#COOKING WITH CLORIS--PRALINE SAUCE FROM AUTHOR ANN EVERETT

Award-winning and bestselling Texas romance author Ann Everett lives on a small lake in Texas where she writes, bakes, and fights her addiction to Diet Dr. Peppers. Learn more about Ann and her books at her website.

Free Sites You Might Find Interesting

When I received the guidelines for this post, one of the requirements was to write 300-750 words about something that would appeal to readers—not writers. Whoa! What? It had been so long since anyone asked me to write about something other than writing, I had to put on my thinking cap.

What would appeal to me as a reader? Then I remembered when I was writing my cookbook, I found a great site that would be helpful to all cooks/bakers. That got me to thinking about other sites I’d found helpful. Naturally, I use them in my writing career, but I’d also use them if I wasn’t a writer. So, today, I want to share them with you.

These first two offer free versions, with the opportunity to buy upgrades. I have only used the free versions.

https://www.remove.bg/

This is a site where you can remove backgrounds from photos. So, if you blog or make memes for FB or other social media sites, or, want to design homemade cards, etc., this is a great editing tool to take out all unwanted background scenery.

https://www.moonmaker.com

Next, if you have a FB account, you’ll find this tool useful. It furnishes you the ability to make a video for your FB header. When you go to the home page, you will see many examples. If you look at the bottom left-hand corner of each one, it will state that it is either free or ‘premium’ which means you’ll have to pay for those. There is a nice selection of free choices. Most are ready-made templates where you fill in your info.  Depending on your business, you may even find one appropriate for that. Check it out.

https://www.jamlabelizer.com 

This last one will cost you a small fee. $8 for lifetime access or you can pay $1 per month and cancel after one month. The site also offers a printing service where they print labels for you, but they are fairly expensive, in my opinion. I bought the lifetime access and made the labels shown in the photo of my recipe featured today. This is a great tool if you give homemade food gifts. Such a wonderful way to personalize them.

But guess what? You can use the labels for things other than canned/baked goods. You can use them for book labels. I did one with my daughter’s name, the year, and whom it was from. A nice way to mark birthday/Christmas gifts. I think you could even use them for gift tags. Lots of possibilities!

I hope one or more of these sites will be of interest to you. I always love finding free tools!!

Praline Sauce

Ingredients:

2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

Dash of salt

1/2 cup butter

3 Tablespoons each of dark and light corn syrups

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chopped toasted pecans

In a heavy saucepan, combine sugar and soda. Stir in buttermilk, salt, butter, and syrups. Place over medium-high heat and bring to boil, stirring constantly.

Reduce heat to low and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and immediately stir in vanilla and pecans. Sauce thickens as it cools.

Sweet Thangs

In Ann Everett’s Tizzy/Ridge Romance Trilogy, fictional characters Pattiecake McAlister and Sugarpie Monroe cook up delicious confections at Sweet Thangs Bakery. These recipes are from the kitchens of real life sisters, Pattie Ball and Carol Mayfield.

Inside this book, they share more than 130 homemade recipes, including luscious cakes, yummy cookies, sweet salads, delectable pies, scrumptious candy, and delightful drinks, perfect for special occasions or gift giving.

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY -- GUEST AUTHOR TINA GALLAGHER

Today’s Book Club Friday guest author is Tina Gallagher. Tina writes contemporary romance novels and non-fiction. Tina began writing as a young girl. In-between softball, basketball, and music lessons, she and her best friend would create their own "happily ever afters" for their favorite soap opera couples. After a while, the soap operas lost their appeal, but the writing never did. Tina lives in Northeast Pennsylvania and is an active member of the Pocono/Lehigh Romance Writers. To learn more about Tina, visit her website. 

Tina will be giving away a signed copy of Misguided to one of our readers who leaves a comment this week. -- AP

Finding Inspiration

When people find out I’m a writer, they usually ask where I get my story ideas.  Actually, ideas come pretty easily…sometimes it’s as simple as reading a story and wondering “what if this happened instead of that?”  In fact, I often have snippets of potential characters’ conversations running around in my head as ideas come to mind. 

What I have more of a problem with in the writing process is the setting.  In fiction, the setting can be just as important as any character and needs to be developed just as well in order to make it come alive.  And it’s not just the city or town the story takes place in that needs to be described, it’s everything.  Unless my characters are going to have all those conversations that are running through my head in a one room shack, I need to find places for them to go, and I need to describe those places well.  

Since setting is so important, I try to notice things everywhere I go.  Restaurants, parks, schools, houses, hotels, roads…pretty much everything.  You never know what can be used in a story somewhere down the road. 

In my new release, Misguided, Jake takes Cassie for a romantic New Year’s Eve dinner at a hotel that was formerly a passenger train station.  While the town Misguided is set in is fictitious, the hotel is not.  I based it on an actual hotel located in my hometown of Scranton, Pa. 

The Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel was formerly known as the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Station, whose routes stretched across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York.  This six-story landmark was constructed in 1908 and considered one of the most beautiful terminals in the East, having been built as a showplace for the company’s central business offices and doubling as a depot.  It has been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places since 1977.   

The last train left this station in 1970 and for ten years, the building fell into disrepair, falling victim to vandals and the elements.  After extensive renovations, it reopened on New Year’s Eve 1983, emerging with all the grandeur of the original station, plus so much more. 

The care that was taken throughout the restorations is evidenced throughout the building.  The Grand Lobby, which originally served as the station’s waiting area, boasts a barrel-vaulted Tiffany stained-glass ceiling, Siena marble walls, and a mosaic tile floor.  Surrounding the walls are 36 tile murals that depict scenes along the railroad’s lines, starting at Hoboken Station and ending at Niagara Falls.  Above the dining room walls are a dozen matching stained glass lamps, all but one is original to the old station.

Today, the Grand Lobby holds a fine dining restaurant and a wine bar.  This structure is truly a feast for the eyes.  If you’re ever passing through Scranton, be sure to make a stop at the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel.  Grab a cocktail, settle into a comfy chair, and check out the history.

Thanks so much, Tina! I will definitely have to put this train station/restaurant on my Must See Someday list. What about the rest of you? Want to have dinner at the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel? Let’s hear from you. Post a comment, and you could win a copy of Tina’s latest release. -- AP