Kate Collins's Blog, page 3
July 12, 2020
JULY GIVEAWAY. NAME YOUR FAVORITE TEACHER
by Mary Kennedy
We're in the middle of the worst health crisis our country has ever known. It's affected every area of our lives, including school. If you've been following the news, you know there'a a big debate over when to send the kids back to class.
So I've been thinking a lot about school and teachers lately, and what makes some teachers unforgettable. Mrs. Engels first taught me about literature and the power of words at St. Mary's Academy and encouraged me to write novels. Dr. Brooks McNamara, a Drama professor, convinced me to pursue a career in acting. Dr. Mielke urged me to work in television and I became a television news writer for the CBS affiliate in Nashville Tenn. My father. a law professor, convinced me to become a college professor. (Yes, I have a checkered career, like many writers.)
I've love to know if you had a favorite teacher in your life?
As you know, we're running a giveaway every single day in July on the Cozy Chicks blog and all you have to do to enter is leave a comment. Be sure to leave your e-mail addy so I can get in touch with you.
The prize is a "Sweet Dreams kit" to remind you of my Dream Club Mysteries, which is set in Savannah. The dream club members meet once a week to share their dreams and they find clues that help the police solve murders. (sometimes more than one!)
Here's a look at the Sweet Dreams kit. You'll receive a Crazy Cat Lady Sleep Shirt.
You'll also receive a box of Ceylon tea and candy munchies to ease you into slumber.
And a copy of Dream Interpretation, a short booklet I wrote for my clients.
So please leave a comment and I'll choose a winner and post the name on the upper left side of this blog by Tuesday, July 14 at noon time. Good luck everyone!
Mary Kennedy
Pour yourself a cup!
Today's giveaway is an ebook copy of our celebration of afternoon tea -- our cookbook (and more) TEA TIME WITH THE COZY CHICKS.
To enter, leave a comment and tell us what you'd like your afternoon tea to consist of. Feel free to leave your email address so we can better contact you. (You can put spaces in the email or spell out things like (at) and (dot).
Good luck!
July 11, 2020
The Spotlight is on Sabina Reigns
by Lorraine Bartlett / Lorna Barrett / L.L. Bartlett
Before I was traditionally published, I tinkered with several genres. One of them was women's fiction. (You can find my WF short fiction here.) I started a novel,
SABINA REIGNS
, and then when I got my Berkley contracts, I abandoned it. That was fifteen years ago. But I never forgot about Sabina, who really wanted her story to be told. So over the winter, I took two months off to dust off the manuscript and finish the book. Here's a description.Sabina Reigns Miller had it all: a wealthy husband, a beautiful home, a daughter at a great college. Without warning seven words blow the bottom off her world. "I've met someone else-and she's pregnant." Her husband of twenty years wants a divorce so he can move his mistress into their former residence. Although Sabina loses her comfortable life, she refuses to fall on her face. Her ex-husband's girlfriend may be living in their house, but Sabina has interior design skills and a bucket of dreams.
Can she rebound from the unexpected change, stick to her principles, support her best friend, and find someone to love again?
Kindle US | Kindle Worldwide | Nook | Kobo | Apple Books | Smashwords
(The print edition will be available on publication day.)
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For today's giveaway, I'm offering one of my tote bags and a goody bag of bookmarks and other author swag. To enter, comment below and tell me where you'd take the tote. The winner will be posted on Sunday, July 12 on the list of winners at the upper left of this blog. The winner should contact me with his/her snail mail address at LLBartlettauthor @ gmail.com (close up the spaces.)Good luck!
July 10, 2020
Tinkering with a recipe
by Lorraine Bartlett / Lorna Barrett / L.L. Bartlett
While we are no longer in "lockdown," Mr. L and I are sticking close to home. We're doing curbside pickup for just about everything. I figure we've saved a lot of money because there's no impulse buying. However, since the pandemic arrived, I've spent a lot more on baking supplies.
I made some snickerdoodle cookies at Christmastime, and Mr. L really enjoyed them so I recently made them again. Oh, boy, did he like them. He couldn't stop talking about how much he liked them.
To backtrack, the first snickerdoodle I ever ate was from a cookie kiosk at Eastview Mall. They were different from any other snickerdoodle because they were crisp and had rice crispies in them. Boy, did I like those cookies. I always thought they were supposed to have rice crispies in them. (What a disappointment to find they didn't, and believe me, I looked for a similar recipe.)
So, in December I made them according to the recipe below.
SNICKERDOODLE COOKIES
Ingredients
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar, divided
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 350°. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl using a hand mixer, beat butter with 1 cup granulated sugar and the brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time and beat to combine. Fold dry ingredients in until combined.
In a shallow bowl, combine remaining ¼ cup of sugar with cinnamon. Using a medium cookie scoop (or a spoon), scoop and roll the dough into 1-½"-inch balls, then roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar. Arrange about 2" apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool on the trays for 5 minutes, then use a thin metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. dozen cookies
Yield: approx 2½ dozen cookies
Last month, I made the recipe as is, but added a cup of rice crispies. They were good--but not as crunchy as I would have liked. I read online that cream of tartar is what makes them chewy, so I omitted it (one of my readers suggested I use baking ammonia for a crunchier cookie, but I don't have any), and added 2 ¼ cups of rice crispies. We're almost there! Maybe next time, I'll put in 3 cups because you know there's going to be a next time!
Do you tinker with recipes?
----------------------------------------------------------
For today's giveaway, I'm offering ebook copies of my two cookbooks,
Recipes To Die For: A Victoria Square Cookbook
, and
The Best From Swans Nest.
To enter, comment below and tell me your favorite cookie recipe and why. Come back tomorrow to see if you won by checking out the list of winners at the top left of this blog. The winner should contact me at LLBartlettauthor @ gmail.com (close up those spaces!).
While we are no longer in "lockdown," Mr. L and I are sticking close to home. We're doing curbside pickup for just about everything. I figure we've saved a lot of money because there's no impulse buying. However, since the pandemic arrived, I've spent a lot more on baking supplies.I made some snickerdoodle cookies at Christmastime, and Mr. L really enjoyed them so I recently made them again. Oh, boy, did he like them. He couldn't stop talking about how much he liked them.
To backtrack, the first snickerdoodle I ever ate was from a cookie kiosk at Eastview Mall. They were different from any other snickerdoodle because they were crisp and had rice crispies in them. Boy, did I like those cookies. I always thought they were supposed to have rice crispies in them. (What a disappointment to find they didn't, and believe me, I looked for a similar recipe.)
So, in December I made them according to the recipe below.
SNICKERDOODLE COOKIESIngredients
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar, divided
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 350°. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl using a hand mixer, beat butter with 1 cup granulated sugar and the brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time and beat to combine. Fold dry ingredients in until combined.
In a shallow bowl, combine remaining ¼ cup of sugar with cinnamon. Using a medium cookie scoop (or a spoon), scoop and roll the dough into 1-½"-inch balls, then roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar. Arrange about 2" apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool on the trays for 5 minutes, then use a thin metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. dozen cookies
Yield: approx 2½ dozen cookies
Last month, I made the recipe as is, but added a cup of rice crispies. They were good--but not as crunchy as I would have liked. I read online that cream of tartar is what makes them chewy, so I omitted it (one of my readers suggested I use baking ammonia for a crunchier cookie, but I don't have any), and added 2 ¼ cups of rice crispies. We're almost there! Maybe next time, I'll put in 3 cups because you know there's going to be a next time!
Do you tinker with recipes?
----------------------------------------------------------
For today's giveaway, I'm offering ebook copies of my two cookbooks,
Recipes To Die For: A Victoria Square Cookbook
, and
The Best From Swans Nest.
To enter, comment below and tell me your favorite cookie recipe and why. Come back tomorrow to see if you won by checking out the list of winners at the top left of this blog. The winner should contact me at LLBartlettauthor @ gmail.com (close up those spaces!).
July 8, 2020
Comparing Apples to Socks
by Gayle LeesonWhat in the world do "apples" and "socks" have in common, you ask? They're both included in today's giveaway! Sort of. The apples are on the socks, but I think they count. That's because my giveaway today revolves around the latest book in the Down South Cafe series, Apples and Alibis. As you can see from the photo, I'm giving one U.S. reader the opportunity to win a pair of Hot Sox (with apples), an Apples and Alibis charm, and a printed $10 Amazon gift card (not pictured). The giveaway is open to both U.S. and international readers; however, if an international reader wins, she/he will win a $15 Amazon e-gift card.
To enter today's giveaway, please comment below telling me your favorite fruit. Don't forget to include your email address so I can contact you if you're our winner. Entries will be accumulated until noon on Friday, July 10, at which time a random number generator will provide the number of the winning comment. Good luck!
That's the last time Amy agrees to do a favor for a stranger!Down South Cafe owner, Amy Flowers is in over her head. Operating a cafe while hosting the first Farmers' Market in Winter Garden has her swimming in apples. And when an elderly woman calls the cafe, pleading for a delivery for her upcoming party, Amy relents, feeling compelled to help the desperate customer.
But when she arrives, the woman is slumped over her kitchen table, and Amy is catapulted into the middle of a small-town crime. Guilt-ridden for not arriving earlier to save the woman, she sets out to unravel the mystery surrounding her death. Now, between running the cafe and dealing with the chaos of the farmers' market, Amy is squeezing in a murder investigation, a run-in with her boyfriend's mom, and her own mother's quirky life decisions. Life can't get any worse...or can it? This cafe owner needs a break--in the case.
Read an excerpt from Apples and Alibis at https://www.gayleleeson.com/apples-and-alibis-excerpt.
July 7, 2020
Summer Games and the Great Pillow Giveaway!
Hi, All Duffy Brown here celebrating summer. Not the summer of our dreams but one we will talk about for years on end.
With us all still pretty much hanging close to home except for h the occasional trip out, that means...Let the summer games begin!I am a game person. Not so much the ones online or TV etc but give me a good outside game with fam and friends and I’m a happy camper.
For my fam, Corn Hole is the perfect game of choice. This is the game where you toss a beanbag into a little hole. Perfect for gatherings in that you toss with one hand and have the other hand free to hold a beer or hotdog. The true test of a summer game.And then there’s croquet. I don’t play much now but when I was a kid we paced out the field with the wickets and had hours of fun with mallets and balls and knocking things around.
Then there’s bocce ball. My grandfather, Angelo, from Naples area loved this game. Had a set he brought over from Italy and taught us how to play. You have a main ball and try to get your ball close to it and blast opponents’ ball out of the way. Again...a free hand for beer or in this case some fine Italian wine and maybe a slice.
The grandkids love hide-and-seek at night. This is always a blast even for the adults and a little scary when someone jumps out at you. We always loved scavenger huts and finding stuff in the woods like pinecone or frogs or moss or fossils...that was always a toughie.There are some other new games like Dunk Bucket, Lawn Twister and Giant Beer Bong...my kids would love this...Giant Jinga, and anything with water balloons.
So what summer games do you like? Do you still catch lightening bugs? Play catch? Shoot hoops?I will draw a name from the answers for a chance for Pillow #2.
Happy Summer.
Hugs, Duffy
With us all still pretty much hanging close to home except for h the occasional trip out, that means...Let the summer games begin!I am a game person. Not so much the ones online or TV etc but give me a good outside game with fam and friends and I’m a happy camper.
For my fam, Corn Hole is the perfect game of choice. This is the game where you toss a beanbag into a little hole. Perfect for gatherings in that you toss with one hand and have the other hand free to hold a beer or hotdog. The true test of a summer game.And then there’s croquet. I don’t play much now but when I was a kid we paced out the field with the wickets and had hours of fun with mallets and balls and knocking things around.
Then there’s bocce ball. My grandfather, Angelo, from Naples area loved this game. Had a set he brought over from Italy and taught us how to play. You have a main ball and try to get your ball close to it and blast opponents’ ball out of the way. Again...a free hand for beer or in this case some fine Italian wine and maybe a slice.
The grandkids love hide-and-seek at night. This is always a blast even for the adults and a little scary when someone jumps out at you. We always loved scavenger huts and finding stuff in the woods like pinecone or frogs or moss or fossils...that was always a toughie.There are some other new games like Dunk Bucket, Lawn Twister and Giant Beer Bong...my kids would love this...Giant Jinga, and anything with water balloons.
So what summer games do you like? Do you still catch lightening bugs? Play catch? Shoot hoops?I will draw a name from the answers for a chance for Pillow #2.Happy Summer.
Hugs, Duffy
July 6, 2020
July Give Away
by Maggie SeftonI'm still staying away from lots of people because of the Corana virus 19, and I'm bored beyond senseless. I'm sure many of you folks share my frustration. I certainly hope we will have a vaccine developed by the end of this year or early beginning of next year so those of us who LOVE to travel and see friends and relatives can do so.
Meanwhile for our Cozy Chicks Giveaway, I plan to give away today the choice of one hardcover Kelly Flynn mystery---KNIT TO BE TIED---or three paperback Kelly Flynn mysteries----CLOSE KNIT KILLER, DROPPED DEAD STITCH, & PURL UP AND DIE.
Please leave a comment on this blog to enter our giveaway. And let us know your choice of giveaways. I will need to get in touch with you if you win, so please leave your email addy, along with your comment. I'll pick a winner on Wednesday, July 8th at noon time. I'll post the winner on the sidebar on this blog.
I also plan to make a donation to the Villalobos Rescue Center targeted for the Animal Planet's Pit Bulls and Parolees rescue.
Please stay healthy and well and safe, Cozy Chicks Readers and Friends. And the rest of us will try to do the same.
July 5, 2020
SUMMER GIVEAWAY--PLACES TO GO, PEOPLE TO SEE
By Mary Kennedy
What's the first thing you're going to do when Co-Vid is over and we can all get our lives back on track?
Is it travel? I've cancelled two Florida trips and am looking forward to finally getting back there. Here's the Ft. Lauderdale condo where I do my best relaxing and some of my best writing! I took this photo from the deck. It overlooks a nice quiet stretch of beach and I never tire of the view.
Or maybe you want to reunite with family and have a big celebration or a backyard picnic? Most of us have missed quite a few birthdays, graduations and key events in the lives of our loved ones.
Or perhaps you want to get back into your favorite sport, golf, tennis or water-skiing?
Whatever you've missed (and want to recapture) I'd love to hear about it.
Please leave a comment on this blog to enter our giveaway. I'm giving away a $20.00 gift certificate to the Greater Good site which benefits animals everywhere. I'll need to get in touch with you if you win, so please leave your email addy, along with your comment. I'll pick a winner on Tuesday, July 7th at noon time. I'll post the winner on the sidebar on this blog.
Good luck everyone, and let's hope happy days will be here quickly!!
Mary Kennedy
What's the first thing you're going to do when Co-Vid is over and we can all get our lives back on track?
Is it travel? I've cancelled two Florida trips and am looking forward to finally getting back there. Here's the Ft. Lauderdale condo where I do my best relaxing and some of my best writing! I took this photo from the deck. It overlooks a nice quiet stretch of beach and I never tire of the view.
Or maybe you want to reunite with family and have a big celebration or a backyard picnic? Most of us have missed quite a few birthdays, graduations and key events in the lives of our loved ones.
Or perhaps you want to get back into your favorite sport, golf, tennis or water-skiing?
Whatever you've missed (and want to recapture) I'd love to hear about it.
Please leave a comment on this blog to enter our giveaway. I'm giving away a $20.00 gift certificate to the Greater Good site which benefits animals everywhere. I'll need to get in touch with you if you win, so please leave your email addy, along with your comment. I'll pick a winner on Tuesday, July 7th at noon time. I'll post the winner on the sidebar on this blog.
Good luck everyone, and let's hope happy days will be here quickly!!
Mary Kennedy
Our Sunday Giveaway
Thank you all who entered yesterday's giveaway. We're giving you another chance to win one of our tote bags and bookmarks.
The Cozy Chicks love to cook (that's why we've published two cookbooks!) Our question today is ... what's your favorite leftover. Comment below for your chance at a tote bag!
July 4, 2020
4th of July Giveaway!
Happy 4th of July from the Cozy Chicks!
Today we're giving away one of our incredibly cute tote bags, as well as an assortment of our bookmarks.
To enter, in the comments below, just tell us where you'd take your tote bag should you win! Drop by tomorrow to see if you won!
Good Luck!
