12 Days of Christmas - Robin Covington

Done all your Christmas shopping yet? Baking? I've just done my last batch of shortbread (which turned out very well, if I do say so myself) and so now it's time to swap the rolling pin for my keyboard and get on with bringing you all Day Ten of:

The 12 Days of Christmas

Food and Romance

Blogging Extravanganza! 

My awesome guest today is Robin Covington. Robin is the author of hot and spicy romances and I've had the blessed good fortune to have her as a CP for the past little while. We've both made the leap into being published around the same time, and she has been an invaluable sounding board for me. Not to mention the fact that I love reading her books! You must definitely check out "A Night of Southern Comfort". The hero, Jackson, is drop-dead sexy. (And when you get to the end, you need to turn the page to the dedication, where *ahem* you might just see my name...! Still so totally chuffed about that.)

Robin has dug into her family vault for another treasured recipe -- this time something I've never heard of! But I'm thinking I want her to whip me up a batch of Divinity and send it my way!!

My Mama’s Divinity Candy Recipe

by Robin Covington

Thanks Emmie for having me today! 

In my house we are in full on Christmas mode and my kiddos are eagerly waiting for Santa to come bearing gifts of Legos, Barbies and Nintendo games.  Once I am off work on Thursday we will start baking, making Gingerbread houses, and making divinity candy for the holiday. 

The stunning decorations at Robin's house! 

If you’ve never had divinity candy – it is a sweet, airy confection – that melts in your mouth.  (If you don’t want to make it, I recommend ordering it from Savannah Candy http://www.savannahcandy.com/product/Classic-Southern-Divinity-Candy/)

My Mama made the candy when I was growing up but only at Christmas so it was a special treat that signaled the beginning of the holiday.  We would then spend the weeks leading up to the big day sneaking pieces out of the tins in the kitchen and hoping we didn’t get caught. (It’s a miracle we didn’t end up on the naughty list!)

Divinity is a southern tradition – like collard greens and corn bread – and I am proud to carry it on. This year my daughter is seven and I will have her help me with it and we’ll make our own memories. I am so glad that I have the family recipe to pass down to her and I look forward to sharing stories with her as we create the yummy treats.

Happy Holidays  and Peace in the New Year to you and yours!

Ingredients

2 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
3   egg whites
3/4 cup cold water
1 cup white corn syrup
4 cup sugar

Directions
In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stir together the sugar, corn syrup, and water.  Stir only until sugar has dissolved. Do not stir after this point. Cook syrup mixture until it reaches 255 degrees on a candy thermometer, bringing it to a hard ball stage.

While the syrup is cooking, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Once the sugar mixture reaches 255 degrees, carefully pour a slow steady stream of syrup into the stiffly beaten egg whites, beating constantly at high speed. Add the vanilla and continue to beat until mixture holds its shape, approximately 5 minutes.  Stir in pecans.

Using two spoons, drop the divinity onto waxed paper, using one spoon to push the candy off the other.  This may take a little practice because the technique is to twirl the pushing spoon, making the candy look like the top of a soft serve ice cream.  If the candy becomes too stiff, add a few drops of hot water.  You will need to work fast when making this type of candy.

Let sit for 30 minutes and serve.

The very best news from Robin is that she has a new book out! Just in time for Christmas, you can sample  her new wonderfully hot and romantic novella - Secret Santa Baby! 

Whoa! That cover!! Pass me the brandy custard, please, I've got some things I need to, uh, discuss, with "Santa"... 

And  don't forget my challenge to you all! As part of TDoCFaRBE I'm encouraging you all to undertake a Random Act of Kindness throughout the festive season. To make it super-easy, you can simply send Random Acts a donation and wear a smile all day.

The Lucky 7 Meme

I've been tagged by the lovely Robin Covington in the Lucky 7 Meme. Here are the rules: "Go to page 7 or 77 of your current MS/WIP, or go to line 7 (for short fiction). Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences or paragraphs and post them as they are written. Tag up to 7 authors and let them know and post a link to the author who invited you."

I have decided to give you 7 paragraphs from page 7 of something I'm playing around with right now. It doesn't have a title, I'm just calling it "Dean and Jess's story."

His short, rich-brown spiky hair had been artfully arranged; his jaw was beginning to show the shadow of a beard that held more than a hint of ginger. Those mossy green eyes had flecks of gold in them, making them look as if they were constantly sparkling—as if there was some joke going on that only he knew about. He was tall but not freakishly so—just a smidge over six feet Jess would guess—a good thing because very tall men always made her feel uncomfortable about her own five-feet-four-on-a-good-day. His tuxedo fitted him perfectly; tailored to suit his broad shoulders and narrow waist. 

He was, in short, devastatingly gorgeous. 

And he was Hayley’s new husband’s brother. 

Jess knew all about him. She’d known his name was Dean before he introduced himself. He was a writer of comic books or schlock-horror novels or something like that, and a nomad, apparently, of no fixed address. The black sheep of the Kennedy clan—the one they didn’t talk about at family gatherings. He’d dropped out of uni and run away. There had, according to Hayley, been a massive fight over Rob’s insistence on having his older brother as his best man. 

He was also—what were the words Hayley had used? Oh yeah—irresponsible and reckless and immature. Hayley said they were the adjectives his own mother invoked. 

Dean was the centre of most of Hayley’s more extreme hysterics about all the things that could go wrong on her wedding day. Dean would forget the rings. Dean would refuse to wear the suit properly. Dean would bring a hooker as his date. Dean would simply not turn up. 

Jess had patiently listened to Hayley’s rants. Listened, while secretly thinking that Dean sounded kind of thrilling, only to silently chastise herself immediately. She had appalling taste in men. Her attraction to Hayley’s brother-in-law-to-be, just from a description of his faults and the potential chaos he could cause, was yet further proof of that.

What do you think? Are you as in love with Dean as I am? Jess is initially wary but, as you can probably tell just from that description, Dean's charms are hard to resist...

I'm not going to worry about tagging another seven authors, but if you want to give it a try, feel free! I must admit it makes me a bit nervous to put words out there that haven't yet gone through the proving oven of the editing process, but (like Jess) I must find some courage to put myself out there...

In the mood for a fun, sexy story?

...Then don't miss Robin Covington's "The Fourth Date's The Charm" on the Waterworld Mermaids blog. Robin is my wonderful CP and friend and she has a knack for writing amazing, sexy, funny stories that leave you smiling and just a little bit hot under the collar, if you know what I mean. ;)

Robin has been an absolute guardian angel for me -- she's always ready with just the right amount of praise and constructive criticism to help make my writing better. I've also been fortunate to be able to read some of her brilliant stories that will, very soon, be published by Blaze -- I'm absolutely positive of that.

I think I will write a blog post soon about the importance of critique partners. I know not everyone works the same way, and not every writers finds having a CP an essential part of their process, but I do. I've learned a great deal from the wonderful people I've worked with over the years to help improve my writing.