Grilling Your Food & Health Risks #TuesdayTip

This morning I was reading a magazine that mentioned the risks of grilling your food and the connection to cancer. Apparently there is no hard evidence about this, although there are some studies that say that grilling, as well as broiling and frying, can create some compounds that are associated with certain cancers.

There are steps you can take to lower the risk (if it exists).

Cook for less time at a much higher temperature.
Lower the temperature and cook the meat/fish longer.
Trim fat so you don’t get a lot of drips and flare-ups.
Clean all charred bits off the grill and take them off your food.
Cook fish which doesn’t create as many of the compounds that could harm you.
Marinate your meat/fish and use spices like red pepper, rosemary and garlic.

Hope today’s Tuesday Tip was a help!

For additional reading on this subject, please try:

Eating Well
American Institute for Cancer Research
Rodale’s Organic Life
Prevention Magazine

February 26, 2014February 17, 2021

#WriteWed My Writing Process & #Contest

One of the most frequent questions I get is, “How can you write so much when you’ve still got your full time job?”

It’s not easy, I’ll confess. There is a tug and pull between work and writing obligations and even more importantly, between family and work/writing obligations.

Because of all those conflicting things, I had to adapt to creating a writing process for myself that minimized conflicts.

The first thing was to make the most efficient use of my time. That meant writing on my commute to and from work. That also meant learning to write when it wouldn’t impinge on family times, namely, early morning and late late night.

I learned to be a morning person something which my mom would find hard to believe if she was still alive. I was one of those people who loved to laze in bed until noon.

Now I’m up at 5 a.m. on weekdays and on the train by 6. I get a solid 45 minutes of writing in on the train ride in and another on the train ride home.

The bulk of my writing is done on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I’m up by 6 usually, make the coffee (must have coffee) and then I’m on my laptop. During the winter months, I’m usually on the couch under a blanket while I write. I also usually have the television on. Yes, I know that some might find that distracting, but I’m used to working in noisy environments.

The spring/summer/Fall months are my favorite ones since when it’s warm enough, I head out onto my small balcony and sit and write there. In the early mornings it’s peaceful and I can often hear and smell the ocean, which is quite relaxing. The family cat, Osiris, will often join me. Here’s a picture of her and also, of some of the flowers I try to have on the balcony. I love those also and wish I had more space to grow things at my place.

Orisis my family cat

When I’ve got tight deadlines, I also work late at night, but I’m not a fan of that. First, because I’m tired from a day at work and second, because that’ll make me tired for the next day at work. But when I have to do it, I do.

So that’s my writing process. It works for me. It may not work for you and I think the key is to find out how to balance your writing life with all your other obligations.

Contest

Don’t forget we’ve got lots of fun things going on for the release of the Lucky 7 Bad Boys Contemporary Romance Box Set.

This set is available for pre-order now, but will be officially released on March 3. We’re having a big release party on March 5 at our Facebook page and a contest where you can win a number of different items. Just check out the Rafflecopter below to find out how to earn points!

You can also get extra points by capturing the bad boy keyword(s) (hint: find the hot bad boy pic) in our Lucky 7 Videos. You can find them here:

Lucky 7 Video #1
Lucky 7 Video #2

a Rafflecopter giveaway

January 21, 2014January 21, 2014

Picadillo #Cuban #Recipe

We’re expecting a big snowstorm tomorrow, so it’s time to think about hunkering down and having something hearty and tasty, but also easy-to-make. After all, you’ve spent time shoveling so you don’t want to slave over the stove to fill your belly.

This dish was always a staple in my house and it still is because it’s easy to make and delicious. Think of it as Cuban-Style Sloppy Joe’s.

My favorite way to serve picadillo is over white rice and topped with a fried egg. Yummy!!

Cuban-style Picadillo

1 cup chopped onions
1 cup green peppers (although I prefer red peppers)
3 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 cup chopped green olives with pimentos (These are your regular olives in a jar!)
1 pound chopped meat
1 small can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tsps cumin
salt and pepper to taste

The above recipe serves 2, so you can double accordingly.

Heat olive oil and then add peppers. Cook until starting to get soft. Then add the onions and saute until starting to get soft. Add the olives, garlic and chopped meat. Cook until chopped meat is starting to get brown. Add cumin, salt, pepper and tomato sauce.

Simmer for about half an hour.

Serve over white rice (or brown if you’re trying to be healthier).

Again, I like to top mine with a fried egg. In TORI GOT LUCKY, two of the friends own a restaurant and I have not doubt they’d have some snazzy version of picadillo on the menu. Maybe they’d add some raisins or capers as some people do. Or possibly serve it over a saffron-flavored rice or ripe plantain nests! This dish is so versatile, it allows you to really experiment with things to add.

October 15, 2013

Taking Care of Your Hands

We’ve been having recipes on Tuesdays, but I thought I’d change it up a bit today and offer up some tips for caring for your hands. Funny considering I’m not normally the pampering and beauty type, but these few things are easy to do and will help keep your hands looking lovely.

1. Moisturize. Especially in colder or dry weather, it’s important to moisturize your skin with both lotion and proper hydration from inside. Drinking the right amount of water is important for keeping your skin from being dry. Another quick hint: Use whatever cream you use on your face on the backs of your hands.

2. Scrub. It’s good to exfoliate to remove dead skin cells. If you don’t want to buy an expensive scrub, use a mix of one teaspoon olive oil and one teaspoon sugar once a week to scrub away dead skin cells.

3. Base coat. If you polish your nails, make sure to use a base coat. It’ll keep the polish from staining your nails and will also help the polish last longer.

4. Wash Carefully. But make sure you use lukewarm water on your hands. Too hot or too cold could damage your skin.

5. Protect. I’m notoriously bad about this! If you’re gardening or painting or doing anything else that will rough up your hands, protect them with gloves to avoid damage to your skin and nails.

January 3, 2012

Tips for Spending Less

If you’re like me, one of those things on the list of New Year’s resolutions was to spend less. Actually, I had already put that plan into place toward the end of last year with some nice results so the goal is really to continue that savings plan.

How did I manage to cut my spending last year? Well, here’s just a list of some of those things!

1. Brown bag lunch to work. An average lunch in Manhattan is about $6 so at 5 times a week times 48 weeks, that’s a savings of over $1400.

2. Skip the Starbucks and other fancy coffee in the a.m. Hubby now makes me my morning cup for the train and I rely on the office coffee pot for my other morning fix. With a typical latte at around $4 in NYC, that’s a savings of another nearly $1000.

3. Charge everything I spend. I know that sounds awful, but here’s why I do it:

4. Coupons. I always hold onto those Bed, Bath and Beyond coupons and only go when I have several of them handy. I also only go when I absolutely need something, which means my trips are generally geared around holidays, birthdays, etc. I also use online coupon sites such as coupons.com and pgeverydaysolutions.com for weekly specials and since I shop at A&P for my every day items, they have a clipless coupon system connected to my shopping loyalty card. That’s wonderful because if you are like me, you often will forget those coupons at home. Another big thing: Only buy what you would normally use and buy it in reasonable quantities. I read an article the other day that Americans throw out 40% of the food they buy. 40%!!! That’s a huge number.

5. I shop at Costco for the paper goods and other bulk items. I also buy their Kirkland name brand for things like toilet paper and dishwasher detergent. Just as good and generally cheaper.

6. I’ve cut back on dining out and when I do, I try to use restaurant.com certificates or those I’ve purchased at a discount from groupon.com. I also try to frequent local places and they often have online coupons available for discounts on dining.

This year I also plan on brown bagging breakfast to the office. I’ve got a stash of oatmeal and will find a way to make my eggs. Breakfast is important for helping with another New Year’s resolution: Losing weight and eating healthier.

Have you found some other ways to spend less? What will you do with the savings?

September 13, 2011May 10, 2017

A Tough Time in the Publishing Industry

Please stop piracy! Everywhere I turn lately there is bad news in the publishing industry.

The NY Times reports that mass market sales have fallen 14% from 2008.

The AAP reported that while e-book trade sales rose, overall sales were down 11% with trade print sales down a whopping 36.5%.

The closing of Borders is surely impacting the market overall. With the loss of 399 locations and layoffs of 11,000 employees, there is certainly the affect on the publishing industry, but also the greater toll on those who may lose their jobs. My heart goes out to all my bookseller friends at Borders who were always so wonderful to me.

Add to all of the above the piracy situation. On a daily basis I get alerts pointing me to sites where my books are being stolen. In the past my practice has been to send the links to the publishers, but with more and more pirated materials, I am sure they are overwhelmed.

I finally took the step to send out my first take down notice to Blogger over a site that not only offered links to my book, but to dozens of other books. Google was quick to respond and the post with my content was taken down, but not the entire blog. Really? One look would have shown that this blogger had link after link after link to pirated materials and yet the blog is still up.

What’s sadder is that after reviewing the policies of many providers, which are compliant with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA ), it’s clear that authors need an easier way to locate offending materials and have them removed from these sites.

The Curtis Agency and E-reads recently announced a program to help combat piracy and it may be worth it to check it out.

Now there are some who say that pirating books actually boost sales. I’m not sure about that. If someone was unwilling to buy a book in the first place, what makes them suddenly decided to pay for a book? The proverbial tiger changing its stripes?

On that note, is all of the above enough to keep me from writing? Nah. I love it too much. But it certainly makes me consider that it’s time to try new things and new ways to share my stories with you.

How do you feel about what’s happening with print/e-books/piracy? I’d love to hear from you!

Photo Credit: Thanks to Intense Whispers Blogspot for the piracy graphic.

August 30, 2011

To Blog or Not to Blog…

That is the question. Sometimes it’s damn hard to find something to write about or in which you might be interested. It’s not a problem uncommon to bloggers who regularly write.

I even found an interesting article about IBM’s Blog Muse which helps bloggers get past blogger’s block.

Unfortunately, I understand the system is not readily available to all bloggers. 🙁

That means the rest of us will still have to decide whether to blog and what to blog about. Which leads to this question:

What would you like to see me blog about?!

I know you love those luscious men on Wednesdays and the excerpts from myself and friends on Wednesdays, but what about the rest of the time? What things would you like to see?