In the KITCHEN with A GOOD APPETITE

Posted on September 24, 2010 by Vivian Boroff

I love Melissa Clark‘s books. Melissa is a well seasoned writer with 29 books to her credit, many of those written in collaboration with some of the top chefs and food personalities in the country. She also currently writes my favorite weekly column in the New York Times called A Good Appetite.

Her new book In the Kitchen with A Good Appetite is full of wonderful recipes, and the stories revolving around their creation. The recipes in this book are simple, delicious and definitely fall into the realm of comfort foods. I do have to admit, this book won me over with the section dedicated to “Better Fried” food. I love anything fried and it shows

Border’s Media produced a couple of great cooking videos that you can view here. One of those videos is for the recipe that follows.

I chose to share the Roasted Chicken Thighs with Apples, Gin, and Coriander Seeds. It is one of those dishes that takes just a small amount of time to prep, and takes only minutes to finish in the oven. It is fragrant and delicious.

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Apples, Gin, and Coriander Seeds:

Recipe printed by permission of Melissa Clark

Ingredients:

1 large or 2 small apples

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch strips

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon white vermouth

1 1/2 teaspoons gin

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, dill, or parsley

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Crust bread or rice for serving

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Core the apples and slice them as thinly as you can (somewhere between 1/8 & 1/4 inches if fine)

2. In a 9 x 13 inch pan toss in all the ingredients except 1 tablespoon cilantro (or dill or parsley). Spread the ingredients out into one layer in the pan. Roast until the chicken is cooked through and the apples have softened, about 20 minutes. Garnish with the remaining cilantro, dill or parsley. The sauce will be thin, so serve with crusty bread to sop up the sauce, or over rice

Authors be Tweetin’

Posted on September 25, 2009 by Malena Lott

It’s #FollowFriday on Twitter, so this week we’re featuring some authors on Twitter to see what they had to say this week. Their names are linked to their accounts, so if you are on Twitter, you can give them a follow and a holler! TGIF! – Malena

@jackiemitchard: ‘No Time to Wave Goodbye’ on extended list at #34. Push and breathe. Push and breath.

@krisriggle: Finally went to Target to spy on my book. Eye-level! End cap display! Next to @aswinn ! Nothing could be finer.

@joannerendell: Off to D.C. I hope the Obamas will be coming to my reading. The memo has been sent….

@jennygardiner: Wow,so excited, some naked blonde just followed me offering a free dating service.What else good could happen on a Thursday?

@aswinn: (Allison Winn Scotch) Just found a letter I wrote to an ex but never sent. Wow. I believe that this is what “they” call “hindsight.”

@joefinder: VANISHED has now been on NYT bestseller list 5 weeks (printed & extended), which ain’t bad given what else is out there!

@juliebux: (Julie Buxbaum) Loved THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU by @jtropper and not just bc there’s a Buxbaum in it. Touching & there’s poo jokes.What more can u ask for?

@officiallyally (Ally Carter): Number of really embarrassing typos my mom caught that everyone else has missed: 4 (and counting)

@rachelvincent: Am home from house shopping in San Antonio. Tired and headachy, but feeling accomplished. Must dive back into ALPHA tomorrow.

@genashowalter: Back to work for me! Am reading through Unraveled and making all my changes.

To follow BEbabes, go to our Twitter Directory page. Give us a follow on Twitter here!

Hope & Favorite Writing/Book Sites

Posted on February 20, 2009 by malenalott

TGIF! A/B has a huge slate of reviews and great books and authors coming your way next week. Since it’s been awhile since we’ve done a newsGarden post, we thought we’d take some time to share with you some of our favorite writing and book links and resources. But first, for the writers reading this, a message of hope:

I feel your pain. Your bummed about the publishing industry. I get it. I’m not real thrilled that my second novel, Dating da Vinci, came out in November amid the wallet-tightening of the economy when people spent less and less on Christmas. You don’t want to hear “People aren’t spending squat!” when you have a window to sell your book in a brick and mortar store before they will return them to the publisher. Ugh. That being said, we’re all in the same boat comes to mind. I’m also sad that my current manuscript making rounds at some of the publishing houses has been passed to new editors because the editors reading it were fired. They lost their JOBS. I’m sadder for them than for me. Some houses aren’t even acquiring right now – even if they do like what’s being submitted. Humph. Your manuscript could be one of those. Not fair, right? So where’s the hope in all of this? Here it is: This too shall pass. Your love for the written word and storytelling will outlast the economic condition. You must keep writing – working on your craft, honing your voice, writing something necessary that will resonate with the reader. Then when your manuscript gets in the right hands and the houses are really buying again and the public starts spending money on books again, then voila – your time will have come. For the readers reading this, please consider going out and buying a book today. It will give you escape and toss out a lifeline to the whole string of people who made that book possible. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your support.

No matter the news, I like to keep up with what’s happening in the industry and also visit great blogs and book review sites to get the 411 on books. Here are some of my favorites. Visit and bookmark them if you like.

News:

Publisher’s Marketplace

Shelf Awareness

Book Reviews:

I Just Finished.com (I’ll also be the featured author next week so stop by and ask me a question!

Bookbinge.com

Bookgasm.com

Smart Bitches Trashy Books

Blogs:

The Debutante Ball

Deadline Dames

Casablanca Authors

If you like these sites, consider showing them some link love. And, yeah, we’d love for you to include Athena’s Bookshelf on your blogroll! – Malena Lott

Research overload.

Posted on January 27, 2009 by malenalott

God bless Google. Seriously, if it weren’t for the Internet it would take me forev-ah to write a book instead of just short of forev-ah. Research is a critical component in writing a book, whether fiction or non-fiction. That’s the case even if you are writing about something you already know a lot about it. When I wrote The Stork Reality, about a career woman’s journey to motherhood, I was in the process of having babies numbers one, two and three (that book did take forev-ah and a day). YET, I still needed to get all my facts straight in the book so as not to mislead the reader about pregnancy facts and whatnot.

For Dating da Vinci, my Nov. ’08 release about a young widow’s journey to joy, I did even more research, because though I had studied Leonardo da Vinci for five years, I didn’t have all the facts memorized and wasn’t sure what bits would end up in the novel. And that’s the key word – BITS. You don’t want the research to smack the reader over the head. You weave it in as necessary to make the story believable.

The big tip? Don’t waste too much time with research. If you spend say six hours of research when you got all the facts you needed in two, you could’ve spent that extra four hours writing. I know, cause I’ve done it. It’s tempting to get swept away with it all, but soooo not necessary. For my current project, my characters travel to different countries – countries I’ve never been to. I’m so fascinated by it that I tend to want to keep reading and following link after link after link, even though I don’t “need” it. I literally have to have the good writing angel jump off my shoulder and slap the laptop shut on my fingers.

Good luck, and get back to writing!

Malena Lott has written two novels,The Stork Reality and Dating da Vinci, and is the editor of Athena’s Bookshelf.

Case Study: Covers

Posted on July 24, 2008 by malenalott

The old adage is “you don’t judge a book by it’s cover,” but let’s face it. We all do it. If we didn’t, then cover art wouldn’t be such a big deal. The truth is, publishers know people judge books by their covers because like anything in retail, it’s “packaging”. The better adage is “you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.” Visual marketing is all about the blink instinct. You are either drawn to or repelled by things you encounter in life thanks to our fight or flight brain response. So in a bookstore (or on the web), you are drawn to certain covers. Why? Here’s a look at the elements of a cover and the “types” of covers out there.

1. Photo or illustration 2. Title of book (and font and size consideration. Caps? No caps?) 3. Author name and placement thereof. 4. Blurb or no blurb? Tagline or no tagline? 5. Colors – for fonts and background. Light, dark, bright?

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