Guest Blogger Kate Bridges: About Champagne

While Margaret is off exploring Italy, let’s share a toast to her trip.
Champagne has always intrigued me.

Rumor has it that when the French monk, Dom Perignon, first tasted the champagne he created, he said, “Come quickly, I am drinking the stars!” Whether he actually said it or not, it’s a great description of this sparkling wine.

 French Benedictine monks were the first to create champagne in the 17th century. The drink is named after the Champagne region of France where they lived. One of the monks was Dom Pierre Perignon (1639-1715). Some say he was the very first monk to discover champagne, but the topic is controversial. During those times, monks produced wine because it was blessed and used during Mass.

How was champagne first discovered? Because of the cooler temperatures and shorter growing season of the grapes in the Champagne region, the grapes were picked late in the year and fermentation was often cut short. Nothing much happened to the wine over the winter, but when the weather got warmer in the spring, a second fermentation process automatically began. This second fermentation created natural bubbles of carbon dioxide. If the champagne was stored in barrels, the effervescence escaped. But when stored in bottles, the way the monks stored it, the bubbles were trapped inside. Hence, champagne was born.

Cheaper versions of sparkling wine—some produced in North America—have the carbon dioxide bubbles injected directed by machine. This is not true champagne.
The first bottle of the brand name Dom Perignon was produced in 1936–named after the famous monk.

How do you celebrate a special occasion? I’m not a big drinker, but often when I have something to celebrate—like a new book hitting the shelves—my husband will take me out for dinner. I have a new novel hitting the stores in November called ALASKAN RENEGADE. It’s set in the coastal town of Skagway and it’s about the town nurse, Victoria Windhaven. When she sets off on a dangerous medical journey through the Alaskan wilderness, she’s forced to ride with a man from her past—bodyguard Brant MacQuaid. There’s an excerpt on my website katebridges.com.

What kinds of things do you like to do when you celebrate a milestone or something special?

Cheers, Margaret!

Order ALASKAN RENEGADE at Harlequin - already available in ebook format or pre-order at Amazon.

You know it's a good book when...

I've been reading WANTED IN ALASKA by Kate Bridges and here are two things that tell me I'm reading a really good book.

1. I'm surprised - in a good way. Things happen that I haven't foreseen. When you've been in the romance business a long time, that isn't that common.

2. It makes me want to go to Alaska. I may be Canadian, but I don't like the cold, so Alaska has never been on my list of places to go. But the way Kate writes about the place, with vivid, fascinating descriptions, I sure wouldn't react with a "oh, heck, no!" if I had the opportunity to go, as I would have before.

There are other good points about WANTED IN ALASKA, but I suggest you find out for yourself. :-)

Plane Reading

One of the things I enjoy about traveling is...the waiting. Now, don't get me wrong -- I don't like unexpected waiting, as in the plane is delayed. Been there, done that, spent 24 hours in an airport because of a blizzard once and got sent to Botany Bay (yes, really!) by a ten hour delay on the return from Australia. Those experiences weren't wonderful.

But I don't mind having to get to the airport early to allow time for security and customs because I get to read. Indeed, I have little choice but to read. There's not a lot I can do otherwise if I'm traveling by myself. Ditto when I'm on the plane. I can just sit and read and not have to worry that I should be doing something else, like, oh, say...writing.

On my trip this week, I'm taking WANTED IN ALASKA by Kate Bridges. I can hardly wait!

Hey! Check it out!

Kate Bridges is interviewed in an article about Harlequin's 60th anniversary over at CBC.ca. All in all, it's pretty good, although sheesh, enough with the heaving bosoms, okay? And be ready to grit your teeth at some of the comments, romance fans!

In other news, I've started reading the First Draft Sprint manuscript. I got through about 100 pages yesterday, which, for a first read-through, is actually rather...amazing. I have a few notes of scenes that need to modified and/or expanded, but the story's in much better shape than I was expecting. Of course, I'm now entering The Middle, where the score can really change, so the jury's still out on this writing method.

I also did a new blog over at Story Seedlings, showing how a bit of slightly strange and mysterious testimony can start a story.

Word on the Street

Gad, I've been so busy revising my blog, website and MySpace page, I completely forgot to mention that I'll be signing FREE copies of A LOVER'S KISS at Word on the Street in Toronto tomorrow, Sunday, Sept. 28. If you're in the city, come on down and say hi and grab some free books! Fellow Harlequin Historical author Kate Bridges will also be signing at the Harlequin booth. I'll be there from 12:15 to 1 p.m. and Kate starts signing at 1.