O-Live

 Already time seems like a whirlwind.  It feels like one of those movie scenes where there's music playing and the sheets of a calendar keep getting torn off and disappearing. The days are appreciably longer. It's a lot lighter inside because we had a trees trimmed last week.  I didn't even realize there was more than one tree outside the window of the room I write in.  It turns out there were three that had grown so dense , it seemed like one.  Suddenly I can see the evening sky and the roof of my neighbor's guest house.  The best part is that I don't have to turn on the light in there during the day now.

I sent in the copy edit of MURDER BY THE HOOK.  I had thought about not including a pattern or recipe.  They don't show up in the audio version.  But at the last minute I decided to put them in. I already knew the pattern was for a crocheted scarf similar to the one Elsbeth wears on the show.  The cake was a chocolate cake made with olive oil because a lot of the story involves parties at a ranch that has an olive grove.  The cake is a mainstay of the food offerings.

Writing the pattern is dizzying, so I did that first.  Someone is always in the kitchen at my house and I like to cook with nobody bothering me.  I had to find a time when I could be sure no one was going to interrupt. Some of my earlier books had old family recipes, but now they are all new ones.  I always test them and let my family be the tasters.  It's the only part of my writing they really are interested in.

The cake was actually easy to put together.  It's hand mixed  and it's pretty much put the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another.  Then mix. The batter was pretty stiff so that was a challenge, but at the end you add boiling water and viola, the batter got thin.  It's baked in a loaf pan.  I cooled it and added shifted powdered sugar on the top as a garnish.  And then I left it for them to help themselves. I had taken a taste first and it was everything I hoped for.  Moist and chocolatey, but not too sweet.  

They devoured the cake and started pushing for me to make another one.  I took that it was a success. 

I had never appreciated olive oil or olives until I thought about writing a series about an olive farm.  My agent nixed it, but I had already done a lot of research.  I went to an olive farm and read about olive oil. I tasted different kinds of olives. Who knew they were related to cherries. They are both drupes.  Ever since then I have come to love olives and olive oil.  I love the grayish green slender leaves on olive trees. 

I was glad to finally find a way to use olives in a book.