Tessbissell's Blog

The Realms Thereunder by Ross Lawhead

tessbissell — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:09:31 +0000

When I read the back of this book I thought it looked like something I would want to read. I read the first chapter and didn’t think I liked it that much, and then the farther I went into it, the more it grew on me. I loved how Daniel and Freya met the Knights,( I imagined those guys to look like vikings with broad shoulders and really long beards.) When they described the thing that Daniel killed, it had me a little creeped out because my imagination went wild trying to think of something like that. One of my favorite quotes from the book is when Swiogar and Ecgbryt were asking them questions about what was happening in the world these days and Freya said “Not really, but were things any better in their time?” Swiogar replys, “Not really. But that only serves to prove what none from my time wanted to admit to themselves-that men and women of any type , of any nation, of any advantage, at any time, will always war with, steal from, and take advantage of each other no matter what is done to try to help them improve their lives.No matter what the advantages-education, riches, comfort-men will still tend towards evil.” That is still true today. Men have almost anything they could want at their fingertips and still we tend to fight over the smallest and stupidest things.

I loved reading this book, and Ross Lawhead, just like his father, is a fantastic writer and I am so glad I was able to read this book.

If you would like to buy this book you can do so here.

Or if you would like to visit Ross’ blog you can do so here

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

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The Bone House by Stephen R. Lawhead

tessbissell — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 06:18:24 +0000

First of all I would like to say that I loved this book. It was really interesting because I hadn’t read the first book all the way through so I tried to guess what happened in that one :p I loved all of the characters, except maybe Douglas He seemed pretty evil. In the first part of the book it seemed like he introduced a new character in each chapter which seemed a bit jumpy, but it was a lot of fun. The way S R L brought out things about the “Creator,” was really cool. It doesn’t make sense if we do not have a Creator to guide us. A lot of people don’t believe that there is a Creator but I disagree with that. I can’t see the wind but I can see the effects of the wind. I can’t see the Lord but I sure can see the effects He has. He answers prayers and works miracles in my life that are incredible. I hope that if you read this book that you enjoyed it as much as I did. It really was a great read and I recommend it to anyone who asks about it.

Hope you enjoyed this =D

Love Tess Victoria

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

If you would like to buy the Bone House, and I suggest you do You can do so here

Or if you would like to visit Stephen R. Lawhead’s website you can do so here

a href=”http://noahsreads.blogspot.com/”> Noah Arsenault
http://www.oerkenleaves.blogspot.com/”> Thomas Clayton Booher
http://rbclibrary.wordpress.com/”> Beckie Burnham
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http://fantasythyme.blogspot.com”> Timothy Hicks
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http://thewriterssword.blogspot.com/”> Becca Johnson
tp://www.spoiledfortheordinary.blogspot.com/”> Jason Joyner
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http://christiansf.blogspot.com/“> Steve Trower
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“>http://christian-fantasy-book-reviews.com/blog/”> Phyllis Wheeler

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Fried Chicken

tessbissell — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 06:58:34 +0000

I have never made Fried Chicken before now. I usually just go to KFC down the block and pick up a bucket. It’s so much easier, let me tell ya. First you have to mix a bunch of dry ingredients together for the flour texture. It’s not so hard really. Then you make buttermilk, or if you have store-bought buttermilk that works just as well. I did not have the store-bought stuff so I just made some by adding a tablespoon of vinegar to a cup of milk. It is as easy as that. You throw the chicken into the buttermilk and you’re suppose to let it sit overnight in the fridge but I didn’t and it worked out alright. After I took the chicken out I drenched it in the flour mixture and put it in a pan that had about an inch and a half of hot oil and let it cook until you can’t see blood coming out, or for me until it’s almost burnt. Then take them out of the pan of oil and put them onto a cookie sheet and stick them in the oven at around 350 and bake until you can cut into them with a knife and see no red. Again I cooked them until they were almost burnt because my Dad, younger sister and I have this thing against red meat. We don’t think its wrong in a way that you’ll go to Hell for eating it, we just can not eat it because we gag every time we see that were about to eat a live animal.lol. The meal turned out really well, the food was a bit over cooked but man it tasted much better than KFC. It was a bit more greasy yes, but it was good. Word to everyone else though, if you think you need more oil, you can use butter, but do not use lard because it leaves a funny taste once it has sat in the fridge for a few days.

Hope you enjoyed this adventure.

Love Tess V B

Marmalade Muffins

tessbissell — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 06:21:13 +0000

First of all grease 24 muffin tins.

I made these a while back but I thought I would post about them anyways. I took two oranges, or more (I can’t really remember :p ) and grate them. I found a really easy way to do this though and I’ll share the tip with you. I took the oranges and instead of using a grater I took a potato peeler and peeled them then put the peel in my Magic Bullet, or you could use your blender and just stick the peel into it and hit the blend button. I set that aside and began to cream the butter and sugar into a bowl, which works a lot better if your butter is softened, but if its not just throw it in a bowl and heat it up in the microwave for 20 seconds at a time. Crack 2 eggs into the cream and sugar and mix it up. Sift some flour and add it to the bowl and stir as few strokes as possible so you don’t get tough muffins. But tough cookies if ya don’t listen Combine some buttermilk and baking soda in a cup and add that to the muffin batter and combine. Add the orange zest, but don’t over mix. Fill the muffin tins two-thirds full with the batter. Bake that in an oven that’s heated up to 375 F for about 10-15 minutes until light brown. While those are in the oven make the glaze. Use the two oranges that you zested earlier and juice them. Add the juice to brown sugar and mix with a fork. Once the muffins come out of the oven put the glaze on with a spoon. You can go ahead and lick up the extra glaze if you want to. To me these muffins tasted like honey, which I don’t care for at all,but these tasted incredible. I would recommend these to anyone because they are so stinkin’ good.

Hope ya enjoyed reading this =D

God Bless

Love Tess

The Monster of the Hollow by Andrew Peterson

tessbissell — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 21:36:52 +0000

I read the first two books of the Wingfeather series and absolutely loved them. Andrew Peterson is an incredible writer and sing/songwriter. I was able to meet him a few years back at a concert here in Oregon and he seemed like a very friendly guy. When I heard that he was writing a book I had to read it. So I started with the first book of his and couldn’t wait for the second one to come out. Then he came out with a third one and is writing a fourth. I am just so excited about it. I have 3 brothers and 2 sisters and the three kids reminded me of my closest brother and younger sister. Reading about their adventures really made me think of my brother and sister and the fun times we’ve had before. It was a very cute book and I would recommend it to anyone who asked me. I love love loved it.

If you would like to buy The Monster of the Hollow by Andrew Peterson you can do so here

Or if you would like to learn more about the Wingfeathers you can do so here

And if you would like to read about Andrew Peterson you can do so here

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

http://ofbattlesdragonsandswordsofadamant.blogspot.com/“> Gillian Adams
http://tessbissell.wordpress.com/“> Red Bissell

http://quiverfullfamily.com/“> Jennifer Bogart

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http://www.bluerosesheart.blogspot.com/“> Tammy Shelnut
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http://www.rachelstarrthomson.com/inklings/“> Rachel Starr Thomson
http://www.epictales.org/blog/robertblog.php“> Robert Treskillard
http://frederation.wordpress.com“> Fred Warren

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http://finishedthebook.blogspot.com/ l”> Rachel Wyant

Darkness Follows by Mike Dellosso

tessbissell — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 05:36:12 +0000

Mike Dellosso is one interesting writer. I did not like that every chapter seemed to add a new character and the story seemed to go in fifty different ways. The cover was pretty cool though, it was very interesting. Tommy was a bit scary to read about, and the things he did to his animals was very sad. Poor kid, he was pretty messed up in the head. The ending was pretty good, how they finally got back together. If you like creepy/scary books I would definitely recommend this book, if you don’t then I strongly advise you not to pick this book up.

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

If you would like to buy this book you can do so here
Or if you would like to visit the Authors website you can do so here

href=”http://noahsreads.blogspot.com/”> Noah Arsenault
Red Bissell
Thomas Clayton Booher
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Joan Nienhuis
Sarah Sawyer
Kathleen Smith
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Fred Warren
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Iny’s Prune Cake with Buttermilk Icing

tessbissell — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 15:40:02 +0000

I love-making things from The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook. They are always just so much fun to whip up. When I cook southern food it makes me want to start talkin’ with an accent and say stuff like, “Hun would ya pass me some of them biscuits?” Haha. I saw the picture for this recipe in the book and saw that it was cake and my mouth started to water. But then I looked at what the recipe has in it. PRUNES!!!!! Do you know what Prunes are? They are dehydrated plums! Now why would anyone do that to a poor poor pitiful plum? Tell me!!! I love eating plums, they are just sooooooooo good. And when you get to the pit and try to take off all of the fruit from it it starts to taste a bit sour. Its making my mouth water right now just thinking about it. Mmmmhmmm. If you haven’t eaten enough plums to know what it does to you, I advise you not to. I had to boil the prunes until they were able to be mashed, which seemed to take forever, or maybe I was just bored, who knows Once those were finished I started on the cake batter. I got to use allspice in this batter, which makes it smell like Christmas time. I love allspice, it just smells so beautiful. I put the mashed up prunes into the batter and stirred it all together and it did not look pretty let me tell ya. It was a yellowish batter that had bits of prune throughout it, BLECK! I threw that into the oven for about 45 minutes. This is the good part. The icing was to die for. It was like making carmel and it was heavenly smelling and tasting. It kept poofing up but she said to let it do that so I did. Before it got hard I poured it over the already done cake. It was glorious tasting. I wish I had licked the pot that I made it in before it got hard on me. I did lick the spoon though and that was pure bliss. I thought this cake would taste terrible, but it was actually really good. I did not like finding big pieces of prune in it though. My family seemed to really enjoy it so I think it’s a winner.

I hope you enjoyed reading this.

Tess

The Ale Boy’s Feast by Jeffrey Overstreet

tessbissell — Thu, 19 May 2011 05:57:18 +0000

I lovvvvvvvvvvvved this book. At first it was hard to get into because I had no idea what had happened or where they were or who the “they” were. But after a while I got things figured out, which was great. The Seers were a bit scary, but they needed to be in there. I loved how wild and incredible Overstreet’s imagination was. He created creatures and monsters, names, places and one fantastic story. I would read this book again definitely. Kudos to Jeffrey Overstreet for doing such a marvelous job. I loved this book.

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

If you would like to buy the

a href=”http://ofbattlesdragonsandswordsofadamant.blogspot.com/”> Gillian Adams
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Dona Watson
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The Strange Man by Greg Mitchell

tessbissell — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 19:27:29 +0000

At the beginning of this book Eldon Granger was talking to a group of young kids, basically telling them ghost stories so they would mind their parents. He mentions the boogey man, and none of the kids want to believe him because they are just fairy tales………..or so they think. After he finishes they run off and he goes back to his cabin. He hears his dog Cougar yelping for him and he runs into the woods with his gun. Green mist slowly tries to over take him and he calls for help, but no one is there to hear him. Then there is Dras, a 22 year old guy who acts like a kid more than a mature adult. He is the black sheep of the family, a mess up you could say. His older brother Jeff is a preacher and Dras knows he won’t ever be like him so he rebels as much as he can. Then one night his ex-girlfriend Lindsey is missing. That was the same night that the Strange Man appeared at the Rave Scene. Lindsey was at the Rave Scene and saw the Strange Man for who he really was. So the Strange Man went after Lindsey and takes her life. That’s when everything changed in that little town. The Strange Man wants Dras’ best friend but Dras won’t let her have her and that makes him mad. He threatens Dras but Dras doesn’t listen, so the Strange Man comes after Dras with his demons. Dras is accused of having killed someone and the police are on the look out for him. By then the town is so crazy that when the police finally find Dras they just beat him to a pulp. But Dras knows that he did what was right, He warned his best friend of the that she needed the Lord. Now the choice was up to her. I really enjoyed this book.

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Noah Arsenault
Red Bissell
Kathy Brasby
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
http://csffblogtour.com/“> CSFF Blog Tour
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Tori Greene
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http://www.613media.com/“> Bruce Hennigan
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Donna Swanson
Jessica Thomas
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler

Chocolate Peppermint Sticks

tessbissell — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 05:27:48 +0000

I wanted to make something sweet this week and decided to look in one of my cookbooks that I usually don’t use. I had made this recipe for best friend about a month ago and it did not turn out well. It looked sort of alright, but not beautiful whatsoever. I started out by creaming together butter, sugar and flour and put that into a pan and patted it down into a crust like form. I threw it in the oven for ten minutes and it became goldenish looking. It looks and tastes just like the crust for lemon bars. Then I whisked powdered sugar, warm water and peppermint extract and made a paste like frosting. I spread that on the crust until it reached the very end of the pan, then I proceeded to melt semi-sweet chocolate in a heat proof bowl in a pan of boiling water. It took about five minutes to melt it all, but wowzers it tasted fantastic. I poured that on top of the paste like frosting and tried to wait while it cooled. Like I said, I tried, but I couldn’t wait for more than three minutes because it looked way too good not to touch. I cut them up into little squared and immediately ate three……or ten, but whose counting? It was super easy to whip up and it took less than thirty minutes all together. I can’t wait to try out a cake recipe in the book and tell you about it.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post.

T. Bissell