Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column 02-26-2021

Dear Reader,

I'd love to hear the story behind one of your favorite recipes, or maybe a quick and easy recipe that when it's finished, looks like you spent all day cooking in the kitchen. And how do you keep track of all of your favorite recipes? You can reach me at: Suzanne@DearReader.com

Tess C., a book club reader wrote...

"Suzanne, growing up, there were those recipes my parents made all the time. When you are little, you think that everyone else must have these recipes in their house too. As an adult, I am rediscovering a few recipes that are hallmarks of my childhood.

My husband and I have been married for 10 years now and together for about 16 years. I have been cooking for him for the entire time we have been married. About five years ago, I suggested I make meat pie for him. He had no idea what I was talking about. I had to explain to him what it was because growing up, we had it all the time. To make meat pie, you take the leftovers of a roast; pork or beef, onions, carrots, potatoes, etc. Mix with one can of cream of mushroom soup. Get a pack of Pillsbury pie crust dough (2 rolls) and bake the mixture in between the pie crusts. If you want, you can dust the crust with melted butter to make sure it turns out golden brown.

Anyways, it is a way to stretch that pot roast from one meal to two and growing up, I thought everyone knew about it, but I guess it was just a family thing. My husband is hooked and requests it anytime we make pot roast. Have a great week. What is one of your family favorites?"

Tess, your story about making a meat pie made me think of my pot roast recipe. So guess what my husband and I are having for dinner?

SUZANNE'S FAVORITE POT ROAST RECIPE

(The first time I read the recipe, it sounded complicated, but now it's one of my easy recipes that looks so inviting, it looks like I spent all day making it.)

1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon orange peel
1/3 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1 - 3 1/2 pound beef chuck roast
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup Madeira

Combine onion, orange peel, orange juice, orange juice concentrate, 1/3 cup water, salt, sugar, coriander, pepper, cloves and cumin in a blender or food processor. Cover and blend until nearly smooth.

Trim fat from the meat. Put the meat in a shallow baking dish and pour the mixture over it. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 4 to 6 hours, turning the meat occasionally to distribute the marinade evenly.

Drain the meat, reserving marinade.

In a Dutch oven, heat the oil and butter on medium heat. Add the meat and brown well on all sides. Drain off excess fat and discard.

Pour the marinade over the meat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender. Take the pot roast out but keep warm in a dish.

Stir together the 1/4 cup water and the cornstarch, and stir the mixture into the cooking liquid. Add the Madeira. Cook, stirring constantly until the sauce is thickened. Cook for a couple minutes more and serve the sauce over the meat.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

Dear Reader Column 02-25-2021

Dear Reader,

'I'm an old lady. so it's okay.'

I admit it was a shock to my system the first day that thought crept into my mind, and yes, I'm sure there's some adage warning me, "If you think it, you'll become it." But the truth is, no matter how much I ignore the thought, I am an old lady and I'm headed more and more in that direction every day. I don't drag the 'old lady' thought around with me every single day, but as with most things in life, there's something positive, if you dig deep enough. So when I need a break, the permission to do a-bit-of-nothing, that gem of a sentence comes in real handy. Yes, "I am an old lady...so it's okay." Or, better yet, "I'm an old lady and I deserve a break today."

I'm a goal oriented person, always have been, and lucky for me my accomplishments have given me great joy, and continue to make me smile when I reflect back on my adventures. Yes, my busy, busy attribute has served me well, but now that my time is opening up a little, I can travel in the slower lane sometimes, if I want. But I'm not comfortable with doing that yet. I feel like I should be beeping the horn, "Hey, get going, don't you see the green light?"

So when I find myself trying to push down the thought that doing nothing all day is not an option, my rescue is, "I'm an old lady, so it's okay."

Yes, I think tomorrow I'll practice doing-a-bit-of-nothing, after writing my column, enjoying my gardening, doing some baking, working on my quilt, filling my bubble machine, doing a little reading, and sending a couple of birthday cards to friends.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: With so many new books out every week, we promise this title deserves your attention:

(Thriller) DEAD ON THE DELTA by Sherry Knowlton

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

Dear Reader Column 02-24-2021

Dear Reader,

Reading your emails, readers, they always make my day. Thank you so much for writing. If you were one of my February Chocolate Chip Cookie winners, I sent the cookies yesterday. So watch for your 'tasty' delivery.

"Hi Suzanne, I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your Thursday, February 18, 'What's the Point' column about rescuing the squirrel. For some reason it struck a chord with me and certainly brightened this gray winter day! And also for some reason, it reminded me of a meme that I re-posted this morning (attributed to an author named Lynn Miclea):

"You drop something when you were younger, you just pick it up. When you're older and you drop something, you stare at it for a bit contemplating if you actually need it anymore."

I think it is another way of asking "What's the point". I think you do a great service to the reading public with your thoughtful and often amusing columns. I order adult fiction for our library and I will often order the [books you feature] books for our collection. Stay well and keep writing and sharing!" Sincerely, -- Beth S.

"The point is, Suzanne, that the Universe gave you an opportunity to be kind [to the squirrel]. You did not turn away and make excuses. That would have been easy. You enlisted your husband to also be kind. Then you were able to share your kindness with all of your readers. Perhaps it will have a ripple effect. Thank you." -- Sandy

(Readers reply from the 2/19 column.'Call me strange. I don't mind being labeled just a little bit crazy.')

"Suzanne, thank you for [writing your column], now I know I am normal. I so enjoy your emails and you make me feel like a person." -- Peggy

"Hello, Suzanne! Loved your email this morning!! My family has described me somewhat like what you wrote today. I'm 'really out there, odd, Bohemian'--but I've never taken offense. I like me (mostly). The only way I'm not quite spontaneous is in my writing. I'm usually serious and obsessive, searching for perfection in what I write.

As a result, it's sometimes tiresome and so I don't write as much as I really want to. But I recently read an article that has inspired me to be more free. Yes, it's about poetry writing, which I've delved into occasionally, but never with such fun. I sent it to my daughter who writes poetry and now she and I share back and forth as 'The Spirit moves us.' Thanks for letting me read with you. It IS good to read with friends!" -- Annmarie R.

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

* Congratulations to the winners of Burying Daisy Doe by guest author Ramona Richards: Mildred A., Beverly D., Zada G., Pat H. and Virginia T.

Warmest regards,
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

Dear Reader Column 02-23-2021

Dear Reader,

Jon Sealy is a novelist and the publisher of Haywire Books. His latest books are the craft how-to So You Want to Be a Novelist and The Merciful, a trial novel about the hit-and-run killing of a bicyclist in low-country South Carolina.

The Merciful is a Read This Next pick from the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) and has been widely praised as a suspenseful crime novel and a moving literary novel about storytelling, memory and the moral complexities we face in America today.

Sealy currently lives with his family in Richmond, Virginia. It makes his day to hear from readers. You can reach him on Twitter @jonsealy or via https://www.haywirebooks.com/contact

Please welcome author Jon Sealy to our book club...

One observation about being a novelist entering middle age and mid-career is that I have become conscious of how my early reading has influenced the writer I am today. I vividly remember the excitement of learning to read in first grade, and being enthralled by The Mouse and the Motorcycle and The Boxcar Children. Although I don't fully trust this memory, I also recall my school librarian testing me on my reading before she would let me check out a Hardy Boys chapter book, which made reading feel almost illicit, something only big kids and grownups could do.

In hindsight one of the most important early books I read for my life as a writer is Beverly Cleary's Dear Mr. Henshaw. This novel tells a story of a boy named Leigh who starts off writing fan letters to his favorite author. He then transitions to keeping a journal of his daily life in the form of letters to Mr. Henshaw.

Although he is fairly typical kid dealing with kid stuff, he's also struggling with his parents separation. His father is a truck driver who is seldom in the picture, showing up only on occasion to tell him to keep his nose clean. Writing has given Leigh a way to process his life through stories. He has also learned one of the most important lessons about being a writer: writing is most effective if you can address it to a singular reader.

At the end of the book, Leigh enters a writing contest through his school. He wins an honorary mention and gets to have lunch with a visiting writer. The writer compliments him on his story and tells him something to the effect of, most boys are writing about aliens and monsters, and she liked that he wrote a realistic story about riding in the big rig with his dad.

Inspired by Dear Mr. Henshaw, I kept my own journal as a boy, and as a grown-up writer I am a committed realist. Give me a story about a boy and his dad over aliens any day. There is something magical about how writing helps us understand ourselves and our world. After all, what are memories except stories our minds create about ourselves? Time barrels along, and we are lucky if we can capture and make sense of what's happening along the way.

-- Jon Sealy

Welcome Jon to book club via https://www.haywirebooks.com/contact

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

Dear Reader Column 02-22-21

Dear Reader,

One of the positive things about spending so much time at home, for almost a year, is that I've been reacquainting myself with recipes I've forgotten about. Thumbing through old cookbooks, I discovered one of my favorites that I'm sharing with you today.

I was thrilled to find my Shrimp Creole recipe, but the experience also made me worry about how I'm going to keep track of favorite recipes in the future. I fear the older I get, the more recipes I'm going to misplace. I have two shelves of cookbooks and my "favorites" are scattered throughout them. Hmm, sounds like a new project for me.

Suzanne's Shrimp Creole

1/2 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon flour
2 - 14 1/2 ounce cans diced or stewed tomatoes with basil, garlic & oregano (or if you use plain tomatoes, add 1/8 to a scant 1/4 teaspoon of oregano and basil to taste)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 teaspoon thyme
cayenne pepper (just to taste, I use 1/8 teaspoon)
dash of salt
2 bay leaves
1 pound fresh (uncooked) shrimp, peeled and deveined

Lightly brown onion and garlic in heated butter in large skillet, stirring occasionally. Blend flour into the mixture. Stir in canned tomatoes and juice, celery, thyme, bay leaves, cayenne pepper and salt to taste.

Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add shrimp, cover skillet and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Serve over hot rice.

Note: You can double this recipe, no problem. It's still delicious.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

P. S. Congratulations to Anna D., Lisa N. (Albany Public Library), and Carlotta Y. (Enoch Pratt Free Library), the winners of the February Chocolate Chip Cookie Giveaway. Your cookies are on their way.

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

DEAD ON THE DELTA (Thriller) by Sherry Knowlton

The latest Alexa Williams novel finds the kick-ass lawyer in the Okavango Delta, accompanying boyfriend Reese on a lion research assignment. Alexa's thrilled to experience the African wild and help with a wildlife advocacy project. But the adventure takes a deadly turn when they tangle with elephant poachers and conservation politics.

I'm giving away five books. Click on Authorbuzz and the book jacket to enter, or email me sherryknowltonbooks@gmail.com to win!

Go to: AUTHORBUZZ, click on DEAD ON THE DELTA to read more and email author Sherry Knowlton, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column 02-19-2021

Dear Reader,

Call me strange. I don't mind. Being labeled just a little bit crazy has never bothered me. In fact, I think the nutty side of my personality has helped my career. When you're a little bit nuts and funny to boot, people like to see your name on their schedule for the day. They don't mind spending 30 minutes with you and they'll give you an appointment, because they know they're in for a good time.

Everyone has a spontaneous side to their personality and I'm convinced they should let it loose more often. I'm not talking about "throwing caution to the wind," that's too tame of an aphorism to describe it--sounds like taking off your shoes and going barefoot would suffice, but it wouldn't. No, to me spontaneity means periodically I need to do something without weighing the pros and cons ahead of time, even if I might end up looking foolish. Running with the zany side of me always makes other people smile and laugh. And that's okay, because I'm laughing right along with them.

Early in my career, I was all business. The line was drawn in my mind, and the fun and spontaneous side of me was kept under wraps. I assumed other people wouldn't take to it. Business is business after all, play on your off hours.

But that all changed one day when I sang the theme song to Rawhide with a Fortune 500 executive. He was showing me an in-house promotion and the background music in it reminded me of the theme song from Rawhide. Remember years ago when Gil Favor was a trail boss on a cattle drive and Rowdy Yates (Clint Eastwood) was his second in command?

Without thinking, I told the executive how every Friday night my parents and I would go to the IGA Store, we'd each pick out our favorite TV dinner, and then we'd go home, heat it up and sit on the floor in front of the black and white and watch Rawhide. The next thing I knew, I started singing the Rawhide theme song, and you know what? The Fortune 500 guy sang along, too. After a couple of verses we both regained our meeting composure and we got back to business.

Yes, every now and then spontaneity kicks in and I lose my mind, but most people don't seem to care. In fact they seem to enjoy me more when I'm not so sure about things.

The other day I was exchanging emails with an author, who's also a friend of mine. I told him that my mind seemed to have left me, and I was having a hard time concentrating on serious work. "Perhaps we should talk tomorrow."

The next day when I emailed him, I told him not to worry my mind had returned. But he immediately replied, "Sorry to hear your mind has returned Suzanne. You are even MORE fun when you have to go looking for it."

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

Dear Reader Column 02-18-2021

Dear Reader,

'What's the point? Everyday it's the same-old, same-old routine.'

Whoa, whenever those feelings start rolling through my mind it's time for an intervention. Because the truth is, every single day, if I'm looking for it, there's a new experience waiting for me or perhaps someone needs me to lend them a hand...

On my early morning routine of making the rounds to check on my plants and the Monarch caterpillars munching on my milkweed, I noticed a squirrel with his leg caught in the fence-edging that circles one of my flower gardens. The poor thing looked exhausted, but he wasn't alone. His friend (another squirrel who lives in our yard--I know because his tail is bushy on both ends, but in the middle it's missing all the hair), was pacing up and down the palm tree beside his trapped buddy.

As soon as both squirrels saw me they started loudly chattering and "hollering" at me. Nevertheless, I moved in for a closer look at the situation. And that was when the trapped squirrel's friend shimmied down the palm tree and was giving me a warning look of, "If you hurt him, you're in for it lady!" So I ran to the house, opened the door and yelled to my husband, "I think I need your help!"

Wearing thick gloves on his hands and holding a long, extended garbage picker-upper, my husband knelt down by the trapped squirrel. He used the extended metal rod as a barrier, so the frightened squirrel couldn't bite his hand, while he successfully freed its foot.

The two squirrels quickly scurried back up the palm tree, but not without a last look back, that I envisioned as a "Thank you."

'What's the point?' I'm sure I'll be asking myself that question another day, but today I rescued a squirrel and he rescued me.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

P. S. You'd make my day if you entered this week's Chocolate Chip Cookie Giveaway. I'd love to bake for you. If your name is drawn two dozen of my homemade cookies will be delivered to your door. Today's the last day to enter, click here.

Dear Reader Column 02-17-2021

Dear Reader,

It's chocolate chip cookie time! I'm baking two dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies for three book club readers. To see photos of last month's winners (the photos are really cute!), click here.

The quality of writing in the 2020 Write a DearReader Contest was outstanding. Today's Honorable Mention piece was written by Jan McLellan. Thanks Jan, for sharing your story with us.

RM 516

1931: "Phee, the congregants are coming. Hurry up! Get out to the corn you horrible child and keep quiet," stepmother shouted. Phee, a small, blond, curly haired, six-year old, ran out of the back door, grabbing up her kitten as she went through the kitchen, but forgot her sweater. 'Oh, f*ck, S*it, f*ck' she said to herself and the tics continued. She ran into the cornfield till she was well hidden and far enough from the farmhouse to drown out the horrible noise that was coming from her mouth. She couldn't stop the sounds. She stayed in the field, holding her kitten until the visitors left. By then, it was dark and getting cold.

1982: I worked the evening shift as an RN on the Orthopedics Unit, at University Hospital. I received a report and started rounds on my patients. As I entered Rm 516, I read; Ms. Phee Marten, 64-year-old, female, Lt. Meniscus repair this morning. Past Medical History: Tourette's Syndrome. I saw a small woman, with a long gray braid, her left casted leg elevated on pillows. She was anxiously staring at six men standing at the end of her bed. An older man in a long, white lab coat was holding a chart folder, a staff doctor. The other five younger men wore short white coats, each with stethoscopes around their necks, these were med students. No one was saying anything. I looked at the staff doctor, he said nothing. I finally said, "What's going on here?" Just then, Ms. Marten said, "F*ck, S*it", bark, and covered her mouth with her bed sheet. One of the med students laughed and elbowed another student who smiled. The staff doctor said, "My students have never seen a Tourette's patient, so we want to see her perform." I looked back at Ms. Marten, she had tears running down her cheeks. I turned, opened the door and said, "Leave now, how dare you!" The men trooped out giving me hateful looks. The staff doctor asked for my name and left.

I spent as much time as I could with Ms. Marten that shift. I apologized for the doctor and medical students. She told me that since she was a child, she has always shouted, barked, or swore when she got nervous or anxious. Her mother died of a flu when she was three. Her father was a preacher and remarried a woman who thought Phee was a wicked, possessed child. She was sent out to the cornfield behind their farmhouse whenever visitors came to the home. Her formal schooling ended in third grade. She grew up and married the boy from the next farm over. They were happy, had one son, who was healthy, without Tourette's Syndrome. He had grown, attended college, married and had three healthy children. She said she rarely saw him or her grandchildren, which made her very sad. Her father had been kind, but didn't understand her illness. He was always busy with the congregation. Her stepmother was mean and Phee's noises had embarrassed her son. She said the only person that had ever truly loved her, was her husband. He picked her, when he could have had anyone else. Throughout our chats that night, she never had any tics, loud swear words, or barking. She wasn't nervous or anxious. It's a nurses' duty to protect, care and comfort their patients. It is an honor to hear their stories.

Epilogue: The staff doctor filed a formal complaint against me. He argued medical students needed to see and experience different illnesses during their clinicals. That complaint stayed in my record. I never apologized for telling them to leave and I would do exactly the same thing again.

I have never forgotten Phee. Her story serves to illuminate the human spirit defined by the moments of love and abundant grace that get us all through.

-- Jan McLellan
Honorable Mention, 2020 Write a DearReader Contest

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

Dear Reader Column 02-16-2021

Dear Reader,

It's chocolate chip cookie time! I'm baking two dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies for three book club readers. To see photos of last month's winners (the photos are really cute!), click here. 

Kelley Armstrong, today's guest author, believes experience is the best teacher, though she's been told this shouldn't apply to writing her murder scenes. To craft her books, she has studied aikido, archery and fencing. She says she sucks at all of them. She has also crawled through very shallow cave systems and climbed half a mountain before chickening out. She is however an expert coffee drinker and a true connoisseur of chocolate-chip cookies. Her latest book is A Stranger in Town, book six in her Rockton series--mysteries set in a small town in the Yukon where people go to disappear.

Please welcome Kelley to the book club.
Email: mail@kelleyarmstrong.com

Thank you Kelley for such a heartfelt column...

 

I was recently chatting with someone about jobs we held as kids, and I was reminded of the summer I worked for an agency that cleaned apartments for seniors.

I don't remember getting any instructions before I was sent out. No cleaning instructions, but also no advice on working with seniors. I knew how to clean, and I thought I knew the rest. I had grandparents and great-grandparents, and to me, seniors were part of a supportive extended family, and enjoying a rich and active retirement lifestyle. So when many of my clients seemed to want to talk--a lot--I was pleasant and polite, but I worried that the distraction meant I wasn't doing a good enough job, because clearly, what they wanted most was a clean apartment, right?

In one of those conversations, a client asked whether I'd bake a cake instead of cleaning. When I agreed, he produced an old handwritten recipe. I went to the store, bought what I needed--because he had none of the ingredients--and baked his cake.

If I were writing this story as an author, the teen girl would have wondered about that handwritten recipe. She would have asked about it, and he'd have told her the story behind it. She'd have eaten the cake with him as they talked. She'd have realized how important both the cake and the conversation were to him, and she'd have promised to bake anytime he'd rather have that than a sparkling-clean apartment.

That's the fictional version. In the real-life one, our protagonist was a fifteen-year-old girl who understood none of that. Who never considered asking about the recipe because she saw handwritten ones all the time. She didn't realize what a big deal that cake-baking was to him--she was too busy worrying about how much all the ingredients cost and whether she should have suggested buying a cake from the supermarket to save him money.

Only later did I realize I'd missed an opportunity, both to give someone what they needed and to enrich my own life. While I regret not doing the right thing, I don't regret the experience of making that mistake. Those moments, so brief and fleeting, become larger turning points for the person we eventually choose to be, and this was an important one in my life.

-- Kelley Armstrong
Email: mail@kelleyarmstrong.com

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

Dear Reader Column 02-15-2021

Dear Reader,

It's chocolate chip cookie time! I'm baking two dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies for three book club readers.

If you're an author who needs chocolate inspiration, a mom who'd like someone to bake for her for a change, an executive who hasn't had a homemade cookie since you sat on your grandma's knee, or a librarian who desperately needs a chocolate fix, be sure to enter. I'd love to bake for you.

To enter this month's Chocolate Chip Cookie Giveaway (anyone can enter) and to see photos of last month's winners (the photos are really cute!), click here.

Congratulations to Kris J. the winner of the silicone baking cup giveaway.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com