WOW! CHOCOLATE IS GOOD FOR YOU by Shirley Martin

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 Magic Mountain, Shirley Martin's latest release - with a heroine as sweet as Chocolate!!!


Chocolate!  Who doesn't like this sweet dessert?  Maybe there are a few who don't care for it, but I think most of us enjoy this sweet. Many of us prefer milk chocolate to the dark kind, but it's the dark kind that has all the nutrition because it has a greater percentage of cocoa.

First, a bit of historical background. Cocoa has been cultivated by many cultures for at least three thousand years in Mesoamerica. Evidence of a chocolate beverage goes back to 1900 B.C. The majority of Mesoamericans drank a chocolate beverage, including the Mayan and Aztecs. The word "chocolate" most likely comes from a Nahuatl word, xocolatl. Nauatl was the language of the Aztecs. Xocolatl means "bitter water."

In Europe, chocolate became a favorite drink of the nobility after the discovery of the Americas.

Although cocoa originated in the Americas, today west Africa, especially the Ivory Coast, supplies almost two-thirds of cocoa.

Now, what about the healing powers of chocolate? Mecical researchers around the world continually find new health promoting ingredients in dark chocolate. As health benefits are concerned, it's generally meant chocolate of at least 60% cocoa. Cocoa contains polyphenols, naturally occuring compounds that act as a powerful disease-fighting enzyme that protects your body.

Nutritionists say that it's the antioxidants in dark chocolate that are the key ingredients to its healthful reputation. Dark chocolate on a per weight basis has the hightest combination of flavonoids of any food. Flavonoids may lead to a lower risk of heart disease.

Chocolate contains seratonin, a substance that can lift your spirits. It alsos helps release endorphins, a natural pain killer in your body. Dark chocolate contains vitamins and minerals, too. It's plentiful in magnesium.  It may also help prevent high blood pressure.

In my research book, "The Healing Powers of Chocolate" the author, Cal Orey, stresses the importanace of chocolate as part of a Mediterranean diet. This means fish or poultry, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and nuts. It goes without saying that moderation is important, too.

According to the Americna Institute of Cancer Research, chocolate may help lower the risk of developing some cancers. With all of these health benefits, who can resist dark chocolate?

Here are more health benefits from dark chocolate, but of course, none of them sustitute for a visit to a doctor if symptoms persist.

Chocolate may help relieve aches and pains, not to mention allergies, anxiety, and arthritis. Too, it may help relieve back pain and helps your brain stay in focus.

Wine and chocolate go well together, so if you have a piece of dark chocolate wht a glass of red wine,, you're getting a double dose of health benefits.

Chocolate is considered to be an aphrodiasic. No wonder chocolate candy sells so well on Valentines Day.

I can't leave this subject without a chocolate recipe. The above mentioned book also has plenty of recipes.

'Le Chocolat' French toast

3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 Tablespoons Hershey's cocoa
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
8 to 10 pieces of thickly-sliced bread
powdered sugar (optional)
pancake syrup (optional)

1. Beat eggs, milk, sugar,cocoa, vanilla, and cinnamon in medium bowl until smooth.
2. Heat griddle over medium low heat. Grease gruddle with margarine, if necessary
3.Dip bread in egg mixture and place on griddle. Cook about four minutes on each side. Serve immediately with powdered sugar or pancake syrup.

Please check out my website. www.shirleymartinauthor.com

My books are sold at:

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Three of my books are in print and available at Barnes and Noble

ANOTHER WIFE'S STORY

 Schuyler Mansion Historic Site

Alexander Hamilton has been my hero since I was a ten year old, which means I’ve been imagining him for a long time. When I decided to finally write “his” book, I’d just finished a novel about Wolfgang A. Mozart, as told by his wife. It would be a familiar approach, I thought, to tell the Hamilton story from the same womanly angle.  Or, so I thought—until I realized I didn’t know much about Alexander’s wife, Betsy.

Was she just another Colonial Dame? Well, Not exactly. The big house in Albany where Elizabeth Schuyler had been brought up was “American with a difference.” 

Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton by Ralph Earle

Historical fiction readers are familiar with the customs of the Scots, Irish and English immigrants. But New York school children—me among them—also learned about the Dutch, who had given place names all along the Hudson and founded NYC,  as well as inspiring Washington Irving to write his winking ghost story: “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Although Betsy’s father, Major General Philip Schuyler, successfully “English-ified” himself, she probably learned Dutch at her Daddy’s knee. (During the Revolution, she and Baron von Steuben would find it their common language.) Hamilton’s wife, my novel’s heroine, had been born and raised folkways which retained some notable differences from those of her downstate predominantly English neighbors. 

Miss Schuyler’s female Dutch ancestors enjoyed rights greater than those of any other European women. They were full legal persons, a position American women would not enjoy again until the early 20^th century. They could own property and conduct business, enter into contracts and buy and sell for their own profit. Some of the richest families in old New York could trace their fortune back to the business savvy of one of these “She Merchants.” In Holland, and, briefly, in later New Amsterdam (now NYC) a woman could chose a unique form of marriage which kept her financial dealings and property separate from her husband’s.  Although these exceptional rights withered after the English took over the colony in 1664, there remained a certain independence and self-reliance in these Dutch women.

Even the wealthiest ladies were inclined to hands-on. They were taught how to cook and garden, how to spin, to keep fowl, to weave and sew—as well as keep household accounts.  An old family friend, James McHenry, wrote tellingly to Hamilton: “Your wife…has as much merit as your Treasurer as you have as Treasurer of the wealth of the United States.” It was no secret who kept afloat the daily affairs of this often-preoccupied Founding Father.

Dutch women were also not so quick to hand their babies—messy, inconvenient creatures—off to servants or slaves for nursing and day care. Despite the then commonly fatal water-borne and childhood diseases, Mrs. Hamilton bore eight children and raised every one of them to adulthood, something of a feat in those times.

The more I learned about her, the more she impressed me, this quiet, domestic woman behind the man. Betsy lived to be 97. Almost to her last breath, she performed her duties as co-founder of the first New York City orphanage, a cause dear to her heart.

She  also remained determined that ‘Justice shall be done to the memory of my Hamilton.’” In this aim, she never wavered, preserving his papers and facing down important men who had been Hamilton’s political enemies with calm dignity.  

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~Learn more about Elizabeth’s life and the “odd destiny” of her beloved Alexander--orphan, immigrant, genius, and nation builder, in A Master Passion~~

In print and “e” @

http://amzn.com/B014AY2YU0

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/538709

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/a-master-passion-the-story-of-alexander-and-elizabeth-hamilton

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-master-passion-the-story-of-alexander-and-elizabeth-hamilton-juliet-waldron/1122410105?ean=9781771456746

Sources:

Jean Zimmerman’s The Women of the House, Mariner Books, 2007

David Fischer Hackett’s Albion’s Seed, Oxford University Press, 1989

Washington Irving’s Knickerbocker’s History of New York, GP Putnam & Sons, 1894

Mary Elizabeth Springer, Elizabeth Schuyler, A Story of Old New York, 1903

Structuring a Story by Connie Vines

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As many of the readers know, I write in multiple genres of fiction as well as nonfiction.  Therefore, it only goes to reason I have attended workshops, conferences, enrolled in extensions classes, and networked with other authors to discuss the topic of story structure.

So many ideas, so many strong opinions, but no fail-proof map to success.  What I have discovered is that many authors (Note: my personal findings only), agree that there are thirteen basic plots.

The following are common plot motivations that have appeared in written literature for centuries.  Of course, more than one of these plot motivators may exist side-by-side, affecting the story.  Take your story idea, add one or more of these motivators to it, and, so I’ve been assured, you’ll have a plot and a storyline.

•  Catastrophe  
• Vengeance
• Love and Hate 
• Persecution
• The Chase  
• The Quest
• Grief and Loss  
• Rivalry
• Rebellion         
• Betrayal
• Survival  
• Ambition
• Self-Sacrifice

So, is this true in my own novels and fiction stories?  I have three books published at Books We Love, Ltd., as well as an anthology featuring five stories to be released this fall.  Let’s see if this is programed into a writer’s psyche, or if it is a learned skill. 

With my Rodeo Romance, Book 1, “Lynx”.  I have added Grief and Loss into my basic storyline for my heroine.  While my hero deals with Ambition, and one other (I don’t wish to give away too much of the story).

In Rodeo Romance, Book 2, “Brede”, Survival, Vengeance, are added to my romantic suspense novel.

“Here Today, Zombie Tomorrow”, obviously, deals with Catastrophe and Survival (with a light-touch).

Not the result I was expecting. Why?  Because, if you’ve been following my blog posts, you are aware that I follow Joseph Campbell’s “A Hero’s Journey” when plotting my stories.   Joseph Campbell based his teachings/writing on the power of the ancient myth. 

Of course, there is more to a story than just a great plot!  So, using the accepted rule of thirteen, let us progress to adding another layer or two to our story line.

 These added layers to the story do not appear to be genre specific, though some are more commonly used in romance than, say, mainstream fiction.

•      Authority        
•     Conspiracy
• Criminal Action/Murder 
• Deception
• Honor/Dishonor        
•      Making Amends
• Poverty/Wealth  
•      Rescue
• Mistaken Identity         
•      Searching
• Suspicion                 
•      Suicide
•      Misplaced Affection (or unnatural if it is a human and supernatural being)

I believe, for a story to be an excellent story, which of course, is every author’s goal. These plot motivators with the added layers to drive the characters in the story, result in the depth (landscape) and richness (emotion) we all crave in a good story.  

Readers, do you agree that all the stories you’ve read and loved these plot lines and motivators?

I admit was able to spot many of these plot lines and layers in the works of Homer, Shakespeare, and may of the Classic Greek Myths.

What do you think?  Are there certain plot lines that appeal to you more than others?

Thank you for stopping by today.

I hope to see you here next month.

Connie Vines