The Christmas season is my favorite time of year. An air of festivity takes hold as stores bring out their holiday decorations and old time favorites play on the television.
One of my favorite Christmas recipes came from my
grandmother, Waldorf salad. Every year I'd look forward to seeing that fancy
glass bowl filled with chopped up apples taking pride of the place on our
dining room table. It was Grandma's donation to our holiday dinner.
We've kept the tradition going, even though she passed away
a few years ago. Now, when I look upon that simple bowl of salad every year, I
feel her presence among us and smile.
WALDORF SALAD
6 Spartan or Mac Apples
3 Stalks Celery
1 cup Chopped Walnuts
1 cup Mayo, 2 tbs. sugar, 4 tbs. milk whipped together
Use lemon juice or citric acid to whiten apples.
Peel and chop apples and celery into bite-size pieces,
sprinkle with lemon juice. Add walnuts. Stir in dressing and refrigerate until
use. Enjoy.
***
Love in Times of War: boxed set romance bundle
by Uvi Poznansky (Author), Tamara Ferguson (Author), Jacquie Biggar (Author), D.G. Torrens (Author), Angelica Kate (Author), Traci Hall (Author), Jennifer St. Giles (Author), Regina Puckett (Author), Suzanne Jenkins (Author), S.R. Mallery (Author), Susan Jean Ricci (Author), PJ Fiala (Author)
At no other point is
passion put to the test as in dire times of war. From the American Civil War to
WWII, from Vietnam to the War in Afghanistan to the Persian Gulf, the stories
in this boxed set summon the strength of true lovers. Written by bestselling,
award-winning, and USA Today authors, the novels and novellas in this
collection tell of overcoming loss, injuries, and separation, to celebrate the
victory of love.
If you like Military
Romance, Wounded Warrior Romance, Historical Romance, Contemporary Romance, or
Romantic Suspense, this anthology invites you to triumph over the worst of
conditions and find the courage to bring forth the best in us.
Love In Times of War is up for pre-order at any of
these fine venues:
Get
your copy now!
BOOK BITES -
12 award winning, best-selling authors give you some tidbits from their LOVE IN
TIMES OF WAR boxed set!
Try
a sample, take the whole assortment:
Book
Bites: Love in Times of War
Excerpts
from The Rebel’s Redemption by Jacquie Biggar:
“Miss Campbell, guess what? Jake’s here. He was
outside when we went to get Susan. How cool is that?”
“That’s pretty cool all right. How’d he get here? And
where’s Chris?” She’d grabbed up a napkin to wipe the ice cream from her lips,
when a voice out of the past lifted the hairs on the nape of her neck and sent
a shiver down her spine.
“He’s here. With me.”
The smooth tones rolled over her, and sucked all the air out
of the room. Annie stiffened, then crumpled the napkin and slowly turned in her
seat—yep, it was Jared all right. And Chris.
Oh.
My.
God.
He looked good. The random thought floated through her mind
even as she tried to digest the fact he was finally back. Eight years too late,
but he was here. She wanted to grab Chris and run. Run before what was obvious
to her became obvious to everyone else. Shit.
“Hello, Annie, it’s been a long time.” Why was he looking at
her as if she’d betrayed him? She
wasn’t the one to cut and run without a single word in all this time. Goddamn him.
“Jared. Yes, it has been. A very long time. There
were no phones where you were? Your mother probably would’ve appreciated
knowing whether you were dead or alive.” Not to mention herself. She’d promised
herself she wasn’t going down this road, the blame road. It was time to leave.
She turned her back on him, looked into Jack’s concerned
eyes, and forced herself to smile as if her heart wasn’t shattering into a
million tiny pieces. “I better get back. Tina needs to take her break. Call me
later?”
He gave her waist a warm squeeze, and placed a gentle kiss
on her cheek before sliding free. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but for what
it’s worth, I’ve got your back.”
Near tears, she stood from the table, and without looking at
either man again, grabbed both children’s hands and hustled them out the door.
Annie’s heart tried to leap out of her chest, one hand
muffling her scream, while the other clutched the now half-empty box. Why
hadn’t she made sure she locked the door behind the delivery guy this morning?
Of all the asinine, irresponsible things to do.
“I…I’m sorry, we’re closed right now. Can you ma…maybe come
back later?”
Like never.
The stranger—she was pretty sure she’d never seen him
before—stayed to the shadows, denying her a clear view of his features. He wore
an old-fashioned bowler hat tipped forward over his eyes, and a black greatcoat,
one hand tucked into the pocket. She was probably about to star in her own
horror flick. Killed with her own
merchandise. She could see the headlines already. Annie kept a nervous gaze
on that pocket, her imagination going into overdrive.
When the silence threatened to explode in her head, he bent
and picked up one of the carving knives she’d graciously sent his way. His
thumb skimmed up and down the blade. She didn’t think she’d ever been so scared
in her life.
“Please, I have no money. What do you want?”
That got a reaction. His hand stilled on the blade and
piercing eyes looked up and pinned her in place. “Tell Martin I here. There is
nowhere he can hide.” He threw the knife. Annie gasped and recoiled as the
blade flew through the air and embedded itself obscenely in the heart of her
sewing mannequin. “Tell him he must pay.” Without another word, he disappeared
out the door, a dark wraith.
Annie sank to the floor in a boneless heap. Now that it was
over her teeth chattered, and shivers racked her frame. Who was he? What did he
want? She wanted to believe it was all a misunderstanding and he’d come to the
wrong door, but in her heart she knew better.
This was about Jared.
***
Jared's world narrowed down to the little black barrel of
the gun pointed at his chest. Funny, in all the years of being in the SEAL
teams he'd never been in this situation. Not to say he hadn't dodged his share
of bullets. It's just they'd always erupted like a hailstorm, out of nowhere.
This was somewhere. The back alley of his mother's freaking café in freaking
America to be exact. What the hell?
If he wasn't so pissed off at himself for getting into this
situation, he might have laughed. Eight years overseas off and on, and he was
going to get shot in his own backyard. How's that for ironic?
"Look man, why don't we talk about this?" Jared
forced his gaze to focus on Sergei's steely gaze instead of the muzzle of the
semi-automatic.
"The time for talk is past," the Russian said.
"You ignored my advice and instead made a fool out of me with that stupid
trick you performed."
"Advice? You call beating the livin' shit out of me,
advice?" Jared ground his teeth together, and fought to keep a level tone.
"You can't blame a guy for wanting to retaliate." A crash by the
garbage caused both men to crouch into a fight stance. A tabby cat raced away.
Jared straightened, his heart knocking against his ribcage, as desperate to
escape this mess as the animal. He needed to defuse the situation before
someone came upon them; please God not his mom.
"Okay, you're right. I shouldn't have set off alarms or
caused those slots to pay out. But seriously dude, you can't go around acting
all KGB, we're in the good old USA now." Jared kept a careful eye on the
guy's trigger finger and cursed his loose tongue. What part of defuse couldn't
he figure out?
Sergei tipped his felt hat back on his bald head like an old
time gunslinger. His hand holding the gun never wavered. "You have big
mouth."
Yeah, I've heard that a time or ten.
"Why don't we handle this like two adults? I'll call
your boss, tell him I screwed up and it'll never happen again…" There was
no doubt on that, if he ever went near a casino again he'd kick his own ass.
"And then you can go back to ruling your little kingdom far, far, away."
Click.
The sound of the hammer cocking reverberated with
frightening clarity in the small alley. There wasn't even anywhere for him to
take cover. The garbage can was at least ten feet away. Jared's jaw cramped
from the tension. His skin crawled as if overrun with fire ants. Where was his
team when he needed them?
He'd just decided the only alternative was to rush the
son-of-a-bitch when the alley erupted with the screams and laughter of
children. Two kids rounded the corner at full speed on pedal bikes, racing each
other to an imaginary finish line.
Sergei seized the opportunity, stepped between the bicycles
and scooped the kids off their seats. The bikes, wheels still turning, fell to
the ground in front of him creating a barrier. The kids—God, it was Chris and little Jessica—shrieked until Sergei shook
them, then they froze, eyes wide and frightened, hanging under his arms like
rag dolls.
"Let them go, you motherfu…" Jared's voice came
out low and lethal. Every muscle in his body prepared itself for the moment of
attack. His breathing slowed until he could count each heartbeat as the blood
coursed through his veins. Waiting. Watching.
Barnikov laughed. Laughed. The prick.
"Now it my turn to play game." Jared made a slight
move and Sergei's smile flat-lined. He dropped Jessica to the ground in front
of him but kept his forearm wrapped around her neck. The gun nestled the side
of her head pointed straight at Chris dangling from his other arm. "Move
and I shoot." He shuffled the trio back towards the mouth of the alley.
"We'll talk again, my friend."
And then he disappeared around the corner, leaving nothing
but the slowly turning tire on a bike, and Jared's heart as it shattered.
Bio:
JACQUIE
BIGGAR is a USA Today bestselling author
of Romantic Suspense who loves to write about tough, alpha males who know what
they want, that is until they're gob-smacked by heroines who are strong,
contemporary women willing to show them what they really need is love. She is
the author of the popular Wounded Hearts series and has just started a new
series in paranormal suspense, Mended Souls.
She has been
blessed with a long, happy marriage and enjoys writing romance novels that end
with happily-ever-afters.
Jacquie
lives in paradise along the west coast of Canada with her family and loves
reading, writing, and flower gardening. She swears she can't function without
coffee, preferably at the beach with her sweetheart. :)
Free reads,
excerpts, author news, and contests can be found on her web site:
Or email her
via her web site. Jacquie lives on Vancouver Island with her husband and loves
to hear from readers all over the world!
You can also
join her street team on Facebook: Biggar's Book
Buddies
And sign up for her newsletter-
Thanks for sharing,
Tina
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing Grandma's recipe and our new box set which just became an international bestseller!
Happy holidays, Tina :)
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