Road Trip to Budapest 2016

Neusiedl am See

I'm incorrigible. Every time I return from a journey I say to myself that I'll write a blog post immediately but look at this. This was in the summer and yet I'm writing this on New Year's Eve.
This year my friends and I couldn't make our schedules meet for longer than five days so we decided to hit the road and get abroad but not that far. Once we got on the highway connecting Vienna and Budapest, it was so easy. 

4 iconic things: Buda castle, the Danube, old tram and the Joker ;-)

We made a stop in the half or our journey - in Austria in Neusiedl am See - to refresh ourselves and to stare into water for a bit. I must admit we could have stayed a bit longer were it not for one member of our party who started to burn in the sun. It was hot but still... Weird.

We arrived to Budapest in the afternoon and found our hostel in the centre as well as cheap parking space quite easily. Our first walk was along the Danube and then we searched for a place to eat some traditional food. We found a restaurant and placed our orders. When the food arrived, the waiter warned us of hot pepper on the food. I thought he was talking of the dry stuff which the food was dusted with so I tried to blow it away. But my friend took a bite of fresh veggies on the side (where there were a couple of slices of green

This dude reminded us of Karl Marx so we called him thus.
What's very funny about it is the cross in his hand. Get it?
No? Then I'm sorry. This is a nerdy joke for social scineces
majors... 

pepper) and started choking. We didn't know whether to call the ambulance or not. He became red. He couldn't talk. This proceeded for ten minutes. I tried the pepper too because I couldn't believe it would coax such a reaction out of someone (it was no jalapeño) and half of my tongue was on fire first and then I lost sensation in it. So I can only tell you how only half of my leco tasted. :-)

The next day we embarked on a trip up the hill. There is a Hungarian statue of liberty watching over Budapest so we went there. It was 30° at 8 am already and the storm clouds which threatened to spill over made sure the humidity was unbearable once we started sweating our way up. When we

Liberty Statue on Gellért Hill

got there, there was a group of Asian tourists in the first photo spot and they were just getting their cameras out of their bags which meant they arrived seconds before us. While we were drenched with sweat and were happy they came first in big numbers (so that we could take a breather and look less shiny in pictures), they were perfect. No sweat stains on their clothes, no runny make-up. Nothing. They were photo ready. Just how?! What country were they from that they found this exercise in humid hot conditions normal and didn't break a sweat? We found out later that there was a bus stop at the top so their group cheated. :-D=

Later we went to see Buda castle, which is biiiig and again on the top of the

You know I have a thing for these ;-)=

hill. But there were escalators. And an art exhibition so our souls were fed. Later we emerged at a different end of the castle and saw an awesome funicular. We waited for it to go up to take pictures and one of my friends decided to have an ice-cream while we waited. It was the only thing she had and we didn't so that must have been what caused her diarrhoea later. That sucked but only slowed us down a little.

We went to see the Parliament building (it's stunning) and the The Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial. After seeing St. Stephen's Basilica we went on a souvenir hunt and came across a big water fountain or whatever it was and were more than happy to dip our feet in it. 

Our last day started by seeing the synagogue and trying to find the Hungarian National Museum. We got lost for a bit and walked in a different direction (yay for maps where there aren't the little streets) but we found it and learned something of the Hungarian history.

At Buda castle

Then we went to see the Central Market Hall to get the feeling where various things were because we wanted to buy the fresh goods upon our departure the next morning. It was packed with people, chilly peppers, wreaths of garlic, sausages and other very odour-emitting products. Last souvenir hunt followed.

There was a beheaded snake under the fountain below "Karl"

Early in the morning of the next day we went to the market to buy stuff for our families and went home. We didn't see everything in Budapest, far from it. But what we saw we liked. It was beautiful and I see why people had problem saying if it's Prague, Vienna or Budapest which is the most beautiful city in Europe. I can't honestly tell.
Now let me tell you a story of our departure. As I was mentioning earlier, there were storm clouds everywhere making the air not so lung-friendly. And in the morning of our last day, the sky was dark and we knew it would start raining any minute. The check-out was at 8:00 and we waited ... and waited ... and waited for the dude to come in and open the reception to give us our deposit and documents back. He came about half an hour late. As we were dragging our luggage (now full of meat treats and wine) to the parking lot (about 2km away), very heavy raindrops started to fall. It was so dark suddenly that we didn't even see the corner where to turn. Needless to say that before we reached the car which now seemed very far, the rain seemed to "fall" up from the ground. The dirt surface of the parking lot made sure we got mud on our legs. Thoroughly wet and dirty we went home.

I don't know what's creepier - that the penguin has bigger boobs than me or that the penguin has boobs o_O

Every day I'm bookstagrammin' ...

The Parliament

The Market - food was downstairs and other goods up on those narrow "catwalks" ;-)

We sooo didn't want to get out of the water

The Hungarian National Museum and us chillin' on a red bench

The Basilica ceiling

Castle Hill Funicular

I have a ton of building decorations' pics but you don't want to see them, do you?

Felicity Heaton: Vampire for Christmas

Wow, he's grabbing her boob! Is this porn?
And shouldn't be there an article in the title?

I tried to get as much as possible from my Kobobooks experience and found out that there are free books in there as well! I typed in the word "vampire" and suddenly was flooded by a plethora of free e-books. That's very cool if you ask me. So now my e-book reader is full of who-knows-what. And I'm going to read it all and tell you about it. Since it's Christmas, I grabbed this story (and just like yesterday, I read it one year in advance).

There are two demon/vampire slayers who hang around in the cemeteries with stakes in their hands. One of them is a vampire and one of them is just a bad-ass woman. Sounds familiar? I know! My pubescent obsession with Buffy is back here! Fortunately, there are some dissimilarities. No Chosen One for us this time. 

And these two have been hanging around together for two years and while the vampire is too scared to say anything about his stalkerish obsession with the woman, the woman is slowly realising he is the one. Even though he is of the species who butchered her family. Oh, the conflicts. Never forget the stakes in the back pockets of their jeans. I mean, they work for an agency which keeps demonish vermin at bay and all they have is stakes? Really? I forgot to take a look when it was published. Maybe guns and more potent stuff was out of question back then.

Anyway, these two seem to speak volumes with their eyes. I bet you all had that moment (way too often) in your lives when you looked into someone's eyes and had no frickin' idea about what the other person was thinking. Well, here you see everything. You don't need dialogue when you have eyes. If life was so simple. 

Add some cheesy eye-staring and kisses while slimy demons are attacking with slime (really, that's all you got demon?) and you are in for some flashbacks. I loved this kind of shows when I was growing up. I don't find them so amusing now but for the nostalgia it brought I'm gonna be lenient in my rating.

GENRE: The Buffy-ish Genre

FANGS OUT: oh, the sweet memories of our teenage years
FANGS RETRACTING: out of date and kinda pathetic when you think about it too much
TOTAL SCORE:

Cynthia Eden: A Vampire's Christmas Carol

It's kinda spooky to write this since Eden gave her readers a free e-book for Christmas but I already had a post for that day which means I'm writing this post one frickin' year in advance. Merry Christmas from the past and present and future!

But it matches the book's tone because it was written based on Dickens's idea of three Christmas visitors who want to redeem a person. 

This time, we have a vampire who accidentally caused death of his loved one and turned into a crooked avenger. It's not like he kills innocent people, or wait... how can he be so sure? Being someone's judge, jury and executioner may alter the way he sees the world. His not-so-dead-as-we-thought beloved tries to sacrifice everything she has once she learns of his future. 

So, through three people (I use this term loosely since I don't want to tell you about all the supernatural shocks you are gonna get) he is shown his past, can glimpse what he has become and scarily enough sees what the fate may have for him in stock if he doesn't change. Well, that's the whole point of those visitors. To torture him what he already knows and to scare him away from his fate.

But will love be enough to redeem one soul? Will the sacrifices made be enough to help? Just read and you will see. I mean, it's a short Christmas read, do you really think this piece will crush your emotions, destroy your Christmas mood, and make you stop reading vampire romance? ;-)=

GENRE: Christmas Romance

FANGS OUT: Well, if you like that magical time around Christmas, it's for you!
FANGS RETRACTING: I'm not a fan of "magical" Christmas time.
TOTAL SCORE:

I'm in a book! *squee* How did that happen? AKA One life Goal Achieved

*squeeeeeeeee* Sorry about that but I've know this for a couple of months now and yet I still totally fangirl about it. It's not every day you meet a character bearing your name. And it's not everyday you were the reason for the character to be named that way.

Because how can I not freak out?! There was a contest I found on the Instagram at @oncebittentwicedie where the author was offering to name a character after you (or give a name of your choice) in exchange of some very cool picture of you reading his book. That was a challenge I couldn't resist. Because postapocalyptic world with vampires! That's why!

At first I took two lame pictures of me being very chill with a glass of blood or just reading the book with my mouth open (not the very smartest-looking thing but how else can you see the fangs?!) but later I came out with a better idea.

I wanted to win so I was hesitating whether quantity or quality would be a better approach. So I did both. 

I came up with this cool idea of hanging upside down and reading so I managed to persuade my friend to do a photoshoot with me. It was hell. Vampires are overdressed for summer I must admit. I was sweating before I got out of my house (try putting on pantyhose on sweaty legs!) and then in my vampire glory I had to go to a very populated area with those swings and merry-go-rounds for kids. There were kids. I scared them away. And assumed my position on one of their metal construction. My skirt didn't defy gravity. There were people watching. My friend had to pin my skirt to my pantyhose (and accidentally to my thigh). The stockings get slippery on metal stuff by the way. As I was hanging upside down all I could see were those blocks of flats around and more and more people on their balconies watching. I started getting sick from all that blood in my head and thought I might faint. I didn't but it was a close call. 

So I'm really proud of the picture because after almost dying, everyone seeing my underwear and scaring everyone within one kilometre radius, I got chosen to be a book character. *squeeeeeeee*

I'll include a proper review with a ton of quotes about the mysterious Czech girl in postapocalyptic Britain of TWICE BITTEN, TWICE DIE after I'm exhausted from boasting about it. So far I carry it around and shove it into every face I meet :-D= Because it is, hands down, the coolest thing to happen to me this year.
I think you should go and buy it. No, honestly, until now it was a good series but now that it has a character with a weird name in it, it's  just excellent :-)=

Super Moon

I was woken up by the Moon tonight. My super opaque curtains created a small slit where they meet and through that some frickin' bright light seeped in and disturbed my slumber. It was like going to the beach! The burn! I don't wear sun block at night but now that I think of it I should probably start.

Anyway, later I read the news and learned it was supposed to be Super Moon or something so naturally I took my camera and hoped that I would make some nice pictures. You know how it is. You hope for a gigantic ball in the sky and when the photo comes out, it's just a small blip of light. 

And just as predicted, the first photo was like that.

But I started fooling around with my camera - there are those modes like sport, fireworks and stuff so I held hope it would be better.

Which turned out quite lame. All the night settings made the moon blurrier and smaller even more than the daylight settings.

But then, when I was losing hope, I found it! Even my shitty cheap digital thingy can produce a nice Moon picture :-)= Awoooooo!

Wood Demon for Halloween 2016

You know what? I have a list of creatures I want to be for Halloween and each year I draw one out and try to make it. So this year it was quite easy because I chose the Tree Demon. I was looking at all those sugar skulls and thinking how to make it a bit different and voilá! The Tree Demon or Wood Demon was born. 

All the stuff needed for it was either already in my make-up bag or outside in the garden. The only item I actually had to buy was the contact lenses. Duh! So in case you are wondering, they are ColorVue's Black Titan and they are a bit bigger in diameter than normal lenses, which was terrible for me to get them on. And I also expected they'd cover more of my eye in the center. I don't care how terrible the tunnel vision is, I need more coverage because as you can see here, a ton of my color is showing and I don't like that. 

Anyway, makeup-wise this costume is easy because all you need is a couple of colors. First I put on a white base (a generic costume shop one) which I spread to my hair to create cool texture. 

Then I contoured my face with the light brownish color in NYX's I dream of St. John. Taking black Astor gel liner, I created that nose, eye and mouth action. Since the liner is quite shiny, I set it with the blackest black I own - the one in W7's In the Buff. Then I went back to the NYX's palette and used the dark brown to create vertical lines. I set it all with Rimmel's translucent powder.  

I used the same technique on my arms (minus the gel liner since there was nothing to highlight), there I only added the knar-looking places to really resemble a tree. 

The last thing to really do was chopping some branches and putting them in my hair and tying them on strings to go around my chest chewbacca-style ;-)

The rest was just black clothes I have no shortage of in my closet.

It looks as if I was covered in white spots but my black outfit was spotless - someone should just clean the mirror at my workplace :-)=

Christopher Buehlman: The Suicide Motor Club

If you were a driver in the US back in the 60's, consider yourself lucky for being here. There were undead things roaming all over the place, hiding in abandoned mines or houses near the highway, stealing the fastest cars and feeding on innocent passers-by. Or maybe you have encountered them but don't remember. If there is a night on Route 66 you remember in a haze, then you've been spared. They let you go.

But the thing is that someone noticed. Not all the people are susceptible to being brain-washed by them so when a woman survives a car wreck, she remembers her son being snatched away by them. And despite her attempts to tell herself it was all just a bad dream and trying her career in a cloister to forget her awful past, the destiny chose different path for her. She isn't the only one to know about them. So when a secret club of vampire slayers asks her to come along and avenge her little son, she agrees.

I loved the story and its twists. It was terrifying and gruesome. The characters kept slowly uravelling their secrets so that I was constantly saying "aha! wow! what the.." and so on ;-)= I'm happy that the idea of the evil undead is still alive and hasn't disappeared from literature just yet. And even though a charming character appears, the protagonist can see through him and doesn't get swept away.

GENRE: horror on the road

FANGS OUT: scary, full of sharp twists and turns
FANGS RETRACTING: keep them out, the blood will be spilt
TOTAL SCORE:

Chocolate Mousse Cake

Oh my God, this one is so difficult (and by difficult I mean you can't put everything in one bowl and mix it like I normally do)! But my mom loves it and requested it for her Name Day (yup, we celebrate it -as good excuse to drink as any, right?). So I slaved in the kitchen to come up with a teeny tiny cake which sends everyone into a state of bliss. Well, not everyone, it serves about six people but what the heck, let's do it.

You'll need:

• 4 egg yolks
• 2 eggs
• 65g granulated sugar
• 32g cocoa powder
• 16g potato starch

• 65g sugar
• 60ml water
• 25ml amaretto

•  160g bitter chocolate
• 50g butter
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 egg
• 250ml heavy cream

 1) Take the eggs and yolks with sugar from the first part and whisk them above boiling water. It must remain luke warm - you don't want an omelette here! It should become light and full of bubbles. Gently fold in the dry ingredients (as you can see, the bubbles are the only thing giving this light texture so fold really carefully, you don't want to burst them and have very flat and dense cake). Bake for about 15mins at 180°C. Then let cool down and later cut in half.

2) Boil the ingredients from the 2nd part for about 2 minutes and set aside.

3) Mix the butter and chocolate by melting them above boiling water. And set aside.

4) Whisk the eggs and yolks with sugar till you have a foamy mixture.

5) Add 1/2 of the boiled sugar/amaretto SLOWLY to the foamy mixture you've just created.

6) Pour this egg mixture in the melted chocolate and put in the fridge to cool.

7) Pour the second half of the sugary "syrup" over the two halves of the cake.

8) Beat the heavy cream till soft peaks appear and beat it in the choco mixture you take out from the fridge. 

9) Assembly the cake, let it cool in the fridge for a couple of more hours and celebrate that you've achieved level one in French cake making. Yeah, this is what kids make in France ;-)=

Now I see I've also sprinkled it with cacao powder. Do whatever you fancy...

James Fahy: Hell's Teeth

I ever thought I wasn't influenceable when it comes to social media. I know the ads around are customised to compel me to buy the kind of stuff I search for on the net and that nothing is as it seems but somehow ever since I joined bookstagram, there are people I can easily talk to about books and what more - there are authors who talk to us lowly humans :-)= And that's how I've got this book. I had to buy it because a) vampires and b) the author actually interacts with his followers. Big thumbs up just for that alone. 

So, this is a first book in a series BUT it doesn't end on a cliffhanger. That's sweet. You already know I like the series where I can decide whether I'll keep on reading or not. Cliffhangers are too pushy. 

Somehow people created these human devouring pale creatures (originally to be supersoldiers) who turned on them and when they thought everything would be lost, supernatural creatures stepped out of the shadows and helped them keep the pale ones at bay. But somehow they still aren't treated equally with humans despite their abilities. 

The story takes place in what was saved of Oxford and follows a doctor working in a lab (to find the cure or basically anything to help the battle against the pale creatures). Somehow while working on a cure which doesn't really work (as in exploding rats) she gets to work for Cabal (a weird version of the ruling body which wants to make everything visible for its citizens) to solve some unusual situation. Just because she once talked to a vampire who was standing across a whole room from her. That made her an expert on supernatural beings - and this absurd world and turn of the events is spiced up by her sarcastic side which shows up during deadly situations.

It was entertaining, adventurous and I appreciated the lack of romantic element - yeah, there was mild flirtation with the hot vampire but it wasn't distracting from the main story so that doesn't count. Yeah, I liked it a lot. It was fast-paced and there were many twists.

GENRE: postapocalyptical dystopian adventure

FANGS OUT: awesome leading character, nice twists
FANGS RETRACTING: I'd like to know more about the society since it's quite important
TOTAL SCORE:

Orange Black Tea Cupcakes

These are so good! So moist and soft and citrusy and... well, just make them and you'll see. This batch makes about 20 muffins so bear that in mind.

You'll need: 

batter

• 400g flour
• 3 tea spoons baking powder
• 250g sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 125ml oil
• 125g butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 table spoons poppy seeds
• 3 table spoons orange curd
• 2 table spoons juice from orange (I'm not saying orange juice because I don't want you to buy that thing, squeeze it out yourself!)
• zest from 1/2 orange
• 360ml milk
• 4 tea spoons black tea leaves

topping

• 1/2 orange zest
• 1 tea spoon orange juice
• 1 tea spoon milk/tea concoction from above
• 250g cream cheese
• a bit of black food color
• poppy seeds for decoration

1) Bring the milk to a boil and then set aside. Put the tea in and let it do it's business for about 15 minutes. Then take the tea out.

2) Put the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix. Add the wet ones and combine.

3) Bake at 180° for about 20 minutes.

4) Mix everything for the topping.

5) Smear a little of the cheese mixture onto your muffins and sprinkle with poppy seeds. You can double the mixture if you feel adventurous - I was afraid everyone would be wary around that dark color so I created just small blobs.

Morgan Rice: Turned

Yeah, I downloaded another free e-book because I'm incorrigible. And because this one had some nice reviews over the years I've been avoiding it and everyone seemed to have read it, I naturally had to read it too.

So, it's a romance. No wait, it's an action book. No, horror? Romance again? I honestly don't know because the story kept changing it's tone. Which is good, you never know how it's going to turn out. 

Basically there is this girl whose father is unknown (yay, haven't we seen this before) and she starts to get these cravings for more than food. You probably guessed what she is then. Except she doesn't know and when she gets into her vampire mode she rarely remembers what she's done the first days. 

At first I was repelled by the potential love story (she comes to a new school, meets a new guy kinda scenario) but I liked that she got abusive mother and her high school she moved into was literally hell where the policemen had to roam all day long. That's a good thing - no boring small towns but harsh urban reality. 

I even started to like the story more as the vampire clan whose territory this new girl threatened appeared. Their lair and the sheer mass of them sounded spectacular and the story picked up the horror/action vibe.

But then my dreams were crushed by a knight in shining armour. It turned toward romance again but really cheasily so. Nothing can crush a good story as premature I-love-you's.

I was tempted to take a look at the rest of the books but then I learned there were 12 of them (as of now when I'm writing this, maybe there already is next one by the time you are reading this). Too much commitment. No no no. So I have to judge by just one story which had really good twists in the horror area but lacked reason in the romance department.

GENRE: romance? horror? action? who knows?!

FANGS OUT: good pacing, great settings
FANGS RETRACTING: premature i-love-you-ing, the romance part is bad
TOTAL SCORE:

Blueberry Ice Cream

How else to say goodbye to the summer holidays than making ice-cream? Among seasonal fruit it's basically the only food I live on during summer so I thought I'd make my own. And boy, it's heavenly! The preparation is a bitch since I don't own any fancy ice cream makers and had to do all by hand but the result. Ohhhhh, the result... :-)=

You'll need:

• 2 cups blueberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 table spoon lemon juice
• 2,5 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup milk
• a pinch of salt
• 3 egg yolks
• patience

1) Take 1/4 sugar, blueberries and lemon juice - bring it to a boil in your saucepan and then mash them and run through the strainer (I didn't want any big parts in it so that's why).

2) Put 1 cup of cream aside.

3) Take the milk, cream, sugar and salt and put in a sauce pan till the sugar dissolves - when the steam is rising from the mixture, pour a little over whisked yolks and then return it with the yolks back to the burner. Mix. Always stir. Add the blueberry puree. Stir till the back of a wooden spatula holds the mixture and if you run your finger over it, the not wiped part holds in place... Oh, I'm bad at describing, I know. But I know what I'm doing. Google word NAPPANT if you don't know what I mean. 

4) Let the mixture cool down and then put it in the freezer. It's better to put it in a wide container because you'll need to break it afterwards.

5) When it's completely chilled, take it out and break it to pieces and let it start melting - just a little. Add the rest of your cream and with the use of hand mixer, incorporate. Pour into any container and put it back to the freezer. 

6) Mission accomplished! ;-)= 

Erica Stevens: Captured

So, imagine that about one hundred years ago the vampires won the war with humans and now you are either their slave (living in relative comfort, having a job, food to eat but also blood to let) or you are a part of rebellion (so you live like a savage in the woods with empty belly, trying to figure out how to put the vampire kingdom down, hoping the raids will not catch you because that would make you a blood slave).

The story follows a 17-year-old girl (mental eyeroll) who gets captured and by a miracle isn't passed on to be a slave to some lowly cruel vampire but to a very old (over 900 years) old vampire prince. He represents everything she hates, she represents lowly creature designed only for his cruel play. But somehow they become caring for one another (mental eyeroll). Honestly, I'm sick of these virgins who are basically still children to play main roles. I find it disturbing that such an old vampire would like a child. And have more that fatherly feelings for a child. Can't someone just write something more logical? Why can't we shrug off the virgins and unicorns cliché? It's been put into so many books that a change is definitely needed. This would have been such a good read otherwise!

And then the cliffhanger. Pardon me if I'm not into never-ending series but I'm just not gonna sit here and wait for a trilogy which will later be prolonged into pentalogy and more. Just no. 

If the world it's set in was more elaborated on, it would have been a great piece. It's scary and dark and I love it but need more info about it. But as you can see, I've used way to many IFs so it's not going to get better rating than three vampire kisses.

GENRE: cruel romance

FANGS OUT: it reads so well but lacks further descriptions to be awesome
FANGS RETRACTING: cliffhanger, way too cliché-ish
TOTAL SCORE:

Apple Cake

This one is super easy. I had a lot of summer apples at hand (I have no idea what the kind is actually called but they are called summer apples in Czech and basically are ready for eating in the summer and don't last very long because they have very thin skin and mushy insides) and just made the recipe from what I could see in front of me.

Ingredients:

• 5 cups peeled and sliced apples
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups sunflower oil
• 2 tea spoons cinnamon
• 2 tea spoons baking powder
• a pinch of salt

• 200g sour cream
• 3 table spoons cocoa powder 
• 1/2 tea spoon stevia powder

1) Mix everything for the batter and pour onto a baking tray. Bake at 180°C - the time depends on the thickness. I was done in 40 minutes. 

2) Mix the topping part and smear across the cake when it's cooled down. 

Kathy Love: Any Way You Want It

This was definitely a beach read. I mean, anyone can say that just by the look of the cover but I wanted to make it clear. It's either for holiday or that time of the month when you need romance with good end. That's exactly what the cover suggests and what you'll get.

 New Orleans with its swarms of tourists attracts a lot of creatures and no one really notices the absence of aging, right? So, in one bar there is a vampire band. But don't think cool vampire band. Just a good band.. they play covers of cheesy hits after all. And the lead singer used to be a very good pianist until he wasn't and now he only sings (I'm not gonna spill the only twist of the story, so read for yourself why). BUT he gets this urge to play his very own old piece on the piano and BAM! that attracts a visitor who needs a break after a bad break-up and who got her tea leaves read and, of course, she is to meet a hot dude. The music reminds her of one piece she was to verify (and thinks no one else should know the melody) before her departure for her deserved break so it's exactly that what draws her in.

They hit it off and say it's going to last only a week (her vacation is to be over then). Well, you know that there will be steamy passages and that the fling will grow into something more and then the secrets will come up. It's the usual set up for a romantic piece. 

What I disliked, however, was the ending. It was too rushed and some things were forgiven on the spot despite the person's previous behaviour. But hey, holiday! So whatever...

GENRE: romance

FANGS OUT: if you like hot scenes, you'll get your fill
FANGS RETRACTING: not much of an ending and the twist could be more elaborate
TOTAL SCORE:

Blueberry Cheesecake

It wouldn't be me if I didn't make a cheesecake with whatever ingredient I obtained, right? So naturally, I've made a blueberry one. It's awesome.

You'll need:

• 150g christmas cookies
• 80g melted butter

• 600g cheese (I grabbed curd and mascarpone)
• 50g sugar
• 1 egg 

 

• 2 cups blueberries
• 2 table spoons corn starch
• 1 table spoon water
•  1 table spoon lemon juice
• 50g sugar

1) Let's start with the base. You know the drill - crush the biscuits till powdery, pour butter in them and when the mixture is moist, press to the bottom of your pan and bake at 180°C for 10 minutes. I chose christmas cookies because I thought they'd go well with blueberries and because while I'm sick of cinnamon and other festive spices in winter, I love them in summer.

2) Put everything for the blueberry layer in a pan and boil. When it starts to thicken, set aside and let cool down a little.

3) Mix the cheese layer and if you find it not sweet enough, add more sugar. I wanted to have a slightly sour cake so that's why I used so little sugar.

4) Pour 1/2 of the cheese mixture over the bottom, then pour 3/4 of the blueberry mixture over it, then add the rest of the cheese mixture and on top of it all add the blueberries again.

5) Bake for about 40 minutes at 150°C.