GONE WITH A HANDSOMER MAN

It's Here!

GONE WITH A HANDSOMER MAN

By Michael Lee West

Available here on Amazon.

I've been eager to read Michael Lee West's latest book,

so I was tickled pink when Michael Lee sent a copy of

GONE WITH A HANDSOMER MAN

to arrive on my doorstep April 12.

Any character who turns to

Easter Peeps to calm her nerves has to be interesting.

I've read all of Michael Lee's books, and her characters jump off the pages of her novels right into my heart. Michael Lee said, "A few summers ago, I began searching for the perfect recipe for Red Velvet Cake. I measured, baked, and consumed until I couldn't fit into my clothes and my fingers were permanently stained by food coloring. But the recipe eluded me.....I was just about to start a novel about wacky Tennessee sisters, and normally I like to stay home and eat Twizzlers while thinking about my characters-to-be. But off we went to Charleston."

"That night , tucked into my rented bed by the sea, a character named Teeny Templeton wandered into my dreams. She was a sassy, brown-eyed blonde with a penchant for throwing fruit at wayward boyfriends.......I thought Teeny would tell me a story about her quirky aunts or offer a Red Velvet recipe that somehow incorporated peaches, but she had other plans. Her boyfriend had turned up dead and all fingers pointed at Teeny. Plus, the body count was rising."

"I brought Teeny home, then I made her aunt's Red Velvet cake. I cut a huge slice, then opened a notebook and wrote Gone With a Handsomer Man on the first page. I held on for dear life while she whirled through adventures and unusual recipes."

RED VELVET CAKE

If you haven't heard by now, Teeny Templeton

cooks her way through "love, death, and Red Velvet cakes."

You are going to want to read this book, and you just

might find yourself cooking a Red Velvet Cake of your own.

I'm a child of the 50s.

Red Velvet Cake was a favorite in my youth.

The recipe I'm sharing is from my mother.

Red Velvet Cake

Cream 1/2 cup Crisco, 1 1/2 cup sugar; add 2 eggs.

sift 3 times: 2 cups flour, 1 T. cocoa, 1/2 t. salt.

Add alternately with 1 cup buttermilk, 2 oz. red food coloring.

Beat well. Fold in 1 t. soda dissolved in 1 T. vinegar.

Bake in two layers at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

Frosting

1 cup milk, 1/4 cup flour, dash of salt --- cook over low

flame to a pudding stage. Set off to cool. Cream 1/2 cup Crisco,

1 stick Oleo, 1 cup sugar, and 1 t. vanilla. Add to the pudding

mixture; beat well until smooth. Spread on cake.

Sprinkle fresh coconut over cake.

Keep in refrigerator until ready to serve.

All direct quotes are from the author, Michael Lee West. You can find a copy of her complete statement on her web site here.

"Celebrating Fictional Food in

Gone With A Handsomer Man"

April 22 & April 29

Click the link below to join others

celebrating the release of Michael Lee's newest novel.

Foodie Friday @ Designs by Gollum

Michael Lee is offering Special Give Aways

to Celebrate at the following blogs.

Don't miss out on the fun!

Between Naps on the Porch

Stone Gable

Cuisine Kathleen

Also linking to

Pink Saturday @ How Sweet the Sound