Revisiting Old Friends

I hope you've all had lovely holidays and have recovered from those plentiful holiday dinners by now. *g*

I've just posted the first part of a belated Christmas present for you on my website: a holiday epilogue to THE LILY BRAND. Of all my characters, Troy and Lillian deserve a little bit of holiday cheer the most, don't they? And now, in "Christmas at Bair Hall," they get it. :-) I hope you'll enjoy reading the epilogue just as much as I enjoyed writing it! I'll post the other parts in the course of the next few days.

Happy reading!

Tea Cosy Update

My tea cosy has arrived from Canada -- and it's sooo beautiful! (See ebay picture above.) And it fits my tea pot!!! Wheee! At first I put it on the pot the wrong way around and wondered at the overall bad fit. Then I found a sample of the material used in the inside of the cosy with a note explaining that it "reflects the heat back into the teapot and acts as a built-in hot pad which protects your table." Ahhh! Light-bulb moment! :-)

In case you're wondering: I got the tea cosy from Come4t.

Sandy's One-Book Authors

If I look at my romance shelves I find there are several books, especially from my early romance reading days (= the time after I'd figured out that the books I were enjoying so much were romances; I had read romances before, I just thought they were historical novels ...), which I enjoyed quite a lot. Nevertheless, I've often never bought another by that author. Strange, isn't it? I can't explain it myself. Perhaps I was afraid to be disappointed after liking that first book so much? Yet I had no problems buying another of, say, Gaelen Foley's novels after reading Lord of Fire (hmmmm, isn't Lucien hot? I love that scene when he and Alice meet for the first time and he makes her feel his naked chest. Yum!).

So who are my one-book authors?

• Anita Mills with The Duke's Double
• Kathleen Harrington with The MacLean Groom (this has just been translated into German! lucky German readers!!!)
• Shannon Drake with Come the Morning
• Dinah McCall with Legend
• Donna Simpson with Lady Delefont's Dilemma
• Tammy Hilz McCallum with Dared to Dream (the novel won a Golden Heart in 1997)
• Valentina Luellen with The Devil of Talland

Madeline Hunter is an almost one-book author: I read By Arrangement in 2000 and loved it and for the longest time it remained my only book of Hunter's. Then five years later I stumbled across an ad for Lord of Sin, LOVED the cover, bought the book -- and didn't even finish it. *sob* I still have Lady of Sin in my TBR pile (got it at the 2006 RWA National in Atlanta), but haven't dared to read it so far. Hmph.

Are there one-book authors on your shelves, too?

Where's Karen?

Does anybody know what happened to Karen Scott's blog? At the moment there's only the standard template, and all of her posts have vanished. :-/

Thoughts on Christmas Cards

Even though I moaned quite a lot when I was writing all those Christmas cards, I actually do like sending Christmas cards. For one thing, it's a nice way to let people know you've been thinking of them (*cough* even if you haven't been in touch all year long *cough*), for another, I like the thought that a Christmas card might brighten somebody's day.

Of course, I also love getting Christmas cards (they definitely brighten my day!), and I always put them on display in my sitting room. So each time I'll come through the door they'll put a smile on my face. :-)

Christmas card from 1843

A Heretical Thought

*whispers* I think I like Elizabeth Gaskell better than Jane Austen.

*looks around to see if somebody has sunk in a dead faint*

Truly, I love Austen's novels (well, let's say I love Pride & Prejudice and Persuasion - I don't particularly care for her other "big" novels) (Emma gets on my nerves and Marianne's selfishness makes me want to slap her at times) (see? see? total heresy!), but Gaskell's writing is infused with more emotion, imo. Her characters are more endearing (Cranford, anybody?), and her love stories are more passionate (wheee! North and South!). The aforementioned sensuality adds a special something to her stories and makes them feel surprisingly modern. The emotions of Austen's characters seem somewhat restrained by comparison. Indeed, if I had to choose between Darcy and Thornton, I would definitely take Thornton (especially if he looks like Richard Armitage!!!) (who cares about 10000 pounds per annum?).

....

Will I now go to romance hell?

Sandy Discovers Tea Cosies

This weekend I discovered tea cosies. I had seen one once before, at a friend's (*waving to Martin*), but I hadn't realised how popular these things are in the UK, North America and Australia. Wow! There are tea cosy contests! People knit, sew or crochet their own tea cosies! There are tea cosies that look like Christmas puddings or miniature Christmas trees or cats or poodles or even elephants. (And then there are those which look as if the tea pot has exploded into a hairy muff ... *g*). Wow! That was a major revelation.

Tea cosies are virtually unknown in Germany: we put our tea pots over tea candles, on warmers. But to wrap your tea pot up in a flannel waistcoat like Betty Barker's cow in Gaskell's Cranford after it has fallen into the lime pit- that's very intriguing indeed.

~*~

I found the picture of the raspberry tea cosy on ebay, of course. :)

My First Year with the Cybook

Exactly one year ago, while I was stuck in revision hell, my Cybook arrived. It was my very first ebook reader and I was suitably impressed by it (a long description and a review of the Cybook can be found here and here). In fact, I still like it as much as I did back in December 2007. Since then, my reading habits have undergone some dramatic changes:

• More or less all of the books I buy for "fun reading" are now ebooks.
• I buy more books than I did before, which has a lot to do with the lower prices (= lower American prices + fantastic $/€ conversion rate) and those special sales promotions at Fictionwise (this weekend was another 40%-rebate weekend), not to speak of the fact that ebooks don't take up any space on my book shelves (wheee!)
• I less hesitant to buy a book by a new-to-me author than before.
• I now think twice about a book when it's not available in a suitable ebook format. In fact, I'm now less likely to buy a dead-tree novel just for fun-reading.
• If I've enjoyed a book, I will more readily purchase titles from the author's backlist than before.
• If I don't enjoy a book, I no longer feel so bad about buying it in the first place (after all, I can simply delete it and no longer takes up any space in my shelves and my life).

In this past year I bought 203 ebooks and downloaded about two dozens of free ebooks. Many of all these books are still on my TBR list (hey, that's another thing that's new: I no longer feel bad about a big TBR pile!) (because there is no pile any longer *g*). When I really, really, really enjoyed a novel, I often bought the paper version, too (this happened with three of Linda Howard's Mackenzie sstories, with James Patterson's Sundays at Tiffany's, with some of Lucy Gordon's category novels, and with Norbert Davis's The Mouse in the Mountain). On the other hand, I also bought or downloaded ebook versions of some of my favourite paper books (e.g., the Anne of Green Gables stories, Jane Austen's novels, Sarah Addison Allen's Garden Spells, Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! and Witches Abroad).

Some of my ebook reading highlights of this past year include:

• Norbert Davis's The Mouse in the Mountain
• Linda Howard's Mackenzie's Mountain, Mackenzie's Pleasure, and A Game of Chance
• James Patterson's Sundays at Tiffany's
• Suzanne Brockmann's navy seals novels
• Jennifer Crusie's Anyone But You
• Lisa Kleypas's Scandal in Spring

All in all, it was a great reading year!

And to make things even better: Castle of the Wolf and Bewitched are now also available for the Kindle and the Sony Reader. :-)

Custardy Recipes

Sweet Cream Base for Ice Cream*

• 1 (American) cup milk (~ 220 ml)
• ~ 1/2 cup sugar (amount depends on your preferences regarding the sweetness of your ice cream and on what you'll add to the base later on, e.g. you need more sugar for chocolate icecream made with unsweetened cocoa and molten dark chocolate)
• 2 large eggs (I usually take 3 eggs, just to be on the safe side)
• 2 cups whipping cream

Whisk eggs in a mixing bowl, add the sugar, blend well and whisk until fluffy. Bring the milk to the boil and let it cool for a few minutes before stirring into the egg-sugar mixture. Wipe pot clean if necessary, pour the egg-sugar-milk mixture back into it and carefully heat (overheating or even boiling will cause lumps to appear = not good) it until it thickens (stir, stir, stir, stir!). Pour into bowl or jug, let it cool down, then stir in the cream and add other liquid or creamy ingredients of your choice (e.g. fruit mash, chocolate spread, peanut butter).

To prevent your cream base from skinning, cover it with cling film while it cools down.


Custard**

• 500 ml milk
• 500 ml whipping cream
• 6 eggs
• 6 table spoons of (vanilla) sugar
• 1 vanilla pod

Slice vanilla pod open and remove the itty bitty black thingies inside, put both pod and thingies into a large pot with the milk and cream. Bring to the boil, then let it cool down for a few minutes. Whisk eggs in a mixing bowl, add sugar, whisk until fluffy. Remove vanilla pod from the milk-cream mixture before you pour it over the eggs. Stir well. Wipe pot if necessary, pour the mixture back in and heat it (stir, stir, stir, stir, stir!) until it thickens. Pour into a jug. Serve hot or cold. (If you put it in the fridge over night, the custard thickens some more. Thin it down with a little bit of milk, if necessary.)

~~*~~

* Based on the sweet cream base no. 1 from Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream and Dessert Book. They don't cook their base, though. I've found that if I cook the base and thus allow it to thicken, the ice cream will have a better, creamier texture later on.

** Based on Jamie Oliver's recipe for custard from Cook with Jamie. He uses just the egg yolks, though, and a bit more cream.

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Tea sets.

Remember them?

:-)

'Tis another ebay treasure.

Confessions of a Custard Queen

Two or three times a year my parents host a dinner for their friends (the husbands are all former members of the men's ballet chorus* of our local carnival club), and tomorrow there'll be the last dinner of 2008. I offered to take care of the dessert and to this end, made ice cream and custard.

I love my ice making machine, but in order to make sufficient ice cream for 10 people, you have plan ahead and start early: first flavour (red currant) (okay, well, it was planned as red currant; unfortunately, I picked the box in the supermarket and ended up with cowberries - funny name, isn't it? - and because these are somewhat bitter, I had to add a few raspberries to the mixture)was started with on Saturday (cook custard, add cream and mashed berries, and put in the fridge) and finished on Sunday (put the mixture into the ice cream machine, wait for the beep). Second flavour (Christmas chocolate) was started with on Wednesday (grate chocolate, sieve cocoa, cook custard, melt chocolate in cream, add cocoa, stir well until smooth!!!!, add to custard, add more cream and sugar) and finished on Thursday. And the third flavour (maple walnut) was started with yesterday (cook custard, realise you don't have the right maple syrup - Grade A instead of Grade C -, what the heck, just add more maple syrup to make up for it, chop walnuts, roast walnuts, stop yourself from eating all the maple custard!) and finished early this morning. And this evening I made the custard that will go with all the ice cream.

I've become really good at cooking custard. *ggg*

~~*~~

* The men's ballet choruses of German carnival clubs have absolutely nothing to do with these guys:



Instead, they look like this:




or this:



Twenty to thirty years ago my Mum used to train the ballet chorus of our local carnival club. I still have fond memories of my honorary uncles walking around in yellow duck costumes and looking like mutated rubber duckies. *ggg* That was the year they performed the "Ententanz" ("Chicken Dance" or "Birdie Dance" in English). Equally unforgettable are their performance of "The Dance of the Hours" (as gigantic flowers) and of a song from Cats (and our Bustopher Jones needed no padding!!! *g*).

For the uninitiated: the Chicken Dance (unfortunately, the mutated rubber duckies were not available) (too bad!).

Christmas Mail All Done

You know you've written a large amount of Christmas cards when

1. it's taken you more than one day to write them all.
2. you've ordered them at VistaPrint.
3. it's actually taken you more than two days to write them all.
4. they don't all fit into an average-sized plastic bag.
5. your desk disappears for days on end under a large pile of cards, envelopes, address stickers, rolls of wrapping paper, ribbons, promo material, an assortment of small presents, small wooden ornaments, etc.
6. the sight of Christmas cards makes you want to cry.
7. the nice lady behind the counter at the post office spends a good twenty minutes sticking stamps onto your assorted cards and parcels.

Yesterday I brought my Christmas mail to the post office (and have you noticed the date? have you??? almost two weeks before Christmas! it's a mircale!!! *g*). Now I only need to write four or five cards more. I'm good this year. :)

On Winter & the Wonders of Ebay

My first few ebay treasures have arrived:


Luckily the tea set isn't ugly after all and will look very nice indeed on a gray table cloth. What's truly splendid though is the platter (Johnson Brothers, Old Britain Castles), which I'll use as a cake plate:

I love the unusual form and the beautiful red decor. A whole set of this china would probably knock you down, but if you use a few selected pieces (*cough*not just the platter-turned-cake-plate, but also the milk jug and the sugar bowl*cough*) with plain white china, I dare say the effect will be quite lovely. :-)

~*~

This week winter arrived in Germany. Naturally, snow slush and icy streets resulted in traffic jams of epic proportions. And if that wasn't bad enough, on Wednesday the regional train service to Frankfurt was interrupted for several hours. Oh what fun! I hope they won't cancel any trains today as I'll need to go to Frankfurt... Hmm.

Speaking of winter, I thought Enya's new album, AND WINTER CAME, was somewhat bland and boring. If you ever put it on during dinner, all your guests will probably fall asleep. What a disappointment! :-/ Rhydian Roberts's debut album by contrast is just wonderful (even if it contains neither "You Raise Me Up" nor "I Vow to Thee My Country" *sniff*)

~*~

Reading: Lisa Kleypas's THE DEVIL IN WINTER (extremely suitable for this time of the year!)
Re-reading: Elizabeth Gaskell's CRANFORD

The Results of the Fictionwise Super-Buy Weekend

Or, The TBR Pile Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows and Grows ....

• Anne Perry's Christmas Mysteries: Two Holiday Novels by Anne Perry
• Four in Hand by Stephanie Laurens
• Tall Dark and Cajun [Cajun Series Book 3] by Sandra Hill
• The Italian's Miracle Family by Lucy Gordon
• Kiss Me Quick by Margaret Moore
• Secrets of a Summer Night [Wallflower Series Book 1] by Lisa Kleypas
• It Happened One Autumn [Wallflower Series Book 2] by Lisa Kleypas
• Devil in Winter [Wallflower Series Book 3] by Lisa Kleypas
• Her Millionaire, His Miracle by Myrna Mackenzie
• Where's My Hero? by Lisa Kleypas & Julia Quinn & Kinley MacGregor
• Dragon Lovers by Jo Beverley & Barbara Samuel & Mary Jo Putney
• What Isabella Desires by Anne Mallory
• To Rescue a Rogue by Jo Beverley
• Hero, Come Back by Stephanie Laurens & Christina Dodd & Elizabeth
• The Seduction of an English Scoundrel [Boscastle Family Series Book 1] by Jillian Hunter
• His Mistress by Morning by Elizabeth Boyle
• Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
  

:-)

Daily Revelations: Monday

People are being mean to me on ebay: so far I've been outbidden twice *sob* and the only thing I've managed to buy (a Chinese tea set) (well, didn't I tell you I'm crazy about tea sets?) will probably turn out to look butt-ugly. *sob-sob-sigh*

Talking about sex in the classroom is fraud with pitfalls. I've got the vague suspicion that my students were embarrassed when we talked about Gaskell's sensual writing today. We all relished the various awwww-passages in the novel, though. :)

My lovely, lovely china has arrived. Now I just need to make space for it in the cupboard.

Duh-moment in the morning: realising that I've forgotten to download and convert my new ebooks, which meant I couldn't start with another Kleypas novel this morning. :-/ To make up for it, I re-read my favourite passage from Gabaldon's VOYAGER later on. Her writing is so delicious!