Cheeseburgers 6 burgers
4 lbs Ground Tri-tip
1/2 yellow onion - chopped
1/2 green bell pepper - Chopped
1/2 red bell pepper - chopped
12 Slices mushrooms
Ground Pepper
Montreal Seasoning
Garlic Powder
Salt
Olive Oil

In a oblong 9x13 pan he placed foil. He coated the foil in olive oil. He made 6 1/4 lb. patties placed on the foil. Placed two slices of mushrooms on each and sprinkled them all with the chopped veggies. Then he added the spices. When he was done he made 6 more 1/4 lb. patties and placed them on top of the others and mashed (for want of a better word) them together.

He sprinkled any left over veggies or what had fallen onto the pan over the top of the patties. And sprinkled with spices. Then he barbecued. Right before they were done he placed a slice of mild cheddar and a slice of provolone cheese on each. He used bakery fresh buns, served them with corn and a salad.

I'm not even going to try to do the calorie count on these. Just plan for that to be your only meal if you're counting. They were well worth it!

Welcome Pat Browning

Everyone, please welcome Pat to the garden. I've put some fans around the area and arranged for us to have relax in the gazebo, I thought it would be cooler. Help yourselves to some refreshments and find a spot to listen.

A little bit about Pat:

Pat Browning was born and raised in Oklahoma. A longtime resident of California's San Joaquin Valley before moving back to Oklahoma in 2005, Pat’s professional writing credits go back to the 1960s, when she was a stringer for The Fresno Bee while working full time in a Hanford law office.

She is a veteran traveler. Her globetrotting in the 1970s led her into the travel business, first as a travel agent, then as a correspondent for TravelAge West, a trade journal published in San Francisco. In the 1990s, she signed on fulltime as a newspaper reporter and columnist, first at The Selma Enterprise and then at The Hanford Sentinel.

At the Enterprise, her lifestyle coverage placed first two years in a row in the California Newspaper Publishers Association Better Newspapers Contest. She was also a co-finalist for the 1993 George F. Gruner Award for Meritorious Public Service in Journalism. The award was for a story she and a colleague wrote about AIDS, which was a recent phenomenon at the time. At the Sentinel, her feature story on the Japanese-American "Yankee Samurais" of World War II, placed second in the CNPA contest.
 
Pat's articles on the writing life have appeared in The SouthWest Sage, the monthly journal of SouthWest Writers, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is building a new website. Slowly. Slowly.
http://patbrowning.weebly.com (under construction)
http://authorsden.com/patbrowning
http://pbrowning.blogspot.com/


IT’S ALL ABOUT PEOPLE

In my writing world plots grow out of character and setting, which is how I like it. For me, people come first. And where do we get our people? It’s a question readers always ask.

My answer would be: Look around you. Go to WalMart, stand in line or sit on a bench and watch shoppers come and go. There are enough characters to fill a dozen books. All you have to do is ask yourself “why” and “what if?”

Recently at WalMart, a well-dressed, middle-aged man stood at the end of the checkout counter and bagged groceries as the clerk rang them up. He was smiling, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do. I didn’t ask, but I wondered. Was he was paying forward a kindness done for him in his past? What if he was doing community service as part of a sentence for, say, shoplifting? There was a character with possibilities.

On another day I got in line behind a young woman whose shopping cart was piled high with loaves of bread, bags of candy and small toys. I asked. She said she was shopping for a pre-school center. She didn’t seem rushed or pushed or unhappy with her lot in life. I could imagine her surrounded by a gaggle of wiggling, giggling children.

I remembered an interview of a pre-school teacher I did during my newspaper days. The teacher lined up her little charges to leave the building for recess, and each child placed a hand on the wall. Apparently it kept them in an orderly line, preventing a stampede.

My mind wandered back to a novel I read about India, with a scene where a widow to be burned alive on her husband’s funeral pyre swiped her hand against a wall to leave a record. The practice was a Hindu ritual known as suttee or sati, and has been outlawed for years, although occasional reports surface. It doesn’t take much to stir the imagination.

The characters in my book(s) come in bits and pieces, from people I have known, friends, family members, as well as bits and pieces of myself. They become fiction but have some basis in reality.

Novelist Charles Dickens wrote some of the most memorable characters in the English language. Years ago I read a quote from Dickens that I never forgot but never could find again. In essence, he said he found his characters, especially his villains, within himself, for there is something of all of us in each of us.

Years ago, a friend bragged to me about his handsome four-year-old son. He said the little boy “has eyes like ripe olives.” I loved that image, and have used it twice. The first time was in an article I wrote about a room service attendant I met when I visited Goa, a small bit of paradise on India’s Malabar Coast overlooking the Arabian Sea. My hotel was the Cidade de Goa.

Goa belonged to Portugal until 1961 and the hotel’s design suggested a 16th century Portuguese village. Public areas were open, with strategically placed shrubs and pillars. Small flights of steps fanned out to guest rooms. The design was magical at night with corridors and courtyards illuminated.

Here’s an excerpt from an article I wrote in 1991 for The Selma (California) Enterprise:

(Quote)
If there is anything to be learned from travel, it is that ordinary people everywhere are much the same, whatever their color, language or religion. We all want a chance at life, a niche of our own, a dream to pursue. We want to savor the "hot taste of life, lifting green cups and gold at the great feast," as the Hindu poet Bilhana wrote a thousand years ago.

In Goa, on Indian's Malabar Coast south of Bombay, I checked into a hotel so new that workmen were still hammering it together. In the lobby bar, a movie on videocassette was blasting away. It was a war epic called "The Iron Cross," starring James Coburn, in English and in color.

The boy who brought a pot of tea to my room had eyes like ripe olives. He was wearing western-made clothes and he wanted to talk. He wanted to know where I was from, where I had been, where I was going. I wished desperately for a map, but settled for drawing pictures on a notepad.

He said that he had always wanted to travel abroad but probably would never have enough money. I assured him that everything is possible. He said that he was a good Hindu. He didn't drink, smoke or eat meat, but he had one addiction—foreign films. He watched foreign films so he could learn about the rest of the world.

Gunfire from the movie below kept drifting up to the room. A fine foreign film to teach a good Hindu boy about the world, I thought.

His yearning was palpable. In the olive-eyed boy, I saw the dreamy-eyed girl I once was. In the red clay hills of Oklahoma, or on the sandy beaches of the Malabar Coast, it is always the same, that yearning for the "hot taste of life."

Early on the morning of my departure, the olive-eyed boy brought me tea and toast, lingering only for a moment. I had to catch a plane to Bangalore, and it was a long ride to the airport. He wished me well and then demanded, "You will remember me?" I said that I would, and I do.
(End Quote)

I’ve never had occasion to use that boy in a work of fiction but I used the image again when I wrote ABSINTHE OF MALICE, my first Penny Mackenzie mystery. The police chief romances Penny’s mother and I describe the chief this way:

“I had to admit that he was a sweet guy, solid as a brick, big face with a cleft chin, eyes like ripe olives, dark hair speckled with gray, its natural waves wet combed and hand-shaped to form a modest pompadour. So he was a bit of a chunk. Who knew what passions lurked within that chunk?”

I have almost forgotten but I think the wet-combed, hand-shaped pompadour came from an old boyfriend. I can tell you the year and the place where I heard about eyes like ripe olives. The image is burned into my memory.

ABSINTHE OF MALICE is Book #1 in my series-to-be, and I’m half way through Book #2, working title METAPHOR FOR MURDER. Here are the loglines for both.

ABSINTHE OF MALICE, published in 2008 by Krill Press:
“It’s just another Labor Day weekend in a small California town until discovery of a skeleton in a cotton field leads to murder—and romance.”
An extensive excerpt can be read at Google Books --
http://tinyurl.com/23pojdm.

METAPHOR FOR MURDER, a work in progress:
“Small town reporter Penny Mackenzie tracks an offbeat Christmas story and finds herself in the middle of a murder and the mysterious desecration of an old Chinese cemetery.” Stay tuned …

My thanks to Mary for inviting me to be her guest blogger today. Happy reading to all!

Pat Browning

Review on: The Man in the Rockefeller Suit by Mark Seal

The Man in the Rockefeller Suit By Mark Seal

A real-life Talented Mr. Ripley, the unbelievable thirty-year run of a shape-shifting con man. 

The story of Clark Rockefeller is a stranger-than-fiction twist on the classic American success story of the self-made man-because Clark Rockefeller was totally made up. The career con man who convincingly passed himself off as Rockefeller was born in a small village in Germany. At seventeen, obsessed with getting to America, he flew into the country on dubious student visa documents and his journey of deception began.

Over the next thirty years, boldly assuming a series of false identities, he moved up the social ladder through exclusive enclaves on both coasts-culminating in a stunning twelve-year marriage to a rising star businesswoman with a Harvard MBA who believed she'd wed a Rockefeller.

The imposter charmed his way into exclusive clubs and financial institutions-working on Wall Street, showing off an extraordinary art collection-until his marriage ended and he was arrested for kidnapping his daughter, which exposed his past of astounding deceptions as well as a connection to the bizarre disappearance of a California couple in the mid-1980s.

The story of The Man in the Rockefeller Suit is a probing and cinematic exploration of an audacious imposer-and a man determined to live the American dream by any means necessary.

Review by James Hoggan

I very much enjoyed the exploits of Christian Gerhartsreiter/Christopher Chichester/Clark Rockefeller.  I felt like I was riding shotgun to Mark Seal as he investigated this charlatan.  How could anyone be duped by this man?  Could they really believe he was who he said he was?  Or was he just a great conversation piece and the life of the party?  From beginning to end I kept wondering if he would get caught in his sham and what on earth could he do next?  Would his own arrogance be his undoing?

I’m not the type to reread much of anything because there are so many good books to read.  This book could easily come up in conversation and I would recommend it to others, if it came up in conversation.

3

Buy Amazon

Barnes and Noble 

Review on: The Seance by Heather Graham

THE SEANCE 
Heather Graham
MIRA BOOKS
ISBN-13:978-0-7783-2916-9 | ISBN-10:0-7783-2916-X

A channel for the dead—a warning to the living

A chill falls over Christina Hardy’s housewarming party when talk turns to a recent murder that has all the hallmarks of the so-called “Interstate-Killer” murders from fifteen years before. To lighten the mood, the guests drag out an old Ouija board for a little spooky fun…and that’s when things become truly terrifying.

Summoned by the Ouija board, the restless spirit of Beau Kidd, the lead detective—and chief suspect—on the original case, seeks Christina’s help: the latest killings aren’t copycat crimes, and he wants his name cleared. Back in the real world, cop-turned-writer Jett Braden is skeptical of
Christina’s ghostly encounters, but his police sources confirm all the intimate details of the case—her otherworldly source is reliable, and the body count is growing.

The spirits are right. The Interstate Killer is still out there, and Christina’s life is hanging in the balance between this world and the next.

Review:
Who am I to review the Great Heather Graham you ask? Well I'm a dedicated reader of Ms. Grahams. I remember reading her stories: One Wore Blue / July 1991, One Wore Gray/April 1992, And One Rode West /November 1992 One of my ALL time favorite series. The list goes on and on. I believe that's a review in itself don't you? I read her long before that even. In fact, now I've looked up my favorite series, guess what I checked they're available to download yup I'm going to revisit.

Okay on to my review of The Seance, Christina was a strong women, not easily intimidated. But Ms. Graham led us on a merry chase, each time I thought I had it figured out, another bend in the road. I really enjoyed this story. The only thing holding it back from a perfect 5 is the fact I did figure out who. Still even after that there was a bit of a twist. So if you think you know, think again...

I give this a 4 1/2

You can purchase all of Ms. Graham's books from links on her web site http://www.eheathergraham.com or from Amazon 

Beth Anderson is in the Garden

Today we have Beth Anderson in the garden. Everyone please fill your plates with refreshments, pour yourself a tall cool glass of your choice of beverage and find a nice shady spot to relax.

Mary:  So Beth, please tell us a bit about yourself.

Beth: When I discovered one of the 2011 Murder We Write bloggers was going to be Mary Martinez, I went back and took another look at her lovely website and blog.  This time it registered that from time to time she shares great recipes with her followers, and as one who is constantly printing out recipes because gourmet cooking is one of my favorite things, after writing, of course, I asked her if she’d like to hear about my search for the Perfect Mac and Cheese recipe. She said yes, so here’s the background:

Last fall, when I was visiting my daughter and son-in-law in Washington State, one of our dinners out was at a small but well-known restaurant called Geppetto's Italian Bistro in Yakima, Washington, smack in the middle of  Washington Wine Country. A truly wonderful gourmet restaurant, even their pizzas were paper-thin delicate and almost too beautiful to eat, although I did. My daughter ordered the Mac and Cheese she’d heard so much about and gave me a taste of it. I knew in that moment that I had entered the closest trip to paradise you can find here on earth. It was like no other macaroni and cheese I’d ever tasted. But what exactly had they put in it to give up that elusive perfection? We talked about it off and on for weeks after I got home and neither of us even came close to knowing what it was.

I wanted that recipe. Had to have it.  Would have it if I had to tear the whole Internet apart to find it.
I searched everyplace I knew of to search. No author or mystery buff ever looked for a clue like I did for whatever was in that beautiful, multicolored, delectably creamy sauce. I looked in my own cookbooks. No luck, not even Julia or Jacques had that one. I’d know it when I found it, I was certain of that.  I knew it was just a matter of one, maybe two things that set it apart.

I was getting desperate, unwilling to give up The Search when one afternoon, after staring at my computer for a while, it finally hit me. If anyone would have it, if it wasn’t  a top secret recipe locked up in the National Archives, Bon Appetit would. Mentally smacking myself upside the head because I hadn’t thought of them first, I began my search in their online recipe files and it wasn’t long—in looking for clues time—before I saw The One. It had to be. HAD to be! Now, I had always known about nutmeg in many cheese dishes, and Gruyere cheese in some of them. But who would ever think of also adding two teaspoons of fresh chopped thyme leaves and Brie cheese?  You could not taste the thyme but you knew something was there. And who ever heard of adding Brie to mac and cheese?

Well, Bon Appetit did.

I made it that same night after a hasty trip to the store to collect everything I needed, which actually was most all of it because Brie never lasts long in my house and neither does Gruyere. I actually tore up the entire kitchen trying to make it the way the recipe said and learned one thing. Unless you love grated knuckles, either grate all the cheese before you even start the rest of the recipe, or have a food processor handy. Either way, you’ll still have to cut up the Brie by hand.  Do it all first or you and your kitchen will be sorry.  I had pots and pans and bowls stacked up three feet, I’m not kidding you, and all because I didn’t grate/prepare the cheese first. So for your gastronomic pure pleasure, here it is:

Cheesemonger’s Mac and Cheese
8 servings, unless you’re me. Then, six. Maybe.
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups coarsely grated Gruyere cheese
1-1/2 cups coarsely grated sharp cheddar cheese, about 6 ounces
1-1/2 cups diced rindless Brie (cut from a 1 pound wedge)
5 Tablespoons unsalted good butter, divided
¼ cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
¾ teaspoon nutmeg (scant, more will overpower)
4 cups whole milk (fat free will never do it for this dish)
1-3/4 cups fresh breadcrumbs made from crustless French bread
1 pound Penne pasta
8 teaspoons whipping cream (if making 1 day ahead, and you can)
Their Tip: It’s easiest to remove the rind and dice the Brie if you put it in the freezer for 15 minutes to firm it up first. My tip: Keep the rind, it’ll have Brie on it and it’s great on appetizer crackers another day.

Preparation:
Grate and mix all cheeses. Set aside 1 cup for topping; cover the one cup and chill. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and stir until mixture turns a golden brown, about 4 minutes. Add thyme and nutmeg. Gradually whisk in milk.  Simmer until thickened and smooth, stirring often, about 4 minutes. Add cheeses from large bowl.  Stir together until melted and smooth.
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add breadcrumbs, toss. Stir until golden, about 2 minutes. Transfer to plate. (This, by the way, is one of the secrets, it adds a lot of beautiful buttery flavor and crunch.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cook pasta in boiling salted water until tender but firm to bite. Drain. Transfer to large bowl. Pour cheese sauce over, toss. Either pour it into a large capacity oblong bowl or divide among eight 1-1/4 cup custard cups. Sprinkle with the remaining one cup of cheese. (DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover all with foil and chill. When you uncover them drizzle each with 1 teaspoon cream. Cover with foil and bake 15 minutes. (My tip: Made in a large pan, it takes closer to 20/25 minutes.) Uncover. Sprinkle partially baked chilled or just assembled cups with breadcrumbs.  Bake pasta until beginning to bubble and tops are golden, about 20 minutes, longer if it’s one big dish.
That’s it!  All you need with it is a nice tossed salad and a fairly light dessert because this cheese dish is extremely rich and filling.  And if you’d like to pair it with a nice white wine, try Alexandria Nicole 2009 Shepherds Mark.  You get it in Washington Wine Country or also online.  Bon Appetit!


Author Bio
Beth Anderson is a multi-published, award winning author in several genres including romance and mainstream crime fiction. A full time author, she lives in a Chicago, Illinois suburb. She has appeared on Chicago's WGN Morning Show, The ABC Evening News, as well as numerous other radio and cable television shows. She has guest lectured at Purdue University and many libraries and writers' conferences. She loves music, particularly jazz. Her website and blog are both at http://www.bethanderson-hotclue.com
Links to my author pages on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:
http://www.amazon.com/Beth-Anderson/e/B000APMRR4
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Raven-Talks-Back/Beth-Anderson/e/2940012515407/?itm=1&USRI=beth+anderson
Website and blog: http://www.bethanderson-hotclue.com
Publisher's Website: Krill Press http://www.krillpress.com/books.html

RAVEN TALKS BACK ISBN #: 9780982144398
Book blurb for RAVEN TALKS BACK by Beth Anderson:
Raven Morressey is living the good life. Nice home, husband, three healthy children, and it's finally summertime, when life is again lovely in Valdez, Alaska. All this explodes one morning when builders, digging up her back yard, uncover a recently murdered headless, handless female body covered with scarification—hundreds of colored designs cut into the skin to resemble tattoos. As if this isn’t enough, where the corpse’s head should have been is a large rock with a face painted on that resembles an Alaska Native mask.
Raven's eight year old son, Timmy, is the first one to see the body and is suddenly unable to walk or respond in any way. On that same day, Raven hears the voice of her long dead Athabascan father coming from Timmy, who is unaware of the ancient hunting chants he sings in his sleep and the words he suddenly speaks in Raven’s native tongue—a language he does not know.

Jack O’Banion, Valdez’s Chief of Police for the past few years, faced with his first murder case in Valdez, begins his official investigation. Everywhere he goes he finds nothing but deception. The town seems to have closed into itself and nobody will tell him anything that might help him solve this case. Then one murder quickly morphs into two, then three, and the Alaska State Troopers are hot on his back to find the killer now.
Between Raven’s voices and the visions she develops, and Jack, whose career as well as his contented life in Valdez are on the line, they both feel they have to find the killer and restore some sanity to the town—not to mention their own lives, which are quickly unraveling out of control.

Thank you, Beth, for joining us today. Your recipe sounds yummy, I can't wait to try it. Please drop by anytime.

Ted Saves the World Blog Tour and Giveaway

Good morning everyone, today I have a guest blogger, Bryan Cohen. Pull up a chair, pour yourself a glass of your preferred beverage, fill up you plate with goodies, and sit back and enjoy!

Building a World
By Bryan Cohen

The other day, I could not help but be drawn into a Harry Potter marathon on ABC Family. While I’d read all the books and seen each of the movies separately, I’d never watched two consecutive movies back-to-back. Accomplishing this lazy Saturday afternoon feat made me realize one of the things I love the most about J.K. Rowling’s work. She has gone to great lengths to create an astounding, complex and majorly interesting world.

A universe in which magic is a key ingredient is a world of surprise. Swords appear out of hats, overachievers can take two classes at once using time travel, and dastardly villains can leave pieces of their souls lying around. Literally anything can happen!

Before I read all of the Harry Potter books to impress a girl (true story), I likewise loved the open-ended world of Joss Whedon’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” For those of you who haven’t seen the show, it’s not just vampires and teen angst. Because the main town of Sunnydale, Calif., is located on a hellmouth, a gold mine of mystical energy, all sorts of evil creatures pop in and out of the show’s mythology. It’s a major achievement of the writing to create a situation where the reader/watcher is drawn into the world and is willing to believe all of the crazy stuff that goes on inside of it.

It is this world building that I was most excited about in starting my Ted Saves the World series. In the first book, the main character Ted finds out that there are a near infinite number of universes with Earth as one of the main battlegrounds of a war between very powerful creatures. As the series goes on, readers will learn that these different dimensions lead to very strange and unusual beings travelling to Earth on a regular basis.

While I can only hope to reach the benchmark of a fictional world as set by authors like J.K. Rowling and Joss Whedon, I am grateful to have such wonderful role models to live up to.

--

Description of Ted Saves the World (Available for just $0.99):
A possessed cheerleader. A cursed gang of criminals. Mysterious telekinetic powers. An angry ex-girlfriend in gym class? One second, sophomore in high school Ted endures his first breakup in his favorite place in town. The next, a mysterious blue light turns him into a worldwide superhero sensation for taking down a posse of grisly murderers. As his views on YouTube increase and his friend Dhiraj tries to capitalize on the marketing potential, his dangers increase as well when a presumed-dead cheerleader begins taking a personal interest. Can Ted survive his first week as a superhero in the public eye? This novella is the first taste in a series of full-length novels about the adventures of Ted Finley and Erica LaPlante. The book is also available on Barnes & Noble and Smashwords for $0.99.

Giveaway:
Bryan Cohen is giving away four $25 Amazon gift cards, one for each week of his month long blog tour. To enter, simply comment with your e-mail address (feel free to substitute @ with (at) or other tricks to stop spammers from getting it). Bryan will draw the four names at the end of the tour, picking one entrant at random from each week’s set of blog posts. Entries will be counted through Monday, August 15th, 2011. Enter on as many sites as you want, follow the tour at Build Creative Writing Ideas. If Ted reaches the Top 100 on Amazon at any point during the tour, a fifth $25 card will be added to the giveaway.

Biography:
Bryan Cohen is a writer, actor and comedian from Dresher, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005 with degrees in English and Dramatic Art and a minor in Creative Writing. He has written seven books including 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts: Ideas for Blogs, Scripts, Stories and More. Contact Bryan through his Ted Saves the World blog, his Build Creative Writing Ideas site or Twitter.

Thank you, Bryan for joining us in Mary's Garden today, we've really enjoyed it. Please come by and visit often.

Healthy Grilled Burgers

I have the BBQ warming, so when I'm ready here, I'll serve. Everyone find a spot in the garden, a glass of your favorite beverage. Since it's burgers, you may want to grab a beer. However, they are turkey burgers so a nice crisp white wine will complement also.

Turkey = Healthy, but doesn't have to = tasteless and boring. Here's a great recipe, and you can serve on or w/o a bun. A ear of corn and a salad.

Healthy Turkey Burgers 4 servings
1 lb Ground Turkey
1/2 Jalapeno chopped
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/8 cup Red Bell Pepper chopped
1/8 cup Green Bell Pepper Chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/4 tsp Sage
1/2 tsp Thyme
1/2 tsp Rosemary
1/2 tsp Marjoram
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Crushed Chili Pepper
Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix thoroughly (I use my hands to blend it) then form into 1/4 lb patties and grill on the BBQ.

1 Patty - Calories 162, Total Fat 7g, Saturated Fat 2g, Cholesterol 65mg, Sodium 85mg, Carbohydrate 3g, Dietary Fiber 1g, Sugars 1g, Protein 22g. Vitamin 6%, Vitamin C 20%, Calcium 1% and  Iron 13%

So go forth and enjoy!

Good morning everyone, welcome to our next installment of the Mystery We Write, Blog Tour. Today our guest is Anne K. Albert. As always, there are refreshments for all. Pull up a seat or settle on the grass so we may begin.

Mary: Anne, let’s begin with contact information. Please tell everyone where we can find you. Web site, social media, blog etc.

Anne: Hi Mary, it’s great to be here!
Readers can visit my website: http://www.AnneKAlbert.com
My main blog: http://anne-k-albert.blogspot.com
My MRM blog: http://muriel-reeves-mysteries.blogspot.com
I’m also on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AnneKAlbert
And Twitter: http://twitter.com/AnneKAlbert

Mary: Please tell us about you growing up, where are your roots?

Anne: I grew up on the outskirts of a small, rural community where everyone knew everyone else…and their business. My ancestors came from Ireland during the Potato Famine of the 1840s. I grew up in a large, extended family where everyone played the piano, violin, or ‘spoons’, but somehow I never inherited that musical ability. Family gatherings were frequent and the perfect excuse to dance a jig. I had no idea how Celtic my upbringing was until many, many years later.

Mary: Do you know what you chose the Mystery/Suspense genre? Or did it pick you? Did your growing up years color your choice?

Anne: I suppose it was a little of both. The first books I read as a series were of Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and Trixie Belden. From there I discovered Agatha Christie and Erle Stanley Gardner. I’ve always loved a cozy mystery.

Mary: Everyone comfortable? Please feel free to refill your glass whenever you’d like. And don’t miss out on the stuff mushrooms. Ready to continue? Anne, I see that you like to write in series, why?

Anne: It just feels like a natural thing to do, really! Returning to a story setting, visiting with characters who’ve appeared in a previous book, and introducing new characters is just a whole lot of fun for me as an author. I think readers like that kind of familiarity as well.

Mary: What was the first book you remember that you read over and over? Was it a mystery?

Anne: Actually, it was a Tom and Jerry picture book. Jerry and his friends stole cupcakes from the human’s kitchen, and of course, Tom wanted to stop them. I can remember the images of those delicious cupcakes in vivid color. The only mystery to me is why I’ve hung onto that particular image all these years!

Mary: What advice would you give to someone who is about to set pen to paper for the first sentence? Or finger to keyboard, as the case may be.

Anne: Just have fun. Go with it. Finish the story. Then start another. Writers learn by writing.

Mary: Do you recommend that someone new to the industry belong to a writing organization? If so which one/ones, and why?

Anne: Oh, definitely. Belonging to a professional organization is a must. Taking that first step shows you’re serious about writing. I highly recommend Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.

Mary: Okay, Anne, it’s time to get down and personal. No I’m not asking about secrets in your closet—though if you want to share… What I want to know is, what does Anne do for fun, enjoyment or relaxing when she doesn’t have her writer hat on.

Anne: I love to travel and discover new places, but I rarely stay put in one place very long, and hardly ever return for a second visit. There are just too many wonderful places to see before I die.

I could very well be a nomad, or a full-time RVer (even though I’ve never set foot in one!) I’ve crisscrossed America many, many times, and still have so much more to see.  Plus, touring Ireland is on my bucket list.

Mary: Is there anything you’d like to share with us that I haven’t thought to ask?

Anne: I’d like to say thank you for featuring me, Mary, it’s been so much fun. I’d like to invite readers to drop by my Muriel Reeves Mysteries blog http://muriel-reeves-mysteries.blogspot.com and leave a comment mentioning this interview, I’ll enter their name in a draw to win a pdf copy of FRANK, INCENSE AND MURIEL. I’ll announce the winner at the conclusion of the tour, sometime during the week of August 22, 2011.

Mary: Thank you, Anne, for joining us today in the Garden. I’ve had a blast and I’m sure everyone else has also.

Anne: It was my pleasure, Mary. Thank you!

Concerts with a bang!

Yes we went to another concert last night. This one was at the baseball park. We'd never attended one there before, and our seats were awesome. We were a bit worried about the dark, no black, clouds over head. Luckily it blew for a bit, spattered us with rain, but by concert time everything had settled in for a nice evening.

Blues Traveler's started off with the intro from Star Wars.  And rocked from there on! I recorded a bit, you can list if you'd like.

It may be a bit loud. Then we had the longest wait, or so it seemed before Chris came out. The seats were pretty good, there was no one directly in front of us, and we had a bit of a ledge. Used it as a table. But I still like Red Butte Gardens as a music vendor better.

Finally have much anticipation our boy came up. Chris Isaak, what's not to like?

And of course I got a bit of him. This is when they're just coming on stage so there is a bit of drama and build up. Then of course I enjoyed the concert and didn't take any more pictures or video's. Again watch the volume.

But that wasn't all, as Chris and his band left the stage the fireworks began. What a display. I took a few pictures and then put the camera way-way too soon!

On a whole, the evening was a 5 1/2! 

I know everything we see is a 5 1/2, but hey I'm a Concert Ho!

Continue Concert Ho Reviews

Continuing our concerts we saw Sheryl Crow at Red Butte Gardens. As usual it was awesome. We arrived at 9 am to sit in line. Chat with everyone else crazy enough to get there that early. There were some who'd come the night before to camp out. We're so not that dedicated. Our friends came by on and off during the day. Kris brought much needed food at lunch. I read on my iPad, relaxed and got a sunburn.

We had several friends meet us there. The opening act was okay, but I can't even remember his name, if that's any indication--not good. Then Sheryl came on, and it rocked from there. I don't think any of us sat in our chairs after that. There was dancing, and singing. As you can see in this video. (it's loud you may want to turn it down)

All in all I believe I'll give this concert a

5 +

Vivian Zabel is today's visitor in the garden

Okay so what happened to spring? The garden has been cold and wet. Now it’s hot and dry and miserable. Find some shade to slip under and welcome Vivian Zabel. There is ice cold beverages for everyone, please help yourselves.

Mary: Before we begin on the writing, tell us a bit about Vivian the person. Where you grew up, etc.

Vivian: I was born under the flight path at Randolph AFB, Texas. However, I grew up all over the world. Even though I started school in San Antonio, Texas, second grade found me on Guam. Third grade I attended two schools in Enid, Oklahoma. By the time I graduated from high school in Limestone, Maine, I had 22 school changes, including almost two years in Morocco. For the past thirty-some years, I’ve lived in the Edmond, Oklahoma area

I’ve always been a story teller since I could talk. I entertained my siblings and friends with stories. When I learned to write, I began to put the stories and poems on paper.

I taught English and writing for nearly 30 years, with poetry, articles, and short stories published along the way. I attended writing workshops, classes, and clinics every year – not only to be a better writing teacher, but also to hone my own skills. After “graduating” (retiring) in 2001, I had time to write longer works, and my books began.

Mary: I see you wear many hats, not just an adult mystery writer. Tell us about all that you do, included 4RV publishing.

Vivian: What all do I do? I edit other people’s writing; I do some book design work, but little; I have final say over what 4RV publishes; I care for a disabled husband; I try to care for a disabled me; I travel to book festivals; I head a writing group; and then I squeeze in some writing every chance I get. My brain is always “writing” even if not my fingers.

4RV Publishing keeps me rather busy, and much of what I have to do has little to do with writing or book, except maybe accounting books. I had no idea how busy the business would keep me. Other than keeping books, the hardest part of the publishing business is rejecting manuscripts, knowing that someone will be hurt. That’s why when we do reject, suggestions go with the “We’re sorry but” message that will help the writer improve his/her work.

Mary: Tell us a bit about your hobbies—other than writing. Do you travel? Sing? Sew? We want to know it all.

Vivian: I used to sing in the church choir, but can’t stand long enough or climb the steps now. I read, read, read, read. I attend as many of my grandchildren’s ball games and activities as possible, and great-grandchildren’s, too.

At one time, my husband and I traveled every summer. We’ve covered most of the United States, including Alaska, and some of Canada.

Let’s take a stretch your legs break. Pour some more ice tea if you need some.

Mary: Everyone has something they’d like to do before they pass on to new adventures in the great beyond. However, is there something on your bucket list you need to do?

Vivian: Other than have enough time to finish the 30 books still in my head? One thing at the top of my list is to have all of my family together at least one more time, and I don’t mean at my husband’s or my funeral. I want to see all my children, their spouses, my grandchildren, and my great-grandchildren together with my husband and me, at least one more time.

Mary: Do you have a favorite food and would you like to share a recipe with us today?

Vivian: My favorite food any more is something someone else fixed. *laugh* One recipe that is soooo good and sooo easy is slow-cooker lasagna.

1. brown ground beef (and onions if desired) and add to favorite spaghetti sauce.
2. cover bottom of cooker with thin layer of sauce and about 1/8 cup water
3. place a layer of lasagna noodles on bottom of sauce layer, break into sizes that fit if necessary.
4. add layer of grated mozzarella cheese
5. add layer of noodles
6. add layer of sauce
7. add layer of cheese
8. at last, add a layer of noodles and then top with cheese
9. cook on slow heat for 6 – 8 hours.

Mary: I love Lasagna, I'll need to try it. What do you tell young writers who come to you for advice?

Vivian: First learn your craft and read as much as possible. Read good books. Read bad books. Learn the difference between the two. Don’t be afraid of criticism, learn from it. Know correct grammar and use it. Continue learning how to write even as you write. Don’t give up.

Mary: Please share with us a bit about Stolen.

Vivian: When my ex-son-in-law “stolen” two of my grandchildren, I had to do something with the pain, frustration, agony, and hopelessness. So, I began to write, giving all that emotion to characters, who became real people to me. It’s not a true story, because I fictionalized it, but the emotions and tears and heartaches are true.

About the book: When the joy is ruthlessly ripped from Torri’s life, she has two choices: dwell in torment and regret, or pick up the pieces and live. However, when a nightmare invades her world, leaving her battered and torn, she doesn’t know if she can continue – her children are stolen.

Vivian’s blog: http://vivianzabel.blogspot.com
Vivian’s website: http://VivianZabel.com
4RV Publishing   http://4rvpublishingllc.com
Stolen  http://Stolen.yolasite.com
Orders (other than from bookstores, online suppliers)  http://4rvpublishingcatalog.yolasite.com

Thank you, Vivian, for joining us in the garden today. I hope you come back to visit often.

Happy Fourth of July!

Good Morning! And happy birthday to the US of A! I hope all of you have a wonderful day, whether you live in the states or not. In honor of the holiday I am going to give away a signed copy of Romance and Misconceptions. 

All you need to do is, leave a comment about your holiday plans, or whatever you're doing today. What you are grateful for. Whether you live in the US or not, comment for a chance to win.

We are celebrating our day in our small (which is growing every minute) town Magna, Utah. We begin the day in the park at the Lion's Club breakfast. Then we gather our chairs and find a spot for the parade. After the guys are golfing and in the evening BBQ at Papa and Nana's house. (That's me and my hubby) I love this holiday. I grew up in a small town and this brings back so many fun memories. Be safe on your travels or activities. And thanks to all the service men and women!

Don't forget to comment!