Tasty Tuesday - Ambrosia

It's Tasty Tuesday, where me and my fellow authors will share some sexy, fun recipes for you to try out.  My contribution this week is a beverage, and my fellow authors have items from main entrees to desserts.  We're glad you stopped by!

Ambrosia

Unlike coffee or tea, Ambrosia combines the effects of both and adds the bliss of chocolate.  One cup will open your mind and awaken your senses for whatever you desire, sexy, sweet, or serious.

1 part high quality brewed coffee (or, even better, make it in a French press)

1 part high quality black or green tea (Dragonwell is an excellent choice)

1 part high quality hot cocoa (Valhrona is my personal favorite; Vosges is a close second)

Combine in a tea pot and whisk briskly for thirty seconds.  Serve hot with a dash of cream and sugar.

I found this recipe in the Herbal Studies Course by Jeanne Rose, called the Cosmic Caffeinator.  I have made it many times and the darker the cocoa, the better the results.  The quality of the ingredients make a difference, as in anything.  But it's well worth trying, even if all you have at hand is office coffee, black orange pekoe teabags and hot chocolate.  But making it with "the real deal" will show you why I call it Ambrosia.

If you have any interest in herbalism at all, Ms. Rose is the best source of information, bar none.  Her sense of humor and wealth of knowledge are vast and she's written extensively on both herbalism and aromatherapy, as well as other topics.  You can find out more about Ms. Rose, her books and classes, at her website.

Please stop by the following blogs and load up on their tasty treats:

Salacious Salad and Naughty Nachos by Denise A. Agnew

Sweet Summer Lovin' by PG Forte

Bewitching Bailey's Cupcakes by Moira Keith

Happy Trails Trail Mix by Nancy Lauzon

Sassy Sangria by Sloan McBride

Sweet and Spicy Menage-a-Trois, by Selena Robins

ROGUE REFORMATION (CHEESY POTATOES) – The Ultimate Comfort Food For Heating Up A Cold WI Winter Night! by Renee Wildes

Join me at the Samhain Publishing Blog today!

I'm at the Samhain Publishing blog today, talking about writing with a collaborator.  I hope you'll join me!

Vacation This Week

Greetings from Philadelphia!  I'm on vacation this week and Rachel's got the stomach flu, so today we bring you our favorite vacation photo.

What do you like to do on vacation?  Do you have a favorite vacation-related writing prompt?  Tell me in the comments and we'll write a flash-fiction piece for you for our next post.

Happy summer vacation!

Underwater Basketweaving - or, "It's Research!"

One of our newer stories, which will be part of the forthcoming Bound series, features a character who owns a pleasure boat.  He used to be a sailor and worked on a fishing trawler, and the group of people he's part of used to run a trawling company.

The only problem is, Rachel and I don't know much about boats.

I mean, they float, right?  And they're pretty.  Seagulls like them.  They have masts with sails.  Pirates used to steal them.  I saw Pirates of the Carribean and, aside from not being able to spell Caribeane to save my life, that means I know about boats, right?

Wrong.

Off to research we went.  I work near a marina with a lot of boats, so the first step was to wander around and poach.  Boats, not fish.  I'd send pictures to Rachel for boats that I liked, and we found a couple brand names.  Then the real work began.  Rachel looked up the brands on the internet and we ran smack into our first problem.

Apparently, "boat" isn't a very precise moniker.

Jeez.

We had to learn the right definition for the size of boat our character owns.  Does he fish with it?  Is it a sailboat?

Does it have a shower?  (You'd be surprised; this is an important question; not all boats have them.)

We finally settled on a boat we both like.  We've been working on the scenes with this particular boat so when you read it, you'll have to see if you can tell whether we did our research well or sound like land-lubbers.

And next time someone gives you a hard time for internet surfing because you got curious about the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?  Tell 'em, "It's Research!" with a capital "R".