Friday Quizzage

I am a huge fan of irony, although my love of it started in the '80s. Still, this is disturbingly accurate.

You Are the 1990s

You are a honest, down to earth, and somewhat sarcastic person. You don't front. You appreciate the cynical days of the 1990s, when irony was king. You're somewhat skeptical and mocking of the mainstream. You tend to embrace alternative culture instead. You are open minded and accepting. You don't judge people as long as they're real with you.

What Decade Are You?

Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes and 3 Stupid Ones

New Sale

Woot! I sold another story to Torquere! It's a change from my usual fantasy realm, but for me not so terribly far from my comfort zone. It's a space opera called False Dawn. With all the reams of Trekkish fanfic I've written, this wasn't so different--only I got to use my own universe and characters, which, frankly, makes the writing a helluva lot more fun. :D

More to come when I have more to report!

Friday quizzage returns!

You Are West

Like an American, you are an innovative, free-spirit. You tend to do your own thing, especially if no one has done it before. People admire that you are creative and a visionary. You come up with all sorts of ideas, and you're never afraid of failure. Sometimes you come across as wild to the point of being careless. You are a rule-breaker who borders on dangerous. You make a great artist. No matter what you do in life, it's your personal expression of who you are.

Are You North, South, East, or West?

Blogthings: Discover the Parts of Your Personality that Have Been Hiding

Author Extra - Recipe

I have one more Client Privileges post for you to round out the week. You know how I said my characters (whatever their universe) always end up out somewhere drinking and/or eating? Well, in that vein, I have a recipe for you!

Etta, head chef of the Hopvine in Korpi, makes a delicious vanilla custard. As luck would have it, I managed to get the recipe from her, and I'm sharing it with you.

Etta's Vanilla Honey Custard
Stove-top method (There's also a baked method, but the vanilla seeds all sink to the bottom, so I prefer this one, strictly based on looks.)

2 cups milk, plus 2 Tbls
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise and scraped
2 whole eggs, beaten
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbls cornstarch

In medium sauce pan, combine 2 cups milk and vanilla bean with scrapings.
Simmer over medium-low heat for about 10-15 minutes to infuse vanilla into
milk. Stir constantly to avoid developing a skin on the milk.
Remove split vanilla bean. Reduce heat to low. Whisk in honey.
In a separate bowl, whisk eggs until smooth. A ladleful at a time, add hot
milk mixture to the eggs until they are warm.
Pour egg mixture back into sauce pan.
In a separate bowl, mix 2 Tbls of milk and cornstarch until dissolved. Add
to sauce pan, whisking constantly to avoid curdling. Continue to stir until
mixture thickens. Remove from heat.
Divide evenly amongst four ramekins. Cover with plastic wrap and
refrigerate for at least three hours before serving.

Makes 4 servings

If you try it out, let me know what you think. My hubby and I ate both this version and the baked one, and we yummed them both up. I'm thinking I might need to try it with lavender next time. Mmm...lavender!

Winners!

We have are blog party and scavenger hunt winners! (All selected using my highly techincal pieces of paper in a latte mug method.)

The rainbow glass bead bracelet goes to

Gail!

The rainbow stones necklace goes to

Jane!

The winner of an electronic copy of Client Privileges is

Karin!

And the winner of the Scavenger Hunt is

Deidre!

Congratualtions to all the winners! Here's the next step to claiming your prizes.
Gail, email me with your wrist measurement (so I can finish the bracelet to fit you) and your mailing address.
Jane, email me with your mailing address.
Karin, email me so I can send you your copy of my new book.
Deidre, email me and let me know if you would like a) an ebook of Client Privileges, b) an ebook of The Ballad of Jimothy Redwing, or c) an autographed print copy of The Ballad of Jimothy Redwing. (If you pick c), I'll need your mailing address.)

Where do you send all these emails? Why, to maia (at) maiastrong (dot) com, of course. :-)

Thank you to everyone who came out to party with me and celebrate my latest release! I hope I'll see you around again sometime. And let me know if you try those martini recipes. I love 'em, and hopefully you will, too!

Client Privileges Now Available!

Woot! Client Privileges is available for purchase today! ::happy dances::

And, if you go to Torquere Press's homepage, you'll find me under the Featured Author header. Or you could just go directly to the full interview.

You can even read a review before you decide to buy the book. You're gonna buy it, right? ;-) Unless, of course, you win a copy by posting a comment or correctly completing the scavenger hunt before midnight PDT tonight.

::bounces away, trying very hard not to scare the kitties too much::

Scavenger Hunt Extension *Again*

You all know I'm rotten at linear time. I've said so on many occasions. I thought the other day, Why am I cutting off the deadline for the scavenger hunt before the rest of the party? That's just silly!

So, you now have until midnight PDT on 9 September (That's release day, you know. ;-D ) to send in your answers from the scavenger hunt.

And remember to keep posting comments, because that's another way to win fabulous prizes! :-D