Okay, so it doesn’t look so good in the photo, but stuffed peppers are one of my favorite meals. Ground beef, rice, onion and the secret – Manwich sauce! Mix and put into steamed bell peppers. Top with cheese and bake in the oven at 350 for about twenty minutes or until the meat is cooked through.

Serve with thick slices of Italian bread and it’s a hearty meal.

This is my entry for the Zanussi cookers make every meal a masterpiece competition

PAM is a crazy name for a spray that keeps food from sticking, but it’s a real lifesaver in our house.

First, PAM is the best way to cut calories when cooking and I don’t care if those pans claim they’re non-stick, it’s just not true. But with PAM, the foods slip right out and clean up is easy. It’s also the only way to properly grease my silicone cupcake cups. A true time saver.

This post is sponsored by PAM and Stiletto Media, a community that connects bloggers with brands. I’m writing this to be entered into a giveaway hosted by Latina On a Mission

A year ago, I decided that I was going to go back to writing a novel, so I subscribed to Writer’s Digest and RT Book Club in order to keep the inspiration alive. Three months later, I’d given up on the book. . . again. . and moved on to scrapbook.

Unfortunately, the magazines kept arriving, mocking me each month, reminding me of my failure.

Now the subscriptions are just about up and guess what? I’ve given up scrapbooking and I’ve gone back to novel writing.

I’m sure there’s a lesson here. . . not sure what it is.

I’ve been traveling around the web discovering new things and this week I had an encounters with pirates,  time bandits and a site that goes “moo” lala!

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

The new Pirates movie will be out soon, so Disney has a brand new site for you to play in. It’s loaded with things to click on and games to play and as you work your way around, you earn badges which unlock prizes. I joined Captain Jack’s Crew and this week I got a free Pirates’ movie poster.

The gallery photos are stunning and if you have little Pirates fans at your house, you need to make the Pirates Bento Box in the activities tab.

Gardens of Time on Facebook

I’ve never been a fan of Facebook games, but this week I was introduced to Gardens of Time and now I’m hooked. (I don’t post many of milestones, so fear not if you follow me.) The game comes in two parts. The main part is a series of exotic scenes loaded with hidden objects. These objects are out of their time, put there by sloppy time bandits. It’s your job to locate all of them, sometimes with a ticking clock spurring you on.

The second part of the game involves building a garden with objects from a variety of locales and eras. This is the part I am not suited for. Apparently, I have no sense of spatial relationships or graphic design. I keep wanting to make things symmetrical, which I imagine isn’t very trendy but it makes me feel better. Of course, Playdom would like you to fork over real money in order to get more land and higher levels. So far, I’ve managed to play with nothing but the virtual coinage that comes with the game. We’ll see how long I hold out. If you play, hit me up on Facebook so we can be neighbors.

Moolala: Deals That Pay You

Moolala is my new favorite deal site. I love fresh veggies and last week I got in on a deal to have a farm fresh sampler box sent to me from MyOraganicAcres at 73% off. The only downside is that that deal was so popular, I have to wait until next week before I can redeem my voucher.

On the surface, Moolala is like all the other daily deal sites but there’s a secret underneath. When you sign up, you get a code to give out to your friends, so when they buy things you get an affiliate payout. Then, if your friend gets someone to buy a deal, you get a percentage of that deal, too. Look, I know people can get weird about affiliate programs and referral codes, but why? It’s not like the money is coming out of their pockets if they click the link. And if I did the legwork, shouldn’t I benefit from a little clicky-love?

Let’s try it. Here’s my affiliate link for Moolala: cynthialil.moolala.com. Click it. Don’t be afraid. You might find gold at the end of this rainbow.

There you have it. This week’s treasure from my digital adventures. Enjoy!

Did you come across a cool, new site this week? Tell me about it so I can visit, too.

Hey, I’m in this movie

The Trinity Six by Charles Cumming

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Conspiracies, the Cold War, modern day spies in London, these were the things that attracted me to The Trinity Six
and I got my fill of all of them. The story follows a London professor who stumbles on a Cold War conspiracy after a writer friend of his passes away. What starts out as a passing interest in carrying on his dead friend’s legacy becomes a run for his life as bit by bit he begins to uncover the secret of the sixth Cambridge spy.

Today, I am a Foodzie!

For months now, I’ve been reading about this company that sends out sample boxes of artisan food goodies on a monthly basis. I was reluctant to try it because it’s $19.99 a month but last week I said, so what! I want to treat myself and I did.

Here I am, only a few days later opening my first box. First off, kudos to the presentation. Everything sits facing the right way under a layer of tissue with a card that explains the origin of each item, because really, that’s what this is all about, getting to try foods from all over.

These are all artisan foods, items made by small companies, all handcrafted with love.

Here’s what I got in the Feb box:

Sweet & Spicy Walnuts from NutC in East Hampton, NY – I haven’t tried them yet but they sound great. They came in a bag about the size of sample coffees so it’s a good amount.

Cabernet Brownies from Marche Noir right near me in Orange County, CA. This is going to be my sinful treat when everyone has gone to bed.

Parisian Mendiants from La Chatelaine in Bozeman, MT – it’s a fancy way of saying chocolate discs with nuts and other goodies tucked inside. I’m keeping these for myself.

Beer and Pretzel Caramels by Liddabit in Brooklyn, NY – this is the one item I’ll pass on. I don’t like beer or caramels so my son gets this bite.

Charlie’s Truffled Popcorn by Susan Rice Truffles in Southern Pines, NC – I can’t even begin to think of how this will taste. I think I’ll save it to much while watching a new Supernatural this week.

Almond Chocolate Trail Bar by Olympic granola in North Branch, MN. This bar was about the size of a cassette tape, very thick and I thought it would be hard but it was moist and chewy and just a little sweet. Mostly it was nutty and earthy and it was full of stuff that’s good for you.

Overall, I’m very pleased with my box. The hard part is savoring the goodies and I can’t wait until next month to see what arrives.

Kudos to Foodzie and all of the chefs. Click here to get your own tasting box.

I took a few more steps toward getting back into the fiction market, none of which actually involved any real writing — so I’m not sure what to make of that.

I joined a Yahoo Group for romance writers and it’s helping just seeing that others are out there plugging away.

I also entered a piece in a contest. We’ll see how that goes.

I did jot down a few notes as I still debate whether I should go back to an old story or start something new. I keep leaning toward a story with an actor as the hero. I know those weren’t all that popular in the past but they say write what you know and since TV has always been a huge part of my life, I feel like it should be the basis of the story.

Last night, I went for a walk and the smell in the air reminded me of the punks we used to light when we were kids. I tried to look them up online so I could get a picture of them but the closest thing I could find was the photo of cattails that you see here.

Cattails are Mother Nature’s version of punks. Punks were the size of sparklers and they came in a box, a fuzzy brown patch on a metal stick. My dad would light them and we’d carry them around writing with the smoke in the air and pretending they were long cigarettes (because smoking was cool back then.)

I think they might have been bug repellent in the summer. And I think we used to burn actual cattails, too, but I’m not sure.

I’ve always written stories, every since I was old enough to spell. I went from that to fan fic and eventually to writing magazine articles, non-fiction books and finally a job writing full time for the web.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, I was a fiction author. It began when I discovered erotica. I honed my skills on sexy Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanfic then joined The Erotica Writers Association where I learned that I could sell stuff! Since I was also writing books and magazine articles for Buffy, I wrote erotica under a pen name and sold stories to a number of magazines and anthologies. I even made The Best New Erotica Writers anthology of that year.

Still, I longed for one thing — a review in Romantic Times magazine and that meant getting that romance novel published. For years, I had been working on a paranormal romance about a ghost, a pocket watch and a lighthouse. Waiting for Ethan made it through two rounds at a major publisher but was deemed not quite right. I almost tossed it out, but encouragement and a contest from Siren Publishing made me start working on it again. I took everything I’d learned. I polished and polished and I won the contest. Siren published my novel. Then Romantic Times reviewed my novel and I thought I was on my way to publishing stardom.

Not.