Good-byes: Quick or Lingering

JENN McKINLAY: Good-byes. I’m terrible at them. I’m not sure why but I think it has something to do with my XX chromosomes because I know I am not alone in this lingering at the train station until the last possible second and then having to run and execute an undignified skirt in the air leap to catch the train because talking about the incoming weather is so much more important than, you know, actually getting my butt on the train.

I was at a conference years ago where I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning with my writer buddies talking like we were solving all of the world’s problems - we were not - when we finally called it a night, or rather a day, since the sun was coming up.

Do you think we managed to mumble ‘good night’ and part? Oh, no, we stood there sagging on our feet, trying to figure out when we’d meet up the next day at the conference just to say good-bye, because it was the last day and we were all headed home. This went on for fifteen minutes when I finally looked at my gal pals and said, “If we were dudes, we’d just knuckle bump and say ‘see ya’ and it’d be cool.”

This inability to end things extends to my relationships as well. I am the queen of the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ talk. I’m so good at it, in fact, I think there are a few people out there who aren’t even aware that we’ve broken up. Again, I blame the XX. Hub, like all manimals, has the XY and I suspect the Y stands for “Why are we still here talking when we could be gone already?” or “Why is this person calling me? We were done ages ago. Was I not clear?” I tried to explain that my ineptitude in adios is really a disability. He didn’t get it. Ghosting from social events was created for this man.

I have struggled with endings my entire life -relationships, jobs, even some friendships. But now that I've reached a certain age, I have discovered that there’s an upside to saying good-bye swiftly. Once you get over it, you get to say hello to something new! Say it with me now: “Hello, exciting new adventure!”

Now I could be a scaredy-cat and worry that I won’t like the next job, friendship, or career move as much as the one I'm leaving. And I could refuse to try something new and keep my life exactly the same. But life is just too short not to do what you love with whom you love in a place that you love. So here’s my unsolicited advice, because I’m so good at giving it but not taking it - unless by force - figure out what you need to do to say good-bye to the old and GO FOR THE NEW!

So, how about you, Reds and Readers, are you good at good-byes and making changes or not so much?

Lemon Poundcake Shenanigans

 JENN McKINLAY: Social media can sure feel like a giant cesspool, but every now and then a little gem comes along that entertains me and reminds me that there are some seriously funny people out there. So, last week as I was harvesting lemons and trying to figure out what to do with them, I came across a dude called Afroman and his song about a deputy who was searching his house and paused to eyeball his mama's lemon poundcake. Naturally, Afroman wrote a song about it.

Now, the stars (read Sheriffs) who were featured in Afroman's video which was posted three years ago, took offense to the video and sued Afroman for defamation. This was where it came across my radar because the court case was bonkers! You can Google the case to find out what happened as there will be no spoilers here! But I will say Sheriff Poundcake's ex-wife was Afroman's lone witness. 

In any event, the whole thing gave me a hankering for lemon poundcake, so I made one! 

Here's the recipe, inspired by Seasons & Suppers but tweaked a bit:

Loaf:

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature

  3/4 cup white sugar

  3 large eggs, room temperature

  2 Tbsp lemon zest,1 large lemon

  1 Tbsp lemon juice

  2 tsp vanilla

  1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

  1/4 tsp table salt

  1/4 tsp baking soda

  1/4 tsp baking powder

  1/3 cup Greek yogurt

  Glaze:

  1 cup icing/confectioners' sugar
  2 Tbsp lemon juice or whatever amount achieves desired consistency

• Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease an 8x4-inch loaf pan.

  2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter with the sugar at medium speed until light colored and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat in well after each addition, scraping down the sides of the bowl, as needed. Beat in the lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla.

  3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. With mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with the Greek yogurt.

  4. Scrape into prepared 8x4-inch loaf pan and level batter. Bake in preheated oven for 50-55 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

  5. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then run a knife along the edges to loosen and remove from pan. Allow to cool on a cooling rack.

  6.  While loaf is still a little warm, prepare the glaze in a small bowl, adding enough lemon juice to make a pourable glaze. Drizzle on top, allowing it to drip down the sides a bit. Cool completely, then slice and enjoy.

• So, who else watched the Afroman court saga? Or more importantly, who loves lemon poundcake?

Research Rabbit Holes by Jenn McKinlay

 The Winner of Leslie Karst's MURDER, LOCAL STYLE is Brenda Gaskell! Brenda, please send an email to julia at julia spencer - fleming dot com (remember the hyphen!) and I'll connect you to Leslie.

 

JENN McKINLAY: Writing brings an author to some seriously strange places. Over the course of sixty plus books in different genres, I’ve done deep dives into everything from how certain poisons work, naturally, to the inner workings of beauty pageants, dog shows, Elvis impersonators, and NFL football teams. I’ve studied conditions like dyslexia and anxiety and interviewed professionals about narcissism and obsessive compulsive disorder. And I’ve done boots on the ground research for settings from Arizona to New England to Italy (a hardship, I know). If you ask me what my favorite research was to date, I’d have to say going to the top of the Eiffel Tower for a pivotal scene in PARIS IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA. Hard to beat, I know. 

How about you, Reds? What is your favorite research deep dive and what book did you use it in?

RHYS BOWEN:  Every one of my books seems to involve a research deep dive. Exotic places, other times, the royal family, not to mention poisons and blood spatters. I studied the whole training program for secret agents in WWII. I sat inside a Blenheim Bomber and tried on a flight helmet. I have walked every street in lower Manhattan and at this moment I’m becoming an expert in appraising fifteenth century books! I love the way we become accidental experts!

Much of my research involves a trip somewhere. Researching at the antique Correr library in Venice. Learning to make Tuscan pasta. This is definitely the fun part. Eating on a dock beside the Mediterranean is magical. 

LUCY BURDETTE: With my Key West series, most of the research has been exploring the undercurrents of the island. I did love my two experiences with the citizens police academy and sheriff’s police academy. There is an almost-deserted island I need to visit for next book, though it scares me a little…

Other than that, Paris, Paris, and Paris!

HALLIE EPHRON: Every book has involved a foray into some topic or place I’d never have imagined myself investigating. I’ve been to a brain bank (donated brains arrive in FedEx boxes and get stored in buckets so they look like oversized cauliflowers taking a bath). I was a tourist in an MRI lab (how to kill someone? Let me count the ways!) The mud flats at low tide in and around Beaufort, South Carolina (not a place you want to get stuck). 

I started writing a book about a psych/intern who works nights as an exotic dancer, but realized that research into what that would be like was a bridge too far.  Nope, not going there.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: My on-site research has consisted of a lot of hiking around places in upstate NY, looking for likely sites to hide a body and buildings and business that catch my eye - I want to make sure the reader absolutely feels like they are right there in Washington County.

When I wanted to describe Clare piloting a helicopter in the southern Adirondacks, I went to my dad. For years, he had the top of the line, most recent version of Microsoft Flight (with different kinds of yokes and controls to match the aircraft he was “flying” and he led me through the entire spin up process and flight plan - the program let me see what Clare would have seen. You can take the man out of the Air Force, but you can’t take the Air Force out of the man, I guess.

I keep saying I’m going to set a novel in someplace warm (Aruba?) or beautiful (Vienna?) but so far, it’s all snow, mud or high heat/high humidity. Sigh.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Usually I make stuff up. And as a reporter, I’ve wired myself with hidden cameras (and got caught in a cult once...ahh) and gone undercover and in disguise. Been in prisons and jails and behind the scenes at the airport and courthouse and been with SWAT teams and tear gassed and inside a nuclear reactor. (Oh, and in the FBI Academy, I figured out how to fool the lie detector. They are, truly, STILL mad at me.) I have, though, done a lot of on-line research into the psychology of revenge, and geography of an area, and time zones, and things like “how long to drown in salt water vs. fresh water” and “what are the symptoms of CO poisoning.” That stuff has to be right. Still mostly, I make stuff up.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I have had such a blast doing research for my books. From the history of tea to distilling single malt scotch, London during the Blitz and Notting Hill in the Sixties, elite rowing, search and rescue dogs, Crystal Palace and the Great Exhibition, immigration in East London, fire investigation, female chefs and life in a professional kitchen, to undercover cops in the Met, and more… How to pick a favorite? I don’t think I can!

How about you, Readers, what informational rabbit holes have you fallen into?