Hello, Feasty Lovelies, and welcome to another slurpalicious edition of Friday Feast. This week: the Thermie cult snags another member, a quiche to make your mouth water, and a rural romance giveaway. Seriously, we have it all.

But first, all the drama from Us Heins Weren’t Meant To Play Golf. Exciting news! Last Sunday I was asked to fill in for our ladies pennant team – think club representative golf and that’s kinda what playing pennants is – and not wanting our girls to have to forfeit a match, agreed to have a go. Oh. My. God. I can’t remember when I had a more stressful round of golf. The pressure! Made worse because the lady I was playing against was a gun, with a much lower handicap than me. But despite trailing almost the entire round, come the 16th I rallied and won the hole, then I won the next, which put us tied on the 18th tee. After smacking my drive long and far up the middle of the fairway then hitting a not bad second just off the green, in a fairy tale ending I won. Whoop! Sadly our girls lost the day but we remain in pretty good stead in the overall competition in equal first. Honestly, I don’t know how the ladies do it every week. It was bloody stressful!

Speaking of stress, we book lovers know that the best way to wind down after a tough day is with a heart-warming read and my guest this week is a lady who delivers just that. Geelong girl, critical care nurse and romance author Nicki Edwards’s first release Intensive Care was enthusiastically received by reviewers and readers, as has been her second, Emergency Response, which hit shelves last week. Not least because Nicki’s rural-set medical romances reflect her love of country life and small towns, and teem with authenticity.

Check out Emergency Response. You’ll love it.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE

Running away didn’t solve anything … at least, not the first time.

Intensive care nurse Mackenzie Jones is no stranger to running. As a teenager she fled her family home leaving tragedy and loss in her wake. Now, after fifteen years alone in Sydney, with the strain of working in a city hospital wearing her thin, she’s tempted to run again.

Mackenzie jumps at the chance to work in a mining town in the West Australian desert – anything to lift her spirits. Though she barely dares to hope, she wonders if she might find the kind of love that can ease her loneliness.

In the outback, Nathan Kennedy is at a loose end. He’s been making money in the mines for years, and pressure from his family to return to the east coast, settle down and get married is reaching fever pitch. The problem is, he hasn’t met the right woman.

When Mackenzie turns up in town, there’s an instant attraction between her and Nathan, maybe even true love. But tragedy’s not done with Mackenzie Jones – the past is about to catch up with her in more ways than one.

Can Nathan convince Mackenzie to stop running, or is this just another tragedy in the making?

Emergency Response is a heart-warming read that you should buy right now. Try Amazon.com, Amazon.au, Kobo, iBooks, Google Play, Booktopia or your favourite book retailer.

Now come join the newly converted Nicki!

My New Love (I Joined A Cult)

Thanks so much Cathryn for having me on Friday Feast again.

Last time I admitted to readers that I have a little secret – I despise cooking which made it ironic that I was writing a cooking related blog post! I also admitted I didn’t even own a recipe book, which shocked a few people.

But I’m here to announce all that has changed in the last two months!

I am now the proud owner of a thermomix.

Yes, I have joined the ‘thermie’ cult and I’m a cooking convert!

Over the past few weeks I’ve made all the usual thermie staples – sorbet, hummus dip, risotto, soup – and I’ve been brave enough to try ice cream, fried rice, bolognaise sauce and beef stroganoff. I’ve also made my own peanut butter, raspberry jam, egg mayonnaise and Caesar salad dressing. I know, I’m impressed with myself too!

But I have to tell you about the bread. O.M.G. The bread. I’m talking better-than-Baker’s Delight white bread. It’s just perfect with the home made jam! Close your eyes for a moment and inhale deeply. Can you smell that just-out-of-the-oven fresh bread? MmmHmmm.

As part of the full thermie experience with Trixie (yes, I named my Thermomix), we invited friends for dinner and I made almost everything from scratch in the thermomix. But before you get the idea that owning a thermomix has totally transformed me from cooking hater to cooking lover, let me set the record straight. The thermomix is awesome, but it doesn’t do the cooking for me. Neither does it clean up after itself! Apparently, that’s still my job.

Anyway, this post is not just about my thermomix. Today I want to share a scrumptious secret recipe with you – one of the very few recipes I own that’s hand written on a piece of paper. I remember tasting this quiche about 25 years ago and once I had the recipe, I’ve never used another one for quiche. I figure if I can actually master something, there’s no point messing up perfection! And this quiche is perfection. You’ll be emailing me and thanking me, I promise.

This is what it looks like before you put it into the oven. I don’t have an “after” photo because trust me, you’ll want to be eating it straight off the screen.

It’s perfect served hot with a salad, or cold the next day (but we never have leftovers!)

Nicki’s Quiche

4 rashes of short cut bacon or 4 bacon rashes, diced

2 spring onions, chopped

¾ cup grated tasty cheese (light is fine)

4 eggs

1tblsp plain flour

¼ tsp dried thyme

1 ½ cup milk (light or full cream)

½ cup cream (light or full cream)

1 large tomato, sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Whisk or beat eggs with flour, cream, milk, thyme, salt and pepper. Saute bacon. Line quiche dish with shortcrust pastry (Feel free to be clever and make your own – I buy the frozen stuff!). Place bacon, cheese and spring onions on top of shortcrust pastry. Pour egg/milk mixture over this. Carefully place sliced tomato on top. Bake for 45-55 minutes at 190C.

For a chance to win a copy of “Emergency Response”, share your recipe — the one you never mess with (or share your favourite quiche recipe).

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Jeez, that Thermie cult is rampant. It’s already taken my buddy Rachael Johns and now it’s claiming more authors. Mind you, I can see the benefits. A gadget that takes all the  work out of stirring risotto has to have status, and I did taste an amaaaaazing sorbet at the Thermie demonstration I attended. For busy people with families, or for those who don’t enjoy cooking, I bet a Thermie is a life saver, and if you love kitchen gadgets – and who doesn’t? – this would be a must. I mightn’t be quite prepared to fork out for one, but if someone offered me a Thermie as a present I sure wouldn’t knock it back!

Nor would I knock back a slice of your quiche, Nicki. It looks lovely. Bacon, cheese, eggs… you can’t go wrong.

Now, food and book lovers, you heard our generous guest, we have a…

GIVEAWAY!

To be in the giveaway draw for an ebook copy of Emergency Response, simply share the recipe or dish that you never, ever mess with. Or, if you prefer, your favourite quiche recipe.

The recipe I never mess with is an Asian noodle dish made with pork, thick rice noodles and chilli bean paste. Oh, I LOVE that recipe. It’s spicy and fast, delicious and, with all the veg I chuck in, nutritious. The perfect weeknight meal. In fact, I made it Monday just gone.

So what’s the dish you never mess with? Share and you’ll be in the draw to win Nicki’s brand new release, Emergency Response.

Please note: Giveaway closes midnight Tuesday AEST, 3rd November, 2015. Ebook only. Open internationally.

If you’d like to learn more about Nicki and her books, please visit her website. You can also connect via Facebook and Twitter using @nicki_edwards.