Parsley by Rosemary Morris

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Parsley
I spend hours in solitary confinement writing romantic historical fiction and reading historical nonfiction to research my novels. After long periods of physical inactivity work in my organic garden. where I grow delicious produce, provides fresh air and exercise.
Parsley is one of my favourite beneficial and tasty herbs. It provides essential minerals including iron and calcium and the vitamins A and C. This herb acts as a valuable carminative, tonic, aperient and diuretic and has many uses in the kitchen. It is difficult to grow from seed, but plants bought from a garden centre or supermarket thrive planted as an attractive border along a garden bed, in a herb bed or in containers. If it is not allowed to self-seed parsley produces abundantly and survives the winter
In times past herbs were depended on for culinary flavour and for their medicinal properties far more than they are today. I am as passionate about their use in an age when fast food is popular as I am about writing historical fiction.
Parsley is one of my favourite low maintenance herbs. It acts as a valuable carminative, tonic, aperient and diuretic.
During the First World War, after dysentery soldiers frequently suffered from kidney problems for which parsley tea proved useful. This herb has many medical uses and is particularly helpful for women. According to my research and practical it stimulates the appetite, helps digestion and elimination, soothes the nerves and helps with premenstrual tension and bloating. Taken every day it is useful during the menopause.

Some Vegetarian Egg Free Recipes
Souper A La Bonne Femme
To promote women’s good health.
3 tablespoons butter.
6 tablespoons flour
1pint/600 ml full fat cow’s milk.
1 vegetable soup stock cube
Half cup single cream
100 grams/four ounces finely chopped parsley leaves.

Melt the butter stir in the flour. Slowly add and stir in the milk and water. Add the soup stock cube. Bring to the boil. Remove from heat. Add the cream and simmer the soup gently without it coming to the boil until it thickens. Before serving add the parsley, and salt and pepper if needed. Serve at once.

Parsley Sandwiches
Sliced wholemeal bread
Butter
Cream cheese
Finely chopped parsley leaves
Sea salt or table salt
Black pepper

Spread half the slices with butter and the other half with cream cheese. Sprinkle the cream cheese with parsley, salt and black pepper on the other half of the slices. Cover them with the buttered slices, Cut the sandwiches into quarters and serve



Parsley Butter
3 ounces/75 grams of butter.
3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Sea salt or table salt and black pepper

Use cool, firm butter not taken straight out of the refrigerator. Mix the ingredients in a food processor or blender. Chill the parsley butter until it is firm.

* * *
Author’s Note. There are many recipes for parsley e.g. parsley dumplings, parsley tonic, fried parsley etc., to enjoy.



Novels by Rosemary Morris

Early 18th Century novels: Tangled Love, Far Beyond Rubies, The Captain and The Countess

Regency Novels False Pretences, Sunday’s Child, Monday’s Child, Tuesday’s Child, Wednesday’s Child and Thursday’s Child. Friday’s Child to be published this month.

Mediaeval Novel Yvonne Lady of Cassio. The Lovages of Cassio Book One



www.rosemarymorris.co.uk

http://bookswelove.net/authors/morris-rosemary

Strange 17th Century Thoughts by Katherine Pym

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 During the 17^th century in England an explosion of thought dominated. King Charles II blessed the establishment of the Royal Society after his Restoration and men enthusiastically dove into scientific experiments.

Plague Doctor's Headgear

 For medicine, plague doctors almost had it when they said all dogs and cats must be killed to stop the spread of plague. They just did not realize rats that penetrated wattle and daub walls, women’s kitchens and family bedchambers might also carry the disease. Physicians bold enough to enter a plague house wore protective coverings made of soft leather or canvas when visiting the sick, their bird mask beaks filled with disease preventative spices, the types generally unspecified. One master of his house contrived a system of pulleys and tubes that would bring food and stuffs up to a family, with a blast of gunpowder at the onset of sending or receiving goods. The wise patriarch quarantined his family in their upper rooms and barred their doors in June of 1665. They did not leave for months, even as the plague died down with colder weather. My sources say the family lived to write of their experiences.

Women’s reproductive process provided enthusiastic discourse. If virgins were pale and listless, they had the green sickness, and the only cure, according to a 16^th century German physician, was to have sex. Once they conceived, their ailment would go away.  

Robert Hooke's Microscope

If a woman was sexually active and did not conceive, physicians considered her womb had lost purchase and wandered about her body. One learned fellow declared a female patient came to him complaining of severe headaches. He determined her womb had wandered and lodged in her brain. He performed surgery on the luckless lady, cutting into her skull. There is no evidence she survived.

When one fell into an epileptic fit, the best way to revive him was to bend back their fingernails.

For Science, the Royal Society provided a plethora of opportunities to study nature and how things worked. There were lectures and experiments.

One such experiment dealt a transfusion of blood between two dogs. Samuel Pepys wrote of it in his diary: Nov 14, 16666: “A pretty experiment of the blood of one dogg let out, till he died, into the body of another on one side, while all his own run out on the other side.¹ The first died upon the place, and the other very well, and likely to do well.”  

Boyle's Air Pump

Robert Boyle was a brilliant man, and the intellect behind Boyle’s Law: a law stating that the pressure of a given mass of an ideal gas is inversely proportional to its volume at a constant temperature. He created an air pump, which Robert Hooke enhanced and performed experiments at the Royal Society.

From my novel, The Barbers:

A tubular, metal vat sat on a tripod of sorts, and atop it was a round glass chamber. Inside the chamber a little chick sat on the bottom, looking bewildered. Its beak opened and closed but Celia did not hear it chirp. To see if it was strangely dead, she tapped the glass. Its head moved.

Robert Hooke said, “Air is very important for all creatures to live. See this here handle?”

Celia felt Deeping nod, and she did too.

“The base of it is attached to the metal cylinder. If you turn this forward, it sucks air out of the glass chamber. Watch.”

He turned the handle, and the chick fluttered its wings a little. As Hooke turned the crank, the chick’s beak opened and closed. The poor, little bird sagged to the bottom of the glass, then it fell over, its little chest pumping up and down. Soon, the chick stilled.

Hooke pointed at the glass globe. “The air has been pumped out of the chamber. Now, I’ll reverse the action.”

He turned the handle backward, and the chick stirred. Its chest went in and out, its breathing less labored. Hooke cranked the handle backward until the chick gathered its wits, gained its feet, and perched once again on the bottom of the glass chamber. It looked around, and chirped.”

NOTE: The animals used in most of these experiments died, their carcasses thrown into the muck pile in the street.

~*~*~*~

Many thanks to: The Barbers, Erasmus T. Muddiman by Katherine Pym, Samuel Pepys’ diary, and Wikicommons Public Domain.

The Who, What, WHERE, Why and When of Writing - Part 3

June 3 2019

When I started this series of blogs, my first thought for Where was:  Where’s the best place to write?

That question has as many answers as there are writers.

Some people are more comfortable in their same chair at their same desk at the same time every day from the hours of 9am to 5pm. I’m not that dedicated to routine since I have a full time job, three kids, and my life tends to be a bit chaotic at times. I’ve written in many places:

• At work on lunch breaks.
• In waiting rooms at the doctor, the dentist, the hospital, the massage therapist, before and interview, while waiting to have lab work done, and so on.
• While cooking dinner for three hungry kids.
• Out in the park.
• While camping.
• Out at the lake.
• At coffee shops.
• In writing meetings.
• In my backyard.
• With a kid or cat on my lap.
• In a car (not while driving!!)
• While waiting for kids who were in karate classes or music lessons.
• Pretty much any place, anytime, anywhere.

Where isn’t so much a restriction as just doing it. As long as you have something to write with, pen and paper or a laptop, you can write just about anywhere!

My second where I thought of while walking the other day. Where do you want to go with your writing?

Many people write for the sheer pleasure of putting pen to paper and creating worlds that have never existed. Some writers look to Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Dan Brown, E.L. James and so on and see dollar signs. Yes, it is possible to earn a living at writing. So I heard. I’m not there.

Yet.

As a single parent I’ve had to work full-time to get my kids through school and be content with writing part-time to slowly build my career. Now that I have eight books out, I can build a better social media presence and work with my publisher (Books We Love!) to get more and more name recognition.

Marketing is key!

For anyone who thinks they can write a book, upload it to the Internet, then sit back and wait for the money and accolades to roll in – surprise! It’s a full-time job to sell your books. Books signings, conferences, and the like are all great for boosting your career. Word of mouth helps, but writers want to create a fan base.

Those people who are excited to see when you’ve written something new. But how do you do that? We’ll discuss that later….

Diane Bator

Author of Wild Blue Mysteries, Gilda Wright Mysteries and Glitter Bay Mysteries

Mom of 3 boys and 2 cats and a mouse we still can't find...

     You can order my books through BWL by clicking here!

I'm Back!!

It's been a while since I've posted. I needed a break. It's difficult writing every day (or trying to) and doing a blog once a month. Plus we moved - that was a good thing. I love our new house - well it's hardly new 50 years old, but new to us.
It needed a lot of work before we could even move in and we only had a little over a week to do it. Thank God for kids. The house was filthy. I don't think there was a room that didn't have food on the walls. Seriously. I don't know if they had food fights or what, but we had to wash them before we could paint them Did I say wash? Scrub is more like it.
And the bathroom needed gutted. Believe it or not there was a big hole in the tub right by the drain. We had the house inspected before we bought it. We noticed the black spot in the tub. Just figured the enamel was chipped. The tub was disgustingly dirty. Talk about scum.  Anyway, the inspector obviously didn't notice the hole either.  He ran the water for almost 15 minutes to make sure it drained. Oh it drained alright. Right under the tub,  We didn't notice it until I was done scrubbing the tub with bleach. My poor hands were red from scrubbing.
So, my son ordered us a new tub, and tried to save the tile, but that didn't work, so we got new tile around the tub and drywall in the rest of the bathroom.  Apparently a pipe broke at some point and the bottom of the vanity was warped. So that had to go also. The only thing we kept was the toilet.  Not that I mind, I love it.
I teased my son about putting in just a shower. Now I wish we had. I haven't taken a bath in several years, so a walk in shower would have been so much nicer. Oh well, live and learn. - Oh, that's the title of the 4th book in the Family Affair series, I've been working on, or trying to at least. Aunt Beatrice Lulu isn't cooperating too well. I guess she's upset because Ethel is writing it and not her.
Everything's not about Beatrice Lulu after all. Of course you'd never convince her of that. Her sweet husband, Ed, doesn't help matters. He worships the ground she walks on. At least most of the time.
If you've read the three previous books, you'll know how much trouble Beatrice Lulu gets into, and usually drags Ethel and Lottie with her. Ethel especially, because Lottie is busy babysitting grandchildren. I guess Ethel will never learn either, because she goes along with Beatrice Lulu's crazy adventures.
All in the Family, Book 1 in the series, introduces Aunt Beatrice Lulu, even though the book isn't about her. Here's an  excerpt:

Usually Callie enjoyed dinner with her grandmother. The judge never ceased to amaze her. She kept a busy schedule, yet still managed to keep house and entertain regularly. Where or how she found the time to clean, cook, and bake was beyond Callie. Lately, though, Gram had been getting on Callie’s case almost as bad as her mother and sister about getting married.

She pulled into Gram’s drive and groaned. Not only would she have to deal with her grandmother, mother, and sister, Aunt Beatrice Lulu was here. Not her favorite person. She eased out of the car. May as well face the music.

Callie’s grandmother greeted her at the door. “How’s the new Police Chief?” Gram’s smile beamed with pride. One thing she’d give Gram credit for, she was proud of her children and grandchildren.

“I’m doing well.” Callie hugged and kissed her. “How are you?”

“Ah, you know how it is. Busy. Jim Landry thinks I should retire.”

“Maybe you should. Take life easy. You’ve certainly earned it.” Callie suppressed a grin. Truth be known, Jim Landry was sweet on Gram.

“And just what would I do with my time?” Gram put her hands on her hips and frowned at Callie. “You young people think everything is solved by retiring.”

“Well, you could travel. Or you could spend more time with Jim.”

Gram waved her hand, but Callie caught the blush on her cheeks before she turned away. “Posh. What makes you think I need to spend more time with Jim?”

 “Well you’re always telling me I should get married. Maybe you should consider it.”

“I was married, remember? And to a very good man. No way could I replace him. Get married, the very idea.”

“Gramps has been gone a long time, Gram. And Jim’s every bit as good. He’s sweet on you, you know.”

Commotion from the other room saved Gram from answering. Callie followed her grandmother into the living room.

Aunt Beatrice Lulu sat in the middle of the floor. Everyone stared open mouthed, looking scared to speak.

“What in the hell are you doing on the floor?” Gram covered her mouth to keep from laughing. “Are you okay? Do I need to call 911?”

“No. You don’t need to call 911. Help me up, for God’s sake.”

“What the hell are you doing on the floor to begin with?”

“I fell. What does it look like?” Aunt Beatrice Lulu took the hand Gram offered.

“I can see that. But what happened?”

At that moment, Aunt Beatrice Lulu spotted Callie. Oh boy, here it came. Her nasally voice grated on Callie’s nerves. Okay, it wasn’t her fault, adenoids or something caused it, but it was still annoying. Sometimes Callie thought her aunt exaggerated it. Maybe she didn’t, but right now it sounded worse than usual, and Callie wasn’t in the mood to listen to her, even if she sounded normal.

Why couldn’t everyone just let her live her life? What made them think they could tell her what to do? Aunt Beatrice Lulu wasn’t the only one. Oh no, Callie’s mother, her sister, heck even Jim Landry weighed in on what she should do with her life or what man she should meet. Everyone was always setting her up with blind dates.

Beatrice Lulu. What kind of name was that anyway? And don’t anyone dare shorten it to Aunt Bea or Aunt Beatrice. Oh, no. It had to be the whole name, or everyone would catch what for.

Callie remembered when she was little-she called her Aunt Bea once. Wasn’t that what Opie Taylor on Andy Griffith reruns called his aunt? Callie thought it was cute. Lord above, you’d of thought she’d put a curse on her aunt or something. She thought she’d never hear the end of it.

That woman ranted and raved for almost an hour about how her name was Beatrice Lulu, not Bea, not Beatrice. It was the name she was born with, the name she was christened, and the name she’d die with. It’s the name she expected people to use. Obviously she was proud of her name, but did she have to go on so? Callie never made that mistake again. No, ma’am. From then on she used her whole name and so did everyone else. All except Uncle Ed, that is.

Callie would never forget when her aunt met Uncle Ed. She about fell out of her chair laughing. Aunt Beatrice Lulu stood there staring at him like she wanted to bash him over the head or something.

Uncle Ed is a big man.  Big--like six feet six or more. Most people are overwhelmed by his height. A giant of a man, he towered over everyone and his shoulders, lord above, they were almost as wide as the doorway. And he had this loud, bellowing voice that vibrated off the walls and back at you. His black curly hair fell in a curl on his forehead, and bushy dark eyebrows sat above the roundest, darkest blue eyes Callie’d ever seen. His straight nose, mustache, square jaw, and creases at the corner of his eyes, as well as his tan, gave him a rugged appearance. Sexy. Ruggedly handsome. Magnum PI or the Marlboro Man. 

Aunt Beatrice Lulu didn’t look impressed. Not that Uncle Ed noticed. He just walked right up to her. “Well, aren’t you a pretty little thing?” he said. “Bet you got a pretty name to match.”

Callie’d never heard anyone refer to her aunt as pretty before. Or little. Nothing about her aunt was little. Okay, she wasn’t huge, but suffice to say she had some added bulk. Nothing Callie’d call pretty about her. Aunt Beatrice Lulu’s nose was too big for her face, her lips too small, and her squinty dark brown, almost black eyes looked beady at best. She pulled her mousy brown hair so tight into a bun on top of her head-Callie swore it pulled every wrinkle out of her face. She usually sat with her arms crossed over her ample bosom and resting on her paunchy stomach. Nope, nothing pretty about her. Portly, but not pretty. Obviously, Uncle Ed thought differently. 

You can read more about the books at: BWL Publishing

New Releases for June 2019 - BWL Monthly Features Mystery

BWL Publishing Inc's free read for June is A.M. Westerling's Medieval Romance A Knight for Love Visit http://bookswelove.net to download a free pdf copy