Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Drinking a Cup of Diana Barry's Favourite Raspberry Cordial While Discussing Favorite Authors and Books

Cups and Saucers Quilt Block

Welcome to the social hour of the April meeting of the Quilters' Book Club.  Pour yourself a cup of Diana Barry's Favourite Raspberry Cordial and visit a bit with the other members.

Diana Barry's Favourite Raspberry Cordial
2 packages frozen unsweetened raspberries
1-1/4 cups sugar
4 cups boiling water
3 lemons

1.  Put the unthawed raspberries into a saucepan and add the sugar.
2.  Cook over medium heat, stirring once in a while for 20-25 minutes until all the sugar has dissolved.
3.  Mash the raspberries and syrup thoroughly with a potato masher.
4.  Pour the mixture through the strainer, making sure you extract all the juice.  Discard the pulp.
5.  Squeeze 2 of the lemons and strain the juice.  Add it to the raspberry juice.
6.  Boil 4 cups of water and add it to the raspberry juice.
7.  Let the raspberry cordial cool, then chill it in the refrigerator.
8.  When the cordial is ready to serve, float a thin slice of lemon in each glass.

      from The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook by Kate Macdonald


Here's another interesting post about Diana's Favourite Raspberry Cordial:
http://thehistorykitchen.com/2012/07/20/anne-of-green-gables-raspberry-cordial/

This month we're reading The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini.  On her website, Jennifer says that her favorite author is Jane Austen (who, by the way, was also a quilter). 

Now it's your turn.  Tell us about your reading life.  Who is your favorite author/authors?  What type of books do you especially enjoy reading - historical fiction, mystery, fantasy, science fiction, contemporary fiction, etc.?  What books did you enjoy reading as a child?  Inquiring minds what to know!     

Remember that by commenting, you are also entering your name for a chance to win Marie Bostwick's latest novel Between Heaven and Texas, a prequel to her Cobbled Court Quilts series.  The winner will be announced May 1.  The more Quilters' Book Club posts you comment on, the more chances you have to win! 

You might also enjoy reading my previous blog post: April Redwork Snowman  

20 comments:

  1. i have 3 favorite authors and i read my collections over and over again. maeve binchy, who recently passed away, is an amazing irish story teller. i felt i already knew ireland and its people by the time i got to visit there.

    jan karon, who wrote the mitford books. these are just rich, wonderful feel good christian books about the town of mitford and father tim, the episcopal priest and their parish. what a series of books of love and life. i LOVE these books.

    and, beverly lewis, who writes amish fiction. i just love them...

    as a child, i read all of beverly clearys books, and i now own my own ribsy, henry's dog. he is a runner just like ribsy was. loved girl of the limber lost and of course all of the anne books. i was so happy when they made them into movies.

    i have always loved reading and can't imagine not being a reader.

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  2. As a child I absolutely loved any story about animals, horses especially, dog stories running a very close second. At that time, I read every book that Walter Farley and Marguerite Henry wrote.

    Just as my creative self was set aside, my reading self was also set aside. Oh I would read, voraciously, but it had to be quick and concise, a magazine article, quick short story and the like.

    Over the last several years, I would bring a small "library" on vacation. Husband would laugh watching me devour a book or more a day while lounging on the beach. Something about the beach and books just seem to go together, like PB&J.

    The "Quilter's Reader" has pushed me to again read books in the everyday, just because. Now I'm enjoying learning my new craft of quilting and combining it with delightful stories in wonderful books. Thanks for the push.

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  3. I am a "reader" also... Love Nora Roberts, Agatha Christie, the Murder She Wrote books by Donald Bain and the fictitious Jessica Fletcher, and any quilt mystery or knit mystery books ;-). I have read most of James Patterson's work and Nelson DeMille keeps me guessing. I just need 24 more hours each day to get in all the quilting, knitting and reading that I would love to do. Thank you for starting this thread, it keeps me on my reading/quilting toes. ;-).

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  4. I 'read' most books by listening while I sew. I love reading inspirational book, Amish settings and mysteries. I go to library and look and then pick. If a series, I check for first one and go.

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  5. Could you get a digital copy of the issue that Lazy Sunday started in?

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  6. I enjoy many different authors. Francine Rivers is very good. She has one book she has written that includes a quilt. Very good story and it's "The Scarlet Thread".
    My favorite book of all time is "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis. Love his Chronicles of Narnia too.
    For mystery and whodunit, I enjoy Michael Connelly.

    Now, need to make some of that raspberry cordial...it sounds delish!

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  7. As a child I loved Enid Blyton, especially all the stories about fairies and elves. My all time favourite book as a child is probably Alice in Wonderland.
    I no longer have a favourite author. I enjoy historical boks and thrillers but since I have owned a Kindle, I have read all kinds of books that I wouldn't normally read. Daily deals at fantastic prices, plus the chance to read reviews all help to choose books that I would never have purchased previously.
    Joining this book club is making me read even more books that I would have normally.

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  8. My favorite books are the 'Mrs. Polifax' books (13 in all) by Dorothy Gilman. I read them as I grew up, then, 'rented' them as audio books, for my kids to listen to on trips. They also love them (they are grown now). I re-read them with frequency. They are spy mysteries, with a little old lady as the spy. Madcap.

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  9. Well, other than quilting books, I rather enjoy a mystery from time to time, and have liked the books by Sharon McCrumb of late.

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  10. I love to listen to audio books by John Grisham and Jennifer Chiaverini. Of late, I like listening to Marie Bostwick. She's very good.
    As a kid, I read anything by Walter Farley and all of the kids classics.

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  11. Love all of Jennifer Chiaverini Books. also enjoy good mystery on my Kindle Fire

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  12. I am an avid reader an have so many favourite authors. In the quilting genre I adore books by Jennifer Chiaverini, Emilie Richards, Marie Bostwick, Terri Thayer & Arlene Sachitano just to name a few.
    Other authors that I love are Kate Morton, Diana Gabaldon, Kimberley Freeman, Debbie Macomber and Bryce Courtenay, there are so many others but these are the ones that come to mind at the moment.
    Enid Blyton was my favourite author as I child, I just loved her Famous Five and The Wishing Chair & Faraway Tree stories. I love that the Internet is bringing our favourite authors within reach of the readers, that we get to chat & interact with them, get to know them as everyday people not just a name on the cover of a treasured book.

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  13. It would be hard to name a favorite author. It was Carolyn Keene who got me reading my senior year of highschool. As I ended up a children's librarian, I read every new book that came into the library. In 1987 I began reading all the Newberry Award books and am still reading the "Honor" books whenever I can get them. I like historical fiction and mysteries, Tony Hillerman wrote some good ones and I read them all, Anne Perry combines history and mystery. I read what of the "Polifax" books I could get hold of.
    There are a few members of my church choir that have similar tastes (no garbage, good plot believable characters) and we exchange books when we can get them. (but I guess I am the only one who still reads kids books) I don't plan on growing up yet.

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  14. I read voraciously as a child. I loved the old British children's anthologies that my mother had. Like the double volume "A Child's History of the World". The book that stands out still for me from childhood is "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle. I think I'll have to reread it now. I still enjoy books for junior readers. I don't read as much as I used to. All the trashy mystery novels started to sound the same and interesting books in other genres weren't that easy to find. I keep a reading journal of books I've read and enjoy going through it occasionally and remembering some of the really great reads. I just finished listening to "The Alchemist" by Paolo Coelho and really enjoyed it. Hubby is home now so we may get to finish "A Single Thread". :)

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  15. Wow, where to start - I remember as a kid we would get a monthly magazine in school and order books. My limit was 4 - but I ordered anything about a horse or a dog. The books by Jim Kjelgaard who wrote the Big Red series were my favorite. I loved those stories so much, that I always wanted an Irish Setter - my dream came true when I was in 8th grade. Chipper wasn't a full blood but he looked just like one, but was bigger. He was my constant companion. I had him for 12 years. Favorite Authors to name a few: Leon Uris, Beverly Lewis, Tracie Peterson, Judith Pella, Michael Phillips, Sandra Dallas, Brock and Bodie Thoene, Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour, Shakespeare, Jennifer Chiaverini, Stephanie Grace Whitson, Walter Farley, Marguerite Henry, Ralph Moody, Frank Peretti, Francis Frangipane, Janette Oke. Laura Ingalls Wilder... okay, okay, enough is enough. I LOVE to read!!!

    Blessings!

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  16. I read just about everything but horror! Some of my favorites are C.S. Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, Laura Ingalls Wilder (if you haven't read her newspaper columns, they're quite good!), Jan Karon, Sandra Dallas, The Elm Creek Series, everything Jane Kirkpatrick has written, I love Miss Marple, and I'm a big fan of history...both fiction and non-fiction. In fact, I'm reviewing an advanced copy of a fun book on the War of 1812 at the moment. And, of course, I love quilt books and have quite the collection. Oh, that reminds me, I like the Benni Harper mysteries, too!

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  17. Oh, and The Host and The Hunger Games, too! (You see, you shouldn't have gotten me started on this one! lol)

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  18. Good morning. My two favorite authors are Mary Higgins Clark and Debbie Macomber. Mary Higgins Clark write mystery books and I have read all of hers. Debbie Macomber writes a variety from romance to knitting. The first book of hers I read was "A Good Yarn". I have enjoyed reading the books here and learning of new authors.

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  19. I have lots of favorite genres and authors. I'll like historical fiction the best, but also enjoy light-hearted myseries, suspense, biographies, and Civil War non-fiction. Favorite authors include Jennifer Chiaverini, Debbie Macomber, James Lee Burke, Tamar Myers, Beverly Lewis, especially her Amish series, Margaret Maron, Dianne Mott Davidson, and many of those already mentioned. My mother taught me to read using the Golden Books. A little later I loved the Grimm's fairy tales and read every Trixie Beldon book as fast as I could get them.

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  20. From first learning to read I have been a voracious reader reading anything and everything. As a young girl by favorite book was Betty Zane. Now I read a lot of fiction - mostly romances that have a story to them, Joan Wolf, Jo Beverley, Basil Pennington, ...and many more. Right now I am reading Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. And I collect quilting books - I like to read those also -LOL. In fact my bookshelves are so full of these that I am currently weeding them and giving them away on Thursdays. Have to make room for the new ones!

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