• First half 2021 food collage
    Blog

    Taste of Tuesday – a recap of the last couple of months

    Taste of Tuesday

    It’s a funny thing how when your life changes you expect certain things to be the same and they’re just not. I don’t know why that is exactly, that we don’t think change will be as universal as it often is.

    You may not be aware but for a long time I had a food blog called My Sydney Kitchen which you can visit here. I was pretty diligent in posting there. 2021 I did 72 posts. (Side bar I also started this blog in 2012 and I posted a WHOLE lot. Where did I get the extra time? I gave up volunteering on my daughter’s P&C and probably gained back 10-20 hours a week of time. Crazy right? It’s a good reminder to be nice to volunteers, they keep the world running!)

    Even though I apparently haven’t posted there in a few years, I continued to take pictures of our food and drinks in the belief I would blog there again. You should see how many unused images I have from the past five years of homemade pizzas, gozleme, cakes and salads – based on the ones from 2020 alone it was clear I intended to share them. Even with our daughter away at college, I continued to cook creatively.

    Then a funny thing happened. We moved up to Newcastle. Our kitchen is functional, but I don’t love it. The induction cook-top, something some people love, disappoints compared to the old gas one. The oven is half the size, and an ill-placed smoke alarm meant even cooking toast was annoying. Thankfully, the last problem is solved. Add in the fact the move wiped us out, and we were eating simple foods, mainly on the grill and the photos dried up.

    Another interesting difference is we eat out a lot more. We can walk to loads of restaurants, cafes and pubs. It’s fun but not all the food warrants a photo.

    It’s funny how you don’t always notice change until it passes.

    I went to get photos for a recap of the past few months and I was surprised at how few there were. Here are a few images from the past few months from homemade seafood salads, to oysters and cocktails, this is just a small taste of the past little while – and coffee of course, there’s always coffee.

    First half 2021 food collage
    Food collage

    The whole process has made me nostalgic for my food blog…maybe I’ll start it up again, with all my free time.

  • Blog

    Let’s talk french cooking with Carolyn Eychenne, author of Sunrise over Paris

    Taste of Tuesday

    It’s Taste of Tuesday and today we’re off to Paris with

    Carolyn Eychenne, author of Sunrise over Paris

    Many of the readers of my novel Sunrise over Paris have written that they thought the daube in chapter 5 sounded good.  If you feel that way too, wait until you try the recipe below:  8-hour lamb.  Mine is bubbling away right now—we’re on the home stretch of the 8-hour marathon—and my house smells wonderful.  The last time I checked to see if there is enough cooking liquid, I sampled a little piece of meat and it, too, was wonderful.

    You might be thinking that 8 hours is a huge investment for a meal.  It’s not.  Not for the French and not for Stacey, the main character of my novel.  Food is an important part of Sunrise over Paris. Some of the key moments of the story occur over a meal: the fateful dinner in one of the opening scenes where we see Stacey’s, the heroine’s, difficult relationship with her husband and teenage children, the brief moment of harmony while dining on daube, the lunch during which Stacey watches the results of one of her revenge plots, and the luxurious brunch she shares with her two kids as they create a new, stronger, more adult bond.

    Stacey is a foodie, of course, but this is not an oddity in France.  Food is a big deal here.  The French invest a lot of time and energy in eating, at special holiday meals of course, but also every day.  Art de vivre, living so well it becomes an artform, does include everyday meals.  Cooked fresh when possible.  Always seasonal. Always balanced.

    What makes for a balanced meal à la française?

    First of all, three courses.  The starter (interestingly, it’s called l’entrée), the main dish (the entrée in English!), dessert.  Sometimes, there is cheese.  Not every day, but when there is, it comes between the main course and dessert.

    There are somewhere between 1,000 and 1,600 different varieties of cheese: cheese from cow, goat, and ewe’s milk are all standard fare.  Some are hard cheeses, some soft and crumbly, others very fresh and creamy.  Some are inoculated with mold (yes, that’s what gives Roquefort cheese its distinctive flavor), some are rolled in herbs, and others have inclusions, like a beautiful Brillat Savarin with truffles which I discovered only a year ago, despite living here for over 30 years.

    Until then, I didn’t really like truffles.  Now… Wow!

    As said earlier, the French don’t have cheese at the end of every meal. And they don’t have very much at a time.  While it’s completely acceptable to have seconds of the other courses, it’s considered rude to have seconds of cheese.  If you do, it’s a way of saying that your hostess hasn’t given you enough to eat.

    Like cheese, dessert isn’t an everyday thing either. At least, not the macarons or petits fours or éclairs au chocolat you’re thinking about right now.  Most days, dessert is a yogurt or a piece of fruit.  But it’s still called ‘dessert’ which can be disappointing for some of us.

    Entrée literally means entrance.  The same word is used for your front door, which makes it a logical name for the starter in a meal.  In traditional French cuisine, a salad is fine for every day, but not something you would serve to company.  Depending on your guests, you might prepare a terrine with a little salad on the side, some lox with buttered toast and lemon wedges, or vol au vent, a little basket made from puff pastry in which you serve snails or shellfish in a creamy bechamel sauce.

    By the way, soupe à l’oignon with its croutons and cheese melting on top is not as common as you might think. I’ve had it many times in restaurants, but never in anyone’s home other than my own.  And, since I’m American-born, that might not count.

    After the starter, the main dish.  This can look like a typical American meal—meat or fish, cooked vegetable and rice, pasta or potato.  Or this can be a plat en sauce, a stew-like dish, which combines the meat and vegetable in one dish which is then served over rice or pasta.  The daube which Stacey cooks in Sunrise over Paris is an example of this.  You might also know boeuf bourguignon or blanquette de veau.  One of my favorite meals is pot-au-feu, literally pot in the fire, because it used to be made in a large cast-iron dutch oven in the coals of the family fireplace. Several different cuts of beef, leeks, carrots, turnips, onions and potatoes all cook together for several hours, creating an amazing broth which you eat as the starter before having the meat and vegetable along with kosher salt, pickles and Dijon mustard for the main course.

    Second only to 8-hour lamb.

    Which brings me back to the recipe.  Please try—and let me know how you like it.  If you overcook it, forgetting it for 11 hours instead of 8, you can always say that you preferred the French author Colette’s recipe to mine! 

    By Carolyn Eychenne

    The recipe:  8-hour lamb

    1 leg of lamb (about 5 pounds)

    3 carrots (I use 4 – 5)

    3 onions

    2 small leeks (I use 4)

    ½ celeriac

    3 cloves

    1 “bouquet garni” (parsley, bay leaf, thyme, celery branch)

    1 entire head of garlic

    10 peppercorns

    2 tablespoons salt

     

    Brown the leg of lamb in a cast iron Dutch oven.  Take out, reserve.

    On the bottom of the Dutch oven, place all the vegetables peeled and chopped into 1-2” sized pieces. Add the garlic, bouquet garni and seasonings. Put the leg of lamb back on top.

    Add water to cover the vegetables but only just touching the lamb.

    Cover and simmer for 8 hours, checking every so often that there is enough liquid. Add if necessary.

    To serve:  Remove the lamb and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. Remove the vegetables and place in a strainer over the Dutch oven (the idea is to catch the cooking juices). Handle them carefully so they retain their shape.

    Increase the temperature under the Dutch oven to bring the cooking juices to a boil. Reduce.

    Serve the leg of lamb covered in this sauce with the vegetables on the side. The lamb is so tender, you might have a hard time cutting it!

    sunrise over paris

    Sunrise Over Rise Blurb:

    What would you do if you found out your husband was cheating on you?
    When Stacey Dupont, an American in Paris, learns that her French husband has been cheating, her happy life crumbles and obsession begins.  Stalking and revenge lead to surprising results!  With Paris as the backdrop and the River Seine playing a main role, Sunrise over Paris follows Stacey on her surprising, emotional, and sometimes zany journey of personal discovery across the City of Light.

    Get it here

     You can learn more about Carolyn here: 
    Facebook 
    Instagram 
    GoodReads

    www.carolyneychenne.com

     

    About Carolyn

    Carolyn Eychenne is an author of fiction and non-fiction works. Sunrise over Paris is her first novel but not the first book she has published, the other being a French-language book about digital platforms. It led her back to her true love, writing.

    Not quite “an American in Paris,” Carolyn Eychenne has lived most of her adult life in the suburbs of Paris, after growing up in southern California.

    Note from Monique: Please comment below and let me know if you made Carolyn’s recipe or what your favorite French meal is.

  • Blog

    Taste of Tuesday with Valentine Kisses author Ann B Harrison

    2/18/2019
    Taste of Tuesday
    Ann talks Valentine Kisses and Keto cookies
    Valentine Kisses - Cover
    ​I love cooking and it may come as no surprise that I include this in some of my stories. We’re off to America for a family holiday in May so most of the recipes I’m trying are either sugarless or keto. If I can drop another 3 kilos, I’ll be happy. That way I can eat my way around America and not fret over the extra weight I know I’m going to put on.

    Valentine Kisses is the second in the Moore Sisters of Montana and features a hot fireman and a celebrity chef. Bella Moore thought she had everything she ever wanted. The host of a hit reality show, she’s at the top of her career. So when her show goes on hiatus for six months and she finally has downtime, she decides to return to her roots and visit her sister in Cherry Lake. What she doesn’t expect is to love the town and the temporary chef position she’s taken on at the Lake Hotel.

    Jake Woods is focused on his son and his job as the local fire chief. Things are moving along nicely until the new chef at the Lake Hotel almost burns the place down. Jake knows that Bella inherited a mess from the chef before her and he’s keen to help her.

    After weeks of working together in tight quarters, Jake and Bella can’t ignore the sparks between them. But Bella’s stay in Cherry Lake is only temporary and Jake still hasn’t recovered from losing his wife a few years ago. They’ll have to decide whether or not the flame between them can survive without the heat of the kitchen.
    https://amzn.to/2RX7S4t

    I’ve signed an agreement with an LA producer who is keen on getting Valentine Kisses made into film which will be incredible exciting. To keep up with progress, you can sign up to my newsletter here www.annbharrison.net and follow the journey with me.
    For those that love to cook, here is my latest ‘go to’ for something sweet and diet friendly. Be sure to double the recipe. The first time I made them my daughters attacked them like a flock of hungry seagulls and the grandkids took a bag each to school for snacks. I guess that makes them a family favorite already!

    Keto Peanut Butter Cookies
    1 cup salted peanut butter
    6 ( only used 3) Tbsp sweetener like Stevia
    ¼ cup toasted almond flour. (I use a mix of almond and coconut and toasted it in a dry pan)
    1 large egg.
    Mix all together. It will be thick and dense.
    Scoop onto baking sheet and press down with a fork in both directions giving it a criss-cross pattern. Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes. When you take them out of the oven, leave to cool on the baking sheet. They’re very soft but firm up when cool.
    Enjoy!

    About Ann
    Anne B Harrison
    Best-selling author, Ann B Harrison has the perfect backdrop for her imagination to run wild, the lush wine growing region of the Hunter Valley in Australia. She alternates her time between writing western romances, romantic suspense and walking her dog, Chilli.
    Two kinds of hero make Ann to a mass of nerves. The hot cowboy with a slow sexy drawl (she used to live out in the desert where they were more common than where she lives now) and a man in a kilt. Imagine Jamie Fraser and you’ll understand why. She can’t wait to visit Scotland where she can get her fill of the tartan clad hotties for, um, research purposes, of course.
    In the meantime, her dear husband puts up with her talking to her characters and getting lost in worlds only she can imagine as she battles to bring stories to the page for everyone to enjoy.

    You can find Ann on Facebook here – https://bit.ly/2UUWaZW
    Her website – www.annbharrison.net
    Amazon page – https://amzn.to/2sX4wF5

  • Blog

    Today we welcome Louise Reynolds author of Miss Valentine’s Love Emporium for a Taste of Tuesday blog post

    2/4/2019

    Taste of Tuesday

    Miss Valentine's Love Emporium - CoverThanks for your welcome, Monique. It’s lovely to be here.

    When my thoughts turn to Valentine’s Day the first thing I think of is roses. But food always figures highly. Magazines are full of what to cook, more pink recipes than you can shake a stick at, and suggestions for the most romantic restaurants to dine at.

    There’s no doubt that food and sex, and by extension love, are inextricably linked. The experience of falling in love is tactile, using all the senses. Our scent receptors are as open to pheromones as to the aroma of beautifully cooked food. Both make our mouths water. And it’s unsurprising that we describe desirable physical characteristics in terms of food: peach or strawberry coloured lips, chestnut coloured hair, almond shaped eyes and cheeks like apples.

    On Valentine’s Day I enjoy cooking something special at home rather than dining out. I’ll push beyond my usual efforts, choose a special recipe or two and use the best ingredients I can find. I’ll pull out my best china and linen, light candles and make sure the table looks pretty. All of this shows care and love.

    Food abounds in my sweet Valentine’s Day novella, Miss Valentine’s Love Emporium. Lexie Valentine has been taken in and protected by the small town of Carter’s Crossing and on this special day each year she expresses her love for the townspeople by throwing a huge party in the vacant emporium she rents as a pop-up. In doing this she demonstrates her belief in love in the face of a traumatic past experience.
    Ethan Taylor is a world-weary big city divorce lawyer with a jaded view of love but he has been roped into taking his elderly grandmother to Lexie’s party. He arrives at the party, carrying his grandmother’s contribution:

    “At one end of the counter two tall stacks of mismatched floral plates were flanked by small buckets of cutlery, the old fashioned kind with bone handles buffed shiny with age. Piles of old linen napkins in cream and pastel shades, carefully starched and ironed, sat beside them. He placed the pavlova on the counter together with the other offerings. He’d forgotten the largesse of a country gathering. Not for them the large white platters holding wispy herbal fronds and miniscule pieces of food that he was served at smart city functions. The counter groaned with plates loaded with cakes and sandwiches, fruit platters and cheese boards.”

    May Valentine’s Day bring you flowers and delicious food but most of all love and happiness!
    You can follow Lexie and Ethan on their journey by selecting your favourite retailer here: https://books2read.com/u/49P6gM

    Louise ReynoldsAuthor bio
    Louise Reynolds is an author of contemporary romantic fiction.
    On receiving her library card at the age of six she borrowed her first book, an illustrated story about onions. Over the years she progressed from vegetables to romance. It was a logical step to take her love of romance novels to the next stage and tell her own stories.
    Set in both the city and Australia’s outback, her books have been described as warm and witty feel-good reads.

    Let’s connect on social media:
    https://www.facebook.com/LouiseReynoldsRomanceAuthor/
    https://www.instagram.com/louisereynoldswriter/
    www.louisereynolds.net


  • Blog

    Let’s talk Australia Day this Taste of Tuesday – or Australian supermarket treats

    1/18/2015

    Arnotts Tim TamsIf you’re not from Australia you may not be aware that January 26th is Australia Day. Australia day is to Australians what 4th of July is to Americans, or that’s the closest approximation I can make.

    Truthfully it marks the day Captain Cook landed in Australia, (This wasn’t such a great day for the indigenous Australians who were already living here because no one bothered to ask them if it would be okay if the English took over their country. No treaties were signed, no recompense was made. Until the white man came there was no disease here, they brought that with them. I digress).

    Australia Day is a hot day where people host bbq’s (cook outs), go to beachside picnics and enjoy the end of summer. (School goes back this same week but summer doesn’t officially end until the end of February but we all know that when school goes back it feels like an ending). Lots of citizenship ceremonies are held on Australia Day and the Australian of the Year is also announced.

    It’s a day when most Australian’s feel pretty bloody lucky to live in this country of ours.

    There are lots of things that people love about their home country, wherever it is, and food is a big one. So I’m going to share with you some classic Australian foods.

    That photo up the top is of Tim Tams. These are biscuits/cookies with a chocolate cream in the middle and then redipped in chocolate. They’re pretty wonderful. People who move abroad get homesick for the Tim Tam. A great way to enjoy them is to bite the end of and then suck your coffee or better yet your Irish coffee through the Tim Tam. This is known as a Tim Tam Explosion. You’ll thank me later.

    Most foreigners know of and fear our beloved Vegemite. A thick salty spread that is the by-product of beer manufacturing it is a truly acquired taste. You need to have it on toast with butter and then smeared sparingly on top, if you wish to adjust to this salty treat. The truth is Australians (who drink like fsh) have some of the highest Vitamin B levels in the world thanks to Vegemite.

    The Australian meat pie is another iconic choice. I shared a recipe for one last year around this time so you can make your own if you like.
    http://www.moniquemcdonellauthor.com/blog/taste-of-tuesday-an-aussie-meat-pie-recipe
    Of course the frozen foods section of our supermarkets have a lot of shelf space dedicated to the pie so if you find yourself down under you’ll be spoilt for choice. Perhaps you fancy a kangaroo pie just for something different.

    Tumblr now has whole sections asking if certain Australian foods ( and wildlife and language) are actually real. Well we really do have a very delicious ice-cream called a Golden Gaytime. These were the sorts of ice-creams that as a kid they were so expensive your parents never let you have one. You had a Paddle Pop or an icy-pole and your mum got a Gaytime.

    Here’s a sneak peek of the iconic TV commercial that states quite rightly “It’s so hard to have a Gaytime on your own.”

  • Blog

    Taste of Tuesday – an Aussie Meat Pie Recipe

    8/19/2014

    Four n Twenty Meat PieIn honour of my novella release this week I thought I would share a recipe for an Australian meat pie with you.

    I think most countries or cultures have some form of a pie or pasty be it an empanada , a Cornish pasty or a pot pie.

    In Australia we have local cake shops in every suburb that sell meat pies and sausage rolls. They are the ultimate take-away food. Long before the Colonel, Golden Arches or various pizza chains graced our shores in the 1970’s this was the food we ate. We enjoy them at sporting events in the same way an American might have a hot dog.

    (My dad has a sister who lives in LA. When they come to Australia my mother gets out the good silver and serves up Aussie meat pies to them at the dining room table. It’s the sort of food you dream about when you are far, far away.)

    In Any Way You Slice It, Piper the main character has a chain of food trucks that sell only pies and while she serves a variety of flavours, the classic meat pie is the corner stone of her business.

    This is a family pie that I make in a family sized pie plate but it can also be made as 4 individual pies if you have individual pie plates. This is one of my daughter’s family favourites.

    Australian Meat Pie – serves 4
    1 quantity of shortcrust pastry or one pie shell (I’ll post my recipe soon)
    olive oil
    2 small or 1 large onion diced
    500g beef mince
    1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
    2 tablespoons of soy sauce
    1 beef stock cube
    2 cups hot water
    2 tablespoons cornflour
    2 tablespoons water (extra)
    1 sheet puff pastry
    1 egg yolk.

    1. Heat oil in pan and add onions, cook stirring until soft. Add mice, cook stirring until browned.
    2. Stir in sauces, stock cube and water (I dissolve the stock cube in water first) simmer 15 minutes. Stir in cornflour and extra water. Stir over high heat until it boils and thickens. Cool.
    3. Grease a pie plate with butter or olive oil and roll pastry to fit pie plate. Cover pastry with baking paper, fill with dried beans or pie weights and bake in moderate oven 8 minutes. remove beans and cook a further 8 minutes.
    4. Fill pie shell with meat mixture. Brush edges or pastry with egg yolk and press puff pastry on top. Cut to fit. You can use any scraps to decorate. Brush pie with more egg yolk. Bake in oven 20-25 minutes until golden.

    Enjoy!

    Don’t forget Any Way You Slice It, An Upper Crust Novella will be out later this week.
    Any Way You Slice It - Upper Crust Novel - Monique McDonell - Original Cover

  • Blog

    Taste of Tuesday – great food themed books

    1/13/2014

    PastriesToday for Taste of Tuesday (a semi-regular meme here where I usually interview authors about the use of food in their novels) I thought I would instead talk about a few of my favourite books that feature food as a major theme. Today I’m sticking with some older books that have stayed with me over time.

    One of my all time favourites has to be Like Water for Chocolate. Interestingly it is one of the best book to movie adaptations I’ve seen as well. This book is so beautifully written with so much passion and so vivid. The book was written by a first time Mexican novelist Laura Esquivel.

    Part of what appealed to me about the book apart from the language was the way things were described. I actually love reading books from Mexico and from South America because the turn of phrase is so different from the dry Australian way of describing things.

    Here’s an example:

    “She felt so lost and lonely. One last chile in walnut sauce left on the platter after a fancy dinner couldn’t feel any worse than she did.”

    I also love the way the emotions are conveyed through cooking. It adds a whole different layer to the saying we use about the food in our house “you can taste the love.”

    Another classic book I love that has food themes is Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. I know this one was also another excellent movie but you really should read the book. Fannie has a real gift of creating a small town and making it real, even though the characters seem to be so quirky as to be unreal they’re very believable. I’ve read all her books including her most recent one just last week, and I love her writing.

    I love lots of things about this book which is essentially a story about love and friendship with some mystery thrown in. Mostly I love the theme that you can choose your own family and create your own if the one you have is lacking.

    Here is a recipe for fried green tomatoes should the urge hit you.

    http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/fried-green-tomatoes-recipe/index.html#!

    Have you got a favourite food themed book that you often think about time and again?

  • Blog

    Taste of Tuesday with Modogomous author Karen. E Martin and a give-away!

    12/16/2013

    Karen E. MartinToday I’m joined for a holiday-themed Taste of Tuesday by the Karen E. Martin author of the newly released Modogomous.

    Taste of Tuesday Q&A

    Do you prefer sweet or savoury foods (i.e. cheese or chocolate)?
    Savory, all the way. (Sorry, American spelling throughout!) I like sweets, but I’d much rather have the main course than dessert. I’m the same at breakfast. I can’t do sweets for breakfast; it just doesn’t stick with me. I’ll take a plate of bacon and eggs any day over pancakes and syrup. But whatever it is, DO give me coffee with it! Lol…

    Red wine or white? (Wine obviously) White, please! If I’m just having a stand-alone drink, I love nice Riesling. Sweets, I’ll take a Moscato or Gewurztraminer. And with dinner, either a classic Pinot Grigio or a Chardonnay. I like red wines, too, but they give me a headache if I drink them alone. With a meal, though, is just fine. I can always take a good red Zin, a Cabernet Sauvignon, or a Pinot Noir. (Yes, I frickin’ love wine. I’ve been to more wine-tastings than I can count!)

    Do you have a favourite food memory?
    Cooking sessions at my grandmother’s house, twice a year. Once, at the end of summer for canning season, when my Uncle Ray would buy bushels and bushels of tomatoes and make dozens of quarts of the best tomato soup I’ve ever had (you can find a post about that and a recipe here). And then again at Thanksgiving, when the women of the family would gather to make our traditional meal together. The gals do the cooking and the guys do the washing up! We take pictures every year, as it’s such a rare sight to see. 😉

    Does food feature in your novel(s)?
    Indeed! Many of the scenes take place over a shared meal, whether it’s at a Mom-and-Pop type diner, or just a bag of Chinese take-out. One of the characters, Mitch, is quite known for his sweet tooth, too.

    What recipe are you sharing with us and why?
    One of my mom’s classic comfort dishes, “Mary Ellen’s Hamburger Skillet Stew.” This was a staple for us growing up, and a dish mom often made when we were home from college for the winter holidays. To me, this recipe definitely says, “The family is together again!” I hope you enjoy the recipe.

    Mary Ellen’s Hamburger Skillet Stew

    For the meatballs:

    1 lb. ground beef

    1 cup chopped onion

    1 egg

    1 cup fine bread crumbs

    1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

    1 teaspoon salt (or less, if desired))

    1 teaspoon pepper

    1 cup tomato soup (not condensed)*

    Combine ingredients and shape into 16 meatballs. Brown in a deep skillet with the shortening.

    For the skillet:

    2 tablespoons shortening (Crisco)

    1 large onion, diced

    4 carrots, cut into 1 inch slices

    2 potatoes, diced

    2 cups green beans (or other veggies of your choice)

    1 cup water

    1 cup tomato soup (not condensed)*

    Optional: 1 tablespoon flour

    Once meatballs are browned, add the remaining ingredients to the skillet. Simmer for 1 hour, thickening with flour if desired. Serves four…and the meatballs make great sandwiches, too!

    *Traditionally, we used Uncle Ray’s home-canned tomato soup for this recipe.

    Modogamous - Karen E. Martin - CoverModogomous by Karen E. Martin

    Kate Adams has it all figured out. Five years out of college, she’s got a steady job, a home she loves in the big city, and good friends who always keep her laughing: her stylish but nosy roommate Evette, happily-married Cecie, and of course, good old Mitch, her seriously cute co-worker who’s been stuck in the Friend Zone since the day they met.

    Everything is going just fine—until the night Kate crosses the line with Mitch, and the boundaries between friendship and love begin to blur. Things get even more complicated when hunky JP enters the scene. What’s a girl to do? Add to the mix a spunky little pug Kate never expected to fall for, and her neatly-ordered life is starting to look more like a dog’s dinner. Maybe her roommate has the right idea after all: forget the men, and stick with a canine companion instead.

    It’s time for Kate to figure out what she really wants in life. But can she dig her way out of the mess she’s created before she ends up permanently in the doghouse?

     

     

     

     

    Author Contact Info:

    You can contact the author on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, GoodReads, and on her blogabout writing, publishing, and literature.

    Author Bio:

    Karen E. Martin, M.Ed. is a full-time freelance writer/editor. She has been in the publishing business since 2004, working on books and publications for major and independent publishers, universities, businesses, and private individuals. Prior to entering the field of publishing, Ms. Martin worked as a Senior EFL Fellow (English as a Foreign Language) for the U.S. Department of State in Romania, a Junior EFL Fellow for the U.S. Department of State in Jordan, and a teacher-trainer for the U.S Peace Corps in Mauritania, Jordan, Romania, and Morocco. Ms. Martin served as a Peace Corps volunteer for two years, teaching English in the Errachidia Province of Morocco. This is Ms. Martin’s first novel.

    Buy Links

    Modogomous now available on Amazon or Smashwords

    About the Giveaway:
    Join the Modogamous Holiday Hop Giveaway to win a fabulous Swag Pack full of prizes! The Swag Pack winner will receive a signed copy of the paperback, tote bag, coffee mug, Christmas ornament, and more! Additional prizes include a copy of the e-book, a signed paperback, and a limited edition, signed art print of the book’s cover art.

     

  • Blog

    Taste of Tuesday – why chick lit is like French Onion Dip, in a good way!

    8/19/2013

    French Onion DipI’ve recently returned from the Romance Writers of Australia Conference in Perth. Even though I’m Australian Perth still is a long-haul. (Did you know it was the most isolated city in the world? Probably not.)

    And do you know what is more isolating than being in Perth?

    The answer is -being a chick lit author at a romance conference where ‘everyone’ says chick lit is dead, especially when you don’t believe it is.

    Especially when you must answer the women at the conference, not the publishers or the powers that be, but other authors when they ask you what you write.

    “I write chick lit but that you can’t call it chick lit that you have to call it women’s fiction,” said I.

    And they said “Why?”

    And I said. “Apparently no one reads it anymore. I was told that last year and the year before too.”

    And to a one they say “But I love chick lit.”

    It’s a conundrum to be in a room where you’re being told what you write is out of fashion and yet you’re surrounded by people who say they like it. It’s harder still when you love it yourself.

    Chick lit was like the French onion dip of the conference. It’s not very trendy, you won’t see it on a menu anywhere because it’s been pushed aside by hummus and guacamole and even beetroot dip but still there’s barely a woman who when left alone with some French onions dip and crackers won’t take a bite. Not only that she’ll have another dip. She may even find herself embarrassed by the fact that she ate the whole bowl and loved it.

    She may even find herself grabbing a small tub at the supermarket next time she’s there because she forgot how much she really enjoyed it and how much she had missed it.

    Now she may not serve it up on Saturday night (or in the case of the book, recommend her whole book club reads it) but she will enjoy it.

    I think that’s chick lit right now. It’s not widely available or celebrated but people do like it. It’s not trendy but people still read it.

    You know why that is? To my mind at least, it is because chick lit books are about women trying to find themselves in this crazy world with the help (or hindrance) of friends their friends, family, co-workers and lovers.

    That’s also the story of every woman who was at the Romance Writers of Australia Conference. They were an amazing, wonderful, vibrant group of women who were busy making new friends, building careers while trying to balance family and work. They were trying to find their way, where they fit in and how they could move forward on their journey.

    I didn’t hear anyone talking about their own boyfriends or lovers or needing men to complete them. They were talking about their jobs, balancing that with their families and trying to become their full and happy selves (or happier because there were some gloriously happy people in that room).

    That’s why I believe chick lit (and French onion dip) can both survive because we enjoy them and they are a part of our own stories, even if we may not always admit it.

    (If you would like to come over for a Jatz cracker, some French onion dip and to borrow a book, do let me know!)

    6 Comments
    Deborah Nam-Krane
    link
    8/19/2013 08:35:15 pm

    I would totally come over for crackers and dip if you and I lived close by!

    And I think that’s it exactly- chick lit isn’t dead, but it isn’t trendy like it was a few years ago. Oh well. I think the same can be said for certain kinds of mysteries- and yet people still read them.

    Keep writing what works for you- the internet is filled with stories of writers who started writing to be trendy and are miserable.
    Reply
    Ainslie Paton
    link
    8/19/2013 08:50:20 pm

    Nice one, Mon. Don’t they say, don’t write to where the market is because it will have moved before you get there? Well, that.
    Reply
    Louise Wise
    link
    8/19/2013 11:49:15 pm

    Grrrr it annoys me when I hear people (usually literary snobs) say chick lit is dead. Of course it isn’t. Give me onion dip over the hummus any day!
    Great post!
    Reply
    Anne R.Allen
    link
    8/20/2013 02:20:12 am

    Chick lit is alive and kicking her stilettos! It’s just got to be called rom-com now. But with a new Bridget Jones coming out this fall, I think chick lit will be able to speak its name again. Some people do hate it. I’ve got a troll attack on my bestselling chick lit boxed set right now. People keep giving it one stars because they say my heroine is stupid. No. People who don’t understand an unreliable narrator are stupid. And you could say that of every comic heroine from Lucy Ricardo to Bridget Jones. But they’ve knocked me down to three stars, so I guess they think they’ve killed chick lit.
    Reply
    Monique
    8/20/2013 08:53:23 am

    I don’t understand why some people see the need to spend their time in destruction when to be productive and creative (like us) is so much more rewarding.
    Reply
    Monique
    8/20/2013 08:52:16 am

    I agree you have to write what you enjoy and you have to write the story you want to write and hope it finds it’s audience.

  • Blog

    Taste of Tuesday – with Serena form Alphabet Dating

    4/22/2013

    Alphabet Dating CoverToday I thought I’d do a twist on my usual Taste of Tuesday feature and interview Serena the main character in Alphabet Dating which will be out next week!
    ***
    First of all Serena please tell us a little bit about yourself:
    Ok, Monique. I’m an ex-pat Australian living in New York. I work as a book reviewer though I am also writing my own novel, very slowly. I also have a crazy bunch of friends who came up with a hair-brained scheme they called The Alphabet Dating Plan. It means I have to go on 26 dates in one month, one for every letter of the alphabet!

    1. Do you prefer sweet or savoury foods (i.e. cheese or chocolate)?
    Oh definitely savoury! I mean I won’t say no to a Tim Tam but give me a cheese plate any day.

    2. Red wine or white? (Wine obviously)
    Actually I rather like a nice French champagne.

    3. Do you have a favourite food memory?
    My family and I have lived all over the world so I have lots of amazing food memories but after I had a car accident a few years back I have developed an obsession with soups. I find them nurturing and so comforting.

    4. Does food feature in your novel(s)?
    Food features quite a bit in Alphabet Dating. It’s hard to go on so many dates and not eat! There’s also my obsession with soups and a Thanksgiving feast in the book so plenty for the food lovers.

    5. What recipe are you sharing with us and why?

    I’m sharing a recipe for Carrot Soup. It’s super simple, inexpensive and very yummy.

    Carrot Soup
    1 tablespoon butter
    1 onion diced
    3 rashers of bacon, diced
    1 teaspoon of dill.
    500g carrots, peeled and sliced
    250ml chicken stock or veggie
    100ml cream

    1. Melt butter in saucepan and soften onion slowly.
    2. Add bacon and stir till just cooked.
    3. Add carrots, dill, s &p.
    4. Add stock to cover carrots (if not quite enough add some water). Simmer until carrots soften.
    5. Puree in a blender or with a stick blender.
    6. Stir through cream.
    7. Enjoy!

    ***
    Alphabet Dating will be out soon