TRAVEL WITH SERENA -- GUEST TRAVELER, AUTHOR CARA MARSI

Carolyn Matkowsky, who writes as Cara Marsi, is the author of romance short stories, romantic suspense, and paranormal romance. Her latest book is Murder Mi Amore. Today, though, she’s here to discuss travel safety with us. Read more about Carolyn/Cara at her website. -- AP 

PERSONAL SECURITY IN ITALY

When I travel, whether in the United States or other countries, I’m always very careful and vigilant about my personal safety. Some might say I’m paranoid.

My husband and I visited Italy in 2006. We went alone, but planned to meet a cousin from Arizona and another cousin from Australia there. I’d visited once before, with my parents, in 1965. At that time the world was a safer place, plus I was young and didn’t worry much about personal safety. Because my grandparents are from Italy, I know a lot about the history and what sights to see. To prepare for this latest trip, I read all I could about security in Italy.

Italy is a country of pickpockets, on the streets, on the subways, everywhere it seems. Everything I read cautioned tourists to guard their wallets and their valuables. As I read, I became even more paranoid. It didn’t help my paranoia when my dentist told me the story of a friend of his, a very wealthy woman who wore scads of gold and diamond jewelry all the time. This woman and her family were in Italy for her daughter’s wedding. Before the woman left for Italy, people advised her not to wear her expensive jewelry. But she didn’t listen. During her visit, muggers knocked her down a flight of stairs and took all her jewelry. She was badly injured. 

Here are my personal safety travel tips, especially when traveling overseas:

Leave the good jewelry at home. I did this even before my dentist told me that disturbing story. Other than my wedding ring and a few other small pieces, I wear mostly costume jewelry when I travel. And I closely guard the few pieces of good jewelry I take.

1. Leave your passport in the hotel safe. Make a copy of the photo page of your passport and carry that with you.
 
2. When I travel, I take along a very small purse, just big enough for a few credit cards and some money and those few small pieces of good jewelry I might carry. The wallet-sized purse has a long strap that crosses over my chest. I wear the tiny purse under my clothes. The strap is long enough that the purse itself is visible where it’s within easy reach for me, but not for any pickpockets. I carry a larger handbag with a strap that also crosses over my chest. I don’t put anything valuable in the larger purse. A little too cautious? Maybe.
 
3. If you don’t have an in-room safe, get a safety deposit box from the hotel. I can’t stress this enough. On my last trip to Las Vegas, I took my new Kindle. Suddenly I had something else I needed to secure. No one would steal a paperback you leave in your room. But a Kindle? Hell, yes. My hotel had a small daily charge for the in-room safe. I paid it to secure my Kindle.  

My precautions in Italy were well-founded. While there, we witnessed an attempted pick pocketing. We were walking down a very crowded sidewalk when a man suddenly started shouting at a young woman. He actually slapped her in the face. Seems he saw the young woman with her hand in the purse/backpack of an American tourist. Indeed, the purse was unzipped. The whole incident caused quite a commotion until the police arrived.

Once, when my husband and I stopped for a drink at an outdoor café near Trevi, my husband put his camera on the table. Our waiter made him put it away because thieves run by and grab items off tables.

Another time my husband had his money out to pay for something. The clerk cautioned him to keep his hand down and not show the money because thieves come by and grab money out of your hand.

So, you see, I might be a little paranoid when I travel, but my caution is justified. Thankfully, maybe due to luck, maybe to our precautions, we weren’t the victims of a crime while in Italy.

Thank you for the great travel advice, Carolyn! I have my own tales of traveling in Italy I could tell, but that was way back in my college days. Looks like nothing has changed! Readers, do you have a travel tale you’d like to share with us? Let’s hear from you. Post a comment to enter the drawing for a book from our Book Club Friday guest author. -- AP

HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE - DARK MEAT VS. WHITE MEAT

Do you choose breasts over thighs because they’re lower in fat, even though you prefer the taste of dark meat over white meat? Health editor Janice Kerr says it’s time to rethink your choices. -- AP

Anastasia, it’s true that the dark meat of the chicken has more fat than the white meat. However, the meat from the drumstick and thigh is only slightly fattier than breast meat. And 60% of that fat mono and polyunsaturated fat -- the kind of fat that’s good for you. Also, leg meat contains twice as much zinc as breast meat, 20% of your recommended daily allowance.

Remember, too, that at least half of the fat in a chicken comes from the skin. So the best thing to do is remove the skin, but do so after you cook the chicken. The meat won’t absorb the fat as it cooks, but the cooked chicken will turn out juicier.

Here’s how the fat and calories stack up in the various sections of a chicken:
SKINLESS BREAST
165 calories
1 gram saturated fat
1.2 grams mono-saturated fat
.7 grams poly-saturated fat

SKINLESS DRUMSTICK 175 calories
1.5 grams saturated fat
1.9 grams mono-saturated fat
1.4 grams poly-saturated fat

SKINLESS THIGH 209 calories
3 grams saturated fat
4 grams mono-saturated fat
2.5 grams poly-saturated fat

Interesting stats, Janice. Thanks for sharing! So readers, are you dark meat lovers or white meat lovers? Let’s hear from you. Post a comment to enter the drawing for a book from this week's Book Club Friday author. -- AP

COOKING WITH CLORIS -- SLOW-COOKED CHICKEN BREASTS WITH MANGOES AND CRANBERRIES

SLOW-COOKED CHICKEN BREASTS WITH MANGOES AND CRANBERRIES

As you all know, with my hectic schedule I love dinners that cook themselves. Today Cloris shares another one of her make-ahead-in minutes dinners. -- AP

SLOW-COOKED CHICKEN BREASTS WITH MANGOES AND CRANBERRIES
 (serves 4)

Ingredients:
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
3 oz. dried mangoes
1/2 cup dried cranberries
4 large carrots, peeled
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
3/4 cup chicken broth

Place chicken breasts, dried mangoes, cranberries, and carrots in a slow cooker. Mix together barbecue sauce and chicken broth. Pour over chicken, fruit, and carrots. Cook on low 6-8 hrs.

You can literally prepare this dinner in less than 5 minutes before going to work. Serve with cous cous, minute brown rice, or bowtie noodles and you’ve got dinner. Readers, what’s for dinner at your house tonight? Post a comment to enter the drawing for a book from this week's Book Club Friday author. -- AP

CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA-- INDIAN PRINCESS YARN DOLL

Refer to the materials list and directions from May 23, 2011 to make the basic yarn doll using green bulky yarn. Decorate the doll as follows:

Materials:
black 4-ply yarn for hair
2” x 8” piece rust felt
three 1/2” x 12” pieces gold felt
5” autumn floral craft pick
three 6” craft feathers
circle template, pencil and ruler
tacky glue or glue gun

1. Make doll according to Basic Yarn Doll directions (5/23/11.)

2. To make yarn braids, cut fourteen 1” pieces and thirty-three 15” pieces of black yarn. Glue short pieces to head over muslin for bangs. Apply a line of glue down the center of head. Center yarn lengths over the glue, working from top of head to back neck. Allow to dry. Pull yarn tightly over head to either side. Braid each side, tying off 1” above ends.

3. Draw a 5/8” circle at center of rust felt. Draw a line halfway between one short end of felt up to circle. Cut along this line and cut out circle. Fringe short ends of felt with 1/2" cuts.

4. Place rust felt over doll with opening in front. Tie at waist with one strip of gold felt.

5. Cut one piece of gold felt into four 3" pieces. Glue two around tied sections of braids and two around wrists, trimming as necessary.

5. Glue remaining gold felt strip around head for headband, sandwiching feather stems between overlapped edges at back of head and trimming away excess felt.

6. Glue floral pick into crook of doll’s left arm.

Check back for more yarn doll variations in future weeks.


Post a comment to enter the drawing for a book from this week's Book Club Friday author. -- AP

THIS WEEK'S BOOK WINNER

Thanks to all who stopped by this week at Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers. We hope you'll come back often and also tell your friends about us. We have lots of exciting posts and guests planned for the months ahead. I’d also like to thank Dorothy Howell for being our Book Club Friday guest and offering a copy of Clutches and Curses to one of our readers who posted a comment this week. The winner this week is Cynthia. Cynthia, please email your mailing addresses to me at anastasiapollack@gmail.com, I’ll forward the information to Dorothy, and she’ll mail the book to you.

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY -- GUEST AUTHOR DOROTHY HOWELL

Today we welcome author Dorothy Howell, the author of 28 novels. Dorothy writes the humorous Haley Randolph mystery series for Kensington Books, and as Judith Stacy, she writes historical romance for Harlequin Silhouette. Her books have been translated into a dozen languages, with sales approaching 3 million copies worldwide.

Dorothy is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and Romance Writers of America. For more information about Dorothy, visit her website where you’ll also find information about a contest she’s running for her readers where you can win a designer handbag. However, just for readers of Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers, Dorothy is giving away a copy of Clutches and Curses. To enter, simply post a comment to the blog this week. -- AP

HOW A PASSION FOR HANDBAGS TURNED INTO MURDER

After writing 22 historical romance novels, most under the pen name Judith Stacy, I decided to try my hand at writing in a different genre.  I loved reading mysteries so I figured I’d try writing one.

Coming up with the premise of the Haley Randolph series was fun.  Haley is a 24 year old salesclerk who’s in the middle of a big-time quarter-life crisis.  Nothing seems to go her way, and she just can’t seem to catch a break.

All mystery series need a theme so I picked handbags.  I’m absolutely crazy about handbags.  A few years ago I had an online purse business.  I gave purse parties, too.  What fun!   So I decided that in the series Haley’s biggest passion in life would be getting her hands on the newest, hottest purse.

This, of course, makes doing the research for the books loads of fun for me.  I shop at retail, discount, and factory outlet stores, and check out fashion magazines to see the latest styles.  I pick up a handbag or two for myself, occasionally – just to keep the series real, of course.

In each book, Haley is on the trail of the “it” bag of the season -- along with the murderer, of course.  I give each handbag a name.  So far, Haley has pursued, and gotten, a Notorious and a Sinful.  In Purses and Poison, the second book in the series, Haley sets her fashion sights on a Judith Leiber evening bag.  Who wouldn’t?  In Clutches and Curses, this month’s new release, it’s a Delicious bag she’s after – where else but at a handbag convention in Las Vegas!

My dream is to one day create my own handbag line.  Since I live near Los Angeles, where the series is set, I visit the garment district where, in the book, Haley buys handbags for the purse parties she gives.  Nearby is the fabric district.  There are thousands and thousands of bolts of fabric from all over the world, in every color, quality and pattern imaginable.  Oh, the gorgeous bags I could make – someday.

           

For now I’m content to write about fabulous handbags.  But who knows that the future will hold?

Dorothy, thanks so much for joining us today. My own purse envy usually runs toward the classic Coach bags, but I certainly wouldn’t mind a Birkin on my shoulder. Hey, I can dream, can’t I? What about you, readers? Any purse envy people out there? Let’s hear from you. Post a comment to enter the drawing for a copy of Clutches and Curses. -- AP

BEAUTY WITH NICOLE-- FLOSS AWAY WRINKLES

What do teeth flossing and wrinkles have in common? Beauty editor Nicole Emmerling is here today to tell us. -- AP

Sounds a bit far-fetched, doesn’t it, Anastasia? We all know that flossing is good for your teeth and gums, but a daily flossing can also help prevent wrinkles.

Not flossing can lead to gum recession and bone loss, which in turn will eventually cause your lips to deflate and make the wrinkles around your mouth more prominent. So if you’re daily routine doesn’t include flossing, start now to prevent wrinkles down the road. Not only is it part of maintaining a healthy body, it’s a lot cheaper than Botox.

Wow! Who knew? Post a comment. You could win the book giveaway from this week's Book Club Friday guest author.-- AP