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Showing posts from April, 2019

A Happy Halloween Gothtail (cocktail!)

You may remember our delicious Scottish-themed cocktail: Caledon , which we shared on Christmas Eve in 2024. This remains one of our most popular blog posts, so we thought we would share another one for you on this All Hallow's Eve! With that in mind, I am pleased to introduce you to: The Raighvan Park , inspired by Judith Crow's novella, The Folly at Raighvan Park, which you can find here . Here are your step by step instructions for creating this gothic beverage (have we just invented the gothtail ?!) It's deliciously dark, as you might expect, with a hint of the upper-class style of the novella. You will need: 1. Port  2. Patron Xo Cafe (you could use any other coffee liqueur) 3. Soda water with lime 4. Ginger ale 5. Pepsi Max 6. Liquorice Time to put them all together... 1. Pour one shot of coffee liqueur into a large wine glass. 2. Add one shot of port. Remember, a gothic gentleman loves his port! 3. Now onto the non-alcoholic additions... include two shots of soda wat...

Fantastic Fantasy Feasts Book Launch

Maybe outlaws have driven you from your home, or maybe the wyverns have destroyed everything you know.​ Whatever the reason, you are alone in the wilderness and you need to eat. You need this recipe book before those hungry vultures seize their chance.​ A tongue in cheek tale of fantasy cuisine. This book was written as a Christmas present for my brother and 3 of my sisters. We used to have super fun times playing Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and I knew the old handbook back to front. My favourite section was the Bestiary and I'd include the weird and wonderful creatures in my story of the time. I also loved creating characters. There's something quite thrilling about the role of a dice, and really, really hoping that you get a good enough WS (Weapon skill) to become a warrior. I wanted to be an elf when I was little (I think the phase came after wanting to be a mammoth) so it was a good opportunity for me to fulfil this life dream. (The mammoth would be a...

“Whippoorwill” By Robert Bartram Book Review

"Barely fourteen, Ceci Prejean is a tomboy running wild in the hot Louisiana summer. After breaking the nose of a local boy, her father decides to enlist the aid of Hecubah, a beautiful Creole woman, with a secret past, who takes Ceci in hand and turns her into a lady.  Now, eighteen-year-old Ceci meets and falls passionately in love with a handsome young northerner, Trent Sinclaire. Trent is a cadet at the West Point military academy. He acts as if he knows Ceci. They begin a torrid affair, even as the southern states begin to secede from the Union.  Only weeks before their wedding, the Confederate army attacks Fort Sumter and the civil war begins. Trent is called to active service in the north, leaving Ceci heartbroken in the south. Swearing vengeance on the union, after the untimely death of her family at the fall of New Orleans, Ceci meets with infamous spy master, Henry Doucet. He initiates her into the shadowy world of espionage. After her failure to avert the catast...