Julie Kagawa: The Immortal Rules, The Eternity Cure, The Forever Song

Let's not talk about the covers

I was more than intrigued when I found out about the Blood of Eden series. Why? Well, not that it contains my two favourite topics (vampires and postapocalyptical world) or anything... 

So again, the expectations were high. But not too high; I knew the stuff reeked of teenage fiction which obviously sells the most these days so I knew there would be distractions in the guise of people falling in love for the first time and that there would be no depth where you usually need it.
With this I embarked on a journey which was quite fast. It's funny how the books seem thick and then you open them and the font is just so big. (*mental note for myself: find out if all teenagers are optically challenged*). So it took me just a couple of working days to read it (that's a shocker, I never finish anything on my workdays because of the lack of time, let alone finish a whole trilogy).
And the results? It was surprisingly good. Sure, the scientific detailist in me was eager to get more info on the illness and everything around it and never got it. But the books were fast paced, full of action and contained some character development and interesting ideas. 

GENRE: post-apocalyptic teenage romance

FANGS OUT: set in a cool universe

FANGS RETRACTING: not complex enough

TOTAL SCORE:

White and Dark Chocolate Mousse

Honestly, there is chocolate in it, so you don't have to worry about it not being  tasty, righ? ;-)= Compared to my other recipes where I usually put everything in one bowl this one is a bit more complicated but trust me, it's worth the dirty dishes. With the amount of mousse I'd made I filled six big wine glasses to their brims and it was way too much to eat in one sitting so I recommend breaking that at least into ten servings. Or if you are hungry a lot, just go with whatever suits you the best.

Dark chocolate mousse:

• 150g chocolate (I used 70%)
• 400ml heavy cream
• 3 egg whites
• pinch of salt

1) Melt the chocolate (put it in a bowl which you will put onto a pan with boiling water in it. Once it's melted, put it aside and let's move to the point nr. 2.

2) Take the cold heavy cream and try to "beat" (agitate) it so that it becomes basically fluffy. Your hand and a whisk create the best results because you have control over it but it takes forever if you don't go to the gym to strenghten your arms ;-)=. You can use a machine to do it for you but really watch out because you can overdo it and the fluff will start falling apart if you don't pay attention. Once this is done, put it aside (into the fridge or somewhere cold).

3) Now you can take a machine because you need to create stiff peaks from the whites with a pinch of salt in them.

4) All you need is next is putting the three parts together so take the whites and try to slooooowly and tenderly mix them with the chocolate. Then take that and again slowly with a light hand mix it with the cream. Refridgerate till you need it.

 
White chocolate mousse:

• 200g white chocolate (break it into smaller pieces if you buy whole bars)
• 300ml heavy cream
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar 

1) In a small bowl whisk the yolks with sugar till it doubles in size and is a bit paler. Set aside.

2) Take a half of the heavy cream and put it on a cooker. Once it simmers, remove it from the cooker and pour it over the yolks with sugar and stir it a bit. Now take the whole thing, pour it into the pan again and put it back on the cooker. Try to use lower temperature and stir for about two minutes or so. Basically you want it hot but not boiling.

3) Then you pour this over your white chocolate chunks. It should be enough to melt it. So again, stir till it's smooth and set aside so that it can cool down.

4) Put the rest of your heavy cream into a bowl and whisk. Halfway to the stiffpeaks add the sugar and continue.

5) Now the tricky part. You need the chocolate in the cream, right? Make sure the chocolate is cool because warm would kill the heavy cream structure. So once the temperature is good, slowly mix the two parts together.

And you are done! Refridgerate till you have the urge to serve it. Which is, ehm, like now.... Then combine the two as you like. Or just make one type of mousse if you are not into the other one... Oh, the decisions....

50 Shades of Red ... part 4

And the search continues.... For this time I have prepared some cheap products, so let's see how they work.

Ok, so let's start with NYX. The first thing I noticed was the pigmentation and the chemical smell which fortunately faded over time. But honestly, what you see is what you get here with the first swatch. The colors are amazing! One layer and you are ready to go... or maybe not. Unfortunately the pigmentation is connected to a very buttery texture which makes your lipstick disappear while you talk. I haven't got to drinking or eating yet! These face no chance unless you fix them with Lipcote (if you drink and eat) or at least set them with a translucent powder (if you only speak). The shades I chose were random since there is no way to tell which shade is which on the website (the pictures don't match the reality) but I'm happy with my choices. Chaos and Electra are nice classic shades, Hebe has pinkish shimmer to it which makes it really stunning and Black Cherry is for the days when you want to wear loud colors but black would be too much for the people around you to handle.

The next two are by Miss Sporty. One is from a limited edition (Hot Date) and one is from the regular line (High Red). Hot Date is on the pink side and is very smooth and smells like a watermelon. That's why I bought it. I knew the texture would mean it wouldn't last much but the scent.... Awww... :-)= And since it's not overly pigmented, it doesn't look that horrible if you eat a part of it. This is really only for the smell. The other one, however, is awesome. Hight Red lasts long, its pigmentation is very good for such a price. Sure, a lot of eating will destroy it but compared to its sibling it's definitely a winner. 

And the last duo for today is a cheap drugstore line Basic. I chose the two red shades they offer (12 - more on the orange side, 21 - rather a classic red). They smell lipsticky. I can't help it but this is exactly what I think of when someone says that a certain product smells a certain way. So these are typical lipsticks - the smell and all :-)=. They are quite hard so the application isn't as smooth as one would perhaps want but this dryness which make them a bit difficult to apply ensures they last quite long. They survived drinks and some food. Definitely a surprise.

 

Here you can find some more swatches but this time my camera went bonkers and the shades aren't accurate enough. But very close, so...

Oreos Hidden in Cupcakes

I was fooling around in the kitchen desperately wanting to make my plain cupcakes a bit better. So I started putting stuff in them. The first experiment to be conducted contained Oreo cookies and proved to be a success :-)=

You'll need (for about 16 cupcakes):
The batter:

• 300g flour (I made these with whole grain rye)
• 150g butter
• 3 eggs
• 150g sugar (I used brown, that's why it is darker than normally)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
•  200ml milk
• Oreo cookies

The topping:

• 40g vanilla pudding
• 250ml milk
• 100g sugar (again, if you want it whiter use white sugar not brown)
• 250g cheese (I used curd for these but mascarpone or any other you normally use will go)

1)  Mix everything for the batter in one bowl. Sure, you can mix the yolks with the sugar first and then make the egg whites form stiff peaks to make the whole thing fluffier - that's up to you.

2) Then prepare your cups or cupcake pan or whatever you use for baking cupcakes. Add one spoon of the batter, put an Oreo on in, and cover it with one more spoon of the batter.

3) Bake for about 20 minutes at 200°C.

4) Prepare your pudding (mix the pudding powder with a couple of tablespoong of milk while you pour the rest of the milk in a pot and get it to a boiling point, then you pour in the pudding, wait for it to get to the boiling point again and then turn the cooker off and keep the pot on it for about a minute). Don't forget to stir all the time, the milk burns easily.

5) Wait for the pudding to get cold.

6) Once the pudding is cold, you can add the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and mix them together.

7) All you need to do is just somehow get the topping on the top of your cupcakes. Good luck ;-)

Easy vampire make-up for Halloween

No need to buy some fancy supplies that cost more than necessary. You already have everything you need for this look in your make-up bag.

This year, I went for a “work-friendly” vampire costume because I had six English lessons in a row to give and a hall monitoring duty throughout the whole day so I knew I needed something bulletproof that wouldn’t require any touch-ups.

The only dilemma I was facing was the teeth. As a teacher who talks a lot (duh!) I needed something which would make me lisp as little as possible and that would hold for a long time. It’s been ages since I was a vampire for Halloween so I couldn’t remember which glue was the one that lasted the whole night at one Halloween party long time ago. So I bought all three glues available and had done my “teeth rehearsal” prior to going to school like that. So, it was not that two-part putty which I hoped would hold but it was that pink one-part glue which got me through the day.

And now, to the make-up part. Long time ago I accidentally bought a liquid foundation by Avon in Ivory which was too light for me but I kept it for occasions like this one. Once I had my foundation in place (no primer, I don’t usually need that) I wanted to set it with a matte white color. Naturally, my hate toward the eye shadow palette makers subsided a little when I recalled all those whites I had (I mean, seriously! Almost every palette has a white and a black in it! Aargh, what the heck am I supposed to do with them all?!). The only issue with this is that the palette is small and applying just that one color is a bitch. To be more specific, it took me 40 minutes of trying not to compromise my white with the surrounding browns while applying it with a teeny-tiny brush on all the visible parts of my skin.

After the hard part was over, I took a dark matte brown from the same palette (NYX’s Champagne and Caviar) and tried to contour my face – temples, nose, cheeks, chin, eyes, and widow’s peak. Then I took a red eye shadow by Essence in 44 It’s up to you and made my eyes a little bit red. The last thing was to put a lipstain on my lips (Essence in 02 Save your kisses for me ) just to get that “I’ve just eaten” look.

The teeth were easy to glue with that pink transparent putty and the look survived all my lessons without any touch-ups. I must say I didn’t eat the whole day because I knew the teeth would go and I only drank through a straw. But I talked a lot and it stayed put. So it was a win ;-)=

Chocolate chip cookies

There is a quick, easy and a bit healthier recipe for the traditional cookies. You will be able to make about 10 large cookies from this so double everything if you feel like you need more:

• 150g flour (I used whole grain rye)
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 tablespoon of soda
• 4 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons of chocolate chunks (70% cocoa is my favourite)
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil
• 4 tablespoons of milk

Mix it all together and shape into the desired form. Don't put them too close to one another on your baking tray because the soda will make them grow a little bit. They should be ready in 8 minutes (200°C).

Dracula Untold (2014)

I don't watch telly or go to the cinema much these days. I somehow don't have time and when faced with the decision of reading or watching I always grab a book (like that's a surprise, right? ;-)= ). But this fall everywhere on the internet I could see these trailers telling me to go and watch the new Dracula.

So I managed to get  a free Saturday and dedicated my time to socializing. And by that I mean sitting with other people in one room and staring at a gigantic screen for ninety minutes and then go home while saying a total of ten words or so. ;-)= No, I'm kidding, but that's not what this post is about anyway.

To the review then... I mean, from the posters you would say the story would be pretty somber, right? The dude who plays Dracula looks terrifying with all those bats around - as if he were some dark angel. But I'd seen the trailers before going to the cinema so I knew the dude was actually as hot as hell and that meant only one thing- the filmmakers wanted the audience to fall in love with him and shift the context in which we talk about Dracula. 

Which is exactly what happened. Little did we know when we read the original book. Everything he did was for his country and family - I bet he was awarded Father of the Century back in the 1400s. Yup, he even asked to become a vampire (which is not a surprise now with all our good vampires lurking in the shadows waiting for their opportunity to save the day but there was nothing good in the old-school Dracula!). 

There were many things I didn't like (e.g. him not being able to save his wife in time while his crew bravely bleeds slowly so that they can get their revenge etc.) but there were also bright moments (such as Dracula's Renfield or his reincarnated wife as Mina). And I totally loved the end when Dracula's maker appears and says something ominous :-)= Now, that's a story I'd like to hear about.

DIRECTOR: Gary Shore

GENRE: action/drama/fantasy

FANGS OUT: a new twist on an old story seems fun

FANGS RETRACTING: people who like the original will not buy this whole hero thingy

TOTAL SCORE:

Kresley Cole: Lothaire

Lothaire, the mad vampire, lives in the universe of cool valkyries, horny demons, evil wendigos and basically all creatures from the folklore you can think of. I've already spoken of variety as the key in the never-ending series. Cole keeps the readers entertained by adding awesome characters from all the mythological species. Lothaire the vampire and Nïx the protovalkyryie are, in my opinion, two of the most complex characters who deserve a whole book dedicated to their story.

So, Lothaire got it just now. And I was so looking forward to reading his story. And again, the expectations... See, it always happens when I expect a lot from the character. I mean, c'mon! He has this Endgame of his on which he worked for millennia and he is nuts and yeah, even if he gets his female (yup, this is one of those "find-an-unlikely-pair" series) he deserves more time and things happen before he is "cured" of his madness. I know that primarily these books are about romance but here the story cries for the psychological depth. And unfortunately the story lacks it so bad.
Otherwise I like the series but now I know I will be dreading to read perhaps the last person who the series should end with - Nïx. So, please, gimme more of those shifters and other species but don't touch Nïx, because if Lothaire was done away with this easy I don't wish to read about her, for she deserves complexity.

GENRE: supernatural romance

FANGS OUT: variety means fun

FANGS RETRACTING: I wish the author heard of psychology

TOTAL SCORE: