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Archives for 2011

Salma’s Easy Armenian No Mayo Potato Salad

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Chie Sonia Salma’s Easy Armenian Potato Salad – No Mayo

Salma's Easy No-Mayo Armenian Potato Salad

Ingredients

  • 6 large potatoes
  • 6 scallions or 3 leaks
  • 1 bunch parsley
  • 8 cloves garlic (fewer if you like less garlicky taste)
  • 1/2 c fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 c olive oil
  • Salt to taste
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp Pepper
  • Pinch of Turkish / Mexican Saffron (Safflower) or Cayenne Pepper to decorate.

Directions:

1- Boil potatoes unreeled with 1/2 tsp salt. Cool. Then peel and cut in small bite size pieces. Set aside.
2- Dice scallions three quarters of the way, into the green parts of the onion.
3- Dice parsley.
4- Peel and crush or slice garlic.
Salma's Easy No-Mayo Armenian Potato Salad - Prep5- Place together in a glass or stainless steel bowl: scallions, parsley and garlic.
6- Add lemon, olive oil, pepper and salt.
7- Let stand for 10 minutes.
8- Add potatoes to the bowl and mix well.
9- Let sit in refrigerator for at least an hour for best taste.

The goal is to get the lemon juice and the olive oil to saturate the whole mixture and not only coat the potatoes on the outside but get flavor inside the potatoes which could be bland.

Bel Hanna Wel Sheffa

Eat Pray Love All fixed Up

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This month is Julia Roberts month on my site. I love the woman and will review four of her movies every Tuesday. I find her charming, alluring and the girl next door all rolled into one. She is a delight keeping herself out of the nasty limelight of Hollywood trash.

She made the movie! Eat Pray Love was one of the most annoying books ever. The heroine, a whiney self centered woman with no good reason for her selfish ambitions. A creepy personality with nothing lovable.

Roberts changed all that in the movie, making her one of the most charming and wonderful heroines of the new woman. In search of herself but without the whine, she created a searching character we could all as women, relate to. In search first for her own character, then for love, she takes an amazing trip to Europe then the Far East.

She shares the screen with handsome Javier Bardem, Richard Jenkins, her mentor and others who help her along the way.

A wonderful story of love. Love of all kinds, friendships, teachers and lovers. Wonderful movie!

Author Interview with Desiree Holt

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Desiree HoltDesiree Holt

Downstroke

  • Genre: erotic romantic suspense
  • Date Published: April 8, 2011
  • Publisher: Ellora’s Cave

What is your day job?

I’m retired so I spend my days writing…and loving it.

What is your book about (in a few sentences)?

Twenty years ago Dallas Creed and Charley Roper were lovers with their entire future ahead of them. Until they split. Badly. Now he’s a country rock icon who made it to the top, hit bottom but is back at the top of his game. And Charley’s the private security specialist hired to protect him from an unknown killer in stalking mode. Caught up in the bitter wash of memories they begin a roller coaster ride that is suspenseful, emotional and erotic. Now their love must be strong enough to erase the past and bring them back together before the killer strikes again.

Most challenging part of the writing process:

The first part of the book. Always, for me. Getting into it and getting the flow going.

What motivates you to write?

I am an obsessed storyteller and my brain never stops working. I want to share my stories with others. Besides, with so many sad things going on in the world I want to give people happy endings.

Did you experience writer’s block? If so, how did you overcome it?

I still do. But now I work on two or three projects at a time, so when I hit a wall with one I move to another. When I come up blank with all of them I call my daughter and we go hit the local wineries! LOL!

How long did it take you to write this book?

Most of a year, which is really a long time for me. But I wrote it while I worked on other projects and it also went through three critique partners so I did a lot of rewriting.

Why did you decide to self-publish this book?

Not self-pubbed. See above.

What is the biggest misconception about writing a book?

That all you have to do is sit down and the words will flow. And once it’s finished selling is a snap. Definitely not so.

What was your favorite aspect of the writing process for this book?

Developing my characters. I always fall in love with them, even the villains.

What tools/methods have you employed to promote your book?

I spend a lot of time online with various groups and at promotion sites, I have a newsletter, I do selected advertising and I use a promotion firm for the initial blast. I also spend a lot of time on Facebook and Twitter, probably too much, but I love to interact with people.

I’m a writer – if I stop writing, I am nothing. -Wilbur Smith Is this true?

I think so. If I didn’t write I have no idea what I’d do with myself.

Inspiration is the act of drawing up a chair to the writing desk. -Anon How do you feel about this statement?

Not true. By the time you draw up that chair you should already be inspired.

Notes from the Underground by Dostoyevsky

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This is the story of a spoilt rotten, weak minded man of small character and little common sense. During the whole novel, he depicts himself as one of the lowliest creatures in communicado with other humans.

To my mind it was written as if to himself alone. He writes with brutal frankness about his thoughts no matter how dark a light they shed on his personality. Everything he does relates to his need to prove himself better than others, whether his friends, his landlord or the girl who seems to like him.

In all his dealings he emanates uncertainty and discord. To his mind no one is his equal and no one worthy of his time. Everything inconvenient putting him out of sorts at all odd times. He comes across as rude and uncouth.

It was funny in some ways but sad if at all true that someone could live like that. It was good to listen to while I knitted.

**** Yep , I own it.

If You Make Them Yawn, Then What?

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MG 2039Too much description and the story gets lost. Too much description and the tale gets swallowed in stagnant fantasy of a lazy writer. If the description is for none other than word count, it turns the tale into mush and boredom sets into the reader. If I can get my reader to the point of yawning in the middle of the night and still hard pressed to put my novel down, I have succeeded. If on the other hand, they yawn and skip most of what I wrote without missing any of the story then I failed miserably.

If the description helps the story, please by all means keep doing it. If it hinders the flow of your story, use an axe, the delete button or whatever is at your disposal to hack at it until the bare essentials are there. It is difficult to cut and splice the words we so diligently sweat over but if we do not do it, the reader will do it for us skipping over all those tedious descriptions that got in the way of their enjoyment. An enjoyment that could mean reading another of our creations or not.

We write for entertainment. Is that true? Are you an entertainer of sorts or do you believe that your books will be studied in colleges over the next few decades and centuries. If so, please disregard my suggestions here and keep doing what you like to do.

Happy Writing!