Another chance...

A lot of people of my gift list got copies of Sizzle, Seduce and Simmer for Christmas, but I'm pleased to report they've all been enjoying the stories and recipes.
Now, my daughter has just pointed out some rather nice publicity for the book on page 28 of February's Notebook magazine. They're also running a competition with five copies to give away, so if you missed out, or you'd like the chance to score another copy, check out this great competition.

And on that note, Nicola Marsh is having a wonderful month of book giveaways on her blog. It's continuing for the whole of February with guest bloggers and lots of great romance books. I'm going to be a guest later in the month. Will keep you posted.

I warned you before Christmas that I was going to busy with my family. I didn’t realize that would equate to no blogs at all, but as you can guess I have been busy indeed. For the whole time Lucy and Tom were with us it rained – both at Noosa and in Townsville. They had two fine days out of almost four weeks. Added to that we had floods and blackouts in Townsville and the lift went out of action so we were climbing fifteen flights of stairs.

Despite all that, we had a great time and the children swam almost every day – they love swimming in the rain – and went home to their parents with tales of a great holiday, so that’s the main thing.

On the writing front, I got my revisions approved and BLIND DATE WITH THE BOSS (a working title that I was allowed to keep) will become my third Romance release for 2008. Look out for it in November – it’s a book I thoroughly enjoyed writing and I’m especially fond of the characters. To me, it feels like a throw back to books like A Wedding at Windaroo, Her Playboy Challenge and The Blind Date Surprise.

Now we are spending a week at Tarzali with one of my daughters and her partner. It’s sweltering hot in FNQ after all the rain, but at least on the Tablelands, we get a good breeze to relieve us.

V and I have had fun concocting tempting salads and salsas and I thought I’d share one luncheon menu with you. These are our own inventions, which we made using fresh local produce and some of the yummy items we bought at the Italian deli in Mareeba. It was delicious.

Proscuito and walnut salad

Toss together:-

baby spinach leaves

baby rocket leaves

torn basil leaves

sliced cucumber

chopped proscuito

chopped avocado

freshly shelled walnuts (Well, they don’t have to be freshly shelled, but Matt gave us a you-beaut nutcracker for Christmas and these nuts were divine.)

Drizzle with a dressing made from soft ricotta cheese, a good olive oil and lemon juice

Watermelon and mint salsa

Chopped watermelon

chopped shallots

mint

and a dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Serve with ciabatta bread and iced tea.