Booking and Cooking

So, I'm recovering from the Blizzard that wasn't. I did it by reading a lovely new book and then by cooking, a lot.  so I thought I would review what I have read and cooked.

Booking

Secret Relations
by Shelia M. Goss

Full disclosure, a friend and former co-worker edited this book. I probably would not have picked this book up without that in, and it would have been my loss. For one thing, reading this book can definitely raise the temperature in a cold room. It's a contemporary romance with an African-American main couple that has amazing chemistry.

Charlotte is a talent manager and Sean is a major talent. They have duffel-bags full of baggage from former relationships and yet they see something in each other that makes them take the chance on love. The dialogue is witty and the sex scenes are shift-in-your-seat hot.

What I think I liked most about this book, besides the chemistry and fun romance, was the support system of the heroine. Often the friends of the heroine are two dimensional--not in this book. You felt for them and loved how they rooted for Charlotte and Sean and still had their own lives. I'm glad this is the first in a series, so we can see the others get their own loves.

I give it a three of five stars on my goodreads account. I have the feeling that the next one will be a four or a five.

Cooking

Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman

Go to her blog to read her story. I can only tell you my response to her recipes.

1. They looked beautiful. So beautiful that I thought I'd give them a try. 
2. When I tried them. Oh. My. Gd. 
3. Since most of these tend to take a long time, what I wound up doing is when there was a blizzard or bad weather predicted, I went to her cookbooks and found something yummy to cook. 

For this weekend I made her beans and cornbread. I've done it before and it is yummy! I think this might have been the first recipe I made from this blog. It has since become my go-to lousy weather recipe. This was the first time I made it where Lotus would try it. I wondered if she'd like it.
Answer= YES! She loved it. I will have to note that the "Beans Beans" chant was quite true. She was a gas molecule for the next day.

Yesterday I made the Ranch Style Chicken for the first time. I made some changes. I didn't grill it--I pan fried it in the same pan I used for the bacon. I separated one for Lotus as she's not a big meat fan. She loved the bacon, and the cheese. The chicken--not so much. That didn't matter, my husband and I enjoyed it a lot and finished her portion.

I might try another new one from her cookbook soon. I might even take pictures.  We shall see.  That being said, I highly recommend anything from her blog, cooking show, and especially her cookbook.