I’ve always wanted to go at Christmas, and having the added excuse of wanting to visit my publishing house made this the perfect year to go. We toured all over up and downtown, hit the Top of the Rock, and paid respects at the 9/11 Memorial. I dragged my poor children through the Metropolitan Museum (“Mom this place is so inappropriate, there are naked people everywhere!”), braved the crowds around the tree at Rockefeller Center, and gobbled down cannolis with them in Little Italy. We had a ball.

Of course, a personal highlight was meeting my editor, her assistant, and my publicist for lunch at Almond (delicious) in the Flat Iron district, then getting an inside peek at the St Martin’s Press offices in the historic Flat Iron Building, where I also met my marketing manager and digital marketing manager.

Wow, was I impressed! Everyone was so friendly and happy, and yet able to turn sharply professional during moments when “business” popped into our conversation. I have this terrible habit of forgetting to take pictures when I’m having an especially good time. We hit it off so well, talking about random things like the merits of baking, human sonar, and Candy Crush addictions, that I just never thought to stop for photographic documentation. Gah!

While I don’t have pictures of my fabulous team and new favorites at St Martin’s Press, I did walk away with a sense of utter confidence in and an appreciation for the people backing my novel. Oh, and I did take this quick pre-meeting shot of the little bags of chocolate gold coins with GIRL ON THE GOLDEN COIN tags that I handed out. I have a feeling my readers may see more chocolate gold coins in the coming months!

Chocolate Gold Coins

Tiramisu Trifle

Spring Break 2013 started with a Big Easter Bang and ended with Big Book News. Not much beats a family gathering with lots of delicious food. And what does a historical fiction author take to Easter potluck? Dessert with a history stretching back to seventeenth century Italy; a Tiramisu Trifle! As part of the This Writer’s Life category on my blog, I’m posting the recipe today. I promise it’s easy, because This Writer has kids and a nursing career and a house and there are just limits to what one woman can accomplish in a day!

And the Big Book News? Well, my debut novel has a new title! It’s still about the beautiful Royalist exile who rejected three of the seventeenth century’s most illustrious kings. But she also graced England’s coins for generations as the model for Britannia, which is why I’m proud to announce the new title here for the first time …

Girl on the Golden Coin,

a Novel of Frances Stuart

Now bear with me while I attempt to scrub out all mentions of the old title in previous posts. And update Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook, my website, third cousins, and my mail carrier. Whew! All this excitement calls for celebration with another Tiramisu Trifle!

Marci’s Tiramisu Trifle

Ingredients:

packaged lady fingers (enough for 3 layers in your trifle dish)

two 8 ounce packages mascarpone cheese

two cups heavy cream

one cup sugar

one cup espresso

one or two cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips for chocolate curls

Instructions:

Layer the bottom of your trifle dish with lady fingers (I halved mine to get the edges closer to the curve of the dish). Brush espresso over the lady fingers (or use a turkey baster – the spongy cookies absorb liquid well). Stir half of the sugar and mascarpone cheese in a bowl. In a separate, chilled bowl, whisk heavy cream and the other half of the sugar together until stiff peaks form. Fold the cheese mixture into the cream mixture. Proceed to layer this mixture with the lady fingers (adjust according to the size of your dish, mine held three layers of each). Don’t forget to brush each layer of lady fingers with espresso. End with a cream layer and top with chocolate curls. Refrigerate until time to serve. Enjoy!

To make chocolate curls:

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals. Spread into a thin layer on a cookie sheet and allow to harden. Use a metal spatula to scrape the edges of the chocolate away from you to form curls (this takes some practice, but even if it just flakes it will be pretty on top of the cream).

Historical cosmetics lovers, have no fear. My spring break travels took me to a wonderful museum exhibit in Cincinnati that I’ll share with you soon. Photos of ancient cosmetic containers may even be included!