Read Online Antiques Fruitcake by Barbara Allan - Free Book Online Page A

main mixture, mixing well. Pour into greased 9”x5” loaf pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 45 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool before removing from pan.
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    A Trash ’n’ Treasures Tip
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    Collecting vintage recipes is not only fun, but a glimpse into the past. The best place to find old recipes is at an estate sale of an elderly person. But don’t restrict yourself to out-of-print cookbooks or the typical household recipe tin; newspaper clippings and manufacturer’s pamphlets of kitchen gadgets can also be a good source for unique dishes. Some 1950s and early ’60s magazine-style cookbooks have wonderful photos of “unfortunate foods.” Our mutual advice, re: fruitcake recipes in such publications, is to beware—the more colorful the cake, the less tasty the outcome.

Don’t miss the next Trash ’n’ Treasures
mystery starring Brandy and Vivian Borne....
ANTIQUES SWAP
    Coming from Kensington in 2015!
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    Keep reading to enjoy an enticing excerpt....
    Chapter One
Opening Lead
    (In the game of bridge, first bid by defenders.)
    You know that expression, “Be careful what you wish for?” Well, in my case, it’s be careful what Mother wishes for.
    Mother being Vivian Borne, seventy-three-ish, Danish stock, widowed, bipolar, local thespian, part-time sleuth, full-time gossip, and sometime county jail resident.
    And me being Brandy Borne, thirty-one, divorced, Prozac-popper, audience member, reluctant sleuth, subject of gossip, and one-time loser (breaking and entering) with a record in the process of being expunged, since I was helping solve a murder at the time.
    The third member of our sleuthing team is my blind diabetic shih tzu, Sushi, who accompanied me to my little hometown of Serenity, Iowa, after my divorce two years ago.
    Only . . . wait for it, longtime readers.. Sushi is no longer blind! That’s right, no more spooky white Exorcist orbs. No, we did not make a trek to Lourdes (meaning you did not miss a series entry entitled Antiques Pilgrimage ).
    We did trek to New York, however, to attend a comics convention several months ago ( Antiques Con ), where Mother and I auctioned off a valuable 1940s Superman drawing acquired in a storage unit auction ( Antiques Disposal ). With part of the proceeds, we funded an operation for Sushi to remove her cataracts (a result of her diabetes) and implant new lenses, and now I assume she can see perfectly. I say “assume,” because a dog can’t exactly read an eye chart. Do dogs really see in black and white? Well, I guess with an eye chart they do....
    It’s been fun watching the little fur ball explore a world she hasn’t seen for years. Sushi is now a Super Dog, minus only the cape, her other senses honed to perfection. I don’t mean to imply her sleuthing powers have increased, but it’s true that the little mutt seems to know when I’ll be going into the kitchen for a bag of potato chips even before I do!
    But Sushi can sometimes be a little stinker, and her reprisals were numerous and varied, according to the degree of her ire: peeing on my pillow (ten on a scale of ten), chewing a new pair of shoes (eight), leaving a little brown carrot inside the house in plain view (six). One through five were various barks, growls, or dirty looks. Just where the little tyrant learned such vindictiveness, I have no clue.
    As for Mother’s aforementioned wish, it was for our TV pilot to be picked up, a reality show shot at our new shop, an expansion of our old antiques mall stall underwritten by the pilot’s producers.
    Perhaps the best way to bring you up to speed is to reprint a recent interview with Mother conducted by a young male reporter from the Serenity Sentinel . So hold on to your hats—especially the Red Hat Society kind.
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    Serenity Sentinel: Why you?
    Vivian Borne: Dear, not meaning to be critical, you understand .