As an avid reader and also a college English major, one of my biggest irritations when reading a book was always the errors I ran across.  You know: a misspelled word, the wrong word used instead of the right one (‘mantle’, say, when it should be ‘mantel’).  Or when reading a series and from one book to the next a character’s name changes, or their eye color changes, or some other glaring mistake of that nature.  This stuff used to drive me to distraction, and would throw me right out of the story when it happened.  I am pretty… Read More

This particular blog article is a detour from my usual topics (anything Phantom of the Opera).  Bear with me; I’ll be back to my usual after this.  As everyone probably knows by now, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  It isn’t as if everyone ‘forgets’ about breast cancer for the other eleven months of the year – it’s that October is when outreach, information and fund-raising happens.  It’s a focused campaign, and during October a number of companies and research foundations (like BCRF) sell various items.  Percentages of the proceeds go toward funding research as well… Read More

Greetings!  With autumn on it’s way and the promise of cooler weather, I decided to post an additional recipe to my collection.  As readers of ‘Disfigured‘ know, these are the recipes that are mentioned in the book.  Sylvie, my heroine, is a cook, and in the 1870s, seasonal cooking was all normal cooking.  Gone would be the summer fruits, tomatoes and lettuces, in would come mushrooms, celeriac, chestnuts, figs, and game.

The new recipe is for a Fresh Fig Tart.  Figs come into their own in the fall, and are much appreciated by home cooks in France.  Tarts like… Read More