Okay, no, that’s not what Christmas means to me, but when I think of the holidays, I definitely think of food.  Cookies, sausage bread, soup, tamales, posole, caramel apples, Brad Pitt’s mother’s egg bake (yes, that’s what it’s called… I found the recipe years ago in a magazine.  It is, apparently, one of Brad’s favorite dishes, and we still use this basic recipe every year), and, wait for it… Caramel Corn. Sweet goodness.  Crunchy goodness. There’s just nothing better than this awesome treat, better still because I’ve had the recipe now for, yikes, 30 years!  I first learned to make it when I was in high school home ec class.  Yes, back when there still was high school home ec. It was good then, and it’s good now.  And we make it every year, give mountains of it away to friends, and basically just gorge. And we love every minute of it. The best part is that it’s so super easy to make. Pop about 8 cups of plain old popcorn. In a pot, melt 1 stick of butter ( ½ cup ).  Add 1 cup of brown sugar and ¼ cup of light corn syrup.  Next, add ½  tsp…

One of my favourite movies is Four Weddings and a Funeral.  It’s a fun movie because, as viewers, we are able to attend so many weddings and I love weddings.  I love the beautiful outfits, the gorgeous flowers, the speeches and of course, significance of the ceremony. But when the bride enters the church and looks down the aisle at her husband to be I always cry.  My favourite moment every time. Stupidly, I didn’t remember this for my own wedding. When I walked through the church door the tears began to rain down and there wasn’t a tissue in sight.  At least my flowers were well watered. My strong, brave heroine Sienna in THE CONVENIENT BRIDE doesn’t dream about being married, but if she were to do so, she’d definitely wear her mother’s wedding dress. Her mother has died and wearing her dress on that special day, would make Sienna feel as though her mother were close by.  Each year on the day of her mother’s death, she holds that precious garment and remembers her hard-working, feisty Italian mother. Then, she carefully wraps it up, stores it and returns to running the family hotel in her mother’s place. But…