I can never spell graffiti right the first time...

Holiday Freebies--the Kattomic Energy Edition

I will be participating in my colleague Dale T. Phillips' holiday book give-away. I'm offering three different books--Toxic Reality, The Poisoned Teat, and 12 Nights of Christmas. All you have to do is post a comment, letting me know which book you'd like and I'll pick winners on December 20!  Be sure to leave me a valid email address.
And bop over to Dale's site to see who else is participating and what else you could win! Tis the season and how better to celebrate it than with some dark fiction?

Chocolate Bread Pudding Recipe--You're welcome!

Every holiday,the upscale grocery store I live near adds a couple of seasonal  items to their already much-too-tempting take-out offerings. For about six weeks you can get a pumpkin trifle, a pumpkin pudding, noodle kugel, and my favorite, chocolate bread pudding with caramel sauce. Yes, it tastes just as decadent as it sounds.

Every time I buy a chunk of this deliciousness, I feel guilty though.  Because I make an incredible chocolate bread pudding.  If you want to dress it up, you can hit it with some whipped cream, but adding sauce would just be gilding the lily.  Here's the recipe.

INCREDIBLE CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING RECIPE

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Enough bread to fill a baking dish—torn into small pieces

2 cups milk

¼ cup butter

2/3 cup light brown sugar

3 eggs

¾ cup chocolate chips

2 ½ tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine the milk and butter in a saucepan, stirring until the butter is melted.  Cool slightly.

Beat the sugar and spices into the eggs until frothy.  Add the vanilla extract.

Combine the egg mixture and the milk mixture slowly.  (Make sure the milk isn’t too hot or the raw eggs will curdle.)

Mix in the bread and turn everything into a baking dish that has been greased or treated with non-stick spray.

Don’t pack the bread down too tightly or the “pudding” will compact and get really dense instead of staying moist and fluffy with those delicious buttery, crunchy bits.

Bake for 45-55 minutes until the “pudding” is set. 

I've Been Tagged!

Over at his blog, Nuyorican Obituary, writer R. Narvaez (author of Roachkiller and other stories) is participating in The Next Best Thing blog tour. Read what he had to say here. And tune in next week for my answers. (Also, there's an interview with Narvaez coming soon to Kattomic Energy.

Find me Under the Tuscan Gun

Yes, I've just been added to the team writing about all things Tuscan for the terrific website Under the Tuscan Gun. My first post isn't up yet but if you love food, and love Italian food, and love Tuscan food in particular, you owe it to yourself to visit this site often. Uup now, Wendy Hector's review of Stir: Mixing it up in the Italian Tradition by Boston chef Barbara Lynch.

Freebie Fiction Sample

This story is from 12 Nights of Christmas, available here and here in your choice of e-formats for the bargain price of 99 cents. Whatever happened to the "cents" sign on a keyboard? Was it never on a computer keyboard or was it lost in the transition from typewriters to computers? I miss the cents sign.

Four Birds Calling

Reg could see the two birds out of the corner of his eye. They were looking at him and giggling, being none too subtle about it.

He knew what they were thinking.

Is it him?

Could it be?

The resemblance really was quite striking. He had the same blond mop-top, the same bedroom eyes, the same succulent lower lip.

He even styled his wardrobe after Thomas, the photographer his doppelganger had played in Blow-Up. The white pants and powder-blue shirt rolled up to the elbows. It was a good look for him.

The shirt matched his eyes.

And eyes are the windows of the soul.

Reg never looked birds in the eye though; he always focused on their lips. Eventually they’d notice and ask, “What?”

He’d always say, “You have the most beautiful lips.”

It worked a treat, that line.

Is it him?

Could it be?

He glanced over at the girls and flashed his second-best smile at them, which was enough to make the fat one blush but the spotty one looked back at him boldly and licked her lips while making intense eye contact.

Well hello, Reg thought.

More Frenchy Christmas-ness

I love this card--the Eiffel Tower draped in a garland with a Joyeux Noel greeting. You can find it on Etsy. a package of ten will run you $17.50 plus postage, which is not cheap, but purchasing the cards will make you a patron of the arts!