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Monthly Archives: January 2013

I have resolved stuff because I am all 2013 that way.

Here’s a few of my resolutions for 2013

  1. Less refined sugar in my diet. I feel I am now well-positioned for this step as my diet over the last 2-3 weeks has been primarily sugar-based. Protein…proootein…..
  2. Have the first sequel to Lord Ruin on sale by June 30th
  3. Read more books by authors I know I’ll love but haven’t yet read.
  4. Less complaining about certain things and more actually doing something to remove the things I complain about.
  5. Invite some bloggers whose work I adore to guest blog here.
  6. More polls. They’re like cowbells. We just need more.
  7. When I read a really crappy eBook, I will return it THEN I will write scornful things about it.
  8. Ponder the role of zombies in literature.
  9. Write more.
  10. Write more risky stuff.

What am I missing? What are some of your resolutions?

Oh Hey! It’s the first poll of the New Year

You push the wrong button on some electronic device and end up swept back in time to 1815 and the bedroom of the notorious rake, the duke of Rhynoldensward. What do you do?

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An Often Terrifying Journey

I’m just about done with my next paranormal (Book 5 in the My Immortals series): My Darkest Passion. To the point where it’s time to start thinking about prepping for the next book, which will be the first of the sequels to Lord Ruin. For anyone who may have read LR, this first sequel will be about Lucy and Thrale. Unless I change my mind.

At least now I have enough knowledge about my writing self that, although it’s always daunting to start a new book, I have a process that’s gotten me through going on 20 books now. I also have a system, sort of. However, I wouldn’t go so far as to say I have a plan. That would be an insult to people who actually do plan.

The last several months, I’ve been immersed in the paranormal; the contemporary world, but with demons and witches and the like. I don’t have to worry about vocabulary much or clothes, or architecture. I’m always surprised at the things that crop up that need research. Part of the story takes place in San Diego, a city I have been two maybe three times, but always on business. Never for research or fun. Twitter to the rescue for my questions about San Diego– Tweeples who actually live in San Diego! And then, Google Maps, Street View, Google images to take a more targeted look at the terrain. Everything else takes place pretty much in my backyard. (Not literally, just figuratively.)

Actually, there ARE vocabulary issues. There some small but crucial differences in idiom between Northern California and Southern California, and they instantly identify someone as being from up north or down south. And, it gives away writers who put the wrong words in a Nor Cal person’s mouth. Or vice versa.

Whatever Works, Right?

For my historicals, I start with the same base set of computer files. My handy chronology of Regency Events, for example, the files I use when writing (chapter, cast of characters, chapter outline… except, I didn’t do an outline at all for the last three or four books…) I have a store of research books, analog and digital, and I’ll generally flip through my materials on fashion and architecture, just to get in the mood. Such swoony gowns! Mostly, I start mulling over my hero and heroine. What’s the deal with them? What draws them together and/or pulls them apart? What scenes will show that happening?

Since this one will be a sequel, I’ll re-read Lord Ruin and refresh my memory about the details of the story. What clues might there be in the book about where Lucy and Thrale are headed?

Confession

Actually, with Lucy and Thrale, I happen to know a fair amount, as it kept popping up while I was writing Lord Ruin. It’s odd how clearly I recall the things I ended up knowing about her that I also knew were about her story, not Anne and Ruan’s. Thrale, too.

Another Confession

I dislike starting out. My desk is never so tidy as when I am engaging in behavior that avoids this. The initial words are all so thin and wimpy. I know that eventually they won’t be, but still. So much of writing seems to be about fixing the not-good-parts.

So, in the next couple of weeks I’ll be jumping into writing The Next Historical. I know enough about my writing process that I know it’s a jump. Right into the deep end. I try to start in the middle as it tends to save me from having to delete the first five chapters. I figure I’ve done well if it turns out I actually need to add — or is that pre-add? Well, whatever. I guess we’ll see out it turns out!

Which is why the planning sort of writer probably feels a bit woozy right now.

Geneva Wafers, Department of Yummy

The other day I happened across The Rambling Jour’s blog post (thanks, Rachel, for digging that up!!!) about making Geneva Wafers. someone’s blog post (which now I can’t find or I’d give a link back) where she’d tried making a recipe from the 1860s called “Geneva Wafers.” She didn’t give a link or provide the recipe (but did provide the book title) so I Googled and ended up with the 1861 Mrs. Beeton’s recipe for Geneva Wafers. A bit more Googling revealed that whatever Mrs. Beeton’s source, she has since been widely copied without credit. The White House Cookbook of 1887 has this recipe VERBATIM, and I found it a couple of other places, also mostly verbatim and uncredited. So, yeah.

Anyway, the intrepid Ms. Curley of the Rambling Jour blog  had some pictures of her test (which apparently was delicious but a failure). However, when I saw her pictures I had a pretty good idea of what had gone wrong for her. When I found the recipe, it did look simple, and it was.

This recipe is a major win.

I ended up making two separate batches, in part because the first batch vanished like magic. I kid you not, people took one, looking doubtful, because, come on, they look sissy, and as soon as they ate it, they reached for more. Several more.

I made the second batch to test a couple things but also because the first batch was gone.

The Original Recipe

GENEVA WAFERS
Ingredients
2 eggs
3 oz of butter
3 oz of flour
3 oz of pounded sugar

Well whisk the eggs put them into a basin and stir to them the butter which should be beaten to a cream add the flour and sifted sugar gradually and then mix all well together.

Butter a baking sheet and drop on it a teaspoonful of the mixture at a time leaving a space between each Bake in a cool oven watch the pieces of paste and when half done roll them up like wafers and put in a small wedge of bread or piece of wood to keep them in shape Return them to the oven until crisp Before serving remove the bread put a spoonful of preserve in the widest end and fill up with whipped cream This is a very pretty and ornamental dish for the supper table and is very nice and very easily made Time Altogether 20 to 25 minutes Average cost exclusive of the preserve and cream Ld Sufficient for a nice sized dish Seasonable at any time.

The Recipe – Translated and Very Slightly Adapted

GENEVA WAFERS
Ingredients
2 eggs
3 oz of unsalted butter (6 tbs)
3 oz cake flour (This is roughly 3/4 cup, sift then measure or weigh (* )
3 oz bakers sugar (1/2 cup) (Regular sugar would be just fine)
1 tsp vanilla

1 pint whipped cream
Preserves (or jelly or jam)

* If you weigh your flour, you do NOT need to make the standard regular flour-to-cake-flour adjustment, but make sure you weigh it AFTER you sift it. (a)

NOTE: This recipe seems like a small amount, and I was tempted to double  it. This made 2 dozen wafers NOT COUNTING all the ones I ate before the 2nd baking step. The second batch produced about 18 wafers. Which I suppose means that I ate the equivalent of 6 from the first batch. Maybe. My “disaster save” (b) meant there was unusable (but not inedible) leftover. I HAD to eat it.

Have everything at room temperature.

Pre-heat the oven to 325 F

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs thoroughly.

Cream the butter. Gradually beat in the sugar until fluffy. Lack of fluffiness is a serious baking problem! (Only slightly kidding.) Beat in the flour, scraping down sides as needed. Beat until fluffy (At least another minute and 30 seconds after all the flour is combined.) (c)

As you can see, the batter is not runny and there’s no tiny butter bits. Also, as a note, we have chickens which means fresh eggs from free-range chickens. The yolks are intensely yellow. If you use store-bought eggs, your batter will probably be less yellow.

a metal bowl containing yellow batter for Geneva Wafers. There's a red plastic spatula in the bowl

Wafer Batter

I think cooking these on parchment paper might be best, but we were out of parchment paper and thus I could not test that theory. However, if you butter your baking sheet, use a light hand or you will have a mess. (There is a rescue for this if it happens, see below.)

Drop the batter onto the cookie sheet a teaspoonful at a time leaving ample space between each:

6 rounds of yellow batter on a standard sized baking sheet.

Batter on the Baking Sheet prior to Cooking

Bake for 4-5 minutes. Wafers should be slightly spongy and not in the least brown at the edges. If they have started to turn brown, they will be very difficult to fold. 4 minutes people. (d)

Half baked wafers. No brown edges. You can see how much they spread out during baking.

Half baked Geneva Wafers

Take them out (DO NOT TURN OFF THE OVEN! YOU ARE NOT DONE!) and roll them up in a cone shape. You can see from the previous two pictures how much the batter spreads while baking.

Folding them into a cone shape is easier when the wafers are larger, still warm, and only half-baked. (Heh!)

As you can see, I set mine between the cups of an inverted muffin tin.

Half-Baked wafers rolled into cone shape and placed on an upside down muffin tin.

Half-Baked wafer cones

Return them to the oven and bake another 4-5 minutes until crisp (edges will be turning golden brown)

Baked Wafers. The edegs are golden brown.

Baked Wafers

A single baked wafer cone shaped, golden brown edges, no filling in it yet.

Single wafer, baked cone, no contents

Before serving, drop a spoonful of preserve in the widest end and fill up with whipped cream. The whipped cream will hid a lot of sins. (I do find this to be generally true about whipped cream.)

Several baked wafer cones with a bit of jelly in them.

Preserves in the Wafers

Geneva wafers now with whipped cream on them.

Completed Geneva Wafers.

Some tips

  1. At first I thought these needed salt when I tasted just the wafer. However, once the preserves and whipped cream were in, I decided no salt is needed. They were perfect. Light, delicate, and not at all too sweet.
  2. A teaspoon of vanilla would be a good addition, and yes, I did add it to my 2nd batch.
  3. If you have a pastry bag, you could pipe out a perfectly round wafer, but of course a plastic bag with a hole cut in one corner would work, too. Except it’s probably not worth it, because I still had to use a (clean) finger to achieve a rounder shape, but it was a little easier. No doubt some expert piper would do this effortlessly and perfectly.
  4. Leave A LOT of space between the wafers. Probably no more than 6-9 on a standard cookie sheet. You can see from the pictures that they spread a lot while baking the first time.
  5. The cone shape is easier to achieve if the wafer is 2.5 to 3″ in diameter.
  6. I suspect in the 2nd baking, these could be cooked on a wire rack, but the bread-as-holder idea has merit. I may try that.
  7. You only need a dab of preserves (or jelly or jam), I’d say 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon. Pipe in the whipped cream (pastry bag, or a plastic bag with the corner cut)

Yum. Really easy and surprisingly quick to make.

A single completed Geneve wafer that is delicious and also very pretty, golden yellow and whipped cream.

Ooh, wafer pr0n

Same wafer from the wide end of the wafer, filled with whipped cream -- and preserves you can't see.

Another view

Some other analysis

From the pictures I saw at the blog that made me want to try this, unless the blogger was unintentionally vague about her process and the pictures, I believe she forgot to put in the flour. She also followed the recipe pretty closely and added the eggs to the creamed butter, which would mean you’d have to be REALLY strict about beating after the other ingredients in order to get the butter to evenly disperse. She may not have weighed her ingredients and might have ended up with far too little flour since her pictures showed a watery batter with tiny bits of butter.

We have a food scale which I used to tare my ingredients to make sure I had the right proportions. As you can see from the pictures, my batter came out smooth and slightly thicker than cake batter. Mmm.

Additional Notes

a. If you substitute cake flour for regular flour in a recipe, it’s 1 cup plus 2 TBS of cake flour for every cup of regular flour.

b. The disaster save: For my first batch in the oven, I over-buttered the sheet. This resulted in wafers that spread too much and were essentially a partially connected blob. I used a round cookie cutter to cut out my wafer shape. Now you understand why I had to eat the overage.

c. The first time, I followed the instructions exactly and added the eggs to the creamed butter, then added the sugar and flour. The second time, I used the “traditional” cream butter, add sugar, then add the eggs, then the flour. Either way, you need to make sure you beat enough for the butter to be thoroughly incorporated.

d. For the 1st batch, I placed the folded wafers in muffin tins. This worked, but not as well as turning the muffin tin upside down and resting them between the cups. (See photo) I think baking them on a wire rack would work better. If you do this, let the wafers cool for 5 minutes or so before removing them from the tin. A knife gently slipped between the muffin tin and the wafer should pop them free if they’ve stuck a bit.

Diana gives you the Coronation of George IV (don’t think I didn’t see what you did there!)  and Ammanda gives you Byron. And me? I was working on the WIP revisions and then I remembered it was Tuesday, not Monday and that means tomorrow (today when you read this) is Wednesday and, having spent too much time thinking about when to make Geneva Wafers again, I decided to Google Regency Hack.

Huh. Check this out about Ralph the Regency Hack. It’s an extract of an article and even that’s interesting, but hey. I confess I get pretty dang annoyed at all the amazing information locked up behind Academic paywalls. I guess that’s a rant for another day.

Poor Ralph Rylance. Some of the books he worked on. Also this one: “The Epicure’s Almanack, Or, Calendar of Good Living: Containing a Directory to the Taverns, Coffee-houses, Inns, Eating-houses, and Other Places of Alimentary Resort in the British Metropolis and Its Environs : a Review of Artists who Administer to the Wants and Enjoyments of the Table : a Survey of the Markets : and a Calendar of the Meats in Season During Each Month of the Year : to be Continued Annually” which, with a publication date of 1815 is well out of copyright and should therefore be available to read in Google Books and it’s not. The author of the article above seems to have republished the book, so all you get are links to that book.

And I will be very honest here and say this is not the first time I’ve seen material that is not under copyright by a couple of hundred years be unavailable at Google search. And this is all too often tied to the availability of a reprint that someone is selling. Is it in this case? No way to know.

The other Regency Hack is a bizarre You Tube video of a video game, looks kind of like Super Mario Bros. It’s here if you want to look. It’s not in English. I don’t think. I watched a few seconds with the sound off because I was too lazy to reach for the headphones.

Anyway. I’m just sad that Ralph Rylance is isn’t available. I would like a Calendar of Good Living.

But at least now I have some vague ideas about a gentleman trying to support himself when he’s not filthy rich. Not so different from today, actually.

Poor Ralph.

Updated to add: The re-publisher of this book is the British Library. Ms. Ing of the article above has a forward in it and hey, go for it. There’s some new material in the forward I’m sure. But the whole point of allowing Google to scan books, even when they were in copyright, was to make them available for search. And in the case of material that is long out of copyright, to make that available for everyone. Not just information for academics whose institutions pay for journal access the rest of us can’t get.

I’m not in a good mood anymore.

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