Books, Books Books

I've already filled you in about my love of books about cooking. No, I don't mean cookbooks -- I mean those awesome and sometimes funny mysteries written by food lovers like myself. I'm especially fond of Diane Mott Davidson and I'm getting ready to read one by Joanne Fluke called The Cherry Cheesecake Murder. Diane Mott Davidson is going on a book tour and the closest she is going to be to me is somewhere in PA. I may try to get my niece to a bookstore she is coming to in Phoenix. If it is close to her house, she may do it for me. You never know.

I'm going off topic with this next one but another one of my favorite authors is a woman by the name of Maureen Meehan Aplin. Maureen is an amazing women. I have never actually met her but she is a friend of my niece. She is a sitting judge in California and she has a family but she has written five absolutely fantastic thrillers. The one I have read and loved was Pandemic Predator. I mailed it to her and she signed it for me and sent it back. She is so nice. I suggested that she have a contest on her website and give away a signed copy of one of her books. She took that idea and ran with it. She is now having a monthly contest where you can enter and win a book of your choice! Her books should be on the best seller list. They are extremely well researched and smartly written. They are not dumbed down which is probably why she isn't more widely known. Check out her website at www.maureenaplin.com and enter the contest that was inspired by me! Maybe if we're lucky she will make a visit to a local bookstore one of these days.

Another one of my favorite authors is Laura Lippman. She is a former reporter for the Baltimore Sun. She has written at least 15 books. Most of her books are based in and around Baltimore which makes it fun for me to read. Her latest book has just come out and she is going to be in my area at a bookstore called A Likely Story on Main Street in Sykesville. I plan to be there and get my copy of her latest signed by her. Her visit to A Likely Story is on Monday, March 30 at 6:30 pm or 7:00 pm depending on whether you believe the newspaper or her website.

Ever since I got B a signed copy of Lisa Gardner's new book at the Carroll Community College Book Fair a few weeks ago I'm getting obsessed with buying signed copies of books. Oh no!

The Creative Cook and Avid Reader

Happy Easter!

I am probably going to take some flack for this, but I'm doing an early Easter post. I got in the Easter mood on Sunday. It was my first day off in a while. I had planned to have D decorate his Easter Bunny Hutch, which he did. I think he did a nice job with it. I let him use the leftover decorators icing from the Blue & Gold cupcakes we made last week. We used that as a base for the green tinted coconut "grass."

I also managed to make colorful 24-karate gold Easter eggs, for my Easter Egg Ferris wheel. D wasn't interested in helping me with these for whatever reason. No matter. Don't you just love my cute little Easter Egg Ferris Wheel!! I bought it last year at either Michael's or Joanne's and it just sat in my basement. I really wanted to use it last year but I never got time to color the eggs. I really loved the 24-karat gold Easter Egg Coloring Kit I got this year. It was so great. My only complaint is that since the metallic gold paint is essentially yellow, you can't get all the colors right. When I added blue food coloring to the metallic paint it turned green and the purple (i.e. mixing red and blue) just became black. I don't know how this could be avoided unless the company just made a clear metallic paint and packaged that along with the faux gold. It really didn't bother me to much but you'll notice I don't have any purple or blue eggs in my Ferris Wheel.

Another thing we did Sunday was make Jello Jiggler Easter Eggs and Jello Jiggler Jelly Beans. It seems to me that for a family that doesn't eat Jello any other time of the year, we get obsessed with Jello at Easter time. In fact, D was thumbing through my old "Magic of Jello" cookbook. I have no idea where I got this Jello cookbook. It might have come from my mom or maybe I bought it on Ebay and blocked it out of my mind. I'm really not sure but sometimes he wants to make a recipe out of it. This time, it was a fairly easy and not too disgusting recipe for something called "Jell-O Refreshers". They were pretty good, actually. I ate one and he ate two (on different nights) which is a rarity for him. Once we have a dinner or dessert rarely does he go back for the leftovers on another night. I, on the other hand, could eat the same thing every night as long as it is something I love. But I digress..... I really wanted to give you this "awesome" (ha ha) recipe for this dessert. It is really easy to make and not bad at all. I'm going to guess that kids would love it since D did.

I'm starting to think that maybe I should have titled this post the Happy Jello post instead of the Happy Easter post because now I'm gonna tell you all a big secret. . . we visited the Jello Museum in LeRoy, New York about 3 or 4 years ago. OMG! Yes, it is true. We were visiting B's family in Rochester so we were only about half an hour away. D couldn't wait to see the Jello Museum, he was so excited. It was interesting and very inexpensive. If you are ever in that area, you should stop in at the Jello Museum and have a look. Just don't tell anyone. . .

Jell-O Refreshers

Prep time: 5 minutes

Chill time: 3 hours

1 pkg (4 serving size) Jello Gelatin Dessert, any flavor (we used black cherry)

1 cup boiling water

1 cup cold carbonated beverage (we used cola)

(1) Dissolve the Jello in boiling water. Cool to room temperature

(2) Add carbonated beverage and chill in dessert dishes (we used wine glasses) until set, about 3 hours.

Makes 4 servings

SUGGESTED COMBINATIONS:

- Lime Jello with ginger ale

- Orange Jello with root beer

- Cherry Jello with cola

TIP: Cool down the gelatin mixture to room temperature before adding the carbonated beverage if you want to maintain the carbonation.

The Creative Cook