Love Bytes says welcome to author Charley Descoteaux joining us today on her blog tour for newest release “Holiday Weekend”, part of the Buchanan House series.

Charley talks about food and she brought a wonderful special giveaway to our readers!

Welcome Charley 🙂

Thank you for having me! I’m thrilled to be visiting Love Bytes to wrap up the tour for my Christmas story, Holiday Weekend, Buchanan House: Book Five.

It’s getting harder and harder to write about the Buchanan House series without giving away spoilers from previous books. So today I’m going to talk about food.

The main cast all started out living in Portland, Oregon. Portland is a food-loving town, and a few of the main characters in this series are chefs. From Eric in book #1 and Paulie in book #3, to Kyle in book #4, food plays a big part in this series. Holiday Weekend is no different. By the time Ryan and Glenn make it out to the camp they’ve gone through a few weeks working at the restaurant together, and cooked and eaten a Thanksgiving feast.

I do a lot of brainstorming on Pinterest while writing, especially during revisions. For Holiday Weekend I collected a lot of pins of food young guys would like. I admit, it made me hungry for pizza and chocolate chip cookies more than once.

But Ryan isn’t your average twenty-something. He’s been cooking since he was little and in Holiday Weekend he makes four pies in a strange kitchen without a recipe. Which is something I would not be able to do. But, Ryan isn’t me anyway, so I tried to find a middle ground—not quite foodie-level dishes but not only pizza. In the story, Ryan bakes pies and cherry tarts and crafts elaborate cheeseburgers. He doesn’t make pancakes but they are a referenced—and are one of my favorite foods to cook and eat—so I’m going to share my favorite pancake recipe. It’s perfect for lazy weekend brunches, and so easy to make special. I love adding chocolate chips or blueberries, and in the summer we top them with fresh strawberries and sugar free syrup (there’s a brand I found in the diabetic section, Carey’s, that tastes wonderful).

 

Old Fashioned Pancakes

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. white sugar

1-1/4 cup milk (and maybe a splash or two extra, to get the right consistency)

1 egg

3 Tbs. butter, melted

 

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg, and melted butter; mix until smooth. Add chocolate chips or fruit now (or cinnamon and a little extra sugar for cinnamon toast pancakes!) and let the batter rest for five minutes or so before starting the first pancake.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle over medium high heat. (I usually wait until water drops sizzle when I sprinkle a few onto the griddle.) Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle—I use a ¼ cup measuring cup full for each pancake and only flip once. Serve hot.

This excerpt is from Glenn’s point of view, and it’s short because the passages before and after are spoilery. It isn’t about cooking, but he does mention pancakes.

 

I dug the tiny package out of my pocket and handed him his present, a two-inch square flat as a pancake. A pancake made by someone other than Ryan—his were probably light and fluffy and needed the butter and syrup to keep them from floating off the plate.

“You didn’t have to—”

“Open it.” My smile felt as shaky as my voice, but some of the worry disappeared from Ryan’s eyes, so that was okay by me. I could handle not being perfect as long as I was the guy he deserved.

It looked like Ryan had to work to tear his gaze from mine, and then he carefully unwrapped his necklace. Just thinking about him wearing it, even under his shirt where nobody else could see it, practically had me squirming. I wanted to touch him so bad.

 

The Rafflecopter ends on December 30^th and that doesn’t give LoveBytes readers much chance to enter so I’m going to give away a backlist book to a random commenter on this post. Tell me one of your guilty pleasure meals for a shot at winning (and don’t forget to include your email address). I’ll let Random.org choose a winner before the year is up! 😉

If you’re in the US and like to read paperbacks, be sure to enter the Rafflecopter for a shot at a signed paperback of either Tiny House or Safe House (winner’s choice). That book comes with a swag package—it’s the end of the year so I’m clearing out my swag drawer to make room for new stuff!

 

Series: Buchanan House

Book Number: 5

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Release Date: December 16, 2016

Pages: 125

Cover Artist: L.C. Chase

Blurb:

 

Ryan Orchard moved from small-town Idaho to Portland almost two years ago and still feels like a hick. When Paulie Nesbitt dumped him, he wasn’t even surprised. Despite losing twenty-five pounds since then, Ryan’s confidence is nonexistent and his life has stalled. Not only is he convinced the career he wants is beyond his reach, he’s given up on relationships. A new job at a familiar restaurant—and his gorgeous coworker—could be just what Ryan needs to believe in himself again.

 

Glenn Hernandez might be the only nineteen-year-old in Portland who dreads his days off. Between his horrible housing situation and the ever-present temptation to crawl back into the bottle, Glenn prefers to keep busy. He volunteers at the Elliott Foundation House, a homeless shelter helping LGBTQ sex workers. As an alum of the shelter, Glenn finds it hard to leave his past behind. But when the new server at the trendy restaurant where he works catches Glenn’s eye and works his way into his heart, Glenn finally has a reason to start a new life.

Buy Holiday Weekend:

 

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon US

All Romance eBooks

Dreamspinner Press, Buchanan House series page

 

Charley Descoteaux has always heard voices. She was relieved to learn they were fictional characters, and started writing when they insisted daydreaming just wasn’t good enough. In exchange, they’ve agreed to let her sleep once in a while. Charley grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area during a drought, and found her true home in the soggy Pacific Northwest. She has survived earthquakes, tornadoes, and floods, but couldn’t make it through one day without stories.

 

Rattle Charley’s cages:

Newsletter: https://my.sendinblue.com/users/subscribe/js_id/2m34r/id/1

Blog: http://cdescoteauxwrites.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/charley.descoteaux.3

Rainbow Snippets Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets/

@QueerBlogWed on Twitter: #QueerBlogWed or https://twitter.com/QueerBlogWed

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CharleyDescote

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/charleydescote/

Rafflecopter Giveaway, December 15-30:

Prize #1: signed paperback and swag (US only, winner’s choice: Tiny House or Safe House)

Prize #2: backlist book (any ebook except Holiday Weekend; worldwide)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dec. 15: Aisling Mancy

Dec. 16: Dreamspinner Blog

Dec. 19: All Romance eBooks Featured Author; The Novel Approach

Dec. 20: Hearts on Fire

Dec. 21: Sinfully Gay Romance Book Reviews

Dec. 23: Joyfully Jay

Dec. 27: MM Good Book Reviews

Dec. 29: Love Bytes