![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/bonappetit.jpg\" "\\"bonappetit\\"")
<\/a>Best-selling author Sandra Byrd<\/span><\/strong> enjoys a successful career writing adult, teen, and children\u2019s books, including the Friends for a Season, Secret Sisters series and the French Twist series, including the first Lexi Stuart novel, Let them Eat Cake<\/span><\/em><\/a>. <\/span><\/em>She is also a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines. Sandra lives in Washington state with her husband and two children.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nABOUT THE BOOK:<\/h3>\n
Deciding to leave her familiar home in Seattle and her could-be boyfriend Dan, Lexi moves to a quaint village in France to pursue her dream of becoming a pastry chef.\u00a0 Life among the French initially proves to be less than easy as Lexi is challenged by her coworkers, missing her friends, and failing to master the perfect baguette. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Determined to find her place, Lexi settles into the culture and life becomes la perfection<\/span><\/em>. She finds a church, meets a new friend, and makes the acquaintance of a child named Celine\u2014as well as Celine\u2019s attractive, widowed father, Philippe. Even Patricia, the gruff pastry cook, shows a softer side as she mentors Lexi in the art of baking.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/em>Fast, fun, and packed with French culture, foodie appeal, and unique recipes readers will love accompanying Lexi on her journey in\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/span>Bon Appetit<\/em><\/a> <\/span><\/em>as she tries to choose between two countries, two men and the faith to lean on God while savoring the surprises life brings!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I have one free copy of Bon Appetit<\/em><\/a> to give away. Anyone who leaves a comment on this post by Friday, October 24, 2008 will be entered to win. Please leave me a way to get in touch with you so that I can notify you if you are the winner.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Sandra was generous enough to send me the following recipe for this post. I am hoping to include favorite recipes from more authors in the future.<\/p><\/div>\n Here’s a recipe that I developed and put in Let Them Eat Cake<\/a>, the partner book to Bon Appetit<\/a>.\u00a0 Even though I’ve been married for almost 22 years I can tell you it still works!\u00a0 Also, I’ve got a contest running on my website<\/a> that includes a gourmet baking kit.<\/p>\n Blessings, Boyfriend Bait Beef Stroganoff<\/strong><\/p>\n 1 1\/2 pounds beef tenderloin, well trimmed, meat cut bite-sized pieces (about 1-inch square) Over medium high heat, gently cook beef tenderloin in 2 tablespoons of butter for about 2 minutes, until just seared on all sides. You will still be able to see red. Remove from pan and set aside in a rimmed dish or baking sheet so that you collect the juices.<\/p>\n Return the pan to medium-high heat and cook the shallots and mushrooms in remaining butter until soft and wilted, about 5 minutes. Mix cornstarch into cold beef broth, whisk to blend. Pour into pan, and stir together with shallots and mushrooms until thickened, two or three minutes.<\/p>\n Add sour cream and mustard, stir to blend. Add beef and juices from dish; stir over medium heat just till warmed through. Salt to taste.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I thoroughly enjoyed reading Bon Appetit<\/a> and the account of Lexi’s French adventure. I learned quite a bit I didn’t know about France, French cooking and the rigors of French pastry school. Sandra has also included several recipes, each at a pertinent place in the narrative.<\/p>\n Aside from the educational aspects of the book, it is a great story. Despite her lonely, discouraging first days in France and difficulties on the job and at school, Lexi soon became acclimated to her new life. In addition to a new friend and the interest of two men, she also found herself growing closer to the Lord and learning that she could lean on Him at all times.<\/p>\n I would recommend Bon Appetit<\/a>, especially to those who love good food and travel. I personally have Let them Eat Cake<\/span><\/em><\/a> on my to read list so I can catch up on Lexi’s complete story before the next installment comes out. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Best-selling author Sandra Byrd enjoys a successful career writing adult, teen, and children\u2019s books, including the Friends for a Season, Secret Sisters series and the French Twist series, including the first Lexi Stuart novel, Let them Eat Cake. She is also a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines. Sandra lives in Washington […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=672"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":695,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672\/revisions\/695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>In this second book in the French Twist series, readers join Lexi Stuart <\/span><\/span>in a cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me <\/em>adventure!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n
GIVEAWAY!<\/h3>\n
A RECIPE FROM SANDRA:<\/h3>\n
\nSandra<\/p>\n
\n4 tablespoons butter
\n1\/2 cup finely chopped shallots
\n2 1\/2 cups sliced mushrooms
\n2 cups canned beef broth
\n3 teaspoons cornstarch
\n1 cup sour cream
\n2 teaspoons Dijon mustard<\/p>\nMY REVIEW:<\/h3>\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"