Mindful Musings Book Blog

Did you include the recipe for our mother’s Fruit Salad? One brother asks me. Her Baked Pheasant? Another brother chimes in. Her Strawberry Shortcake? That’s my sister. No, no, and no. Sorry, guys. Although food is at the heart of my memoir, Lost Without the River, I didn’t want it to be a cookbook. I didn’t want to tell how to prepare the food, but rather how it came to be on our table. Of how my family planted, tilled, and harvested food from the fields, and plucked berries and vegetables from the woods and our garden. With work suspended for a short time, we sat down to dine on freshly picked sweet corn, heavenly whipped cream fluffed from the top of unpasteurized, non-homogenized milk that our grass-fed cows had produced, fish we’d caught in our river only minutes before. We savored each bite, acutely aware of the effort it had taken to get it onto our plates. Each neighboring farmwife was known for her baking specialty. My mother’s? Her sweet rolls, heavily perfumed with cinnamon

What’s in your multi-cultural plate? Louisiana Catch traverses through three distinct places—New Delhi, New York, and New Orleans—revealing the foodie nooks and crannies in each city. The female protagonist in Louisiana Catch , Ahana, is a tea-drinking, pinot-noir-sipping health nut from New Delhi who is also a feminist and a foodie. While Ahana’s favorite Indian food is kebabsand chicken biryaniwith raita, a cucumber yogurt salad garnished with crushed mint; she equally enjoys a Cajun spread of shrimp po’boys, andouille gumbo, shrimp étouffée, jambalaya, and the overall Southern hospitality.Ahana hates to cook and is a specific person. She enjoys her green juice and green smoothies and yoga and running just as much as she appreciates a good French pinot. The male protagonist in the book, Rohan Brady, is from New Orleans who loves everything food. He loves to purchase the ingredients, experiment with recipes in the kitchen, and host dinners. Cooking is Rohan’s way of showing care. On

As all residents of Los Angeles know, there is no shortage of good food in our busy urban city.  If you’re a foodie and want four-star dining, it’s available at a high price (along with a hefty valet parking fee).  If you’re a food truck aficionado, there are nights in Venice and daily on campuses across the city where food trucks sit and wait for those who can’t live without their fusion bowls.  If you’re a fast food junkie, just take a drive down any street and you’ll be able to get whatever fat-filled burger you want (including an actual Fatburger!). So, what does Libby, the heroine in my novel Let’s Get Lost , do in the opening scene?  As a well-paid executive in a finance company, she is taking her three best friends to The Ivy in West Hollywood, one of the toniest places in the city and a popular spot where celebrities eat and interested paparazzi station themselves as they wait for the perfect photograph. Libby selects this upscale celebrity hangout because she is high on life,

Another year, another list of delicious reads! These fabulous authors stopped by to share their food for thought: Laurie Boris - The Call Nick Cook - Cloud Riders Richard Gazala - Blood of the Moon Dana Griffin - Coerced Connie Johnson Hambley - The Charity Karen Ann Hopkins - Embers Brooklyn James - Jolie Blonde Nancy Lynn Jarvis - The Two-Faced Triplex Beverley Jones - Where She Went Beth Kander - Original Syn David J. Kirk - Stone Signs Gwen Mayo - Strangely Funny Alan McDermott - Run and Hide Christopher Minori - Little Idiots Rose Montague - Jade Bobby Nash - 85 North Mark Noce - Between Two Fires David Pedersen - Clod Makes a Friend Katherine Roberts - Bone Music Deanna Lynn Sletten - Miss Etta Clayton Smith - Apocalypticon Karen Rose Smith - Murder with Cinnamon Scones Barbara Stark-Nemon - Hard Cider Sheryl Steines - Black Market Lori Ann Stephens - Some Act of Vision Gabi Stevens - The Wish List Jolene Stockman - The Jelly Bean Crisis Mary Strand - Livin' La Vida Bennet Ma