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Today, fellow author, Helen Henderson shares her latest book and a family recipe. I love potatoes, pancakes, and fried food, so this is right up my alley!  She and I also share the same zodiac sign…Gemini! I hope you’ll give Lokse a try and also check out her books…beautiful cover by the way….and follow her on social media.

FOOD

Lokse is a potato pancake from my coal-country ancestry that was cooked on a cast-iron stove. Lokse can still be found at Slavic holiday festivals with different toppings, although my favorite and the one most used by my family is just plain butter.

The following instructions have been modified for modern cooking. Instead of cooking atop an old-fashioned, coal-fired, cast-iron stove, a contemporary substitute is a cast-iron frying pan. (Note: iron frying pans don’t work well on a ceramic cooktop. They tend to scratch) It is suggested to make small batches at a time unless you are like my Old World grandmother. She could create the dough and roll it out to the right thickness (that of a tortilla). If you use too much flour either for the dough or to prevent the lokse from sticking to the rolling pin, the dough gets too soft and falls apart when you lift it. My grandmother could place the pancake into the flying pan without it falling to pieces, and spin and flip the pancakes using only her fingers.

• Boil potatoes until soft.
• Coarsely mash and let cool.
• Mix in 2 eggs and 1/2 cup flour. Add additional flour as needed until a soft dough forms.
• Roll out by 1/4 cup balls on a floured board.
• Sprinkle a pinch of salt in the bottom of an iron flying pan, and place the pancake in the pan. Prick with a fork.
• Brown on one side, spinning occasionally.
• Flip over and brown on other side.
• When done, rub with a stick of butter on both sides. Fold into a roll and eat. (For those more elegant circumstances, you can cut the roll into inch-long sections and eat with a fork.)

To avoid a rush, lokse can be wrapped in foil and kept warm in a toaster oven. That is if you can stop them from disappearing as soon as they come out of the frying pan.

FICTION

Fate conspired to keep Iol and Pelra apart. Friendship is allowed between members of competing trading houses, but nothing more. He loves the sea and wants his own ship. She hates the deep blue and has worked too hard to allow her dreams to be sidetracked by the lure of magic. Despite a beautiful woman on his arm every night, Leod wanted the one he couldn’t have—Pelra. His kin on the ruling council did more than put him on the fast track to his own ship. It provided him the power to fulfill his desires, or to ruin those who refused him.

Exiled to distant posts, given impossible challenges, and subject to Leod’s machinations, Iol and Pelra only have the hope of a future together to sustain them. But can their love survive the accusation of witchcraft?

Books2Read –https://books2read.com/Windmaster-Legend

About Helen Henderson
Although the author of several local histories and numerous articles on the topics of American and military history, antiques and collectibles, Henderson’s first love is fiction. Her work in the museum and history fields enables a special insight into creating fantasy worlds. The descendent of a coal-miner’s daughter and an aviation flight engineer, her writing reflects the contrasts of her heritage as well as that of her Gemini sign. Her stories cross genres from historical westerns to science fiction and fantasy. In the world of romantic fantasy, she is the author of the Dragshi Chronicles and The Windmaster Novels. In her books, she invites you to join her on travels through the stars, or among fantasy worlds of the imagination.

Social Media Links:
Blog – https://helenhenderson-author.blogspot.com
Facebook Author Page – https://www.facebook.com/HelenHenderson.author
Twitter – https://twitter.com/history2write
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/777491.Helen_Henderson
Amazon Author Page – https://amzn.com/e/B001HPM2XK

FOOLISHNESS

First off, I don’t write humor as defined by the genre. Sword and sorcery doesn’t necessarily lend itself to humor, except maybe the slapstick kind. I don’t consider the villain laughing as foolishness or levity. However, from time to time, a bit of a light-heartedness creeps into a story. Here’s a snippit of one such bit from Windmaster Legend where Pelra’s mount demonstrates that the breed of magical equines called falaire have their own character–and attitude.
A head on Pelra’s shoulder and the whiff of oats announced a visitor. Without taking her eyes off the moon, she reached up and petted the velvet nose. “Having a good night, boy?”
The gelding snorted then nudged Pelra’s hand. She laughed and reached into her pocket and pulled out an orange root she had snagged from the cold cellar. A crunch and the treat disappeared. “That’s all I have,” she said with a laugh.
A flick of ears that clearly said, in that case I’m going back to my warm stall, and with a swish of his tail the horse went back into the barn.