When Nothing Else Was Right - Carol Costa, Author

 

Hershey Cake

(Carol Costa's Favorite)

1 stick butter or margarine

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 eggs

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 medium can of Hershey Syrup

Melt butter and blend with sugar.  Stir in eggs one at a time. Add flour, baking powder, and vanilla and mix well.

Pour into a greased 13 X 9 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

When Nothing Else Was Right – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat and Think With Your Taste Buds

The door to the back office was suddenly flung open and all three hundred pounds of Vinnie, the accountant, filled the doorway. “Marko, Jake, come in here.”  Jake rose from his chair.  He didn’t like the sound of Vinnie’s voice and his fat face was all flushed like he was upset over something.  “What’s wrong?” Jake asked, trying to sound casual.  “Just get in here,” Vinnie said.  Marko stood at the door and motioned for Jake to enter Vinnie’s office in front of him.  Jake shrugged and walked through the door ignoring the prickles of fear that were racing down his spine.  Marko closed the door quietly behind them and looked at Vinnie who had moved back behind his massive metal desk.  “Is this some kind of a joke?” Vinnie asked, directing his question to Jake.  “What?  I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  “You don’t, huh?  Well, The Silver Moon took in a hundred grand and change Saturday.  Barney’s had some high rollers that stayed all night Friday and half the day Saturday, so their take was twice that much and Maury booked ten g’s on Saturday night.  “Yeah,” Jake said, feeling the sweat beginning to drip down into his shoes.  “How much is missing?” Marko asked before Jake could say anything else.  “All of it.”  “That’s impossible. It was all there when I put it in the safe yesterday.”  Vinnie took the duffle bag and turned it upside down on the desk.  Scraps of newspaper fell out.  “Beth.”  Jake spat out her name like it was a morsel of spoiled food.  “Beth took it.”

Jake Carlson is a money runner for Marko Senese.  The day before Jake was to turn in the weekend collections, his wife Beth disappeared.  He had watched as she went into the convenience store but never saw her come out.  How could a woman 6 months into her pregnancy walk out of a store and not be seen.  Even his search of the store turned up nothing.  All he could assume was that she either slipped past him and had gone home or she had left him again and was with her mother.  He didn’t feel that she had any reason to leave him.  He hadn’t abused her since she became pregnant.  But again, the search of their home and a call to her mother had turned up nothing.  Now Jake finds himself in real trouble.  Marko’s money is missing and the only thing that could have happened to it was that Beth had taken it.

Dana Sloan is an investigative reporter.  She and her boyfriend Al Bruno, a detective with the Crescent Hills PD, had stopped by the convenience store while Jake was searching for Beth.  They both assumed she would make it home when she was ready.  But when Beth’s mother asked that Dana look into her daughter’s disappearance, concern for Beth’s well being prompted Dana to do a little research on her own.  And when Jake admitted to the police officers that came to interview him that he had killed Beth, Bruno decided he too needed to do a bit of researching. 

Two murders and an attempt on Dana’s life seem to be connected to this case and send Dana all the way to Los Angeles as she follows her theories that Beth is alive and well, at least for now.  She even voices her opinion to Marko himself after he pays her a visit and asks that she find Beth.  It wasn’t until Dana heard a song being sung by an actress in one of her mother’s soap operas that she knew she was right.  And the real clincher was when the credits rolled after the show and Dana recognized the name of an attorney’s daughter who had been missing for 19 years.  Now Dana must get to Beth before anyone else does and bring her back to Crescent Hills. 

Dana and Bruno actually work on this case together.  In the past, Bruno has tried his best to keep Dana from becoming involved in cases that caused him to fear for her safety.  Dana, on the other hand. stayed irritated with Bruno for withholding information in cases that she felt could be solved with a little help from him.  He still wants to get married and settle her down.  She wants to continue her career and hold off a bit.  Who will win this battle?

When Nothing Else Was Right is, as usual, another Costa book that kept me guessing.  I did come up with the right murderer about ¾ through the book but the situation with the missing daughter was a surprise to me.  This was a real page turner.

Ancient Memories - Terry L. White, Author

 

Red Bean Succotash

(A Terry L. White favorite)

Two ears fresh sweet corn cut from the cob or

1 can whole kernel corn, or 2 cups of frozen corn

1 can dark red kidney beans

¼ cup milk

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

Cook corn and cut kernels from cob and combine with kidney

Beans, milk, sugar and butter. Simmer about 15 minutes until

sauce is thickened. Serve hot.

 

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

 

What do you do with yourself when your life is over?  I don’t know about everyone else, but when my mother passed away and I no longer had to be at her beck and call every minute of the livelong day, I started signing up for things.  I took telephone calls at the local bottle museum… passed out juice and cookies for the semi-annual blood drive… joined single groups one week and un-joined the next.  Mother had left me well, off, I can’t complain about that at all… After she was gone, I didn’t need to work unless I wanted to, but I had remained home most of my adult life, to cater to her endless needs and petty complaints.  I was ready for some excitement.  If not excitement, then perhaps, the next best thing – a little mental stimulation.  “Creative Writing class offered by Adult Education.”   I had been planning to begin the Great American Novel for the past forty-five years… Now that I had time I figured it couldn’t hurt to learn a little bit about the art of writing before I began.

 

Nancy Hunter signed up for the writing class that was being taught by Harriet Blake, newspaper reporter, prize winning author and aspiring novelist.  The one point that Harriet pressed to install in her students was to write about something that you know something about.  This just might put a damper in Nancy’s idea of writing romance novels since she had spent most of her life taking care of a mother who spent most of her life making Nancy’s life miserable with her demands and derogatory remarks.  Love was something Nancy had never really known.  Or had she? 

 

To Nancy’s surprise and delight, Peter Allen decided to take the seat next to her.  His lovely deep blue eyes, handsomely tanned face and a pair of wide shoulders were just what she needed.  Maybe the class would turn out to work for her yet.  Over after-class coffee with Peter, Nancy couldn’t help but feel that she knew him from somewhere.  She believed in reincarnation, could he have been someone from another life?  That thought was apparently all she needed to begin her novel of Ancient Memories.

 

As I read Ancient Memories I wasn’t sure that what I was reading was Nancy’s imagination novel or if she was remembering past lives.  As Nancy inspires to become an author she takes you back in time to Ancient Egypt, then into the 1400s and on into 1800 Canada.  The history within her stories are amazing, as well as savage.  But how does Peter fit into the picture?  Could he be someone from her past lives?  Nancy seems to think so.  Take a journey into Ancient Memories and see what you think.  I know I really enjoyed my journey through time with Nancy’s and Author Terry L. White’s novel Ancient Memories.

 

Another Bad-Dog Book - Joni B. Cole, Author

 

Swiss Cheese Fondue

(A Joni Cole Special)

2 cups shredded natural Swiss cheese (8 ounces)

2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese (8 ounces)

2 tablespoons flour

1 clove garlic cut in half

1 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon lemon juice

3 tablespoons kirsch, dry sherry or brandy

Dunkers: French or sourdough bread, cut into 1-inch cubes; small red potatoes; pieces of broccoli, cauliflower, or mushrooms

Chopped fresh chives

Place cheese and flour in resealable plastic bag. Shake until cheese is coated. Rub garlic on bottom and side of fondue pot; discard garlic. Add wine. Heat over simmer setting just until bubbles rise to surface (do not boil).l Stir in lemon juice.

Gradually add cheese mixture, about ½ cup at a time, stirring constantly with wooden spoon over low heat, until cheeses are melted. Stir in kirsch. Sprinkle with chives.

Keep warm over simmer setting. Spear Dunkers with fondue forks; dip and swirl in fondue with stirring motion. 21 servings (2 tablespoons each).

Another Bad-Dog Book – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of A Book and A Dish, Stir, Laugh, Repeat and Think With Your Taste Buds

 

‘I had found myself up, thinking about all the ways my husband and I weren’t best friends:  how we had nothing in common (children don’t count), and how we were going to end up in just a few short years like so many other empty nesters who look at each other across the middle cushion of their corduroy couch and think, Wow.  What now?  Why am I with this person?  I hate corduroy.’

 

‘my eight-year-old daughter...asked me if she could have an end-of-summer party…  “I want it to be a water party,” my daughter said… Over the next couple weeks, my daughter winnowed down her guest list to six best friends and we loaded up on squirt guns and other water-party supplies.  The morning of the event, she came downstairs already dressed in her bikini, and handed me a piece of a paper.  At the top she’d printed – Mommy’s Dos and Don’ts.  “What’s this?” I asked.  It’s a list,” she explained, “so you know how to act at the party.”

 

These are just two of the many fears and ‘crises’ faced by the author as she, as well as her family, move on into the world of ‘getting older.’  While reading I couldn’t help but remember some of these very incidents in my own life.  The story ‘The Boy of Summer’ reminded me of the boy who occupied, maybe not my time but my mind during my summer at age 13. Joni's story ‘A Few Minutes of My Time’ reminded me that I’m computer blonde so when people talk to me about anything technical I have to ask that they speak English and not ‘computerish.”  And believe it or not but we all go through ‘Identity Theft.’   It happens every year on December 31^st when we make our New Year’s resolutions.  We spot someone and decide we want to look, act and be that person.  So we proceed to try our best to steal their identity for ourselves.

 

The stories included in Another Bad-Dog Book bring the reader both laughter and recognition.  I have to recommend this book for both women and men.  If you’re a woman I feel you will be able to relate to most of the events and feelings that take place as the author goes through her ‘midlife crisis.’  If you’re a man, this book can be a great tool in helping you understand why the women in your life have taken on a personality that is totally different from the one you fell in love with.  Believe me, male or female, you can’t help but love this book.

 

Fighting the Devil - Jeannie Walker, Author

Delightful Oatmeal Raisin Cookies 

(Jennie Walker's favorite)

1/cup Canola Oil   or: 1/2 cup (1 stick butter) plus 6 tbsp butter (softened)

3/4 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs (beaten)

1 tsp. vanilla

8-12 drops imitation almond extract (real almond extract can be substitued- 6 drops

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

3 cups Oats (quick or uncooked)

1/2 cup raisins (raisin lovers use 1 cup)

Optional:  1/2 tsp salt.

While oven is heating to 350 degrees, mix together canola oil, vanilla, almond extract, beaten eggs and sugar until creamy. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda & salt together. Add creamy ingredients to dry flour mixture-mix well then add oats & raisins and mix well again. Drop rounded dough by tablespoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until golden brown or light brown, depending on your preference.  Makes approximately 4 dozen small cookies.

Happy appetite!  Try not to eat too many-they are so delicious they can become habit forming. 

 

 

Fighting the Devil – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat, Think With Your Taste Buds and A Book and A Dish

 

I had to put a gown and mask on.  Lou Ann and Debbie helped me do that and I walked in and I saw Jerry had some tubes, one running up his nose and I believed he had a little…uh…a hospital gown on.  His hands and feet were tied to each side of the bed with some sort of restraint.  Jerry raised his head up and looked at me when I walked in.  He said, “Gamble!”  I said, “Yeah, Jerry!  What in the world are you doing up here?”  He said, “Oh, I’m sick.  They’ve been doing all kinds of tests on me.”  I said, “Well, you’re gonna have to get well so that you can get out.  You gotta get a lot of things going, you know.”  He said, “Gamble, you gotta help me get out of here!  They’re trying to kill me.  I’m gonna die!  I’ve got $35,000 missing.  They took it.  Those two women took it.  They’re trying to kill me.  They fed me …  Lou Ann and Debbie, they’re trying to kill me.  You gotta help me get out of here!  You gotta help me!  Cut me loose!  Gamble, cut me loose!”

 

This was just one of many pleas from Jerry Sternadel after he had been admitted to Bethania Hospital, not once but for a total of 3 times before dying of arsenic poisoning on June 12, 1990.  Most people ignored his pleas after talking to his wife Lou Ann and his company bookkeeper Debbie Baker.  They assured anyone who asked that Jerry was getting better and would be coming home soon.

 

Arsenic poisoning creates one of the most horrible deaths as it eats away at the bodily systems until the body shuts down.  Symptoms are severe gastric distress, esophageal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea with blood.  The skin becomes cold and clammy and the blood pressure falls.  If death isn’t immediate, the skin becomes jaundice and is unable to void.  There may be moments of paralysis and if death is delayed by several days, the arsenic will hit the liver and kidney.  Convulsions and coma are final signs and death usually comes from circulatory failure.  This is a horrible way to die!  A bullet to the head would be more humane.

 

But, this is the death that Lou Ann and Debbie chose for Jerry Sternadel.  Now came the task of proving they were the ones guilty of administering the poison and how.  Jeannie Walker, who is not only the author of Fighting the Devil, but also Jerry’s first wife and mother of Jerry's only children, spent years working with the police and interviewing friends of Jerry.  She even hired a private detectives, all to prove the two women were guilty of murder and have them stand trial.  Will she succeed?

 

When I read Fighting the Devil, I was amazed at the court systems within Texas at that time.  There was actually a law that would allow a jury to find a defendant guilty of murder but still be able to receive parole and a fine!  Apparently the law was written for those who kill their abusers after years of abuse.  But will it work for someone as cunning as Lou Ann and Debbie?  This book made me aware of the trials the actual victims are put through.  Yes…the victims are actually put on trial as their character is dissected and torn apart.  Then there’s the jury.  Spending time in a locked room with 11 other people trying to decide if someone is guilty or not and then deciding what sentencing they will receive can, I’m sure, get to you and make you actually rush through your decision just to get it over with. 

 

The actual case of Jerry Sternadel’s death kept me reading even as my anger for the system grew.  I have to admire Jeannie Walker for her determination to find closure for her children and their families.  This case caught the attention of the producers of Oxygen channel’s Snapped series and was aired on February 17, 2005.  The case is still open and justice is still being sought.  I personally hope that for Jerry’s family and friends, closure will soon be found. 

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 2^nd 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.

The Master Plan - Carol Costa, Author

PINEAPPLE-LIME JELLO MOLD

(a Carol Costa specialty)

2 small packages or 1 large package of Lime Jello

1 10 ounce can of crushed pineapple

1 pint Sour Cream

Prepare Jello according to package directions and chill until partially set

Drain pineapple and stir into jello with the sour cream

Pour mixture into a 13 x 9 inch pan and chill several hours before serving.

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

Carmen and Cathy both stared at Casey.  Finally Carmen spoke.  “What is going on in that devious mind of yours Casey?”  Casey laughed.  “Forget it.  It probably won’t work.”  “Let us be the judge of that,” Cathy told her.  “Okay.  We pool our money and one of us joins the country club.  Once she’s a member she starts socializing with the rich guys and snags herself a wealthy mate.  She can also bring her two friends to the club for some of the activities and introduce them to her husband’s rich friends.”  “That’s absolutely brilliant” Carmen exclaimed.  “Let’s do it.”  “Wait a minute,” Cathy said.  “Where are we going to
get twenty-five thousand dollars?”  “From your bank,”  Carmen answered.  “We’ll take out a loan and after we marry the rich guys they can pay it off for us.  Only I’m not the one who is going to join the club.  Casey has to do it.”  And that is exactly what the ‘three Cs’ (Carmen, Cathy and Casey) did.  They took out a loan to pay the application fee and Casey became the country club’s newest member.  

It didn’t take long for her to hook up with Anthony (Tony) Hunter while Carmen and Cathy both found catches for themselves.  It also wasn’t long before Tony asked Casey to run off to Vegas with him to be married, which she did.  But all good things must come to an end so after returning home, Casey decided to tell Tony about ‘The Master Plan,’ which is what the 3 Cs had named their plan.  While hoping for his understanding, Casey instead was asked to leave.  Casey gave Tony some time to calm down and then went back to the apartment in hopes of talking to him and making him understand.  What she found when she got to the apartment soon became her worse nightmare.  

Dana Sloan is an investigative reporter who seems to find herself mixed up in more than the usual ‘who’s ripping off the consumer’ investigations.  She seems to somehow stumble into a murder now and then.  In The Master Plan she ends up being involved in three murders with a friend, Judy, and a co-worker, Casey, being involved in two of them.  Her detective boyfriend Al Bruno is handling two of the cases and really doesn’t want Dana involved.  He has his own plans for Dana and they don’t include risking your life to complete an investigation.  His ideas for her are more on the line of her becoming a soccer/PTA mom.  

The biggest conflict in their relationship is when Dana steps into Bruno’s investigations or when Bruno withholds information Dana needs for her investigation and she is now involved in two.  From what Dana has learned, she has come to the conclusion that all three murders are related.  Bruno can’t see it.  He still feels that the wives of his 2 cases just might be guilty and since they don’t know each other, the cases have no connections.  

So… are they related?  Will Dana be able to solve one, two or all three without getting herself killed?  Will Casey and the 3Cs be able to pull off their little plan without being discovered?  These were questions I carried all the way to the end.  I usually have a list of my own suspects but with The Master Plan, I had none.  I was really surprised to find out who killed who and why.  I think you will too.