Winter Storms

Synopsis: Back with the Quinns! After an ill fated affair with the Winter Street Inn’s Santa, Mitzi has returned to rule the roost. Patrick, in prison for insider trading, is about to be released, Kevin is getting ready to tie the knot with Isabelle, and Ava still can’t make up her mind between Scott and Nathaniel. Jennifer is hooked on pain pills, and Bart is still a captive in Afghanistan. Don’t worry, once Christmas comes, throw in a blizzard, and all kinds of things will happen.

Review: Grab your spiked eggnog, and come on! The book is not good, and yet, I am obsessed with these characters and the story arc. I can’t even describe it as a “hate read.” I know what that is, and this is not that. It’s a guilty pleasure. Truthfully, not good by all metrics, yet so enjoyable I’ve come to look foward to my annual Christmas visit to Nantucket with this author and family. Yes, there is a lot that drives me crazy. Ava is annoying. Kelley is diagnosed with prostate cancer and the story line is not medically plausible. At all. Ms. Hildebrand! Talk to an oncologist. Prostate cancer so very rarely travels to the brain, and response to therapy is so much better than you imply. Your wife cheats on you for years and you just let her back? So much strains credulity, and the non stop name dropping of Nantucket restaurants etc… is almost too much to bear. She name drops herself! And yet, at the end, I had to suppress the urge to move directly to the next book. So, not good, and yet, thoroughly satisfying? I’m going to be sad when the series is over. I think I have one more year given my one book a year pace.

Rating: 3/5

Recipe: So, the recipe I probably should have chosen is the fried fish BLT which Kevin sells at his new take out place, Quinn’s on the Beach. It sounds great! But I don’t love frying food at home. Messy. I was much more inclined to try the poached salmon with mustard dill sauce that Jennifer plans for Patrick’s first night out of prison. Back to civilization Patrick! Fresh fish and champagne! I love all the flavors of this combination, so I’ll wait to get my fried fish sandwich from the take out place at the beach…..

4 shallots, quartered

2 garlic cloves, halved

3 (8 oz) bottles of clam juice

2 cups water

1/4 cup dry vermouth

3 tablespoons mustard seed

1 bay leaf

6 pieces center cut salmon

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup dijon mustard

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 tablespoons sour cream

1/4 cup snipped fresh dill

1) In a medium sauceepan, combine shallots, garlic, clam juice, watere, veremouth, mustard seed and bay leaf.

2) Heat to boil, simmere covered 20 minutes. Cool and strain.

3) In a large skillet, arrange salmon in single layer. Pour liquid oveer fish. Add water, as needed, to cover.

4) Heat to simmer, and gently cook until fish looks opaque, about 10 minutes.

5) Remove from heat, cool fish in liquid for 1 hour, then transfer to platter.

6) Combine mayonnaise, mustard, brown sugar, sour cream and 1/4 cup dill for sauce

7) Spread thin layer of mustard sauce on each salmon filet, garnish with dill and pass remaining mustard sauce.