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Sherri Stewart

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE NOVEL

June 2021 Newsletter

June 2021 Newsletter
Want to drive to Europe? Let’s take a field trip to Montréal, Québec
Sherri Stewart
Montréal is one of my favorite cities in North America and in the World. You want to go to Europe but can’t afford it? Go to Montréal!. A day’s drive will get you there (post-Covid).  Its number of restaurants is second only to New York City!
My favorite restaurant? Gibby’s
My favorite bagel place? St. Viatur’s
My favorite husband (only) was from Montréal.
On parle ma langue favorite à Montréal.
 
Five Things that Will Shock You about Montréal
 
 
1. Montréal is home to the world famous Cirque du Soleil
2. John Lennon’s song – "Give Peace a Chance" – was written in Montréal during a Bed-in at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel on June 1, 1969.
3. No building in Montréal can be taller than the cross on the Mount Royal Mountain.
4. The Underground City – a series of interconnected tunnels beneath Montréal runs for over 32 kms (20 mi). In the winter over 500,000 people use the tunnels on a daily basis. The tunnels connect shopping malls, museums, universities, hotels, banks, offices and seven metro stations.
5. Language Police (OQLF) conducted over 5000 visits in 2020 to businesses to ensure that French was the primary language in every way—including making sure no English word was larger than any French word on any display.
 
 
 
Chicken Kiev by Guy Fieri
Ingredients
Compound Butter:
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup cream cheese 
1/4 cup grated pepper jack 
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill 
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley 
1 teaspoon smoked paprika 
2 cloves garlic, minced 
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds boneless, skinless ground chicken (mix of white and dark meat)
Breading:
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 eggs, beaten 
2 cups seasoned Italian breadcrumbs 
2 cups panko bread crumbs 
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Oil, for frying
Directions
  1. For the compound butter: Add the butter, cream cheese, pepper jack, dill, parsley, paprika, garlic, 2 tablespoons salt and 1 tablespoon pepper to a food processor and pulse, occasionally scraping down the sides, until well combined. Place the compound butter on a piece of plastic wrap and roll it in a tube shape about 2-inches in diameter, twisting the ends to secure. Place it in the freezer until completely solid, at least 3 hours.
  2. Divide the chicken into four 8-ounce patties. Remove the log of compound butter from the freezer and place it in the center of the chicken. Wrap the chicken around the compound butter and seal to form it tightly and evenly around--like a large egg shape.
  3. For the breading: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place a rack on top of a baking sheet.
  4. Set up a dredging station with the flour, beaten eggs, seasoned Italian breadcrumbs and panko. Season each with 2 tablespoons salt and 1 tablespoon pepper. Dredge the chicken lightly in the flour, egg, then Italian breadcrumbs. Pass the chicken back through the egg and then finally in the panko for a second coating. Place on the prepared rack.
  5. Fill a pot with 2 to 3 inches of oil and heat to 350 degrees F. Fry the chicken until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Place the chicken back on the rack and bake until cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes. Let the chicken rest for 1 to 2 minutes before serving.
A Song for Her Enemies E-book only 99 cents on Amazon from June 13 to 20. A big savings! And write a review, please.

 
She has the voice of an angel,
but the devil is listening!
 
After Nazi soldiers close the opera and destroy Tamar Kaplan’s dream of becoming a professional singer, she joins the Dutch Resistance, her fair coloring concealing her Jewish heritage. Tamar partners with Dr. Daniel Feldman, and they risk their lives to help escaping refugees. When they are forced to flee themselves, violinist Neelie Visser takes them into hiding.
Tamar’s love for Daniel flowers in hardship, but she struggles with the paradox that a loving God would allow the atrocities around her. When Tamar resists the advances of a Third Reich officer, he exacts his revenge by betraying the secrets hidden behind the walls of Neelie’s house. From a prison hospital to a Nazi celebration to a concentration camp, will the three of them survive to tell the world the secrets behind barbed wire?  

A Song for Her Enemies is the story of a talented young opera singer and the bittersweet love that grows amid the tyranny and fear of World War II. Set against the backdrop of neighbors willing to risk their lives in the German-occupied, war-torn Netherlands, A Song for Her Enemies is an inspiring and beautiful novel celebrating the resilience of the human spirit and the determination of Christians in the face of persecution. It is a novel for everyone seeking to understand the pain of the past and be inspired to embrace hope for the future.
 
 
Meet Diane Tatum
Finding Love in the Fog of Aphasia is Diane E. Tatum’s eleventh published book. Diane wanted to be a writer since elementary school. Her first novel was Gold Earrings, which began as a story for her creative writing class in high school. It was published after she retired from teaching middle school language arts.
Website: www.dianeetatumwriter.com
Amazon page: amazon.com/author/dianeetatum 
blogs: http://tatumlight-tatumsthoughts4today.blogspot.com/
           http://tatumlight.wordpress.com/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/tatumligh t
twitter: @DianeTatum
 
 
Tell us about Finding Love in the Fog of Aphasia?
 
One day on his regular bike ride on the hills of Daelin, GA, Jamey Connor and his bike wound up under a car. Jamey sustained serious injuries including Traumatic Brain Injury with Expressive Aphasia, causing an inability to communicate professionally despite his three engineering degrees. Noelle Etheridge, a certified Speech Language Pathologist, is hired by Jamey’s father and grandfather, owners of Sullivan and Connor Engineering, to aid Jamey in recovery of his communication skills.
 
After one week, Jamey’s father decides to put Jamey back on disability and fires Noelle. After their dismissal, Noelle and Jamey fall in love. Amid a toxic environment at work, lawyers, and a new medical complication, how will they find a way to create a future together? https://amzn.to/3pPIMXy
 
What’s your favorite recipe?
I grew up in St. Louis, MO. The superfoods of St. Louis are Gooey Butter Cake, toasted ravioli, pasta, and pizza with cracker-thin pizza crust, cut in squares! Gooey Butter Cake is available at most grocery store bakeries in the St. Louis area. This recipe is simple, starting with yellow cake mix.
 
 
 
Gooey Butter Cake
Bottom layer –
1 pkg. yellow cake mix – classic style
1 stick butter, softened
2 large eggs
Blend above ingredients – pour into ungreased 13x9 or 10x10 pan
Top layer –   
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 large eggs
1 lb. powdered sugar
Blend together – pour on top of cake mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 min. Sprinkle additional powdered sugar on top.

**********************
Meet Diane Yates
Diane Yates writes inspirational romantic fiction and nonfiction. Her Fate Series, published by Forget Me Not Romances, an imprint of Winged Publications, begins with Melissa's Fate and continues with Impossible Fate. The third book in the series will release in the near future. Diane is the author of two biography/memoirs, Pathways of the Heart and All That Matters, published by W&B Publishers. She has served two terms as President of Ozark’s Writers League and is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and the Columbia Chapter of the Missouri Writer’s Guild, Boonslick Creative Writers, and Clean Fiction Writers. She teaches writing workshops and has spoken at various organizations.
 
Diane and her husband, Rick, have worked in youth and adult ministries in their church, where she wrote plays and skits as well as Sunday School curriculum and Bible studies. The two split their time between Florida and Missouri. She has three children and eight grandchildren who are the crown of her life. 
***
Twenty-three years ago, Rick and I left the hustle and bustle of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex for Missouri small town life. We landed in Fayette, home of Central Methodist University with a booming population of just 2,887 and only one flashing red light. Two cars posed a traffic jam. It was exactly what we needed! Fayette was the county seat with the courthouse in the middle of the town square and quaint shops all around. We became active in our church and community theater. In the summer, we enjoy sitting on the courthouse lawn and listening to a community band playing John Philip Sousa’s patriotic tunes, like “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”
 
For the 4th, everyone gathers in the city park for fireworks. In August, a homemade ice cream competition highlights the Festival of the Arts in August and you can sample some of the best tastes you can imagine. After important elections, the results are hailed loudly from the steps of the courthouse, and cheers erupt from those who voted for the winners. If you visit us, don’t miss the Katy Trail, a biking route across the state along the paths where the rails of the Missouri, Kansas, Texas railway once existed. Sit high on the cliffs overlooking the Missouri River at the Les Bourgeois Winery and enjoy a fine meal paired with a perfect glass of wine.
 
www.DianeYates.com
 
www.Dianesponderings.blog
 
https://www.facebook.com/booksbyDiane
 
https://www.instagram.com/author.dianeyates
 
 
Tell us about Impossible Fate.
 
Impossible Fate is the continuing saga of the Drake Family. While the first book was set in New York City and Connecticut, this book takes the reader to Israel as a Christian David fights for the right to marry a Jewish Aliyah. During his time in Israel, David dons a disguise and celebrates Hanukkah with the Zimmermans. The traditional food of that evening included Latkes and Sufganiots.
 
Rick and I were blessed to receive as a gift a trip to Israel. It changed our lives. As I started writing Impossible Fate, the school bus David rode stopped to pick up a young girl with long black hair. When she sat down beside him and conversed, my hands floated over the keyboard, and the next thing I knew, she was Jewish! I love their against-all-odds story and hope you will, too.
https://www.amazon.com/Impossible-Fate-Diane-Yates-ebook/dp/B0886G9VTS
Potato Latkes
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/potato-latkes-104406
 
Makes 12 to 16 latkes
INGREDIENTS
 
  • 1 pound potatoes
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil
     
    • Accompaniments: sour cream and applesauce
PREPARATION
  1. Preheat oven to 250°F.
  2. Peel potatoes and coarsely grate by hand, transferring to a large bowl of cold water as grated. Soak potatoes 1 to 2 minutes after last batch is added to water, then drain well in a colander.
  3. Spread grated potatoes and onion on a kitchen towel and roll up jelly-roll style. Twist towel tightly to wring out as much liquid as possible. Transfer potato mixture to a bowl and stir in egg and salt.
  4. Heat 1/4 cup oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Working in batches of 4 latkes, spoon 2 tablespoons potato mixture per latke into skillet, spreading into 3-inch rounds with a fork. Reduce heat to moderate and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes. Turn latkes over and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes more. Transfer to paper towels to drain and season with salt. Add more oil to skillet as needed. Keep latkes warm on a wire rack set in a shallow baking pan in oven.
Cook’s Note
·Latkes may be made up to 8 hours ahead. Reheat on a rack set over a baking sheet in a 350°F oven, about 5 minutes.

·Grating the potatoes, soaking them briefly in water, and then squeezing out the liquid (as we've done here) keeps the batter from turning brown too quickly.

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