What I'm Reading Wednesday...Or Not

It's a little cooler today than it's been lately and it's supposed to be around 50 degrees on Saturday so I'm making my favorite banana bread.  Well, that and I have some bananas that are turning brown.  :o)  

                   Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup Crisco shortening
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed banana
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the first 4 ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.  Cream the sugar and Crisco together in a separate bowl until it is light and fluffy.  Add the eggs and beat well.  Combine the banana and milk in a separate container.  Add to the creamed mixture alternating with the flour mixture, mixing after each addition just until smooth.  Stir in nuts if you're adding them. Grease a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.  Pour banana bread mixture into the loaf pan.  Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.  Makes 1 loaf.

This is a big hit in my house.  I hope it will be in yours.

Katherine

Pets in Books and Movies

I enjoy reading books or watching movies that have a pet of some sort.  Or even movies that are just about the animals themselves such as “Homeward Bound” or “Milo and Otis.”  

One thing I hate though is if something terrible happens to the pet or worse if the pet is killed.  Maybe it’s because I saw “Ole Yeller” when I was a kid and remember bawling my eyes out when Travis has to kill Yeller.  As I grow older and more sentimental, I try to avoid movies and books where the pet is hurt.  

With books it’s a little harder to do, but for movies, if the trailer suggests something that makes my pet antenna quiver, I wait until I read the review or someone I know has seen the movie and ask them if anything happens to the pet.  One example is “I Am Legend.”  When it was playing at the theater, the movie trailers looked interesting, but they included a dog.  Uh oh, my pet antenna quivered.  Once I found out that Will Smith’s character has to kill the dog, his pet, I decided right then I wouldn’t ever see the movie.  While I have been told, the killing was done tastefully (is that possible?) and is central to the storyline, it still keeps me from wanting to see the movie.

How do you feel about this?  Does it bother you or do you just accept it as part of the plot and enjoy the book/movie as a whole?

Katherine

This I Know For Sure...

Rejection in any form can break your heart. 

Katherine

What I'm Reading Wednesday

This week I'm reading two books. 

I'm reading Goodnight Tweetheart by Teresa Medeiros for pleasure.  I need to take the plunge and sign up for a Twitter account but I'm so intimidated by it, I keep putting it off.  I thought maybe reading about it first might help or so I keep telling myself.  :o)

And

I'm reading The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Codes by Mark Urban for research purposes.  I hope to have my current manuscript finished by the middle of October so I'm working on laying the ground work, jotting down ideas, sketching out characters, and the like for my next book. 

I'm being interviewed

Today I'm being interviewed at "Escape to an Erotic Fantasy" the official blog of author Marie Tuhart.  http://www.escapetoaneroticfantasy.blogspot.com 

Katherine
 

This I Know For Sure...

Exercising and writing are a lot alike.  It's hard to find the time to fit them into my day, but when I manage to do them 5 days out of the week, I feel great.

The ebook giveaway winner of A Beautiful Cage by Alyson Reuben is Calisa Rhose.  I'd like to thank Alyson once again for allowing me to interview her heroine, Rebecca.  And a special thanks to everyone who stopped by Wednesday and left a comment.

On Monday, 9/19/11 I'll be guest blogging at "Escape to an Erotic Fantasy" the official blog of author Marie Tuhart.  http://www.escapetoaneroticfantasy.blogspot.com

Katherine