How the NOW is What We Have – A Tribute to My Brother
Radio interview on BlogTalk Radio with Jeanie Brosius King describes my thoughts about the death of my younger brother.
Elaine’s Delizioso Chicken Parmesan
What to do on a rainy spring day? Make chicken Parmesan, of course. Several years ago, I attended a cooking school for a week in Tuscany, Italy with A Cook’s Tour. We learned from local chefs and consumed a year’s worth of delicious Italian food and wine in a few days. It was glorious.
As a successful bribe to have my adult children visit me, I just make the chicken Parmesan recipe I learned in Italy. Here is the recipe, with a few original adaptations.
Start with a good red sauce. You can use canned marinara sauce but buy an Italian brand such as Bertolli. If you want to make your own, take a day and enjoy this process.
Roast and dice two green and red peppers. Dice two onions. Sauté peppers and onions with some Italian apices in olive oil in a large pot. You can add diced mushrooms and minced garlic, but watch the garlic so it doesn’t burn.
Open red wine and taste to enhance your cooking experience.
Add several large cans of Italian tomatoes to the pot and simmer for at least an hour. You can use a food processor to obtain the best consistency before adding the tomatoes to the pot.
While the tomatoes are simmering, cut up a few pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Flatter with a pounder and cut into pieces. Dip pieces in beaten eggs and then dip in a mixture of Panko bread crumbs and grated Parmesan cheese. Fry in olive oil until brown but not fully cooked. Drain on paper towels.
Sip the wine to make sure it’s still good.
In large casserole dish, spread some red sauce. Add browned chicken, more red sauce, cover with sliced mozzarella cheese, top with more red sauce, and add more freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. Sip wine and sing Italian songs while the food is cooking. This dish can be better the next day, reheated. It also freezes well.
Serve with crusty bread, cooked pasta and more red sauce, a green salad, and buttered, steamed asparagus. Add red wine, of course. You may need to open another bottle. Delizioso!
Memoir Reviewed by Acclaimed Idaho Author
My memoir Frozen Dinners is available on Amazon for pre-order. Brown Books Publishing has announced a release date for November 2018 to secure holiday promotion and purchases. Watch for the local premiere party, complete with TV dinners!
I appreciate this review from Kim Barnes, author of the Pulitzer Prize Finalist Memoir: In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country
“Full of luscious details, clear-eyed compassion, and enduring joy, Ambrose’s memoir gives us an insider’s view of one family’s rocky pursuit of the American Dream. Even when she is relating personal stories of conflict, loss, and grief, Ambrose does so with a survivor’s voice made strong by experience, stubbornness, humor, and love.”
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I worked on the manuscript for 20 years. My mother’s death in 2014, followed last year by the death of my younger brother George, convinced me to complete the book. The memoir tells the story of my father Neal Ambrose, born in Wendell, Idaho, as he climbed out of poverty and created an extensive fortune through trucking and farming enterprises. In the early 1950s, he established one of the first trucking companies in the country to haul frozen TV dinners, and during the 1960s, his farming operations introduced the first pivot sprinklers in southern Idaho. The pivots allow sprinkler pipes to rotate around a center pump to water crops.
However, the family lived in a state of emotional paralysis, and after my father’s death, everything was destroyed as the assets were squandered, the companies closed, and hundreds of employees lost their jobs. A chapter titled “Judgement Day” describes a brutal courtroom scene where a ruthless Boise attorney badgered my 77-year-old mother until she wet her pants. Another chapter devoted to her is titled “The Book of Leona.” The memoir concludes with my half-century journey to find warmth beyond the contaminated legacy of frozen dinners.
While ripping open the scars to write the book, I covered the wounds with healing humor and wrote Menopause Sucks, Midlife Cabernet, and Midlife Happy Hour. I’m eager to return to writing humor.
Click this link for pre-ordering details about the hard cover edition: Frozen Dinners
“Gators & Taters” Wins National Writing Award for Children’s Fiction
“Potatoes are tasty,” Clyde said with a sigh.
“I like them much better than blueberry pie.”
Gators & Taters – A Week of Bedtime Stories is the winner of the 2018 Distinguished Favorite Award for Children’s Fiction from the Independent Press Awards. Thousands of books were submitted for the honor, but apparently the judges couldn’t resist the narrative rhythm of the imaginative stories. The Independent Press Award recognizes and honors independent publishers and authors and assists them gain more attention and to better purvey their content to a larger audience.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recently released guidelines that advise parents to start reading to your child from infancy. Gators & Taters features seven stories, four in prose and three in metered, rhyming poetry similar to the writings of Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss. The stories are designed to be read aloud to children to continue the tradition of oral storytelling and inspire them to wonder about characters, places, and adventures. No batteries are required.
During the early 1950s, Mom raised her children, babysat other kids, and worked at home at night typing reports for Bradshaw’s Honey Plant in Wendell, Idaho. My dad was a truck driver and was gone during the week, so she had to earn money to pay for groceries. She saved enough to spend $5 a month for a set of Childcraft books. She read to me every night, and I developed a passion for reading. Every two weeks, she took me to the library and my first books were about the adventures of the Bobbsey Twins and the mysteries of Nancy Drew. When I was 10 and read Little Women, I identified with Jo, the tomboy, sassy girl, and I started to write short stories.
Gators & Taters features 36 original, colorful illustrations by Idaho artist Patrick Bochnak. Meet some of the characters and stories in the book:
“Gators & Taters” features two alligators named Cleo and Clyde. They go for a ride with a truck driver named Wendell O’Doodle and escape to play in an Idaho potato field.
“The Birthday Boy” offers the poignant story from a mother’s perspective as she watches her son Adam grow up and celebrate milestone birthdays.
“Hootenflute Flies the Coop” tells the delight tale of two little ladies who lost their pet owl. The story introduces creative words, such as flamdoogle tea, crawdad bogs, and corncob cakes.
“The Secret Reading Room” describes how a girl named Amber escapes to her grandmother’s attic to read travel magazines and adventure books. In this author profile, the girl decides to travel the world.
“Mama, I’ve Had a Bad Day” tells the true story of a family in various stages of crisis and chaos. Each family member has a bad day until Mama opens the scrapbook and reminds them of happier times.
“How to Feed a Hungry Giant” portrays the tall tale of Tater McCall who discovers and feeds a lonely Giant named George. The Giant eats 50 fish, 50 loaves of bread, and a bathtub of vegetable soup.
“Biking to the Moon” is an enchanting story about Emily, a girl who magically rides her bike to the moon and meets people trapped under a curse from a nasty troll. She breaks the spell and returns home to meet a special new friend.
The book concludes with discussion subjects and questions for parents, caregivers, and teachers to share with children after reading the stories aloud. Gators & Taters is available in paperback, eBook, and Audiobook read by the author.
The Independent Press Award follows other honors. The book was chosen as one of 50 children’s books selected by Bowker’s National Recommended Reading List, selected for the Idaho Public Television “First Book” Program with statewide distribution to underprivileged children, selected for the State of Idaho “Read Out Loud Crowd” Program, selected for the Summer Reading List for the Log Cabin Literary Center in Boise, and chosen for the Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program in Boise.
Feel a Mother’s Day Special with Angel Bumps
For the perfect Mother’s Day gift, with discounts up to 50%, share a copy of Angel Bumps – Hello from Heaven.
Angel Bumps is a collection of tender stories from 50 writers who share their humorous, inspirational, and emotional experiences with personal signs from beyond. Signs could be a feather, a certain song, a coin, or a sudden aroma. Our Angel Bumps bring us joy, comfort, and peace. Just like Mom.
From May 5 through May 12, the eBook will be discounted 50% to $1.99.
The paperback debuted at #1 in its category on Amazon and will be discounted 20% to $11.95.
Email Anne Bardsley to order signed, personalized copies of the paperback:
Communicate with Anne about number of copies, personalized notes in the book, autographs, and postage.
Or, order online at: Angel Bumps
These personal Angel Bumps end on May 12.
Mill Park Publishing Closes Final Chapter
Released May 2, 2018 by Mill Park Publishing, Eagle, Idaho
Mill Park Publishing of Eagle will sponsor the reception for the Idaho Writers Guild Conference on Friday, May 4. The event will be the final official event for the business. After 10 years, 16 books, 15 writing retreats, multiple national and local awards, and thousands of dollars donated to local charities, owner Elaine Ambrose says she’s ready for another chapter in her life.
Ambrose created the publishing company as a way to survive the winter when she lived in the mountain town of McCall. She named the company after Mill Park, a community park in front of her home on the lake. She moved the company to Eagle in 2008.
The Books
A list of books issued by Mill Park Publishing and can be found online and on Ambrose’s author page. For information about books by other authors published by the company, click on the links. Gretchen Anderson, Anne Bardsley, Patti Murphy, Liza Long, and Judith McConnell Steele. Three award-winning anthologies enabled almost 100 women – and a few men – to become published writers.
In 2008, Ambrose offered the first writing retreat at her cabin in Garden Valley. New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Basye Sander spoke about the publishing world. Subsequent speakers at the retreats included Pulitzer Prize Winner Anthony Doerr, Whiting Award winner Alan Heathcock, New York Times bestselling author AK Turner, and acclaimed writer and filmmaker Ken Rodgers. Other speakers included social media expert Christy Hovey, wellness coach Emily Nielsen, and international marketing executive Stephanie Worrell.
Ambrose also produced and funded a musical CD for student Andrew Coba and hired him to perform at several events at her home.
Mill Park Publishing created a fun writing experience with cowboy poet and performer Ernie Sites. The company produced four live comedy shows titled “Life Sucks Laugh Hard” and included funny women AK Turner, Jen Mann, Laurie Notaro, and Stacy Dymalski.
Charitable Contributions
Mill Park Publishing donated proceeds from book sales to various local charities and civic organizations, including $2,000 to the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights so 200 area school students would see the documentary He Named Me Malala.
Other donations were awarded to the Women’s & Children’s Alliance, the Cabin’s Writers in the School Program, and Dress for Success. Last New Year’s Eve, Mill Park Publishing created a writing challenge and gave cash awards for students in conjunction with the Idaho Potato Drop.
Ambrose has been a keynote speaker at several national conferences and often shares her publishing knowledge. At the prestigious Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop, she spoke about how writers can turn their blogs into books.
Though Mill Park Publishing is closing, Ambrose will continue to sell the remaining books through online and local sources. For future plans, Ambrose will focus on her new charity, Cycling Without Age, develop the Ambrose Storytelling Endowment at the University of Idaho, and prepare promotional events for her memoir, Frozen Dinners, to be released in the fall by Brown Books Publishing. She can be found playing with her delightful grandkids, traveling on creative adventures, and romping with her sweetheart Studley.
