Terry Ambrose

Writing is like a good barbecue sauce, if it ain't bold, it ain't worth doing.

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Friday Fotos – Picton Harbor calling

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Picton - harbor showing some of the boats in the harbor
Boats in the harbor at Picton, where tourism is big business

During our 2019 tour of New Zealand, we had the pleasure of visiting beautiful Picton. This gorgeous small town is located in the Marlborough Sounds and is reminiscent of days gone by, a time when it was easy to walk around and stroll from shop to shop. The locals in this area say the harbor has more boats than there are permanent residents.

The thing about this small town is that tourism is big business. Without it, the town would be much smaller. There is skiing nearby, but when the cruise ships stop coming, the town becomes quiet. Learn more about the area on the Visit Picton website.

If you want to see more of our trip to New Zealand, check out last week’s post, Friday Fotos – Zealandia is a wildlife refuge for the future.

More photo from New Zealand

Dead of Winter Break by Kelly Brakenhoff

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Dead of Winter Break tour graphic
Dead of Winter Break by Kelly Brakenhoff

This is a guest post by Kelly Brakenhoff. It’s part of a virtual book tour for Dead of Winter Break. When I read the post, I thought of how many people are affected this way.

Finding My Way Back

I thought I’d get so much done.

When everything closed the spring, and my day job as an ASL Interpreter was paused, at first, I was a little bit excited. At times, I’ve fantasized about reducing my interpreting work hours and increasing my writing time so that I can write more books, organize the empty nest, and pamper the dogs. A slow, leisurely transition to retiring and spending my days traveling the world, writing books, and drinking wine in foreign lands.

Not a bad fantasy, right?

The March reality check hit more abruptly than any of us expected. One week I was working in college classrooms, the next I was home 24/7. My husband works for a sand and gravel mine, mostly outside and never changed his schedule during the spring.

The dogs were confused.

I slept late and stayed in my pajamas past noon. I struggled to write, or clean house, or even shower daily. It was the first time in my adult life I was without a job and not home with a newborn baby. Optimism is my normal mindset, but it was a struggle.

I know many of you can relate.

Kelly Brakenhoff author of Dead of Winter Break

Knowing I wasn’t alone in my distress kind of helped. After a few weeks of wallowing, I tired of kicking myself because I hadn’t finished the next book, cleaned a closet, or even done laundry. Here in the Midwest, cocooned in my neighborhood, I’ve avoided the virus as much as possible but often felt guilty about how little physical activity I got or how many carbs I ate. When our 15-year-old dog died in June, it was time for a change. For my mental health, I had to give myself permission.

Permission to veg. Permission to eat what I want.

Eventually I found alternatives to keep my brain challenged even when I didn’t feel creative enough to bang out the next mystery on my laptop. I read Chris Fox’s book 5,000 Words Per Day. No I still don’t write that fast yet, but I’ve tried some of his tips to increase my focus and decrease my distractions.

I read On Writing by Stephen King. I doubt Mr. King sat around all spring and summer wringing his hands and feeling angsty about getting words on the page. I signed up for Masterclass and watched videos by Neil Gaiman, Steve Martin, David Baldacci and more. At least on the videos someone was talking to me.

The worst part was the forced introverting.

Anyone who knows me would tell you I’m an extrovert. But I had no idea how much I need to be around people and talk to them until I couldn’t. Nowadays I’m back to work, although it’s mostly online from home. I’ve learned to make a weekly run date with a friend. I take walks with my neighbor who also works from home or play fetch with our German Wirehair dog.

What most helped bring me back to myself were the inspirational emails I subscribe to from Bishop Robert Barron and Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper, along with a few authors who have funny monthly newsletters. My monthly book club met at the park this summer. I FaceTime my family more.

Staring into the abyss of more restrictions this fall and winter (our state has more cases than ever this week), I’m making my winter mental/physical health plan. Some days will be too cold or snowy to get outside, and I want to have options.

  • Read something inspirational every day. Pray and meditate.
  • Workout every day at least 30 min.
  • Creatively keep my weekly exercise dates with friends while indoors. Maybe we’ll wear masks? Or I’ll get on my elliptical and my friend can get on her treadmill and we can call and chat while working out inside at same time.
  • Before I eat junk or binge watch TV for hours, I’ll ask myself the question: “How will I feel afterwards?”
  • Put up Christmas decor and shop for gifts even if I don’t feel like it at first.
  • Keep writing a little bit every day. Even just 1,000 words a weekday adds up to 252,000 words per year.

Unfortunately, the pandemic isn’t going away as quickly as we had all hoped. What’s your winter plan for keeping your spirits up? Share your ideas in the comments and maybe they’ll inspire the rest of us.

Be well, friends!

Learn more about Dead of Winter Break and Kelly Brakenhoff at kellybrakenhoff.com. If you like this guest post, why not check out some of my Author Interviews?

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Coconut Matcha Pie from The Daring Kitchen

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Coconut Matcha Pie
A piece of green tea cake. One piece of matcha tea cake with cream frosting and mint leaf served on around white plate over white background. Delicious dessert for tea or coffee time. Image courtesy of The Daring Kitchen.

Looks yummy, right? This Coconut Matcha Pie recipe was contributed by Ligia Lugo, who runs The Daring Kitchen blog. Her blog is focused on tasty, but healthy recipes and buying guides. Some of her reviews might be useful – even for this recipe. For example, in this review, you can find a selection of the best oven mitts on the market. Click here for an index for all my recipes.

This coconut matcha pie is prepared with the healthiest ingredients to give you the much-needed vitamins, fiber, minerals, and energy. Don’t forget the ingredients that bring out the real taste of a pie to give you an enjoyable munching experience.

Coconut and Matcha combination basically come together to tantalize your taste buds. The tropical sweetness is paired up with a combination of floral notes and some yummy toppings of your favorite flavor – tea powder, vanilla extract, and whipping cream.

Before you start, you should gather the necessary equipment such as an oven, oven mitt, bowl, and a pie pan. With everything in place, let’s get right into the recipe part. 

Ligia Lugo

Coconut Macha Pie

The flavors of coconut, macha, and lightly sweetened whipped cream come together in this unique dessert.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course Dessert

Ingredients
  

Pie Crust

  • 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 8 tbsp unsalted butter
  • Pinch of Salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tbsp confectioners sugar
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • Flour to dust

Matcha Filling

  • 2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence or vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp corn flour
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 2 tbsp sifted matcha tea powder
  • ½ cup dried coconut flakes
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter
  • Pinch of Salt

Coconut Topping

  • 1 cup heavy or whipping cream
  • 7 tbsp sifted confectioner’s sugar
  • 1 tsp matcha tea powder sifted
  • ½ tsp vanilla essence or vanilla extract
  • Additional matcha tea powder or coconut flakes for serving.

Instructions
 

Dough

  • Take a bowl and sift flour and sugar together. Take out cold butter from the refrigerator and with the help of your fingers mix flour and butter together till mixture becomes crumbly. Now add the egg and use your hands to incorporate it completely into the dough till it rolls up into a ball. The dough shouldn’t be too dry neither too sticky.
  • In order to get the perfect texture of the crust, make sure that the dough is flattened out and refrigerated for at least an hour before it is baked in the oven.
  • Now dust the surface on which you plan to roll out the dough with the help of a rolling pin. The rolled out dough should neither be too thick or too thin. With the help of your hands transfer the dough into the pie pan and make sure that the excess dough hanging out of the pan should be removed. Pop the pan in the refrigerator again for an hour as it will help add up to the flakiness of the pie crust.
  • Meanwhile preheat your oven at 200 degrees C. Cover the dough with foil or parchment paper and place red kidney beans on the top. Bake it blind for at least 20 minutes or till the dough is absolutely set.

Filling

  • Take unsweetened coconut milk in a pan and add vanilla essence. Bring it to a boil and let it simmer for at least 10 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar together till the mixture becomes pale yellow in color.
  • Add cornstarch in the yolk mixture and whisk it again till it is fully incorporated. Now slowly add the yolk mixture into the milk and whisk it rigorously while you are pouring it in so that the filling is not at all lumpy.
  • Let the mixture boil till it thickens. Make sure you are whisking it till the mixture becomes thick. Now remove the pan and stir in butter. Once the butter is completely dissolved and mixed into the mixture, add in coconut flakes and matcha tea powder.
  • Refrigerate the filling in the fridge, however, make sure that the top of the pan is covered properly to avoid the skin from forming on the top of the filling.

Topping

  • Beat the heavy or whipping cream till soft peaks form. Add in the confectioner sugar and matcha tea powder, while you’re beating it. Do not overbeat the cream as will start losing its consistency.

Assembling the Pie

  • Make sure the dough is cooled completely. Pour the matcha filling in the pie and refrigerate it again till it is set. Now spread the topping evenly on top of the filling with the help of a spoon. Add coconut flakes or matcha powder on top before serving.

Falling into Magic by Elizabeth Pantley

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Falling into Magic tour graphic
Falling into Magic cover

Elizabeth Pantley is the international bestselling author of The No-Cry Sleep Solution and twelve other books for parents. Falling into Magic is her first cozy mystery in the Destiny Falls Mystery and Magic series.

The beginnings of Falling into Magic

“Over the past fifteen years I’ve written thirteen non-fiction parenting books. My writing career was based on research, science and the realities of everyday family reality. However, always in the back of my mind, my novel simmered.”

Over the past few years, Elizabeth said she’d been jotting down notes of thoughts about possible stories. Sometimes she copied a passage or sentence that touched her heart. “When COVID struck, and I spent more time at home, I realized that it was the perfect time to create a warm, enchanted place where the problems of the crazy would we live in could be left behind and replaced by a magical new world.”

While Elizabeth didn’t say it, her background in writing parenting books is also influencing her cozy mystery. “The underlying message of the book is that family and home is a fluid thing that changes over the course of your life. People can become important to you in a short period of time, and friends can be made in moments. Life is complex. We as people change, and our world around us changes with us. The good news is that the lucky among us find our place, our home, and our family, and we settle in to enjoy a rich and beautiful life in that place.”

A world of wonders

Elizabeth Pantley

One of the things that surprised Elizabeth when she started writing fiction was how the world she’d invented became so real to her. “I was truly amazed that once I created a cast of characters and an enchanted location, that the town and the people almost overtook the storytelling! I would wake up many mornings with a new scene filling my head – I’d be squinting in the dark, tapping out notes on my phone before I even got out of bed! At various points of my day I’d suddenly be inspired by something one of my new “friends” would say or do and rush to jot it down before the images left my mind. You might say I was just as surprised as my readers at some of the things that happened!”

Elizabeth feels that in Falling into Magic, she’s created an enchanted world full of wonders. “I’ve filled it with rich and quirky characters to keep you entertained and delighted. I’ve ended this story with a fanciful, magical scene. Try to picture yourself there, and guess what your grand destiny would be.”

Climbing mountains

“I have four grown children who are all climbers, campers and hikers. Over the past year I’ve worked on my own health and fitness to a point that they invited me to join them on a climb. At first, I laughed. There was no way I was going mountain climbing! But my kids promised we’d only go as fast or as far as I was comfortable going. They even offered to carry my gear, so finally, I agreed.

“The adventure was amazing, and I’m proud to say I made it all the way up to the peak. The views from atop a mountain are breathtaking, and the joy of the experience is exhilarating. I took many stops along the trails – but it’s not what you think! I kept stopping to take inspirational photos and jot down notes for my book.

“So, when my characters hike the mountains, you can know that I’m sharing the scenes based on my own personal experience. I’m happy to say that the day turned out to be a highlight of my life! I’m a woman who climbs mountains! And I’m happy to get to share the experience with my readers through my stories.”

Learn more about Elizabeth Pantley at ElizabethPantley.com. Click here if you liked this interview and want to see more like it.

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Friday Fotos – Zealandia is a wildlife refuge for the future

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Zealandia took over this structure
This “lake” is actually part of a dam, which became part of Zealandia when it began.

Welcome to Zealandia wildlife refuge!

Don’t get this Zealandia confused with the continental shelf by the same name. This one is in Wellington, New Zealand and we visited during our 2019 trip to New Zealand. This was a great experience. Much like all other organized tours, there simply wasn’t enough time to see everything we’d have liked.

The Zealandia wildlife refuge is a fully-fenced urban ecosanctuary. They have a 500-year vision to restore the valley forest and freshwater ecosystems as closely as possible to their pre-human state. An organization with a 500-year vision is very unusual, but they are intent on reintroducing species of native wildlife, some of which have been absent from mainland New Zealand for more than 100 years.

Check out last week’s Friday Foto, Friday Fotos – Hawkes Bay Express is a stylish ride.

More photos from Wellington, New Zealand

Shrouded in Mystery – a guest post for Spawning Suspicion

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Spawning Suspicion tour graphic
Spawning Suspicion cover

Shrouded in Mystery

By Maggie Toussaint 

In Spawning Suspicion and the other Seafood Caper Mysteries, two characters are standouts. These super seniors are well known for holding court in the island’s tiny post office, where they collect and disperse information.

Octogenarians Ola Mae Reed and Valerie Reed moved to Shell Island about 25 years ago and set up house together. Rumor is these sisters helped their husbands into early graves, but who believes everything they hear? With matching caps of closely shorn white curls, trim bodies, pastel pantsuits, and slip-on sneakers, these gals cut a fine figure.

The eldest, Ola Mae, is clearly the outspoken one of the pair, but just when you think Valerie is the quiet, complacent one, she reins her sister in. These spitfire ladies are well known for squeezing a dollar until it cries mercy. Case in point, they recently sprang for new funeral attire after decades of service from their old outfits. No way would they miss anyone’s funeral. Some islanders call them professional mourners.

My sleuth River Holloway Merrick recently observed that the sisters’ home interior was painted. The sisters had new locks installed too, claiming they needed extra safety precautions to protect them from the sudden wave of island crime.

Maggie Toussaint, author of Spawning Suspicion

I could’ve told them they were wasting their money. After all, hardly anyone on Shell Island would ever consider visiting the sisters’ home. Nor would they eat or drink food anything the women fixed for fear of being poisoned. By contrast, my sleuth River isn’t scared to visit the sisters. She does not eat or drink anything the sisters make though.

Despite their murky backgrounds, these sisters bring a sense of community to the island’s seniors. They’re currently mobilizing to elect their candidate Deputy Gil Franklin to be sheriff and have the incompetent one removed.

In addition to having a curious nature, Ola Mae enjoys solving the puzzles in a mystery so she always wants a report from River about the current case. She encourages River to keep up the good work in seeking justice for crime victims.

Ola Mae’s sister Valerie is quietly powerful and versatile, drawing on seemingly boundless reserves of strength and grace to move mountains. People say she was once as outgoing as Ola Mae but her bad marriage dampened her spirit.

Collectively, they’re a strong, charismatic team who rally the community to take action when needed. They lead by example, lending their time and talents to various causes.

However, hidden layers in these women have yet to be plumbed. No one questions their motivation for their various causes. No one researches that old rumor about them offing their husbands. No one remarks on the current spending they are doing.

Is it possible that two stone-cold killers are among the most powerful and influential of all island residents? Check out Ola Mae and Valerie in both Seas the Day (book one of the series) and Spawning Suspicion (newly released book two) and see if you can figure out what makes these gals tick.

Learn more about Maggie Toussaint and Spawning Suspicion at maggietoussaint.com.

If you liked this guest post, check out some of my interviews.

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