Showing posts with label mob. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mob. Show all posts

Sunday, June 3, 2012

The Recipe - Joe Parente, Author



The picture is a 2.5 lb trout I caught At
Sunset lake. I live on the lake and caught
 it off my dock. With a long flexible filet knife,
                     I can get two slabs of fish.  Here is how.

You start behind the gill flap and then run the knife to the tail. I repeat this on the other side. What is left are the main bones and the innards of the trout in which the local seagulls love. I then, place the fillets skin down and with the knife, I lay the knife flat and then cut out the belly bones. It's best done by slightly lifting the knife with the sharp side up and slice against the underside of the belly bones. I have never had a 'pin' bone left to worry about. Do not wash the fish. You will eliminate the essential oils and flavor. You can wipe then with the back edge of the knife.

My next step is to put the fillets in a paper bag with three tablespoons of flour or other type of  breading along with a few generous quarter size amounts of garlic powder. Shake the bag so all of the fish is coated. The paper bag helps dry the fish to eliminate any splattering when you fry them in a large pan.

Place the trout skin side down in a hot skillet of olive oil and fry for one minute or when the skin turns golden brown. Gently flip the fish over and cover with foil for about 20 seconds. The foil will steam the rest of the fish and make it oh! so! good!

You can either eat the skin or remove it. I eat the skin with a light touch of salt.  There, you have a boneless delight that is out of this world.

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

“I said I’ll get it for you tomorrow,” Sal said shakily.  “I promise, I will.”  Sweat was pouring down his face.  “I promise you, please,” he pleaded, with both palms facing the men in a useless defense.  “Not good enough, Sal, you had your last chance.  We gotta’ have it tonight.  There is no more time.  Where is the money?  Get up and get it.”  He didn’t move.  “You don’t have it, do you?  You are a liar.  Nobody’s gonna’ lie to me.  You have made the worse mistake of your life, Sal.”  “No, but” – There was a noise coming from the closet and the other man heard it.  Anna must have tripped on some clothing and the sound telegraphed through the closed door…… “Please, you guys, I’ll get the money.  I’ll bring it to you tomorrow.  I’ll bring all of it to the bar plus extra.”  The other man jerked the door open and Sal’s wife fell out……. “Please guys don’t do this.  I’ll do anything you want,” Sal pleaded.  “I told you, it’s too late for your excuses,” threatened Mo, spittle hanging off his lip.  “We have to go for a ride; the boss wants to see you,”  Mo pulled Sal brutally out of bed and shoved him into the hallway….. A few months later, Sal and his wife Anna were found under the railroad trestle, both dead.

Sal and Anna Santorini had a son named Joey.  Thanks to the kind heart of Leonardo Bonino, Joey was taken into his home and treated like a member of the family.  Leo’s own son Frankie and Joey became inseparable ‘brothers’ with both watching the other’s back.  When Leo, who was a widower, decided to remarry Frankie and Joey gained another brother Mario and a sister Christina.  The closeness of the three boys, their desire to protect their sister and the love of Leo and his new wife Colina completed the circle that shaped the Santorini family. 

Trouble started when a man who called himself Whitey came around to collect protection money from the shoe shop that Leo and the boys ran.  Leo knew the larger, more profitable business were being required to pay for what was being called ‘insurance’ against accidents but until Whitey, the smaller business had been left alone.  Determined not to pay, Leo came up with The Recipe.  Anything worth doing right required a recipe in Leo’s books and this one would require the perfect ingredients to make the plan work and his recipe required the help of his three sons. 

I don’t normally read gangster/mob books and seldom read anything written within the time period of the 1930s through the late 1940s.  When I started reading The Recipe I had myself convinced that it was a book that I just might pass on to a friend to read and review for me.  I simply wasn’t interested in reading about the mob taking over the neighborhood and fighting within the mob families.  I have to admit, I was hooked after the first few pages.  Actually reading about the many scams that were pulled surprised me.  Not only were there the protection scams but also the real insurance scams where policies were sold to the soldiers and money collected but no real coverage.  There was the ‘buy your coal in the summer at a discount’ but no coal delivered in the winter.  And one of the worse were those that targeted the widows stating that the deceased owed money on anything from repairs to the house to the purchase of a Bible.  This book really kept my interest.  But the best part was when the boys finally found a way to strike revenge for the death of Joey’s parents.  I must say that they gave out what was deserved. 

What did I not like about The Recipe?  The ending.  It came too quickly.  I wanted to keep reading to see what happened next.  Will they now become mob leaders or will they try to find a way to live their lives like normal families?  I guess Author Joseph Parente will just have to write a sequel so we can all find the answers to my questions.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Three Trailers Down - Douglas Chandler Graham, Author


Broccoli Casserole
(Recipe Compliments of Douglas Graham)

2 pkg. frozen chopped broccoli (cooked) or any other veggie you like
1 can sliced water chestnuts
1 med. onion, chopped
1 can cream of mshroom soup

Mix all and put into casserole dish.  Sprinkle with 1 cup crushed Ritz crackers.  Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese.  Melt 1 stick of butter and drizzle over dish.  Bake 325 - 350 degrees 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.


Three Trailers Down – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat & Think With Your Taste Buds – Desserts
 
‘Sammy collapsed on the bed.  The girl was next, with a shot under her exposed chin.  The young man…the magnum hollow point destroyed his brain stem and nervous system.  All three were dead in less than ten seconds.  What Will had to do now was get away without being recognized.  He unhurriedly walked back out the front door, locking it before pulling it firmly closed.  He was sure it would take a couple of days before anyone was interested enough to check or notice that no one from this apartment had been seen for a while.  He opened the trunk of the car and was putting his equipment back in the case, separating the silencer from the pistol.  After putting the case in the canvas backpack, he took off the gloves and threw them in the trunk.  Someone behind him said, “Hi there.”
 
If you’ve had the pleasure of reading Smoke and Murders, you may have been left wondering what happened to some of its characters.  Well, wonder no more.  Vinyard’s corrupt police Lieutenant Bill Kenny is still up to his tricks.  When his wife Camilla takes up with mob connected restaurant owner Louie Russo, Bill decides to add a bit more corruption to his already full plate and free himself of anything or anyone that doesn’t fit into his plans.  He just didn’t expect State Police Inspector “Bear” McNutt to take notice of his activities and everyone knew what a pain Bear could be.  Especially after what he had done to Adam Brackett.  Remember him?  He was the one Bear insisted had killed his best friend and family in Smoke and Murders.
 
If you remember, Judge Roy Ragland took in the drifter Harry as a handyman but the Judge’s wife Lillian has her own agenda for Harry but has a loose end or two to take care of first.  Can she turn this orphan into a silk purse?  She sure hoped to and decided the best place to give it a try was the exclusive Bondurant Lodge.  And that is where we meet a few more characters as the stories continue.
 
Amanda Bondurant, 16 and bored, had just met the man of her life.  He was older but that didn’t matter.  He had a car and he would get her out of this hick town where her life had been so ‘perfectly’ dictated.  She would just leave her family and their money behind and start her new life with Will.  Little did she know, her new love had just completed a paid hit on one of the mob’s most feared men…Sammy The Shark. 
 
Newberry Suggs decided to settle down on the outskirts of Vinyard so he purchased a trailer park.  Other than the traditional fighting between spouses, the usual drunkenness and the occasional discipline of the kids, Suggs Trailer Village was fairly quiet.  That is until a beautiful young lady driving a Cadillac convertible moved in.  It seemed to Newberry that she was running from someone or something and when people came around asking about her, he knew there was a problem.  But who is this beauty that lives Three Trailers Down?
 
Three Trailers Down can be read as a standalone book but I really recommend you read both books – Smoke and Murders 1st and then Three Trailers Down, to get the full benefit of the story.  So come on Graham and update us on what has happened to our surviving characters since Three Trailers Down.

 
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