 |
| The Raven Boys meets The Raven Boy |
Once
upon a time, long ago and far away, I lived in a castle atop a hill
with several other beautiful princesses, a fire-breathing dragon, and
our loyal manservant, Maurice. That’s only sort of true: it was sixish
years ago, we lived on a cliff in the top two floors of a run-down
Victorian house, the fire-breathing dragon was an oven that shot
fireballs out when you turned it on, and our manservant was neither
loyal nor male, but rather a birthday cake stealing, pregnant racoon
named Maurice.
The one truth? There were in fact beautiful princesses
(and more as the years went on), and we had a magical fresh out of
college experience, navigating the perils of the new adult world
(running out of French Onion Dip, Brazilian DJs showing up to your
housewarming parties, a bathroom without a door, and a landlord who once
tried to fix a broken door using only a snow shovel) way more classily
(sometimes), and well fed than the girls seem to do on Girls. More
importantly, a group love of YA/fun literature swept through the ranks
in the house - we did group reads for things like Breaking Dawn, hazed
new roommates with gifts of Outlander, made mixes for books...you get
the idea. This appropriately titled blog started right back about then!
 |
| Pretty pretty princesses. |
It
seemed only fitting that in a year when three members of the first
generation of the house would be turning 30, and another is having her
first baby, that said first generation (and moi, generation 1.5) should
muster and eat way too much cheese, drink some wine, and reflect upon
these momentous life events. Naturally, we decided to have a faux book
club in anticipation of this event, and even more naturally, choose a YA
book about a group of magical friends: The Raven Boys. JUST LIKE US. I
reviewed it last year, but was really glad to reread it and discuss with
like-minded BFFs, especially in light of the sequel (one of...several?
I’m unclear what “cycle” means, publishing world.), The Dream Thieves,
dropping in just about a month. Maybe I have a copy. Maybe you should
stay tuned for that review...
 |
A pizza feast fit for Welsh kings,
Raven Boys, psychics? |
|
We’re
a little older and theoretically wiser now (which is just a polite way to say that we
don’t bounce back like 22-year-olds anymore; our drinks better be worth
it!). We’ve certainly become way better and more confident chefs, even
when faced with the daunting challenge of making pizza (in honor of
Blue’s job as a pizza parlour waitress, and meeting the Monmouth boys
for the first time at work) in a 1970s kitchen lacking any baking
sheets. Over several rounds of Marry Shag Cliff (Does anyone keep Noah?
Poor guy.) and group casting as characters in the book (apparently I’m
Maura? Whattt? Disagree?), a feast fit for Glendower was prepared. I
whipped up a little something I’m calling the Raven Boy to toast both
our reunion, and the Raven Boys with. It’s got a little bit of
everything from the book in there: mint for Gansey, Bourbon for the
Southern Henrietta accents (also alcohol, for Ronan), black-blue for
both Blue and the Raven boys, and is served ice cold. Like Noah!
 |
| Making magic happen in old kitchens since 2005. |
 |
| This is our kind of tea reading. |
Recipe
below - but do note that you can use the syrup with more seltzer to
make a non-alcoholic version of this, any teens who may stumble across this recipe.
The Raven Boy
(Blackberry Lime Julep)
 |
| The Raven Boy, inspired by Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys |
