BLOG TOUR – GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY: “Fish Stick Fridays” by Rhys Ford

 

Boys in our Books welcomes Rhys Ford to discuss her new book “Fish Stick Fridays”! And all we have to say is…yummmmmm, comfort foods! Read on!

GIVEAWAY

Rhys:  What’s the Giveaway? Because there is ALWAYS a giveaway… Leave a comment and hopefully win the right to tell me where to send a set of childrens’ books to a library or charity of your choice. Book sets will be randomly chosen from a list and cost between $20 and $50 USD and donated in your name.

BioB:  We’ll match the donation for the giveaway! So by leaving a comment, if selected, not only will Rhys Ford donate a book set in your name, but so will we! The holidays are the perfect time for giving!

 

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Skip to the recipe if you’ve already seen this part. *grins*

When I first thought about writing Fish Stick Fridays, it was a lot darker than it turned out. I know. I’ll let you have a moment to be shocked and amazed. But then I wrote it and its innards changed, softening a bit. A lot of that change had to do with building a relationship between Deacon and his niece, Zig and then adding Lang into the mix.

I went round and round on the title. Nothing was working. They were decent titles. Hell, Mary Calmes even stole one of them for her own book but nothing was fitting the story. Then I said… why the hell aren’t I calling it what it is? Fish Stick Fridays.

That might seem a random, odd title and kind of off. But see, it’s not so much about the actual fish sticks or Fridays. It’s about what Fish Stick Fridays represents. For Zig and Deacon, it’s about being together, in a home. An actual home. Where Fridays means no vegetables but cups of hot cocoa and maybe eating in front of the television. It means a place to come to and find a family—their family.

Of course, this doesn’t mean Deacon knows how to cook gourmet meals but he can cook. So for this blog tour, it’s all about cooking out of the pantry—cheap, relatively easy and cobbling together meals from fresh, canned, and jarred food.  So much of Deacon’s cooking on the fly really is about how to maximize time and using what’s in the pantry. We don’t have a lot of time in our lives. That’s a fact. But we can make do. Making do is so very much a kitchen life hack.

So for this tour, I am sharing some comfort food recipes even Deacon can make and it took him a bit to get the fish sticks and blue box macaroni & cheese right.  Follow all of the blog tour stops and get a new comfort food recipe every day. Recipes include:

• Fried Chicken
• Beef Stew
• Portuguese Watercress Soup
• Nutty Mushroom Pasta
• Fried Rice
• Lasagna
• Kalua Pig
• Mac Salad / Loco Moco
• Pad Thai
• Shoyu Chicken

Also, if you want a gluten free way to thicken soups and stews… and soupy potato salad, use instant mashed potato flakes. You’ll see me say that time and time again through the blog tour. It also adds a layer of flavour. I sometimes grab the garlic and herb instant potato packets and just keep them for when I need to thicken a stew.

And now, for what’s next in Deacon’s recipe book.

I couldn’t do a food blog stomp without including the fried rice recipe. It really is easy to make and very adaptable. Go on. Test your patience.

Fried Rice

2 C cooked white rice

2 eggs(2 beaten well with a little water till frothy)Rule of thumb, one per cup. Or two per one cup if you like eggy rice.

Veggies. (1 cup) This can be anything. Most common are frozen peas or peas/carrots. Run them under hot water. Drain well.

1/2 C Green onions or regular onions (minced)

Seasoning

Soy Sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder or minced garlic.

Optional things

Bean sprouts, water chestnuts, bacon (fried crispy), shrimp, chicken. Cook the meat before you put it into the rice. This is where you can customize things. You don’t have to do the same thing over and over. Add curry powder to it and toss in some shrimp and  pineapple for Thai fried rice. But let’s stick with the basics for right now.

 

Steps:

Add soy sauce to cooked rice and mix well. The rice should end up looking like a dirty blend. Don’t make it soup. Just add enough to colour the rice.

Get a skillet or frying pan. Add oil. It doesn’t matter what kind of oil. Sesame is nice but hell, plain vegetable is fine.

Get the skillet hot—maybe a medium-high heat. When it is hot, spread the rice around the skillet until it’s all in there.

Now comes the hard part.

DO NOTHING. Really. Don’t touch it. Leave it like that for a few minutes. This will be the hardest thing you’ve ever done in your entire life. You will WANT to turn it over. You will WANT to mix it. Resist. Resist HARD.

After four to five minutes, pour the egg evenly over the top of the rice so it is spread throughout.

AGAIN DO NOTHING. You can do this. Really. Trust me. I have faith.

Let the egg sit and cook for a bit. This will be another two to three minutes or so. When you see the egg firming up, it’s time to turn the rice. Just take a spatula and turn it gently. Mix in up a bit.

You will see a crackle on your rice. This is a good thing. You WANT this crackle. If the rice is wet, let it sit a bit more until the egg cooks and firms. When this happens, it’s time to add the salt, pepper, garlic and the veggies—and anything else you want.

Do not stir often. Just flip it over in chunks a few times. When the rice, veggies and everything else is steaming hot, serve. Do not burn your mouth.

This should take you about ten minutes to cook from when the rice hits the skillet to the addition of the veggies. Experiment with what you’d like in there or learn what works for you. Really fried rice is kind of a what’s in the fridge kind of dish. The basics are eggs, rice and seasonings.

Everything else is just bonus.

 

 

Fish Stick Fridays

Deacon Reid was born bad to the bone with no intention of changing. A lifetime of law-bending and living on the edge suited him just fine—until his baby sister died and he found himself raising her little girl.

Staring down a family history of bad decisions and reaped consequences, Deacon cashes in everything he owns, purchases an auto shop in Half Moon Bay, and takes his niece, Zig, far away from the drug dens and murderous streets they grew up on. Zig deserves a better life than what he had, and Deacon is determined to give it to her.

Lang Harris is stunned when Zig, a little girl in combat boots and a purple tutu blows into his bookstore, and then he’s left speechless when her uncle, Deacon Reid walks in, hot on her heels. Lang always played it safe but Deacon tempts him to step over the line… just a little bit.

More than a little bit. And Lang is willing to be tempted.

Unfortunately, Zig isn’t the only bit of chaos dropped into Half Moon Bay. Violence and death strikes leaving Deacon scrambling to fight off a killer before he loses not only Zig but Lang too.

 

Purchase Fish Stick Fridays at:

Dreamspinner Press: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=7118

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Fish-Stick-Fridays-Rhys-Ford-ebook/dp/B0186R7S6M

And other book selling sites like ARe and Barnes & Noble

 

Follow the Tour

Nov 25 • It’s About the Book: http://itsaboutthebook.com/

Nov 26 • Joyfully Jay http://joyfullyjay.com/

Nov 27 • Sinfully Sexy:  http://sinfullysexybooks.blogspot.com/

Nov 29 • Gay Guy Reading: http://ggr-review.com/

Nov 30 • Boys In Our Books: https://boysinourbooks.com/

Dec 1 • The Blogger Girls: http://thebloggergirls.com/

Dec 2 • Love Bytes: http://lovebytesreviews.com/

Dec 3 • Prism Alliance: http://www.prismbookalliance.com/

Dec 4 • Boy Meets Boy: www.boymeetsboyreviews.com

Dec 5 • The Novel Approach: http://thenovelapproachreviews.com/

 

About Rhys Ford

Rhys Ford was born and raised in Hawai’i then wandered off to see the world. After chewing through a pile of books, a lot of odd food, and a stray boyfriend or two, Rhys eventually landed in San Diego, which is a very nice place but seriously needs more rain.

Rhys  admits to sharing the house with three cats of varying degrees of black fur, and a ginger cairn terrorist. Rhys is also enslaved to the upkeep a 1979 Pontiac Firebird, a Toshiba laptop, and a red Hamilton Beach coffee maker.

My Blog: http://www.rhysford.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rhys.ford.author

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rhys_Ford