“Given recent events, I suggest a Bingo theme!” she exclaimed.
“How perfect!” cried Marjorie.
“With Bingo cards as placemats,” offered Opal.
“And we can throw Bingo tiles instead of confetti!” added Marjorie.
And Sue Barber can read the wedding vows like a Bingo caller,” said Opal.
“Only one thing we don’t want,” cautioned Essie.
“What?” asked Marjorie and Opal together.
“We don’t want the groom to pass out if he wins!”
Santos rushed back to their table and presented each lady with her own goblet of hot fudge sundae.
“Yum!” squeaked Fay again.
“She’s getting downright talkative,” said Opal.
“It just goes to show what being among friends will do for you!” said Essie.
Santos bent down and whispered in Essie’s ear. “Miss Essie, can I talk to you? I’m afraid that someone is trying to sabotage me. In the kitchen, Miss Essie. I thought maybe you could help . . .”
And, of course, she could . . . and she would.
###
Recipes from the Happy Haven Kitchen
Chocolate Pudding Cake
1 cup flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 TB cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 TB vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 and 3/4 cups boiling water
Heat oven to 350°. In a bowl, mix together flour, sugar, 3 TB cocoa, baking powder and salt. With a fork, mix in milk, oil and vanilla. Spread the batter evenly in a lightly buttered 9-inch square baking pan. Combine brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa; sprinkle over batter. Slowly pour boiling hot water over batter and brown sugar-cocoa mix. Bake cake for 40 minutes. Let cake stand for 5 minutes. Spoon into dessert dishes or cut into squares. Top cake with ice cream or whipped topping.
Croque Monsieurs
8 slices white bread
4 ounces butter, softened
4 slices ham
4 slices gruyere cheese
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 TB water
salt
fresh black pepper
Spread bread slices with some softened butter, make 4 sandwiches, each with one slice of ham and one slice of cheese. Press them firmly together. Beat eggs with the water, add the salt and pepper to taste, and dip sandwiches into the egg mixture, coating all sides well. Heat rest of butter in a heavy skillet. When melted, fry sandwiches for about 5-8 minutes, turning once. Serve immediately. You may place Croque Monsieurs into a buttered baking pan and bake in a moderately hot oven—350°—turning once, for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Bingoed is the first book in the Essie Cobb, Senior Sleuth, Mystery series by Patricia Rockwell. Ms. Rockwell is also the author of the Pamela Barnes Acoustic Mystery series.
Patricia Rockwell has spent most of her life teaching. Her Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees are from the University of Nebraska in Speech, and her Ph.D. is from the University of Arizona in Communication. She was on the faculty at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for thirteen years, retiring in 2007. Her publications are extensive, with over 20 peer-reviewed articles in scholarly journals, several textbooks, and a research volume published by Edwin Mellen Press. In addition, she served for eight years as editor of the Louisiana Communication Journal. Her research focuses primarily on deception, sarcasm, and vocal cues.
Dr. Rockwell is presently living in Aurora, Illinois, with her husband Milt, also a retired educator. The couple has two adult children.
If you enjoyed reading about Essie and her adventures, you might like to try the Pamela Barnes Acoustic Mystery series—also by Patricia Rockwell. In her first outing, SOUNDS OF MURDER, Pamela tracks down a wily killer using only the sounds she finds on an accidentally-made audio recording of the strangling death of one of her colleagues. In FM FOR MURDER, she assists the police in identifying the murderer of a local disc jockey who is shot on-air. In her latest caper, VOICE MAIL MURDER, Pamela has to figure out who stabbed a football coach to death, using only voice mail messages from three unknown women on a cell phone found near his dead body.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Epilogue
Bingoed Page 20
