Guest blogging with the Nine Naughty Novelists

Hey there! It's Foodie Friday today and I have a recipe posted over at the triple-N blog. It's my own creation: Molasses Ginger Scones! Check it out! Plus, Kinsey Holley has a recipe for Emeril's Crawfish Pie. It's making my hungry just looking at the ingredients list! Is it lunch time yet? ;-D

Friday Quizzage - Halloween Edition 3 + a recipe!

I don't know that this is terribly accurate, but it's a great excuse to post a recipe. :-D

You Are Pumpkin Bread

You are considerate and generous. Your heart warms when you're able to do something unexpectedly nice for someone else. You know it can be a cold world out there, and you have plenty of happiness to spread around. You try to give as much as possible every day, and you know that small acts of kindness can often mean the much. Whether you're being a good listener or sharing a slice of your pumpkin bread, people feel lucky to be able to count on you.

What Pumpkin Treat Are You?

Blogthings: Our Quizzes Weren't Written By Bored 12 Year Olds

Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup pumpkin
1/3 cup water
1 1/4 cup AP flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmet
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup raisins

(I, of course, feel that there is something inherently evil in a baked raisin, so I substituted 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts.)

Mix sugar and oil. Add eggs, pupkin, and water.
Sift dry ingredients together; add to pumpking mixture. Blend well.
Stir in raisins. (Or nuts. Or nothing.)
Pour into greased 9"x5" loaf pan. Bake at 350F for 1 hour or until done. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

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!

The drinks are on me!

There is always food and beverages in my books. Pubs, restaurants, bakeries. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, midnight snack. Ale, wine, small beer. You name it. My characters always end up talking over food and/or drinks. So, in keeping with the party theme and the fact that I can’t seem to write anything without putting someone in a bar or tavern, here are two cocktails that I adore. Both combine in delicious way things I love individually. And you can’t get much better than that, right?

This is one I made up myself. It’s a bit high maintenance in its preparation, but once you have the ingredients, it’s quite simple.

Pumpkin Martini
Equal parts spiced pumpkin syrup (recipe below) and vanilla vodka. (Two shots each usually does well for one serving, but I have rather large martini glasses.)
A splash of cream
Ice
Shake it all up and strain into a martini glass. Soooooo good! Especially now that autumn is nearly upon us here in the Northern Hemisphere.

Here’s one I got from a fantastic and funny waiter at the (sadly now long departed) Brass Monkey Restaurant & Bar in Vancouver, BC.

Espresso Martini
1 shot freshly pulled espresso
1/2 oz kahlua
1/2 oz crème de cacao
1 oz vodka
Ice
Shake well and strain into glass.

Okay. Here’s my recipe for making Spiced Pumpkin Syrup. Do I expect anyone else to be this nuts? No. Just go to the store and buy Spiced Pumpkin Italian Syrup. It’ll work. It just won’t be nearly as cool as making it yourself. ... I'm just sayin'.

Spiced Pumpkin Syrup
Halve and scoop the guts from a sugar pie pumpkin (or, indeed, from several).
Roast cut-sides down (on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum for easy clean-up) at 450-500 F until done. (Anywhere from 30-60 minutes depending on your oven and the size of your pumpkins.)
Remove from oven, allow to cool until you can peel the skins off.
Throw the skins away. They’re sticky and useless.
Put pumpkin flesh in food processor and blend until smooth.
Line mesh strainer with cheesecloth, place over bowl (or a large measuring cup because you’ll need one anyway.), and add puréed pumpkin to the strainer.
Allow to drain overnight.
Take the liquid you’ve gathered, measure it (Said you’d need the measuring cup.), and pour it into a sauce pan.
Add half as much sugar as there is liquid (or equal parts sugar to liquid, depending on your personal sweet tooth).
Add a cinnamon stick, some whole cloves, and a few allspice berries.
Heat to dissolve sugar and allow to steep, infusing spices into the syrup.
Remove from heat, allow to cool, strain out spices.
Store your new spiced pumpkin syrup in the fridge.
Make amazingly tasty martinis.

Oh. You want to know what to do with the puréed pumpkin? Well, there’s pumpkin sauce for pasta, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin scones, and let me tell you it makes a mighty good pumpkin pie. Mmm...pie!

Now I’m hungry and I want a drink. ::looks at watch:: Bit early for the latter, but maybe some scones… ::wanders off to the kitchen::