Who is the best dinner date?

We’re going to find an ancient recipe of the food I mentioned in my novel Bargain with the Devil to cook for Mr. Darcy.

Why Mr. Darcy?

He’s handsome and rich, for sure. But his most adoring character was his consistency in love for Elizabeth Bennet. In my book, he could be angry, funny, serious and steamy at times. I reckon he will be a great dinner date.

And of course I love food too. In my novels and stories, I often touch on food or use it as a plot device.

In my novel, one night at Whitstable, a town in Southeast England famous for its oysters, Mr. Darcy got drunk and told Elizabeth: “They tell me that oysters are good for the men. It makes them go…on and on. You know, on and on…with their women. Do you want to try?”

I sure do, Mr. Darcy!

It’s interesting to know that oysters were not considered a delicacy in the past:

Oysters were a popular snack in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were sold on street corners in cities and were often devoured in their fried and pickled forms. Both high and low society adored them –Cooking with Jane Austen by Kirstin Olsen, 2005, Regency Encyclopedia

And Jane Austen was no stranger to oysters either. In one of her letters to her sister, she talked about oyster sauce:

We sate down to dinner a little after five, and had some beefsteaks and a boiled fowl, but no oyster sauce. - Letter VIII – Letters of Jane Austen, Jane Austen

Here is a recipe for frying oysters from The Art of Cookery, by Hannah Glasse, 1805 (please note the use of f instead of s in this ancient recipe):

Take a quart of the largeft oyfters you can get, open them, fave the liquor, and ftrain it through a fine fieve; wath your oyfters in warm water. Make a batter thus: take two yolks of eggs, beat them well, grate in half a nutmeg, cut a little lemon peel fmall, a good deal of parfley, a fpoonful of the juice of fpinach, two fpoonfuls of cream or milk, beat it up with floor to a thick batter; have ready fome butter in a ftew-pan, dip your oyfters one by one into the batter, and have ready crumbs of bread, then roll them in it, and fry them quick and brown; fome with the crumbs of bread, and fome without.

Take them out of the pan, and fet them before the fire; then have ready a quart of chefnuts fhelled and fkinned, fry them in the butter; when they are enough take them up, pour the fat out of the pan, fhake a little flour all over the pan, and rub a piece of butter as big as hen’s egg all over the pan with your fpoon, till it is melted and thick; then put in the oyfter-liquor, three or four blades of mace, ftir it round, put in a few piftachio-nuts fhelled, let them boil, then put in the chefnuts, and half a pint of white wine, have ready the yolks of two eggs beat up with four fpoonfuls of cream; ftir all well together. When it is thick and fine, lay the oyfters in the difh, and pour the ragoo over them. Garnifh with chefnuts and lemon.

You can try out this delicious recipe for your Mr. Darcy later on.

- Reposted from Romance Junkies Blog

Is there a good witch?

In Bargain with the Devil, Ipswich the Good Witch played a pivotal role in punishing the villain.

So how did I choose her name?

I chose her name because of the rhythm. Also, Ipswich in England is near a river and thus provides a good escape route.

Why did I make her a nice witch?

I guess I believe in paranormal events and there are so many unexplained occurrences in the world. It is possible that some people can have special power and can connect to the unknown.

How did I make her a good witch?

Her curse only works on people who deserve it. She also recycle her witchcraft material (just a modern touch by me).

I'm happy to say that she's quite well received by readers. Even another writer asked for my permission to use Ipswich the Good Witch in her story.

A Shade in His Character

August is here (At least in Australia)! To celebrate the publication of my second novel, Bargain with the Devil, a Pride and Prejudice what-if story, I will be concentrating on my love of Jane Austen's works.

Hope you will join in to share your view too.

In this post, I'm going to talk about the inspiration of my novel.

When I read Pride and Prejudice, a lot of what-if scenarios came up. What if Mr. Darcy told the people in Meryton about Wickham's infamous behaviour, would Lydia Bennet still have eloped?

What if Elizabeth Bennet asked Mr. Darcy's help to find Lydia just a few days after the disastrous proposal while he was still angry with her, would he have asked her to be his mistress in exchange for his help?

This brilliant what-if scenario, which my novel based on, was devised by Lavender Girl in A Shade of His Character. The story is not yet finished and I am forever in hope that she will finish it one day, even though I have taken her plot to another direction.

Go On and On

One of the locations in my new novel is Whitstable in Kent, UK.

Whitstable is famous for its oysters, which have been collected in the area since at least Roman times.(Wikipedia)

Here is an except from Bargain with the Devil about this.

A drunken Darcy seemed far more obedient than the sober counterpart with whom she was used to dealing. He stopped caressing Elizabeth immediately.

But he seemed more inclined than usual to talk, as well.

He murmured, “Cheap alcohol would not make me drunk. I am simply feeling … happy. Did you know that Whitstable is famous for its … oysters? They tell me that oysters are good for the men. It makes them go … on and on. You know, on and on … with their women. Do you want to try?"

Can oyster really make you go on and on?

Research shows that oyster is rich in zinc, one of the minerals that improve physical performance. So do you want to try too?

Photo from London Evening Standard

Drunken behaviour

How do you usually behave when you are tipsy or drunk?

In my forthcoming Pride and Prejudice what if novel, Bargain with the Devil, Elizabeth Bennet disguised as a young boy and followed Mr. Darcy when he went in search of George Wickham and Lydia Bennet.

Mr. Darcy got drunk with some fishermen and taught Elizabeth how to behave like a man by scratching "his" bulge. He also tried to teach her how to sit with "his" legs wide apart to show "his" manly asset.

I'm happy to say that I tend to be quiet and fall asleep soon when I am drunk. Is that a blessing?

Photo from movies ndtv.

Strip maze

I'm trying to organise a blog book tour for Bargain with the Devil and just learned a good idea from the yahoo group I'm a member of.

It's to come up with keywords from my book and try to find blogs that may be related to them. I've come up with 31 keywords so far. Let start with the first one: MAZE.

In the book the devilish Mr. Darcy asked for a piece of clothing from Elizabeth Bennet for every turn he took to take her out of the maze in Pemberley.

When the book passed through the editor Judith, she said I had to be specific with the trees that were used in a maze in Derbyshire.

Luckily I had Lynne's help. She lives in Derbyshire and excels in research. She suggested blackthorn, hawthorn, hazel and Boxwood (or Buxwood). I have decided to use Buxwood.

Photo from Cedar Creek Gardens

This one looks a bit too low for a strip maze game though!