ThrowbackThursday | Caridad Pineiro® Romance Author

August 21, 2026August 21, 2026

Delicious Zucchini Flower Fritters

I’m adventurous in the kitchen (no, not that way) and will try making many different recipes. But when my brother-in-law gifted me some amazing zucchini flowers, I was a little flummoxed. How do I make these? My sister-in-law said she had stuffed them with mozzarella instead of ricotta, and that made sense. I didn’t want to deal with piping bags. You can also chop the flowers up, add chopped zucchini, and make pancake-like fritters. But I decided to go full bore and do them stuffed and fried. Here’s a little video on how I made them and the recipe! P.S. Chef Carol from the At the Shore novels would definitely pipe ricotta into these while he’s trying to win Emma’s heart! But why not grab the first book in the series, ONE SUMMER NIGHT, for only 99 cents at https://amzn.to/4o0DtCW.

Zucchini Flower Fritter Recipe

Ingredients

8-10 male zucchini flowers (stamens removed)
Mozzarella cut into 1-2″ rods

For the tempura Batter

1 egg, beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup ice-cold club soda/seltzer
2 tbsp corn starch

Directions

Heat oil. Your choice of oil, but I use corn oil with some olive oil. The oil should be glistening and you can test it by dropping a little of the batter into it to make sure it’s hot enough. If you have a thermometer, it should be at 350. If the oil is not hot enough, the fritters may turn out greasy.

Carefully open the zucchini flower and stuff mozzarella into the center. Close the flower petals around the cheese. Set aside.

Beat the egg and add the flower and corn starch. Stir to mix and then add the club soda until it is relatively smooth. Do not over beat it because you don’t want to lose the club soda bubbles.

Dip the stuffed flowers into the batter and then gently place in the hot oil. Fry until golden on one side and then turn and fry the other side until golden. Remove from oil and place on a paper towel to drain any excess oil.

Serve warm for the best flavor! You can make a dipping sauce if you want, but honestly, delicious just on their own!

Here’s what the final product looks like!

August 13, 2026August 13, 2026

My Other Life

I had a lovely weekend celebrating a big birthday with my sister and longtime friends with whom I worked for many years. My one friend — the birthday girl — was our law office’s unofficial photographer, always taking photos during office celebrations or candid shots here and there. When the office was about to close, she inherited the photo albums with all the pictures. Over the years, she’s been passing out photos to staff and friends, like this one of me in my office. And no, I didn’t drink on the job. I was lucky to represent the Jose Cuervo company and kept samples of their various bottles in case I needed them for legal actions. I loved my job and the people I worked with. The office politics not so much. Anyway, people often ask if there’s any characters that are like lawyer me, and I would say Connie from WHAT HAPPENS IN SUMMER is the character most like me in some ways while Lara from THE FAMILY SHE NEVER MET has more of me in other ways. Both are career women, but both have a passion for something else. In Connie’s case, it’s control of her life. For Lara, it’s fulfilling her dream of being a writer. Both good goals if you ask me. Goals I strived for over in the many years that I worked full-time as an attorney but also pursued my career as a writer.

August 12, 2026August 12, 2026

Happy National Middle Child Day!

Happy National Middle Child Day! I’m a middle child, but also more like the oldest because there was a ten-year age gap between my brother and me. Today, I’m sharing a very early picture of the three of us. The baby, my sister, is being held by her godparents as she’s being baptized. My brother is off to the right in the photo and I’m the curly-haired toddler being held toward the middle of the photo by my godmother. My dad is off to the left. My mother is not in the photo as back then there was a holdover practice of the mother being absent because she was recuperating. This photo was taken in Cuba and little did we all know that in the months to come, my parents would have to flee and that it would take a couple of years before we were reunited with them in the U.S. If you want a sense of what that was like, some of those experiences have been fictionalized in THE FAMILY SHE NEVER MET which is FREE on Kindle Unlimited at https://amzn.to/45gn7gW.

July 30, 2026July 30, 2026

Fun Times with Friends

I had a lovely time at this year’s Romance Writers of America Conference. It was great to get together with longtime friends and make new ones. The workshops were very helpful and it was lovely to spend time with my editors. I also took part in the book signing along with many fellow authors. Harlequin provided books for all their authors to give away to readers. It was nice to see familiar faces, like Amy, whom I had met at RAGT this year! Next year’s conference will be in Portland, Oregon. Another state off my list of states to visit, but more on that next week. Today I’m sharing some photos from the book signing! P.S. DECOY TRAINING is specially priced at 1.99 until July 31st, so don’t miss out on this deal! Download your copy today at https://amzn.to/4bOBrRk.

July 27, 2026July 27, 2026

Happy National New Jersey Day!

Happy National New Jersey Day! I was raised on Long Island and loved it, but when it came time for hubby and me to buy a house, Long Island was unaffordable for various reasons. When a friend invited us for dinner at their New Jersey condo, we realized that New Jersey could provide the kind of life we wanted. We weren’t wrong. From our first small house to a bigger one when we had our daughter to our lovely condo on the Jersey Shore, we have loved New Jersey. There is so much to see and do here, and so many beautiful places. Today I’m sharing a little video showing you some of my lovely places down the shore! Enjoy! P.S. My love for the Jersey Shore is what inspired Sea Kiss, the fictional town in the At the Shore series. The first book, ONE SUMMER NIGHT, is specially priced at 99 cents. Download this tale of three friends finding their happily ever after at https://amzn.to/4o0DtCW.

July 23, 2026July 23, 2026

Exciting Sandia Peak Adventure

During the Romance Writers of America conference, we had a free night and a friend invited me to go on the Sandia Peak Tram. Now, I heard “tram” and I thought it was a bus-type ride. Imagine my surprise when I realized it was an aerial tram! Many of you know I am afraid of heights, so I worried how I would react to it. Surprisingly, the fifteen-minute cable car ride wasn’t all that bad. Maybe my Namsan Tower adventure helped me somehow. The trips up and down weren’t that bad, although I did have some vertigo up on the observation decks. It was a beautiful view, and we had a nice dinner at the top to wait for night to fall and see the lights come on. Today, I’m sharing a video of that trip’s highlights with you!

July 16, 2026July 15, 2026

Fun RWA Day 1

I got in late last night and was welcomed by this gigantic flamingo! Fun! Even more fun was getting up early to meet friends for breakfast and spend time with them before going to an assortment of panels. I was breaking in new sneakers, which go perfectly with the flamingo theme. During breaks between the panels, I dropped by the goody room where they had a cute assortment of ribbons to choose from. I picked up a few, and now the question is, to ribbon or not to ribbon? LOL! But seriously, it’s been a great day meeting with old friends and making new ones. We’ve been chatting about our writing and what we’re doing. We also decided to discuss the goals we had. I settled on three goals. My first was getting to 100 written books. I’m about 20 books away from that, so it’s an attainable goal. The second was to write for the next 20 years so I get to spend time with my daughter at book events. Also attainable. Last, but not least, to get a new contract with Harlequin, and also sell a bigger romantic suspense book. One is more attainable than the other, but a girl’s gotta dream. So, I’m sharing some photos from today’s Day 1.

RWA Day 1