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...
The Tale of Truthwater Lake by Emma Carroll This book marks my first book review for Middle Grade Mondays. I wish I could do more reading, but I work four days a week, and I'm crazy enough to be doing a science degree, and setting unrealistic New Year goals at the same time! This book, however, I read in no more than 24 hours. Not that it's a short book. It is a good length for a middle grade novel, but I became more and more invested in the characters the more I read. Why did I choose this book? I bought this signed copy some time ago from an online independent bookshop. I can't remember exactly what had happened, but the shop had posted that they had somehow been disadvantaged and, as I know how difficult it is to be an independent business in the book world, I wanted to support them. I searched through their booklist, and decided this book was the one that most appealed to me. I do love beautiful chapter headings! What is the book about? The book begins in the not-too-d...