Chasing the Bard

Ahhh... the wonderful world of podcasting. May I direct your attention to the side of the screen, to all those lovely little pictures? Linkage, because I love them all. But I am commanded by the Dark Goddess Sive the Shining for a bit more attention to be directed towards the realm of the Fey. Yes, Sive from Chasing the Bard. Heard of it? Good, awesome podcast that everyone should listen to.

Excuse me for a minute...

(Yes Chris, I will blog about Metamor City for my 4 or so readers when the episode with me is posted! Then it will be all special-like.)

And I'm back. Miss me? No? Whether you are among those that missed me or not, I have cookies. Yes, cookies. Ha. Don't worry, random tangent is over... back to Chasing the Bard by Philippa Ballantine.

First and foremost, Philippa Ballantine is awesome. Philippa has lent her voice talents to the podcasts of Murder at Avedon Hill, Morevi, and Metamor City. Granted, her voice is probably in other podcasts across the world wide web, but these are the podcasts I listen to and know of. A voice like hers is hard to miss or be mistaken on. Chasing the Bard is a bit ahead of the other podcasts, as the narration is done by Philippa herself in a gorgeous New Zealand accent.

Now that my love for accents has been taken care of, onto the story itself. Chasing the Bard is based back in the time of William Shakespeare and in the realm of the Fey. Sive finds the young baby Shakespeare, filled with bardic art, noticeable even at such a young age. Shakespeare is placed under the protection of the trickster Puck, so full of wit and humor that brings a smile to anyone's face. To know more, you must listen. Not only will listening get you a sneak peek into the Fey realm, but a bit of time travel back to Shakespeare's world.

I am only on Chapter 9 at the moment, but my favorite character is Puck by far. I'm slowly making my way through as I find the time, so that could very well change, even though Puck is too impish to have favorite character status taken away from him easily. This story isn't fully done out in podcast yet, but is available in book form and the sequel, Digital Magic, will be out in August.

Garlic Garlic Garlic

Yes, Garlic Garlic Garlic is a cookbook, 200+ recipes of garlicky goodness, including 3 garlic desserts! Other than cheese, garlic is my favorite ingredient in most dishes. I’m not hardcore enough to really think about making a garlic ice cream. When my boyfriend was planning on making dinner for me, he called me up and asked what I wanted. My response was “Something with garlic.” I ended up enjoying homemade lasagna, garlic bread, and a beautiful Caesar salad all with my requested ingredient. Thankfully, the lemon-strawberry sorbet had no garlic in it whatsoever.

Going back to the book, Garlic Garlic Garlic is a bit more than just a mere cookbook. In the beginning and then scattered throughout the rest of the book is fact and folklore about garlic. Hardneck garlic, softneck garlic, garlic chives, elephant garlic… all are here. While I had no clue there was a difference between hardneck and softneck garlic, apparently most of what we purchase in a local supermarket is the softneck variety. I had no clue that there were garlic chives, or that elephant garlic isn’t really garlic, but closer to a leek.

Obviously, the point of a cookbook is recipes, recipes that one might find enjoyable, delicious and easy to make. Out of the 200 something recipes, I picked out 20 that I want to make, and some that I will never ever make or even try. No garlic ice cream for this girl, no way. While Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic has its merits, if I wanted to wield a deadly weapon, I’d use a gun instead of my breath.

Now I haven’t had the time nor kitchen space to try any of these recipes yet, but they look yummy. I definitely want to try a Chinese night with the Vegetarian Spring Rolls and Kung Pao Chicken recipes that I found in this book. Next I’ll need to find a recipe for Egg Drop Soup to go along with the rest of the Chinese dishes, as no Chinese takeout is complete without the soup.

The Angel of Darkness

The weather in Michigan finally warmed up these last 2 weeks, going from 40 degrees to 70 in a very short period of time. The pool needs to be opened, grass needs to be cut, and a multitude of other yard projects keep cropping up. With all these outdoor plans using up most of my time and a sunburn to keep me from sleeping too well, time spent with books or teh interwebz has been non-existent. I'm working on remedying that even though the school behind my house has been blasting pop tunes all day. If I hear Soujia Boy, Macarana or Hokey Pokey one more time, someone might die.

The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr is a work of historical fiction taking place in New York at the end of the 1800s. Now the prequel to The Angel of Darkness is The Alienist, but doesn't need to be read first. In fact, as the characters in The Angel of Darkness are introduced and go up to Number 808, they each have their moment of hesitation and dread, reflecting back a tiny bit on The Alienist. While I don't need to have read The Alienist to full understand The Angel of Darkness, I'm very much inclined to read it now.

Caleb Carr does a wonderful job of using his entire cast of characters to their fullest potential, trying to find enough evidence against their villain for a trial. I honestly don't know what else to say about this book. I liked it, it had forensic mixed in with a good story and you even get to see Roosevelt. My brain is literally fried, apparently too much sun does that.