Saturday, July 27, 2019

Vengeance on Tyneside - Eileen Thornton, Author



Hungarian Goulash
(A special dish from Agnes)

Serves 4
Pre-heat oven to 275F (140C)

1lb braising steak cut into cubes
1 large onion, chopped
Slight dash of garlic granules or 1 garlic clove crushed.
Tablespoon cooking oil
1 tablespoon plain flour
1 tablespoon Paprika - or a little more to taste
14oz tin tomatoes
Salt & Pepper

Heat oil in flameproof casserole then add the cubes of meat, turning frequently to brown on all sides.
Lower the heat and add the chopped onion and cook for about 5 minutes - Stirring occasionally
Add the garlic, the flour and the paprika and stir to soak up the juices.
Then add the tin of tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and bring everything up to simmering point.
Cover with a lid and transfer to the oven (Middle shelf) and cook for about two and a half hours.

Serve with boiled rice.


Vengeance on Tyneside - Review by Martha A. Cheves

Perhaps she was allowing her over-active mind to take control.  She had done that twice before in recent months and both times it had almost taken her to the point of being murdered.  Maybe this time she should walk away.  But when she heard the cry again, she knew she couldn't do that.  Someone needed help.  Looking around, she realized the sound was coming from the row of rubbish bins lined up by a wall, not too far from where she was standing... having reached the rubbish bins, she took a deep breath before peering behind them.  For a moment, despite having prepared herself for the worst, Agnes was stunned at the sight of a young woman lying there.  Her hands were clutched to her chest, desperately trying to stem the flow of blood streaming from her body and pooling on the concrete ground beneath her.

Agnes Lockwood has just returned from a trip to the coast.  Her plans are to meet with DCI Alan Johnson for a nice quiet evening.  Well, she soon finds out that the nice quiet evening won't be so quiet after all.  She ends up finding herself in the middle of not one murder but 3 plus an attempt.  What do these people have in common?  Can she and the DCI find out and stop them before more occur?

This book had me fooled from the beginning.  I had four suspects.  The person I had as my major suspect turned out to be innocent.  That narrowed it down to three.  I was close but still didn't come up with the real killer.  And Author Eileen Thornton didn't disclose the killer until the last few pages.  If you like a good suspense, this is one you don't want to miss. 

This book also left with an opening for the next book, which I hope makes it my way very soon.


Friday, July 12, 2019

Penny The Railway Pup (Family of Rescue Dogs Book 4)



Fish and Chips 

Ingredients

900 g potatoes
sunflower oil , for deep-frying
225 g white fish fillets , skin off, pin-boned, from sustainable sources
225 g plain flour , plus extra for dusting
285 ml cold beer
3 heaped teaspoons baking powder
MUSHY PEAS
a few sprigs of fresh mint
1 knob of unsalted butter
4 handfuls of podded peas
½ a lemonFACEBOOKTWITTEREMAILPINTEREST
TAP FOR INGREDIENTS
Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.
Peel and slice the potatoes into chips.
To make the mushy peas, pick and finely chop the mint leaves. Place the butter in a pan over a medium-low heat, add the peas and mint, pop the lid on and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
Add a squeeze of lemon juice and season to taste with sea salt and black pepper – you can either mush the peas up in a food processor, or mash them by hand until stodgy, thick and perfect for dipping your fish into. Keep them warm until needed.
Pour the sunflower oil into a deep fat fryer or a large sturdy pan and heat it to 190°C/375°F.
Mix ½ a teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper together, then use it to season the fish fillets on both sides – this will help to remove any excess water, making the fish really meaty.
Whisk the flour, beer and baking powder together until nice and shiny – the texture should be like semi-whipped double cream (i.e. it should stick to whatever you're coating).
Dust each fish fillet in a little of the extra flour, then dip into the batter and allow any excess to drip off. Holding one end, gently lower the fish into the oil one by one, working carefully so you don't get splashed – it will depend on the size of your fryer or pan how many fish you can cook at once.
Cook for 4 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through and the batter is golden and crisp, then remove to kitchen paper to drain.
Meanwhile, parboil the chips in boiling salted water for 4 to 5 minutes, or until softened but still retaining their shape, then drain and steam dry.
When the chips are nice and dry, fry in the oil that the fish were cooked in at 180°C/350°F until golden and crisp.
While the chips are frying, transfer the fish from the kitchen paper to a baking tray. Place in the oven for a few minutes to finish cooking – this way they will stay crisp while you finish off the chips.

When the chips are done, drain them on kitchen paper, season with salt, and serve with the fish and mushy peas. Other things to have on the table are some crunchy sweet pickled gherkins, some pickled onions (if your other half isn't around!) – and pickled chillies are good, too. Then you want to douse it all with some cheap malt vinegar and nothing other than Heinz tomato ketchup.


Penny The Railway Pup - Review by Martha A. Cheves

"Until recently there was a gypsy encampment on the waste ground near the railway station.  There was a knock on my door and two little girls were standing there, maybe eight to ten years old, with the older of the two holding a puppy in her arms.  You could tell they were sisters just by looking at them.   They told me they'd been out playing and saw that the gypsies had gone so they went to take a look in the field near the station where they'd camped, in case they'd left anything behind.  From the scruffy state of their clothes, their white socks covered in mud and muck, and their dirty faces, I could tell they'd had a really good time exploring the old gypsy site.  They walked towards the railway station, and on the other side of the fence, they saw something moving a few yards along the tracks.  They soon realized it was a little dog.  They followed the fence and realized that the puppy had a rope round its neck and that the rope was caught up on the track.  They knew that if a train came along the poor little puppy would probably be hit and killed by the engine.  They climbed the fence and ran to the puppy.  It took a few minutes to free it from the track and the elder girl picked her up and reassured her."  This was the rescue of the little puppy that became Penny the Railway Pup.

"The whole meaning of the word 'pet' when applied to a dog, speaks to me of a member of the family, one who shares the home and the life of their owner, not a 'thing' to be kept outdoors in all weathers and left to suffer in a freezing kennel or worse during the rages of winter.  Even working dogs, kept as guard dogs for example, need warmth and comfort in the depths of winter, otherwise how can they be expected to fulfill their role of protecting their owner's property?" - Brian L. Porter

I have read all four of the Rescue Dog books and can't help but admire Author Brian L. Porter and his family.  The love, affection and care that they provide for those that probably wouldn't make it otherwise shows me how much we forget about what we call 'our animals.'  He is totally correct in reminding us that they aren't just pets, they are members of our own family and should be treated as so.  If you're a dog lover, this is a must read book.  If you aren't a dog lover, read it anyway and maybe you'll become one.

 
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