Sue's Diner: 1856 Cruller Recipe

While working on Call of the Siren this past weekend (the second book in the Limbo series; buy the first book here), I researched vintage cruller recipes because I needed one for social media.

A cruller is similiar to a doughnut It's deep-fried but not as sweet.

Rebekah was intrigued and adapted it to share with readers. 

Try her adaptation of this Victorian recipe on the Sue's Diner page on the BryonySeries website.

But try the recipe this week. It will be gone next week. A new recipe will take it's place. 

By the way, Sue's Diner is only real in the BryonySeries world. But didn't Timothy do a great job making the page look like a real menu at a vintage diner?

Here is the full diner page: bryonyseries.com/sue-s-diner.

For more BryonySeries recipes, check out our three cookbooks at our BryonySeries bryonyseries.com/general-store.

It Adds Up

A busy working weekend, but when the action slowed on Saturday night, I spent some time with Before the Blood.

When I finally closed up shop and went to bed, I took stock (all cliches intended) of the tiny progress I thought I'd made. Turns out I'd done better than I thought.

So in addition to the 1500 to 2000 words I'd written (and having manipulated the whole of the 3500 or so that currently comprise that chapter, yes I know it's not about the word count, just making a point here), I'd also researched:

* Printing presses of the 19th century, including the differences between wood and lead type, the oils used in the settings, fonts, and how the presses operated.

* How to string-up and salt large amounts of cod near the dock.

* Various Scandinavaian phrases (even texted one to a friend, just because. He ddin't comment).

* The varying opinions of public education in the 19th century, including some in-depth reading on Horace Mann

* Crullers: the spices used to flavor them in the 19th century and their vost, and if one could serve them for dessert (The answer is yes).

For those of us that write (or pretend that we do), there really is no substitute for, um, actually putting in some time. But don't waste odd bits of time. They really do add up.