Tag Archives: kitchen

Announcement, Author, Baking, Cooking, Self-publishing

Great Tips From a Fellow Author

Leave a comment

coffeeEarly this week I met with a fellow Whidbey Island author at a local coffee shop — a curious individual we will call Eldritch Black.  We wrote, we caught up, laughed, and — unsurprisingly enough — did what two like-minded people do, we talked shop.  Eldritch has about a dozen kids-book titles under his belt long with others under a sobriquet, his nom de plume … or in simple terms a pen name.  He shared with me from his wealth of knowledge and gave me more than a few invaluable tips!  Two of these have occupied my mind NON-STOP … really, I should be charging them rent.

I’m considering starting an e-mail newsletter including a recipe-of-the-month. TIPS

MailerLiteEldritch gave me the suggestion of starting an email newsletter and using MailerLite to handle the list.  Their features and prices look good.  I’m still weighing my options and what I might do with this.  What I know is that when I start I want to begin with a plan.  Sure, this may get modified as I go but I won’t be winging-it.  If you are interested now in joining my future mailing list, please drop me a line and say “Please add me to your mailing list!” TIPS

Recipe of the Month

Also suggested among Eldritch’s ideas was that I start doing a recipe-a-month — DUH — that’s big!  I’ve had this idea but it was put into a different perspective when it was suggested in an e-mail list.  It’s also where I want to have a plan-in-place — figuring out which recipes to present in advance.  I’d also love to get recipes from my readers to feature along with giving kitchen tips.  All of this could also lead to its own book!  (Here are a few free recipes in the mean time.)

Draft2DigitalLastly, Eldritch showed me Draft2Digital.  I was told interesting things about what this company offers — after learning more, I may publish my e-book with Draft2Digital, too! TIPS
(PSST — I’ve also started looking into a company that can manufacture my book with colour photos!)

Keep your eyes here — updates as they come!

~ Don

Eldritch Black ~ Links

Eldritch Black
Eldritch did not wear the top hat when we met for coffee — which is good … that’d have been distracting.

Homepage – Amazon – Goodreads
Twitter – Facebook – Instagram

Kid’s Book Titles

The Pirates of Penn Cove (Weirdbey Island Book 1)

The Day of the Jackalope (Weirdbey Island Book 2)

Krampus and The Thief of Christmas: A Christmas Novel

The Night of the Christmas Letter Getters

One Dark Hallow’s Eve: A Lost Tale from The Book of Kindly Deaths

The Book of Kindly Deaths

The Ghosts of The Tattered Crow

The Clockwork Magician

The Festival of Bad Tidings: A tale of magic and unrequited love

The Mysterious Case of Spring-Heeled Jack

Three Curses for Trixie Moon

Announcement, e-Book, Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies, Product

My E-book for 25% Off – July 2019 SALE

Leave a comment

Would you like to
GET MY E-BOOK FOR 25% OFF???

I am pleased to announce that I just enrolled my “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies” e-book in the 11th annual Smashwords July 2019 SALE!

From July 1st through July 31st you will be able to purchase my e-book for 25% Off Of The Usual Price through Smashwords*.  It’s a great time for summer treats in the northern hemisphere and winter treats in the southern hemisphere.  So as we take another spin around the solar system on this island we call Earth, LET’S GET BAKING!
*As I understand this includes the Smashwords affiliates.

https://www.smashwords.comhttps://www.amazon.comWhen the time is right go to my Smashwords ordering page or use the widget below.  If you prefer to work from a paper recipe book, there is also a great deal at Amazon.com.
It is my understanding presently that… If you purchase a paper copy of my book on Amazon you can then also download a copy of the e-book For FREE!  Keep the e-book for yourself and give the paper-book to a friend 🙂 July

Book, Cooking, Film, Product, Review, Tip

Star Wars Cookbook II

Leave a comment

Star Wars Cookbook IIIf you’re like me, right now you are grinning from ear-to-ear having seen the latest Star Wars installment “The Last Jedi“!  In anticipation of the film, I looked on my library’s website for what material from the cannon they had available.  As it turned out, they had LOADS!

Star Wars films, soundtracks, books, audio books, William Shakespeare‘s Star Wars books — AND THIS — The Star Wars Cookbook II -Darth Malt and More Galactic Recipes by Frankie Frankeny &‎ Wesley Martin.

Being into sci-fi, and soon to publish my own first baking/cooking book, I’ve started to look at recipe books with a different eye.  When it came to this Star Wars cookbook … I Simply Had To Check This Out!

Han-Burgers
Clever recipe titles!

Attributes

Geared toward kids, over the course of its 60 wipe-clean pages it features hilarious photographs and fun Star Wars themed recipes.  This second installment of The Star Wars Cookbook series even includes a washable plastic stencil of Darth Maul’s iconic face to help decorate culinary creations.  While kid-cooks might think they’re getting it play with their food, it instead teaches to get creative with cooking.  Bring your kids into the kitchen to learn to cook without the use of Jedi mind-control tricks!  Adults as well as kids will have a great time with this book.

Plastic stencil of Darth Maul on the left

Links

The Star Wars Cookbook II -Darth Malt and More @ Amazon.com
ISBN-10: 0811828034
ISBN-13: 978-0811828031

The Star Wars Cookbook II: Darth Malt and More Galactic Recipes @ Wookieepedia

NOTE – “Star Wars” and all other names, references, images, et cetera are the property of their respective copyright owners.  If I have somehow violated copyright, please instruct as to how to correct this ….. in other words, Disney, please don’t sue me … besides, I don’t have anything.

Baking, Cooking, Tip

Cling Wrap — A Pro Tip

Leave a comment
Cling wrap — ever have problems getting it to stay on your food?

Cling wrap

Here’s a pro-tip — don’t put plastic wrap on your food, put your food on your cling wrap!

Yep — all sorts of problems can follow when cling wrap gets pulled out of the box, put over food, torn off … but instead, try this…

Cling wrap - you're doing it wrong

On a clean surface clear of other items, put your box of plastic wrap down with the opening pointing away from you. Pull a large section out (+/- 2 times the size of the plate you look to cover) and lay it down on the surface, the box will ‘hold’ the other end straight for you. Next, place the plate you wish to wrap *on* the cling wrap and bring the lose end up & over the plate to start covering your food. Rip the other end of the plastic wrap off of the box and fold it over the plate & cling wrap. Repeat as necessary to get everything covered.

Done right and you will have a good seal on your food that can also help to prevent leaks.

A box of cling wrap with a slide cutter makes this easier over those with the saw blade, but with some careful attention those will work just as well.

Cling wrap righter

Baking, Cookies, Cooking, Tip, Uncategorized

Kitchen Tips – Yours & Mine

Image Leave a comment

Do you ever find yourself in your kitchen making something tasty thinking to yourself “You know, that one thing that I do in my kitchen is a good idea and other people would benefit from knowing about it.”?  Yeah, me too.  Well, here’s your chance!

Over this past weekend while doing a little baking I thought of something I might add to my current in-process baking book — KITCHEN TIPS!  What’s a Kitchen Tip?  Well, one of my ideas — and I would hope this should be obvious — is to always keep your oven mitts or hot pads in a consistent place so you’re not scrambling for them when the timer rings.  I thought up & wrote down about another 5 and then I thought “ENGAGE YOUR PUBLIC” — so……..

WHAT ARE YOUR BAKING-RELATED KITCHEN TIPS?  Comment below ….. yes, I’m actually going to allow comments for once.  These would be suggestions related to setting up your kitchen for baking or around the process of baking (etc).  Write your tips, hints, & ideas here — they might get included in my baking book!

“Collect your cookie crumbs – they go great on top of ice cream! For best results, serve soon.” Marion C. – Milwaukee, WI”.

If I publish your idea I will try to let you know in advance.  Also, I would like to put your name & location as written above.  Now, I should also say — while I like this idea for my book, I’m not sure how I might include them.  My original idea was to disperse these notes throughout my tome but that doesn’t fit with my mental image of the contents – so these might end up as their own section instead.

Submit your ideas & you just might get your name in print!
Enjoy ~ Don