Book auditions/new recipe

I've finished a couple books that I was halfway through so now I'm back to auditioning the next read. I'm in the mood for a historical mystery and have many from which to choose. Here's my current choices:

• DEATH IN THE DARK WALK by Deryn Lake. First in series of 12 featuring John Rawlings, an apothecary and associate of John Fielding, mostly in 18th century London. I own a couple of this series already but wanted to start at the beginning so had to wait to order this one. It's a strong contender on the waiting-for-it issue and it's not a large book (179 trade-size pages). Against it -- the first chapter is a little dry.
• THE WEAVER'S TALE by Kate Sedley. This is 3rd of 17 in series featuring Roger the Chapman, a medieval chapman (peddler) in 15th century England. I'm trying to read one of this series every month (actually I'm trying to do that with several series). It's been a while since I've read one of this author so on that issue, this one is a contender.
• RATTLE HIS BONES by Carola Dunn. This is 8th of 17 in series featuring Daisy Dalrymple, a journalist in Hampshire, England, in 1923. It's been a very long time since I've read one from this series so it overdue and I do like this time period and would be a break from the medievals but still historical. Has potential.
• THE NICHOLAS FEAST by Pat MacIntosh. 2nd of 5 in series featuring Gil Cunningham, a notary in 15th century Glasgow, Scotland. I like this series and don't want to lose much time in between reads.
• CROWNER'S QUEST by Bernard Knight. This is 3rd of 12 in series featuring Sir John de Wolfe, the crowner (coroner), in 12th century Devon, England. This book has an outside chance of being chosen because I do like this series but there are others in the queue that have been waiting longer so I should read this later in the month.

There are a few others that I have out from the library and so many others I want to/need to get to but these are the main auditionees. I think.

I helped Jody with her self-evaluation for work today. Her self-esteem is in the pits and she's tired of the long hours and hates her job and it showed, so I put that into more professional language for her. She said she was going to use it all. Not much happening on the websites, otherwise.

I'm trying a new recipe tonight for hamburger. Steve isn't a big fan of spaghetti because of the tomatoes. (I don't know, he had a BAD experience with tomatoes growing up which affects him to this day). I've gotten around that by using tomato soup with a packet mix. But tonight I'm going to try this recipe because it has bacon (he loves bacon) in it and cream (he loves creamed things) and the tomato-ness is from paste rather than real tomatoes:

2 tablespoon(s) butter
1/4 pound(s) sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch strips
1 onion, chopped
1/2 pound(s) ground beef or a mixture of pork, veal, and beef (meat-loaf mix)
1 cup(s) canned low-sodium beef or chicken broth or homemade stock
1/2 cup(s) dry white wine
2 tablespoon(s) tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon(s) dried oregano
3/4 teaspoon(s) salt
1/4 teaspoon(s) fresh-ground black pepper
1/2 cup(s) heavy cream
3/4 pound(s) spaghetti
2 tablespoon(s) chopped fresh parsley

1. In a large frying pan, heat the butter and bacon over moderately low heat. Cook until the bacon renders some of its fat, about 3 minutes. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to soften, about 3 minutes longer. Stir in the ground beef and cook until the meat is no longer pink, about 2 minutes. Add the broth, wine, tomato paste, oregano, salt, and pepper. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens, about 25 minutes. Stir in the cream and remove from the heat.
2. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the spaghetti until just done, about 12 minutes. Drain and toss with the sauce and the parsley.

I'll let you know how it goes. I can't really do the onions either because of Steve so I'll be fudging there.

On our walk this afternoon, Tug found one mound of snow (it's in the high 50s today) and he tried to roll in it because he loves snow and once it gets above 40, he's hot and panting. Well, rolling didn't work so he sat in it, laying down on his tummy. And didn't move for at least five minutes. Meanwhile, the people who live there and next door were outside and saw us and I waved and explained the situation. They laughed. After cooling his nether regions, Tug was finally willing to continue. Well, it worked for me also because I could get the mud off my boots and off his feet -- it's flippin' muddy out there.

Today's Blog/Website of the Day is by author Martin Edwards and can be found at http://doyouwriteunderyourownname.blogspot.com/. Do You Write Under Your Own Name is updated daily and almost always on the topic of books and mysteries, which can be hard to to, I'm finding. He writes good books, too. :)

Steve's got a board meeting tonight and nothing is on tv for me so I hope to complete the audition portion and jump into a good read.

Much love,
PK the Bookeemonster