"Southern Sass and Killer Cravings" by Kate Young

EXCERPT and GIVEAWAY

Southern Sass and Killer Cravings
(Marygene Brown Mysteries Book 1)

by Kate Young

Southern Sass and Killer Cravings by Kate Young is currently on tour with Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. The book will be released on 28 May but is available for pre-order now. The tour stops here today for an excerpt and a giveaway. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.

Description

Life has always been sweet on Georgia’s Peach Cove Island, but a case of murder has Marygene Brown down in the pits ...

For generations, the women of the Brown family on Peach Cove Island have been known for their Southern sass and sweet homemade desserts at their beloved Peach Diner. Since their mother's passing two years ago, Marygene has been stuck in Atlanta while her sister Jena Lynn has been running the family business. Now Marygene has left her husband and returned to her hometown, where she can almost feel Mama's presence.

But all is not peachy back home. Marygene has barely tied on an apron when a diner regular drops dead at the counter. When it turns out the old man's been poisoned, Jena Lynn is led away in handcuffs and the family eatery is closed. Now, to save her sister and the diner, Marygene must find the real killer. With some startling assistance from her Mama's spirit, Marygene will be serving up a special order of just desserts ...

Includes Seven Recipes from Marygene’s Kitchen!

Book Video

Excerpt

Read the first chapter here.

Praise for the Book

“Southern Sass and Killer Cravings by Kate Young is absolutely fabulous ... I loved this book so much that I practically finished it in one sitting.” ~ Baroness’ Book Trove

“I loved this book!! ... This is the first book in the Marygene Brown mystery series and I’m already hooked!!” ~ Moonlight Rendezvous

“Southern Sass and Killer Cravings provides a fun mystery while also tackling the tough subjects of family estrangement and domestic abuse ... I thoroughly enjoyed my first trip to Peach Cove Island and look forward to returning!” ~ Cozy Up With Kathy

“The author captures the southernisms and Georgia setting realistically and had me hearing, smelling, and thinking I was right there, visiting Peach Cove.” ~ Cinnamon and Sugar and a little bit of Murder

“You have turns and twists, murder, greed and some abuse to keep the pages turning at a fast pace. A great start to a wonderful series.” ~ Babs Book Bistro

About the Author

Kate Young writes humorous southern mystery novels. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Guppy Chapter. Kate lives in a small town in Georgia with her husband, three kids, and Shih Tzu. When she is not writing her own books, she’s reading or cooking.

Giveaway

Enter the author’s pre-order giveaway for a chance to win some great prizes: a Coach Bag with matching wristlet plus a $100 Amazon/B&N gift card OR one of two $10 Amazon B&N gift cards in gift cards plus an autographed copy of Southern Sass and Killer Cravings by Kate Young (ends 27 May).

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"PAIRED - Champagne & Sparkling Wines" by Fran Flynn and David Stevens-Castro

EXCERPT

PAIRED -
Champagne & Sparkling Wines

by Fran Flynn and David Stevens-Castro

PAIRED - Champagne & Sparkling Wines is currently on tour with Worldwind Virtual Book Tours. The tour stops here today for an excerpt. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.

Description

Food and wine pairing can be easy! All you need are taste buds and a sense of adventure.

This beautifully presented, full colour recipe book will encourage and support you to experience the pleasure of food and wine pairing for yourself. The first volume showcases sparkling wines of all styles, and challenges usual perceptions by offering sparkling wines with tantalising home-cooked recipes for all courses of a meal, not just with finger food.

The delicious recipes, presented by husband-and-wife team wine expert David Stevens-Castro and food photographer Fran Flynn create a foundation to apply your new pairing skills with confidence. Leave your comfort zone behind, try the unexpected, and bask in discoveries that your taste buds will be forever grateful for.

Renowned award-winning wine expert Tyson Stezler contributes a foreword and discusses the current trends in champagne and sparkling wine consumption.

Aimed at anyone with an interest in food and wine, this book uses a light-hearted and accessible style of language, plus full-colour illustrations to guide you on the right path to understanding food and wine pairings for yourself, with the added benefit of demystifying terminology and explaining wine labelling.

Seven chapters each showcase a style of sparkling wine, present a visual synopsis of the country of origin, supply complimentary cheese ideas, and several recipes that will pair with the topical variety. Every recipe illustrated with full colour photographs is introduced by Fran, while David narrates some pairing suggestions.

Common misconceptions about wine are dispelled, a broad range of dishes suitable for sharing and entertaining are presented, and suggestions on how you can introduce your friends to the wonderful world of food and wine are also provided.

Note: All measurements appear in both imperial and metric format throughout the book.

Book Video

Excerpt

Stuffed mushrooms
with ricotta & sun-dried tomatoes

Large juicy portabello mushrooms stuffed with lush, creamy ricotta cheese, paired with a light, fresh prosecco – it’s an easy and very pleasurable combination. This dish even sports the colours of Italy, as well as a sense of Italian flavours. It’s also an ideal share dish and surprisingly rich too. Usually one large mushroom per person is enough for a satisfying starter.

Pairing
Suggested match Dry non-vintage prosecco ideally from Veneto, Italy
Pairing style / cleansing

This is a classic example of ‘what grows together goes together’ with the Italian influence of the dish matching nicely with the Italian wine. A light easy-drinking non-vintage prosecco beautifully cleanses the palate after the richness of the ricotta. The potentially strong flavours of the onion, sun-dried tomato and parmesan are pleasantly restrained by the acidity of the wine.

Ingredients

200g (7oz) ricotta cheese,
preferably fresh and full-fat

50g (1¾oz) sun-dried tomatoes,
finely chopped

1 tablespoon fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

4 large portabello mushrooms 

½ small red onion, finely diced

1 garlic clove, peeled
and minced

parmesan cheese,
coarsely grated

salt & pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F. Mix ricotta, sun-dried tomatoes and finely chopped parsley in a bowl and put to one side.

Remove the stems of the mushrooms and finely chop. Gently fry with onion and garlic until just softened. Allow to cool slightly and then add to ricotta blend and mix fully.

Re-grease the same pan with a little bit of oil, to seal the mushrooms. Put on a high heat, add a few drops of water and place a large saucepan lid propped at an angle over the mushrooms to increase humidity and prevent drying while frying. Fry for about a minute each side.

Once sealed, place mushrooms in an oven dish on a layer of baking paper and heap with ricotta mix, until all mushrooms have a dome of the ricotta blend on top. Sprinkle with some parmesan.

Bake for 20–25 minutes or until tender. Transfer to a wire tray and top with some freshly chopped parsley, salt and pepper and a little bit more parmesan. Serve immediately.

Fran Flynn & David Stevens-Castro at paired-media.com

Praise for the Book

Awards:

Writers Digest Book Awards -First Place - Reference Category

Gourmand World Cook Book Awards -A 'Best in the World' award - Food & Wine Matching category

Foreword Reviews - Finalist - Cookbook of the Year

Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Awards - Finalist - Best Wine Book of the year

These awards followed on from winning 'Best in Australia' in two categories of the Gourmand regional awards for 'Food & Wine Pairing' and 'French Wine' earlier in the year

"I used to think that the act of co-ordinating wines with different foods was strictly for wine connoiusseurs and posh country club dinners ... How wrong was I?! Since reading this book I have discovered the world of wine pairing and I will never look back." ~ Amie, Mount Sheridan, Qld

"I have long admired David's enthusiasm for wine, his passion for sparkling and his well-considered touch in aligning wine and food..." ~ Tyson Stezler, International Wine Communicator of the Year 2015

"Whether you're cooking a special date night dinner at home, entertaining guests or buying a gift for a foodie friend, you'll find Paired to be an informative, enjoyable and absorbing read." ~ goodfoodgoldcoast.com.au

About the Authors

David Stevens-Castro is a highly regarded wine expert originally from Chile. He has a degree in Agricultural Science, specialising in fruit and wine production, and extensive experience as a sommelier. Fran Flynn is an award-winning commercial photographer and graphic designer originally from Ireland.

Living together on the Gold Coast, in Australia, they have pooled their skills as a husband-and-wife team to publish a series of books and share their expertise in the things they love.

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"Travel Bites" by The Hungry Traveller

EXCERPT and GIVEAWAY

Travel Bites

by The Hungry Traveller

Travel Bites is currently on tour with Goddess Fish Promotions. The tour stops here today for an excerpt and a giveaway. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.

Description

Travel Bites is a collection of anecdotal travel stories that crisscross the globe. It is the first work by The Hungry Traveller who has combined his two great life passions: travelling and eating!

The Hungry Traveller has been travelling for the last fifteen years and, along the way, has experienced many different sights, tastes, and cultures. Central to his travel experiences has been the role of food. Through his unique and very personal style of storytelling, you too can share in the highs and the lows of his stories from around the world. At the end of each story is a recipe for a dish inspired by his adventure.

Travel Bites will capture your imagination and curiosity; and will leave you yearning to plan your next holiday, adventure or escape!

Book Video

Excerpt

Another World

Location: Sapa, Vietnam

I had been in Vietnam for around three weeks when I boarded the train at Hanoi station for the overnight trip to Lao Cai, a town in the north west of Vietnam on the border with China. Although my tourist visa was about to run out, I had been told by a couple of backpackers whom I had met in Hanoi that trekking out to the hill tribe areas near Sapa in the remote north-west mountains of Vietnam was a must do experience.

[Want more? Read a longer excerpt here.]

Praise for the Book

"The Hungry Traveller combines two of the great pleasures of life, travelling and eating, to bring you a book full of fantastic sights, tastes and cultures. For 15 years The Hungry Traveller has been roaming the world sightseeing and, of course, sampling food from different cultures. He brings the two together with these memories and recipes. An easy read that will have you yearning to pack your bags and head off for an overseas adventure." ~ Linda Hall, Books Editor, Hawke's Bay Today newspaper

"Reading Travel Bites is a journey in its own right! It is a relaxing and enjoying read, as well as being informative and entertaining." ~ Caroline

"I loved this piece. I’ll admit to not having traveled extensively but after enjoying Travel Bites I became inspired to travel more, as well as vary my palate’s taste in cuisine. [...] If anyone enjoys learning about other landscapes and cultures, this is the perfect read. Overall this is a wonderful book and I look forward to future works from this author." ~ AspiringAuthor

About the Author

The Hungry Traveller is a travelling enthusiast who loves to eat! When travelling, he enjoys meeting new people and engaging with locals to learn about their culture, history and the food that they eat.

Giveaway

Enter the tour-wide giveaway for a chance to win a $10 Amazon or B&N gift card.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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"The Taste of Northern India: Where Spirit & Flavours Combine" by Shira Barak

NEW RELEASE

The Taste of Northern India:
Where Spirit & Flavours Combine

by Shira Barak

Description

This book will take you on a culinary journey through recipes and landscapes and will give you a deeper insight into Northern India. Fifty of the best recipes of the region have been gathered especially for you by the author during the years of her culinary journey throughout North India.

This is not a regular Indian cookbook; this book gathers fifty authentic North Indian recipes divided into different categories. Most Eastern cookbooks are either inaccessible to the common Western reader or have become "Americanized", with the ingredients being replaced by Western ingredients, making the recipes very different from the originals.

The author chose to keep these recipes authentic, as she got them from the local people of North India. In addition, she has included an Indian-Western ingredients dictionary, explaining each ingredient and suggesting reasonable, natural substitutes. As such, this cookbook is great for all levels of foodie.

This book provides delicious tastes, smells, and sights for the body and soul, takes you on a journey through the culture and landscapes of North India, and provides an easy way to enjoy tasty North Indian dishes at home.

Excerpt

Imagine snow-capped mountains and green forests, a golden temple reflected in the lake, and a monk murmuring words of prayer. On every corner you can find a temple, or prayer flags carried by the wind, and the air filled with an atmosphere of spirituality and prayer. Alongside these, on the street, you can find markets filled with smells, tastes, and colors, sweetened dough fried in a pan placed on a carriage ... The smell of masala and chai are carried everywhere and it is provided to vendors and buyers in shops. Women sell spices, fruits and vegetables at a street corner and Dhaba (a roadside restaurant in India) filled with a variety of delicious dishes full of flavors.

You can find spicy rice (biryani), mixed vegetable curry, kofta, palakpaneer, alu dam and more.

I found all those in northern India; the place where spirituality and flavors combine. It is a perfect combination between food for the soul and food for the body.

I first arrived in North India in the summer of 2004 and fell in love for the first time with the culture, the religious pluralism, landscapes, and of course the rich variety of smells sights and tastes… Oh, the tastes. Since then, I have returned to North India again and again. I spent a month riding on horses in the Himalayan province of Ladakh, the northern state of India; I had a visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, spent a few months in Dharamshala, where the Dalai Lama's and Tibetan exiles made their homes, and spent the winter at the hot springs and the enchanting forests of Kullu Valley. During that time, I opened up to a new variety of flavors, spices, and ingredients. Wherever I went, I picked up more experiences, friends, and of course, recipes. I worked at a local restaurant and made some good friends who happily opened their kitchen and their hearts and taught me the secrets of northern India's kitchen.

Some say that cooking is a spiritual act. It involves not only the mind or hands, but also the heart. In India, I realized that this is definitely true. Thought and patience are invested in every stew or baked dish; even among poor residents, you can find rich flavored dishes, spices, and scents.

I want to take you on a culinary journey through recipes and landscapes. The trip through the photos and recipes will give you a deeper glance of the landscapes and people of northern India.

Review

By Steven M

Not often do you find a cook book with more than just recipes. This one has it all. A little history, a great definitions and explanations, and some great recipes. Beautiful photos. Very inspiring to get you ready to make some of the best food you will ever eat. Excited I found it!

From the Author

My name is Shira, and I am a mother and a wife.

Over the years, out of my love of cultures and people, I've traveled to different countries and regions around the world: India, Nepal, Thailand, Morocco, the Middle East, Greece, Spain, the Balkans, and more.

When I arrive at a new place, what I particularly like is to try to remove my "tourist" way of thinking and try to really get the sense of the area, the culture and the people, as if I were local. With love and respect.

I believe that the best way to connect to people and to really understand a culture is through its kitchen: through the spices, markets, different dishes, smells and flavors. Because I love to cook I'm often interested in different cultures' cuisine. I explore, taste, smell, experience and of course take pictures.

Fortunately, I made good friends all over the world through my desire to learn and experience local cooking.

I try to share this love with readers who also love culture and people, who want to experience authentic cooking, and who believe as I do that food is made with love.

Enjoy the culinary journey!

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