Easter, road trips and things making me happy about long lazy weekends by Amy Andrews

Firstly - Happy Easter from me!

I'm on a road trip this weekend to visit my daughter who's moved almost 1000kms from home to mid western NSW - that's about 5 hours west of Sydney. It's a long drive but hey, I spent most of it in Scotland (well France, actually) with Jaime and Clare and other times I've just marvelled at my beautiful country. It made me feel happy and very very lucky!

I love the way the light falls on the land during different stages of the day in the vastness of the outback.

From early morning light -

To the bright light of full day.

I love windmills.

And grain silos. And road signs.

My hubby loves to snack on road trips while I try not to.... It took me 4 days to succumb to the bright napalm orange of the humble Twistie. But it didn't really feel like a road trip until I had been seduced by the intoxicating carbohydratic (yes, not a word) goodness.

We visited the zoo. These monkeys made me happy.

And this Galapogus tortoise made the romance writer in me thrill. Looks like we all love a little bit of petting, right?

And if that wasn't enough, this was my lunch view yesterday, lazing around under lovely shady trees listening to the drowsy hum of bees, eating cheese and drinking wine.

And my two travelling companions always make me happy. Tink and Wonder Woman - the soft and the hard of me.

How did you spend your Easter weekend? Was it lazy and indulgent like mine or was it a busy family affair?

Got anything making you happy at the moment?

Happy 'strailya Day

It's Australia Day today. A day for us all to celebrate and be proud of our country and it's achievements and, particularly in the present world climate, realise how damn lucky we are to live in a country so free from internal strife. I do wish we celebrated this day on a date that was less contentious for our first nation peoples and it is my fervent hope that this may one day come to pass but in the mean time it's a day for us all to pull out the cricket set and find a BBQ somewhere. 

My family celebrated yesterday at my brother's house which is on the waterfront and after a week of rain the sun was shining!

I hope you enjoy these nice sunny snap shots.

Lamingtons, Burger Rings, Cheezels, Twisties and Clinkers! An Aussie Day sugar overload!

New cricket esky complete with own stumps about to debut on Aussie TV

Beach cricket - Aussie day tradition

Gorgeous sunny day - aren't all these colours so fabulous on the eye?

Where are you for and how do you celebrate your national day?

PS - fancy supporting an Aussie today? My Aussie Heroes novella is now out at all good etailers :-)

 

Food Glorious Food

Yes, sorry, it’s me again. A double dose of Amy Andrews for everyone!

And no, this blog is not going to be some recipe swap fest. Sorry. I cook but I don’t live for it – having a fussy child killed any joy I used to find in the kitchen.

But I do love to eat.

Which somehow transfers across to my heroines. Strange that :-)

I recently wrote a Twistie loving heroine in Driving Her Crazy.

Mmm, lurve me some Twisties.
Avoid them like the plague cos they’re just a big old carb-fest but, for the sake of this blog and its accuracy, I did go out and especially buy a packet just so I could take a picture for those who don’t have a clue what Twisties are.
I also bought a violet crumble cos they look so pretty together.

I’m generous like that.

Don’t worry, no Twisties were harmed in the writing of this blog. They all found a safe home inside my intestinal tract!

It was pointed out to me recently by a reader that I tend to use food in sex scenes.  I hadn’t really thought about it as a thing until it was mentioned. But yeh…in the Twisties book its marshmallows. And come to think of it, Twisties do get used too…

In The Devil and the Deep aka the pirate book, my hero uses a mango to pretty devastating effect....

Bad Amy.....

In One Night She Would Never Forget there’s a cute/sexy cup-cake scene.

In my current WIP, there’s creative use of beer. Also by the hero.  Here’s the Pinterest board for it if you want to check it out. http://pinterest.com/amyandrewsbooks/the-most-expernsive-night-of-her-life/

Hmmm, I see a pattern. Maybe I should stop writing heroines that make their men want to eat food off them?

Nah….. :-)

What about you guys? Do you enjoy reading about creative use of food in books? Or can you not switch your brain off as you think about sticky skin, chocolate and whipped cream smears on the sheets and crumbs in the bed?