Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column - October 29, 2021

Dear Reader,

Next week you'll be able to read the First, Second and Third place winning entries in the 2021 Write a DearReader Contest. The quality of the entries this year was amazing--I'm being sincere about that. It was very difficult for me to choose winners, so again this year, I'll be featuring a number of Honorable Mention columns over the next several weeks.

Thank you to everyone who entered the contest. I highly recommend that you keep writing, even if it's just for five minutes each day. It's great therapy for me, and heaven knows this crazy, bubble-blowing, cookie-baking writer needs all the help she can get.

Writing down your thoughts is a powerful way to soothe your soul and find joy. Sometimes when I start a column, I think I know what I'm going to write about, but soon I'm turning the corner and writing about something I had no idea I needed to say.

If you want to get started writing, or have been writing for years, today's giveaway is just for you: a 128-page writing journal. To enter, click here.

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

Keep writing,

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

Dear Reader Column - October 28, 2021

Dear Reader,

Chocolate chip cookies are still my favorite to bake and giveaway. It's a safe bet, because almost everybody loves a chocolate chip cookie.

Only once was I turned down. "No thanks, but can you bake me some peanut butter cookies instead?"

I don't actually have a recipe for peanut butter cookies that I like. (If you have one, please send it to me), but I do have two recipes for oatmeal cookies. I'm sharing one today and I'll feature my other one sometime soon.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Scant 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
10 T unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup, plus 2 T, granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup raisins, or you can use chopped dried cherries instead
And you can toss in a few chocolate chips, if you like.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking pans with parchment paper.

Mix flour, oats, baking powder and soda, salt and cinnamon into a mixing bowl, stir to combine. Set aside.

Beat the butter in a bowl with a mixer until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl. Add both sugars and beat on medium speed until the sugar has dissolved and mixture is light and aerated. With the mixer on low speed, add the egg and vanilla; beat briefly to combine.

Hand stir the dry ingredients into the batter. Form 16 2-inch balls and place them on two cookie sheets, 2-inches apart. Flatten the balls slightly with a fork. Bake one sheet of cookies at a time, until golden brown on the bottoms and tops, 13 to 15 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time. Slide cookies off of the baking pan and cool for 15 minutes.

*Note the cookies will still be soft when you pull them out of the oven, but will firm up as they cool. Makes 16 4-inch cookies.

If you'd like to share your Peanut Butter Cookie recipe with me, email: [email protected]

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

* The winners of this year's Write a DearReader contest will be featured next week.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

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

(FICTION)
THE DAREDEVIL by Dylan Allen
(FICTION)

THE BALLAD OF LAUREL SPRINGS by Janet Beard

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

Dear Reader Column - October 27, 2021

Dear Reader,

Claudia P. is the winner of the I Love Lucy Kitchen Towel with Chocolate Factory Scene Giveaway. If you would like a chance to be a book club winner, be sure to enter today’s drawing below.

I recently found this recipe I haven't made in years. Impressive, but not difficult to make. When I make them, I feel like I’m eating at a fancy restaurant. I use scallop pastry baking shells as the serving “dish,” or you can use a ramekin dish. If you or your guests don’t like crab, you can fill it with anything, your favorite quiche filling, chicken salad or something sweet.

You could win your own set of scallop pastry baking shells. Be sure to enter today’s giveaway, click here.

Crab Quiches
Makes 4 servings

1 can (6 oz.) crab meat drained or use fresh
1/2 cup carrot, shredded
1/2 cup finely shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 T green onion, sliced
1 tsp all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
4 scallop pastry baking shells, or you can use 4-inch ramekins
1/4 cup half-and-half
1 egg
Paprika for appearance and taste

In a small mixing bowl combine crab meat, carrot, cheese, onion, flour, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Spoon one-fourth of mixture into each scallop pastry shell. Arrange shells on a serving platter. Set aside.

In 1-cup measure, beat half-and-half and egg. Pour about 2 tablespoons egg mixture over each filled shell. Sprinkle with paprika. Cover with wax paper. Microwave at 50 percent (medium) for 8 to 10 1/2 minutes or until mixture is firm in center. Let stand, covered for five minutes before serving.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

Dear Reader Column - October 26, 2021

Dear Reader,

Gene Kwak, today’s guest author, has published fiction and nonfiction both in print and online in the The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Rumpus, Wigleaf, Redivider, Hobart, Electric Literature, and in the flash anthology Forward: 21st Century Flash Fiction. He teaches at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Go Home, Ricky! is his debut novel and it received a starred review in Publisher's Weekly, is an October Book Club selection for The Rumpus, and has been featured in Vanity Fair magazine. You can contact him at [email protected]

Enter a drawing for one of three copies of Go Home, Ricky! Email: [email protected]

Please welcome author Gene Kwak...

My father was born in a pigsty. My grandmother tells me this across the dinner table.

She says that it was an old Korean Shamanistic belief that only one family could birth a child under a roof in a given month, and another family who stayed in the same house had just birthed a child weeks earlier. So, it was into the slop for her. And Dad.

A few days later, my dad and I pace the long body of his newly bought RV. Twenty-five feet, my dad says. Twenty-seven with the extender. The first time he shows it off, we drive to my sister's house in Lincoln, an hour away from Omaha. When we get there, Dad pulls into my sister's narrow-streeted neighborhood. He attempts a three point turn and accidentally backs into a neighbor's mailbox, but he doesn't know, so I tip it back up before he realizes. Not used to the angles of this behemoth.

My nephews and niece run into the RV, screaming and high fiving. They luxuriate in the nest above the driver and passenger seat. Ooh and ahh at the washroom. The backroom. The TV. The mini-kitchen.

This was my dad's dream. To own an RV. Travel the country with his grandkids once he retired. Travel has always been important to our family. When my parents first moved to America, travel was a must. Korea is a tiny peninsula: it's known as the shrimp between whales. But this new wide-open homeland had to be explored. Shore to shore. Tip to tip. And for years of my childhood, we did. We had no money, and we'd drive through the night to scrimp on motel rooms. On special occasions, I'd be allowed a Burger King Original Chicken Sandwich, which was more mayo-slathered beige sponge than sustenance, but it was a nice treat during cross-country long hauls. My dad doing the bulk of the driving in a rickety Skylark.

But now he's got this twenty-seven feet house on wheels. We're driving to Yankton, South Dakota. Fishing there is choice: largemouth bass, bluegill, and black crappie you can cast and pull out as easy as snapping your fingers. The lakes and rivers abut grassy cliffs and hills jampacked with cottonwoods.

Dad helms the RV. Mom is in the passenger seat. My brother is playing his Nintendo Switch. My sister and brother-in-law and their kids will join us in a day. The sky is blue and endless and the clouds are whisper thin.

I look over at Dad. He beams, happy as a pig in slop.

-- Gene Kwak

Email Gene and welcome him to the book club: [email protected]

To enter a drawing for one of three copies of Go Home, Ricky! email: [email protected]

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

THE BALLAD OF LAUREL SPRINGS (FICTION) by Janet Beard

What do we inherit and what do we pass along? My new novel tells the stories of multiple generations of women in an east Tennessee family and the folk songs they pass down, along with a legacy of both violence and resilience. Click on the link to Authorbuzz and the book jacket to enter to win one of five books!

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on THE BALLAD OF LAUREL SPRINGS to read more and to email author Janet Beard, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column - October 25, 2021

Dear Reader,

I've been reading and reading and reading, and it's been pure pleasure. I've finally finished reading all of the entries from this year's Write a DearReader Contest, and I've chosen winners and several Honorable Mentions. The writing that was submitted was outstanding. I laughed, I cried and I learned a lot about book club readers from the stories they shared with me. Winning entries will be featured the week of November 1st. Thank you to everyone who entered. I hope you had as much fun writing your piece as I did reading it.

From my Email:

"Dear Suzanne,

Your column today [10/22]] reminded me that you ran my honorable mention story last month from the 2020 DearReader Contest. Life happened fast in September, and I wasn't reading your column daily. When I caught up in the early part of October, I smiled when I saw it. Thank you.

When life is a question mark, your column is an exclamation point. Whether it's the new recipe I want to try, or a story about your bubble machine, or the reminder to do something nice for a stranger, I am reminded to slow down and take it easy.

Thank you for all that you do.

It's a joy to read with you! (Even if I am late!)"

Sincerely,

Laura Shaffer

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

THE DAREDEVIL (FICTION) by Dylan Allen

What could be more romantic than a heady, whirlwind weekend in Paris with the person of your dreams? Tyson and Dina are brilliant, bold characters who, if they hadn't found each other, would have spent their entire lives feeling like something was missing. Their tangible chemistry will make watching them pursue their ambitions while trying to navigate love such a feel good experience.

I'm giving away five copies, to enter the drawing, click on the link to Authorbuzz and the book jacket to enter or email: [email protected]

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on THE DAREDEVIL to read more and to email author Dylan Allen, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column - October 22, 2021

Dear Reader,

Every once-and-a-while I send an unedited, it-just-kind-of-happened, "Dear Reader" column your way. Last time I did it some readers emailed and told me that I should never stray far from an editor. Others muddled through and seemed to enjoy the chaos. Last night it was too late to send something to my editor, so here's to finding your way today...

Can't sleep. Don't know why--nothing worrying me, I just feel like dancing, but it's 2:30 a.m. Might have to dance alone. Don't think I could coax my husband into dancing with me right now, he's sound asleep. Don't feel like watching television, not interested in reading, so I think I'll put on my headset and dance with some words...I love to write...I'm listening to Carlos Santana and Michelle Branch--"The Game of Love".

Sometimes when I write I have a definite subject in mind, but the really fun stuff comes to me when I just put my fingers on the keys and go for it. Come to think of it, I have more fun with life in general when I just go for it. You know, just let the day happen instead of me pre planning every detail. And when I have the guts to do it, to really let go, I've never been disappointed.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ:Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

Dear Reader Column - October 21, 2021

Dear Reader,

I like to watch old TV shows on my iPad while I'm sewing. Currently I'm watching "I Love Lucy." I've watched her shows so many times over the years, I know line-by-line what Lucy is going to say before she says it. It's a classic that always makes me smile. Classic television shows, favorite books that I keep on my shelf, revisiting them keeps me grounded in this crazy world.

Book club reader Millie S., wrote:

"Hi Suzanne, Remember me? Millie Scott, retired Librarian from West Babylon, New York. Back in 2020, I entered your book drawing contest for a copy of The Queen of Tuesday: a Lucille Ball Story by Darin Strauss. I told you that I have been an 'I Love Lucy' fan since I was five years old, and I won! Recently, my grandson, Jack, recommended the new restaurant Babalu to me, and I was thrilled to see this painting on the wall. Thanks again for the book!"

To see a photo of Millie, the painting and to enter to win a "I Love Lucy" Kitchen Towel with Chocolate Factory Scene, click here. 

I've been busy reading the entries from this year's Write a DearReader Contest. It's a once a year job that I absolutely love. Thank you to everyone who entered. It was an honor to read your stories. First, Second and Third Place winning entries will be featured the week of November 1st. And there were so many outstanding entries that I've chosen Honorable Mention pieces to run in upcoming columns, too.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

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

(FICTION)
A SHADOW IN THE EMBER by Jennifer Armentrout

(NONFICTION)
TWICE A DAUGHTER by Julie Ryan McGue

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

Dear Reader Column - October 20, 2021

Dear Reader,

When I went outside early this morning, instead of at the curb, my green and yellow recycle can was neatly placed way back on my driveway. I smiled, because immediately I knew why it was sitting there. "Thank You" cards come in all shapes and sizes and the placement of my garbage can this morning was definitely the most unusual Thank You gesture I've ever received.

Tuesday is garbage day in our neighborhood. I'm always up by 6 a.m. drinking coffee and reading the paper, and I love the fresh air coming in, so I have the door open. It's quiet early in the morning, so it's easy to hear the roar of the first garbage truck turning the corner onto my street at 6:30. Like clockwork, 15 minutes later the garbage truck will be pulling up in front of my house. So it's always been easy for me to "cookie" the guys driving the truck. I frequently treat them to a bag of my chocolate chip cookies. Every week they look for the woman still in her pajamas and robe, waving and holding a bag of cookies.

But the recycling truck that comes to our neighborhood isn't as timely. I'm never quite sure when it's going to show up. So I haven't been able to "cookie" them, that is until last week. I just happened to be outside when I heard their truck at the end of my street, so I ran into the house, grabbed a bag of cookies and handed them to the guys driving the truck. No doubt about it, they loved the chocolate chip cookies.

"Thank Yous" come in all shapes and sizes, even recycle garbage cans.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

Dear Reader Column - October 19, 2021

Dear Reader,

Jane Ward is the author of Hunger and The Mosaic Artist. In her latest novel, In the Aftermath, a family suffers a heartbreaking tragedy in the wake of the bursting lending bubble of 2008. Loved ones who are left behind to pick up the pieces learn, as they struggle to remake their worlds, that there is power in forgiveness and unlimited possibility in the unknown.

Jane has been a contributing writer for the online regional and seasonal food magazine Local In Season and a blogger and occasional host of cooking videos for MPN Online, an internet recipe resource affiliated with several newspapers across the country. Although a Massachusetts native, Jane recently settled in Chicago after returning to the US from Switzerland.

Jane is giving away five copies of In the Aftermath to readers, email: [email protected]

Along the Way, I Like to Talk to People

"Nice ink," said the woman who was clearing the folding table outside a food stall at the Taos Pueblo.

This was several years ago now. I had just ordered a quick lunch and had taken a seat at that table set in the shade. It was a welcome rest. The pueblo that August was an expanse of sunbaked earth, everything cooked to one shade of tan or another, from the dust covering the grassless ground to the adobe structures to the straw flecks in the clay.

The woman stopped wiping down the table and took a closer look at my calf, its tattoo. "Not everyone has an artichoke inked on their leg," she added. "Are you a chef?"

"No," I said. "Not at all. I write books. And sometimes I write about food."

The Native American cook and her daughter brought my lunch at that moment. A taco served Tiwa-style, a puffy round of fry bread topped with spiced ground beef, lettuce and cheese. And a plain piece of fry bread for dessert, still glistening with the sheen of hot fat and calling out to be sweetened with the honey or powdered sugar or cinnamon set down at the center of the checked vinyl tablecloth.

I wasn't baking for a living anymore but my curiosity about different types of bread remained.

"How do you make this?" I asked the cook, pointing to the taco's shell.

She and her daughter took seats at the table, and in short order I was taught how to make the dough for Tiwa fry bread: white flour, a handful of whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, water.

"That's it. The ground beef," she added, "is equally easy, browned off with my chile powder mixture and then thickened with atole flour. Not the way everyone else does it, but my way."

I learned a lot that day. The passion for cooking and teaching others to cook crisscrosses the country--the globe--and the food talk that stems from this passion is informative.

It is also disarming. Over a meal, people will share likes and dislikes; personal memories about growing up, about their parents, about their friends; they will reveal to you how they like to live, what they like to do, what they like to eat and how they cook favorite meals. By speaking this common language of food, we connect. For fiction writers especially, making a connection that helps us understand others is something to treasure.

-- Jane Ward

Email Jane and welcome her to the book club, and when you do, you'll be entered in the drawing for one of five copies of her new book, In the Aftermath, email: [email protected]

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

TWICE A DAUGHTER (NONFICTION) by Julie Ryan McGue

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to grow up without any sense of your family history? As a child whenever I crawled into bed at night, I wondered who were my birth  parents, and why had they placed my twin sister and me for adoption? It took a breast biopsy at 48 for me to get serious about researching my closed adoption. My memoir is about my five-year search to locate my birth relatives. Some of the secrets I discovered were literally right next door.

I'm giving away five copies, to enter the drawing, click on the link to Authorbuzz and the book jacket to enter or email me at: [email protected]

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on TWICE A DAUGHTER to read more and to email author Julie Ryan McGue, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column - October 18, 2021

Dear Reader,

Congratulations to Sandy H., the winner of last week's Birthday Party Giveaway. After looking at all the different party photos, Sandy chose the Down on the Farm theme for her prize. I'll be sending a Pin the Tail on the Cow birthday party game to get the party started.

From my Email: Book club reader Noreen B. writes...

"Hi, Suzanne [after reading about all the themed birthday parties you've hosted for your family] has your family reciprocated and surprised you with a themed party?" -- Noreen B.

(Suzanne replies)

Me, I'm lucky, I've been treated to two surprise parties over the years. My friends yelled "Surprise!" when I was in junior high school. And my husband surprised me big time, on my 30th birthday. Not only did he orchestrate a surprise, he even managed to have me unknowingly do all the cooking--except for baking the birthday cake. Every other week a girlfriend and I were in a routine of cooking together for fun. My husband overheard us making plans to cook several Chinese dishes the next time we got together, and our upcoming cooking date just happened to be May 25th, the day before my birthday.

At 6 p.m. that evening, my husband was scurrying around the house tidying up, which I didn't find all that unusual because he helps out a lot around the house. But when I noticed that he'd put fresh hand towels by the bathroom sink I thought he'd lost his mind, until the doorbell rang--"Surprise!" and there stood over a dozen friends with a cake, flowers and balloons--and guess what was on the birthday dinner menu?

All of the food my girlfriend and I had made earlier in the day, including Potstickers, Braised Shrimp with Vegetables, Egg Foo Yung, Beef with Broccoli and my husband's favorite, Hot and Sour Soup. What a surprise for my birthday! And what a sweet, romantic gesture from my husband.

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

Hungry for Chinese food? Click to see some of my favorite recipes.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

A SHADOW IN THE EMBER (FICTION) by Jennifer Armentrout

This novel takes place in the same world as the Blood and Ash books but goes back to when the gods interacted with man--before the Kingdom of Atlantia existed, or the first  Ascended was created. Some of the events are going to pave the way for what is to come in the Blood and Ash series, but if you haven't read any of the Blood and Ash books, don't fret, it's not necessary. Be ready for action, steam--lots of steam--and plot twists you probably won't see coming.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on A SHADOW IN THE EMBER to read more and to email author Jennifer Armentrout, you'll get a reply.