Feast!

I will admit it, once I get into a fandom, I really get into a fandom. In this case it's Game of Thrones, though more properly, I'm into the Song of Ice and Fire books, since I don't have HBO and I am waiting for the first season of GoT to be available from the library (yes, people can get movies from the library). Anyway, I've finished the third book, A Storm of Swords, have just started on the fourth, and to celebrate this fact, I decided that I needed to make a GoT themed dinner last night.   If you haven't read these books, or seen the TV shows, maybe you'll think I'm a bit crazy.  However, if you have, you'll notice there is a intense amount of time spent discussing what people are eating, or what people want to eat.  Luckily, I am not alone in recognizing all the food motifs in these books.
To aid me in my medieval munching I turned to the amazing blog The Inn at the Crossroads. The ladies who run this blog are not only devote GoT fans, but also exceptional scholars of old timey foods.  Taking the foods mentioned in the books, they offer an original medieval recipe and a modern one, both tried and tested by them. On top of this, they also wrote the official Game of Thrones cook book, sanctioned by George RR Martin, so they know what they're doing.

Last night's Feast of Instagrams.

To make it easy on myself, I chose three basic looking recipes: sweet biscuits, garlic butter roasted mushrooms, and a meat pie.  For the biscuits and mushrooms, I followed their recipe word for word, leaving out the capers for the mushrooms as I didn't have any on hand, but for the meat pie I changed things up a bit.  I used ground turkey instead of pork (it was on sale), and I added bacon, onions, and a good splash of red wine, omitting the dates because I forgot to purchase them.  The sweetness of the honey and currants played nicely with the tart wine taste, and the bacon masked the fact it was just turkey.  It all turned out wonderful and with the bit of pie crust I had leftover, I added a direwolf to the top (Team Stark!).

If you're wondering what I drank, don't worry, there's a recipe for that, too!

My husband bought us some mead for the evening and I also made some hot spiced wine, which turned out amazing, and insanely simple.  For mine, I did a very very basic, what I had around the house recipe: Red wine, honey, a cinnamon stick, a few cloves, and some of the remaining currants.

Additionally!  If you feel like totally nerding it up and making some Winterfell roasts, I would suggest the amazing book Fabulous Feasts.  While the first part of the book is all about the medieval dining customs and ceremony, the back half is all recipes, ranging from really simple stuffed dates to how actually make a bird pop out of a pie.  And don't worry, there's a couple spiced wine recipes in there for good measure.

Giving thanks....to booze

I love the holidays; the whole dang thing. The decorations, the forgetting Thanksgiving and pile driving straight into Christmas, the songs, the food, more of the food, the desserts (yes that's food), wrapping presents, giving presents, the smell of Christmas trees, everything.

Except for family.

I have never really been good with hanging out with any member of my family for very long. Too much of my family for extended amount of time and somebody is going to either get drunk or start crying. Normally, it's both. And it's terrible.

So, to celebrate not having Thanksgiving OR Christmas with my family this year (thanks for inviting me to your houses, my lovely new in-laws!), I have created a cocktail for all of you who are stuck with yours. Trust me, a few of these, and all those memories of Uncle Billy and his "albino python" jokes will be wiped away.

Hard Times Cider

Components

2 shots Dark Rum
2 dashes of Falernum Bitters
1/2 cup of Apple Cider
chilled Champagne or Sparkling Wine

Mix the rum, bitters, and cider in a cocktail shaker (no ice). Fill a highball glass 1/4 of the way with champagne, then the rest with the rum cocktail. Garnish with a lemon twist or cinnamon stick. Sit back, and try to ignore the screams of your nephews as they terrorize the family dog.

Comic Book Comics and Pomelo Juice

I am really really really trying to get through the newest issue of Comic Book Comics. The issue is so dense that it reads more like a chapter of a book than a comic book. Now, that's not a bad thing. I've been enjoying the Comic Book Comics; I think as a relatively new comic book reader (since about 2005) and I don't know much about the history of comics. CCB is a great introduction to the history, and they offer a lot of information.

But, alas, I seem to have a attention spam of a mayfly these days, so reading through the newest issue is getting tough.

However! Thanks to my inability to read more than twenty words in a row, I am prone to jump into a new project every other millisecond. This weeks project was working on the amazing pomelo fruit! If you've never seen a pomelo, think of a grapefruit slightly larger than your own head.

It's a beast of a fruit, but damn is it good in a cocktail. If you want to use it, get an electric juicer. Seriously, we just picked one up a few weeks ago and the thing is a amazing. Any and all citrus tastes 100% better when mixed with booze, so a juicer just helps them get into liquor a whole lot quicker.

The Chinese Dog Screw (working title)

Components

1/2 of a pomelo, juiced

1 navel orange, juiced

three shots of vodka

Mix all of this together, pour over ice and drink away that hurt you got in your brain from reading big words. Makes two servings, or one large hangover.

Photo Credit: Taken from a great blog which sadly doesn't seem to be updated anymore. Edible Oddities

The Flu and Comics

When one gets sick, so sick that they don't even have the strength to lift their hands to their head while shampooing, one stays in bed all day, demanding that their boyfriend buys comics and brings them cup after cup of Sickly Toddies.

Sickly Toddies are not actually good for you when sick. I just like to pretend they are. And since somebody hasn't gotten on that whole comic demand, I am posting a cocktail recipe instead:

Sickly Toddy:

Components:

3/4 coffee mug of hot water

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 shot of Kraken rum

dash of orange bitters

pinch of ground slippery elm (pick this up at your local new age homeopathic shop)

Get somebody to mix all of this stuff up into a coffee mug and serve it to you piping hot. DO NOT MIX WITH COLD MEDICATION (unless you like to party like Gary Busey...if you do, what the hell is wrong with you?).

Cocktails and lack of comics

I was planning on reviewing Knight and Squire tonight. Mostly because I love Squire's insanely inane costume. Renaissance faire on top, high school goth on bottom; honestly, it's the best of both worlds (both sad, sad worlds). Yet, here I am, sans comics, because it was forgotten in the weekly pickup. No big deal! Instead, I will give you all my new favorite cocktail recipe. Because if I'm not reading comics, I'm drinking (and that's why I'm 20 pounds overweight).

These are the ingredients. The pumpkin is just set dressing

The Headless Horseman

Components:

Shot of Snap

Bottle of Dogfish Head Punkin Ale (other pumpkin beers will work, but I really like this one)

Much like the frat boy special known as a boilermaker, you take a shot of Snap, and drop it into about 1/2 a pint of Punkin, then chug chug chug. After a few of those, you've (warning! upcoming word play!) pretty much lost your head! If you want to be a refined mofo, just mix the the shot into the beer slowly and enjoy it as an after dinner drink.

Yes, this drink goes great with pumpkin pie, but you might want to bake one before you start drinking.

Happy Birthday Howard Phillips Lovecraft!!!

by now you should know to click on it for an awesomely larger image

Well, happy early birthday. I'm posting this a day early because tomorrow I will be out celebrating a real, living friend's birthday (Way to go Colleen! Turning 30!).

Anyway, tomorrow is Howard's 120th birthday, and what better way to spend it than with a Lovecraftian themed cocktail and lots of cheese. Below is my version of the Corpse Reviver #2, which I have re-titled for this special occasion:

The Herbert West

Components:

1 shot gin (I have Philly pride, so I prefer Blue Coat)

1 shot Lillet Blanc

1 shot Domaine de Canton

The juice of half a small lemon (you can go easy on this)

Dash of Pernod (or Absinthe if you're fancier)

Pour all ingredients over ice, shake well, and pour into a slightly chilled cocktail glass. I used Manhattan glasses from the 1960's, but champagne cups, not flutes, work just as well.

Now, the best part of any drink is the garnish (which, clearly, I forgot to add) and you have some choices with this: you can either use a slice of starfruit or long lime peels that you curl slightly and hang over the edge (like tentacles). I prefer the star fruit because it stays a bit better but limes are easier to find. You can also use Whiskey Stones in a tumbler with this drink. They won't water down your drink and they give the impression of Cyclopean ruins at the bottom of the sea (tell your friends the drink is called Dagon if you're going with this method).

This cocktail is best enjoyed whilst sitting on a moss covered mausoleum in a disturbing New England backwoods; preferably you'd also be fainting from seeing some terror or, you know, an Italian guy.

However, if a trip to Rhode Island isn't in your future tomorrow, you can also just drink this in your living room (yes, that's really my living room) while listening to the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast (very funny and well produced) and watching out for night gaunts, re-animated fiends, prime numbers, monolithic architecture, rats, Jell-O, and your weird neighbor who always complains about his AC unit.

Add some dry ice around the place to give it a murky miasmic ambiance and you’re good to go!

Enjoy!!!