Showing posts with label espionage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label espionage. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

The Orange Moon Affair - Afn Clarke, Author



Veal Marsala with Asparagus Tips
 An AFN Clarke Recipe

This recipe is based on a meal that my character Thomas Gunn has at London's Royal Overseas League in Chapter Six of The Orange Moon Affair.

Both my father, my mother and I were members of the Royal Overseas League and it was there as a family that we celebrated my father's award of the MBE by the Queen at Buckingham Palace for his services to the British Community in Libya during the 1969 revolution. He enjoyed veal marsala very much and this recipe is dedicated to him. We lived in Libya for many years and travelled back to UK by car (ferry from Tripoli to Siracusa) through Sicily and Italy enjoying the food. Libya was once an Italian colony and one of my fondest memories as a teenager was enjoying Spaghetti Bolognese served in big white bowls in an Italian restaurant in one of the Italian style piazzas of what was then Istaklal Street in Tripoli on a balmy summer evening..


Ingredients
4 Veal cutlets about 4oz each and 1/2" thick
3 Eschallots
Butter
Plain Flour
1/2 teaspoon Fennel seeds ground
1 Brown mushroom
1 Porcini mushroom
1 Shitake mushroom
2 white mushrooms
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1/2 cup Marco de Bartoli Vignas la Miccia Marsala Superiore Oro DOC
1/4 cup chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
16 fresh Asparagus
4 medium roasting potatoes
1 Rosemary sprig
3 Green onions
8 small salad tomatoes de-seeded
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
Italian dressing
2 bottles of Pienantroj Montepulciano D'Abruzzo 2007
Serves 4

Method
Preparation is the key word here. If you don't get everything in order then you're going to be behind all the way.

So let's start with the potatoes. Heat the oven to 180°C or 160°C for a fan oven. I use the Heston Blumenthal method, which delivers every time. Peel so they have sharp edges, cut into quarters and boil in well-salted water until they start to crack and are soft, about 15 to 20 minutes. Take them out gently, you don't want them falling apart, and cool in a colander.

While the potatoes are boiling grind the fennel seeds in a pestle and mortar until you have a medium fine powder, mix with salt and ground black pepper, then rub well onto the veal cutlets. Do not use too much fennel, you want a delicate taste not an overpowering one. Cover and set aside for a few minutes so the seasoning settles with the meat. Cut the asparagus stalks at the point where a sharp knife goes through easily. Slice tomatoes and deseed, then slice again into thin strips. Dice green onions. Cut mushrooms into 1/2 centimetre slices. Take the rosemary sprigs and strip off the leaves into a bowl with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix with a little salt and ground black pepper. Not too much.

Once the potatoes are cooled, toss them in the rosemary olive oil, lay on an roasting tray and put them in the oven. Cook for 1 to 11/4 hrs. turning every twenty minutes until golden and crispy.

Heat oil and butter in a frying pan and sear the veal cutlets on all sides. Do not overcook, the idea is to seal the outside and leave the inside still pink. It will cook to temperature in the sauce. Take out and leave to one side while the sauce is prepared. In the same pan sauté eschallots and mushrooms until they soften, cook a further two minutes to remove a little water from the mushrooms.

There are many ways to thicken sauce, but I always make a roux and then add the sauce ingredients to it. It's more time consuming but the texture is so much better and I don't like the flour on the meat. So take your vegetable stock that you so loving made yesterday and heat it to boiling, turn it down then melt the butter in a saucepan. Add flour stirring until the roux thickens to a soft glistening paste. Cook for two to three minutes stirring all the time to make sure the flour is cooked through so you don't get the taste of flour, then remove from the heat, stir in your vegetable stock and marsala a little at a time making sure there are no lumps. Add more stock and marsala until the sauce is the consistency you want.

Add the mushrooms and eschallots to the sauce and cook gently for about ten minutes. Taste the sauce and season accordingly. Bring back to boil and add the veal and cook for about five to seven minutes until the interior of the meat is to temperature.

Now for the asparagus. I like to saute them with the tomato strips, garlic and green onions and enough olive oil to coat but not drench. Use a high heat and cook until the outside of the vegetables are browned a little.

Remove the potatoes from the oven and plate up, drizzling Italian dressing on the potatoes. Garnish veal marsala with the parsley and pour generous glasses of Pietantonj Montepulciano D'Abruzzo 2007 and enjoy.


Before & After
For an appetizer, a really fresh bruschetta works well.  Here's an easy recipe:

Fresh basil leaves torn and mixed with olive oil, finely diced garlic, diced plum tomatoes and diced red onion on slices of garlic and rosemary foccacia bread that has been drizzled with olive oil and toasted in the oven.

And to finish the meal, a cheese platter with grapes and black pepper crackers. Cambozola cheese is creamy with a hint of blue vein and goes very well with the rest of the bottle of Marsala. Add whatever other cheeses and grapes take your fancy. While not strictly Italian, Cambozola is a mix of French Brie and Italian Gorgonzola with just the right tang to set off the meal.

Serves 4


The Orange Moon Affair - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish

 "I saw the FIM-92 Stinger ground-to-air missile spearing up toward us from the far ridge.  My reactions were slow and for a fatal moment I watched the white smoky trail from the rocket motor arc its way through the sky.  I pulled on the collective and kicked the anti-torque pedals to port, almost escaping the oncoming death, but the rocket slammed into the tail boom.  The earth spun in a lazy arc as the helicopter arched over backwards at fifty feet above the rocky desert as I lost control, spiralling to the ground, pieces flying in all directions, the only section remaining relatively intact being the forward cockpit, saved because the main rotor head deflected the impact.  There was no pain, just a smashing, grinding, splintering sound.  I felt a violent lurch as my head slammed into the side door, then silence."  

When Thomas Gunn's father Sir Ivan Gunn talked to him about taking over the family business, Gunn Group Industries, Thomas had declined.  He decided instead to join the military.  After eight years as an officer in the Special Forces Support Group, Thomas was injured and now spends his life on board his fifty-seven foot Fountaine Pajot with the love of his life, Julie.  But when his father was kidnapped and then murdered, Thomas was forced to take over the company.  It didn't take long for him to understand that someone had been transferring money into a project that only his father knew about, or so he was told.  And when Julie's father started tracking the project, its people and those running it, there was nothing to be found.  With billions of dollars being transferred to the project, someone was getting rich but who.


This book has more ups and downs than the biggest roller coaster.  There are government conspiracies that take in some of the top names all around the world.  Thomas and the few he feels he might be able to trust, find themselves running all around the world tracking those involved as well as the money.  Try as I may, I did not guess what was actually going on until it was exposed to me by the Author near the end.  This book was one I didn't want to put down.  It was one that irritated me (in a good way) because I couldn't guess the ending.  And it's one that I recommend, especially to the male readers who love a good espionage, action book as well as those female readers who want a book that will really grab them too.  I loved this and am looking forward to reading the next book in this series The Jonas Trust Deception.


Friday, July 18, 2014

The Demeter Code - Russell Brooks, Author



Sugar Cakes
(A specialty from the Author)

1/2 lb. grated coconut
1/4 pt. water
3/4 lb. sugar

Place the sugar in a saucepan and add water.  simmer until the sugar melts.  Then add the coconut.  Let boil slowly, stirring constantly to avoid burning.  Allow to cook until it thickens and takes on a greasy look.  Drop mixture by tablespoonfuls onto a shallow plate or cookie sheet that has been moistened with water.  Leave to set.


The Demeter Code - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish

The grounds surrounding the cottage had every kind of electronic surveillance and anti-trespassing device imaginable, including a German shepherd named Roosevelt.  If anyone were to be able to get within thirty years of the house without being detected, there was a chance that the CIA would recruit them.  Even if anyone managed to beat the surveillance and thought of shooting through the windows with a sniper rifle, the one-and-a quarter-inch polycarbonate bullet-resistant windows would present a challenge.  And if the sniper were to think of attacking at night, they'd also have to content with the blinds being closed.  In addition, the house had live-in operatives who anyone would've assumed were just the average elderly couple spending their retirement years living in the country.  Although they may not appear to present a danger to anyone, the so-called retired couple that a few people knew as Dennis and Glenda, were well versed in handling any kind of firearms.  They both came form the previous generation of spies who first cut their teeth in the business when they worked at the Moscow Station during the 1980s.... Now that is a safehouse!  And that is just the place Ridley Fox feels safe depositing his "asset" to keep her safe until all is clear for her to come back out into the public.


Ridley Fox, a former Joint Task Force 2 Warrant Officer, has joined back up with Dr. Nita Parris on a mission far more bizarre than in Pandora's Succession. As I read The Demeter Code, I came up with many guesses as to what the Code was, what it represented and who was behind it.  Turns out that I was wrong in all of my guesses.  This book scared me, it gave me cause to stop and take a good look at the world today, realizing that this could actually happen and it made me thankful that we do have security in line to prevent these events from happening, I hope.  This book may be filled with action, murder, suspense, espionage, and all those things that most men seem to  love in a book but it's so well written that I recommend it to all readers.  As with the book before this, Pandora's Secret, I couldn't put this book down.  This is one writer that I plan on following through his books.



Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Pandora's Succession - Russell Brooks, Author



Curried Chicken
(The dish that Parris and Fox ate at the Tea House in Tokyo)

3 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces
1 bulb of garlic, more if you desire
4 bay leaves
1 tsp. ground cloves
3 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. marjoram
1/4 tsp. ground coriander
1/4 tsp. turmeric
1/4 tsp. yellow mustard seeds, ground
2-3 ounces curry powder (suite to your taste and color)
1 chicken bouillon cube (if you'd like to salt your curry)
2 potatoes
1 eggplant

Roti
4 cups flour
hot water
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 tsp. salt

Cut chicken into bite size pieces.  Add garlic and mix into chicken.  In a separate bowl mix all of the spices and curry powder together (but not the bay leaves)  Slowly add spice mixture into chicken/garlic while mixing by hand to ensure even coverage.  Set the mixed chicken aside while you prepare the Roti.

Roti
Boil water and let cool until you can handle it with your hands (you'll be kneading the Roti dough).  Mix 4 cups of flour with the salt and then add the hot water until it is moist but not sticky.  You want the consistency of a flat dough that will be rolled out using a wooden rolling pin.  Take a little more than half a stick of room temperature and add it to the flour and water mixture.  This will keep the dough form sticking to your hand and itself.  Use judgment for rolling consistency.  Flour flat surface and rolling pin and form dough into balls.  Roll balls out to flat and thin consistency, about 5-7 inches.  Heat up your frying pan to medium-high heat.  (This can be done using 2 pans to make it go faster)  Take a paper towel and use oil to rub onto pan before each roti that you cook.  The roti will form small brown spots on each side when done.  Do not overcook, it should never be stiff.  When done in the pan, put on a plate lined with paper towels and cover with a dish towel to keep it warm.  After the Roti is done, start making the curry (both can be done at the same time if you like.)

Curry
Pour just enough oil to cover the bottom of a large pot.  Place 4 big bay leaves into the pot and warm oil on medium for a few minutes (before the bay leaves turn brown).  Turn heat to high and add chicken.  Cook at high heat stirring every minute for 10 minutes, then turn to medium/medium low heat.  Use your judgment when cooking at high heat because you don't want the chicken to stick or burn.  If the pot is lacking any liquid form the high temperature, add small amounts of water or chicken stock.  As the chicken cooks longer, the juices are released.  5 minutes after turning the heat to medium/medium low, add the cubed potatoes and eggplant.  When potatoes are done, the curry is done.  Make sure the eggplant is dissolved into the curry.  You'll all finished!  Use the Roti to scoop up your meal.  No silverware required!

Pandora's Succession - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish

His partner stood beside the open briefcase.  "You couldn't have been more perfect."  He took the fluorescent-green vial and let it drop gently on the ground without breaking.  He then hit the alarm button.  The siren was heard for miles.  It was not too long after, that ten of the guards burst through the doorway with their assault rifles in position.  They fanned out to cover the inside of the dome.  "What's the emergency?" yelled the leader of the two scientists, and then he saw Cole's body with the dagger protruding from his stomach.  His assault rifle shot up immediately.  "Both of you, hands in the air.  Do it, now!"  Within seconds, they had encircled the two scientists.  "I repeat," yelled the leader to the two scientists.  "Put your hands up, or we will be forced to shoot you."  The two white-coats didn't obey him, but instead looked at each other and smiled.  "For The Promise?"  The partner already had the vial under the heel of his shoe.  As he slowly raised his hands along with the assailant, he breathed his last breath and crushed the vial.  It wasn't long before what felt like millions of microscopic teeth tearing away at the flesh, starting with his foot and then moving to the rest of his body. 

Ridley Fox was a former JTF2 operative who has since been recruited into the CIA. He has the job of his life and should he fail, the whole world, as we now know it, will be at risk from the deadly "Pandora."  At the time a group known as the "Arms of Ares" which is made up of former intelligence operatives, originating from the former Soviet Union, has Pandora and plans to sell it to the highest bidder... but Hexagon Pharmaceuticals has their own feelers out to acquire it for their own use. 

This book is designed for the need for action reader and believe me, it fulfills that need.  There is barely a page that is turned without fast, pack energy and suspense.  And the best part is that Fox has no idea who he can and can't trust.  Hexagon has its hands, or should I say mind, into many high places through its mind control cult making no one safe to deal with. 

When reading this book I found myself being like Fox... not believing anything anyone said nor did, except Fox and I was beginning to worry a bit about him.  This is a 'man's' book but some of us women who like a good action will love it too.


Saturday, August 31, 2013

The Critical Element - John L. Betcher, Author


 
Fresh Sweet Salsa
(A Beck Special)

3 cups chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup onion, diced
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 
4 teaspoons chopped fresh jalapeno pepper (including seeds)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 
1 tablespoon sugar (or to taste)

Stir all ingredients together. Refrigerate overnight. Serve chilled.

 

The Critical Element - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish

Rodney slid back in the chair, his hands gripping the armrests.  he cracked his neck to both sides before beginning his tale.  "It was yesterday afternoon," he said.  "Sunday...and I was out on the John Deere checking my fields, you know...and all of a sudden I hear this sound.  It was a kinda weird sound, you know?"  "It was kinda like whoosh-thud...tumble, tumble, tumble," he said.  "So I got up and looked toward the sound."   ..."something was knocking down my corn"... "This thing, whatever it was, knocked down maybe thirty or forty feet of head-high corn stalks, in a straight line," he continued.  "I saw the last ones go down."  He clapped one flattened hand downward onto the other.  "Then all was quiet." 

..."I stand up straight and look around," he said, "my wrench hand at the ready.  But there's no sign of man nor beast." ... So I stoop down and start pawing through the grass and then...just when I'm about to give up, the back of my hand hits something big and solid in the grass."  ..."I decided to give the thing a kick with my boot."  "And voila,... there it was."  "It was a meteor!"

Rodney Holton was a local farmer known in the city of Red Wing, Minnesota for his flim-flammery, so when he recited his story to Attorney James Becker, Beck had his doubts as to how much was true and how much wasn't.  And to assure his belief he and his wife Beth decided to pay a visit to Rodney's farm where he displayed his 'meteor' and charged $20.00 per person to view.  Yep, Rodney was up to his old tricks again.  The taped off area that contained burned grass and what appeared to be a bowling ball dug into the ground didn't quite fit the story he had relayed to Beck.  Yet there was something that just didn't ring quite right that had Beck believing there might be a bit more to Rodney's story.  When the FBI turns up looking for the meteor, Beck's feelings proved true.   What didn't quite fit was the finding of Hoof and Mouth Disease that were found in Rodney's cattle.  This strain appeared to be found only in the South African tribal farming area, so how did it get to the US.  And what is its connection with the meteor? 

The answers to these questions plus, lead Beck and the FBI to suspect North Korea has a hand in at least one part of the mystery.  Their beliefs are reinforced when the meteor turns up missing and is found to have been in the presence of a Korean man who was found dead with traces of a fluffy, white powder that is such a favorite of terrorists world-wide - Anthrax.  After a search of the man's work place Beck and agent Costa discover half of the powder found had been mixed with another white substance.  What was missing was the other half of undiluted powder that could kill thousands if placed in the right venue. 

I've read everything John L. Betcher has written and every time I think he can't get any better.  Well he does.  The Critical Element is by far his best in the James Becker series.  I can't wait to see what Beck will do next.

 

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

The Exiled Element - John L. Betcher, Author

 
Beth Becker's Hummus Bi TahiniINGREDIENTS:

4 cups ( 2 ½ cans ) garbanzo beans, drained
½ cup tahini ( sesame paste )
1/3 cup warm water
1/3 cup best-quality olive oil
Juice of 2 or 3 lemons

Blend, then add:

4 or more garlic cloves
1 ½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cumin seed
Freshly-ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Process or bled until smooth.Note: Can store in refrigerator for 4 weeks.

The Exiled Element – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; A Book and A Dish; Think With Your Taste Buds
 
Inside a classified underground laboratory twenty-five miles northeast of Cairo, three white-coated Egyptian scientists labored over a small pile of aluminum casting on the table before them. They were building a model airplane. But it wasn’t just any airplane…it was Aurora. They had manufactured the parts in 1/30th scale with the highest possible precision based on digitized plans provided to the engineers by the United States of America. Well…the plans were definitely of U.S. origin, but perhaps the word ‘provided’ wasn’t entirely accurate. An operative of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate (GIS) – Egypt’s version of the CIA – had procured the plans from the Americans. A certain U. S. Senator with an immense assortment of scandalous baggage had facilitated the delivery. After acquiring the Top Secret information, GIS had sought out these three scientists – considered Egypt’s finest minds in aeronautical engineering. What was their opinion? Could they turn these technical drawings and specifications into a tangible product – into the fastest air-breathing plane on the planet?
 
Beth Becker is retired from the CIA but still works part-time doing CIA decryption work from her home in Red Wing, Minnesota. When she is summoned to their McLean, Virginia headquarters she is assuming it’s another decryption project. That turns out to be not quite the case. She will soon be on her way to the U. S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt to make contact with a woman she knew from past years while serving at the embassy. Apparently the woman known as Rasha is now in a computer programming position with her own government and has run across information regarding an assassination that will be taking place in the U.S., target unknown.
 
Beth’s husband ‘Beck’ has been asked by the Red Wing Deputy Sheriff Gunner to help out in a security job protecting an unknown Senator that will be coming into town. Seems that there have been other attempts on the Senator in the past so security has been beefed up and Gunner would like Beck’s ex military help. The security goes well in the beginning but becomes a failed assignment when the Senator is assassinated while leaving the Red Wing Hotel where he had just given a speech. To find his killer, Beck engages the help of his long time friend Mr. Red Feather, AKA Bull.

 
Unknown to Beth and Beck, their assignments are about to collide and become one. The key to their jobs are non-other than the U.S.’s Top Secret plane Aurora. And when Beth comes up missing, Beck sees the Embassy as doing very little to find her, making it his and Bull’s job to take on the task themselves.

 
I can’t get enough of the “Beck” Suspense/Thriller Series! The Exiled Element is the 4th in the series and I’ve read them all. They just keep getting better and better with the stories of espionage, the CIA and a couple, along with their friends, who refuse to let the U.S. down. John L. Betcher has truly become one of my favorite authors.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Tunnel - The Lost Diary - Steven Nedelton, Author


Maple Squash Puree
(A Steven Nedelton Special)


Brilliant orange squash is a vegetable everyone in the family loves, especially when you sweeten the deal with maple syrup. A dab of butter works wonders to make it ultra rich and creamy. You can also make this slow-food style with fresh roasted squash, but frozen works perfectly when time is tight.

Yield: Makes 4 servings


INGREDIENTS
  • 2 12-ounce packages frozen cooked butternut squash or winter squash
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • Salt to taste

Directions


Put the frozen squash and water into a large saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the squash is thawed, about 10 minutes. Whisk in the maple syrup and butter and season with salt.

Notes

Mangos, squash, and carrots get their bright orange hue from beta-carotene, a powerful antioxidant which actually imparts a yellow-orange color to food.


Tunnel - Lost Diary Tunnel – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat and Think With Your Taste Buds – Desserts

“He stopped walking for a moment, beginning to wonder what the officer had brought in and where he had hidden it.  Whatever it was, it was not so small that he could have missed it on his way in.  He recalled that the wagon the three men were pushing was on the incoming rail, on the right hand side of the tunnel.  He also figured the wagon could not have been driven any further than the next stationary wagon he could barely see in the distance.  That meant the officer might have hidden his treasure somewhere near it, the contents being too heavy to carry by hand.  He began running toward the next wagon…he was getting close to it when he noticed a grey iron door on right wall. He stopped running and walked over.  It was fairly rusted, flush with the wall, and shaped like the opening of a dog house, three to four feet height and equally wide.  There was a handle on the door and he tried to turn it, but it wouldn’t budge, going neither up nor down.  He looked around the floor and found a half of a brick next to the wall…
“What are we doing here, boy?  Hunting for State property?” a man’s voice boomed from behind him.

Ben Kalninsh was just a kid when he watched the Soviet soldiers hide their stash in the tunnel that had not been used for several years.  He just knew it had to be guns and he sure wanted one for himself.  What he didn’t expect was to be caught by one of the soldiers who had decided to steal the stash for himself and go AWOL.  And with the help of Ben’s father, he had a plan that would keep him safe while getting himself and his stash of gold out of the country and into America.

Ben had virtually forgotten about his encounter in the tunnel as well as the man he knew as Andris.  Everyone seemed to have forgotten Andris, or so it appeared.  But he was brought to light when Ben’s father and their friend and neighbor were both brutally murdered for what seemed like no apparent reason.  It seems that there was more than gold hidden in the tunnel that day and the Soviets wanted that extra little find which turned out to be a diary.  It also appeared they wouldn’t stop searching and killing until they had their hands on it. Why was that diary more important than gold?

The Lost Diary Tunnel takes you into the world of espionage, betrayal, lies and a lot of agents working both sides of the fence.  What these people will do just to keep the Americans from knowing what’s really in the diary will scare the hell out of you.  At least it did me.

 
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