ACB update (and some more baking)

[ewein2412]

No doubt a bunch of you will remember that my friend Amanda had a double mastectomy last year - quite a few of you very generously made contributions to a 5k run, Race for Life, in which I participated on Amanda’s behalf to raise funds for cancer research. ACB’s operation was so successful she is considered completely cured - she’ll never even have to have another mammogram. But the battle itself won’t be over for some months yet, as she’s in the first stages of reconstructive surgery now. A bit like rebuilding your ruined cities after the bombing stops… or something like that.

Anyway, I’m dedicating Code Name Verity to her. Because more than anything else, it is a story about friendship. But I have to say, the friendship in the book isn’t just based on my friendship with Amanda - there’s a bit of everybody in there, and if you’ve ever bicycled twenty miles in the rain with me or asked me to read or sing or ring at your wedding or be your bridesmaid or hold your chuppah, or driven me to the airport (or asked me to drive you to the airport), or helped me move, or come along on a punting picnic, or taught me to ski, or played recorder duets with me, or come along with me for a ride in a small plane, or - dare I say it - Worn the Socks - well, you know who you are.

Happy new year, everybody - I hope from the bottom of my heart that it’s exciting and GOOD.

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On a lighter note, here's me and Sara practicing for next Christmas, since we weren’t home for this one…



sand tarts and...



gingerbread whoopie pies.


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Also, look what appeared in Perth while we were in the States over the Christmas holidays - the sign says ‘Curiositeaz… Vintage Tea Room - Bringing the Past to Life - Vintage Curiosity and Gift Shop’



I have not yet been inside. I MAY HAVE TO GO IN COSTUME.

Comments

[tigertrapped.livejournal.com]

That place should take you as Writer in Residence. You can sit in the window - in costume - writing, while they bring free tea and cakes.

[ewein2412]

what a freaking *brilliant* idea.

[3rdragon]

It sounds really dangerous, though. It's bad enough to be capable of making baked goods yourself and in easy purchase distance of goodies. (Also dangerous to not be in easy purchase distance of goodies -- at least, not the ones you really like -- but only when you go to places where they're available. (I have never bought/eaten ice cream and pastries so much in a one-week span as I did in Swakopmund, Namibia. Possibly eaten ice cream that much sometimes in the summer when we had it in the fridge, but not gone out multiple times purchasing it, and the pastries definitely push it over the edge.))

[ewein2412]

they hand out free whisky all over scotland! it's a dangerous country. (but, sadly, our two favorite ice cream shops closed over xmas. Not sure how long the new tea room will last.)

[3rdragon]

I am afraid Scotland must go down in my estimation, now that I have learned that it is a place where they hand out free whisky, but ice cream shops can't stay in business. (Though I suppose anywhere that does winter in a serious way must be seasonally rough on ice cream shops. I must remember that the entire world does not melt in near-40C temperatures over Christmas break.)

[ewein2412]

it is very sad about the ice cream shops.

[estara.livejournal.com]

That is such a lovely gesture and more power to you, Sara and Amanda! My mum has been doing quite fine with her right breast removed herself and the cyst I have in my right breast has been diagnosed as benevolent, so let's hope this keeps up in all our lives!

Also, I'm now hungry for christmas biscuits AND was there ever a question that you should enter that shop in costume? You should take Sarah so she can take pictures of you in the correct setting.

[ewein2412]

geez, the problems do seem to run in families! Amanda's sister had the same trouble about 5 years ago. I'm so glad your own has proved benevolent. That must have been nerve-racking, especially after your mother's adventurous year. Fingers crossed for everyone's recovery.

Sara, who is 14, would not be caught dead with me in costume in public. Mark was embarrassed enough walking up to school on evacuee day! I might have to do the tea room alone... good place for a publicity photo though. hmmm.

[estara.livejournal.com]

It certainly made me rethink certain behaviour concerning my health, heh. I hope I can make more of a change there. And I will keep monitoring my breasts more closely so I know what's happening.

Publicity photo! Or a great venue when you get interviewed after CNV has hit the book charts!

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Those whoopie pies look wonderful! I would never have thought of gingerbread ;o)

[ewein2412]

it's all in the book!

http://www.amazon.com/Whoopie-Pies-Dozens-Match-Recipes/dp/0811874540

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Cool ;o)

[camille-is-here.livejournal.com]

You know, vintage is popular now--you could sort of get away with it as fashion rather than vintage.

[ewein2412]

in fact that is how I dress... me in my Esther Williams bathing suit! But given that my whole "vintage" obsession blossomed as a result of writing CNV, it's an incredibly fortuitous trend. I'm hoping to be on the bandwagon FOR ONCE.

[camille-is-here.livejournal.com]

Some day I will hit the wave too!

BTW-discussion about academic robes the other day has given me the resolution to actually buy one of those soft academic caps. Need to call Penn--

[ewein2412]

let me know how you get on. I might be tempted to get one too, if it's possible to buy them separately from the robe (you know the SAS ones for Penn are ROYAL BLUE VELVET with a GOLD TASSLE) (sooo wonderful!)

[sovay]

Also, look what appeared in Perth while we were in the States over the Christmas holidays - the sign says ‘Curiositeaz… Vintage Tea Room - Bringing the Past to Life - Vintage Curiosity and Gift Shop’

That is a great tea shop.

[ewein2412]

can't wait to check it out! (I didn't have time to stop when I took the picture)

the defining question will be, do they serve Starboard Light Frappes? Because that is the Mystery Menu Offering I found on a *real* 1930s menu in the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow.

[3rdragon]

If they don't, just wait until I'm back with ready access to ingredients, and I'll come up with *something* for a Starboard Light Frappe.

[ewein2412]

I am pretty sure it's green and mint-flavored. There is a "starboard light" cocktail which is made with creme de menthe. I have yet to discover anyone who associates the name with a flavor! Brilliant name for a sundae, though.

[(Anonymous)]

Is this a cocktail that actually (currently) exists, or just one that existed in the 1930's?

[ewein2412]

I believe the cocktail currently exists, but I don't know if it's related to the 1930s frappe

[sovay]

I believe the cocktail currently exists, but I don't know if it's related to the 1930s frappe

Apologies for crashing this thread: I don't know about the 1930's, but at least in 1913 there existed a "Humphrey Taylor's Starboard Light creme de menthe," so the drink might have been exactly what it sounds like, just frappé.

(Humphrey Taylor & Co. being a now-defunct distiller's in Chelsea.

      The landlord looked immensely relieved. "As sure as death," said he, "I thought ye were from Balliemeanach. Maclean the wudman had a couple o' glesses o' Cream de Mong here yesterday, and I havena slept a wink since, wonderin' would he get over it."
      "Cream de Mong," said Hurricane Jack, with genuine interest; "if it's anything like that, I'll try it."
      The landlord produced a bottle of green liqueur from below the counter. "Mind ye," he said, "it's at your own risk. I don't fancy the look o't mysel'. It was in the cellar when I came here three years ago, and I hadna the nerve to offer it to any one till Maclean was here in desperation yesterday, and me withoot a drop o' spirits in the hoose."
      Hurricane Jack picked up the bottle, looked at it, and put it down again, "Starboard Light," he remarked. "I've seen it. They take it in cabins. I wouldn't use it to oil my hair. What I'm wantin's something to drink."
      A bottle of beer was promptly uncorked and put before him. "Ninepence," said the landlord.
            —Neil Munro, Hurricane Jack of the Vital Spark (1923)

I'll go away now.

[ewein2412]

don't go away! Green Drinks! best side track ever. do you remember the Green Drinks in The Year of Living Dangerously? I always kind of assumed they were some melon-flavored liqueuer or absinthe, but maybe they are Starboard Lights!

[sovay]

do you remember the Green Drinks in The Year of Living Dangerously?

I hope you'll still continue this conversation: I haven't seen The Year of Living Dangerously!

Someone in a book of yours had better order one, though.

[ewein2412]

well.. Chartreuse does get a couple of mentions in CNV. But nobody actually drinks any.

[tiboribi.livejournal.com]

I once had a fantastic cocktail made with yellow chartreuse, gin, and lemon juice.

I have just realized that you didn't mean that no one in real life drinks chartreuse, but that no one drinks it in CNV. DUH.

[ewein2412]

do you remember what it was called?

[tiboribi.livejournal.com]

It was either a Refined Speech or a Last Word. They are the same drink, but one is lemon and yellow chartreuse and the other is lime and green chartreuse.

[ewein2412]

the Last Word is the green Chartreuse one (which I just learned from Sovay in another thread).

[sovay]

There is a "starboard light" cocktail which is made with creme de menthe.

That makes perfect sense. You'd need something green and I'm not sure what other options you'd have outside of absinthe and Chartreuse and while the milder yellow form of the latter was used for mixed drinks, the former seems confined almost strictly to at-your-own-risk drinks like the Corpse Reviver and the Bunny Hug. (There is one Prohibition-era cocktail I know that uses green Chartreuse; it's called the Last Word.)

[tiboribi.livejournal.com]

It should be made with egg whites, because cocktails made with egg whites are awesome.

The next time we go to the place with the crazy vintage cocktails, I'm going to have to look for this.

[sovay]

the defining question will be, do they serve Starboard Light Frappes?

I've never heard of a Starboard Light Frappe! I assume it's green and . . . involves lots of shaved ice?

[edit] I hope there is also a Port Light. A red mixed drink should be easier to achieve.

[ewein2412]

oooh.

but it would be SWEET.

[sovay]

but it would be SWEET.

You could use sloe gin.

[ewein2412]

true!

Frappe

[danny clifford (from livejournal.com)]

We can actually serve any drink you may wish (none alcoholic) and if we do not have it on your first visit you can bet your bottom dollar it will be there on your next x

Re: Frappe

[ewein2412]

You can believe I am going to call your bluff on this some day soon! Get your researching hats on...

[tiboribi.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad Amanda is doing well.

I cannot believe I made it through the season without making Christmas cookies once. I don't count the one round of butter cookies that the dog stole off the table and ate.

And...vintage tea room! How awesome is that?!