Larissa Reinhart's Blog, page 238

Neither Shaken nor Stirred: Sullivan #CharacterInterview from DINERS, DIVES & DEADENDS

Today we welcome Sullivan, a good-looking gangster from DINERS, DIVES & DEADENDS, the first of the Rose Strickland mysteries. The second mystery, LAST DINER STANDING, is out December 3! I've got 5 seemingly random questions for Sullivan and a fun excerpt for you!
1. If I had to write up a singles ad for you, what would it say?
Hello, Ms. Reinhart. May I call you Larissa? Um, you can call me whatever you want. Can you tell your bodyguard to stop cracking his knuckles?
Tell me, Larissa, do I look like a man who needs to rely on a singles ad? But I’ll play. Hmm, how about: Self-made man with interests in various businesses looking for an attractive, confident woman who can keep up with him. In every way. 
Wow. Is it getting warm in here? Moving on...
2. You’re invited to a party. When you arrive, the house is dark, the driveway deserted. You know the address and time are correct and when you try to call the host, you realize you're in a wireless pocket. No bars. What do you do?
First of all, I rarely go to parties unless I’m hosting. This scenario wouldn’t happen at one of my parties. Frankly, the whole thing looks like a setup to me. 
And if I were a paranoid man, and this is all hypothetical you understand, I’d check out the surrounding area, remove my weapon, and cautiously check the back door while my business associate tried the front. If the back door was locked, and again, I personally would never do something like this, but if it was locked, I’d break in and search the house. If anything untoward had occurred, I’d retrace my footsteps and leave the place exactly as I’d found it. No one would ever know I’d been there.    
And now I'm scared again...

3. Shark tank or Grizzly bear hand to hand combat?
I’m a numbers man and I think I’d have better odds with the Grizzly. I might be able to take him under the right circumstances. 
 Good choice, I think.
4. What does the “ideal date” mean to you?
It wouldn’t be an event, it’d be a person. A person who can hold a conversation, has an interesting perspective on things. A person who may not like what I do, but understands it and accepts it. She’d be ideal to me.
 That's actually kind of sweet! Ok, sorry I said that.
5. Who’s the flyest chick around and what makes her so fly?
The flyest chick? Well, Rose Strickland is certainly the most interesting woman I know. She can handle herself. She’s stupidly loyal, fiercely independent. And she has these blue-green eyes that look more green than blue when she’s angry. She’s…like I said before, she’s interesting.
Let’s play Madlibs, (but keep it fairly clean for the kiddos):

day of the week: Friday
name: Bertha
place: Idaho
verb: swim
noun: dog
noun: ocean
Fridays were known for two things at Bertha’s Idaho: we swim lots of extra dog and the ocean sucked. 

Good one! Haven't laughed that hard since 5th grade when I did Madlibs for real. The real sentence? From the first line of DINERS, DIVES & DEADENDS. 

Mondays were known for two things at Ma’s Diner: we poured lots of extra coffee and the tips sucked.

What a great opening line! Want to know more about DINERS, DIVES & DEADENDS, the first in the Rose Strickland Mysteries that features the scary Sullivan? As a struggling waitress and part-time college student, Rose Strickland’s life is stalled in the slow lane. But when her close friend, Axton, disappears, Rose suddenly finds herself serving up more than hot coffee and flapjacks. Now she’s hashing it out with sexy bad guys and scrambling to find clues in a race to save Axton before his time runs out. With her anime-loving bestie, her septuagenarian boss, and pair of IT wise men along for the ride, Rose discovers political corruption, illegal gambling, and shady corporations. She’s gone from zero to sixty and quickly learns when you’re speeding down the fast lane, it’s easy to crash and burn.  Amazon, Kobo, B&N
You'll be happy to know the 2nd in the series, LAST DINER STANDING, is out December 3, 2012 from Henery Press!
Terri L. Austin lives in Missouri with her funny, handsome husband and a high maintenance peekapoo.  She’s the author of Diners, Dives and Dead Ends—a Rose Strickland Mystery. She loves to hear from readers. Find her on Twitter, FB, TerriLAustin.com, Goodreads and Henery Press. She and her writer friends have a book chat every Wednesday on Little Read Hens. Check it out and join in the conversation!

And here's the excerpt from DINERS, DIVES & DEADENDS featuring the delicious Sullivan. Have I told you how much I love this book (& Sullivan)? 

It was the voice.  The one belonging to the mystery man from the woods.    
I gulped and stood there, too scared to move forward, too shocked to turn around and run.  The man at the door snatched my arm and pulled me into the apartment, slamming the door behind me.  He plucked the keys from my hand and tossed them on the bistro table.  
I sidled to the left, with my back against the wall.  I kept him in my peripheral view while I studied the man standing in the middle of my apartment.  He was the exact opposite of Scarface.  His blue-black hair was combed away from his perfect face.  His gold eyes—not golden-brown, just gold—glittered in the faint glow of my yard sale flamingo lamp.  With light honeyed skin stretched over strong cheekbones, he was beautiful—like fallen angel beautiful.  He wore a dark suit and overcoat.  He scared me a lot more than the other guy.  It was obvious he was in charge and Scarface was just there for back up.
I didn’t know what he wanted or if he planned on hurting me, but I made up my mind then and there that I wouldn’t go down without a fight.  And I wouldn’t let him see how afraid I was either.  But between you and me, I think I wet my pants just a little. 
“Hello, Rosalyn.  Oh wait, you like to be called Rose.  Please, have a seat.”  He gestured to the futon.
 “Thanks, but I think I’ll stand, you know, since it’s my apartment and all.”  I felt a massive paw on my shoulder.  “Sit,” Scarface said.  His voice sounded like crunching gravel.
I twisted out of his grasp and my backpack slid to the floor.  I side-stepped away from him, bumping my hip into the closet doorknob.  Since I was scared shitless, the pain barely registered. The boss waved two fingers and shook his head.  “Let’s be civil, Henry.  Why don’t you wait in the car?”  
As soon as Scarface Henry left, the mystery man began prowling around my apartment.  He slid his fingertips across the bistro table and snagged my keys, twirling them around one finger.  Then he paused and looked at the red rose keychain Axton had given me as a joke.  “Original.”  He dropped them back on the table. 
Crossing my arms to hide my shaking hands, I glared at him.  “What do you want?”  I kept hold of my bravado, but my knees were knocking so hard I thought I might topple over.   
He walked to the kitchenette and looked at the paper hanging on my refrigerator.  Scotty had colored a picture of me—my head was ten times the size of my stick body.  The mystery man tapped the drawing.  “I can see the resemblance.”  Then he strolled to the cluster of cheap frames arranged on top of my dresser.  He picked up the picture of Roxy and me.  We had our arms thrown around each other and were making smootchie faces at the camera.  He put it down and moved to the next photo.  The one of Scotty when he was about ten minutes old.  I rushed toward him and tried to grab it, but he held it just out of reach.
“Put it down.”  I grabbed the soft woolen sleeve of his overcoat and pulled, but he didn’t move.  I peered up at his face, and he stared back at me.  Our gazes locked and held for a moment.    
He leaned toward me.  He smelled citrusy and spicy at the same time, like oranges and sandalwood.  “I want my property.”  His voice was silky steel.      
I let go of his arm and stepped back.  “I…,” my voice cracked.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t play games, Rose.”  He set the photo down and walked to the futon, gracefully folding himself onto it, his arm spread along the back.  “You’ll lose.”

Expat Author Shares Life in the Panama Canal Zone

Today we welcome writer and returned expat Myrna Erickson and her story of growing up in the Panama Canal Zone.

I was raised in a multi-cultural environment in an American colony overseas, the Panama Canal Zone, for my first 17 years. This gave me the background for my first book, “Onward Peregrinos.”  It began with my mother’s love story with my father and ended with a 320 page novel that took place in Central and South America and the U.S.
Following the Boynton family through adventures in the jungles of Panama and Ecuador, and watching them build their lives in these unique settings, gives the reader an insight into the culture of these countries.
I am one of a unique breed of American citizens, born in the Panama Canal Zone of an American parent working for the Panama Canal Company. The government of Panama recognizes us as citizens of Panama and we therefore have dual citizenship, as Americans and Panamanians. This has many advantages in traveling freely back and forth regarding Visas, etc. It also comes with many incentives to lure us former residents back to the land where many of us were born. Some of these being in the form of discounts throughout the country and medical benefits.
Panama city, itself, in the twenty first century is far removed from Panama city of the twentieth century. In just twelve years it has gone from a country of two or three story buildings to skyscrapers that compete with those of San Francisco or Chicago. The first of these amazing and unique steel buildings were Bank buildings built along the ocean front, followed by the Trump Towers and other tall apartment buildings. Their setting overlooking the Bay of Panama is much like the skyscrapers surrounding Lake Michigan in Chicago. These skyscrapers are called Rasca Cielo (scratch the sky) by Panamanians, but this same skyline has become unrecognizable to ex-patriots like myself, or ex-pats as we are called.
What once was a country of native huts outside of the city limits and in the interior, has become a crowded urban city of taxis, buses and reconstruction. It is also the number one tourist country in the world, according to some sources.  Most of the major cruise ships stop there for a day allowing passengers to transit the canal and shop for a few hours. Of course, this isn’t enough time to understand the culture of it’s citizens and just enough time to feel the heat of the tropics. Consequently, to understand Panama, one should plan at least a week in this small country.  During this time a few days in the interior is a must to see the native culture and enjoy the coolness of it’s mountain areas of flowers and streams.
In order to understand a land with jungles, plains and volcanic mountains, one needs to think of the lowlands as being tropical, with it’s accompanying heat and bugs, the plains as cattle land, and the mountains as restful vacation spots. What I have failed to mention thus far are all the beach resorts in between where hotels and amenities are found. I purposely did not mention them as beaches are everywhere in the world, but learning about the fun loving people of the cities and the simple lives of the natives of the interior is a much better use of one’s time.


Grave Dangers is a suspenseful murder mystery set in the Green Mountains of Vermont.  David witnesses the murder of his mother, and from that shocking moment is forced to hide in the woods near his former home. Plotting his revenge until he is old enough to carry out his plan, he survives for five years alone, avoiding the suspicions of the nearby villagers. When he saves Andrew's life, he struggles with his continuing quest for revenge. Andrew's family is drawn into a plot to bring the murderer to justice.

Lost in the Andes--New Release *Not Again, Lyle--Biography, Humor *Nalani of Hawaii-Novel *Sense and Sentiments-PoetryGrave Dangers--Mystery/Suspense* Onward Peregrinos--Biography/Romance/Adventure*  Website www.myrnasbooknook.net
Myrna Ericksen
As a mother of six, three boys and three girls, my life was an open book, so I decided why not write one.  I am currently writing two books which, when finished, will be my 9th and 10th books.  My favorite genres are historical/romance and mystery/suspense. I draw on my numerous trips across the country, and travels in Central, South America, Italy and Spain to make my settings true to life. I moved outside of writing novels to write “Not Again, Lyle,” a comedy about a real life unforgettable character I had watched grow up.
While raising my six children I taught Great Books at their schools, religious education at their church, I was a den mother, teen club and 4-H leader, museum docent for the Historical Museum in San Jose, volunteered in food kitchens, and performed for the elderly as a clown.  When not writing books, I enjoy being with family and friends, gardening, playing my guitar and piano, singing at rest homes and hanging out with my husband.
Besides writing books and poetry, I collect American History memorabilia which I have been gathering for many years. My vision is to honor those leaders and citizens who have made significant contributions to the history, development, and culture of our great country, the United States of America.  To this end my collection was displayed in our new city library for all to enjoy during the year 2011.  I also collect unique Vintage clothing, with plans to have a Vintage fashion show towards raising funds for the poor. That’s all folks!

LOWCOUNTRY BOIL Character Interview: Boats, Crazy Debs, and Madlibs

Today we're welcoming Blake, brother to PI Liz Talbot and chief of police on the low country island of Stella Marris. Blake took a job as a patrol officer in Stella Maris right out of college because it was one of only two openings in town, and he wasn’t qualified to teach Jazzercise. Five years later, Charlie Jacobs retired and the town council offered Blake the chief’s job. He was flabbergasted. He may be an accidental police chief, but he's a good one. You take care of what you love.
Let's see how Blake does under a little boil of our own.



1. You live on a boat. What's up with that?
I like to keep things simple. If you have a lot of space, you accumulatestuff. Boats are small, less room for stuff. Women tend to want to help youdecorate if you have a house. They come to visit once or twice and startleaving things "by accident." I spot that kind of thing real quick and cannip it in the bud on a boat. And I like living on the water. Anytime I want,I can motor out to my favorite fishing spot.
2. If I had to write a singles ad for you, what would it say?
It would say, "Forget this one ladies. He lives on a boat." I got nothingagainst women, you understand. I just don’t want another one trying topolish me like some damn-fool diamond in the rough. I've got a mother, twosisters, and an administrative assistant all working on that. I figurethat's about all the polishing I can handle. Tell you what, you could putthis: If you like fishing, would be okay with a man who works all hours andplays in a band if he gets a few spare minutes, and you would be interestedin living on a houseboat, give Blake a call. Oh, and "must have hightolerance for crazy family." Be sure you put that in there.
3. Pirate or drunk debutante having a bad hair day?
Say what? Are you asking which one I'd rather hang out with? That woulddefinitely be the pirate. Debs are high maintenance to begin with, but onewith a snoot-full and cranky to begin with on account of she doesn't likeher hair? That'd be any man's nightmare right there.
4. You’re invited to a party. When you arrive, the house is dark, thedriveway deserted. You know the address and time are correct and when you try to call the host, you realize you’re in a wireless pocket. No bars. What do you do?
Well, if it's within a few weeks of my birthday, I ring the bell and actsurprised. Otherwise, I'd do a perimeter search--look around the yard, inthe windows. If there's still no sign of anyone, I'd approach the frontdoor, stand at one side and ring the bell. If no one answered, I'd try thedoor. If it was locked, most likely I'd drive back a mile or so until I hadsignal and try calling. If no one answered, and I couldn't reach anyone elsewho was supposed to be there, I'd call for backup and a warrant and we'dhave a look inside the house. My suspicions would be sufficiently raised tobelieve someone was hurt inside.
5. If your home island of Stella Maris voted to become a "dry town," you would...
That's about as likely as folks from Jupiter relocating to Stella Maris andparking their spaceships at the marina next to my boat. In the unlikelyevent such a thing happened, my biggest worry would be protecting the folksthat voted that in, and keeping the peace during the recall elections.

Ha! I guess you'd be forewarned enough to hide your stock of Guinness anyway. Although on a boat, you're options for storage are probably pretty limited. 
Let's play Mad Libs! Give me the following words (keeping it clean for the kiddos):pet’s name:    Rastusverb:           pick (as in, pick guitar strings)holiday:         Memorial Daygerund verb:  grillingarchitectural term:   beamlocation: beachfavorite alcohol: tequila
And your Mad Lib sentence is:
I found Rastus that Tuesday morning right where he picks every Memorial Day at eight:grilling through the beam of the beach, the island’s tequila.
Ok that was really silly! I stole that sentence from Susan's first line in this excerpt from LOWCOUNTRY BOIL. Learn a little more about Blake in his natural surroundings in the excerpt below. First a little about LOWCOUNTRY BOIL and her author, Susan M. Boyer.


Private Investigator Liz Talbot is a modern Southern belle: she blesses hearts and takes names. She carries her Sig 9 in her Kate Spade handbag, and her golden retriever, Rhett, rides shotgun in her hybrid Escape. When her grandmother is murdered, Liz high-tails it back to her South Carolina island home to find the killer. She’s fit to be tied when her police-chief brother shuts her out of the investigation, so she opens her own. Then her long-dead best friend pops in and things really get complicated. When more folks start turning up dead in this small seaside town, Liz must use more than just her wits and charm to keep her family safe, chase down clues from the hereafter, and catch a psychopath before he catches her. 
Website   Amazon     B&N     Fiction Addiction
Susan M. Boyer has been making up stories her whole life. She tags along with her husband on business trips whenever she can because hotels are great places to write: fresh coffee all day and cookies at 4 p.m. They have a home in Greenville, SC, which they occasionally visit. Susan’s short fiction has appeared in moonShine Review, Spinetingler Magazine, Relief Journal, The Petigru Review, and Catfish Stew. Her debut novel, Lowcountry Boil, is a 2012 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense recipient and an RWA Golden Heart® finalist.


LOWCOUNTRY BOIL EXCERPTI found Blake that Tuesday morning right where he is every morning ateight: walking through the front door of The Cracked Pot, the island’s diner. I slipped behind him and followed him inside.
Moon Unit Glendawn owns the place. She greeted him as the door closed behind us. “Well, good morning, Blake. How are you this brightsunny day?”
If she had been any more bright and sunny herself, she would have spontaneously combusted on the spot, leaving us to pour our own coffee.“Doing great, Moony. Could use some coffee.” Blake hung his cap on the coat tree.
Moon Unit caught sight of me behind him. “Well, Liz Talbot, as I live and breathe. Welcome home.” She rushed out from behind the counter to hug my neck. Moon and I graduated from Stella Maris High thesame year.
Blake turned and stared at me as if he’d been hoping my presence in town was just a bad dream and was now dismayed by the contrary.Moon swooped back to the other side of the counter and went about the business of getting us fed. “Coffee. Coming right up. Hash browns orgrits?”
“Grits,” Blake said. “With red-eye gravy.”
My mouth watered. “Me, too, please. And could I have my eggs scrambled with cheese?”
“Sure thing.” Moon tore off the ticket and spun it back to the kitchen.
This was the first time I’d been inside since Moon Unit bought the former Stella Maris Diner and transformed it into something that was part small-town diner and part tropical café. She’d kept the white and pink ceramic-tiled floor but added skylights and live plants. The most striking feature was the far wall. It was paneled in white beaded-board and cov-ered in photographs.
Blake slid onto a stool and I took the one to his right.
I leaned in to him and spoke in an almost whisper. “When’s the last time you spoke to Merry?” I reached into my purse for my hand sanitizer and squeezed a generous dollop onto my hand. I offered it toBlake, but he waved it off.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Day before yesterday? Why?”
Before I could launch into how our sister lost her mind, Moon walked over and poured our coffee. “I hear you got trouble brewing.” She replaced the pot on the warmer and slid onto the stool behind the counter. Her inquisitive hazel eyes jumped from me to Blake and back as she slid the cream and sugar within reach.
“What?” Blake measured precise amounts of cream and sugar into hiscoffee.
She leaned closer and lowered her voice, “A little bird told me Merry’s gonna build an orphanage over on Devlin’s Point.”
Blake stirred his coffee. I gulped mine.
“If you ask me,” she said, “there are way better places for anorphanage.
First hurricane blows through here, all the orphans will have to go stay at a shelter.”
Moon leaned closer, in imminent danger of sliding off her stool. “That is, if you could get permission to put one up there in the first place, which everybody knows is never gon-na fly.”
“Camp.” Blake took a long sip of coffee.
“What?” Moon Unit and I both drew back and squinted at him.
He set down his cup. “It’s not an orphanage. It’s a camp for inner-city kids. Not a bad idea, you ask me.”
Moon looked horrified, and for possibly the first time in her life, was absolutely speechless.
I wasn’t. “Is there an outbreak of crazy here?”
“Relax,” he said. “It’s not what you think.”
Moon crossed her arms. “I’m just tellin’ you, that’s not what Tammy Sue Lyerly was tellin’ over at Phoebe’s Day Spa.”
“Yeah, well, more than hair gets twisted over there,” Blake said.
Coffee sloshed out of my cup as I sat it down. “I got the story straight from Merry, and—”
Blake put his hand on my leg and squeezed and I shut up.
No one squeezed Moon Unit’s leg. “Everyone is still in shock over poor Emma’s untimely departure for the hereafter, and she must be spinning in her grave already.”
Blake pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look, some kids’ll camp on the beach for a couple of weeks each sum-mer.”
Clearly Blake had missed the part about the kids being felons from rival gangs. And the high-rise, state-of-the-art facility. Merry gave Blake, Mamma, and me each a different story. What the hell was sheup to?
Moon Unit grabbed our breakfast from the ledge and handed us hot plates. I let the first smoky bite of biscuit soaked in red-eye gravy melt on my tongue.
“Eh law.” Moon shook her head slowly, switching sub-jects. “I don’t think my mamma will ever get over finding Emma Rae like that.”
“I need a little more red-eye,” Blake said.
We had less than a minute of peace while Moon went around to the kitchen and came back with a bowl of gravy. She chattered on, and we both ate way faster than usual. Half a dozen bites later, I realized I’d missed a chapter in Moon Unit’s monologue.
At least she was carrying on about her family and giving ours a rest.
“Speaking of Little Elvis, I’m surprised he’s not following you around already this morning, Blake. Isn’t he late?”
Blake drained his coffee cup. “Since Elvis doesn’t work for me, he can hardly be late.”
“Well, he sure thinks he does,” Moon said. “Whizzing around with a walkie-talkie in one hand, steering his bike with the other. Patrolling, he calls it. All day long. Some of these smart-assed teenagers around here have been making fun of him again.”
Little Elvis Presley Glendawn was two years younger than me, but was developmentally challenged.
Blake looked at her and nodded once. “I’ll handle it.”
“He’s smarter than those punks in every way that matters. He just won’t grow up much more inside, is all.” She softened and gave Blake agrateful smile.
“Probably gets on your nerves a lot, following you around, reporting in and all that. It’s real good of you to put up with it like you do.”
“Sometimes he tells me things I need to know.” He grinned. “Kinda like you do.”
He ducked as she swatted at him with the morning pa-per.“Heck, Moony,” he said, “with you and Elvis around, I could cut a position from the patrol force.”
“I don’t know why I put up with you, I declare I don’t,” Moon said.Blake looked at me. I drained my coffee cup as I stood. He laid a ten on the counter. “Breakfast was great, as always.”
“It was fabulous,” I added as we moved towards the door.Outside, underneath the pink and white striped awning, I inhaled a therapeutic lungful of salt air. I looked at my brother. “What exactly do you mean, ‘It’s not what you think?’”
Blake took his time settling his cap on his head. He massaged his neck with one hand and gestured at me with the other. “I’m not getting in the middle of this.”
“You already are.”
“Just talk to Merry, okay?”
“I already have.”
“Try again. Tell her I said she’d better tell you the truth or I will. And remember, she means well. That’s all I’m saying. Except this: stock up on Guinness—Extra Stout.”
“What?”
“For years, this family has done everything short of dragging you home by your hair. Now, when you should have stayed in Greenville, hereyou are.”
His eyes locked on mine. “You’ll be seeing a lot of me. And I drink Guinness now.”

Nikujaga: Japanese Meat and Potatoes

This week's reprise recipe is Nikujaga, a Japanese comfort food perfect for this blast of early winter weather.


Nikujaga, literally translated as meat potatoWho doesn't love a savory dish of simmered meat and potatoes when the weather gets cold and blustery? (Aside for vegetarians, vegans and the anti-potato folk).  This is another family standard that makes everyone happy and reminds us of Japan. Folks that aren't familiar with Japanese home cooking may be surprised by this dish. Any "meat and potatoes" person can eat eat this meal without fear of funkiness you may think is typical of Japanese cooking. 

No raw fish. No seaweed. No squid guts. 

Just potatoes, meat, and onion in a savory broth served with rice. Carrots, green beans, peas or other vegetables can be added. I use carrots and green beans because that's what the Reinhart kids prefer.



If you want something a little funkier, you can add shirataki noodles (also called konnyaku, made from the devil's tongue plant) to this dish. JustHungry.com has a great post on these "miracle" noodles that are zero-calorie and a filling additive to a lot of Japanese dishes. Shirataki may not appeal to less adventurous eaters because of their wobbly consistency and their strong smell before cooking (you have to parboil them before adding to a dish. Add at same time as the potatoes). My kids like them, but they like noodles in any form.

(Seriously, the smell out of the bag will put you off. Hold your breath and parboil those suckers! Yes they're a health nut's superfood, but incredibly stinky before boiling.)

NikuJaga
This dish can be made from thinly sliced pork or beef. Pork is more popular in Eastern Japan and beef in the west. To make with beef: substitute beef for pork, chop carrots into .25" chunks, reduce sugar to 3 Tb, mirin to 1/3 c., and 1/3 c. light soy sauce instead of regular. I add the carrots at the same time as the onions.

Thin sliced beef4 potatoes, quartered
1 onion, sliced
1 small carrot, julienned
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) thinly sliced pork (you can find this in Asian stores or ask a butcher to slice some loin 1/16")
3 c. water
5 Tb. sugar
1/2 c. mirin
1/2 c. soy sauce
handful of 1" cut green beans (you can also use peas or snow peas)

1. Soak the potatoes in cold water and chop the sliced pork into bite-sized pieces. 

2. Bring the potatoes, water, sugar, mirin and soy sauce to a boil. Blanche the green vegetable at the same time, then set aside.

3. When the potatoes boil, bring them to a simmer. Add the meat and onions and simmer for about 20 minutes until the potatoes are soft and soy-sauce colored.

boiling the potatoes4. Add the carrots. Cook 2-3 minutes longer if you like the carrots soft or take off the heat and let them sit in the liquid a few minutes if you like them al dente. 

5. There will be a lot of liquid. Serve the pork-potato mixture in the broth, but it's not soup, so use your own discretion on how much broth you want. Ladle into a bowl and scatter with the green beans.

Our family likes Nikujaga on top of rice (which is more like another meat dish), but that's not traditional. 

6. Rice on the side. But whatever. It's your house.

adding the meat

Japanese Horror Films

Looking for a horror flick to watch for Halloween? Consider a Japanese version this year.

Horror stories and haunted houses are very popular in Japan, particularly around Obon, a time in August when the spirits of your ancestors are supposed to return to earth for a visit. Not too different than the origins of our Halloween. However, Japanese ghost stories are very different than our own, so their haunted houses don't rely on zombies and serial killers bearing chain saws. You're more likely to see obake, supernatural creatures that shapeshift into creatures like a one-eyed boy or a woman with long hair and a blackened mouth. Ghosts are often depicted as having white skin; long, disheveled black hair; and floating because of their lack of legs.

[image error] Years ago we rented the movie KWAIDAN, an anthology of four Edo-era Japanese folktales. Made in 1964, the movie literally means "Ghost Story" and won Special Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival in 1965. This classic is a great Halloween movie to watch if you're looking for something more arty than "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" but still want some goosebumps.

Many Japanese ghost stories (Kaidan) are based on the ideas of revenge, wrath, and curses. According to Wikipedia, Japanese ghosts are more powerful in death than in life and you often see particularly powerless people, like women and servants, becoming vengeful ghosts. Hence, the abundance of female spirits with the bad hair. Sometimes they want revenge against the people who tormented them in life, sometimes they're so ticked off they'll kill everyone. Often times, there's also a water element involved because of the religious symbolism of water as a pathway to the underworld.

Modern Japanese horror (J-horror) movies still have these elements. I think because the horror motifs are very Eastern, unfortunately they don't always translate to a Western screen. IGN rated many of these movies in their Top Ten Worst and Best Asian Remakes. However, the original Japanese movies remain popular and much better than the Hollywood remakes.



Four popular Japanese movies remade for Hollywood, (three of these made IGN's worst Asian remakes) all carry these vengeful ghost and curse motifs. You can also find water symbolism in them. Skip the remakes, though, and go for the original.

Another horror film about a girl with bad hairTHE RING (RINGU, 1-3): After watching an evil video tape, the viewer mysteriously dies seven days later. (An interesting list of Ringu facts can be found at Geordie Japan).

DARK WATER (DARK WATER): When a divorced mother and her child move into a rundown apartment, a mysterious leak reveals a haunting.

3. THE GRUDGE (JU-ON, 1-2): A haunted house with a vengeful ghost.

4. ONE MISSED CALL (CHAKUSHIN ARI, 1-3): A group of college students die mysteriously after receiving voicemail from their future selves.

If you're more into serial killers than ghosts, there's plenty of those in J-Horror, too. Revolver Magazine described 2011's COLD FISH as a "totally bent Asia extreme serial-killer cinema at its best–equal parts disturbing and blackly comic." (They also recommend the Korean serial killer film, I SAW THE DEVIL).

Tofugu has a Top 10 Japanese Horror Film list that's fun to check out. DARK WATER, ONE MISSED CALL 1 and 2, and THE GRUDGE all made their list.

Do you have a favorite Japanese Horror Film? What scary Asian movies would you put in your top ten horror films?

The Next Big Thing: PORTRAIT OF A DEAD GUY

My author buddy LynDee Walker tagged me in this interview game about upcoming novels (her debut, FRONT PAGE FATALITY, is an humorous mystery launching in January), and I thought it would be fun to share a few tidbits from PORTRAIT OF A DEAD GUY. I tagged some other authors at the bottom, so be sure to check out their answers (and their books!).
What is the title of your book?PORTRAIT OF A DEAD GUY. Amazingly, the book started and ended with the same title. 
Where did the idea come from for the book?I was living in Japan at the time and working on another manuscript, but wanting to write something about small town Georgia. During my long drives to and from taking my children to school, Cherry Tucker spoke to me. The idea of the coffin portait came to me after my father's funeral.
What genre does your book fall under?Mystery. Specifically "amateur detective mystery," although some call it a cozy. I feel Cherry Tucker is very amateur and not a very cozy gal, so I like amateur detective mystery. 
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?I'm horrible at this kind of thing, because in my brain, my characters are amorphous, like in a dream. So I cheated and hopped on Facebook and asked my readers. Here's what they said:
Cherry Tucker: Kristin Chenoweth, Jaime Presley, Emma Stone
Luke: Adrien Grenier, Gilles Marini, Shia Labouf
Todd: Michael Pitt (Jimmy from Boardwalk Empire), Ryan Reynolds
Max: James Gandolfini, Bobby Cannavale (Rosetti from Boardwalk Empire)What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
When Cherry Tucker competes for a portrait commission of a local family’s murdered son, she doesn’t realize the project includes an old flame that might be her subject’s killer.Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?It was published by Henery Press on August 28, 2012. The second Cherry Tucker mystery, STILL LIFE IN BRUNSWICK STEW, releases May 2013.How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?About three months over a six month period. I was moving from Japan to the US while writing, so there were about three months between where nothing but thinking happened as I packed and unpacked.What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?A redneck Stephanie Plum or a white trash version of Nancy Martin's Blackbird Sisters Mystery series. It also fits so well with two other mystery series from my publishing house — Terri L. Austin's The Rose Strickland Mysteries and LynDee Walker's Nichelle Clarke's Headlines in Heels series -- that we're doing a anthology of novellas together.Who or what inspired you to write this book?Cherry Tucker's loud mouth, country music, and my father's funeral.What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?I've got an obnoxious goat, if you're into that sort of thing. And beer.
Tag! You’re it!Jerrie Alexander
Mia Fisher

Asian Supermarkets in the United States

Because we cook Asian food, mostly Japanese, we shop at Asian supermarkets fairly often. I can get my basic Japanese ingredients -- rice, tofu, soy sauce, mirin, sake, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, some noodles -- at my local Kroger, but I can get bigger sizes and better prices at an Asian store. Other ingredients like miso, dashi, prepared sauces, dried foods, and condiments can be harder to find, and I have to go to an Asian specific store. I can also get prepared items, snacks, meat, and vegetables there, too.

Even better, for vegetables, meat, and certain staples these Asian supermarkets are cheap!
Japanese Staples & Sauces at Tomato, Atlanta Sliced meat ready for various Asian dishesWe go to these stores to grocery shop, but also because they're fun. Looking at familiar foods from your host country is stepping into nostalgia. The kids spot snacks and drinks they used to enjoy. The people shopping with us are a mixture of races and cultures. Various languages mix with English. And most people are like us, excited to find their favorite foods and not in a rush to snatch Monday night dinner ingredients.

In Atlanta, we're lucky to have a wide variety of shopping options. There are a few, small groceries specific to Japanese stores we enjoy, particularly Tomato (one in Smyrna and another in Norcross). There are numerous, tiny Asian food store, even one down in Newnan called Oriental Market. 
The rice cracker & snack aisle at Tomato
We have gone to the massive Buford Highway Farmer's Market since the mid-90's. This kind of international supermarket has food from all over the world, including Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean as well as central Asia, but they specialize in Hispanic and Asian foods. I recently brought a friend from Puerto Rico there and she was delighted to find certain fruits and vegetables that she normally could only find in Miami. 

H-Mart is another Atlanta chain that can be found in other cities in the U.S. This is a Korean owned chain that primarily sells Asian foods, but my local one also has quite a bit of Hispanic food because of the large Latino community. H-Mart can be found in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania  Maryland, Virginia, Illinois, Texas, California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Georgia. 

AND, if they don't have a store near you, they do offer on-line shopping. 
Produce at H-MartFor a list of other large Asian supermarkets in the U.S., I turned to Wikipedia (use this list to find stores in your state) and found a Chinese grocery chain, Great Wall Supermarket, located in Atlanta. A quick google search for this store revealed an article lauding its praises, particularly for the Asian food court. 

They had me at food court. I am so there.
Variety of greens at H-MartIn reading the article I discovered a few more stores I hadn't explored. Try a quick google check for Asian groceries in your closest city. The tiny ones probably don't have web sites, but there may be reviews or at least a yellow pages listing. Even the Consulate-General of Japan in Atlanta has a list for the region they serve.  


The rice curry aisle at TomatoTake a shopping list, but go for pleasure. If you really want an international experience, try a weekend mid-day and enjoy the bustle and crush of what it's like shopping in another country.

Are there international groceries in your area? Do you have shopping recommendations that would help others find these stores?

Tag, You're It: STILL LIFE IN BRUNSWICK STEW, A Cherry Tucker Mystery

I was tagged by Judy Alter, author of the Kelly O'Connell mysteries and other novels. Her TROUBLE IN BIG BOX released about the same time as my mystery, and I had the pleasure of "meeting" Judy online to talk about her newest Kelly O'Connell mystery. Check out Judy's books at her website: JudyAlter.com. 
She tagged me to answer these questions about my newest Cherry Tucker mystery, STILL LIFE IN BRUNSWICK STEW, which comes out in May.
[image error] What is the working title of your book? STILL LIFE IN BRUNSWICK STEW.
Where did the idea come from for the book?The second time we lived in Japan, there had been a major poisoning incident the previous year. Because there's so little crime in Japan, particularly this kind of murder, the posioning made headlines far into the next year as the trial went underway. I was intrigued by the curry poisoning incident and gave me an idea for a murder mystery. 
What genre does your book fall under?Mystery, specifically amateur detective, although some call it a cozy mystery.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?This time, I'm choosing actors from the Cast of Game of Thrones. I'd like to see them do Southern accents. Cherry: Emilia Clarke, who plays the ethereal mother of dragons, Daenerys Targaryen.Luke: Kitt Harington, who plays Night Watch soldier Jon Snow.Todd: Nikolaj Coster-Waldeu who plays bad boy Jamie Lanister.Max: Sean Bean, who played Ned Stark.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?Cherry Tucker is in a stew when her friend is poisoned and her cop boyfriend tries to prevent Cherry from serving the killer a hot bowl of justice.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?STILL LIFE is published by Henery Press, the publisher of all the Cherry Tucker mysteries.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?I wrote some scenes during NaNoWriMo last year, but it was a different manuscript. In total about three months.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?Nancy Martin's Blackbird Sisters mysteries, if they were Southern and trashier. Some readers compared the first Cherry Tucker, PORTRAIT OF A DEAD GUY, with the Stephanie Plum novels.
Who or What inspired you to write this book?Cherry Tucker, my main character from the first book in the series. She's very demanding.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?There's more goats, hot men, and dead bodies than in PORTRAIT. I'm a giver.
Thanks Judy for tagging me! 
And tag you're it--
Connie Gillam. Check out her books at ConnieGillam.com. Her newest, a young adult paranormal THE 5th REALM has just been published!

LynDee Walker, whose FRONT PAGE FATALITY comes to life in January! 

Kellie Kamryn, whose TUMBLING HEARTS, a gymnast's romance, is now available.

Expat Recipe: Curry Noodle

This Curry Noodle recipe was sent to me by an expat friend, Cheryl Crowder, whom I met while living in Nagoya, Japan. Curry noodle is one of her Japanese go-to meals, although I had never eaten it before making it here in the States. We often eat Curry Rice at home and noodles soups, but not this yummy concoction. The recipe uses udon noodles, a thick, white noodle made from wheat and a common soup noodle in Japan. However, Curry Noodle is not a soup. It's actually a curry. A curry for noodles instead of rice.

Brilliant!

It is delicious. And not hard to make. Don't let the roux fool you. I often see butter and flour and think myeh, don't want to deal. I confess to being an extremely lazy cook.


Dry Udon noodles Boiled Udon noodlesHere's the other thing. This is truly a recipe that can be adapted for the American kitchen. I decided to make this on a whim and went to my local Kroger for ingredients. At home, I had the staples to make the sauce: curry powder, soy sauce, sake, and rice wine vinegar. My Kroger did not have hakusai cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, or Japanese peppers. I used plain old green cabbage, portobello mushrooms, and a bell pepper as substitutes  If you can't find udon noodles (my Kroger did have them in the tiny Asian section), any thick noodle will work. You should be able to find curry powder in your spice section. This is not spicy, by the way.

One other note. You may find it strange that instead of chicken stock, the recipe calls for bouillon. In Japanese and Chinese recipes, I often use bouillon dissolved in hot water. In fact, in Japan you can't find canned chicken stock easily. I use powdered bouillon or a Chinese chicken stock paste you dissolve in water, much more convenient than the canned stuff.
Adding veg to the curry soup mixture

CURRY NOODLE

Seasoning Sauce

2/3 c soy sauce
1/3 c vinegar
2 TB sake
1 tsp chopped garlic 
1 tsp chopped ginger
2 TB minced onion
Mix together and keep in a separate bowl

5 TB butter
7 TB flour
3 TB curry powder
the equivalent of 4 chicken bouillon cubes dissolved in 5 cups of water
2 cup milk

200 grams (1/2 lb) pork cut in small pieces or sliced thinly
1 onion, chopped
3 Japanese small green peppers (or 1 US sized pepper); in bite sized pieces
4 leaves of Chinese hakusai cabbage (I used regular green cabbage, worked fine); sliced
2 green onion; sliced
4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced (I used portobello)
3 packs of boiled udon noodles 

1. Set your noodles to boil. Udon noodles take about 12-13 minutes.

2. Make the seasoning sauce and set aside

Cooking the roux adding the noodles3. Melt butter in a pot. (I used a wok, but a stew pot or deep pan would work). Add flour and saute. Be careful not to let it brown. Add curry powder. Add the milk and mix well to get out the lumps.

4. Add the bouillon soup and stir. Add veggies and meat and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer. Continue to stir because the sauce will thicken. (I waited to add my meat until the simmer because I used thinly sliced pork and wanted it to stay tender).

5. When the veggies are softened and meat is cooked through, add the boiled noodles.

6. Add seasoning sauce, stir well, and heat through before serving.

Enjoy! My family did. Thanks to Cheryl Crowder, we've got a new go-to meal!

Feel free to send me your expat recipes to share on the Expat Returneth. If it's not too difficult for me to make, I'd love to try them!

2012 Mystery We Write Tour Giveaway Alert!

All mystery lovers mark your calendars for 16 days of 16 authors and the chance to win free books and prizes! The fourth Mystery We Write blog tour will begin Monday, November 26 and run through Wednesday, December 11. I will be hosting fifteen authors on my blog and will be visiting their blogs as well.
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By following the various author's blogs on the tour and leaving comments, you will automatically be entered to win free books. Winners will be announced at the end of the tour. 

Stay tuned for more details! I'll be giving away an e-book of PORTRAIT OF A DEAD GUY the first book in the Cherry Tucker mystery series. Winner announced here on December 11!





Kizoa slideshow: Mystery We Write Blog Tour Giveaways - Slideshow