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Tuesday, December 8, 2020

#COOKING WITH CLORIS--AN INTERVIEW AND RECIPE FROM MYSTERY AUTHOR ILEANA MUÑOZ RENFROE'S AMATEUR SLEUTH


Today we sit down for a chat with Rosa de los Reyes from author Ileana 
Muñoz Renfroe’s Rosa the Cuban Psychic Mysteries.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings? 

Well, let me tell you it was much safer than it is now. Before I would travel all the time with my spirit guide Raul, spend time creating new couture fashion designs, and occasionally helping my abuela Nana read tarot cards to visitors who came to Colten Island. 

 

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself? 

That I can read minds. Although, sometimes it can get a little messy.

 

What do you like least about yourself? 

That I can’t help sticking my nose where danger lurks.

 

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you? That as a psychic, I did not see myself getting in the middle of an international heist. 

 

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about? 

Taking so long to figure out how to tell my Cuban family that I was offered a year long internship at The House of Mather, the most prestigious couture fashion house in Paris.

 

What is your greatest fear? 

Something happening to my family. Cubans are a very close-knit family and ours is no exception.

 

What makes you happy?

Hanging out at La Misteriosa Café with Nana my abuela and Las Cubanitas, and of course Raul. He will be very offended if I don’t mention him.

 

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

Honestly that author what’s her name Ileana or something has done a pretty good job with the story. She starts off strong, I think, and leaves you laughing at the end and wanting to jump right into the next book.

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

Of course, Pierre. He is conniving, sneaky, and an overall sleazy no-good man. The fact that he is married to the model that is killed and involved in some shady deals says a lot about the person.

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why? 

My abuela Nana. She is talented, funny, can do a mean tarot card reading, is psychic and shh, no one knows, but she can also read minds.

 

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog? 

Well let’s see, my understanding is that my author Ileana Muñoz Renfroe, has lots of stories floating around in her head. This year while visiting her daughter in Paris, they were placed on full lockdown for three months. So, she decided it was time to get serious and finish A Fashionable Fate. Her first novel – A Fashionable Fate: Rosa The Cuban Psychic Mysteries is available December 18, 2020. 

 

She has two grown children. The eldest lives abroad and the youngest in the New England area. She loves to travel, enjoys a good single malt scotch, loves to read and salsa dancing. For now, she is staying in the states until the borders open again.

 

You can find my author at her website https://www.imrenfroe.com where you’ll also find links to her on social media and her blog.

 

What's next for you? 

My author has published a cookbook, Rosa The Cuban Psychic Homemade Cuban Recipe Cookbook. Some of the recipes are listed in the novel; others have been passed down from generation to generation. The cookbook has some recipes in English and some in Spanish.

 

The premise for the novel was also used in a music video. Ileana started book 2 and is also working on a new series about Candeedo Brewdinkle, a cantankerous old man who … well my author says I talk too much, so I guess I will stop here.

 

Mami’s Picadillo Family Recipe – Provided by Roberto Celeiro

 

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground round beef

1 large onion

1 large green pepper

6 garlic cloves

15 olives

15 capers

2 small boxes of raisins

1 tsp bijol

1 tbsp cumin

1/4 tsp pimiento

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup of vine seco - dry cooking wine

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce Note: Once you have poured out the tomato sauce, use the same can and fill to the top with water.

2 (1.41 ounce) packages sazón seasoning 

 

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir thinly chopped/minced garlic, onion, and green bell pepper in the hot oil until softened, 5 to 7 minutes.

 

Crumble ground beef into the skillet; cook and stir until browned completely, 7 to 10 minutes.

 

Add the tomato sauce, water, and cooking wine. If it still needs more liquid use the same can of tomato sauce and fill it halfway with water.

 

Stir olives, raisins, capers, sazón seasoning, and cumin into the ground beef mixture.

 

Cover the skillet, reduce heat to low, and cook until the mixture is heated through, 5 to 10 minutes. Turn off heat and remove from stove top.

 

Serving suggestions: white rice, black beans, and plantains.

 

A Fashionable Fate

A Rosa the Cuban Psychic Mystery, Book 1

 

For the past three years, Rosa de los Reyes, owner of Rosa's Boutique, has organized the fashion show gala on Colten Island. This year, things are getting a little heated and quite deadly. 

 

Rosa not only needs to use her psychic abilities but also needs to tap into the gossip at La Misteriosa, the Cuban Café owned by her Nana (abuela), to figure out who killed one of the models before the event has even started. To make matters worse, another dead body turns up, and in the middle of all this is an international smuggling operation that is underway. 

 

The closer Rosa and her spirit guide, Raul, get to finding the truth, the stickier the situation gets as they race against time to stop the killer from striking again and stopping the crooks from getting away.

 

Buy Link 

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