For Sale: Wedding Dress. Never Used. by Michelle L. Levigne

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Not your typical romance novel …

Eve is just beginning her sophomore year at a Christian college in a small town. Brainwashed by her family to believe no man will ever love her, Andy’s interest takes her by surprise.

Their awkward relationship leads to an engagement. He plans a career in the ministry … so does she. It seems like a great match. She buys a wedding dress for the small ceremony they’ve planned.

And then things go sour.

This book about first relationships—and the ones that follow—is told with a sense of humor. The author did a great job creating realistic characters because some of them I loved and others I loved to hate.

Twists and turns that I never saw coming kept my interest. I loved the surprise ending.

I will look for more books by this author.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Amazon

Frozen Chocolate Mousse Recipe

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I’ve been watching a lot of cooking shows recently that left me craving chocolate. Flipping through The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, I found a recipe for frozen chocolate mousse that is easy and delicious .

Pour 1 cup of cold milk in a heavy saucepan. Sprinkle 1 envelope of gelatin over the milk and let it stand for 5 minutes. This allows the gelatin to soften.

Stir this mixture. Then add 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate and ¾ cup sugar and stir. Cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate is melted and the mixture is blended.

Pour into a bowl and chill until lukewarm.

While that chills a few minutes, whip 2 cups of heavy cream until it forms soft peaks.

Remove the chocolate mixture from the fridge and then gently fold the whipped cream into it. Pour the chocolate mousse into a mold and freeze.

An alternative: I wanted to use part of my mousse as a layer in a cake so I lined a cake pan with parchment paper and poured some inside. This was frozen until ready to put on the cake. (A yummy choice!)

The rest I placed in individual serving ramekins.

Delicious! Smooth and creamy and chocolatey. Everyone who tried this devoured it. This chocolate mousse is a hit!

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.

 

 

The Day Before President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address

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Excitement fills the overcrowded streets of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, November 18, 1863. It’s been a long time since residents had something to celebrate. President Abraham Lincoln and other distinguished guests will soon arrive for tomorrow’s dedication ceremony of the national cemetery.  Preparations  have taken weeks. Thousands come by train and in carriages, buggies, farm carts, and Pennsylvania wagons. Some ride horseback into town. Others walk.

At noon, a special train leaves Washington D.C. on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. President Abraham Lincoln, Secretary of State William H. Seward, Secretary of the Interior John P. Usher, Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, two foreign ministers, Lincoln’s private secretary and assistant secretary, army officers, Marine Band members, and newspaper correspondents are passengers.

An unusually quiet Lincoln sits in the last car. Sadness marks his face. Perhaps he reflects on the tragic loss of so many soldiers who died at the battle, a loss that reminds him of losing his precious Willie, his third son, a year earlier.

Gettysburg attorney David Wills, Ward H. Lamon (marshal of the event,) and Edward Everett (the dedication’s main speaker) are among those who meet the President’s train at dusk. They and the First Regiment of the Invalid Corps escort him to the Wills’ home where he will spend the night.

The Fifth New York Artillery Band plays and the crowd serenades Lincoln while he eats supper. They request a speech.

Lincoln appears at the front entrance of the home. He bows for the exuberant crowd yet refuses to give a speech. “I have no speech to make.”

The crowd laughs.

“In my position it is somewhat important that I should not say any foolish thing.”

“If you can help it,” someone yells.

“It very often happens,” Lincoln smiles, “that the only way to help it is to say nothing at all.”

The crowd laughs and the President soon goes back inside.

Inns and homes are full. Many visitors remain on the streets late into the night for they have no place to go. They shout and cheer and sing while bands take turns playing patriotic songs and hymns.

Inside, President Lincoln pulls out his speech for tomorrow’s dedication. A few lines are all they’ve asked of him. He must make those “few appropriate remarks” count.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Carmichael, Orton H. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, The Abingdon Press, 1917.

Gramm, Kent. November: Lincoln’s Elegy at Gettysburg, Indiana University Press, 2001.

Klement, Frank L. The Gettysburg Soldiers’ Cemetery and Lincoln’s Address, White Main Publishing Company, Inc., 1993.

 

Christmas Fiction Off the Beaten Path

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Not your Granny’s Christmas stories …

Step off the beaten path and enjoy six stories that look beyond the expected, the traditional, the tried-and-true.

MARY, DID YOU KNOW?  is inspired by the song, Mary Did You Know? This story by Patricia Meredith is a thought-provoking look at the birth of Jesus through the eyes of His mother, Mary.

THOSE WHO STAYED, by Ronnell Kay Gibson, is a gripping story about a Christmas Eve when a teenage boy is one of seven holiday shoppers held hostage. The gunman asks an important question—and a young father has the same question years later.

A ROSE FROM THE ASHES, by JPC Allen, is a story about a daughter searching for her father—and the one who tried to kill her mother. It snagged my attention right away.

In RETURN TO CALLIDORA by Laurie Lucking, a princess threatened by a sorceress is guarded by a dragon. She awaits rescue from her knight in shining armor … but things have a way of turning out differently than planned. I loved that this story has an unlikely hero.

CRYSTAL CHRISTMAS by Michelle L. Levigne not only transports readers back in time but also to a magical mountain in another world. This story is filled with twists that surprised me and kept my interest. I loved the ending.

And I hope you will also enjoy my story in the collection, NOT THIS YEAR, where a hard-working husband and father faces difficult choices at Christmas.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Amazon

 

Meatloaf Recipe

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When I was a child, meatloaf was a staple in my home. I don’t know my mom’s recipe so I rarely make it. When I found this recipe in The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, I was excited to try it.

The cookbook offers a few variations of its standard recipe. I chose Meat Loaf with Parsley and Tomato. I chose to remain light (1/2 teaspoon of dried) on the parsley because it called for ¼ cup of minced parsley and I know from past experience that this seasoning packs of lot of flavor.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Chop one onion and set aside. (I didn’t use the whole onion because it was too much for my taste. Instead I used about ¾ of a medium-sized onion.)

Prepare two cups of freshly made bread crumbs or buy them. I like the flavor of Panko bread crumbs, so I used them. (It was a great choice!)

Butter two loaf pans or use cooking spray.

Mix together 2 cups of bread crumbs with the reserved chopped onion. Add 2 pounds of ground beef and mix together. (I find using my hands is easier than a spoon.)

Then stir in 2 slightly beaten eggs, 1 ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon ground black pepper, ½ teaspoon parsley, ½ teaspoon basil, and ¾ cup tomato sauce. Blend this all together.

Divide it into two and pat it into place in the loaf pans. Pour ¾ cup tomato sauce on the top of the unbaked loaves.

Bake for 45 minutes.

This is a good recipe. I liked the texture. When hot, I tasted the basil and thought about omitting it for the next time. Then I had a cold meatloaf sandwich the next day. Yum! The basil is not as strong in cold meatloaf.

This comforting dish gave me a nostalgic feeling for all those childhood suppers. I hope you enjoy it, too.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.

 

 

Gettysburg Attorney David Wills Prepares for National Cemetery

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Over 7,000 soldiers died in Gettysburg at the Civil War battle that lasted from July 1st to July 3rd in 1863. While the Confederates under General Robert E. Lee retreated in the pouring rain on July 4th, some Southerners stayed to bury a small portion of their dead. The rest of the fallen were left for Union soldiers and Gettysburg citizens, who had their hands full caring for the wounded, to bury.

There was little time. Over 5,000 shallow graves were dug along fences, in the Wheatfield, beside the Peach Orchard, on Culp’s Hill, in the fields of Cemetery Ridge and other battle locations.

Gettysburg attorney David Wills wanted to purchase land for a national cemetery as a burial place for those killed in the battle. He requested approval from Pennsylvania Governor Curtin, who granted it. Curtin also requested that Wills write the other 17 Union state governors. Fifteen approved the plan.

Wills bought 17 acres next to the town’s cemetery. A monument was to be erected in the center of a semi-circle of graves. There are 22 sections: 3 sections for unidentified soldiers; 1 for regular army soldiers; and the remaining 18 sections were for the 18 individual Union states’ soldiers.

About 25% of the soldiers were from New York, so that state has the largest section.

They began transferring bodies to the new cemetery on October 27, 1863. Only 50 – 60 were reburied on a daily basis.

Wills wanted to dedicate the new national cemetery in a ceremony. Edward Everett, a well-known orator of the day, was invited as the main speaker. President Lincoln and his Cabinet received invitations. Some notable Union generals were also invited.

President Lincoln accepted. Wills then invited him to make “a few appropriate remarks” at the November 19th dedication ceremony.

History has overshadowed the gifted Everett’s two-hour speech for Lincoln’s two-minute Gettysburg Address.

No one predicted just how much Lincoln’s “few appropriate remarks” would inspire a nation—even today—and deliver a message the people attending desperately needed to hear.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Carmichael, Orton H. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, The Abingdon Press, 1917.

Gramm, Kent. November: Lincoln’s Elegy at Gettysburg, Indiana University Press, 2001.

 

Klement, Frank L. The Gettysburg Soldiers’ Cemetery and Lincoln’s Address, White Main Publishing Company, Inc., 1993.

 

Sheldon, George. When the Smoke Cleared at Gettysburg: The Tragic Aftermath of the Bloodiest Battle of the Civil War, Cumberland House, 2003.

 

Shine Like the Dawn by Carrie Turansky

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Maggie Lounsbury works hard in her grandmother’s millinery shop but each day brings its own struggles. Life has been difficult since the drowning deaths of her parents and older sister four years ago. The only family she has left is her little sister and her grandmother. She can’t help resenting that her former friend, Nate Harcourt, did nothing to help her after the tragedy. He couldn’t even be bothered to attend the funeral, so when he returns to her small English town she’s unable to trust him.

A rift with his family and service in the Royal Navy has kept Nate from his home town for four years. He comes home to make amends with his dying father. But there is trouble brewing in their company and workers threaten to strike. After his father dies, a troubled relationship with his stepmother continues. Just what is she up to?

Maggie wonders the same thing. And she also wonders if her family’s drowning deaths were an accident. How can she discover the truth when old feelings for Nate resurface?

The Prologue that begins with such a tranquil scene quickly becomes a nightmare, snaring my interest right away.

Twists and turns keep the story interesting. I love being surprised by novel events that I don’t see coming. The characters sometimes made frustrating choices but, as time went on, I began to see why.

Many layers are intricately interwoven into this story. And I loved the historical setting in a small English village in 1903.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Christianbook.com

 

Using Food to Enhance Story Settings

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Today’s post has been written by JPC Allen, friend and fellow author in “Christian Fiction Off the Beaten Path”—welcome to Historical Nibbles, JPC!

Food, like music, is a universal language. People connect with one another over mutual likes, dislikes, cooking techniques, and fond experiences with food. Writers can connect with readers using food to explore characters, enhance settings, and establish plot points.

Explore character

In my YA Christmas mystery, “A Rose from the Ashes”, my main character is Rae Riley, a nineteen-year-old, who is living on her own in a tiny apartment on the salary she makes as clerk at a library. She often mentions food, especially snagging free food at a church lunch or Christmas party.

All these remarks about food tell readers, without actually stating it, that Rae doesn’t have much money. It’s a concern for any young adult, and I hope it makes a connection with readers.

Enhance setting

Two scenes in “A Rose from the Ashes” are centered around food. One is a church lunch. Rae is invited by a grandmother to eat with her family. The aromas of chili and soup make Rae hungry. She stays to clean up after the lunch to see if she can get any leftovers to take home. These activities with food show how Rae is welcomed at the church. The grandmother has given Rae homemade food in the past, demonstrating that she cares for Rae.

Establish plot points

If I need to slow the narrative, a great way to do it is to sit my characters down to a meal. It’s also a very effective way to impart information to the reader as my characters talk while they eat. But I have to be careful and not take this opportunity to dump too much information.

What memorable meals have you read about in books?

-JPC Allen

JPC Allen is holding a book giveaway on her site! Click here for details.

 

BIO

JPC Allen started her writing career in second grade with an homage to Scooby Doo. She’s been tracking down mysteries ever since. A former children’s librarian, she is a member of ACFW and has written mystery short stories for Mt. Zion Ridge Press. Online, she offers writing tips and prompts to beginning writers. She also leads writing workshops for tweens, teens, and adults, encouraging them to discover the adventure of writing. A lifelong Buckeye, she has deep roots in the Mountain State. Join the adventure on her blog.

 

Book Blurb

Christmas fiction off the beaten path

 Not your Granny’s Christmas stories …

Step off the beaten path and enjoy six stories that look beyond the expected, the traditional, the tried-and-true.

Inspired by the song, “Mary Did You Know?” – a mother’s memories of events leading up to and following that one holy night. MARY DID YOU KNOW? By Patricia Meredith

A young woman seeking her own identity searches for the man who tried to kill her and her mother on Christmas Eve twenty years before. A ROSE FROM THE ASHES. By JPC Allen

Princess, tower, sorceress, dragon, brave knight, clever peasant – combine these ingredients into a Christmas-time story that isn’t quite what you’d expect. RETURN TO CALLIDORA. By Laurie Lucking

Anticipating tough financial times, the decision not to buy or exchanged presents leads to some painful and surprising revelations for a hardworking man and his family. NOT THIS YEAR. By Sandra Merville Hart

Years ago, a gunman and a store full of hostages learned some important lessons about faith and pain and what really matters in life – and the echoes from that day continued to the present. THOSE WHO STAYED. By Ronnell Kay Gibson

A community of refugees, a brutal winter, a doorway to another world – a touch of magic creating holiday joy for others leads to a Christmas wish fulfilled. CRYSTAL CHRISTMAS. By Michelle L. Levigne

Amazon, Barnes and Noble, 24Symbols, Kobo

 

 

World War II Memorial

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On a recent trip to Washington, DC, I visited the National Mall late one rainy evening. I think that my favorite memorial was the World War II Memorial, which I’d somehow missed on an earlier trip. The beauty of the fountains and the soothing sounds of the water splashing into the pool drew me in immediately.

The memorial designed by Friedrich St. Florian opened on April 29, 2004. The official dedication, May 27 – 30, 2004, was a celebration filled with reunions for World War II veterans.

 

 

Citizens and veterans alike enjoyed big band music from that era. Family activities, a display of military equipment, and a Wartime Stories Tent were among the activities enjoyed by about 315,000 over the four-day celebration. President George W. Bush spoke at the formal dedication.

The spacious memorial is adjacent to the Reflecting Pool. The Lincoln Memorial can be clearly seen from the fountains inside the memorial.

World War II Memorial honors the sixteen million who served in the Armed Forces of the United States of America.

Also honored are millions of citizens on the home front, who sacrificed throughout the war to support our troops. They bought War Bonds. They endured rationing of many common staples like sugar, butter, coal, gasoline, and shoes. Quotes etched on the walls honor their sacrifice.

Four thousand golden stars on a curved Freedom Wall serve as a memorial to the 405,399 Americans who died in the war. Each star represents 100 deaths by our American military. In front of the wall is a granite engraving: “Here we mark the price of freedom.”

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

 

Murray, Lorraine. “National World War II Memorial, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019/10/22

https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-World-War-II-Memorial.

“National WWII Memorial,” National WWII Memorial Washington D.C., 2019/10/22

https://www.wwiimemorial.com.

“World War II Memorial,” National Park Service, 2019/10/22

https://www.nps.gov/wwii/index.htm.

Get Your Spirit On! by Michelle Medlock Adams

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Devotions for Cheerleaders

This devotional book is an inspirational read. Each day begins with a scripture reference. Then the author gives a devotional thought geared to middle-school and high-school girls. The stories are written in such a way that many girls of that age will be able to relate to them, even if they don’t cheer.

After an inspiring story about the author’s own squad or from her past, she gives another scripture in STRENGTH TRAINING.

Find spiritual tips in FIRE UP!

MEGAPHONE TO MASTER are prayers inspired by the day’s topic.

GIVE A SHOUT are encouraging remarks.

READY. OK. and JUMP INTO ACTION gives ideas for the girls to put what they’ve learned into action.

FAST FACTS and FIT TIPS are included in every devotion, along with a cheer.

I loved this book! Such a positive reinforcement of good life lessons on everyday trials. If your daughter or granddaughter is in middle school or high school, I recommend picking this up!

-Sandra Merville Hart

Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas– Use coupon code SandraMHart for a 20% discount on Lighthouse Publishing books!