Showing posts with label Joan Meijer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joan Meijer. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

The President Has Aids - Joan Meijer, Author


Shai Holzharts Curried Chicken
(I knew Shai back in the '60s. She was a Jewish Indian dancer and wonderful woman....She served this with rice and vegetables and was gracious enough to share the recipe. - Joan Meijer, Author)

12 pieces skinless chicken breast
1 pint sour cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 stick butter
1 cup slivered almonds
4 tablespoons curry powder
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 teaspoons salt

Stew all together until the chicken is completely cooked all the way through and falling apart  about one hour.

Thicken gravy with
1 tablespoon corn starch
mixed in 3 tablespoons cold water.

Serve on large platter of white rice decorated with lightly steamed broccoli....Serves 6

The President Has Aids – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish
Sure glad nothing bad happened to you, Sir,” Metcalfe said, easing the older man back against the comfort of the leather seat. “Press’ll eat it up,” Ripley laughed. “I bet it’ll help my poll numbers.” He coughed and a gout of frothy, bright red blood spilled down his chin and a spread in a widening stain over the front of his light blue shirt. The look, on Metcalfe’s face was that of pure horror. He rapped on the window between the front and back of the limo, “Bill! Eagle is down. Eagle is down.” The President looked confused. Even though he was aware of the codes in which his Secret Service spoke, he could not figure out what was happening. He knew he was Eagle, but he wasn’t down. Down meant trouble and he wasn’t in trouble. “Hand me a tissue would you Joel?” Harris Ripley said, preoccupied with the fact that he could feel something like spittle running down and tickling his chin. Annoyed at being soiled, he dabbed at his chin with the tissue. Blood smeared across his jaw, but he was still unaware that he had been shot.
Harris Ripley is the president of the United States. While leaving a the Washington Hilton Hotel after giving a speech to the UAW, a lone gunman opens fire at Ripley as well as several others within the group protecting him. Secret Service Agent Joel Metcalfe literally throws Ripley into the limo and lays on top of him acting as a human shield. But unknown to Metcalfe nor the President, it’s too late. The President has been shot and neither realize this until after the limo pulls out heading for the Whitehouse.
Political reporter David McLaughlin was at the Hilton for this disastrous event in history but instead of being in a position to report he was in the nearest bar and had no idea as to what was taking place right before him. Instead of firing him, McLaughlin’s publisher moved one of his most brilliant reporters to the Obit section where he runs into Dr. Reginald Hotchkiss. Dr. Hotchkiss is not only the husband of McLaughlin’s ex-wife and step-father to his daughter but also a doctor of hematology. He has requested that McLaughlin call him later. He has some disturbing news that he feels must be made public. The meeting never takes place. Someone gets to Hotchkiss before McLaughlin.
The name The President Has Aids is a giveaway as to what the story builds up to but… the build-up is worth the read even if the title does give it away. The events and actions that take place to cover up the fact that The President Has Aids keep the pages turning. But who is behind this action? Is it the Vice President? The Surgeon General hopeful? The President’s wife? Or is it the President himself? And how did the President contract Aids? I had my own suspicions and couldn’t wait to see if I was right.
 
 
The President Has Aids is a very well written book that kept me hanging on to every word.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Tranquillity Initiative - Joan Meijer, Author



Stewed Chicken
(This was my favorite of my grandmother's
recipes and is well known in my family as "Gonny's Chicken.")


One chicken, whole (remove the skin if you want, it will taste less sinful)
1 can black olives if they're small 2 if they're big
2 jars green olives with pimento (without juice or it will be too salty)
1 large chopped onion
10 cloves of garlic whole but peeled
1 8-oz can stewed tomatoes
25 sliced mushrooms
2 green peppers chopped
1 cup water or chicken broth
2 bay leaf
2 t. dried parsley, oregano, and basil
allow everyone to salt and pepper to taste

Put in large pot. Cover.  Cook all ingredients simultaneously over low heat for 2 hours or until chicken is falling off the bone.

My grandmother taught me to cook with a pinch of this and a dash of that. She also taught me lots of whatever's in the icebox cooking. There are never any true amounts in this recipe - It's kind of a refrigerator delight. If you have carrots or other root vegetables throw them in. You can add potatoes or sweet potatoes to the mix. If you don't like peppers don't throw them in. The stewing in the vegetables is what makes this marvelous - and using different vegetables if you have them adds to the flavor. The one I wrote at the top is my personal favorite.

If you want a thicker gravy take the chicken out of the pot. Melt 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch in one tablespoon of cold water, add to broth in the pot and stir over medium low heat until the gravy thickens

Serve with Quinoa or rice and salad. If you eat potatoes it goes really well with mashed potatoes.

Depending on the size of the chicken it serves 4-6 people.

The Tranquillity Initiative – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat and Think With Your Taste Buds

According to his records in the administration office, the young man, dressed in the color-coded coveralls of a porter, was a civilian who had been recruited by an independent contracting company from the Philippines.  In reality, he had been raised in the suburbs of Astrakhan and had traveled to the Philippines to live with a distant cousin in hops that he would be recruited to work in the American action.  Because he was wall-eyed, and darker than most of their local recruits, he appeared unintelligent to the Americans.  They never looked at him twice.  In the far corner of the Quonset hut, near the exit reserved for garbage collection, the young man unobtrusively removed the two red, white and blue Tranquillity bombs from a regulation canvas shoulder bag.  It was a familiar bag, one that he – like the other native workers – used for picking up garbage around the base.  Quickly and skillfully, he transferred the flag-colored bombs to the ragged native carrying case in which he stored a warm jacket and his lunch.  It was a tight fit getting them in, but he managed.  Stealing from the U.S. Air Force was a well-organized activity at this base.  The young man and his friends had been taking bits and pieces of armament for months.  To date, he had been most proud of the small surface-to-air missile he had managed to spirit off the base.  He had believed that a theft of such gigantic proportions would probably remain the high water mark of his life.  He had not counted on the portability of Tranquillity.

When it appears that the war with Astrakham had no end, a group of men inside the high loops of the US Government took it upon themselves to re-up the Tranquillity Bomb.  They all agreed that this would be the best way to end the war as well as show others that the US would prevail no matter what.  The group had no doubts as to the destruction that would be inflicted upon Astrakham if the Tranquillity Bomb was used.  This particular bomb was designed to silently disburse the deadly disease known as Anthrax.  The one thing the group didn’t count on was theft of two of these deadly bombs.

The bombs looked like bowling pins and decorated in red, white and blue were easily smuggled out of the country and into New York City by a group of young people posing as bowlers that carried their own balls as well as their own ‘lucky’ pins wherever they went to compete.  What they didn’t expect was to find the real threat of the bombs.  This came when one was opened in the attempt of removing the explosives, which were non-existing.  When they realized their mistake, it was too late.  Their fate and deaths were sealed.  The only thing left to do now was to take revenge on the US by dropping the 2nd bomb from one of New York’s highest buildings.  This will be payback for the destruction inflicted upon Astrakham.

Senator Richland Powell and CDC doctor Cassandra Williams find themselves in a race for not just their own lives but the lives of millions as they attempt to find who has the second bomb.  In a city the size of New York, their chances are slim.  Powell feels there is a connection between the Anthrax in Astrakham and that in New York but can’t quite prove it.  Cassandra feels the connection too, especially since it was her own grandfather who invited the Tranquillity Bomb.  His interest in Anthrax flowed down to Cassandra as well as her own father, making them two of the most renown experts in the field.  With that, Cassandra knew the two cases were connected.  She just had to prove it and find the other bomb before time runs out and the terrorists have a chance to seek their revenge. 

This book will scare the heck out of you because it’s possible.  It will scare the heck out of you because it’s typical.  It will scare the heck out of you because if it happened the people of the US would most likely receive no warning.  This book has the making of a great movie!  It’s simply so real that you find yourself actually seeing the events as being possible. I really enjoyed this book.

 
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