CHECK OUT THE FOODIE FUN IN THE COMMENTS!
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Just go to the comments and share any of the following:
- Foodie excerpt from your book (300 words or less, please!) – don’t forget a buy-link!
- Teaser and link to your food-theme blog post
- Title and Buy-Link to your Cookbook or other food-theme book
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FOOD FIGHT!! Come play with your food or ours! http://bit.ly/_foodfight #foodiefriday
Don’t forget to check out the tasty tidbits your fellow food-lovers are sharing!
BONUS ROUND for foodie authors – pop over to my Facebook page and add one (1) FOODIE Book Cover/buylink in the comments of the FOOD FIGHT POST!
I’ll throw the first pie with an excerpt from A TASTE OF YOU!
He picked up the little ball and inhaled, looking for the first clue. The fresh tang of citrus hit him first, followed by a more subtle hint of aromatic spice. Not ginger or nutmeg, something with a slight floral bouquet. Cardamom. Definitely. Now the citrus—not orange or lemon. Lime? The filling had a beautiful blush tint, but that didn’t mean anything. Grace had been known to cheat and color it.
Time for a taste, and he would get only one chance. The whole pastry barely made a bite. He let the delicate morsel dissolve slowly on his tongue, enjoying the cool cream and trying to nail down that elusive citrus flavor. He had a good palette, but, among the crew at Ransom, that was like saying he could breathe air. Garrett won this game every time, but Carlo was going to have to guess.
…More about A TASTE OF YOU
What a great idea for a fun Friday post! Here’s something for foodies: do you know what Londoners mean when they’re “Going for a Ruby”? Check out my post on the UK’s surprising national dish! http://helenafairfax.com/2014/11/22/going-for-a-ruby-or-why-i-love-the-curry-capital-of-britain/
I look forward to more comments in the Friday Food Fight. Have a fun weekend!
Learned something!
This is an excerpt from Incendiary where they are eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Naked.
Jake smiled at Chelsea. She sat in his kitchen consuming a sandwich, completely naked, as if she did it every day.
“What?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
The doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it,” she offered.
Jake clamped a hand on her wrist. “You’ll do no such thing.” The idea of her answering his door, naked, made a wave of possessiveness come over him.
She giggled, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
“You’ll get dressed first,” he demanded.
“Uh, Jake,” she said as he stood. “My clothes are by the front door.”
He came back and handed her the clothes as the bell rang a second time. “Get dressed before you come out here.”
He heard her giggles as he walked to the front door. Upon opening it, he found Melissa Jensen on his porch. Her grim face and dour suit suggested this wasn’t a social call.
“Melissa? Come in.” Jake pushed open his screen door for her.
“Hi, Jake. Chelsea’s brother told me I could find her here.”
Jake pointed to a chair and Melissa sat. “She’ll be right out.” He cleared his throat. “She had to…uh, she’ll be right out. Can I get you anything?”
“No, thanks. Please sit,” Melissa said.
“Why do I think I should stand? What’s wrong?” Jake asked.
Looking uncomfortable, she said, “I’d rather say it once.”
Jake nodded. Chelsea appeared at that moment.
“Melissa?” she said, the puzzlement clear in her eyes.
The agent stood, obviously not relishing the task ahead of her. “Chelsea, I guess I should just come out and say it.”
Chelsea looked at Jake then back to Melissa. “What?”
“Tim’s been killed.”
“What?” Chelsea said. “How?” She sat down on the couch as if her legs had melted.
Melissa seemed to be choosing her words. “He was transferred to Centre County Jail the other day. They were going to hold him there until we could take him to a federal penitentiary.”
Buy here: http://amzn.com/B009AZLZFA
Thanks for letting me do this.
This is a scene from my new sweet contemporary Christmas story, A Romance for Christmas.
—
“He’s a good man, my Scott. This last year has been hard on him. First Mary being sick, and then–” Frances took off her apron. “Enough of the past. Today’s been good. I was worried how he’d handle Christmas. I haven’t seen him this happy in a long time.”
Before Dara could think what to say, the men came back inside with the girls. A flurry of activity followed, with coats being hung up and hands being washed.
When they sat down at the table to eat, it felt natural to hold hands with Scott on one side and Christine on the other during the blessing. Scott’s father did the honors, and it was short, earnest, and thankful. Afterward, he clapped his hands like a boy.
“Now, who’s hungry?” He stood and set about carving the turkey.
For a small family, there was enough food to feed two armies. Turkey, stuffing, both mashed and sweet potatoes, fresh cranberry relish, green bean casserole (Dara’s favorite), beets, zucchini, and of course, melt-in-your-mouth biscuits and gravy. For once, Christine didn’t turn up her nose at the beets, probably because Susan took a big helping.
Dinner passed all too quickly. The food was heavenly, and the turkey every bit as moist and amazing as Scott had sworn. By the end, both girls started dozing in their chairs.
Dara leaned back, so full she couldn’t have forced another bite. “Looks like I need to take my little one home and put her in bed.”
“No, you can’t go home yet.” Scott stood and pushed in his chair. “We haven’t had pie. We can put the girls on Susan’s bed, and after their nap, we’ll have dessert.”
She swallowed, fighting joyful tears at not having to leave this warm, loving haven. Dara nodded, and got up to help him.
Find your copy here: A Romance for Christmas
I’ll play! This is an excerpt from my upcoming release that is available for pre-order, PINCH OF ME, DASH OF YOU: http://ow.ly/FpYi2
“Good, you’re awake. I was getting ready to make eggs. Want some?”
“Absolutely.” She accepted the orange juice he offered her. “Can I help with anything?” “You can help yourself to coffee if you want. Other than that, just sit and relax.” He pulled
her into his arms and kissed her.
She pressed a hand to his chest. A light dusting of hair between his pecs tickled her fingers.
It ran down the length of him like a little trail leading her to the good stuff below.
He kissed her long and hard, stealing her breath as he did. She dropped her hands to his
waist for a moment before snaking around behind him to sneak a feel of his rear. She gasped finding no boxers or briefs. She couldn’t resist giving him a little squeeze.
He pulled back enough to look at her, the hint of a smirk playing on his lips. “Good thing this apron is made of heavy material or I’d have some serious tenting happening.”
“You’re the one who didn’t wear underwear so really, you have no one to blame but yourself.”
“I couldn’t possibly blame you and your roaming hands.” He slipped his hand up under the t-shirt she’d swiped from his dresser. “Or your naked body hiding beneath my t-shirt. Like that alone isn’t enough to make me rock hard.”
“At least I put something on.” She groped him for another minute then stepped away to pour a cup of coffee.
“I did too. It’s called an apron.”
Great idea! This scene is from Man of Her Dreams, Sally and Leslie are eating chili dogs when a confession unlike any you’ve ever heard comes forth.
Three days passed and Leslie had yet to hear a word, much less catch a glimpse, of Jay. Finally, she called Sally and the two met for lunch.
A teenage waitress in roller skates glided over to the car. Her short skirt billowed around lean, tanned legs. The orange and black cuff on her tube socks read Foamy’s.
“Chili-dogs, fries, and two root beers,” she said, chomping on a wad of gum. She hooked the red tray on the car door window panel. “That’s six-fifty.”
The girl balanced the tray with the confidence of someone who’d been doing this for years, although judging from her age; more than likely only a few months.
Leslie handed her the money and then passed the plastic basket of food and drink to Sally. Caramel colored suds dripped over the mug of icy root beer.
Sally licked the foam off the side before setting the glass on the dashboard. A foamy mustache lined her lip as she took a bite of the hotdog, chili-sauce filling the corners of her mouth. Sally chewed enthusiastically stopping only long enough to blot her lips with a napkin, swallowed, then chased it down with another swig of root beer.
“How do you do it, Sally? How can you stand not knowing where Cooper’s at or what he’s up to? Doesn’t it drive you crazy?”
“Crazy for sure. Every time I open the mail. Bills, bills, bills. He’s leaving a paper trail of debt a mile long.”
“What’d you mean?”
“I get unpaid phone bills, insurance cancellations and a few weeks ago I get this bill from some hospital in Corpus Kristi for their emergency room. Seems Will showed up needing their services.”
“Was he hurt?”
Sally pursed her mouth and narrowed her eyes. Slowly she wet her lips and said, “I could be so lucky.”
“Now who’s stalling? Come on, Sally. What happened to him in Texas?”
“This is all hearsay. I haven’t gotten his version yet. Not that I’d actually believe anything that worthless—”
“Okay, okay. So it’s not a fact, but still… What have you heard?”
“I get this bill in the mail so I called the hospital, namely for an explanation of services they provided. ‘Ring removal from penis.’”
Leslie nearly choked on the French fry she’d been eating and quickly dropped the fry into the basket. “What the heck is that?”
“My thoughts exactly. I’m like, WTF? So I called the place and learned that Mr. rat-fink Cooper was treated in the ER because his cock had swollen around his wedding ring!”
Leslie couldn’t stop herself and laughed despite the fact Sally was very serious. “I’m sorry, Sally. I’m sure it wasn’t funny. Probably very painful.”
“Let’s hope.” Sally dimpled her cheeks and Leslie wondered who in their right mind wouldn’t love Sally? And she hoped Will Cooper got everything coming to him.
“How did it get there?”
“Normally, medical procedures are strictly confidential. But when something as strange as this occurs, well, it sticks in your mind. I was lucky enough to locate the nurse assistant who was on duty that night. She vividly remembered everything.”
“No doubt.”
“The nurse gave me the name of the woman who brought Will into the ER near hysterics. So I called her and she admitted that she and Will had been together that night. He’d asked her to get something from his pocket. I don’t know… money for pizza or beer. Something. Not important. The thing is, that’s when she found his wedding ring. He’d slipped it off and put it in his pocket. So, once he fell asleep, she put the ring on his penis and left.”
“And came back?”
Sally nodded. “Yep. Halfway across town, the chick started to worry and drove back to whatever flea infested joint they shacked up in and found Cooper standing over the bathroom sink lathering it up. The ring wouldn’t bulge. By then it was purple there was nothing she could do but take him to the hospital.”
“That’s bizarre.”
“No, what’s bizarre is the fact that after he arrived at the hospital, he was too embarrassed to admit his dick fit through a size seven wedding ring. And get this. When they asked him what happened, he told them ‘it fell there.’”
Leslie shook her head and for the moment, all her troubles disappeared. “Some things in life are just unexplainable.”
A flash of chrome pulled alongside of them and a deafening roar from the cycle blasted her ears. Leslie glanced over and watched the guy remove his Nazi style helmet. Her heart lurched.
Spike.
He balanced the heavy chopper between his legs and planted the helmet on the seat in front of him. His oily head and thick jaws sent shivers all over. Her stomach dropped to her lap and with shaking hands, she set the basket of food on the tray.
“I thought he was in jail?” she whispered.
Sally sat back against the seat. “Oh, yeah. That’s another thing. Spike made bail.”
I’m sorry, Irene. I didn’t see the word limit and don’t know how to shorten it now. Hope its alright. (sigh)
You are forgiven – thanks for stopping by and sharing!
A short but sweet excerpt from Bad Traveler. Gwen and Kyle are in her bakery, The Sweet Spot, indulging in leftover inventory.
“Sitting side-by-side on the floor, backs against the counter, they set the plate of cookies between them along with their mugs of milk, handy for dunking. He picked up the firm molasses cookie with large pieces of sugar that stuck to his fingers. The crisp outside yielded to a softness that melted in his mouth. Sweet with a hint of saltiness to make it interesting, just like Gwen. Tonight, he’d see if she would melt in his arms, and his mouth. It was his night.”
Get more of this contemporary foodie romance filled with a small town setting, second chances and a delicious military hero at http://amzn.to/1ufbNKT
From my brand new release, VOICES.
Grace and I always had lack of cooking skills, in common. Although I don’t think I’d put whipped cream on grapefruit.”
“That’s not where it’s going to go. At least that’s not where you’d put it,” he said with a grin.
Kindle Version: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Q06XLAY
Such a lot of fun!
This is from SOUTHERN COMFORTS.
Here’s the excerpt:
“It’s a cash-flow issue. We’ll see if we can get a loan, but…” Abby shrugged with a tight smile. “I know how much you love my brandy pecan bars. How much would you pay for a lifetime supply?”
A chill settled over Gray’s skin. Was she joking, flirting—or testing the waters?
He’d eaten in her intimate kitchen for the past three weeks. And they’d spent hours talking. He’d told her more about his life and his family than anyone back in Boston. They’d become friends. Why couldn’t he tell what Abby wanted?
He was paying her for the room and the meals. And now Abby suggested he could buy a lifetime of her bars? Had to be a joke. He kept his own tone light in response. “It might be worth it.”
He tugged her out of her chair, and when her body brushed his, it was as if he’d grabbed a live wire.
Here’s a link to the Brandy Pecan Bars Recipe http://www.nandixon.com/abbys-brandy-pecan-bars/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Southern-Comforts-Harlequin-Superromance-Dixon-ebook/dp/B00L0XGA8M/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1417796417
B&N – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/southern-comforts-nan-dixon/1119738953?ean=9781460344101
Thanks for having us Irene!
I’m loving these so far!
I write romantic adventure stories set in New Mexico, and I enjoy sharing Southwestern culture – including food – in my novels. Here’s a guest post about my novel Whispers In The Dark along with my personal recipe for enchilada casserole: http://mona-karel.com/2014/03/17/kris-bock-visits-to-share-whispers-in-the-dark-and-a-new-mexico-recipe/
THE BULL RIDER AND THE BABY:
Jeanine McAdam
For ‘Foodie Friday” I’ve chosen an excerpt from THE BULL RIDER AND THE BABY. Carrie Wang’s mother expects the very best from her daughter, she’s known as a ‘Tiger Mom’. Except she eases the sting of her demanding words with delicious, homemade Chinese food.
“I have failed as a mother,” Rose Wang moaned in the medical tent at the Clark County Fair & Rodeo in Logandale, Nevada while holding a Tupperware of shrimp dumplings. Carrie’s favorite.
“No,” Carrie told her mother patiently, “you haven’t.” Rose had landed in Las Vegas the night before with a cooler full of Chinese food, rented a car early that morning and driven across the desert into the Majo Valley to find her daughter. Thank God, she didn’t come a day earlier and discover Carrie sleeping in Caleb’s room.
“You wouldn’t be having an illegitimate child if I hadn’t failed,” Rose clarified.
Carrie had her hands on either side of her belly attempting to cover the baby’s ears. Even in vivo, this precious little thing, as Caleb called it, didn’t need to hear those unkind words. “Mother, please don’t talk like that,” Carrie requested, trying to keep her voice low. Rose was looking for a fight and Carrie wasn’t going to be baited. “It’s not good for the baby.”
“These are steamed, not fried,” Rose said, opening the Tupperware.
“I can’t eat,” Carrie replied. “I’m working.” An elderly cowboy named Herbert Price, with a back injury and very few teeth, snoozed nearby on a gurney. Once he woke up, she planned to check him for a concussion, while L.T. Lane was sitting on a stool in the corner with a bloody nose.
“It’s not good for the baby when you don’t eat dumplings,” Rose announced.
After Carrie refused again, Rose offered two to L.T. He took a bite then asked if she had any soy sauce. Carrie’s mother ignored him.
“Well,” Rose Wang challenged, “any chance you’re going to get married?”
Find: THE BULL RIDER AND THE BABY
All the excerpts are great. Thanks so much for the opportunity to participate!
Here’s mine! From Fated Desires’ new “Give Me a Taste” special line. It’ll release 2/24/14, but you can pre-order it on Amazon, Kobo, iBooks and Googleplay now!
And he was true to his word. Each morning was harder than the last, a torture fest that tested her willpower to the max.
She’d wake to aromatic tendrils of rich, perfectly-brewed coffee tickling her nose. The sublime sizzle of bacon would whisper in her ears like a lover, the enticing smell quickening her steps before she even managed to slide her feet into her flip-flops, drawing her toward the kitchen. The fragrance of whatever else he was cooking up luring her to him before she could knot the belt of her robe.
And then there was the man himself, his loyal pooch by his side, the canine’s face buried in his food dish and emitting contented purrs more worthy of a cat. But Derek. Oh. Holy cannoli.
She remembered the “Derek” character on the TV show Grey’s Anatomy, dubbed “McDreamy” by the women on the show. Derek Dunne made that guy look like a bad clam.
Standing at the stove, barefoot and naked except for a pair of boxers, he made her mouth water more than any culinary concoction he could possibly cook up. And he was a damn imaginative and inventive chef. The
way he’d been in bed.
http://amzn.to/1q3f6oy
Irene, thanks for this opportunity.
Scene from BayouBabe99er.
What’s a meal without a good, hot cup of coffee?
Sharlene busied herself in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on the coffee started last evening. Drake’s appearance provoked her to head for the door.
“Thanks again.” She flung it wide open.
“Aren’t you going to offer me a cup?”
“I’m worn out, and I’m sure you are, too.”
“You owe me the rest of the story, Sharlene.”
“You know all I know.” She kept her answers short and curt to discourage his visit.
Drake covered her hand, the one holding the door. “I really came to warn you yesterday.” He eased the door to a close. “I didn’t tell anyone your identity,” he promised, leaning closer.
Sharlene ducked. “Business association only.” The coffeepot beeped right on time. She escaped right under his nose.
Two mugs and the fixings hit the table. Sharlene used that distraction as her invitation for him to wander over to a seat. She bustled about the kitchen in an attempt to give the goose bumps that sprang up on her arms time to vanish before she joined him. She’d forgotten the warm, homey sensation that surrounded one when in the presence of someone special.
Sharlene poured the steaming hot coffee, took her seat, and sampled her creamy, sweetened brew. She eyed Drake over the rim of her cup, cognizant that he pretended indifference to her blatant observation. Her secret thoughts evaporated into thin air throughout the cozy kitchen with each hindered breath she inhaled.
* * * *
The very idea Drake faced a challenge to his love sobriety intensified the nagging question about his future. He had muddled through life on autopilot since the tragic deaths of his family nearly four years ago. Work was his company keeper—his sanity regulator. Looking at the gorgeous redhead on the other side of the table had him wondering if he was ready for a heart fixer. Better yet, was she ready for him?
Love gumbo? Here’s my recipe. Enjoy http://mickiesherwood.com/blog/2011/07/30/mickies-yumbeaux/
Mickie Sherwood
Eek! I was going to drop in earlier, but I got carried away and made my favorite Chocolate Krinkles cookies to put in the freezer while I waited on the carpet cleaners. I’ll put up an excerpt from one of my favorite books with cooking next Friday. (It’s from Slightly Shady, Book 3 of The Berringer Brothers.) In the meantime, I recently put up one of my favorite holiday dish recipes on http://www.janhudson.com: Margie’s Scrumptious Sweet Potato Casserole. It’s yummy. I can’t stop eating the stuff.
And Irene, whoever heard of a good southern girl putting carrots in Chicken ‘n Dumplin’s? Do you also put sugar in cornbread?
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