My part of the world.

                                            From my first country drive of the year.

Coming Soon

London. The Thames.

    Looking up The Thames - I am going to use this photo to create the cover of my next novel.

Portsmouth. The Victory.

The Victory - at Portsmouth.

How to make beautiful mashed potato...

I now think I can make this as well as it is possible to do so; certainly to my taste, and so I thought I'd pass on my method to readers.


1. Fill a saucepan with water to about mid level.
2. Peel the potatoes and cut them up into chunks about one and one half inches square.
3.Ensure the water covers the potato chunks.
4.Add a small amount of salt. (I use Maldon sea salt flakes, which taste wonderful.) 
5.Turn up the heat and boil the potato chunks until it is possible easily to break them up with a fork.
6.Leaving the ring or burner on half setting, drain the water off through a colander, return the drained potato chunks to the saucepan and, with the saucepan half on the ring or burner to keep the contents heated, break up the potato chunks completely with the fork.
7.Add salt to tatse. My preference is for a little more salt rather than a little less.This adds some "bite" to the mash. (But don't overdo it.)
8.Add several small chunks of butter, and mix this into the broken up potatoes with the fork. Since these are heated, the butter will, of course, melt. (Important Note One: Don't add too much butter, otherwise the mash will become greasy. Important Note Two: Always add the butter before the milk.)
9.Add some milk. Once again, underdo this rather than overdo it.
10.Work the mixture togther with the fork until it is completely smooth.
11.The end result should be fluffy, cotton-wool like mash, with a lovely bit of "bite". 

Utube upload

I have just produced a four minute video introduction to me as a writer and to my books.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=785tMUU_WoIC:\Users\richard\Videos\googlecaa4d4

df54c9f088.html

Singapore.

 

                                                                 Singapore 2006.

Thanks readers.

A reviewer on Amazon's UK site has given my novel Pelican - Escape or Die a five star review, and has described the story in an email to me as "fantastic". http://tinyurl.com/a7aokvy
And a reviewer on the Barnes and Noble website has given my novel The Curse a four star review and said he "really enjoyed this story." (He also said the ending could have been better done, and so I have now rewritten the ending.)   http://tinyurl.com/apaqnoh

Raglan Castle.

                               The view from the Great Tower. (I am parked third from left.)

Raglan Castle.

                                                                   Raglan Castle

 

Gwent.

                                                     Winter is coming to Monmouthsire.

Llandegfedd Reservoir.

                                                    At the reservoir a few days ago.

Now available on Amazon

                             A personal guide that includes eighty-eight of my best photos.

http://tinyurl.com/b5gavuw available both as an e-book and a paperback.

Cardiff Bay.

                                          I had lunch overlooking Cardiff Bay last Saturday.

New website for writers in the UK.

http://writers.intheuk.me/index.php

Towards The Jungfrau.

                                                             On the way to Jungfraujoch

Positano.

                                                                            Positano

Santorini.

                                                                      Santorini.

LLantony Priory.

 Llantony Priory

Now available.

A detective story set on the French Riviera - one of my most favourite parts of the world - and a part of the world I have visited many times - featuring the freewheeling and free loving French detective Pierre Labbac, who investigates a murder on board the luxuxry yacht Pharaoh and peels back the veneer on the high life of the Cote d'Azur to reveal the reality of what goes on underneath.http://tinyurl.com/aer54te

Title Change

I felt my original title for this work (Pelican) did not convey the true drama of the story, so I have changed it to the above. Pelican still plays a crucial part in the plot.  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Escape-or-Die-ebook/dp/B0067M89DA/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343840243&sr=1-1