Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column 11-30-06

Join my email book club. Over 330,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Thanks for writing. I always love to hear from you, especially this time of year, because I know how busy you are.

From my email bag,

"Hi, Suzanne! Yesterday I made your Waikiki Beach Chicken for visiting relatives. Suzanne, it was the best chicken I've ever made. Succulent, moist, falling-off-the-bone delicious. I used fresh diced ginger and drumsticks (that's what we had in the freezer) instead of the intended ingredients and paired it with my own version of scalloped potatoes (all crunchy and brown on top) fresh picked kale and beets, homemade applesauce, and a salad. For dessert we had angel food cake with our homemade elderberry "jam" (it didn't quite gel! LOL) and whipped cream. Man, was it tasty. I just wanted to write and thank you for a new favorite!"--Author Aaron Lazar

If you'd like the recipe for Chicken Waikiki Beach or any of my other favorite recipes go to:
http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/path_go.cfm?x=897&site=1

I will soon be offering a new recipe link for book club readers to share their favorite recipes with other readers, so keep me in mind when you prepare one of your favorite recipes this holiday season.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
http://www.DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Amazing contests this week! Recipes from a top New York City pastry chef and of course signed free books from these terrific authors: Richard Paul Evans, Finding Noel; Kate Zuckerman, The Sweet Life; Stan Pottinger, The Boss; Charles Epping, Trust; and Ann Parr, Coach Tex Winter. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

READ THE CLASSICS: The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/path_go.cfm?x=815&site=24

Dear Reader Column 11-29-06

Join my email book club. Over 330,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Every ornament hanging on my Christmas tree tells a story and when I decorated my tree the other day, one-by-one, I remembered.

I remembered the day my son came home from kindergarten and hurried into the living room to put the LifeSaver yarn doll on the Christmas tree. "Look Mom, see what I made." A miniature roll of LifeSavers in the middle of yarn arms, legs, and long locks of golden hair. It's still holding up after all these years.

Three red rocking horses. I remember, my daughter begged me to buy them when she was seven years old, the year she asked me about Santa.

Oh my, here are the pink drum ornaments, remnants of an "almost" all-pink Christmas tree. We'd just moved into a brand new house and I wanted our Christmas tree decorations to match the light, warm colors of my new sofa, rug and drapes. So I didn't bother getting out any of our old favorite ornaments that year, because they just wouldn't do. Instead, I spent hours, actually days (I got a little obsessed) looking for light pink, dark pink and cream-colored ornaments and lights to make a perfectly color coordinated Christmas tree.

Yes, indeed the front of the tree was an all-pink masterpiece, but I forgot to decorate the backside. And plop! Over the tree went. Broken ornaments everywhere and the water, filled with tree preservatives, spilled out onto the light gray carpeting. I was so angry at the tree and myself that I just let it lay in the middle of the living room floor for a couple of days, which of course set a water stain in the carpet.

My family thought I'd lost my mind, and I think that year I temporarily did. I gave the unscathed pink ornaments away (it was too embarrassing to keep them around), but I did keep two of the little pink drums. They're forever a humble reminder that I need to keep some balance in my life.

I'd forgotten all about it, but there it was tucked away in the bottom of the box of ornaments. I remember the day Mom gave it to me. She was so thrilled to find it--a clown popping up out of a wooden children's block with a "V" initial on the front of it. "V" for Virginia, my mother's name. My mother used to be a clown in her hometown parade in Cuba City and one year I did the parade with her and we even won a prize. Mom gave me the ornament the year before she died.

That stupid clown ornament--there it is waiting for me to hang it on the tree, but all I can do is cry and the crying turns into sobbing, my knees give way and soon I'm sitting on the floor in front of the Christmas tree--remembering another story, because every ornament on my tree tells a story. Stories I hope I'll never forget.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

READ THE CLASSICS: The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/path_go.cfm?x=815&site=24

Dear Reader Column 11-28-06

Join my email book club. Over 330,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Never say never.

For years I raised my right hand and took the oath: "I'll never, ever have an artificial Christmas tree!" and I believed every word of it. But when my husband and I were out shopping today and we walked by the almost real Christmas trees on display, there was that moment--when in unison we looked at each other and that's when I faltered, "This tree looks real." And we bought it.

I blush when I confess, the tree already has lights on it, too. When I fall, I fall hard.

My new 8 foot artificial tree came in three easy to assemble pieces, and all I had to do was style it. Imagine that, I'm now a pine tree stylist! Pull this branch to the right, move that one a little over to the left, this one needs a little lift to cover up the open space and in only 20 minutes, my tree looked just the way it did last year. Only no need to water and this one doesn't shed needles all over the floor. All I'll need to worry about is how I'm going to get the tree back into the little box it came in.

There's a lot of stigma concerning Christmas tree etiquette--seems to be some unwritten law that if you put your tree up before Thanksgiving, you might as well be wearing white shoes in January. The tree sinners, they're very hush, hush about it and walk around carrying some pretty heavy pine tree guilt. But for others the misdeed is just too much to bear and they feel the need to confess.

Kelly, my manicurist, whispered to me three weeks before Thanksgiving, "I've had three Christmas trees up in my house for a week already, and they're decorated, too. What do you think about that?"

"Not to worry," I assured her, "I won't tell a soul, and if you keep your drapes drawn until the day after Thanksgiving, probably no one else will discover your transgression."

Yesterday I raised my right hand and took the oath, "I'll never, ever have a real Christmas tree again." Well, maybe...Never say never, Suzanne.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

READ THE CLASSICS: The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/path_go.cfm?x=815&site=24

Dear Reader Column 11-27-06

Join my email book club. Over 330,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Thanks for taking the time to write to me. Reading and replying to your email is the best part of my day. Gracie wrote to me...

"Hi, my name is Gracie and I am part of your Romance Book Club. I am a senior in high school this year and I have a question. It isn't about winning a book or any other cool prizes you give away but a personal question. It's 'How did you know what you wanted to do with you life?' I know this may seem very strange to you, seeing that we are complete strangers, but at this point in time, I am supposed to know what I want to do with the rest of my life and where to go for college and I wanted to know if you have any advice on this. Thanks for taking your time to read this e-mail."--Gracie

Gracie,

Thanks for your email. I always love to hear from readers.

Your "How did I know what I wanted to do with the rest of my life?" question, I don't find it strange at all. In fact, I feel honored that you asked me.

I guess I was fortunate, because I never really had to give anybody an answer to that question. I gave birth to a daughter when I was 17 and a senior in high school, so no one expected too much from me. No one asked me what was I going to do with the rest of my life because they figured I'd already messed up the rest of my life. I'm telling you that story to hopefully take the pressure off. Here's the thing, nobody can decide at any point in their life, what they'll do the rest of their life, or what they want to be when they're all "grown up".

In the beginning, I spent more time discovering things that I didn't want to do, like the 1 1/2 years of an auto mechanics program I signed up for at a technical school. The reason I signed on for auto mechanics was because I wanted to see if I could do something I didn't know anything about. And I did, but I also realized that I didn't want auto mechanics for a career. The experience wasn't wasted. It did indeed give me the boost of confidence that I was seeking.

I opened a restaurant for someone, then opened my own breakfast and lunch place. I've been a typesetter and learned how to lay out magazines. In fact, I ended up starting my own business magazine, ran it for 11 years and sold it for a lot of money. I've started a nonprofit meal program, and at one time in my life I had 10 paper routes, waited tables, made pizzas, and along the way I raised four children and now I have two grandchildren and another grandchild on the way. The title "writer"--I never really discovered that talent until about seven years ago and now writing is the love of my life along with answering emails like yours.

It's a big world out there, Gracie, filled with a lot of neat things to do and you can "be" many of them in your lifetime. Nose around, make sure you have a lot of experiences, and most of all listen to yourself. When you're alone, surrounded only by your own thoughts--listen hard, don't question yourself, because there's something deep inside of you that knows what you're going to love and what you need to make your life a wonderful journey.

Don't worry, I know you'll do just fine. Look, you've already started nosing around, you asked me..."Suzanne, how did you know what you wanted to do with your life?"

Thanks for reading with me Gracie. It's an honor to know I'm reading with someone like you.

Warmest regards,
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Amazing contests this week! Recipes from a top New York City pastry chef and of course signed free books from these terrific authors: Richard Paul Evans, Finding Noel; Kate Zuckerman, The Sweet Life; Stan Pottinger, The Boss; Charles Epping, Trust; and Ann Parr, Coach Tex Winter. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

READ THE CLASSICS: The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/path_go.cfm?x=815&site=23

Dear Reader Column 11-24-06

Join my email book club. Over 330,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

If you live in the U.S., you're probably wondering what to do with all that left over turkey today. I'm making turkey pies. It's an easy way to get rid of leftovers and I do it every year.

Buy ready-made crusts (this is the one day of the year I don't roll my own). The other ingredients are all from leftovers: turkey, a little dressing, dice an onion, add leftover vegetables--cut up the relish tray and dump it into the pie or open a bag of frozen vegetables, pour the leftover gravy on top (or if Uncle Fred polished off the gravy, use a can of gravy) add the top crust, bake in a 400 degree oven until golden brown and you've got the perfect leftover turkey pie. It's as simple as that.

I'm taking the rest of the day off. Talk to you on Monday.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

READ THE CLASSICS: The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/path_go.cfm?x=815&site=23

Dear Reader Column 11-23-06

Join my email book club. Over 330,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

* Suzanne is cooking her turkey and rolling pie crusts so today's column is one of her old favorites.

Dear Reader,

My husband and I went turkey shopping earlier this week. I realize that our search for the biggest bird--nothing under 23 pounds will do--might not be the usual way of creating sentimental holiday memories, but for us it's become a tradition. We don't actually need a huge turkey any longer--there will only be a handful of us at the table this year--but it just wouldn't feel right cooking a puny little 10-pounder, and besides, everyone wants to take home leftovers. In fact, I'd have to say that leftovers are the best part of the Thanksgiving meal.

I'm not the only one who craves leftovers days before the big feast. My father-in-law lives in a retirement center, and most of the people there are single. So this year, I suggested that he bring two or three of his neighbors along with him to Thanksgiving dinner. Two extra people at the table--that was okay with him. Three? No way. He was concerned that inviting that extra third person might mean no leftovers for him to take home.

People get serious about their leftovers, and if it looks like there might not be any, they take matters into their own hands. My mother loved my Shrimp and Shells salad. She'd gobble up at least three helpings right away, and then spend the rest of the meal keeping tabs on anyone who headed back to the kitchen for seconds. Following right behind them, she'd do her best to encourage them to eat more turkey, mashed potatoes, cole slaw--anything except the shrimp salad.

I've been thinking about it, and maybe we should extend the Thanksgiving celebration to two days? On Thursday, everybody gets formally dressed for dinner (including the turkey), and then on Friday we'd all gather together again, but this time we'd be eating a Thanksgiving Leftover Day Dinner. Sitting at the Thanksgiving table in pantyhose and a form-fitting dress, I can't really do the original 20-course meal justice. But slide me into some stretchy, elastic-waisted pants on Leftover Day, slip on my flip-flops, twist my hair up and stick it under a baseball cap, and I could probably even go back for thirds on pumpkin pie.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Amazing contests this week! WIN a box of chocolate, a bottle of Alien Perfume and of course signed free books from these terrific authors: Charles Epping, Trust; Michael W. Sherer, Death Is No Bargain; Deidre Knight, Parallel Heat; Lawrence Light, Fear & Greed; and Annette Blair, The Scot, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

READ THE CLASSICS: The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/path_go.cfm?x=815&site=23

Dear Reader Column 11-22-06

Join my email book club. Over 330,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

* Suzanne is cooking her turkey and rolling pie crusts so today's column is one of her old favorites.

Some people want the white meat, some will only eat the dark, and for years our family members used to argue over who was going to get the turkey drumsticks on Thanksgiving. Every year it was the same routine. My mother would ring her china bell, "Dinner is ready. Come to the table," and we'd all start calling out "dibs" on a turkey leg. When there are only two turkey legs, but ten people want one...well, it used to be a huge problem until the year my mother made her famous Turkey Drumstick Thanksgiving Dinner. Now nobody in our family even wants to look at a drumstick. The memories are still too fresh in our minds.

It seemed like a normal enough Thanksgiving meal, until my mother announced, "I've got a surprise. No one will be disappointed this year. Everybody gets a drumstick, because that's all that I cooked." And Mom plopped down a serving platter, piled high with 20 turkey legs, in the middle of the table. "Dig in."

This felt a little strange. What, no bird this year? Only drumsticks?

Mom was smiling, so proud she'd finally found a solution for the annual turkey leg squabble. Apparently she'd begun working on this year's Thanksgiving surprise the day after our last Thanksgiving dinner. Clipping coupons, and always keeping an eye out for a turkey leg sale, my mother had been buying up turkey legs for the past year. It all sounded okay in theory, but either she didn't wrap the legs in freezer paper, or the turkey legs were on sale because they were near their expiration dates, or it was just a bad year for turkeys--because when we tried to stick a fork into our drumsticks, we couldn't.

I'm not exaggerating here, the turkey legs were nowhere near fork-tender. The tines of our forks actually bounced off of our drumsticks when we tried to pierce them. A table knife wouldn't even saw through the sinewy--who knows how old--freezer burnt, turkey legs. My son suggested we fire-up the chain saw.

Sometimes when you try to solve a problem, it merely shows up in another form, and unfortunately that's what happened the year of the Turkey Drumstick Thanksgiving Dinner. None of us fought over who would get a drumstick, instead we ended up dueling with them. Those were some tough birds.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
http://www.DearReader.com

READ THE CLASSICS: The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/path_go.cfm?x=815&site=23

Dear Reader Column 11-21-06

Join my email book club. Over 330,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Years ago, after running a business magazine for 11 years, I sold it and decided to stay home for a while and dabble in different kinds of challenges. One of the adventures I tried was a recipe for a Candy Cane Coffee Cake. The fancy photo in the cookbook, I stared at it for weeks. It looked impressive and I figured that probably only a professional baker could make it look like the picture, not an every day baker like me.

It was made from a yeast dough and the finished coffee cake was in the shape of a candy cane--the sliced dough strips delicately weaved over top of each other--topped off with a glaze and fruit accents. But then again, someone followed the recipe and made it look like the photo in the book, so why couldn't I do the same thing? And so I began, simply reading one line in the recipe at a time, not jumping to the end--where the hard part was--but keeping my eye on the instructions adding one ingredient at a time.

My Candy Cane Coffee Cake did indeed turn out, and it was amazing! Who would've imagined, certainly not me, but there it was--a finished fancy coffee cake--just like the picture in the cookbook and I did it line-by-line.

Line-by-line, it's a good thing for me to remember this time of year. My grandchildren are coming to visit us this holiday season and I've been making a mental list of all the things I should be doing so the holidays are picture-perfect, too. But I think I'll take it easy, slow down and just take the holidays line-by-line.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

READ THE CLASSICS: The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/path_go.cfm?x=815&site=23

Dear Reader Column 11-20-06

Join my email book club. Over 330,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Every month this year I've been baking two dozen of my famous chocolate chip cookies for a book club reader. I'd love to bake for you.

Laura Garmon was last month's cookie winner and she shared her cookies with the teachers she works with at the McConnell Middle School. To see a photo of last month's cookie winner(s) and to have an opportunity to win the November Cookie Giveaway go to:
http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/cookie5.html

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Amazing contests this week! WIN a box of chocolate, a bottle of Alien Perfume and of course signed free books from these terrific authors: Charles Epping, Trust; Michael W. Sherer, Death Is No Bargain; Deidre Knight, Parallel Heat; Lawrence Light, Fear & Greed; and Annette Blair, The Scot, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

READ THE CLASSICS: The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/path_go.cfm?x=815&site=23

Dear Reader Column 11-17-06

Join my email book club. Over 330,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

When I write, if I want to give my best, I need to get to the place inside of me that's a little vulnerable. It can be scary. Give a lot, put it all out there, and someone may take advantage because some people take all you have to give and give nothing back in return.

But it's worth the risk--giving a little bit of yourself--because usually people give the nicest, most meaningful gifts back. They share a story, maybe something that hasn't come to mind for years. A story about the funny thing that happened when their grandfather was still alive, they remember--and I feel laughter in-between the lines they've written.

Or maybe it's a confession, something they needed to say out loud so they could ease the pain. I hear them crying and in a reply, I reassure them that there are times when none of us do the right thing, including me. And we silently cry together.

"What will people think?" It used to be the first thing I'd think about when I sat down to write, but not anymore. Writing has taught me how to let go and readers have given me a reason to give.

Every day, at the end of my column, I write: "Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends."

But perhaps today I should add: "Thanks for listening and thanks for giving back."

Gratefully,
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com