Kit Morgan

Cowgirls in the Kitchen – Kit Morgan

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Okay, so I’m one of those people that never measures, and tosses everything together and it works. So trying to figure out exact measurements isn’t easy. But here goes. This is the dish everyone wants me to bring to potlucks, family dinners, taco Tuesdays and so on. My famous Spanish Rice! I’m going to give the single batch version. Serves 6? I’m used to making double and triple batches so I’m having to pare it down. And that’s not a picture of my rice. I couldn’t find one on my phone (yes, my family is always taking pictures of food)  so had to find something similar. At any rate, it’s a colorful and festive looking dish!

1 cup jasmine or other long grain rice
1 3/4 cups water
1/2 cup Salsa. I use Salsa Suprema, and sometimes a cilantro salsa. For something different, I’ve also used pineapple salsa. Heat level is up to you but I usually stick with medium
1 1/2 teaspoons chicken bullion
1/2 medium onion chopped
1/2 red pepper chopped
1/2 yellow pepper chopped
1 bunch green onions chopped
1 small or medium sized can of sliced olives (depending on how much you want in there.
2 tablespoons butter

Melt the butter in a frying pan at medium low to medium heat. Add rice and fry, stirring frequently for a few minutes. Add chopped onion (not the green onion) and fry another couple of minutes. Stir in water and salsa. Add chicken bullion and stir. Bring to boil then cover and reduce heat to low. While the rice is steaming, chop up peppers and green onions if you haven’t already, put in a bowl with the olives and mix well. Set aside.
Steam the rice about twenty five minutes and check. If the rice is done, then add the chopped veggie/olive mixture. You can either spread it over the top and re-cover the pan for another ten minutes, or mix the veggie/olive mix into the rice and then recover. I’ve done both. The goal is not to let the veggies cook all the way through. You want them just tender. You can leave the pan on low heat for a few minutes, then shut off your burner. The peppers and green onions will steam fine with the cover on. If you’ve chosen to put the veggie/olive mixture on top to steam, then mix before serving.

That’s it! The famous Spanish Rice recipe!

Old West Architecture and a Giveaway!

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I have a series with six English brothers on holiday in America who wind up helping a small town after tragedy has struck. They’re helping by fixing things in and around some of the townsfolk’s houses and buildings. This had me doing a little research which of course led me down the rabbit hole.

When we think of the old west, we think of cowboys, cattle, ranches, chuckwagons, Indians, settlers, pioneers, frontiersmen, horses, forts, and of course, old west towns including boomtowns. It’s from the boomtowns that many of the old west towns come from. But have you ever wondered why they all look alike?

For those of you that don’t know, I’m an architectural freak. I collect house plans and building plans of the past and have a large collection of books, plans, magazines and other bits of paraphanelia involving Victorian and pre-war architecture. When a building is described as pre-war, its talking about WW2.

When a boom town got slapped together, the owners of businesses wanted their establishments to look decent, so used false fronts. A false front is a decorative, non-load-bearing front wall that lacks its own structural support but may be an important part of the building in which it is built. It is a common feature of Western architecture and was used for commercial buildings in the Old West of the United States. Let’s face it, as soon as we spy that familiar false front, we think, Old West!

The false front is used to extend the appearance of a building while not adding significant width to it. Sometimes it’s designed to look like a Colonial Revival or Victorian style building with columns or blind arches and serves only to give the building elegance and character at street level. It was important to look like your neighbors, so most of the street’s buildings had these false fronts.

There are, of course, some defining characteristics. Most front façades of buildings rose to form a parapet (upper wall), which hides most or nearly all of the roof. Considering some of those roofs were questionable at first, this was a good thing. Who knows what folks used to put a building together in a hurry?
That said, the roof is almost always a front gable, though gambrel and bowed roofs were occasionally found.
They also used the better materials for the facade than on the sides or rear of the structure. The facade exhibits greater ornamentation than do the other sides of the building too. He who had the best facade, got the customers. Even when buildings became more permanent and were made of brick, the false front facade was still in style. Signs on the front of some facades could get pretty fancy too.

Nowadays when we see a building with a western facade, we are hit with a sense of nostalgia and charm. It’s one of the reasons we love visiting towns with an old west look and feel.

Does your town have that old west feel from the buildings that line its main street? If you live in a more modern area, do you like visiting small towns and places that do have the old west architecture? I’m giving away one free e-copy of Courting the Rancher, the first book in my Love in Apple Blossom Series. (If you already have the book, then you can pick one of the others in the series.)
Here’s a little more about the book:

Six English Gentlemen with a Secret
A Town with a Tragic Past
And One Lunatic Sea Captain

Letty Henderson wasn’t looking for love. She was looking for more people to sell her milk and beef to. After a tragedy took the lives of her father and brother, it’s all she can do to keep her little ranch running. And she wasn’t the only one. The same tragedy took the lives of an entire posse, and with a town population of less than thirty, that’s a lot. So is it any wonder when six English gents pass through town and offer assistance, that her head is turned in their direction? Can she stop staring at the oldest long enough to tell him what sort of help she needs? Unfortunately, the kind of help the town really needs no one can give and even if the six men were capable of that kind of help, they weren’t sticking around long enough to do any good. Or were they?
Toss in an unlikely matchmaker and find out in this hilarious new series that delivers pure fun and romance!

AMAZON

The British Are Coming and a Give Away!

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The Old West remains an iconic part of our history, conjuring up images of cowboys, saloons, and horse thieves. And then the British aristocracy showed up …

But why? Well, The Union Pacific railroad stretched to Fremont, NE by 1865. Construction continued, and by mid-1867 it reached Cheyenne and joined the Central Pacific in Promontory in 1869, connecting the East and West coasts of the US. Cheyenne became the hub for all those railroad workers, and all of them had to be fed. The wintry grasses proved to be exceptional fodder for the ranchers’ cattle, and they quickly realized they could make a successful business in that region. When the railroad took the cattle east to the markets, that set the stage for Wyoming to become a major cattle ranching area. Then, in 1880, the steamer Strathleven embarked on a voyage with a new kind of cargo: meat preserved with mechanical refrigeration. This was the first time British people had ever encountered the process of ranching. And some were hooked.

Can you imagine an earl or baron chasing after cattle? Well, they did, and some were part of the Wyoming cattle industry from about 1867 to 1887. Though their stint as cowboys was fleeting, their imprint on the area left a lasting impression. It’s one of the reasons I have two fictional towns with British residents. One town, Clear Creek, has a huge cattle ranch nearby owned by a British family, the Cookes. And my newest series, Love in Apple Blossom, also has some British residents. The result of six brothers on holiday in America who happen upon the little town. An entire posse was killed by an outlaw gang and some of the women had to step up to take on their father’s, brother’s, or husband’s roles. Being gentlemen, the brothers stay to help a few of them out before returning to England.

But what, other than the lure of ranching and cowboy adventures, brought the British to America? Well, in short, the British gentleman was passionate about hunting. This was one of the things that drew them to America in the first place. They wanted adventure, excitement, and America had plenty of it. There was nothing like the thrill of a good hunt (weeks and sometimes months’ worth) to bring the English aristocracy to America. But there were other reasons some came, and it wasn’t to chase after elk or bear.

Desperate to escape the freezing grasp of the British Isles, some ventured to the Wild West in search of new health. Others, like Oliver Henry Wallop, scion of an earl, saw the need for a cavalry in the Boer War and set off to Wyoming. He partnered with Malcolm Moncrieffe, progeny of a Scottish baronet, and ran an enourmous 2700-acre ranch that brought the first thoroughbreds to the Western front. In Colorado, another British earl established a ranch and resort not far from Estes Park; a sprawling reminder of his former glory from across the pond. My British family in my fictional town of Clear Creek traveled West to Oregon not for their health, but to start a cattle ranch and ended up as pig farmers. Things obviously didn’t go as planned, but in the end, they fulfilled their dream.

On the other hand, there were some Britannic settlers in America that soon found themselves in a grueling struggle to make a living on the ranches. Cattle needed to be tended to and branded, while horses had to be fed and groomed. There were also everyday ranch chores and other work and dash it all, no servants to help. Even worse, some ranches were a hundred miles or more away from the nearest train station. Rain turned dirt roads into mud pits in summer and unpredictable snowstorms in winter. Both made travel hazardous. Is it any wonder so many high-tailed it back to England?

Thankfully, the Cooke family didn’t, and have appeared in numerous book series of mine and in not only my other pen name’s books, but other author’s books as well. I have a book on the British aristocracy holidaying in America in the 1800s, which was one of the things that inspired me to create a British family in the old west years ago. The rest is history!

Do you like reading about characters from other countries settling in the old west? I’m giving away one free e-copy of my latest release, Wooing the Undertaker, Love in Apple Blossom, Book 4 to one commenter. Here’s a little more about the book:

A Lonely Undertaker
A Man Determined to Go Home
And One Little Library …

After her father was killed by outlaws, Jean Campbell was forced to take on the role of undertaker. Like so many other women in Apple Blossom, she did what had to be done after a devastating tragedy took the lives of an entire posse. But months later, things were becoming hard, and she wasn’t sure what to do. And that’s when theycame to town. Six English brothers who took it upon themselves to help those in need. And so far, three of the brothers had found love. But Jean knew that wasn’t about to happen to her. After all, who wanted to woo an undertaker?

Wallis Darling wasn’t looking for love. He was looking for a way to back to England and with as many of his brothers as possible. Problem was, three were already planning on marrying, and two of them had decided to stay. If Wallis’ older brother Phileas fell in love and stayed on, their father’s dreaded title and estate would fall to him! The thought made him shudder. He liked his freedom and had to make sure his older brother didn’t come under love’s spell. But how? Then he got an idea. What if Phileas thought Wallis was in love? Would he hightail it back to England to do his duty? Wallis hoped so. Now all he had to do was find someone willing to fake a courtship. And then of course, talk her into it.

AMAZON

A Well Traveled Pooch and a Give Away!

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So you all know how I stumble upon things while I’m researching for a book. Well, my current book is no exception. In Dear Miss LeBlanc, one family in my fictitious town of Clear Creek has a car. Now it’s 1903 so they are the only car owners.  Cattle Ranchers, they quickly learn that you can’t use a car to check on the herds. It can cause the cattle to stampede. But it was fine to take to town or to go visiting. What kind of car is it? A 1903 Winton. My characters call it JW for Jefferson, (their step-father) and Winton.


While researching cars of 1903, I discovered an interesting road trip involving a Winton and a dog. His name was Bud, and he was a pitbull purchased by Horatio Nelson Jackson, a doctor from Vermont who bet a guy fifty bucks he could drive a car across America. No mean feat back in 1903. Cars back then weren’t exactly built for off roading. Horatio and a man named Sewell Crocker (a bicyclist and machinist) outfitted a Winton for the trip and left San Fransisco on May 23, 1903. They had 90 days to get to New York and win the bet.

Horatio went north then cut across Oregon to Idaho where he purchased Bud. He even outfitted him with a pair of goggles to keep the dust from his eyes!

Bud became a well traveled pooch and got to see his new owner ask locals for directions (a lot) and sometimes get wrong ones. They traveled across open prairie, over rocky trails where they had to get out and remove  more than a few rocks on occasion, and followed trails that ran alongside train tracks. The going was slow, and some of the wrong directions they were given led to the culprit’s relatives so they could see the car and of course, Bud. After all, who wouldn’t want to see a dog wearing a pair of goggles?

The Winton averaged 71 miles a day, so when they got bad directions, it could waste a lot of time, even whole days. And things didn’t alway go right and parts had to be replaced. When that happened they had to ask the Winton Motor Company for parts they needed then wait for them to arrive by train. On July 12th they reached Nebraska which had more paved roads and voila! They were doing 250 miles a day! The three made it to New York in 63 days, didn’t collect their fifty dollars, and frankly, didn’t care. They were the first to drive across the country in a car and let’s face it. That fifty bucks wouldn’t have put a dent in the eight thousand dollars Horatio forked out for the trip. The first three thousand went to purchasing and outfitting the car alone.

Personally, I love road trips and have done a few. The last one was from Oregon to Deadwood South Dakota with my daughter over a year ago for a book event. It was great fun! And I got inspiration for an entire series along the way! When was the last time you took a road trip? Where did you go? I’m giving away a free e-copy of Dear Miss LeBlanc to one lucky commenter! Here’s a little more about the book:


Fantine LeBlanc is the assistant to the famous matchmaker, Mrs. Pettigrew. The job came with a lot of perks, one of which was getting to travel with Madame Pettigrew to the famous little town of Clear Creek. And they weren’t going alone. Madame was bringing Gibbs the butler and Mr. Tugs, her ancient gardener along. Toss in members of the Colorado Adventure Club, a few extra guests, and the trip was going to be an adventure indeed. Clear Creek may never survive it. Or, was it going to be the other way around? Clear Creek was full of more than a few oddities. When the residents fancy themselves better matchmakers than Mrs. Pettigrew, they set out to prove it and with hilarious results. Enjoy this sweet, clean romance as only Kit Morgan can deliver!

 

Fun Words and a Give Away!

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I was part of a Facebook party this last week and posted a fun little doo-dad entitled “Literally the Best Words Ever”. It was a list of words most of us have used at some time or another, and they’re fun words besides. I’ve blogged about cowboy slang and old west sayings, but there is also Victorian slang and phrases that many of us have never heard. So for fun, I decided to dig up a few. Believe it or not, a fellow by the name of James Redding Ware wrote a book of these words and sayings (in 1909) in hopes of preserving them. Let’s look at a few.

Afternoonified: A society word meaning “smart.” Such as, the goods are not ‘afternoonified’ enough for me.”

Bags o’ Mystery: An 1850 term for sausages, “because no man but the maker knows what is in them. … The ‘bag’ refers to the gut which contained the chopped meat.”

Daddles: A delightful way to refer to your rather boring hands.

Doing the Bear: Courting that involves hugging.

Enthuzimuzzy: A reference to enthusiasm. Created by a fellow named Braham the terror, whoever that is.

Fly rink: An 1875 term for a polished bald head.

Gas-Pipes: A term for especially tight pants.

Got the morbs: This 1880 phrase indicated temporary melancholy.

Half-rats: Partially intoxicated.

Nanty Narking: A tavern term, popular from 1800 to 1840, that meant great fun.

Podsnappery: This describes a person with a “wilful determination to ignore the objectionable or inconvenient, at the same time assuming airs of superior virtue and noble resignation.”

Now that I’ve shared a few of these, let’s take a look at the word list I posted in my recent Facebook party. We had a lot of fun with these and so, I wanted to share them with you! We’ve all used these and they’re probably more familiar than the above list. Now, for the fun. Try using at least three words from the list below in a sentence along with one from the list above and see what you come up with! I’ll pick a random winner from the comments to receive a copy of my latest release, A Match for the Adventurer!

Whatchamacallit,  Flummoxed,  Dingleberry,  Gobbledygook,  Canoodle,  Codswallop,  Discombobulated,  Cattywampus,  Malarkey,  Brouhaha,  Skedaddle,  Doohickey,  Persnickety,  Whatnot,  Gobsmacked,  Flibbertigibbet,  Tenterhooks,  Poppycock,  Whippersnapper,  Flabbergasted,  Shenanigans,  Lollygag,  Kerfuffle,  Nincompoop,  Pumpernickel,  Thingamajig,  Whatsit,  Whatchamacallit,  Flummoxed,  Dingleberry,  Gobbledygook,  Canoodle, Codswallop.

 A little more about A Match for the Adventurer:

 

A Man in Search of a Wife
A Woman in Search of her Freedom
And the greed that seeks to keep them apart …

Nell Elliott thought she had a good life. But when her stepmother begins acting strangely, she’s not so sure anymore. She’s coming to her wit’s end and doesn’t know what to do. Then the famous Mrs. Pettigrew comes to town and instead of helping, seems to make matters worse. Toss in the handsome Bennett Heston, and it’s all she can do to keep her heart in check. So what if she only met him a couple of times before now? He makes her days brighter and her heart sing!
Mrs. Pettigrew is keeping a close eye on them, hoping to make a match. But she’s not the only one. And a match isn’t in the making if they have their way.

Amazon

Groceries, Jobs, and a Give Away!

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As everyone knows, the cost of groceries has gone up. The cost of eating out has gone up too. So while researching a few things for an upcoming book, I ran across some interesting tidbits of information about what things cost back in the day. My book takes place in 1903 and the charts I found are from the same. All I can say is, my how things have changed!

Victorians did love their food. And they ate some weird stuff to boot. How would you like some spinach ice cream? Or maybe you’d prefer some jellied eels or cayenne pepper ice cream? No? Well, then lets go grocery shopping and see what we can find.

My book takes place in Denver, Colorado. As my heroine owns a bakery, she’s going to need some eggs and can get herself a dozen for .23 cents. Next she’ll need flour. She can pick that up for .55 cents for a half barrel bag. Yep. Barrel.

How about some sugar? She’ll need that for all those cookies, cakes and pastries. She can get a pound for .49 cents. If she was in the restaurant business and needed some Irish potatoes, she could get a hundred pounds for twenty five dollars. Otherwise, a pound of Irish potatoes was .25 cents. A woman with a bakery needs some molasses. How about a gallon for .25 cents? The rest of her list might look like this:

A quart of milk .62 cents. If she got 16 quarts at a time, she could get it delivered for a dollar. One pound bacon was .25 cents. Leg of lamb .20 cents a pound. Pork chops               .12 cents a pound. Lard, (for a 3lb. can) was a $1.00. 1 lb. Rice .83 cents. English Breakfast tea  .60 cents a pound. Chuck Roast .88 cents a pound. Bread 1 lb. loaf .50 cents. Butter 1 lb. .31 cents. Big difference compared to today.

And we can’t forget about coffee, which ran from .17 – .35 cents per pound depending on what kind it was. I could go on but you get the idea. Fruit and vegetables were a different ball game and it also depended on what part of the country you were in. Needless to say, they were a lot cheaper than today. Still, back then wages were different too. If you worked for my bakery owner, you could make a whopping .21 cents an hour. A blacksmith out west made .32 cents an hour. Someone who laid bricks could make as much as .69 cents an hour in the west. If you were on the east coast, you’d make .54 cents an hour. Makes you wonder how many brick layers headed west. A furniture maker could make .43 cents an hour. If you were an unskilled laborer, you made about a dollar a day. This was the average wage for an unskilled worker from around 1700 to World War I. Thus the saying, “another day, another dollar.”

So, if you lived at the turn of the century, what would your job be? Would you want to be a baker, a blacksmith, a sheriff or a deputy?What about a mill worker or ship builder? I’m giving away one free e-copy of my upcoming book, A Match for the Spinster, to one lucky commenter.

Arranged Marriages and a Give Away!

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In my latest book, my heroine, despite watching some of her friends find love matches, is resigned to the fact that she should marry well and within her class. She’s been raised to do it, and it’s hard for her to go against this. And no wonder. Families back in the day had a lot of say when it came to marriage of one of their own. If you were part of high society, such as my heroine, you came with a generous dowery that was incentive for a prospective groom to propose. When it came to money and marriage, the finances were discussed by both parties and many had to have a prenuptial agreement.

My heroine’s other dilemma was the fact her friends found love matches with those below their social class. This was a hard pill for her to swallow as marriage was encouraged only within one’s class. If you wanted to move up the social ladder, you were called an upstart. Too far up and you were a gold digger. On the other hand, to marry someone in a lower social class was considered marrying beneath oneself. In some cases, you could wind up a laughingstock. Love had to be stronger than one’s bank account to warrant such a move.

In the east arranged marriages were more common, and quite often the couple only met a few times, or not at all, prior to the wedding. Meanwhile out west, where arranged marriages were becoming a thing of the past, the mail-order bride took over. Once again two people were getting married without knowing each other. They got hitched then hoped for the best!

Through history and into modern times, the practice of arranged marriages has been encouraged by a combination of factors. In some countries there’s the practice of child marriage, two people betrothed at birth. When they come of age, they marry. There are also late marriages, tradition, culture, religion, poverty and limited choice. There were also things like disabilities, wealth and inheritance issues and political, social and ethnic conflicts

Arranged marriages began as a way of uniting and maintaining upper class families. Eventually, the system spread to the lower classes where it was used for the same purpose. Remember that rule about marrying in one’s own class?

Back in Victorian society, women had one main role in life. Get married and take part in their husbands’ dealings, interests, and business. Before marriage, they would learn domestic skills such as cooking, washing, and cleaning, unless they were from a wealthy family. Is it any wonder my heroine is fighting between finding true love and marrying the man her parents found for her? He’s wealthy, his family powerful. He’s even not bad to look at. Unfortunately, he also has terrible allergies and the personality of a door stop. What’s a debutante to do?


I’m giving away one free e-copy of my yet to be released, A Match for the Debutante, to one person from the comments below. Most of us don’t know anyone who had an arranged marriage or was a mail-order bride, but it’s fun to ask ourselves the question, could we marry someone we barely knew? To ask ourselves this question living in the 21st century, most of us would say nope! But if you lived in the Victorian era, could you do it?

The Teas Have It and a Giveaway!

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Anyone who knows me well knows I adore tea. I have to have it in a fancy tea cup and saucer. I use all the accompanying tea paraphernalia, and, of course, it’s always more fun to have more than one. Meaning, I like having tea with my neighbor Jeannie or take my daughter or a friend to a place that “does” tea.

Tea shows up in many of my books. My fictional town of Clear Creek has has “tea time” as there are so many British living in and around the tiny town. But just as there are all sorts of variety of tea, so there are teas.

What am I talking about? Well, there’s afternoon tea. Family teas, tea gardens, High teas, At home tea. There are even Bridge teas and Tennis teas! And during WWII, the tea dance was invented. So what’s with all these teas? At the center, the answer is simple. People.

Back in the day, wedding breakfasts were held. But with wedding teas, you could invite more people. Some sort of entertainment could be provided. Music, singers, or a piano player. Sometimes the guests themselves performed. Though this was all thought out first and arranged. Tea wasn’t served in the drawing room. Instead the hostess used her dining room which was set up as a sort of buffet.



Like the wedding teas, “At Home” teas consisted of smaller groups, could be served in a parlor or drawing room, and served on small tables. A servant, (if you had one) took up a post near their mistress, who was the one serving. As soon as she was done, the servant would leave the room. This sort of tea is simple. They didn’t even use plates. I’d have failed at this kind of tea. I’m always dropping my cookies when trying to balance them on my saucer. Ah me …

High Tea was a different affair, and is some homes, was done daily, often taking the place of a late dinner. There was usually one or two hot dishes, maybe some cold chicken, game or ham. There was also a salad of some sort and of course different kinds of cakes and at times, cold fruit tarts with cream or custard. And of course, there was also fresh fruit. Getting hungry yet? In summer, it wasn’t unusual to have all cold dishes.

Family Teas consisted of cake, jam, sardines, buttered toast, potted meats, tea cakes and fruit. Watercress and radishes were served in summer alongside everything else. Family teas were often governed by the dinner that preceded it. When I think of all these teas, I automatically think of Hobbits from The Lord of the Rings. I’m not sure who is worse, the little guys, or the Victorians of the 1800’s!

Bridge Teas were served at 3:30. Tennis Teas could be at different times as they were held in summer. Both were informal, the meal made up of sandwiches, pastries, cakes and light foods. The tables were set under shade trees and visitors helped themselves to what they wanted.

During the second world war, the tea dance came along. I know it has nothing to do with the 1800s or the old west or high society of the same era, but it’s worth a mention. In Britain, they were held in the afternoon, never at night due to the danger of air raids. Someone’s house was picked, people packed their own little sandwiches with what rations they had, and everyone pooled them together so there was a variety to serve. The dances might be a charity of sorts to raise money for blankets, bandages and food parcels for troops. The organizers of these teas provided a cup of gray, wartime tea with a bit of reconstituted dried milk and a saccharine tablet for some sweetness. The music at such things were a far cry from the afore mentioned teas. This was the big band era, so you had folks dancing and enjoying themselves to some great music. This raised morale, and helped people cope with the war. These tea dances gain popularity and continued on even after the war was over.

And here I sit with my little tea cup, wondering what it would be like to have tea with so many different folks. Not that I haven’t, it’s just been awhile.

So, have you been to any of the above mentioned teas? I’ll give away an e-book copy of my new release, His Saving Grace, (Clear Creek Brides, Book 5) to one commenter.