Hi! Busy today, shipping off the many cookbooks that have sold this week on my EBay listing-Valerie2901. Thanks again for the sales! Many new cookbooks to be listed, as soon as I find the time.

Yesterday, my first day back from my trip and I booked an amazing massage with Christa at the Las Vegas Hilton Spa. There are not many masseuses that can relax me enough to make me fall asleep, but Christa did and I am totally relaxed from it. The mysterious aches and pains in my knees and calves are gone.

I was reading something forwarded to me today that I found interesting and wanted to pass it along. If you know any women receiving Chemotherapy, there is a cleaning service that provides free housecleaning for 4 months. You're required to get a note from your doctor faxed to Cleaning For a Reason and they will contact the cleaning service in the zip code of the woman.

www.cleaningforareason.org. Honestly, I can't believe it doesn't, but this group does not include men in this free house cleaning, though I am sure there are exceptions allowed. It's part of the breast cancer group and is offered nationwide.

The starvation diet seems to be working-I lost 5 pounds last week. I'm not really starving myself, but it is limited calories to 1250 per day and to me that's starving myself. I have found a new sandwich bread that travels so well. Orowheat Sandwich Thins is the name, stays fresh longer than most breads, try not to refrigerate-dries it out, but for people who travel, this is a great little bread to carry around. It's hard to find in the grocery stores,-so keep checking back-100 calories per sandwich bread (2 slices). And I don't know if turkeys cluck, but I have eaten so much turkey breast, that I feel like clucking!

Always looking for new ideas to heat up in a coffee pot in the hotel or on the plane-one of my friends brought a can of french onion soup, poured it in a plastic bag, added some croutons and a slice of provolone cheese and re-heated/cooked in the coffee pot water-amazingly good!

A new chef website you may not be aware of www.chefjeffcooked.com. He is on Sunday afternoons on the Food Network and has a new cookbook out.

A food event you may or may not want to attend-August 4-8, 2010 Testicle Festival in Clinton, MT. The Rocky Mountain Oyster festival, serving deep-fried bull testicles. I think I will skip this one!

This food event sounds a little better: March 6-7, 2010, The Festival of Chocolate in Orlando, FL. Be a kid in the candy store and enjoy two days of chocolate treats at the Orlando Science Center. The event will have competitions, demos by awarding winning pastry chefs, & a Kids-4-Chocolate area.

I sell a lot of biography's (not just cookbooks) on my EBay listing that I have already read. Not read yet, but I'm looking forward to reading is an early book done by Louie Anderson, the comedian. Titled Dear Dad-Letters From An Adult Child. Once finished, I'm hoping to get this autographed by Mr. Anderson at the Excalibur Hotel, where he performs nightly. Look for this in the next week or two if you are interested in purchasing it on my EBay listing-Valerie2901.

That's all for now.

Cookbook Val

The Pineapple

January 11, 1813, the first pineapples were planted in Hawaii. They may have originally come from Brazil, though other sources say that Columbus encountered them first in Guadeloupe, their true home. As if in tribute, it was also on this day in 1935 that Amelia Earhart took off from Honolulu to make the first solo flight from Hawaii to California.

Fragrant and impressive to look at, most pineapples now come from Hawaii. Fifty years ago the Royal Hawaiian Hotel had a fountain in the lobby that provided fresh pineapple juice.

Pineapples do not continue to ripen after picking. They will keep for some weeks but should not be refrigerated-temperatures below 45 degrees F are not beneficial. A distinctive aroma is one indication of a good pineapple as well as being heavy for its size. The fruit is sweeter at the bottom, so if is to be served plain, it should be cut lengthwise.-Life is Meals by James and Kay Salter.

A week later. That seems to be all I can do these days. But it's better than nothing. After the sinus infection, I developed a head cold, that is thankfully all gone now. Seems to be my year. But I am a lucky woman, sinus infections and colds aside-I am a very lucky person. So not to say, that I have ever won the lottery or I even win at Bingo very often, but I am a lucky woman.

I don't know if I mentioned before, but as I joke, I did a stand-up routine on me being "A middle-aged sex goddess". I do not want to do this as a career, but it seems there is a need in life for a middle-aged sex goddess-I've even been offered paying jobs. It just won't be me. Instead, I'm trying to talk my sister into doing this or my girlfriend in Dallas. Both very funny people, with attitudes that could work on stage. Not me, I want to be Paris Hilton. A woman who is famous, for doing nothing.

Selling lots of cookbooks lately-doing something right. Today, I'm going to promote Chocolate. I have 3 interesting Chocolate books that haven't sold:
Hershey's Cocoa Cookbook
White Chocolate by Janice Wald Henderson-the cover alone should make you want to buy it
BH&G Chocolate
All with luscious desserts and treats await you. Look under Valerie2901 on EBay or under general heading cookbooks.

Live a little, love a little, be happy.
Cookbook Val