Saturday, August 22, 2015

G IS FOR GILDA GRECO (AND ME)

Please welcome guest blogger Joanne Guidoccio.

Joanne, we're so glad you could join us again. We are so tickled you wanted to 'play along' with our A - Z challenge.


While imagining the protagonist of

A Season for Killing Blondes, I

realized she could easily be my

literary twin. In fact, I like to tell

people that Gilda Greco is 70

percent of me. As to how I came

up with that particular number,

let’s just say my well-honed left

brain did all the work.


Some similarities...

1. Born and raised in Sudbury, Ontario, Gilda and I lived in Gatchell, the Italian section of town.

2. We love to read and could spend hours curled up with our favorite books.

3. In school, we were high-achieving, happy nerds who majored in mathematics and then decided to pursue teaching careers.

4. In spite of our mathematical knowledge of probability, we buy lottery tickets. Gilda hit the jackpot and won $19 million in Lotto 649. As for me, I’m still buying tickets and hoping! BTW...the probability of winning Lotto 649 is 1 in 13,983,816.

5. We spent the early years of our teaching careers in Sudbury.

6. We relocated to Southern Ontario and ended up teaching in Guelph.

7. We completed the Career Development Practitioner program at Conestoga College. I had hoped to pursue a second career as a career counselor but personal and health circumstances intervened. Instead, I am living vicariously through Gilda who has set up her own ReCareering office in Sudbury.

8. We love our zebra colors. Black pantsuits are staples in our wardrobes.

9. We are non-foodies. That’s right, we don’t like to cook or bake. But we have a great appreciation for all foodies who possess that special gift.

10. We love cheesecake. And one of our favorites is Blueberry Delight, an easy-to-prepare recipe that actually calls for frozen blueberries. We invite all non-foodies (and foodies) to try our recipe.

Blueberry Delight

Ingredients:

½ cup brown sugar
2 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
¾ cup butter
8 ounces cream cheese (at room temperature)
32 ounces sweetened whipped cream
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 ½ cups frozen blueberries

Procedure:

Combine brown sugar, graham cracker crumbs, and butter.
Press into the bottom of a 9” x 13” rectangular pan.
Bake for ten minutes at 325o F.
Cool the crust.
Cream together the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice.
Add whipped cream and fold in blueberries using a wooden spoon.
Pour mixture into the pan.
Refrigerate for 24 hours.

Servings: 15

Note: Seven more easy-to-prepare desserts are featured in A Season for Killing Blondes.


Amazon: http://is.gd/jADjPp
Website: http://joanneguidoccio.com/

A lucky commenter will receive a free eBook of A Season for Killing Blondes.

Joanne, thanks so much for guesting with us again! You are welcome back anytime...



25 comments:

  1. Love your book title and cover, and thanks for sharing the recipe ... Yum blueberry anything.

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    1. I love blueberries in my smoothie (great for brain health) and love them in my desserts (more brain health!). Thanks for dropping by, Casi :)

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  2. Hi Joanne,

    Thanks for being back with us again.

    I love books with recipes! Thanks for sharing this one today.

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  3. What a cute blog about how y'all are so alike! Very creative stuff! Oh, and I love, love the blueberry recipe. Yum.

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    1. Thanks Hebby! I love blueberries and welcome any excuse to eat them.

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  4. Well, they do say we put ourselves in books. Good luck with this one, Joanne.

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  5. We like cheesecake but Catherine blueberry & Donald strawberry so don't have it often ;-(

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  6. Why not get creative and mix the berries. Catherine could focus on blueberries while Donald savors his strawberries. Joanne :)

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  7. Hi Joanne, and thanks for visiting us again at HWH. The 'similarities' between you and your heroine are interesting - a mixture of fact and wishful thinking maybe! Must admit I've never based any of my characters on myself.

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  8. Lottery ticket buyer. Hmmm. A gambler with positive belief structure. I love it! Perfect for a writer.
    I also love recipes. Raspberries are my fave, but blueberries are a close second.

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    1. Love that definition..."A gambler with a positive belief structure" I may borrow it...

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  9. It's always nice to learn a little about our fellow authors. We have some things in common. I grew up in the Italian section of Trenton NJ love to read and hate to cook. Good luck with sales. Love your covet

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    1. Another non-foodie! Are we a growing tribe? Thanks for dropping by, Maria :)

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  10. Hi Joanne, welcome to HWH. Love the recipe for cheesecake! And it's interesting that your heroine is similar to you--so many authors say how different their characters are from themselves.

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    1. Thanks Jennifer! Writing in first person makes it easy to incorporate aspects of myself. My other novels are written in third person.

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  11. They say write what you know. Spunds like you have.

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    1. For the cozy, I'm sticking with what's familiar. As for the paranormal romance, well there I let my imagination go wild. Thanks for dropping by, Catherine :)

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  12. I will have to try this recipe. Keep trying on the lottery. My dad won the Arizona lottery but 20 other people did too that week. Kind of cut his winnings a bit.

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    1. Hi Angelina, I love hearing about lottery wins, even if the prize has been split. It's still a positive! Hope you enjoy the cheesecake. :)

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