Wenching Tuesday - Spicing Wings Up with Nancy DiMauro

Nancy DiMauro is my kind of gal.  She adds more garlic than called for in this recipe.  Sounds like the sort of thing I do when puttering in the kitchen.  I love good chicken wings and plan to make this for our next family get together.  Since we have spicy lovers, I'll need to taste and see if the tsp of dry mustard gets the sauce to the heat level my gang prefers.  If not, there's always Tabasco!

 

Now sit back and enjoy Nancy's recipes, because she gives us a chaser for the heat as well as a good read!

This is a DiMauro family favorite. I have no idea where my Mom originally found the recipe or if she made it up herself. One of these days I’ll remember to ask. But summer always included barbeques on the grill and her marinated chicken wings.  I have the recipe written down as both “single” batch and “double”.   Can’t remember ever making a single batch. I wrote the recipe down from my Mom’s index card when I was still in high school (many moons ago). These wings went to Beach Week in college and what I was asked to make at most pot-luck parties. The steno book page with the recipe is stained with drops of soy sauce and lord knows what else from the years of use.   While these are great hot, they’re amazing cold the next day. That’s why I always make the double batch. If you choose to do so simply double all the ingredients.

It’s one of my favorite recipes and I hope you like it to.  

DiMauro Chicken Wings

Soy Sauce   ½ cup

Oil     ¼ cup

Meat Tenderizer/ Accent  1 tbsp.  

Dry Mustard   1 tbsp.

Lemon Juice   ¼ cup

Molasses    1 tbsp.

Crushed Garlic   ¼ tbsp.*

Chicken Wings   2-4 lbs 

* I always use more garlic than the recipe calls for. So if you like garlic, don’t hesitate to use more. 

Mix all ingredients, cover, marinate at least overnight, and stir occasionally  

Preheat oven to 350°F  

Place chicken wings on foiled and greased cookie sheet. Cook for 50-60 minutes and baste occasionally.  

If you want something cool and smooth to go down with it, try this Cranberry Martini recipe from my second mom, Phyllis Hussey.  

Cranberry Martini

 

Vodka     1 shot

Cranberry Juice   2 shots

Lime juice   to taste – about ½ tsp.  

Shaken not stirred.  

That’s it  - enjoy.   

Now relax. Nibble on these yummy wings while you sip a marvelous martini and read a little from Shots at Redemption my latest speculative fiction. 

Sometimes even mythical beings need a second chance at love.  

We all make mistakes. In this collection, a witch, a goddess, and a dragon each have a second chance at reclaiming lost love. 

In "Best Dressed and Obsessed, Janelle, a graduate-level witch, chooses a magic dress to enthrall her professor. Sadly, the dress is cursed.  At her graduation ball, will she kiss the man she loves? Or kill him? 

Eons ago, Zeus decreed that Odysseus leave Kalypso. In "Kalypso's Song", Odysseus is reborn as a scholar. Can Kalypso convince him to reclaim the love they were denied?

The sea dragon Ryu spares a ship crossing her domain when a human child aboard reminds her of her own lost children. Ryu finds an unlikely surrogate family in "A Sea Serpent's Tale". When her new family is attacked by another dragon, can Ryu save them?  

Shots at Redemption.  Even supernatural creatures want them. But, do they get them? 

BUY LINKS

Musa Publishing

Amazon

Barnes and Noble 

To read excerpts from Nancy's other Musa Publishing books, please click HERE. 

Learn more about Nancy DiMauro and her impressive work on her website Falcons Fables and blog. Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter.

Today's Wench - Sloane Taylor

Once again, Sloane Taylor is steaming up eReaders with another spicy delight with the sizzling French Tickler. 

 

FRENCH Tickler, book 5 and the last story in Naughty Ladies of Nice series by Sloane Taylor, is now available. 

Lace and handcuffs...tools of the trade.  

New Yorker Samantha Bradley has a fun, sexy career designing ladies lingerie. Now that her business is on the rise, she treats herself to a well deserved break on the French Riviera where the women are glamorous and the men are gorgeous. After a few days Sam is eager to sample more than just the local cuisine.  

Cisco Bernier is France's key criminal prosecutor, but his courtroom charm falls flat outside the hallowed halls of justice. From family relationships to romantic trysts, his success rate is abysmal until a chance encounter with a sensuous young American businesswoman spins his staid world out of control.  

Sam and Cisco sizzle together, but any future is threatened when their pasts collide. Her mob-connected father and his deceitful mother resurface and drag them into a corrupt world of lies and danger.  

PG EXCERPT:

Sam tugged on the collar of her black blouse, fidgeted with her purse, refolded her shawl, and straightened the magazines on the coffee table for the third time, all the while she kept a sharp eye on the lobby door. She refused to check the clock over the front desk again. Cisco said he’d pick her up at the hotel, and she believed he’d follow through. 

A tender sensation swept through her as she glimpsed a tall black haired man brush his way through the revolving door. Her happiness crashed to the marble floor when a blonde beauty, decked out in an off shoulder gown that screamed Donna Karan, wrapped herself around him like a cheap bath towel.

Patience turned to embarrassment that beat a hasty retreat from the anger building in her.

She hadn’t been stood up since she was fifteen. After her damned father ran off that hood wannabe Freddy LaFrano, the Italian guys had lost their balls. Not one of them asked her for a date again. The only guy who tried was a cute Irish kid. But the little wimp never showed. Now the French were bringing a new contingent to her international list of jerks.

Piss on it.

She’d go out to dinner alone. Sure wouldn’t be the first time.

Whump!

Strong hands clamped onto her upper arms, steadying her as she struggled to catch her breath.

“Excusez-moi, Samantha.”

His minty breath tickled her cheek. She almost purred, and all she wanted to do was snuggle closer into his cashmere jacket with his arms cuddled around her.

Mercy, woman. Get a grip.

She swallowed hard, counted the pastel shades in her new summer line, then stepped away, calm and collected. Almost.

“Good evening, Cisco.” The sound of her husky voice came as a complete surprise.

“You look very beautiful with flushed cheeks.” He beamed a know-it-all smile as he wrapped his warm fingers around her arm. “Shall we go?”

The night air chilled her heated skin. Cisco clucked his tongue when she shivered. He deftly removed the pashmina shawl from her frozen fingers, then draped it around her shoulders. The fine wool warmed her, but not as well as his hands…

For an adult rated excerpt of FRENCH Tickler please click HERE.

To read excerpts from the other erotic romances by Sloane Taylor, please click HERE.

Sloane Taylor believes humor and sex are healthy aspects of our everyday lives and carries that philosophy into her books. She writes sexually explicit romances that take you right into the bedroom. Being a true romantic, all her stories have a happy ever after.

Her books are set in Europe where the men are all male and the North American women they encounter are both feminine and strong. They also bring more than lust to their men’s lives.

Learn more about Sloane Taylor on her website, and of course her blog for easy recipes. Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter.

Wednesday's Travel - Starting the Trip with a Tumble!

Things have been quiet here on the blog the past month plus, I know.  The goal of blogging from the ship became a dream when the internet was down more than up, and to avoid further frustration I stopped trying.  The return home has been filled with jetlag, family stuff and edits, but I think I'm back. So let's begin.

The flight over, uneventful.  Sleeping on planes is not my thing, so watched several movies and read.  Catching the Tube to Victoria station went well too.  Victoria station escalators...there is were the problem came into play.

A three week trip that involves packing for different climates, plus formal, dressy casual and just plain old everyday ended up being two bags each.  One of my bags got a wonky on the escalator (no idea where the lift was located because I did look for one) and hence the fall.  Yes, I tumbled down an escalator at Victoria Station, taking out my husband, who tried to stop my fall, in the process.

As I lay on top of him listening to the thump of the treads against his back, I tried to get off which caused another bumble.  Thankfully, someone stopped the escalator and a number of people came to assist, including a Station employee.  There were suggestions we should go to hospital, but don't think they had a bandage for or treatment for humiliation.  We were battered and bruised, but knew nothing was broken.

We were helped to the taxi area and once arriving at the hotel, the desk sent up ice and plasters that we used to treat each other's wounds.  After that, we headed out in search of more plasters (yes, there were cuts) and medicine.  The medicine we found at http://www.boisdale.co.uk/belgravia/ where we discovered excellent food and lots of medication.  The walk back to the hotel wasn't so painful!

There you have it.  The start of our journey.  Just for grins check out the lovely boo-boo picture of my arm.  The other areas were not for photo viewing.  Not sure why it won't show vertical, but you get the idea and this is only the start of what turned into a beautiful work of art from my elbow to my wrist.  And yes, there were strange looks since the heat in London required short sleeves.

The cut area had a lump the size of a goose egg.  Ouch!

 

Have you ever had a nasty fall or worse when you were traveling? Share your story.

Tuesday's Wench - Eleni Konstantine on What's in a Name?

Welcome to Eleni Konstantine today!  I understand her search for the right pen name.  Fate just happened to drop mine in my lap, but read about Eleni's quest.

 

What’s in a Name?

by Eleni Konstantine

Many writers write under a pen name and I decided I was going to do this as well. Firstly, I had been working as a librarian and I had wanted me the writer separate from that identity.

So why did I choose Eleni Konstantine?

Well, Eleni is actually my real name. Confused? When dad registered me at the Australian consulate (I was born as an Australian overseas as my dad by this stage was an Australian citizen), they used the Anglicized version of my name – Helen. So Helen I became as well as Eleni and I’ve been answering to both all my life. I believe if you’re going to pick a pen name, pick one you will respond to. If someone is calling your pen name and you don’t respond, that doesn’t bode too well for your brand name.

Hence, Eleni was a good fit.

 But why Konstantine? Believe me when I tell you it took me a long time to find the right last name. I went through variations of different places, names, and influences. But nothing seemed to fit. Then one day I happened to look upon an icon we have at home (being Greek Orthodox, we have some of the Byzantine styled icons) and I had an ‘aha moment’. It was one of Saint Konstantinos with his mother, Saint Eleni (Konstantine and Helen). My godson’s name is Konstantinos (Kosta for short) and we celebrate the same name day, and so whammo, there it was. My name.

Eleni Konstantine.

What’s a name day?

Those in the Greek Orthodox faith, baptize their children using the name of a saint. When the saint has their religious day in the calendar, it is said to be a name day (yiorti). All those who have that name celebrate that name day. Konstantinos and Eleni are May 21st. 

So belated happy name day to me and all the Elenis (Helen, Helen, Helen, Elena) and the Konstantinos’ (Kosta, Con, Kon) out there.

Hronia Polla!

So, my small name day gift to you is a little from my latest release to tease your imagination. I hope you like it.

STORMY DIVIDE

Thom may be used to the dangers of the forest, but nothing has prepared him for this. When he stumbles across a woman dressed in weird clothing lying on the ground during a storm, he has no choice but to help her.

Ellie finds herself in another world, having traveled through time and space thanks to what Thom calls The Rifts. The question is whether she will ever be able to find her way back, or if she will be stuck in this new world forever. Or if she will even want to go home…

ANGEL EYES

Vera’s dreams are haunted each night by a man she only knows as Angel Eyes. He feels more real to her than anything else in her life, including her fiancé. Vera must try to forget her childish dreams of soul mates and happily ever after… but are they really only dreams or can she find a way to be with Angel Eyes forever?

To read an excerpt from Enchanted Realms, please click HERE.

Eleni Konstantine is Fantasy and Paranormal fiction writer, with a number of shorts published. Her stories range from flash fiction to novels. She blames her mother for her writing bug because as a child she was given many books, including illustrated fairytales. That and a love of Greek mythology, and Eleni was destined to become a writer.

Eleni lives in Adelaide, Australia, with her family and feisty American Staffy.

Learn more about Eleni Konstantine on her website and her blog Eleni's Taverna.