If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably seen me post TONS of tweets about how I’m writing a novel for NaNoWriMo, but I haven’t really said much about WHAT I’m writing. At the start of November, I wanted to link up to Paper Fury’s Beautiful Books NaNo post series, in which I’d share a little bit with you about my novel…but I’m a crazy person who planned to do this in addition to writing 1.6k+ words every day, regular blogging, keeping up with my reading, moving (that’s right, MOVING), balancing my work schedule, AND completing regular household/life responsibilities. Oh yeah, and I got the stomach flu (I’m not saying it was in the plan, but it happened).
So…I’m just now getting around to the first post in the series, even though most people are already starting the second one. Excuse me while I cringe at my own unreliability. Better late than never, I guess? Either way, here we go!
I love how shocked the other Dauntless faction members are when they realize Tris has never even seen a hamburger before. I can only imagine what it must have been like for her to taste one after a lifetime of plain, flavorless food. Today, we’re recreating Tris’ first meal in her new faction with a monster-sized burger that’s nothing if not epic.
Welcome to our Divergent menu! The Mister and I just moved from our first apartment to our very first house this weekend, so things are pretty crazy around here (SO MANY BOXES). But even though most of my kitchen is still packed up, I was super excited when it came time to start this menu. I know Divergent is a pretty big departure from our usual classic books, but Tris has such strong mental associations with certain foods (and I loved the book so much) that I thought it’d be a shame not to make a menu for it. So here it is! 🙂
Howdy, folks! The Mister and I just moved into our new house yesterday (!!!), so things are pretty chaotic around here right now. Still, I’m super excited because I’m doing this year’s NaNoWrMo, so a whole month of super intense writing is just beginning for me today. Oh, and my birthday was a few weeks ago! So lots of craziness…but good craziness. 🙂
On my birthday, the Mister came back from a week-long business trip in Germany, and he brought me some awesome birthday gifts: a stein from an abbey he visited, an Oktoberfest gingerbread heart that said “Never Far from You,” and chalkboard hearts and a butterfly ornament from a market in Munich. He also gave me the little novelty item his client company hands out at conventions: a wooden pencil-shaped case filled with tiny colored pencils!
In spite of my topsy-turvy life, I managed to get my last two Agatha Christie recipes posted: Delicious Death chocolate cake and Little Belgian Truffles! As is our tradition, we’re punctuating the end of our menu with new custom teas from Adagio. I actually made TWO blends this month, since I love Agatha Christie so much and couldn’t choose between the two I designed. The first, called Hallowe’en Party, is inspired by the book of the same name and features spiced apple chai and cinnamon tea. The second tea blend is inspired by Hercule Poirot: Chocolate Mocha Tea for Ze Little Grey Cells! It’s got indulgent chocolate flavor with subtle coffee tones and just a touch of hazelnut—sure to set your brain buzzing!
Now that our Agatha Christie menu is all wrapped up with a tidy little bow, it’s time to share the photo hint for our next menu! Our November book is actually a modern book series rather than a true classic. I decided to make a menu for it after loving the first book in the series. It was such a fun read and featured food so prominently, I knew it would be a great addition to Pop Culture Corner. Without further ado, here’s your hint:
Last year for Halloween, the Mister and I performed a chocolate covered edible bug taste test and published our findings here on the blog. This year, we decided to up the ante and try some more bugs…this time without the chocolate!
Our official Agatha Christie dessert was a Miss Marple recipe, so it’s only fair that our bonus recipe should be a Hercule Poirot dish, right? Poirot is famous for his love of rich chocolate, and his native land of Belgium offers some temptingly easy truffle recipes. The recipe I use here is adapted from one I found on Zestuous. I love the different texture elements provided by the cocoa powder and creamy chocolate. Plus, this is probably the easiest candy recipe I’ve ever made! 🙂
P.S. We’re taking a vote to see which detective is better, Poirot or Marple. Vote here!
Oh, Delicious Death. When making an Agatha Christie menu, is there any dessert more suitable? This decadent dessert plays a significant role in one of Christie’s most popular novels, A Murder is Announced. The exact recipe isn’t shared in the book, but we know it’s chocolate cake “of a melting richness,” which, let’s be honest, is enough to make most of us drool already. I made mine from this delightfully rich, almost brownie-like cake recipe, topped with dark chocolate frosting and bats silhouettes made of powdered sugar. If death by chocolate is truly possible, this is how I want to go. 🙂
P.S. We’re taking a vote to see which detective is better, Poirot or Marple. Vote here!
As a super organized person, I love it when a post comes together exactly as planned. Then again, some of my favorite recipe posts have been the result of last minute changes. That’s definitely the case today. My original plan was to post a recipe from Murder on the Orient Express, but I really struggled to find a good option. Sure, lots of foods are mentioned in the book (soup, chicken, cream), but they aren’t described and don’t have much significance in the story. A week ago I was scouring the book for anything that might work. To get me in the spirit, I decided to play an episode of the Hercule Poirot TV series in the background while I worked. The episode was Cards on the Table, which features Ariadne Oliver, Hercule Poirot’s crime writer friend who always speaks her mind. I kept getting distracted by Ariadne’s funny antics involving apples (her favorite snack), and I stopped all my work so I could watch my favorite moment in the whole episode: when she gets out of her car and half-eaten apples spill out all over the driveway. Then it dawned on me: I’d found my recipe—Ariadne’s Apples!
As you know, a few weeks ago I attended a tour event for the new Lockwood & Co. book, The Hollow Boy…and I got to interview the author, Jonathan Stroud! Since I wanted to cover two general topics in my interview, I decided to divide my interview into two parts and publish them separately. The first was a mini interview about the book tour, which I published a few weeks ago with an overview of the tour event. The second part was a more in-depth interview about the Lockwood series itself. I just finished reading The Hollow Boy, so today I’m posting the longer interview with my review of the book. Enjoy!
Mr. Stroud tells the tour audience about the first book he ever wrote as a kid. His shirt says “Fictional Character!” 🙂
Jonathan Stroud Interview Part II: The Lockwood Series
Before the tour event began, I got a chance to sit down with Mr. Stroud and ask him some questions about The Hollow Boy and the Lockwood series as a whole. Here’s what he had to say!
Our first Agatha Christie recipe was dedicated to Poirot, but we’d be doing the famous mystery writer a disservice if we ignored her other beloved sleuth: Miss Marple. As much as I love Poirot, I’m a Miss Marple fan too, because her style differs from Poirot’s while still being masterful in its own right. One of her most famous cases is Pocket Full of Rye, and that’s where we’re getting our recipe today.
, and that’s where we’re getting our recipe today.