Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

1. Yosemite, California – just beautiful. I’d visited before but it was much quieter this time due to both the petrol prices and a recent fire that had scared visitors away. We had a perfect day with excellent visibility.

2. Grand Canyon, Arizona. This canyon is awe-inspiring.

3. Petrified Forest, Arizona. My husband and I both enjoyed our first visit to this park. The petrified forests were fascinating.

4. Mesa Verde, Colorado. Hot and dry. Busy but well worth a visit for the peek into the cliff dwellings of the Puebloans.

5. Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado. I didn’t know anything about this park until I visited but I loved the black rock and the deep canyons. It was stark and beautiful.

6. Rocky Mountains, Colorado. We didn’t have the best weather here. At the top of the pass it was freezing and sleeting. Ranger Michelle answered some of my many questions while I was here and we saw lots of animals at the lower levels before it started raining. A lot of trees are dying here after being attacked by the pine beetle.

7. Devil’s Tower, Wyoming. We walked around the base and saw our first snake here.

8. Little Bighorn Battlefield, Montana. An interesting place to visit although, man was it hot on the day we visited!

9. Yellowstone, Wyoming. This is a huge park and you need to spend a few days to explore it fully.

10. Olympic, Washington. This park covers both forest, lakes and mountains as well as part of the coast. Crescent Lake was gorgeous and we also enjoyed exploring the coast.

11. Mt. Rainier, Washington. I loved my visit here. The spring flowers were in full bloom and it was really pretty.

12. Lewis & Clark, Oregon. We didn’t know much about Lewis and Clark and after visiting Fort Clatsop we came away much wiser. This pair of explorers had great people skills and seemed well liked by everyone.

13. Crater Lake, Oregon. One of my favorites. It’s so pretty here. I could look at the lake for hours.

1. Middlemarch is a small country town, in Central Otago, New Zealand. It is about 80 km West of Dunedin. It’s located in the Strath Taieri Valley.

2. Several suggestions exist about how the township was named. One is that Mrs Alice Humphreys, whose husband Edward Wingfield Humphreys owned and had surveyed for sale of sections in this new township, was reading George Eliot’s novel Middlemarch. Another is that the name is from the obsolete English term “march” meaning a boundary – in this case a middle area between two rivers.

3. Middlemarch is the setting for my feline shapeshifter series, Middlemarch Mates.

4. Each year Middlemarch holds a singles dance and a special train (nicknamed the Love Train) carries women and men to the dance from Dunedin.

5. HOW IT ALL BEGAN – the dance.

In November last year our Community Board was presented with some statistics about rural health and other services in this area. As part of her presentation, Pauline Carruthers, the local Plunket Nurse, District Nurse and at that time only local practise nurse in the area, noted that we needed more nurses and made the flippant comment that we should marry some of our bachelors off to some nurses.

The Community Board took the idea one step further and suggested to the local A & P Society that it would arrange for the sponsor of the Dance for its Centenary Show. We contacted Country & City Contacts (NZ) Ltd. They are an Amberley-based dating service that has had huge success in the rural areas, especially of the South Island. Henk & Joy van Leir were enthusiastic and supportive of the idea of publicising the dance as a good place for their clients to meet each other and also some of our bachelors.

6. The area has some rare creatures – the mountain weta, the Otago and Grand skinks and the NZ falcon.

7. The area is also home to the Sutton Salt Lake. The water in the lake evaporates during the summer.

8. There are also special clouds in the area called the Tairei Pet. A cloud formation reportedly found only in one or two places in the world. It is formed by high north westerly winds being forced upward over the Rock & Pillar range – spectacular and unnerving by its sheer size and its association with the high winds.

9. It is the start of the 150km Otago Central Rail Trail, a path that stretches from Middlemarch to Clyde. People can walk, cycle or ride horses along this path, staying overnight at stops on the way.

10. As I mentioned earlier, there’s a train from Dunedin. It travels through the spectacular Tairei Gorge and is popular with tourists.

11. Scarlet Woman, Peeping Tom and Stray Cat Strut are all set in Middlemarch and feature various members of the Mitchell family.

12. Go here to learn about how the series was born, plus there are photos. There are also Middlemarch photos here.

13. Assassin, Middlemarch Mates book 4 is coming on August 6.

Here’s the blurb:

Feline shifter Leo Mitchell is the pretty brother who attracts women with ease, but he’s turned picky. He suspects the mystery blonde hanging around Middlemarch is the one for him. If only he could grab the elusive female and seduce her. Oh yeah. He craves some hot, sinful lovin’ with the lady in black leather.

Assassin Isabella Black has harbored a huge crush on hunky Leo for ages. Because the timing sucked she’s watched him from afar, praying another woman won’t snatch the hottie away before she’s free to stake a claim.

Finally the pair meet. Isabella offers her naked body but Leo counteracts with a cup of tea. Seems Leo likes to call the shots when it comes to sex. A day later they’re finally dancing horizontally. It’s smokin’ hot, steamy, delicious—everything she’s ever wanted. Isabella is ecstatic until another assassin threatens to ruin her happiness. It’s life or death now. One wrong move and her secrets will destroy the Mitchells along with everything that has become dear to her…including Leo.

Do you like small town settings or do you prefer sophisticated city settings for your romances?

With my trip coming up soon, packing is looming…

1. Make a list a few weeks beforehand of the things you think you’ll need to take with you.

2. Lay out the clothes you think you want to take, along with toiletries, shoes etc.
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I can’t take the credit for most of this list. It’s taken from the Persil website, which I visited after seeing the ad on our local TV. I love this ad because it shows kids getting dirty. IMO, kids should play in the mud and get dirty. It’s part of growing up, and I certainly created lots of dirty clothes when I was a child, growing up on a farm.

School holidays start here in NZ tomorrow, and I know it’s the summer holidays in America, too. Do check out the website since it gives instructions for all these things. Believe me, a bored kid makes everyone grumpy! Oh, and just as an aside, I’m a Persil fan. Dirt is good!!

1. Lie on your back and find shapes in the clouds.

2. Build a secret hut.

3. Camp out in the backyard.

4. Catch a fish.

5. Play in the rain.

6. Build sandcastles at the beach.

7. Learn to swim.

8. Whoosh down a mud slide.

9. Grow your own garden.

10. Make mud pies.

11. Learn some basic cooking skills.

12. Have a water fight on a hot summer day.

13. Climb a tree.

Do you have any suggestions to add to the list? Do you have memories of doing these things when you were a child?

I had no idea what I was doing for my TT this week. I thought about it while eating my porridge. I glanced around my kitchen and my gaze lit on it–inspiration in the form of one lonely banana. I hereby dedicate my TT to the humble banana.

1. Bananas are originally from Malaysia, but they have spread throughout the world and grow well in tropical areas.

2. Bananas plants are not trees but are actually herbs.

3. Bananas are high in potassium. They also contain protein, Vitamins A, B & C and have trace elements of iron and zinc. In other words, they’re good for you.
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In honor of my Pearl themed release, LOVERS AT LAST here are a few snippets about pearls.

1. Pearl is the official birthstone for the month of June. (as adopted by the American National Association of Jewelers in 1912)

2. Pearls are formed inside mollusks such as oysters and mussels. They are formed when an irritant (a tiny stone or bit of sand) gets inside the mollusk’s shell. A lustrous substance called nacre is secreted around the foreign object to protect the interior of the mollusk. The layers of nacre make a pearl and can take up to seven or eight years to form.

3. The most valuable pearls are perfectly symmetrical and naturally produced. Most of the principal oyster beds are in the Persian Gulf, along the coasts of India and Sri Lanka and in the Red Sea.

4. Once pearls were thought to be the tears of the gods. Greeks believed that wearing pearls would promote marital bliss and prevent newlywed women from crying.

5. Pearls are thought to give wisdom through experience, to quicken the laws of karma and cement engagements and love relationships.

6. Pearls vary in color from white to those with a hint of color such as pink, brown or black.

7. Pearls are quite soft.

8. Ancient Chinese literature refer to pearls as originating in the brain of a dragon and being lustrous and visible from a thousand yards.

9. Queen Elizabeth 1 loved pearls and wore them around her neck in ropes and embroidered on her dresses.

10. In the 1800s freshwater pearls were found in US rivers. The most famous one was found in 1857 in Patterson, NJ. It was sold to Charles Tiffany for $1500 and later resold for $2500.

11. In the 15th to 17th century people thought pearls were actually the eggs of oysters.

12. Pearls were considered the ideal wedding gifts because they symbolize purity and innocence.

13. During the month of June Ellora’s Cave has several releases all featuring the pearl. Lovers at Last by Shelley Munro (that’s me!) is the first release.

Do you like pearls?

1. Deirdre Martin – Ice Hockey.

2. Power Play by Erica DeQuaya – Ice Hockey

3. Susan Phillips – Lady Be Good – Golf. It Had to Be You – Football

4. Crystal Jordan – Full Swing – golf.

5. Lisa Renee Jones – Hard and Fast – baseball.

6. Love Match – Keira Andrews – tennis

7. Riding Partner – Mary Winter – showjumping.

8. Lorelei James – rodeo – including Long Hard Ride, Rode Hard, Put Up Wet and Cowgirl Up and Ride

9. NASCAR – Harlequin – including Back on Track by Abby Gaines.

10. Pat White – wrestling

11. Bend it Like Beckham – football (soccer)

12. Polo by Jilly Cooper

13. And because it makes good sense to promo, here’s some of mine: Issy’s Infatuation, Best Man, Playing to Win by Shelley Munro – rugby. And coming soon – Cat and Mouse with a rodeo theme, New Zealand-style.

Do you like romances with a sports theme? Have I missed any of your favorites?

Most people own a pair of jeans. Finding the right fit can be an exercise in frustration and after many years of trying on jeans, can I say dark rinse, mid-rise, boot-cut. That’s me, baby. I’ll admit that having found my style I’m now feeling suitably smug. I did, however, take a moment to ponder about jeans and their history. IMO there’s inspiration to be found while checking out men in jeans, although if you repeat this to my hubby, I’m denying all!

So, in honor of jeans and the clever man who invented them:

THIRTEEN THINGS ABOUT JEANS

1. The word jeans comes from a type of material made in Europe. The material, called jean, was named after sailors from Genoa in Italy, because they wore clothes made from it. The word ‘denim’ probably came from the name of a French material, serge de Nimes: serge (a kind of material) from Nimes (a town in France).

2. During the eighteenth century workers wore jean cloth because the material was very strong and it did not wear out easily.

3. In 1853, the California gold rush was in full swing, and everyday items were in short supply. Levi Strauss, a 24-year-old German immigrant, left New York for San Francisco with a small supply of dry goods with the intention of opening a branch of his brother’s New York dry goods business. Shortly after his arrival, a prospector wanted to know what Mr. Strauss was selling. When Strauss told him he had rough canvas to use for tents and wagon covers, the prospector said, “You should have brought pants!,” saying he couldn’t find a pair of pants strong enough to last.

4. Exhausting his original supply of canvas, as the demand grew for his long-wearing overalls, Levi switched to a sturdy fabric called serge, which was made in Nimes, France. Originally called serge de Nimes, this name was soon shortened to “denim”. And, with the development of an indigo dye, the brown color was soon replaced with the now familiar deep blue, the trademark color of most jeans made today.

5. One of Levi’s many customers was a tailor named Jacob Davis. Originally from Latvia, Jacob lived in Reno, Nevada, and regularly purchased bolts of cloth from the wholesale house of Levi Strauss & Co. Among Jacob’s customers was a difficult man who kept ripping the pockets of the pants that Jacob made for him. Jacob tried to think of a way to strengthen the man’s trousers, and one day hit upon the idea of putting metal rivets at the points of strain, such as on the pocket corners and at the base of the button fly.

6. These riveted pants were an instant hit with Jacob’s customers and he worried that someone might steal this great idea. He decided he should apply for a patent on the process, but didn’t have the $68 that was required to file the papers. He needed a business partner and he immediately thought of Levi Strauss. In 1872 Jacob wrote a letter to Levi to suggest that the two men hold the patent together. Levi, who was an astute businessman, saw the potential for this new product and agreed to Jacob’s proposal. On May 20, 1873, the two men received patent no.139,121 from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. That day is now considered to be the official “birthday” of blue jeans.

7. Jeans can be worn very loose in a manner that completely conceals the shape of the wearer’s lower body, or they can be snugly fitting and accentuate the body, specifically the buttocks. Historic photographs indicate that in the decades before they became a staple of fashion, jeans generally fit quite loosely, much like a pair of bib overalls without the bib. Indeed, until 1960, Levi Strauss denominated its flagship product “waist overalls” rather than “jeans”.

8. The orange thread traditionally used to sew Levi Strauss blue jeans was intentionally selected to match the copper rivets that doubled the durability of the jeans.

9. How many pair of jeans do you own? According to the Cotton Incorporated Lifestyle Monitor™, each American woman and man own eight pairs of jeans on average.

10. What kind of jeans are you? Take the test.

11. One of the best as well as easiest things you can do to protect your jeans in the laundry is to turn them inside out before washing.

When possible, use cold water to wash your jeans along with a small amount of vinegar added to the rinse cycle instead of fabric softener. The cold cycle is much easier on your blue jeans and helps to prevent fading. The vinegar is an added touch to preserve the color.

Another way to preserve the color of your jeans is to buy a detergent for dark colors such as Woolite Dark Laundry Fabric Wash. This detergent is made especially to help preserve dark colors and works very well for blue jeans.

12. Choose a style that’s right for your body type. A slim figure is well-suited to low-rise skinny, straight or boot-cut jeans. The latter two cuts are more flattering on muscular, athletic shapes. If you are pear-shaped, try low-rise boot-cut or flared jeans for balance. A higher-rise is recommended for curvier girls, as it better conceals love-handles. However, every figure is different and it really is best to try on many different cuts. To make your butt look perkier, choose a jean with low-set back pockets that are closer to the center.

13. I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity – all I hope for in my clothes. ~Yves Saint Laurent

14. Because I couldn’t resist –

Do you like to wear jeans?

In honor of my recent visit to Wellington, THIRTEEN THINGS about WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND.

1. Wellington is the captial of New Zealand.

2. It is VERY hilly, even more so than Auckland and San Francisco. After a day spent exploring, I woke up the next day with sore thigh muscles. No need to buy a thigh master, just visit Wellington!

3. The city of Wellington is known for its wind. Evidently this is because of its position to Cook Strait. (the passage of water between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The prevailing North-West winds accelerate through the strait giving 173 days with winds greater than 60kph (32 knots) each year on average.

4. There’s an inland island rare bird sanctuary only 5 minutes drive from the center of Wellington, which is pretty amazing. See yesterday’s post.

5. The parliament buildings are known as the Beehive because of their shape. The Beehive is the newer parliament buildings while the old building is the elegant one alongside.

6. People seem to build their houses on top of hills and they balance precariously. Many of the homes are original Victorian buildings.

7. Wellington is home to Peter Jackson and sometimes called Wellywood.

8. Our national musuem Te Papa is in Wellington. My favorite part was about our animals and I really enjoyed the section on our geology. Mr. Munro and I went into the earthquake simulation, which was amazing – an old building that shook and trembled. The earth moved! In fact, the earth kept moving for a while after we left. It was neat but weird, too.

This is one of the Maori panels plus a model of a moa and our local hawk. Both birds are extinct now but were the largest birds in the world at the time.

9. Wellington sits on a fault line and they have lots of earthquakes.

10. Mt. Victoria gives a scenic view of the city and harbor. I’m glad we could drive up rather than walking! This is me up the top of Mt. Victoria.

11. There are quite a few vineyards around. We went to Martinborough – a relief to walk around here since it was flat!!

12. All the vineyards are close to town. We hired bikes and rode around the vineyards.

13. And we stopped to have lunch and sample some of the wines. This is me relaxing at lunch. We rode around 10kms on our bikes before heading back to the hotel to soak in a spa bath. A very relaxing weekend.

It’s true. I adore eating chocolate. So, to celebrate one of the world’s greatest culinary inventions…

1. In a recent survey 52% of Americans stated chocolate was their favorite flavor. The second favorite flavors were berry and vanilla with 12% of the vote each.

2. Half of Americans (51%) choose what chocolate they eat by the shape of the piece.

3. The melting point of cocoa butter is just below the human body temperature — which is why it literally melts in your mouth.

4. Theobroma Cacao is the official scientific name given to cacao by Swedish Botanist Carolus Linnaeus in the 18 th century. The word Theobroma comes from the Greek language literally meaning, ‘food of the gods.’ While the exact origin of cocoa is still debated, it said to have been introduced by the ancient Maya to Central America from the South American highlands of the Amazon and Orinoco basins. The word for cacao (cocoa in Spanishi) is thought to have been created by the Olmec Indians whom historical linguistical investigations indicate may have been using the term around 1000 BC Mayan Indians were the first to create a beverage from cocoa.

5. Recent studies have shown that eating chocolate may actually be good for you. Researchers have found that raw and / or minimally processed cocoa – as is found in Yachana Jungle Chocolate – contains flavonoids similar to those found in green tea. According to preliminary studies, these antioxidants have been linked to help accomplish the following:

Decrease blood pressure
Improve circulation
Lower death rate from heart disease
Improve function of endothelial cells that line the blood vessels
Defend against destructive molecules called free radicals, which trigger cancer, heart disease and stroke
Improve Digestion and stimulate kidneys
Has been used to help treat patients with anemia, kidney stones and poor appetite

6. Placebo-controlled trials suggest chocolate consumption may subtly enhance cognitive performance. As reported by Dr Bryan Raudenbush (2006), scores for verbal and visual memory are raised by eating chocolate. Impulse-control and reaction-time are also improved. This study needs replicating.

7. Today, chocolates of every description are legal, unscheduled and readily available over the counter. Some 50% of women reportedly claim to prefer chocolate to sex, though this response may depend on the attributes of the interviewer.

8. Acne – There is no established link between developing acne and eating chocolate.

9. Cavities – Studies have not placed chocolate high on the list of cavity-causing products. The cocoa butter in chocolate may provide protection against tooth decay.

10. Addiction – As a food substance, chocolate has no addictive ingredients.

11. Store chocolate in a cool (60-70° F), dark, dry place away from strong-smelling items such as peppermint or dirty socks. Chocolate has a tendency to absorb other odors. Do not store chocolate in the refrigerator.

12. White chocolate is not technically one of the types of chocolate because it does not contain any chocolate liquor. It must contain at least 20% cocoa butter and 14% milk, plus sugar in varying amounts.

13. For all things chocolate in a blog go here.

And final words of wisdom…
Put “eat chocolate” at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you’ll get one thing done.

Are you a chocolate fan like me, and if so, what is your favorite chocolate treat? If…gasp!…you don’t enjoy chocolate, what is your favorite flavor?