J. Gordon Melton: The Vampire Book, The Encyclopedia of the Undead

Wow, it's been a while since I presented some kind of non-fiction about vampires. Not that non-fiction about fictional characters makes much sense, but you know what I mean. I hope. 

This time I'm bringing a load of knowledge. Duh, that's what encyclopedias are for after all. It's over 850 pages long. I won't tell you how much it weighs because that would make some people cringe. But let's say if you have a question about something on the topic of vampirism you have your chance to actually learn about it while consulting this monster of a book. 

The format is typical - you look for keywords which are in alphabetical order. Now and then there is either a photo or illustration (a photo of a vampire?! no, you fool! but the author mentions some actors or writers, so...). 

What I find helpful (or maybe not, my version of this book is from 1994 so the info can be a bit outdated) are the apendices at the end of the book. It goes from the typical lists of publications and resources to various fanclubs (you could have joined Loyalists of the Vampire Realm if you wanted back in the day) and to quite long filmography, drama and novels lists.

Just like any ecyclopedia, this is a good starting point for your own research. This is a must-have for all you loyalists or whatever name you go under. ;-)= 

Sweet Potato Muffins

These are one of my leftover ingredients muffins since I had a half sweet potato, some strawberries, some cherries etc. and needed to bake some dessert. So, I came up with this.

You'll need (15 muffins):

• 1 1/2 cups shredded sweet potato
• 2 cups whole grain flour
• 2 tea spoons baking powder
• 1 tea spoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 table spoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 tea spoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sea buckthorn juice
• 12 strawberries 

• a handful of cherries, some lemon juice and sugar for decoration

1) Mix it all together (without the strawberries) till well combined and put one table spoon of the batter into each muffin cup. Put a strawberry in, too. Pour in more batter so that the strawberry is covered and the cup is 3/4 full. 

2) Bake for about 30 minutes at 180°C.

3) Since I had a lot of cherries as well, I took a handful of them, pitted them, put them in a pot with a table spoon of lemon juice and a little bit of brown sugar and brought it to a boil. Then I lowered the temperature and cooked for about fifteen minutes.

Buckthorn Cheesecake

And the saga continues... this time we try to make it unusual by adding sea buckthorn juice with pulp - which will make it nicely bitter but swapping sugar for honey will make it smooth and heavenly (well, not for everyone since not everybody likes the taste of honey).

Ingredients:

• 200g butter biscuits
• 80g butter
• 500g mascarpone
• 200g ricotta
• 200g white tofu
• 100ml sea buckthorn juice
• 100ml honey
• 2 eggs

1) Break the biscuits to small pieces, pour melted butter over it, combine and press to the bottom of your baking pan (have it lined with baking paper) and bake at 180°C for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool down and then you can pour the following onto it.

2) Combine the rest of the ingredients in a blender till smooth (the tofu needs some time in the blender to achieve such consistency) adding the eggs last because the amount of honey is up to you - so keep adding till you are satisfied and then crack in the eggs. Bake for about 50 minutes at 180°C.

3) To add the strange bitterness to it even more, smear the buckthorn juice over the top before serving.

Maggie Shayne: Prince of Twilight

See, I have this totally Love/Hate relationship with the series Shayne writes. I remember finding the first book in the series and liking it. Then buying a couple more and not liking it much. Now that I have run out of my usual go-to-books when I need something sweet in my life, I reached for Wings in the Night again and...

So, this is probably the most confusing of them all. I don't follow the logic in which the series were put together so suddenly going from one book and then jumping sixteen years to the future as if nothing happened somehow doesn't answer all my questions. It only creates more. Aaaand there is this whole thing about Dracula. Yup, this is his story, so naturally there are the great expectations. 

Boy, isn't this one the sappiest in the series I've read so far. It's somehow very wrong. In the previous book you get this strong woman who can stand her ground and makes decisions and suddenly (well, not so suddenly, there's this 16-year fast forward after all) she becomes this crying clingy type you must hate. I mean you can't like her. Ever. And to say nothing of the Prince of Darkness. You want the epic story, you want the evil vampire he has become and instead you just get a love-sick puppy who can still pose as intimidating as you want him to be but it's all just an act which will dissapear way too soon. 

I don't really know what to think because this is, unfortunately, not the last book I bought during my optimistic shopping spree so I will inform you how the series goes in the future. I mean, it can't be worse than this, right? 

GENRE: sappy, I repeat, sappy romance

FANGS OUT: it has got vampires, duh!
FANGS RETRACTING: I just hate all the central characters in this novel
TOTAL SCORE:

Not So Perfect Macarons

My very first macarons were done during winter when they just wouldn't get non-sticky before getting into the oven which made them full of holes from bubbles and not glossy. I had to wait till summer with its lower humidity and better temperatures to give it a second try. They came out better this time. They are glossy and the texture is right this time but I didn't beat the egg whites long enough and they spread to the sides so that the foot isn't that high but rather around the macarons. But otherwise they taste perfect and if you bite into them, they are chewy inside and hard outside. So, I believe next time they will be perfect. I'll update this post in the future to show you when I make them again if it really was the eggs or something else.

You'll need (30 macarons):

macarons: 

• 100g almond flour
• 170g icing sugar
• 15g cocoa powder

• 100g "old" egg whites (leave them in a fridge for at least a day before baking but make sure they are room temperature when you use them)
• 1/4 tea spoon cream of tartar
• 35g icing sugar 

 ganache:

• 200g dark chocolate
• 200g heavy cream
• 2 table spoons coconut oil (not neccessary)

1)  Take the almond flour, cocoa powder and sugar. Sift it at least two times so that it is super fine.

2) Beat the egg whites with cream of tartar and sugar. It is advised to beat it till it falls back in ribbon like pattern (it's soft, not hard-peaks as we are used to) but in my case it was too runny and the foot of the macarons spread to the sides, not upward so maybe let's do something in between ribbon and hard peaks next time.

3) Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients (about 20 times should do the trick).

4) Put the batter in a piping bag and make circles of your chosen size. 

5) Let the macarons sit for some time (till you can touch them without sticking to it), then tap the baking sheet you have them on and put in the oven for 14 minutes (rotate the trays halfway through).

6) The ganache is easy: bring the heavy crem to a boil, pour over the chocolate, add the oil if you want and stir till combined. Then set aside to cool.

Whipped Mascarpone

Unexpected visitors, almost nothing in the fridge, weather too hot to even think of baking something without unwanted combustion - that's what I have to deal with sometimes. 

What the heck am I supposed to make in almost no time? Well, now my always present mascarpone doesn't seem as a bad idea, does it? This will take less than ten minutes so no need to worry. Improvisation is sometimes the best thing to do. Why make some elaborate stuff when a simple thing can be equally satisfying?

You'll need (4 servings):

• 500g mascarpone
• 8 table spoons rice syrup
• 15 mashed strawberries plus some for decoration
• 4 small biscuits or one big or something like that
• some fresh basil

1) Using a hand mixer whip the mascarpone with syrup (you can add more if you like sweeter stuff but I avoided it since it was too hot for anything like that).

2) Mash your strawberries or cut them into small pieces. Also cut a couple of basil leaves and mix it all in the mascarpone. I somehow like strawberry/basil combo lately.

3) Now - the layering.  Break the biscuit(s) into pieces and put it at the bottom of a glass. Add a strawberry if you want. Top it with the mascarpone mix. Decorate with more strawberries and basil leaves.