A Cold Dish for a Hot Summer

Those of us in the northeast--and in many other parts of the country, have been sweltering these last few days. If like me, you're having heat fatigue and can't eat one more meal from the grill, I hereby offer an easy solution: a lovely cold pasta dish featured in my current Italian Kitchen Mystery. And doesn't it look yum?

It's super easy and super tasty, a true make-and-go dish. Here's the recipe:

 Cold Tomato Sauce with Arugula

This recipe makes more than enough “sauce” for a pound of pasta. It’s also good the next day as a cold pasta salad—add olives, cubed cheese, and chickpeas to add some variation.

            --approximately 10 fresh plum tomatoes

            --one 5 oz. package of fresh arugula or other hardy baby greens

            --3/4-1 cup of olive oil

            --1-2 cloves of garlic, depending on taste

            --sea salt and freshly grated pepper to taste

1-Chop tomatoes, arugula, and garlic well; place in large bowl and mix thoroughly. At this stage, I season with two generous teaspoons of sea salt and several twists of the pepper grinder. Before serving, taste and adjust seasonings to preference.

2-Pour olive oil over the mixture. Let the mixture marinate for at least three hours, taking care to stir the mixture several times. The arugula will soften and sweeten in the oil and juices from the tomatoes. Here's how the marinate should look (and how gorgeous is that?):

3-Serve over hot pasta of your choice (I used the double twists known as gemelli) with a generous amount of grated Romano cheese.

Buon Appetito!

Release Day: The Wedding Soup Murder

And I hope you'll join me in celebrating! (Don't forget that you can have a free taste of soup right here on the Rosie G site!)

Today there's a giveaway at Read Your Writes Book Reviews and later on a review at Charming Chelsey's. Check back for more details!

Get It While It's Hot!

The soup, that is! In just two days, the second book in the Italian Kitchen Mysteries, The Wedding Soup Murder, releases in stores and online.

Starting September 1, I'll be on a ten-day blog tour that includes interviews, guest posts, reviews, and lots of giveaways, so please join me!

Beach Reads, Anyone?

Beach season hasn't officially started yet (dang it) but I'll be heading to the shore with some fellow New Jersey authors on March 1. It's part of the Girlfriends' Getaway Weekend in charming Ocean Grove, New Jersey, a location that plays a prominent role in Murder and Marinara, and one of my favorite towns along the shore.

 If you're in the area, stop by and see us!

Mary, Mary, and Me

A fourteen year old me, flanked by the formidable Marys

My stories all seem to feature grandmothers. In my Italian Kitchen series, the character of Nonna is a composite of the two women in the photo above. Given that they were so strong a presence in my own life, I think it's my way of keeping them with me. Both my grandmothers were named Mary, but two more different women you could not imagine.  One Mary was tall, big-boned, the kind of woman people termed "handsome." She started going gray in her thirties, but never dyed her hair. No matter what drama was enfolding around her, she kept her counsel and her cool. She suffered the losses of her husband and oldest son with a strength and grace I've never seen in another person.

My maternal grandmother as a young woman

Because she came to this country as a baby, she grew up without an accent, and Americanized herself with great success. I spent the first year of my life under her roof, and growing up, I felt extremely close to her. I have fond memories of trips to the five and dime store and the Grand Union, and I remember her endless patience as she attempted (unsuccessfully) to teach me to knit. When I got my first job, I used to go to her house on a weekly basis to do my laundry and have dinner with her. She's been gone for nearly two decades now, and I'm grateful that she lived long enough to know my oldest son.

My other Mary was pretty, petite, and unapologetically vain about her appearance--a trait I seemed to have inherited, along with her facial structure. Sharp-witted and sharp-tongued, she was unafraid to speak her mind. She was also a gifted seamstress. If you can get past the polyester, take a close look at the dress she's wearing in the top photo. Note the cute collar and the unusual seaming--her design, as were all her clothes. She made me every dance costume I ever wore, and mine were always the envy of the other girls! In many ways, I think she was a woman out of her time. She worked her whole married life, and once confessed to my aunt that she had always wanted to learn fashion design, but never had the money to go to school. It was from her I learned to sew, as well as to appreciate good tailoring. She retained her accent, her hair color, and her sassy attitude until the day she died--at the age of 102, by the way. I hope I've inherited her longevity as well. When I look at that picture above, I get a pretty good sense of what I'll look like in about 15 years. I could do worse.

My paternal grandmother at about 20

I feel that Nature has played a cruel trick on me. As a middle-aged woman myself, I've come to appreciate my grandmothers in ways I never did as a young girl. I have so many questions I'll never be able to ask them, and so much to tell them in return.  In the meantime, I'll give my characters their nonnas. But I'll never stop missing my own.

                                                                                           ♥ ♥ ♥

Whatcha Got Cookin'?

It's clear from the photo what I'm about today:

My favorite part of the holiday--Christmas baking. I associate holiday baking with my childhood, my boys' childhood (though the days of decorating gingerbread boys have long gone), and most significantly, time spent in my grandmothers' kitchens. Each year I looked forward to Mema C's spritz cookies and Mema G's sesame biscotti, so I shouldn't wonder that my own sons have their own favorites from my kitchen. Magic bars--a cookie so easy and sugar laden that it comes with its own Eagle brand of guilt--are a must, for example:

That's some sweetened condensed paradise right there.

The other cookie we can't do without are Italian ricotta cookies flavored with anise.Tender little pillows that aren't biscotti, they're soft and sweet. These cookies are featured in The Wedding Soup Murder, which will also include the recipe. The secret is the anise; that gorgeous licorice smell permeates the house when I make these. (Bet you can't eat just one.)

 But what I enjoy most is giving the cookies away. Actually, that's a lie. What I enjoy most is eating them.

Have a wonderful holiday and the happiest of New Years!

 ♥ ♥ ♥

Christie's Characters: Outsiders and Observers

My summer reading often involves re-reading favorite works that help me clear my head for my own writing. In the case of Agatha Christie, I get the added benefit of learning from a master of the genre while I read.

I just loaded a bunch of Christie on my Kindle, and discovered to my delight that there was a Miss Marple I'd somehow missed: 4:50 to Paddington. The "4:50" of the title is a time, and refers to a train on which a murder occurs, witnessed by an elderly lady from a passing train on the opposite tracks. The authorities, of course, chalk it up to her age and an overactive imagination, but her friend Miss Jane Marple believes her, and sets out to solve the case.

Jane Marple, like Christie's other famous detective, Hercule Poirot, is an amateur sleuth. Both tend to be one step ahead of the police, and both have a way of getting witnesses to talk to them. But here's what Christie understood so well about her two characters: they were outsiders, and as outsiders occupied a unique position--that of observer.

Among the English upper crust, Poirot is a foreigner. His slicked-back hair and waxed mustache are a joke, as is his accent. Those around him--including the various murderers he foils--don't perceive him as a threat. He's not one of them, so they ignore him. They don't reckon on the fact that nothing escapes his notice.

I'm a Miss Marple fan, but I wasn't always. As a young reader of Christie, I had no interest in an elderly lady who sits in a corner knitting, and therein lies her power. Then, as now, elderly ladies are all but invisible in society; they usually hold little power, and they are easily dismissed by others (as is the case of the woman in the book I'm reading now). But they sure as hell pay attention, something I appreciate much more as I get older. Miss Marple, with little to do except watch people, has an understanding of human behavior beyond that of the various Scotland Yard inspectors she foils.

When I set out to create an amateur sleuth of my own, I made her a mystery writer. (In fact, Victoria's main character, Bernardo Vitali, might be considered the Italian version of Poirot.) As a writer, Vic is also an observer. She takes in the small details of physical appearance and personality that others might miss. And as a writer of mysteries, she's conversant with the why and how of murder. But unlike Poirot and Miss Marple, she makes her share of mistakes.

As does her creator. . .

I Confess--

 That I stole my tagline, “Cozy mysteries with romantic interruptions,” from Dorothy L. Sayers. Sayers was the author of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries; published primarily in the 30s, the Wimsey mysteries are prime examples of the “Golden Age” of British detective fiction.

Wimsey is an aristocratic sleuth who takes up detecting as a hobby after he returns to England after World War I. While I love all the books, in the early ones Wimsey is a bit of a flat character. It isn’t until the series introduces Harriet Vane, a mystery writer wrongfully accused of murder, that he becomes fully dimensional. Though Sayers swore she’d never have her sleuth involved in a romance, she spins out a wonderful one over several books that culminate in the marriage of Harriet and Peter. In fact, Sayers got so enthusiastic about the love story that she was accused of having a crush on her own character, a topic I addressed in my Rosemary D blog.

The last book in Sayers’ series, Busman’s Honeymoon, carries this subtitle: “A Love Story with Detective Interruptions.” So with a little tweaking, it became a way for me to define my stories. But let’s call it an homage, shall we?

I don’t know about you, but I really need some romance in my mysteries. (I need some mystery in my romance, too, but that’s a post for another day.) Giving your detective a love interest humanizes him or her, and it gives readers something else to wonder about—will they get together or not?—besides the murder. And it keeps us turning pages. As much as I respect Sayers’ formidable skills with a mystery, it was the love story that kept me coming back to the books.

My own “saucy sleuth,” Victoria Rienzi, has not one, but two love interests. There’s her old love, now working as a chef in her parents’ restaurant, and a new guy, a rough-around-the-edges woodworker from New Orleans who may not be what he seems. Each one is a likely suitor for my character; each guy has his own brand of appeal. But which will Victoria end up with?

Well now, that’s a mystery isn’t it? And you’ll have to stay tuned to find out. . .

If I'm Gonna Kill 'Em. . .

I figure I might as well feed them first. So before any victims bite the dust in my books, at least they get a good meal.

 The idea for the Italian Kitchen Mysteries originally came from my agent, who thought an Italian restaurant would make a great setting for a cozy series. I thought if that restaurant were on the boardwalk at the Jersey shore, it could open up all sorts of fun possibilities.

My fictional restaurant, the Casa Lido, is a vintage classic. It’s got a great old bar, wood paneling, and of course, red-checked tablecloths. (I like to think it’s the kind of place Bruce might stop in to on the way home from a gig.) In keeping with the series’ theme, each book will feature a couple of family recipes that figure into the story.

 And since the Casa Lido is across from the boardwalk, there are plenty of other food options: great Jersey pizza, sausage and peppers, fresh seafood and homemade lemonade. Not to mention our own Kohr’s custard and salt water taffy. You can just smell it all, can’t you?

So I hope you'll join me as my mysterious journey begins. Murder and Marinara debuts this October, but if you'd like a taste, be sure to check out the excerpt here on the site. 

I’m so pleased to be kicking off my Rosie G website today. This gorgeous site was created by Waxcreative Design, Inc. Molte grazie to the fabulous Emily Cotler and Maxamaris Hoppe for bringing my vision to life.