Showing posts with label Gina Meyers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gina Meyers. Show all posts

Monday, January 4, 2021

Who is your celebrity doppelganger?

 

Who is your celebrity doppelgänger?


by Gina Meyers


I came across this word a few months ago. I'm fascinated by this reality. What is a doppelgänger? According to Websters Dictionary, a doppelgänger is a person who closely resembles another living person.


That got me thinking. Who is my celebrity doppelgänger? When I was in high school, I was told I resembled Debbie Gibson. And when I have visited Europe as an adult, I am often told I resemble Shakira. Both are very nice compliments in my book.


So who is your celebrity doppelgänger?


                                                            Debbie Gibson






                                                                        Gina Meyers


Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Bewitching Beginning, short story about my first "magazine signing" at Barnes & Noble, by, Gina Meyers




“Write what you know”. That was what her writing instructor at the Community Adult Class said back in 1994 in an old musty smelling classroom at Clovis High School in Clovis, California. She had already been writing what she knew and what she knew a lot about was the television show Bewitched. How was that going to make her known? Or rather how was that going to make her money? Skinny, perky Gina, an entrepreneur at heart felt out of place in the writing class. She felt the intellectuals glaring at her cause she was young, well, 23, and they were concerned about grammatical errors and when to use a hyperbole in a sentence and all she cared about was the fact that her marketing and entrepreneurial zeal actually was resonating with others, fans, and moguls in the television industry.

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Me at my first "magazine signing" at Barnes & Noble in Fresno, California with fans of The Bewitched TV Show. Note: I am holding a pen, it looks like a cigarette. Another note: All ages attended the signing. In the background, the Community Relations Manager.






By this time, Gina had already convinced Barnes & Noble to host a Bewitched Trivia night, now mind you Gina didn’t even have a book to sell, just a tiny scrawny cookbook that was printed off at Kinkos the night before per her cousin Paulette Grilli’s suggestion. And her mother too, she was there to help. She did have a magazine article, a Darrin Trivia Guide of sorts, the exact title was "Social Darrinism", a.k.a. Mangled Monikers and she served as a consultant for all things Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie in the Collectible Nick at Nite Magazine, with a young John Travolta (From his Welcome Back Kotter Days) emblazoned on the cover. Further convincing was in order. Gina worked for a subsidiary of Xerox and worked at California Business Furnishings off of Brawley and Shaw in Northwest Fresno. The techy guys liked Gina and worked along side her cubicle upstairs in the more narrow than anything upstairs kind of long room. Her idea, put Elizabeth Montgomery’s face, aka Samantha Stephens from Bewitched on $100,000 fake colored bills. The graphic designers loved the idea and ran with it and Gina had plenty of Bewitched Bucks to hand out for the correct trivia answers during the evening festivities. She religiously met with the Barnes and Noble CRM (Community Relations Manager) and they cooked up a Halloween Costume Contest too, plus upstairs at the large and spacious Barnes & Noble there was a cafe of which it had been decided, Bewitched Blackberry Italian Sodas and a Tabitha Banana Latte would be on the Bewitching menu.


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Further adding to the fun, The Fresno Bee decided to publicize the event in the Life Section and have Gina on the front cover. That involved runs downtown to The Fresno Bee for a photo shoot, and a couple of meetups with reporter Rob Vaneski. Answering Rob’s questions were interesting, her first taste of the news media had started to percolate and Gina kind of knew that publicity would be one of the most important features of sharing her love of the television show Bewitched.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Sketches from creating The Magic of Bewitched Trivia & More book cover, by, Gina Meyers






 



 







Perhaps, one of the most interesting things about being a writer, is getting the opportunity to work with other talented people. Artist Erik Davison is one such person. I've saved these rough sketches that he so brilliantly drew to show the progression and the vision that I had for my Magic of Bewitched Trivia and More book cover. Initially, I dreamed that my book cover would resemble the opening credits from Bewitched with cartoon Samantha riding on a broom with the Manhattan skyscrapers in the background and the sky blue. "Weell", as Samantha Stephens used to say, those dreams came to a crashing halt one day when I was perusing the Barnes & Noble Popular Culture section at the bookstore and I came across Herbie J. Pilato's Bewitched Book. From that point, 1994, to 2004, when The Magic of Bewitched Trivia & More was published, I guess you could say, my inspiration was brewing. You can view Erik Davison's artwork at: http://my.fresnoarts.net/profile/ErikDavison. You can purchase Herbie's Bewitched Book: Herbie's Books. You can purchase Gina's book at: Magic of Bewitched at Amazon

Saturday, June 3, 2017

Corn Confetti Salad, excerpt from Dorm Room Essentials Cookbook, by, Gina Meyers





CORN CONFETTI SALAD

 4 ears of cooked corn
1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup of avocado oil
1 cup of cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup of white or red onion, chopped finely
2 stalks of celery
1/4 cup of red or green pepper

Directions: 
Slice the corn off the cob, getting as much of each kernel as you can. If corn isn't in season, you may use canned corn. Wash all produce, except the onion. Thinly slice the celery, finely chop the onion. Put all ingredients in a bowl and toss to ensure it is evenly dressed. Place in the fridge for one hour to chill and serve as a refreshing summertime side dish.

Alternate Recipe:
4 ears of cooked corn
1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup of avocado oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 small jalapeno pepper, diced
2 cups of cherry tomatoes
2 stalks of celery
1/4 cup of white or red onion, finely chopeed
3 ounces of shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
Notes

Summertime is the perfect time to find creative and refreshing ways to use the extra corn on the cob that is so plentiful this time of year.  Ask a Fresno native and they will tell you the Fresno State store has the best corn on the cob around!

Dorm Room Delicacy

Level of expertise
Bachelors Degree



Thursday, March 30, 2017

Bella's Delightful Portabella Vegetable Melody

Bella's Delightful Portabella Vegetable Melody
2 large Portabella mushrooms, gills and stems discarded
Mushroom Seasoning:
1/8 teaspoon of ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon of black pepper, freshly ground
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Directions: Wash and clean two portabella mushrooms. Discard stems and gills. On a cookie sheet, drizzle avocado oil and lay out the two mushrooms, belly up and sprinkle with ground coriander, ground cumin, and black pepper.  Bake in the oven for twenty-five to thirty minutes.
While mushrooms are baking, prepare the vegetable filling.
Vegetable Filling:
1 leek stalk, sliced and diced
1/8 of a cup of red onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced (about 1 medium sized pepper)
1 cup yellow bell pepper, diced (about 1 medium sized pepper)
4-5 celery stalks, roughly diced
1 cup fresh basil, pull loose leaves off of basil plant
2 slices of lemon wedges (squeeze juice of the lemon)
2-3 cups of Rainbow kale
1 Tablespoon of Avocado Oil
Directions: Heat vegetable melody in a medium sized skillet on medium- high heat. Combine onion, bell peppers, celery, kale and all of the ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon.  Turn heat down to low and cover until vegetables are sweating. Uncover, and turn up the heat again to high, and sauté. Continue to do this for 5-8 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Turn off stove and remove skillet from heat. Stir in red chili pepper flakes, capers and parsley. Allow to come to room temperature.
When about ready to serve, place mushrooms on an oven safe dish, and generously portion out heaps of vegetable melody mixture into each mushroom. Can microwave the mixture on a microwave safe plate or may reheat in the oven for 8-10 minutes in a 200 degree oven.



Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Garlic Parmesan Pasta, A Dish With Robust Flavor, quick & convenient


Add some ripe vine red tomatoes to this dish.

Garlic Parmesan Pasta
by, Gina Meyers

A Dish With Robust Flavor, quick and convenient.
½ cup of butter
2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 teaspoons of dried basil, or fresh basil, crushed
2 teaspoons of lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
8 ounces of fettuccine, cooked and drained.
1 ½ cups of broccoli flowerettes, cooked until tender-crisp
½ cup of fresh Parmesan or Romano cheese


Directions:  In a large skillet, drizzle olive oil and melt butter. Add basil, garlic, lemon juice and blend well. Add cooked fettuccine, broccoli (already cooked tender-crisp), and fresh Parmesan or Romano Cheese; toss to coat. 

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Bewitching Trivia Contest at The Stockton Weberstown Barnes & Noble

Can you out twitch Author Gina Meyers? Probably not!
 

Fans of all ages were treated to food trivia, Bewitched trivia and fun.



Bewitched bucks (with Elizabeth Montgomery's Face on one hundred thousand dollar faux bills) were handed out to those individuals who got tough Bewitched Trivia questions right). They were allowed to look up information in The Magic of Bewitched Trivia & More Book.
 
Bewitched had a spinoff show called Tabitha, watch here:
 
To find out how you can purchase The Magic of Bewitched Cookbook or The Magic of Bewitched Trivia & More Book, follow this link: Bewitched Book on Amazon, Buy Here
Ready to join The Bewitched Fan Club, go to: Bewitched Fan Club

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Bewitched, Bedazzled, Bewitched



Bewitched, reminiscent of all great television sitcoms, shows us our place in life.  It gives us a glimpse of the family we would like to be a part of, the job we wish to land, the person we would like to become, the friends we would like to have, and the dreams we wish to fulfill.  Like a fairy godmother’s magic dust, a good sitcom covers reality with fantasy and illusion and provides the modern liberated child in all of us with the security of reruns on the tube. 

Bewitched   teaches a valuable lesson, that there is “magic” in us and it is waiting to be freed.  A talent cannot be suppressed; a gift cannot be ignored in order to please someone else.  In Samantha’s case, her talent was witchcraft, and she tried to please her mortal husband Darrin by abstaining from her craft.

A gift is irrepressible and eventually it will emerge. Look at all the chaos that occurred when Sam tried to suppress her talent. 

Bewitched showed fans that we all have special hidden talents/ “magic” that need to be explored. 


The Magic of Bewitched: Trivia and More book is meant to be informational, fun, and a treasure to add to your Bewitched collection. You, the reader, are invited to the “magic” show. 


We want love to be magical.  We want to live simply and happily.  No one wants their life to be humdrum, married to an individual that sometimes acts like a dum-dum, live in a home in the middle of doldrums, with average children.  We all desire to be special and unique.  Not only do we want to meet Mr. or Miss Right, we want it to be a mystical experience.  In a life that has countless trying moments, we deserve something magical to cherish.  Just go back for a moment in time—look down memory lane.  What are your fondest memories?  Do they seem unreal, like a dream?  That is exactly why Bewitched was so appealing.  It made us secretly wish that there were real witches like Samantha that turned mundane life into magic!





Bewitched Banana Blueberry Bread

1- 6 ounce size of Light Vanilla Yogurt
2 bananas
½ package of Frozen Blueberries
1 Tablespoon of Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon of Baking soda
2 eggs
butter (optional)
2 cups of flour
1 cup of sugar
½ cup of vegetable oil

Directions: Mix all ingredients (excluding flour) with an electric mixer on medium speed, scraping sides with the spatula until well blended. Add flour and blend. May add the blueberries early since they are frozen. If using fresh blueberries, wait until you have added the flour, then spoon in and fold fresh blueberries. Spray (or grease) a loaf pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for forty minutes, or until a tooth pick placed in the center of the bread comes out clean.