Ciji Ware's Blog, page 5

Ciji’s Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

CIJI CHICKEN & SAUSAGE GUMBO –Revised  1-6-2012 My original recipe was from Emeril’s Christmas cookbook, but over the years, I’ve made changes–and then my niece Alison and I have made a few more key “adjustments” when we cooked it together over the holiday, allowing for wonderful flavors, with the spiciness adjusted to individual palates INGREDIENTS:  1 cup of vegetable oil (Canola) 1 cup bleached all-purpose flour 1 tsp cumin 1 tbs New Orleans spices (bbq  or Alison’s  rubs, red pepper... Read More...

New Year's Eve in New Orleans!

It's been several years since we owned our Creole cottage on Ursulines Street in the Lower French Quarter in New Orleans…but every year as the holidays roll around, I get an irresistible urge to make "my" gumbo. Actually, there is no "official" recipe for this dish…families have handed down their ingredients and techniques for generations.  I developed my own version when I spent a few years there researching and then writing Midnight on Julia Street, and created a chicken-and-sausage gumbo... Read More...

New Year’s Eve in New Orleans!

It’s been several years since we owned our Creole cottage on Ursulines Street in the Lower French Quarter in New Orleans…but every year as the holidays roll around, I get an irresistible urge to make “my” gumbo. Actually, there is no “official” recipe for this dish…families have handed down their ingredients and techniques for generations.  I developed my own version when I spent a few years there researching and then writing Midnight on Julia Street, and created a chicken-and-sausage gumbo... Read More...

Visiting Old Haunts in the Big Easy

The new-and-improved edition from Sourcebooks-Landmark of my second "woo-woo" novel, Midnight on Julia Street hit the bookstores and online retailers August 1, but in June, I had a wonderful chance to revisit some of my old haunts in New Orleans and environs.  The American Library Association was holding its convention in the Big Easy and my publisher asked if I'd be willing to sit in their booth and sign books. Well, yes! Yes, indeed, I would! Next to my home city of... Read More...

Now, THIS is a Book Launch Party!

On the eve of April 18, 2011's  105th anniversary of the cataclysmic 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Firestorm, my publisher, Sourcebook, and its Landmark division of historical novels–in partnership with Nob Hill's fabled Fairmont Hotel–hosted an incredible book launch party for my new novel A Race To Splendor!
My job, as author, was to invite 125 guests representing local San Francisco Bay Area media, and anyone with links to historic preservation, local history, and the world of admirers of Julia... Read More...

Hangin' with a "Rock Star" Author

There is nothing like hanging out with a major bestselling author like Diana Gabaldon (standing, second from left) to remind a fellow author that novels–especially historical novels–are sold one book at a time.
You see us here (along with several other attendees at the November Scribblers Retreat Writers Conference) smiling happily after a fabulous lunch at Coastal Kitchen, a local eatery on the causeway to St. Simons Island off the coast of Georgia.  We had just imbibed great quantities of local... Read More...

Hangin’ with a “Rock Star” Author

There is nothing like hanging out with a major bestselling author like Diana Gabaldon (standing, second from left) to remind a fellow author that novels–especially historical novels–are sold one book at a time. You see us here (along with several other attendees at the November Scribblers Retreat Writers Conference) smiling happily after a fabulous lunch at Coastal Kitchen, a local eatery on the causeway to St. Simons Island off the coast of Georgia.  We had just imbibed great quantities of... Read More...

The Enduring Fairmont Hotel

Last week, my great pal from my KABC/LA radio days, cookbook writer Diane Worthington, author of the classics The Cuisine of California, The California Cook, and her recent Seriously Simple series, was in San Francisco to meet with her editors at Chronicle Books, and to catch up with her good friends at the gorgeous Fairmont Hotel, atop Nob Hill.
She kindly asked me to tag along, knowing my long-standing love affair with the Fairmont, the setting for much of my forthcoming historical... Read More...

A Second Act for a 17th c. Woman Playwright

Twenty years ago, when I began thinking about writing Wicked Company focusing on a group of eighteenth century "Petticoat Playwrights" whose works were performed to great success at London's Covent Garden and Drury Lane theatres, even most English majors had never heard of the playwright Aphra Behn, whose dates are thought to be 1640-1689.
Now recognized as "one of the first women to earn her living by her pen," the woman on your right has finally come into her own with several... Read More...

Writers' Conferences 101

Fall and spring in pretty places–that's pretty much the routine when it comes to holding writers' conferences, and the Scribblers' Retreat is no exception!  Held quarterly, the next one is November 10-14  at the King and Prince Beach and Golf Resort –shown here–on gorgeous St. Simons Island, Georgia and will feature historical novelists like Diana Gabaldon and yours truly, along with my publisher, Dominique Riccah, CEO of Sourcebooks.
I just got the promotional material that kindly said:  "Ciji Ware,  veteran of all... Read More...