Carolan Ivey - Romance That Will Haunt You

Issue: Summer/Fall 2009

Contests!

A Ghost of a Chance gets 4 angels from Fallen Angel Reviews!

"A Ghost of a Chance is a very unpredictable story with lots of amazing, but believable bits. Carolan Ivey tells a gripping tale!"
~ Kim N.

This has been quite the summer for me, such that I never got a chance to put out a summer newsletter. Suffice to say that, except for a great trip to Colorado, it's not a summer I wish to repeat. So let's get on to happier topics!

Here's a nice, easy recipe for Moon Soap, which you can use at any phase of the moon to attune with its energies. It's quite pungent, so if you want to back off on some of the essential oil amounts, feel free. :) (In fact, it might be great for summer colds!)

Moon Soap

Essential Oils:

3 parts sandalwood

2 parts camphor

1 part lemon

1 part eucalyptus

Cut a 4 oz. bar of any castile or plain, glycerin-based soap (available in any craft store) into pieces and gently melt on stovetop in a double boiler or in microwave-safe container on low power.

Add up to 30 drops of the above essential oil mixture. Roll into balls (when it cools a bit) or pour into molds.

Moon Energies:

Waxing moon: Great time to create new things, do workings/prayers for healing, prosperity, success, love, any kind of gainful/positive wish.

Full moon: The most potent time of the lunar cycle, especially the last three days before actual fullness occurs. Workings and prayers for protection, banishing bad habits/bad people from your life, or cleansings are particularly effective at or immediately after a full moon, so be careful what you ask for!

Waning moon: Ideal time to rid yourself of negativity.

New (dark) moon: "Black moon" is just before the actual point of the new moon, and is the most powerful time for workings/prayers involving ridding yourself of negative stuff. "New moon" is still dark, but it's actually waxing at this time so workings involving new beginning are what you should aim for.

Great book: The Moon Watcher's Companion

Carolan's Cauldron

Here's a recipe to use up some of the last of the summer berries. I don't know about you, but around here the berries have been fantastic this year. We're even still getting strawberries!

Cranachan is a traditional Scottish dessert. This one comes via UndiscoveredScotland.com.

Cranachan

About 10-12 oz. raspberries (or strawberries)

1 cup heavy cream

2 Tb. honey

2 Tb. single malt whiskey

2-3 Tb. oatmeal

Toast the oatmeal in a skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Turn off heat and let cool.

Whisk the cream until soft and relatively thick. Fold in honey and whiskey.

Pick out a few of the best-looking berries. Place 3-4 in bottom of serving glasses. Reserve the rest for garnish. Add the remainder of the berries to the cream, folding in carefully, breaking a few of the berries to color the cream pink.

Spoon into serving glasses, top with cooled oatmeal and garnish with berries. Chill for at least 3 hours or overnight. Serves 2. You can freeze the cream mixture if desired. Wouldn't it be great in a pie crust? :)

Corn Chowder

2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 can cream corn

1 or 2 ears fresh sweet corn (or a can of kernels if not available)
1 onion, cubed
8 strips bacon, well done and crispy
1 cup milk
Pepper and salt to taste

Cook potatoes and onions in water to cover until tender. Drain water. Meantime, fry bacon until crisp. Drain fat. Add crumbled bacon and remaining ingredients to onions and potatoes and simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently. Don't boil. Serve with additional crumbled bacon and shredded cheese for topping.

What's Cooking...On the Keyboard?

I'm in the home stretch of finishing a novella, a side project of mine that I've been using to shake off the dust of this past summer. Stay tuned...it'll probably involve a completely different pen name. And if you don't like it hot, steer clear! ;)

~~~

FREE READ! Dunvegas anthology.

Complete Buy Link List

Upcoming Appearances

Tentative: COFW conference, Sept. 18

Tentative: RT Columbus, spring 2010

NOTICE! I've had to change the name of my website's email box. Spammers were overwhelming it to the point it was a chore to weed out legitimate messages. It's now:

And yes, that's an image you can't click on. It's the only way to foil the bots. :(