Aspic & Old Lace
The rabbit hole of research led me to investigate aspic the other day, Gentle Reader. What this article calls "Jelly covered piles of carved food are an excellent visual shorthand for absurdly poncey cuisine."
Despite the general pooh-pooh attitude, I would actually rather like to try aspic. I've managed to make it inadvertently out of fish once or twice. If memory serves I did the pink peppercorn Ancient Roman dish and . . . but that's another story.
Then, on the feed, this article from Time Travel Kitchen on the subject of tomato aspic turned up and I figured it was a sign.
Don't tell the AB, but I think I might have to try to make aspic soon. I do love strange and wiggly foods. I blame copious amounts of blancmange foisted upon me by my grandmother as an innocent child. Gelatinous just seems exciting. Plus it's an excellent word, gelatinous.
This may, or may not, explain the reoccurring presence of calf's foot jelly in my novels.
GAIL'S DAILY DOSE
Your Tisane of Smart . . .
Your Writerly Tinctures . . .
PROJECT ROUND UP
Prudence ~ The Parasol Protectorate Abroad Book the First:
Working rough draft. Release date Fall 2013.
Etiquette & Espionage ~ Finishing School Book the First: Release date Feb 5, 2013. Working promo schemes.Deportment & Deceit ~ The Finishing School Book the Second:
Third draft handed in to editor, awaiting edits.
Manga ~ Soulless Vol. 2: (AKA Changeless) Reviewing chapter by chapter, each drops on YenPlus by subscription. Print release tentatively Dec. 2012.
Book News:
Heartless reviews:
Quote of the Day:
Recent research on Wiki and I found this fascinating.
"In Scandinavia, there existed, for example, the famous race of she-werewolves known with a name of Maras. If a female at midnight stretches between four sticks the membrane which envelopes the foal when it is brought forth, and creeps through it, naked, she will bear children without pain; but all the boys will be shamans, and all the girls Maras. Women who took on the appearance of the night looking for huge monster half human and half wolf. The transformation was slow and suffered from screaming, hair and nails grow, the woman's face stretched into that of a hungry wolf meat and leaving room for animal instinct. In fact, the Maras were almost all women from peasant and plebeian classes. Let's just say a popular version of the Norse Valkyries." From Wikipedia on shapeshifting
exhaustedDespite the general pooh-pooh attitude, I would actually rather like to try aspic. I've managed to make it inadvertently out of fish once or twice. If memory serves I did the pink peppercorn Ancient Roman dish and . . . but that's another story.
Then, on the feed, this article from Time Travel Kitchen on the subject of tomato aspic turned up and I figured it was a sign.
Don't tell the AB, but I think I might have to try to make aspic soon. I do love strange and wiggly foods. I blame copious amounts of blancmange foisted upon me by my grandmother as an innocent child. Gelatinous just seems exciting. Plus it's an excellent word, gelatinous.
This may, or may not, explain the reoccurring presence of calf's foot jelly in my novels.
GAIL'S DAILY DOSE
Your Tisane of Smart . . .
Your Writerly Tinctures . . .
PROJECT ROUND UP
Prudence ~ The Parasol Protectorate Abroad Book the First:
Etiquette & Espionage ~ Finishing School Book the First: Release date Feb 5, 2013. Working promo schemes.Deportment & Deceit ~ The Finishing School Book the Second:
Manga ~ Soulless Vol. 2: (AKA Changeless) Reviewing chapter by chapter, each drops on YenPlus by subscription. Print release tentatively Dec. 2012.
BIG FAT SPOILER ALERT on the Parasol Protectorate series! Really, DON'T READ THE BLURB ON AMAZON if you haven't read the other books first!
The Omnibus hardback editions are limited run through the SciFi Bookclub only.
The manga editions, Vol. available in print, Vol. 2 by subscription to YenPlus.
Most short stories available in ebook form world wide!
The first Finishing School book ~ Not yet Released
Book News:
Heartless reviews:
Quote of the Day:
Recent research on Wiki and I found this fascinating.
"In Scandinavia, there existed, for example, the famous race of she-werewolves known with a name of Maras. If a female at midnight stretches between four sticks the membrane which envelopes the foal when it is brought forth, and creeps through it, naked, she will bear children without pain; but all the boys will be shamans, and all the girls Maras. Women who took on the appearance of the night looking for huge monster half human and half wolf. The transformation was slow and suffered from screaming, hair and nails grow, the woman's face stretched into that of a hungry wolf meat and leaving room for animal instinct. In fact, the Maras were almost all women from peasant and plebeian classes. Let's just say a popular version of the Norse Valkyries." From Wikipedia on shapeshifting
it stops the meat coming in contact with the tin, it's that jelly stuff everyone cuts off
it might make it easier to find it, but a good tin of sandwich meat will have it
it's not unpleasant, it's like mildly bacon flavoured jelly
(Congrats on starting the draft of Prudence's adventures. ^_^ )
Then I watched an epsiode of Triple D with a chef showing how to make headcheese.
...without the candies, please. Bloody Mary jello shots would be epic!
Also, how comes I didn't know about the Maras?! I'm living almost on their doorstep! (@Д@;;)
Home-made gelatin desserts made with fruit juice and fresh fruit, on the other hand, are yummy.
[A marathon on…] Mara
'Mardröm' (nightmare in Swedish) is litteraly mare+dream. Funny my dreams never seem to be playing on old, horrifically freakish sexual fantasies of the protodead or spirits… I suppose it's only mildly arousing if you're a bored citydweller and not a 17th century farmer afraid of dead stuff & devilry poofing in from the keyhole.
Mares could shapeshift into anything though — depends on which way you follow the myth and how far back. At its root, it seems to be connected to the mother of all hags; Lîlî/(ardath lîlî) - succubi-ish thingamaspiritdemon from ancient Babylonian scribblings.
They were all mostly known to "ride" men in their sleep (female date-rapists before their time?), an act resulting in various sorts of ailments, further resulting in death, sometimes even a stint as undead. Festive. Untill the entire congregation of pitchfork-wielding peasants whacked you over the head and staked you – at which point you'd be experiencing a bit of a 'bummer moment'.
Way to go on the 2000-word mark!
Hiphip!
The Gallery of Regrettable Food.
Review Link
Thanks so much for the Link back! I have enjoyed all 5 books so far, and am looking forward to E&E when it's released!
Heather
Re: Review Link