As I write this, I’m looking out my window at the side yard, sprinkled with light from the full moon. Peppy is sitting on the deck, flicking her tail and gazing thoughtfully at the woods. A couple of deer have lingered by the feeder, but most have gone back down the hill through the woods to settle for the night. The herds came back much thinner than usual this year. I’m not sure why, because we had a relatively easy winter season. Sid and I are concerned about the fawns that will come in June and are setting out extra food mixed with supplements.

COMING UP ROSES will be on the shelves soon. I’m delighted with the cover! The gorgeous pink roses are a perfect fit for the title. For those of you who have never read the story, it has always been one of my favorites. For those who have kept COMING UP ROSES as a keeper, this is a good opportunity to get a beautiful new edition.

LUCKY PENNY is still doing well, getting very good reviews, and generating a lot of comments from readers. Thanks so much to all of you who took the time to get in touch with me. This is one author who never, ever, takes reader loyalty and support for granted.

I’m having so much fun writing Quincy Harrigan’s story that it’s difficult to tear myself away to do mundane things like shop, cook, read, etc. Fortunately for me, my husband, Sid, expects to be fed at fairly regular intervals, and that prevents me from actually taking root at the keyboard. I’ve been working my way through a lot of the recipes that have been posted on the website over the past few months, and we’ve discovered some fantastic gourmet delights.

Darla Taylor’s recipe for Rice Pudding topped the recipe contest this month, with five rave reviews from visitors to the website. My husband and I loved it! Congratulations, Darla...an autographed book will be heading your way. Here is the recipe:

Rice Pudding

1 cup Jasmine rice
2 cups milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 TB vanilla
1/4 cup sugar

Cook rice according to package directions in a deep pot. Separate eggs and beat yolks with ½ cup sugar and the vanilla. Set aside. Beat egg whites until foamy, then gradually add ¼ cup sugar a little at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

Add milk to cooked rice. Cook to the scalding point, then turn down the head to medium. Add some of the rice/milk mixture to the egg yolk mixture, stirring briskly, and pour back into the rice/milk mixture and cook until it begins to thicken. Turn heat down to simmer.

Pour egg white mixture into the rice mixture and blend well. Leave on the heat for a minute or so and then turn off the heat. Enjoy.

This month’s winner of the “What Do You Like In A Romantic Heroine” contest is Kaitlin Cross. Here is her winning entry:

I like a heroine I can identify with. For me, that means she has to seem like a real person. That eliminates business tycoons, billionaire’s daughters, women with twenty-inch waists, secret agents, and women who can karate chop men while lugging a machine gun and wearing black lingerie. The heroine I can identify with doesn’t have a perfect figure, nor does she have a perfect life. She’s made some mistakes and may make more during the course of the book. She may know what she wants, but she’s not always sure how to go about getting it. She’s not attracted to bossy male chauvinist pigs, and she knows how to stick up for herself if the hero starts to act like one.

Her faults make her interesting, and make her seem like a well-rounded person, because of course she has virtues, too. My heroine wouldn’t dream of hopping into bed with a man she’s just met...there has to be an emotional connection. My heroine is more likely to be found scurrying around the kitchen scrambling eggs while wearing an oversize flannel shirt than chairing a boardroom meeting of international executives with megabucks on the line. I might live next door to her. In fact, I might like to! This is the sort of person I would root for.

Me, too, Katlin! Congratulations! An autographed book will be on its way to you soon.

May’s contest is going to be a little different. You can enter under your name and email address, as always, but please refrain from specifying your own name or the names of others in your entry story because I will be posting them, anonymously, on the Bulletin Board during the month of May under the anchored subject heading, “My Most Embarrassing Moment.” I think it will be fun to share these moments with other readers, but in doing so, the aim will be to entertain, not humiliate anyone.

What is your most embarrassing moment? One of mine is revealed in my Welcome Letter this month, so never say I don’t tell all!

What hilarious event still makes you laugh and cringe when you think back on it? Share it with us, and we can all have some good laughs. Send your stories to me at CatherineDirect@aol.com, just as you always do, making certain you have included no names to embarrass yourself or any friends or relatives. I will copy and paste your entry on the Bulletin Board so everyone can receive a big smile and good chuckle for the day. Three winners will be chosen by drawing, and their names will be posted in my front page letter for June.

Anonymity is guaranteed, but the entries WILL end up on the website, so entering implies your permission to post your story. I’ve already told my personal assistant that she has to put hers up on the website — I laugh until I cry every time I think about it, and it happened many, many moons ago! She blanched, but agreed.

Mothers Day blessings to all of you with children, and special wishes to our friend Michelle in Wales, whose little boy has made a successful debut into the world! Her daughter is so excited to be a big sister!

Happy reading!

Catherine Anderson