Marcia's Perfect Margarita Recipe

Today's guest blogger, Marcia King-Gamble talks about her latest release and her perfect margarita recipe. Thanks for stopping by.

Where is Last Chance Beach?  It’s an island paradise. It’snowhere and everywhere, and the setting for the 14 short stories written by award-winning authors.  I’m fortunate to be one of them.

Last Chance Beach is the island getaway everyone wants to go to. Think Kokomo.

When I was first asked to be a part of this boxset, I jumped at it. I’m an island girl and writing an island story just spoke to me. So, let me tell you a bit about the island’s background. Better yet pick up a copy of the boxset on Amazon at the bargain price of 99 cents.

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Chance-Beach-Summers-End-ebook/dp/B08CV3GN3R

Legend has it that back in the day a poor man booked passage on a wealthy ship owner’s boat, fell in love with the tycoon’s daughter and got banished to the hold. The poor fellow managed to escape and swim ashore to the island. The distraught daughter goes in search of him to no avail. Running out of money, she ends up on Last Chance Beach and is taken in by the same minister and his wife who’d earlier rescued the battered and bruised fellow. Now they get a second chance at love.

Don’t you just love a second chance romance?

My contribution is titled One Last Shot. Just imagine what happens when a rising sitcom star’s sex tape goes viral, and she escapes to Last Chance Beach only to discover, renting next door, is a disgraced celebrity photographer. And heaven forbid she’s attracted to him.

Here’s an excerpt from my story.

       Kael Huntington was hotter than a firecracker and someone she could be interested in, that’s if she were anyone other than Dania Browne. But sitcom-star, Madeline Miller was off limits. She was now considered damaged goods, making a relationship impossible.

Dania gulped back tears and hugged her knees to her chest. A nap hadn’t helped her mood one bit. How had she gotten herself into this mess? Bob lounging on the bed next to her, made a mewling sound, and gave a sympathetic lick to her face. She was the only one who believed Dania had been set up.  Well, her agent, Maya Rosenstein believed in her too. Even her own family, the righteous pastor, Aurora Browne thought the video of her was a publicity stunt, done to further her career.  Her mother had labeled Dania the devil’s spawn.

Who would have thought that low key John Lewis would act like a jerk when she broke things off? He’d sent a sex tape to the media; one she did not make. He’d been shrewd enough to photoshop the video, placing her head on another woman’s body. No one had even questioned why her size B ta-tas had ballooned into voluptuous triple D’s.  As far as she was concerned, John deserved to rot in hell.

 

 To get you in the mood, we offer a free drink recipe book you can download here:

 https://www.amazon.com/Cocktails-Last-Chance-Beach-Reeves-ebook/dp/B08DR4K3YX/ref

 

Last Call     

Marcia King-GambleIngredients: 

1 12 oz. can of Minute Maid Frozen Limeade

2 cans of water

2 tbsps. of sugar

2 cups of ice

2 ozs. of triple sec or Cointreau

6 ozs. of tequila or to liking

¼ cup fruit (strawberries, peaches, mangos) optional

 

Directions: Add ice to blender, frozen limeade, water, sugar, tequila, triple sec. Then blend about 30 secs. Add additional tequila, water, limeade as needed.

Serves: 4

Serving Suggestions: Pour into a margarita glass or mason jar. Use sea salt for the rim of glass if preferred.

 

While this may taste like a Margarita, it’s like no Rita you’ve ever tasted. The Last Call came about when a fisherman from the mainland, sleeping aboard his boat, challenged the Rods bartender to invent a refreshing drink for mainlanders. The fisherman’s boat broke down and he swam ashore, blender in hand, making it to Rods just seconds before Last Call. The bartender was then forced to whip up a batch on the fly. The patrons already on their way to La-La Land, pronounced the Fisherman’s drink the best they’d ever had. And so, his drink became The Last Call. 

 

So, sit back, make yourself a cocktail, and enjoy the stories of romances found or rekindled on Last Chance Beach.

Thank you so much Zelda for having me.

 

Romance writer, Marcia King-Gamble originally hails from a sunny Caribbean island where the sky and ocean are the same mesmerizing shade of blue. This former travel industry executive and current world traveler has spent most of life in the United States. A National Bestselling author, Marcia has penned over 34 books and 8 novellas. Her free time is spent at the gym, traveling to exotic locales, caring for her animal family, and trying to keep sane.

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Secrets of Star Bakers

Trial and error, time and a good reason are all you need to perfect your baking. Research for my new romance series was my reason to perfect my haphazard baking skills. Not only has it been the most tasty, but also the most rewarding of all my fact-finding adventures.

Trial and error means that sometimes your recipe will fail. I watch a lot of baking shows and see professional bakers make amateur mistakes that often have me talking to the TV. They should know that cake is not cool enough to frost. Of course, time is often not on the bakers' side in a competition. I once gave myself a time limit to bake a batch of cookies and failed miserably. 

Tip-don't rush the process you'll have a better chance of succeeding.

My cakes are most often semi-home sponges that I make ahead of time and put in the freezer. I make everything from log rolls to multi-layers with a simple recipe I found while doing my research.

Frosting and fillings are easier to spread on frozen layers.

RECIPE

Tip-Always preheat before starting 
Preheat oven to 350 

Tip - Have all your ingredients ready to go - butter needs to be softened and eggs may need to be at room temperature.
Sometimes I'm all set to go and realize I don't have enough sugar or eggs. My husband's a good sport about going to the supermarketer for something I forgot, but he's not always available. I also prepare my pans by spraying with a non-stick spray then cover the bottom with parchment paper.

Ingredients
1 BOX ANY FLAVOR CAKE MIX  All commercial brands work for this recipe, but my favorites are Duncan Hines yellow, white or devil's food.
These companies have been making these mixes for decades and have it down pat. 

6 eggs  beat on high until lemon color

add 1/2 cup of water 

1/4 cup oil I like the hint of olive oil especially in chocolate cakes

Add cake mix

The recipe states to bake for 15-20 min until the center springs back.
Depending on your oven, the type of pan and altitude, baking time is definitely a trial and error moment.

I use 6" pans. I prefer more layers.

Don't be afraid to experiment. I recently made a 3 layer Biscoff cake where I substituted 1 tablespoon of cookie butter for an egg. It gave the cake a subtle hint of flavor with most of the flavor coming from the Biscoff frosting and cookie crumbs between the layers. 

I'm definitely lacking in cake decorating skills. Sprinkles, cookie crumbs and nuts can be very forgiving. The smaller layers make it easy to roll the frosted sides in the topping of your choice.

Happiness is homemade.