SPEAKING

HI AGAIN,
I WANTED TO LET ORGANIZATIONS IN THE CENTRAL TEXAS AREA THAT I GIVE FREE* TALKS TO GROUPS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS.

FOR INFORMATION OR TO BOOK AN ENGAGEMENT CONTACT ME AT MYSTERYWRITER5@MSN.COM.

* if the engagement is too far, I do ask for travel expenses.

New Virginia Davies mystery-Quest for the Crystal Skull in now available

New Virginia Davies mystery-Quest for the Crystal Skull in now available at bookstores and on-line. ISBN: 978-1-60318-256-0

                                      Quest for the Crystal Skull

                                                        A Virginia Davies Mystery

                                                                          by

                                                              David Ciambrone

Texas. It’s the biggest state in the continental United States. Sun worshipers, college students at Spring Break, smugglers and hurricanes visit its coastline. This hurricane found Virginia Davies at a beachfront resort on St. John’s Island securing archaeological artifacts and treasures worth millions that had been hijacked.  With the hurricane raging around her, she and a long time friend, Donna Boletti, encounter Virginia’s murdered partner, and some killers trying to steal an old crystal skull. 

After she and Donna eliminate the threat of the killers and the hurricane ebbs, they heads for New Orleans to trace down the people behind the murders. Virginia and Donna are pulled into the world of Voodoo and find other groups wanting the crystal skull and her dead. She and Donna keep searching for clues while the body count keeps going up around them. She learns the people behind the murders are headquartered in Rome. In Rome she manages to get inside the world of a dangerous art and fake antiques business and an unusual laboratory for the manufacture of undetectable fake art and antiques that could mean her death.

Virginia entangles the reader in a rapid-fire adventure involving the worlds of murder, voodoo, and antique fraud and the sights and sounds of Texas, New Orleans and Rome up to the high stakes end on the Mediterranean Sea. 

 GET YOURS TODAY!

Arizona's new Immigration Law.

I think Arizona got the right idea when it passed their new law. No one has a problem with LEGAL immigration, it is the ILLEGAL (criminal) immigration that we do not like. So:

LET ME SEE IF I GOT THIS RIGHT ABOUT IMMIGRATION

IF YOU CROSS THE NORTH KOREAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET 12 YEARS HARD LABOR.

 IF YOU CROSS THE IRANIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU ARE DETAINED  INDEFINITELY.

 IF YOU CROSS THE AFGHAN BORDER ILLEGALLY, YOU GET SHOT.

 IF YOU CROSS THE SAUDI ARABIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE JAILED.

 IF YOU CROSS THE CHINESE BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU MAY NEVER BE HEARD FROM AGAIN.

 IF YOU CROSS THE VENEZUELAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE BRANDED A SPY AND  YOUR FATE WILL BE SEALED.

 IF YOU CROSS THE CUBAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE THROWN INTO POLITICAL PRISON TO ROT.

 IF YOU CROSS THE U.S. BORDER ILLEGALLY (you are a (CRIMINAL), YOU CAN GET:

 1 - A JOB,

 2 - A DRIVERS LICENSE,

 3 - SOCIAL SECURITY CARD,

 4 - WELFARE,

 5 - FOOD STAMPS,

 6 - CREDIT CARDS,

 7 - SUBSIDIZED RENT OR A LOAN TO BUY A HOUSE,

8 - FREE EDUCATION,

9 - FREE HEALTH CARE,

10 - A LOBBYIST IN WASHINGTON

11 - BILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS PRINTED IN YOUR

LANGUAGE

12 - AND THE RIGHT TO CARRY YOUR COUNTRY'S FLAG WHILE YOU PROTEST THAT YOU DON'T GET ENOUGH RESPECT

 I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE I HAD A FIRM GRASP ON THE SITUATION.

HELL YES I'M FOR WHAT ARIZONA DID. THEY HAD TO ACT BECAUSE THE JERKS IN WASHINGTON DO NOT HAVE THE GUTS TO ACT. THEY HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY TO SECURE OUR BORDERS AND ARREST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, BUT THEY WILL NOT DO IT. 

THIS MESS IS COSTING US CITIZENS AND PEOPLE WHO ARE HERE LEGALLY BILLIONS AND WE CAN'T SEEM TO GET WASHINGTON HEAD OUT OF IT'S ASS. HOSPITALS HAVE CLOSED EMERGENCY ROOM BECAUSE THEY CAN AFFORD TO TREAT THEM FOR FREE. THIS AFFECTS YOU WHEN YOU HAVE TO GO FURTHER TO AN EMERGENCY ROOM IN CASE OF A MEDICAL PROBLEM THEN YOU'LL WAIT BEHIND A BUNCH OF ILLEGAL (CRIMINAL) IMMIGRANTS WHO WE MUST TREAT FOR FREE. THE HOSPITAL CHARGES MORE TO RECOVER THEIR COSTS FROM WHO? YOU AND YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY. SO DON'T BITCH WHEN YOUR INSURANCE GOES UP AND THE HOSPITAL COSTS A FORTUNE. YOUR TAXES ARE PAYING FOR THEM TOO FOR ALL THE "FREE" THINGS THEY CAN GET (SEE ABOVE). THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH---YOU PAY IT FOR THEM. HOW STUPID CAN WE GET?  SO GOOD FOR ARIZONA--WHICH OTHER STATES WILL HAVE THE GUTS TO FOLLOW THEIR EXAMPLE? PERSONALLY I DON'T CARE WHAT THE ADVOCATES FOR THE IMMIGRANTS THINK OR NBC OR CBS OR CNN OR THE OTHER WACOS IN THE PRESS THINK. 

More handy hints for everyday use.

·      What to do with bottles of left over wine with some wine still in them? It seems a shame to just throw it away but there isn’t a lot left in each bottle and they take up room. What’s a cook to do? Don't throw out all that leftover wine. There is an easy way to “save” the wine for future use, maybe not drinking but why waste good wine? You can freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.

·      When dealing with fish, it is a good idea to have a way to take away the fishy taste of frozen fish or the gamey taste of game fish. The easiest way to take away these unwanted tastes is to soak the fish in milk for several hours before cooking. Blot the milk from the fish with paper towels and prepare as planned. But, use whole milk only.

·      Your tea tasting extra bitter?  Over boiling, that is boiling the water for too long drives is a lot of the absorbed air out, thus making it taste somewhat flat. It will also cause more Tannic acid to be released from the tea leaves and cause a bitter taste.

·      The practice of “grinding” dried spices into cooking is based on real science and not just Grandma’s kookiness. The grinding of dried spices is just a matter of crushing the dried leaves and stalks of the spice in the palm of your hand. The breaking up of these prepared spices relieves the oils so they may enhance the flavor of your cooking more than just adding unpulverized spices to the pot.

·      Keeping the cut edge of cheese moist under refrigeration is a long-standing problem in most kitchens.  Even wrapping it doesn’t prevent the cheese from drying out at the cut edges. Keep the cut edge of cheese moist by applying a thin coat of butter over the edges of cut cheese and then refrigerate. But you must Use real butter.

The Trashy Gourmet updates

The new nonfiction book The Best of Trashy Gourmet is in work. I hope to have it finished by late spring. Here is a couple of the things in it so far.

·      What to do with bottles of left over wine with some wine still in them? It seems a shame to just throw it away but there isn’t a lot left in each bottle and they take up room. What’s a cook to do? Don't throw out all that leftover wine. There is an easy way to “save” the wine for future use, maybe not drinking but why waste good wine? You can freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.

·      When dealing with fish, it is a good idea to have a way to take away the fishy taste of frozen fish or the gamey taste of game fish. The easiest way to take away these unwanted tastes is to soak the fish in milk for several hours before cooking. Blot the milk from the fish with paper towels and prepare as planned. But, use whole milk only.

I named the book The Best of the Trashy Gourmet because there is another new Adam Thomas mystery book in the works called the Trashy Gourmet. Some of the material in the Best of book will be in the end of the mystery too. Stay tooned for updates.