Kindle Free Pick of the Week: Pumpkin Cookbook

Get your Fall cooking started with the free cookbook for your Kindle, or coming soon, your Kindle Fire.

It's a taste of Gooseberry Patch in this collection of over 20 favorite pumpkin recipes! Pumpkins are as versatile in the kitchen as they are in your home…start the morning with Pumpkin Coffee Cake, amaze the kids with The Great Pumpkin Stew, and invite friends over on a chilly October evening for some warm Pumpkin Cobbler.

You also might want to try: Dinner in a Pumpkin, Pumpkin Chowder, Sweet Potato-filled pumpkin, October bisque, Autumn soup and Pumpkin Ice Cream pie.

Sounds good to me.

13 Dead in Listeria Outbreak

The CDC says that at east 72 people have been sickened and 13 have died as a result of eating cantaloupes tainted with listeria bacteria, making it the deadliest outbreak of food-borne illness in the U.S. in a decade.

State officials say they are investigating three more deaths -- one each in New Mexico, Kansas, and Wyoming -- that may also be connected to the contaminated Colorado cantaloupes.

The new numbers mean that the death toll has outpaced the number of deaths tied to an outbreak of salmonella in peanut products nearly three years ago. Nine people died in that outbreak.

Listeriosis, the illness caused by listeria bacteria, typically strikes vulnerable people, like the elderly, pregnant women, and those with weakened immune systems.

Infection from listeria bacteria starts in the stomach and intestines where it may cause diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms. If it spreads beyond the gut, listeriosis causes flu-like symptoms and worse.

Metro Atlanta Billboard Prompts 911 Calls

An Outback Steakhouse sign on I-85 in Norcross, Ga., touting its wood-fire grilled steaks, is doing it's job and sending people into a tizzy, but for the wrong reason.

Several motorists driving on the Georgia Interstate called 911 to report that the billboard was on fire! It is indeed smoking, but it's not actually on fire. It is just an illusion generated by smoke machines embedded in the sign.

As you can see from the sign, it is smoke that is coming out of the wood pictured on the sign.  I think it's genius.

This brings to mind one time I was in Los Angeles and a movie studio wrapped a building in L.A. to promote a movie, must have been Deep Impact or Armageddon, or a similar movie.  Well, the building wrap made it look like there was a hole in the building.  Motorists on the freeways started calling asking about it and it snarled traffic even more than usual. 

They eventually had to remove the wrap on the building, but it did generate a ton of publicity.

Kindle Free Pick of the Week: Tailgating Cookbook

It's one of America's favorite pasttimes, tailgating before the big game.

Here you can get a taste of Gooseberry Patch in this collection of over 20 favorite game-day recipes! From high-school homecoming to the big bowl, parked at the stadium or right in front of your TV, Gooseberry Patch Tailgating will help you throw the winningest party of the season! Tackle those appetites with Touchdown Taco Dip, Running-Back Stuffed Mushrooms and more!

Good reviews for this cookbook.  Get it for free!

Women Arrested for Stealing Art from Arby's

A popular restaurant was robbed of some precious artwork last week.  I'm talking about the Arby's in Johnson City, TN.

Two Erwin, TN women have been charged with stealing art from the lobby of a Johnson City Arby's restaurant.
Johnson City Police arrested 45-year-old Connie Sumlin and 58-year-old Gail Johnson on Tuesday, according to a news release.

The theft occurred on Sept. 3.

Both women are charged with theft of property over $500.

They were released on $1,000 bond each and were scheduled to appear in Washington County General Sessions Court on Oct. 13. Court officials had no record of an attorney for either woman.