New Book and Concert by Tyler Whitesides

Some people go through life never knowing who their neighbors are.

As it turns out, I am lucky not to be one of those people; although I suppose it's hard to avoid stopping and getting to know your neighbor (out of sheer curiosity) after seeing him drum away on a few toilets, desks, and paint cans in his driveway -- and have company while doing it, at  that!

Yes, that is the story of how I came to know Tyler Whitesides, author of the Janitors series.

Apparently, Tyler openly embraces his craziness when it comes to creating music with his fellow band-mates, and I can tell you that he has been practicing quite religiously for his latest "percussion" show in association with the upcoming release of the third Janitors book. So far, his rehearsals have drawn a steady and growing crowd, myself being one among them.

Can I call myself a groupie? Do I dare?

I will say that as far as the show goes, I've heard parts of it, I've seen parts of it, and it's going to be awesome when Tyler finally takes the stage on the 13th at Logan High. I can't wait!

Crazy as it sounds, I've never met anyone who can beat out a really cool tune on a set of school desks or toilets, and I believe I will never meet anyone else in the future who can boast such talents, but I am lucky to know THE ONE guy who can do just that. And the fact that he is an amazing, talented and successful writer, as well as an all-around super friendly person, is simply icing on the cake.

Tyler will be celebrating his upcoming book release on Friday at Logan High School at about 7 pm in the evening. His unique concert will be followed by a book-signing and book-begetting event.

Wherever your interests lie, this is an event that music-lovers and book-lovers will not want to miss.

See you soon!

 

Fixing up Fridays with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Today I'm sharing a song from a group called the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I don't know much about them, but I liked this song that was shared with me from a Twitter friend. So here it is! "Hysteric." Enjoy your Labor Day weekend. I know I will be loving the break from Logan High, my new teaching abode. Long weekends are always something to smile about. My assignment for myself? Do something fun.

Fixing Up Fridays with Indie Music, an Indie Book, and Darn Good Food

My daughter brought an acoustic version of Neyo's "Let Me Love You" to my attention today, which we found covered by a lot of different artists on YouTube. Here is one my favorites that combines two songs together: "Let Me Love You" by Neyo and "Diamonds" by Rihanna. Can't go wrong with this one! It's sung by Indie Artist Maria Zouroudis.





As for the week's latest book suggestion, I'm not much of a romance reader, but I have been lured into buying a few titles lately for my Kindle. Here is one that I am about to dive into: Sand Dollar by Indie Author Sebastian Cole.  Basically, boy meets his soul-mate girl, but circumstances keep them apart. The boy is introduced to us on his death bed, yet, we don't know if his life ever brought him back to that soul mate girl, whom he could never stop thinking about. Could be an interesting read! It's earned an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon.

Now for the food.

I can't promise that it is anything very good for you, other than the wee bits of vitamin C provided in the form of lemon zest. But if you like sponge cake with a bit more heft, this may be the treat for you:

 

Railroad Cakes.

 

 

This recipe is taken from my latest cookbook: From Rivets and Rails, Recipes of a Railroad Boarding House Cookbook, which is based on the cookery journal written by my great grandmother, Elizabeth Shade Kennedy. She ran a boarding house for railroad workers on the NY and Pennsylvania Railroad line. If you'd like to learn more about the connections between American cooking from the early 1900s and the expansion of the American railroads, I highly recommend you grab a copy of my cookbook! Chef John Malik at the Huffington Post book reviews says, "It’s a delightful slice of Americana and a glimpse into the life of a hard working cook at a time in our country’s history when self-sufficiency was a matter of life and death."

Railroad Cakes

1 cup white sugar
1 cup flour (or more to make batter thick like cookie dough)
3 eggs
butter, the size of an egg
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
zest of 1 lemon
a little milk (as in a smidgen, or drop, (not much!) )

Mix these up and bake at 350 degrees until done. Since these cakes were meant to be individual cakes that were commonly purchased from vendors at the railway stations, I baked them in small tart pans. This recipe gave six 4-inch cakes. Delish!

Fixing Up Fridays

Today is a very good Friday. Yes, a very good Friday, indeed.  I learned a couple days ago that my book, Reality Bites, has been selected as a Finalist in Juvenile Fiction for The Book of the Year Award given by ForeWord Reviews magazine. Since St. Patty's Day is just around the corner, combined with the fact that I am a wee bit Irish, I'm hoping that St. Patty will shine his luck down on me and help me win a medal in the final rounds of judging. Of course, that luck will need to be generous and extend for 3 months, since the final winners will not be announced until June. Despite the fact that I'm up against some tough competiton (Brandon Mull, Candy Shop Wars book 2), I have to believe that Anything Can Happen.

Perhaps this calls for a nod at the song. It is Friday after all.



And since it is Friday, I suppose I shall have to suggest something good to eat as well. However, that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be cooked. Avocados have been great lately, and there is nothing better than slicing one open, sprinkling it with lemon pepper and eating it slice by slice. Following it with a tall glass of fresh squeezed OJ, makes it even better.

So there you have it. I've walloped you with four great things for Friday in the short span of a couple paragraphs. Enjoy your weekend! And if you've read Reality Bites, and enjoyed it, let me and others know by sharing your review on line.

Make it a great day!

Fixing Up Fridays

Hello again! It seems like I haven't been here a while. Since it's Friday and I feel like I finally might be coming up for air after a whirlwind tour in stupidity and the details of life, I thought I'd share a video that is akin to how I'm feeling. Plus, it's worth a good laugh.



As for the rest of this post, a few Friday's ago I thought I'd close the week on Friday with a recommendation of a book, a recipe, and a drink. The book is easy. Right now I'm in the middle of The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen. It's a quick read and entertainning for young readers or the young at heart like me. My son read this book recently and liked it, so I thought I'd give it a go. So far, so good. Although I must say, I am starting to develop a pet peeve for books for young readers that have violence in them (one of the kids in this book is murdered within the first few chapters.) I don't get it. Is this really what our literature for young readers has come to? Are we as a society unable to identify with any else? Nevertheless, the story is good. Thus, the dilemma to my thoughts.

Moving on to food. Tonight I shall be travelling to see our local high school basketball team (Mountain Crest) battle it out with another local high school basketball team (Logan High) for some sort of semi-final match. What does one eat when one must travel during dinner time for such occasions? I don't know. Probably nothing, which is why there will be no recipe with this post. On second thought, if you're in rush like me, there is this thing called Bruschetta, which involves topping sliced bread with tomato, garlic, basil and mozzarella, and sticking it in the oven at 400 degrees for 8 minutes. How's that for a recipe that you can literally run with? Here's a pic where I actually had time to make it look pretty. And yes, it is almost waving at you like a flag, because I didn't have time to flip the pic.

The drink? The other day I enjoyed mixing Pomegrante Juice and Lemonade. And no, Chef John, it wasn't fresh-squeezed. :)  (He likes the good stuff, and has reprimanded me on this topic in the past.)  The drink is Quite yummy with a splash of, well.... let's keep it Rated G and call it 7-UP.

Any one seeing Jack the Giant Slayer this weekend?