Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column 11-16-10

Now on sale . . . Muffins & Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (if Disorderly) Life by Suzanne Beecher, and when you purchase it, request a free autographed bookplate, by visiting:
http://tinyurl.com/Muffins-MayhemPO

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Cherry, pumpkin, and blueberry pies are on my menu this Thanksgiving. My three-year-old grandson, Paul, wants to make the pies with me. Amazingly, Paul's learned how to roll a pie crust in our weekly cooking sessions; I think he's better at it than I am. Probably because he doesn't think about it too much, and that's one of the secrets of rolling a pie crust.

"Dear Suzanne, I have fond memories of when my mom made cherry pie. Haven't had that in years. Would love your recipe for it. I do enjoy reading your column everyday with my coffee."--Jan Davies

Cherry Pie

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt Scant 1/4 cup flour One splash almond extract (optional)
3 - 16 ounce cans pitted cherries in water (drained)
Grated zest of one small lemon

Place sugar, cornstarch, flour, salt and lemon zest in large mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Add the cherries, stir carefully, then splash with almond extract (if using). Pour pie filling mixture into the bottom pie crust. Cover with a top crust. Cover (edge only) of crust with aluminum foil and take the foil off the last seven minutes of baking. Cut slits in top of the pie crust, or insert a pie bird to let the steam escape. Bake at 425 degrees in a preheated oven until crust is brown and juice is bubbling through the slits, about 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes, cut a slice of pie, add a side scoop of New York Vanilla ice cream and my taste buds are remembering holidays at Grandma Hale's house when I was a kid.

Congratulations to the apron winners: Samuel P. Emanuel, Virginia Warnke, Mildred Abercrombie, Sue Miner, Patricia Costello and Denise Wadsworth. Watch your mail, you should receive your apron in time for Thanksgiving.

And congratulations to Daphne Dickens-King. She is the winner of the Picture Frame Giveaway.

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

Warmest regards,
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com/

* This month's Penguin Classics book is The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime edited by Michael Sims. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/November10Classics

 

 

 

Dear Reader Column 11-15-10

Now on sale . . . Muffins & Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (if Disorderly) Life by Suzanne Beecher, and when you purchase it, request a free autographed bookplate, by visiting:
http://tinyurl.com/Muffins-MayhemPO

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

I'm a storyteller. When I retell a story from my life, I can take it in whatever direction I choose. I may decide to leave out parts of the story, yet deep in my heart I'll always know exactly what happened. I can't change what happened, but I can rewrite the stories from my life so they lift me up. I can pick and choose, editing my thoughts so when I remember, the tears may still flow, but I find peace in retelling the story.

My grandson Paul, and Darlene a reader at the book club, have both reminded me that the ending of a story, the lesson I take with me, the feeling in my heart after "The End" is mine to write.

Days after a fire consumed his home, three-year-old Paul walked into his piano lesson, sat down on the piano bench by his teacher and said, "Ms. Marcy, it's so sad. Our house had a fire, Maggie and Frank, our cats died, but they are in heaven now, and I'm living in a castle until our house gets fixed."

Stories are what we make of them, but sometimes we need a little help rewriting "The End."

"Dear Suzanne, your column today about how you deal with a crisis really hit home with me, because that's how I had always reacted my whole life, too...until 9/11. I was working at the Pentagon on that day in 2001. Thankfully, I was on the opposite side of the building from where the plane hit, so I wasn't injured and was able to help calm down some of the younger people in my office, and the children who were in the daycare facility on that side of the building during our evacuation.

To make a long story short, I became extremely sad every year on the anniversary of that tragic event, until this year. Our daughter-in-law, Katie, gave birth to healthy twin boys on August 19th. Their Baptism was scheduled for September 12th, because our son Mike's National Guard unit was being sent for training the next week, to prepare for going to guard the National Capitol Region.

Since our family is spread out over five different states, many of us drove or flew in for the celebration a day or two ahead of time. When we gathered at dinner the night before the ceremony, Mike raised his glass and gave a toast, "To the ninth anniversary of our mom being safe."

That's when I realized that my children and their spouses, and my older grandchildren chose not to be sad, but to rejoice that I survived that day. My whole perspective has changed! I can still mourn the loss of my friends and co-workers, but be grateful for all of us who survived and still keep in touch.

Thanks for sharing your life experiences and reading with me."

Sincerely, Darlene Perry

Paul and Darlene have it right. Things are what you make them.

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

Warmest regards,
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com/

AUTHORBUZZ: Deadly sins, creepy spiders and piano lessons are just a few of the things to read about at this week's AUTHORBUZZ. Win part of your holiday gift list: books, a classical piano CD and a $25 bookstore gift card.

Enter the authors' free giveaways; then send an email to me at [email protected] letting me know which author's giveaway you signed up for, and your email will automatically enter your name in a drawing for a $25.00 bookstore gift card.

DiAnn Mills/PURSUIT OF JUSTICE
S.G. Browne/FATED
Anna Goldsworthy/PIANO LESSONS: A MEMOIR
Kathi Macias/RED INK

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

* This month's Penguin Classics book is THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GASLIGHT CRIME edited by Michael Sims. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/November10Classics

 

 

Dear Reader Column 11-12-10

Now on sale . . . Muffins & Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (if Disorderly) Life by Suzanne Beecher, and when you purchase it, request a free autographed bookplate, by visiting:
http://tinyurl.com/Muffins-MayhemPO

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

The nice thing about getting older is that because I've been paying attention, I understand my body and how it reacts when something traumatic happens in my life. Over the years I've spent a lot of time replaying situations in my mind, trying my best to understand the hows and whys. How could I have prevented this thing? What could I have done differently? Sometimes, nothing. Sometimes life just happens and the "because" is forever a mystery.

But one thing I have learned is that when I'm in the midst of a crisis, I can keep my wits about me pretty darn good. I don't fall apart. I may not be quite as sturdy as I used to be, but since I've always been way above average in a crisis, no one notices except me. But after the crisis, when everyone else is feeling better and returning to the things they used to do in their lives, I'm just beginning to pick up the pieces of Suzanne.

The damage from the house fire my family experienced has been repaired. They're settled back into their home and welcoming a familiar daily routine, and it fills my heart with joy. My goal was to get them back home as quickly as possible and that when they returned, even though the surroundings might be different, they would feel the love my husband and I put into fixing up their home.

The crisis is over and from past experience, I realize that now it's time for me to let down. To put myself first, to be kind to myself. To let myself fall apart in my own way. If after my work is done I want to lie in bed and watch Frazier reruns, or eat dinner in bed, or pretty much spend all of my free time in bed, or sit on the lanai in my pajamas, I've earned it.

It's funny, how most of the time, in order to carve out "whatever" time for myself, I feel the need to qualify that I've earned the right to give myself whatever I need--especially if it makes me appear lazy to other people. This kind of crazy thinking, I recognize it, because I've been paying attention. I've been here before. This kind of thinking is part of the recovery after a crisis in my life.

In the midst of the fire I was strong. Now after-the-fire, it may take me longer to recover than it used to, but maybe that's a good thing. Sit with what happened, think about it, feel how it's changed my life, learn from it, grieve. There's something to be learned from every experience good and bad, and if I miss the opportunity to sit a spell with the experience, it will all have been in vain.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.MuffinsandMayhem.com

* This month's Penguin Classics book is The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime edited by Michael Sims. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/November10Classics

 

 

Dear Reader Column 11-11-10

Now on sale . . .Muffins & Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (if Disorderly) Life by Suzanne Beecher, and when you purchase it, request a free autographed bookplate, by visiting:
http://tinyurl.com/Muffins-MayhemPO

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

When readers start requesting my recipe for Crock Pot Stuffing, it's a reminder that I better get out my china turkey plates--Thanksgiving is almost here. Martha has 20 people coming for dinner, Suzanne (not me, another reader at the book club) is cooking for 22 ("I think I copied your recipe down at one point, but now I can't find where I decided to file it.").

The Crock Pot Stuffing recipe is one of my favorites, you'll find it at: http://tinyurl.com/27y4rg You'll also find the recipe on page 192 in my book, Muffins and Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life. A memoir that will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you want to cook, and you'll learn things about me that you never would have expected!

If you're looking for an unusual stuffing recipe this year, you might try one of my grandma's favorites. (It's also in Muffins and Mayhem.) My recipe box is filled with Grandma Hale's recipes, written out in her own handwriting. She wrote everything down on recipe cards: household tips, birthdays, anniversaries and to my surprise, this recipe...

Grandma Hale's Stuffing for a Fifteen Pound Turkey

1 loaf bread, torn up in pieces
2 teaspoons sage
3 eggs
1 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup popcorn

Mix all ingredients together. Stuff turkey. Bake at 450 degrees. Stuffing is done when corn starts to pop and blows the turkey's *ss (behind) clear out of the oven.

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

* If you'd like to give my book as a Thanksgiving or Christmas gift, I'd love to send you an autographed bookplate, letter and bookmark to include with the gift. Go to: http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com:80/node/17092

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.MuffinsandMayhem.com

AUTHORBUZZ: A bottle of wine, an art poster and lots of signed books, books, and more books are up for grabs this week at AuthorBuzz. Say hello to five authors and these intriguing new releases:

Mary Volmer, Crown of Dust
Jennifer Erin Valent, Catching Moondrops
Walt Schnabel, Blood Club
G.G. Vandagriff, The Last Waltz: A Novel of Love and War
Bill Peschel, Writers Gone Wild: the Feuds, Frolics, and Follies of Literature's Great Adventurers, Drunkards, Lovers, Iconoclasts, and Misanthropes

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

* This month's Penguin Classics book is The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime edited by Michael Sims. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/November10Classics

 

 

Dear Reader Column 11-10-10

Now on sale . . . Muffins & Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (if Disorderly) Life by Suzanne Beecher, and when you purchase it, request a free autographed bookplate, by visiting:
http://tinyurl.com/Muffins-MayhemPO

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

"I've got two left feet, can you send me a right foot?"

After the customer assistance person on the other end of the line stopped laughing and composed herself, I explained that my grandson and I were putting together the giant Tyrannosaurus (T-Rex) floor model I ordered from their catalog. But we couldn't slide the feet into the base that was suppose to hold up the giant beast, because T-Rex had two left feet.

"So can you send us a right foot?"

No, she couldn't send me a right foot. The corporate protocol for a defective T-Rex was for the customer to disassemble the extinct dinosaur, box him up, send him back to the company, and then the company would send me a brand new T-Rex.

"But we already have T-Rex put together and all we need is a right foot. Taking him apart, sending him back and then you shipping another one--think of all the expense your company will incur, when all we need is a right foot."

The woman understood my logic, but went on to explain that a supplier sends them boxes of T-Rex's to sell and whatever they don't sell they ship back to the supplier. So she couldn't open a box and take out a right foot because then they'd have a box missing a right foot. "But don't you see, any way you slice it you're going to end up with a T-Rex that has a missing right foot? It will cost your company much less to send me a single right foot, verses paying for shipping a complete box both ways."

After a couple more times around the block with my T-Rex return logic, the customer service woman decided to break policy, slice open a T-Rex box, secretly "steal" a right foot, slap a return notice on the box, and hope that no one at the company would catch on to our T-Rex caper.

T-Rex is now standing tall (with a right and left foot) in my grandson's room. But after we solved the two left feet problem, my grandson and I faced another challenge--how to get T-Rex to my grandson's house. How do you fit a giant T-Rex into the car? We did it, but not without people laughing at us at every stop light along the way.

To see our traveling T-Rex, go to: http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com/node/55632

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.MuffinsandMayhem.com

P.S. A reminder, to anyone who has requested an autographed bookplate for Muffins and Mayhem. If I made a mistake in your request, please let me know so I can fix it. To request a bookplate, bookmark and letter, for your copy or to include with a gift, go to: http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com:80/node/17092

* This month's Penguin Classics book is The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime edited by Michael Sims. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/November10Classics

 

 

Dear Reader Column 11-09-10

Now on sale . . . Muffins & Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (if Disorderly) Life by Suzanne Beecher, and when you purchase it, request a free autographed bookplate, by visiting:
http://tinyurl.com/Muffins-MayhemPO

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

"We should do this more often!"

Four years ago when one of my Thanksgiving dinner guests made that comment after their last bite of pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream, I agreed. So now it's a tradition. Three or four times a year I cook up a big turkey with all the Thanksgiving trimmings and invite family and friends. In fact there's a waiting list of folks who'd like to be invited to next February's Thanksgiving.

My traditional Thanksgiving menu: turkey, crock pot dressing, mashed potatoes with gravy, cranberries, sweet potatoes, cole slaw, green beans jazzed with tomatoes, skunk beans, shrimp salad, deviled eggs, cherry and pumpkin pie with whipped cream.

If I've made you hungry and you'd like one of my recipes, drop me a line and I'll be happy to send it to you.

Be sure to sample this month's Penguin Classic, THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GASLIGHT CRIME. To read the sample and to enter this month's Penguin Book Bag giveaway, go to: http://tinyurl.com/November10Classics

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

Warmest regards,
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.MuffinsandMayhem.com

SHOUTOUT: The Girls from the Revolutionary Cantina is hilarious. Any woman who's dealt with the pressures of career, dating and trying to find time to maintain old friendships, will be shaking their head in agreement. 'Yes, I've been there. What a juggling act. There's never enough time.'

Sample The Girls from the Revolutionary Cantina this week's bonus book, and enter-to-win a picture frame. Why are we giving away a picture frame? Read today's bonus excerpt and find out. Go to: http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/users/templates1/mweb/path3-1.html

 

 

Dear Reader Column 11-08-10

Now on sale . . . Muffins & Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (if Disorderly) Life by Suzanne Beecher, and when you purchase it, request a free autographed bookplate, by visiting:
http://tinyurl.com/Muffins-MayhemPO

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

It was a glorious weekend, my son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons, Paul and James, moved back into their home that caught fire on September 26th. Life can be sad and yes it's complicated sometimes, but even in the midst of despair I discover joy.

It wasn't supposed to be there; a little baby fern poking its head through the brick floor on my screened-in front porch. The fern belongs in the flower garden in front of the porch, but for some reason this off-shoot, this new growth, decided it wanted to find a different home. Or maybe the fern decided that its job was to be a reminder of the new life my family and I are experiencing because of the fire.

Sometimes I discover joy in the most unlikely places. For the past five weeks my husband and I have been looking for bargains, shopping for furnishings to replace the things lost in the fire. Such a sad journey in the beginning, but this past weekend my husband said, "You know Suzanne, it's strange, even though the fire was a tragedy, I could make a list of blessings we've experienced the past few weeks because of it." And so we did. My husband and I made a list of all of the nice things people said and did to help our family, and these are the memories and stories that we'll carry with us when we remember the fire.

Moving day was just in the nick of time for our grandson's birthday. "Home, home," James has been repeating over the past five weeks and this past Sunday, before he even blew out the candles his wish was granted--James was back home celebrating his 2nd birthday in the back yard.

My husband and I had a lot of fun finding bargains and decorating our grandsons' bedrooms. James loves cars and trucks and three-year-old Paul is crazy about dinosaurs, so those were the themes we chose. A yellow VW Bug bed we discovered on Craigslist, a chalkboard headboard in the furniture clearance rack, colorful tables and chairs from IKEA, including a big green leaf hanging from the ceiling, take a look at the finished rooms. We had so much fun putting them together. Go to: http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com/node/55449

Thank you all for the prayers, emails, clothes, toys and gift cards that you shared with my family. Blessings to you and your family from mine.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com/

AUTHORBUZZ: A bottle of wine, an art poster and lots of signed books, books, and more books are up for grabs this week at AuthorBuzz. Say hello to four authors and these intriguing new releases:

Mary Volmer, Crown of Dust
Jennifer Erin Valent, Catching Moondrops
Walt Schnabel, Blood Club
G.G. Vandagriff, The Last Waltz: A Novel of Love and War
Bill Peschel, Writers Gone Wild: the Feuds, Frolics, and Follies of Literature's Great Adventurers, Drunkards, Lovers, Iconoclasts, and Misanthropes

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

 

 

Dear Reader Column 11-05-10

Now on sale . . . Muffins & Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (if Disorderly) Life by Suzanne Beecher, and when you purchase it, request a free autographed bookplate, by visiting:
http://tinyurl.com/Muffins-MayhemPO

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

I love to wear an apron and a recent article "Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Runway" in the Wall Street Journal announced that "Chic designers serve up looks inspired by aprons for spring." So I guess this coming Spring, for a change, I'll be in the fashion groove.

Aprons have been my own fashion statement for years. Not intentionally. It's just that I'm so comfortable wearing an apron that I forget to take it off when I leave the house. Most of the aprons I own were worn by someone else. And most of the "some bodies" I never knew. But thanks to book club reader Shirley Reis, who sent me a lovely yellow checked apron with hand embroidered brown accents, I know the story behind the apron I've been wearing lately.

"Dear Suzanne, I wanted you to have this apron which my aunt made for me forty years ago when I got married. I really loved reading your book Muffins and Mayhem and I absolutely love reading at the book club. You are an amazing woman."--Best wishes, Shirley Reis

Shirley's apron has been my fashion statement every day lately, keeping me grounded and feeling loved while my husband and I have been working on redecorating our son, daughter-in-law and grandsons' home that caught fire. It's amazing that an apron can bring me so much comfort. Thank you Shirley.

I'd like to pass on some of those warm and fuzzy feelings, so today I'm giving away six of my aprons. Hand-me-downs, from who-knows-who, to me, to you. If you enjoy wearing aprons, be sure to enter the apron drawing. Simply send an email to: [email protected]

Six winners will be randomly chosen, so if you also want to send a message to me, please do it in a separate email. And another reminder to anyone who has requested an autographed bookplate for "Muffins and Mayhem" if I made a mistake in your request, please let me know so I can fix it. To request a bookplate, bookmark and letter, or to let me know about an error, go to: http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com:80/node/17092

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.MuffinsandMayhem.com

 

 

Dear Reader Column 11-04-10

Now on sale . . . Muffins & Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (if Disorderly) Life by Suzanne Beecher, and when you purchase it, request a free autographed bookplate, by visiting: http://tinyurl.com/Muffins-MayhemPO

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,

Today and tomorrow my husband and I are moving our son, daughter-in-law, and grandsons back into their home that caught fire on September 26th. It looks fabulous and next week I'll share some photos of our two grandsons' bedrooms. My husband and I had a lot of fun decorating them.

From my Skunk Bean Email Bag:

"Suzanne, my family has been invited to a friend's house for a birthday party next weekend. This friend grew up in Wisconsin and the mandatory game at her family functions is Euchre. I did attempt to play last year, we had fun...but it was crazy!

I'll be taking some of your Skunk Beans along, the story about how this dish got it's name and some extra Dear Reader Online Book Club flyers. Best wishes to you and your family. Glad to hear they will be home soon!"--Donna Hudson

The Story Behind Skunk Beans...

I was looking through some old recipes I'd found in my mother's kitchen cupboard after she passed away, when I discovered a folded piece of paper with the heading, "Beans for Skunk Party." Instantly I was smiling, because I realized how the Skunk Beans got their name.

Almost every other Sunday evening the Tindell clan (including my dad, his four sisters, and Grandma and Grandpa Tindell) got together to play some serious Euchre. The kitchen in Grandma Tindell's house was so small that when the table was pulled open to seat everyone, you could barely walk around it. But that didn't matter. Get out the blue and red chips, which represented pennies--it wasn't about the money--it was all about winning the game and could you "skunk" your opponents in the process.

Euchre isn't a complicated game, but until you've played awhile, the table talk can sound like a foreign language. "Fishing out, dead-set legend, the ribbit, farm hand or no ace/no face, follow suit, trump, and skunked--which means that you and your partner lost the game without scoring one single point. Rumor has it that in some Euchre circles a team that gets skunked, also gets a "bum run." (If you and your partner get skunked you must run about a predetermined route--naked!)

I was just a kid, who sat by herself in the living room watching The Wonderful World of Disney alone, because none of my dad's sisters brought their children along, and there was a wall between the kitchen and me, so as far as I know no one ever did a bum run. But I do remember my mother frequently taking Skunk Beans to the Sunday evening Euchre party.

The Skunk Bean recipe is in my book, Muffins and Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life. If you'd like to give a unique holiday gift to family, friends or co-workers this year, book club reader Kathy Fletcher has a creative idea. And I'll send you an autographed bookplate, bookmark and letter and 30 recipes (included in Muffins and Mayhem) to go along with it. Read about Kathy's idea, go to: http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com:80/node/17092

Four authors would like to say hello today. The AuthorBuzz link is right after my column.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.MuffinsandMayhem.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Authors love to hear from readers. Meet an old favorite this week, or get to know an author even before you take their book for a spin. Four authors who would love to hear from you and you can enter to win a $100 Victoria's Secret gift card. Kate Carlisle/THE LIES THAT BIND: A Bibliophile Mystery; Candace Calvert/CODE TRIAGE; Lena Meydan/TWILIGHT FOREVER RISING; Maggie Arana & Julienne Davis/STOP CALLING HIM HONEY AND START HAVING SEX! Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader Column 11-03-10

Now on sale . . . Muffins & Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (if Disorderly) Life by Suzanne Beecher, and when you purchase it, request a free autographed bookplate, by visiting: http://tinyurl.com/Muffins-MayhemPO

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 have "three limp, scary, brown bananas" sitting on your kitchen counter, book club reader Chris Harris knows what to do with them. Enjoy her "Whoops!" baking story.

"Hi Suzanne--just had to share this with you, because it seemed such a Suzanne-like thing (i.e. off-the-wall and fun). Since I work full-time and don't have a lot of time during the week for cooking, I try to cook on the weekend. I was busy making a hearty soup this morning and noticed three limp, scary, brown bananas gazing dolefully at me from the fruit bowl. So after I [finished] my soup I thought, 'Hmmm--Suzanne's Whoops Banana Bread' and reached for my copy of Muffins and Mayhem." I found the recipe on page 84 and started in.

The three sad bananas made exactly 1-1/4 cups mashed bananas (just the amount I needed), so I was feeling pretty smug, but--Whoops!--only one cup of all-purpose white flour in the canister. But I had a full bag of organic whole wheat, so--what would Suzanne do? She'd just make up the other cup and a half with that. So in it went. Sugars--check--plenty of both (actually I used Splenda for the white to assuage my conscience ever so slightly). Eggs--check. Baking powder, salt, soda--check. Whoops!--no vegetable shortening. Ok--butter--1/4 cup of it softened and a glop of vegetable shortening for good measure. I mean--that's what Suzanne would do, isn't it? Buttermilk--Whoops! When have I ever kept buttermilk??? But, I had a big carton of plain goat's milk yogurt, so channeling Suzanne, I measured out a cup of that, added 1/4 cup of plain milk and dumped it in. Whoops again--not a nut or a chocolate chip to be unearthed in my pantry. Oh well, Mom (94 and living with my husband and me, can't chew the nuts anyway, and we probably don't need the chocolate chips). So my Double-Whoops mixture went into the oven bereft of adornment.

Long story short, it took about 65 minutes to get done (probably the whole wheat flour), but out came the most gorgeous, brown, delectable-looking, yummy-smelling loaf of banana bread I'd ever made in my entire life. I loosened it and dutifully plopped it on a wire rack, feeling oh so virtuous as I started to leave it there to cool while I tidied up the cooking mess. But a tendril of aromatic steam rose seductively up around my face, and I crumpled like a cheap suit, grabbed a knife and cut off the end.

Whoops! Hot! But divine. Simply divine."

Cheers!
Chris Harris

If you'd like to give a unique holiday gift to family, friends or co-workers this year, book club reader Kathy Fletcher has a creative idea. And I'll send you an autographed bookplate, bookmark and letter and 30 recipes (included in Muffins and Mayhem) to go along with it. Read about Kathy's idea, go to:
http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com:80/node/17092

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

Warmest regards,
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.muffinsandmayhem.com