More Stuff About Bandersnatch

His Paulness says this thing will be, "a case-bound hardcover, 4.5 x 6.25, and will be ready for WFC in November." I suddenly feel kinda cool.

I was also told to write a bio for it, and as we all know, my bios are terrible. Luckily, I had mokie to suggest I could construct stuff from spider carapaces and silicon implants, which triggered the thought that these two ingredients together sounded like they'd make bikini mail, which triggered ... other stuff ... but it eventually led to this:

"Single undead hamster seeks companion of equitable opinions. Likes the Great Atheist Death, boys in skirts and pine nuts. Dislikes bad odours and "Dermatologically Tested" products. Mesocricetus auratus or Magical Totoro ONLY."

Now, all I have to do is start a whole series of mad bios to confound everybody...

Liver Pate

I have two good reasons to have homemade liver pate. The first is that many store bought pates are not halal (but yes, this recipe has optional wine in it, go figure), which makes it difficult for my family to eat. The second is that however we look at it, pate that's been stored in a chiller for up to a month or more, loaded with preservatives, just doesn't skim the bare minimum of flavour that comes from freshly made pate. When made well and stored properly, homemade pate can last up to about 2 weeks in the fridge too. It's absolutely essential that the chicken livers used for this recipe are purchased as fresh as possible, and cleaned just as thoroughly. However well-meaning your supermarket is, please go to a reputable butcher for the livers, because you just never know where the market stuff's been.

You'll also notice that this authentic recipe stolen from my mother uses Chinese glutinous rice wine to flavour and boil the livers. The specific wine being used, Hua Chiew, has this gorgeous rice wine perfume, slightly floral, very sweet and heady. This is the wine of choice used in virtually any dish requiring wine in my house. One can just as easily substitute this with any other sort of wine or water, though I seriously would not recommend boiling the livers in animal broth, as this dish has to be preserved in the fridge for a fairly long time. It's further possible to influence the flavour of the livers by infusing aromatics and flavourings into the liquid you're boiling the livers in.

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