Showing posts with label roast turkey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label roast turkey. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

About The BryonySeries: Turkey Delight

Timothy, who devises the story concepts for The Adventures of Cornell Dyer (a BryonySeries subseries) is a huge fan of C.S. Lewis and his Narnia series.

That's why Timothy wanted to create a fun Narnia parody for the "Cornell Dyer" series, which we did .

The book is called "Cornell Dyer and the Whispering Wardrobe" and this is the synopsis:

While investigating a home with mysterious whispers, supernatural super sleuth Cornell Dyer stumbles upon its source: an antique wardrobe in a room all by itself. But when Cornell steps inside, he discovers the wardrobe is more than a wardrobe and a whisper is more than a whisper. Even if Cornell solves the mystery, will he ever go home?

"Cornell Dyer and the Whispering Wardobe" pays all kinds of homage to the original book, including Turkish Delight, a sweet treat made with a base of sugar and starch.

One of the Narnia children loves Turkish delight, so much that he betrays his siblings for the treat.

Modern children reading the Narnia series for the first time might not be familiar with Turkish Delight or crave it the way Edmond did in the Narnia series. 

And in "Cornell Dyer and the Whispering Wardrobe," Cornell (who loves to eat) was actually scornful of Turkish Delight.

Cornell scampered back to the wardrobe, as fast as his frozen feet could take him. He wasn’t running away from the whispers. Supernatural super sleuths never run from supernatural mysteries.

            No, Cornell was running back to the guest room and back to his motor home. Because he kept all his magical supplies in that motor home. He kept warm, dry clothes there, too. And he would bring those items back with him.

            “OW!”

             Cornell stubbed his toe on something hard and tripped. He fell flat on his face in the very cold, very wet snow.

            He quickly jumped up and wrang the snow out of his nightshirt. What did he trip on? He picked it up.

            It was a can studded with colorful sparkling jewels. The can had a label with just two words: Turkish Delight.

            Cornell had heard of this chewy, sweet, gel-like candy with pistachios inside it. But he didn’t care about Turkish Delight. Cornell liked giant chocolate bars. The bigger the bar, the better Cornell liked it.

            “Turkish Delight?” Cornell grumbled out loud. His toe throbbed from the stubbing. His cold, wet face burned from falling in the cold, wet snow. “Who eats Turkish Delight anymore? Why, the last time I saw anyone buy Turkish Delight, I was in…”

            Then Cornell stopped himself. “Who cares about Turkish Delight? I should care about getting out of the cold and into dry clothes!”

            Cornell tossed the can aside and dove into the fur coats.

But to keep with the Narnia spirit and Cornell's obsession with good food, we created "this" instead:

When Cornell finally woke up, Mrs. Beaver was bringing his dinner tray. On his plate was a heaping mound of sandwiches.

“These are yummy,” Cornell said, talking with his mouth open as he chewed, which is very rude. He was also eating his fifth sandwich. “These are the best sandwiches I have ever eaten.”

Mrs. Beaver blushed.

“Thank you,” she said. “It’s my own recipe. I call it ‘Turkey Delight.’

So to wrap this up (could be a turkey wrap), here's a question only you can answer.

What ingredient, ingredients, or manner of preparation might turn an ordinary turkey sandwich into Turkey Delight for you?



Sunday, November 12, 2017

Next Week on Sue's Diner: Recipes for a BryonySeries Thanksgiving Feast

Want to change it up this year?

How about preparing the Thanksgiving Day dinner featured in the Bryony?

For the Marchellis’ first Thanksgiving in Munsonville, Melissa’s little brother Brian shows off the depth of his newly acquired culinary skills, under the direction of his mentor, Steve Barnes, the village maintenance man.

Next Sunday (Nov. 19), I'll post recipes for the following on the Sue's Diner page at www.bryonyseries.com:




Steve’s Roast Turkey (brine and turkey recipes by Rachel Buchanan Savicz)







Steve's Stuffing (recipe by Virginia Schonbachler)








Roasted Root Vegetable Medley (recipe by Sarah Stegall)







Traditional Cornbread (recipe by Tutti Weiss)







Drop Biscuits (recipe by Rebekah Baran)







Salad Dressing (tastes like Thousand Island, recipe by Janet Cooney, salad by Timothy Baran)







Darlene’s Trifle (recipe by Virginia Schonbachler)






Darlene’s Pumpkin Roll (recipe by Sarah Stegall)




Rebekah, assisted by Daniel, cooked up this feast for us last week while I was at work. Timothy plated the entire meal (next week's photo), as well as the salad and desserts.

Needless, to say, we ate well for a couple of days!

Why, might you ask, would we cook a Thanksgiving Day dinner early?

One: I wanted to have photos to share with you, in case you'd like to try some of all of the recipes this year.

Two: Our traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner is comprised of poor boys, kettle-cooked chips, and pumpkin pie (Don't judge us), a Frankensteined tradition born our of my mother working in retail and hosting Thanksgiving at her house on the Sunday before Thanksgiving; Thanksgiving deadlines for both newsroom, routes and insert customers; too tired after meeting those deadlines; and, now still too tired after working long hours to want to cook up a feast on a day we're not working.

Besides, now that some of the adult kids work in the culinary industry, they, too, don't want to waste a precious day off in the vacation. It's far, far better to cook on a work day (or a working weekend).

So we did. Or rather, THEY did. 

But I enjoyed every scrap.

And maybe, just maybe, Rebekah will make some pumpkin rolls instead (or along with) pumpkin pie.

BTW, if you'd like a cookbook, proceeds benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties. Order a cookbook HERE.

And if you didn't try out last week's recipe (cinnamon coffee cake), it will remain up for another week. Find that recipe on the Sue's Diner page HERE.