3-Ingredient Cheesecake

I'm not sure if you have noticed but the Internet was all over this Japanese dessert some time ago (or maybe it is still "in" when this post comes to my blog). Maybe the Net was just spamming me with it since I write about food, I'm not sure. But if you've seen it, here you can see how it turned out. It looked so simple I had to try it. And I must say the Internet is easily amused. I'm not.
I get it, in a crooked universe where everybody is on a diet, a crust from flour seems too evil to eat but what about those three bars of chocolate?! ;-)=

The cake is featherlight and it's like eating a cloud - that's really awesome. But honestly I couldn't help but notice the egg flavour. It's too much for me. If I wanted a fancy sweet omelette I'd ... I dunno what I'd do because I'd never want a sweet omelette. 

Ingredients:

• 250g cheese (cream cheese, curd cheese, you choose)
• 6 eggs
• 300g white chocolate

1) Melt the chocolate over boiling water and wait till it cools down a bit.

2) Separate the eggs and beat the whites till foamy (that consistency before soft peaks).

3) Mix the room-temperature cheese and chocolate. Then add egg yolks. Gently mix in the whites last.

4) Prepare a glass bowl (use baking paper for the bottom and the sides). You'll also need a baking tray with raised sides - you'll put the bowl with the cake mixture in the middle and pour boiling water around onto the tray. 

5) Bake for about 20 minutes (depends on how large your glass bowl is). The cake should rise and get brown-ish on the top and if you move it, the centre of the cake shouldn't move anymore.

6) Let cool down before your attempts to remove it from the bowl.

Mindy Wilde: Paranormal Pleasure

Since the title is self-explanatory, I had no doubt this free e-book would be just like the others. Well, it was and wasn't at the same time. It was super short (about 15 pages) and held adult content. So yes, we've seen this before.

On the other hand, it was quite well-written. You know that my expectations are very low when it comes to these free e-books and I usually give a point for amusement or at least one little thing that caught my eye but somehow I didn't have to sweat it here. 

The short story somehow flows naturally and even though it is a very fast account of the events, there is enough background to build the story on. I'm quite impressed. After reading so much shitty stuff I'm really surprised someone can actually write quite a good short story given the fact that erotic stories are at the bottom of any genre.

Of course you won't find out anything about the vampires here only that vampire/human relationship is prohibited and is punishable by death. Well, it's a story supposed to turn you on, not to give you a lecture on vampire lore.

GENRE: erotic short story

FANGS OUT: it will not bore you to death
FANGS RETRACTING: I had some Twilight-ish flashbacks in the forest scenes
TOTAL SCORE:

50 Shades of Red ... part 6

It's winter (I mean, it's probably not because as always I'm writing this in advance and I don't know which Wednesday I'm going to post it) and that means I've been wearing red lipsticks since autumn. Again. And I have new shades to share with you. So let's get ogling and comparing.

BTW, I bought a new camera which was much more expensive than the senile digital compact I had so I expected better pictures. Obviously this one tries to be artsy and blurs everything but the middle so that the focus is there. It sucks. 

This time I got two Avon lipsticks (I feel uneasy about the brand ever since that rabbit logo disappeared from their catalogue so I don't buy these), one Cien (they have this every now and then in LIDL supermarket), one Rimmel and three Sleeks.

Starting with the Avon lipsticks, they did pretty well as usual. They survived drinking and talking and lunch got only the inner rim away. I'm just not into "Red Vixen" because it's so brown it hurts. 

Concerning Spicy Red by Cien I was so happy to find a very cheap summer shade - it's very coraly and bricky at the same time. Unfortunately it just keeps moving away from the lips. It bleeds into the foundation in seconds and is eaten away during talking. 

Sleek's matte lipsticks are awesome (again, why is Vamp so brown?!) and are comparable to Avon in durability and color payoff. Not in the price though.

The Pout Paint is a different story. It's very saturated and the color... oh the color. But it doesn't stand a chance with drinks let alone food. 

The same story is with Big Bang which looks lovely, is very loud and shiny but gets eaten immediately. And moves downward. 

In this batch Sleek mattes are my favourite colors. They aren't as matte as the liquid mattes I own but they stay quite long on the lips and I just fell in love with them. So they were seen a lot on me past fall. 

J. R. Ward: Blood Kiss

Apparently all that stuff in the Black Dagger Brotherhood is not enough (the books usually have about 400 pages just so you know) and this Ward's universe needs an expansion. I usually don't grab spin-off novels because they are too watered down as compared to the original series or books but this time I made an exception. The wait for a new book in the series was wearing me down since none of my usual go-to authors was publishing anything so I thought why not try this. Ward is an excellent writer after all.

And I wasn't disappointed. Sure, since it is a spin-off it lacks the characteristic action scenes where the brothers kick some serious ass but that doesn't mean that they don't appear in there. New problems arise and our favourites are back to show us that a happy ending needs some help.

But, of course, our well-known characters appear in the background (though as I've already written, the book with 400 or so pages has enough space for all) and the book revolves around a star-crossed lovers. Who and how ... that is up to you to find out.

I think Ward always delivers and you shouldn't be afraid of reading anything from her. Because unlike those frequent sappy romances she actually creates real problems and make people fight for it. The characters have flaws and are very real.

GENRE: this one tilts more toward romance

FANGS OUT: Ward knows how to deliver a story

FANGS RETRACTING: no retraction, this is the best you can get in this genre
TOTAL SCORE:

A Remedy for your Flu

Sometimes the pills won't work or you just don't wanna take them into your system when you're just having a cold or flu. The doctor would tell you to stay put and keep stuffing yourself with warm fluids anyway so let's try this.

You'll need:

• 1 orange
• 2 lemons
• 1 table spoon turmeric
• about 5cm ginger
• 1/2 cup honey

1) Peel the ginger. Chop the ginger and the lemons with the orange to the shapes of your preference.

2) Add the rest of the ingredients and mix. 

3) Put into a container and store.

When you need it, take about two spoonfuls per cup and pour warm water over it (not hot, that would kill the honey).

A. K. Michaels: Sabrina's Vampire

We had a break from free e-books last week so it means I'm strong enough to face whatever they bring again. I hope.

My misery is usually short because as I've already mentioned in one of my previous posts, they never give you the whole book for free. It's either just an introduction (in that case I'm not even bothering to write a review because I'm so mad after reading a couple of chapters only to find out I got nowhere in the story and must buy the rest in order to find out more - not mentioning such pieces is my strategy then) or a first part of many. It wouldn't stand a chance of being published in the real world. But apparently anything is possible online, so...

This week brings us yet another very plotless and rather explicit piece (mental note to self - find out if all free stuff is for horny adults). If this kind of literature is your forte, then go on my friend, there is a plenty of that. But if you are more into plots and twists and some deeper meaning you'll be disappointed.

I'm not sure I want to elaborate on how stupid the characters act (given the fact that some of them are detectives and should know better or given the fact that the relationship which started so fast is very unbalanced since only one party can read the other's mind and so on). You get to know something about the vampires and how their world works though there is nothing we wouldn't have seen before and I'm quite tired of reading about how when you find your destined mate you can just bang your way into eternity. 

Just like I said, don't expect much except the hot scenes for which you will probably love it.

GENRE: X-rated

FANGS OUT: instant gratification

FANGS RETRACTING: poor plot

TOTAL SCORE:

Owlcrate - March 2016 - Writer's Block

So I just couldn't resist and bought one of those mystery book boxes because ... well, it's fun not knowing what you get. 

When I was choosing which one to start with I was quite taken aback by the price of shipping - while the US residents usually get their shipping free or pay next to nothing, getting the box to Europe sometimes costs more than the box itself. But I made my choice and decided to buy the most popular box despite its price.

I tried not to go to blogs I read because I knew spoilers and reviews would start appearing soon (it took ages to get to Europe - by the time it reached me I bet everyone had already read the book) so I limited myself to Instagram only - since I'm there for only over a month I'm still intrigued by everything ... aaaaaand glimpsed the spoilers. I hate people who just plainly take a picture of everything from the box and think they are cool. They are idiots.

Anyway, it took all my will not to open it on my way from the post office when it finally arrived :-)= And what was in the box? A book, duh! Never heard of it so that's good. It would be terrible if I already owned the book. But since teenagers are the target group of this box the chances of me owning the book were slim anyway. 

Then there were these cool pins with cool quotes for bookworms - my denim jacket will sure appreciate those. 

A small book of 642 small things to write about is also a cool stuff for me since I have that 5 year journal where I answer a question a day. So when I run out of that, I'll follow with this.

Then the über-cool socks. One sock has names of banned books printed on it (Who would have thought that Ulysses has ever been banned somewhere, huh? I mean, no one really finishes the book and if they do they don't understand it) and the other one has them all censored. I love them. And they are big enough for my adult feet :-D= 

And lastly there was a white rubber feather. I didn't like it at first because it's white (I'm not a fan - spoilers showed me a black alternative and I wanted that one), it looks so fake (I'm not a fan), and it probably hints at Harry Potter (I'm not a fan). But then I started writing with it and its tip is so thin I love it. But I'm gonna write with no one around because I don't want anyone see me with this monstrosity in my hand.

So, what are my impressions of the very first book box?

Price (in Euros and including shipping): 46.11 (that's way too much for a book and some knick-knacks)

The book: I'll update my instagram once I've finished it but right now I don't see how this goes with the whole Writer's block theme.

Knick-knacks: love the socks and the little question book, the badges are okay-ish, the white pen looks lame

Overall impression: since this is my first box I'll save one vampire kiss in case I get a better box but I like this one a lot

James Becker: The Nosferatu Scroll

I must admit I avoid detective stories. Despite the logic and the uncertainty till the very end I find them usually too predictable and not as thrilling as I would want. 

But since I needed a break from those free e-reads I'm trying to go through I thought why not kill two birds with one stone. This book had been sitting on my shelf for years so it definitely needed attention. And since it was a gift from my brother who couldn't resist buying two books for one price while he was waiting at the airport, I really needed to get this over with in case he asked about it.  Not that he remembers what he gave me last year let alone many years ago but for my conscience' sake...

The first half of this book was quite boring. I felt like a tourist listening to advice of a tourist guide. I know that attention to detail plays key role in many detective stories but listing the numbers of vaporretos which could get me from point A to point B is just TMI. I get it, you've been to Venice and you want to show your knowledge of the place but who hasn't been to Venice?! We all know about that place and get it even without knowing which street crosses which and so on. 

Anyway, after this rather dull start the story picks up the pace and something starts happening. A lot of evil things actually. And you cannot wait to get to the end and find out if this is all just about a modern cult which worships allegedly real vampires OR if there really is a vampire in the story. I will not tell you, of course. You have to read it yourself.

The author's research on the vampire topic was thorough and that kept the vampire mystery in the book really interesting. I appreciate the historical research so that it all looks very believable. It is well-written so that you may resist the urge to ask questions about certain aspects of the story which seem too far-fetched.

GENRE: detective story

FANGS OUT: the history part is splendid, and just look at the cover

FANGS RETRACTING: the beginning is too flooded with unimportant details

TOTAL SCORE: