an epic snowball battle

Happy New Year!

Here we are once again, staring at the one-time-a-year opportunity for another ‘do over’ or to use a golfers’ favorite word, a ‘mulligan.’

Even way back in Mesopotamia two thousand years ago, folks like you and me celebrated the chance to make amends for past behavior with new resolutions.(their new year wasn’t our new year, but that’s another story)

Interview with Lois Lamanna

Today, I have the honor to post the last interview of 2011, and I have got someone very special for you: A new author whose first Avalon novel has just come out! I know you'll enjoy meeting Lois Lamanna.

Thank you for inviting me to be the guest on the Avaloners Blog. As a new member of the Avalon author group I am very flattered.

Please tell us about your mystery novel Matrimony and Murder.

Matrimony and Murder is a humorous account to two over-fifty, over-weight, over-educated sisters who attend the wedding of a distant cousin in the hopes of finding information about their ancesters. Instead, they find the body of one of the groomsmen in the basement of the church.

What a great premise! I'm already grinning . . . please tell us what you personally like most about this novel.

1) I like the interaction between the sisters. I think Bethany, the older sister, demonstrates the role of an older sibling in real life, caring for the younger one, taking a lead role in social situations, making decisions for the both of them. Marlene, the younger sister, floats through life and accepts Bethany as the dominate person.

It is very much like my relationship with my own sister.

I recently read that when siblings get together, the roles defined in childhood naturally reform. Marlene and Bethany must have had fun in their youth, because they seem to be having fun now.

After reading a post on Risky Regencies last week about Christmas Pudding . . . microwaved Christmas pudding . . . I was inspired to try the recipe for myself.

The directions looked simple enough even I could follow them. What I imagined was the picture on the left. What I was expecting was the more modern looking picture on the right.

What I really thought I'd get was . . .

I was expecting company on Tuesday night (Dec 13th) and thought I'd use them as guinea pigs lucky participants of my English epicurean delight.

A half hour before they arrive I gather the ingredients. I'd jotted them on a notepad and did a quick, guesstimate conversion of grams/milliliters to ounces from the computer.

I melted the butter and mixed in the dark brown sugar. The soft, fluffy breadcrumbs were folded in with the allspice and flour. I'm amazed how little flour was needed.

Next the raisins, dried currents, chopped dates, peel, and candied cherries were mixed in. It didn't look much like cake-like batter to me.

The liquids, which I'm not going to show, were mixed in.

It all went into a large Pyrex mixing bowl and microwaved for ten minutes. At the end of the cooking time there was a heavenly smell coming from the microwave oven.

This is what we got. You must add the warmed brandy and light it for the blue flame.

It occurred to me the pudding might be a bit dense and I thought a cream sauce would be a good idea. I Google-ed a recipe.

It took five minutes for milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, and seeds from a split vanilla pod to create this lovely custard.

A few spoonfuls of this loveliness over a warm slice of Christmas pudding was just the thing.

The Christmas pudding was more delicious than I ever expected. The family, and company, enjoyed this so much I'm willing to give the traditional method a try.

Yes, this will appear in a future Gentlemen of Worth series book.