Caridad Pineiro® Romance Author
NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Romance Author
My daughter and I used to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer together off and on. Me more than my daughter, but she indulged me about it. This is a photo of us all dressed and ready for the Season 6 premiere. We had a fun time watching at our little party and even had some friends join us for the show.
Hard to believe it’s been 20 years since the show first came on the air.
Now that I’ve got your attention . . . LOL!
I sometimes hear that a writer is waiting for inspiration or for the muse to hit to get started on a story. It makes me wonder what will happen if the muse is missing or that inspiration never materializes. It makes me wonder about what I write since I’m not the kind to sit and wait (for anything actually) and I just plopped my butt in the chair one day and decided to write.
Of course that was after a 5th Grade class assignment revealed to me that the stories in my head could become like one of the stories I loved to read. After writing my first book in the 5th grade, working on stories through high school, college and law school, it took a long time for me to say, “I’m finally going to do this.”
I haven’t looked back from that moment. I sat and I wrote. Every day. I didn’t sit and wait for inspiration and a muse because I’m the kind of person who believes that you make your own luck. That you control your destiny and that if you want something, you need to go for it full tilt like Don Quixote at the windmill.
Is it easy? Not always, in fact, most times not. There’s work and family and friends and a thousand other things that can pull you away from that story you want to write. You’ve got to want to write that story really bad and you’ve got to let the people in your life know that you want to write that story really bad. If they love you, they’ll understand and be supportive. They’ll celebrate with you when you say you’ve finished the story of your heart. They’ll hold you when you get that first rejection letter. They’ll be at your side when you get that box of books that says you’ve been published.
But that will only happen if you sit down and write, the muse be damned.
I’ll leave you now with a quote from a woman who was a friend, mentor, and most importantly, my mom: Nothing worthwhile is every easy.
Spring is supposedly here, although in NY/NJ it’s hard to tell with the 40 degree temperatures in the morning. Still, some of us have been out there, doing some planting and today I’m sharing some tips.
1. DO NOT LISTEN TO JOHN ELLIOTT ON CBS. I love you John, but you steered me wrong a few weeks ago when you said the plants would be fine outside. Sigh.
Okay, the real first tip is:
1. Don’t rush putting out the plants. Recommended planting date for the Northeast is Memorial Day. You could push it and do Mother’s Day if the weather has been warm for at least two weeks or so.
2. Clean out old leaves and other debris from your beds and pots.
3. Work the soil and loosen it up so you can get some nice aeration for those roots. Add compost or other organic matter and/or fertilizer to enrich the soil. I also work in some cinnamon into the top 2 to 3 layers to avoid fungus gnats. The cinnamon kills the fungus the gnats need to eat to survive. Organic, too!
4. If you’re a beginning gardener, make sure to check out the areas where you wish to plant. Does the area get full sun or is it in shade? Morning sun or afternoon? Once you’ve done that, it’s time to pick some plants.
5. There are lots of plants that can handle colder spring weather. Pansies for one and I love them! Also some other favorites like dianthus and petunias. You can click here for a good list of plants that can take a little cold. You can also plant bulbs the fall before for spring color and then work in annuals once the bulbs are done flowering.
6. Head to the garden shop and pick out the plants. Check their little tags for info on how high they’ll grow, how far apart and sun and water requirements.
7. Time to plant. To make life easier, lay out the pots in the way you want to plant them. It will let you adjust before getting things into the ground. Once you’re satisfied, it’s time to plant.
8. The best time to plant is early morning before the sun is too strong or later afternoon. Planting during the heat of the day will stress out your plants. Make sure the hole you dig is at least 4-6 inches depending on the size of your plant. Also, if there are too many roots around the base of the post, break them up so new roots will grow and spread out. Get rid of those jiffy pots around the plant and flatten them to use as mulch.
9. Water thoroughly so the roots can get established and after watering, mulch around the plants. Leave a little room around the plant free of mulch so it won’t rot and try to get at least 2 to 3 inches of mulch to prevent weeds.
10. Sit back and watch them grow and flower.
Here’s a photo of my daughter’s first garden. We planted it in early April when we had a fabulous spring day. It was fun explaining to her what to do and I gifted her an assortment of daylilies from my yard so she wouldn’t have to replant the entire bed every year.
Happy Man Candy Monday! I’ve started the timeline for #3 in the At the Shore series and am creating in my brain the image for Carlo Teixeira, the hero in #3. Carlo is of Portuguese descent and his family lives in the Ironbound section of Newark. He has a number of older brothers who run the Caminho bakery, but two younger brothers (who I hope to spin off into their own stories later!).
There are a number of Latin men who could fit the part of Carlo, the caterer extraordinaire, and he’s taking shape physically in my brain. As I was searching for assistance with this, a hard job but someone has to do it, I ran across sexy Aaron Diaz.
Aaron was born in Mexico on March 7. OMG, we share a birthday. How right is that?
Aaron has appeared in a number of telenovelas and also had a role in the short-lived PAN AM series on ABC and is now appearing on QUANTICO.
Thanks to Aaron Diaz’s Instagram for this photo! You can follow Aaron at the following sites:
Website: http://aarondiazspencer.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AaronDiazMX/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aarondiaz/?hl=en
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AaronDiazSVK
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Speaking of At the Shore, don’t forget the #AttheShore Cover Reveal for One Summer Night on May 11. Sign up and get behind the scenes tidbits and a chance for a slew of #giveaways! http://bit.ly/2qs0vYO
Admit it, there are some songs that bring back memories every time you hear them. Whether it’s thoughts of hitting the open road on your way to the beach (or the shore as Jersey folk like to say) or of a special time in your life, those songs stick with you.
Wouldn’t it Be Nice by the Beach Boys is one of those songs! Being down the shore on summer nights brings the sounds of the Beach Boys to mind for sure. But this song is doubly special because it’s “Our Song.” It was part of the soundtrack for the movie Shampoo which was my first date with my husband. Being without transportation, we went to see the movie together on campus at Villanova. Brings back good memories every time I hear it.
FYI – this song is from the Pet Sounds album which is considered one of the best albums of all time. If you love the Beach Boys like I do, check out Love and Mercy which is the Brian Wilson story and has a lot on the creation of the Pet Sounds album. Fabulous movie.
Have a great weekend and if you haven’t done so already, don’t forget to sign up for the May 11 Cover Reveal event on Facebook.
Please click here if you can’t see the Beach Boys Video below or cut and paste this link: https://youtu.be/lD4sxxoJGkA.
Just finished #2 in the At the Shore Contemporary Romance Series and I think it’s a story you will really love! It’s sexy, but tender and packed with emotion as the hero and heroine, Connie Reyes and Jonathan Pierce, learn to let go of the past so that they can build a future together.
In one of the scenes, Connie turns to her friend Emma (the heroine of #3) for some time away from Jonathan. As she stays with Emma at her friend’s Sea Kiss cottage, Connie decides to make Emma some Chicken and Rice as a way to say “Thanks.”
So here is my recipe for Chicken and Rice, a must have in any Latin kitchen. I’ve found that the easiest way to make it is in the oven, although you start it on the stove. If you have Corningware, Le Crueset or some other stove to oven cookware, even better. Who wants to spend time cleaning pots!
One fryer chicken, cut into pieces
Olive oil
2 small cans tomato sauce
1 cup chopped red & green peppers
1 cup chopped onions
2 cloves garlic minced
2 cups white rice
2 cups water
1 cup white wine
1 tsp BIJOL (this is a coloring agent you can find in the Latin cooking section of your market)
1 chorizo (also in the Latin section)
2 bay leaves
1 tsp oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350.
In your pot, put in a little olive oil and brown the chicken. Remove and set to the side.
In the same pot, add the red and green peppers and saute for about 5 minutes. Then add the chorizo and the onions. Saute for another 5 and add the garlic for just a minute. Then add the tomato sauce, bay leaves, oregano and wine.
Simmer for about 15 minutes to get rid of the raw tomato taste. Add salt and pepper to taste. Then add the 2 cups water and also, the Bijol. Give it a stir and add the rice. Stir again to mix and then add the chicken pieces. Arrange the chicken pieces so they are spread throughout the pot.
If you don’t have stove to oven cookware, make it in a regular pan and then move it a large enough rectangular aluminum foil pan.
Place the mixture in the oven and cover tightly. Cook for about 30 to 45 minutes until all the water is absorbed.
To serve, fluff the rice and also add canned peas and some sliced roasted red peppers.
If you can’t imagine eating peas straight out of the can, you can add frozen peas to the mixture in the oven during the last ten minutes of cooking.
Hope you enjoy this recipe!
Lately there has been a lot of discussion about blogs and whether people still read them or comment on them. In fact, lots of big online sites have eliminated the comments feature not because it incited sometimes unpleasant discussions, but because of a lack of discussion.
I wonder whether people still like reading blogs like mine, where I share some fun things, some serious, and of course, some book info. I love books. I love to write them and I love to read them.
I wonder if you’d like to see some different things, so here’s your chance. Let me know what you’d like to see on the blog!
