Banquet of Lies by Michelle Diener #NewRelease 5 Star Review!

Banquet of Lies
by Michelle Diener
Paperback, 352 pages
Published October 22, 2013 by Gallery Books
Copy: Rec'd early eCopy from Edelweiss

A Secret Treaty and a Secret Life

LONDON, 1812: Giselle Barrington is living a double life, juggling the duties of chef with those of spy catcher. She must identify her father’s savage killer before the shadowy man finds her and uncovers the explosive political document her father entrusted to her safekeeping.

Posing as a French cook in the home of Lord Aldridge, Giselle is surrounded by unlikely allies and vicious enemies. In the streets where she once walked freely among polite society, she now hides in plain sight, learning the hard lessons of class distinction and negotiating the delicate balance between servant and master.

Lord Aldridge’s insatiable curiosity about his mysterious new chef blurs the line between civic duty and outright desire. Carefully watching Giselle’s every move, he undertakes a mission to figure out who she really is—and, in the process, plunges her straight into the heart of danger when her only hope for survival is to remain invisible.

Goodreads * Amazon * Barnes & Noble 

My Review:

This story has everything I love about Diener's writing - complicated, muliti-layered plot, intelligent, well-developed characters, & slowly crescendo-ing romance. In addition, there is a truck-load of French Cuisine. Lol. And I am now in love with French Cuisine!

Giselle is spunky. Her up-bringing is perfect to give her confidence in herself and life-or-death suspicious of everyone else. The opening scene is shocking, heart-breaking... and the book grabs hold tightly, refusing to be put down afterwards and Giselle is the amazing center of the story.

She hides from would-be killers by taking employment as a French cook, having learned from the best cooks in her travels. And this is where she meets Lord Aldridge - a society contemporary of hers who happens to be one of the search party looking for her.


Lol.


The set-up is asking for trouble... confrontations... awkward moments... and lots and lots of deliciousness as secrets push their way out.

Banquet of Lies is a book that needs to be on the shelf, a keeper to re-read on winter nights and while planning weekly menus. I must add a warning, however, that reading this story will inspire French Cuisine and there might be extra baking and coffee in the near-future.

There is an adult scene (or two) and I feel I should warn those looking forward to it to, um, smell the roses along the journey. The tension is increasing rather rapidly, at that point, and I couldn't help wanting to hurry on to resolution, but Diener allows for intelligent reading and doesn't return to repeat things covered earlier in the story.


My Rating: an enthusiastic 5 Stars. 

Find recipes for the famous Reine Claude Jam and Brioche at Diener's Recipe page!!



Michelle Diener writes historical fiction. Her Susanna Horenbout & John Parker series, set in the court of Henry VIII, includes In a Treacherous Court and Keeper of the King’s Secrets, with In Defense of the Queen set for an August 1st, 2013 release.

Michelle’s other historical novels include Daughter of the Sky,The Emperor’s Conspiracy and Banquet of Lies (loosely connected to The Emperor’s Conspiracy), which will release on October 22nd, 2013.

Michelle also contributed a short paranormal story to the ENTANGLED Anthology entitled BREAKING OUT. All the proceeds of the sale of ENTANGLED go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Michelle was born in London, grew up in South Africa and currently lives in Australia with her husband and two children.

When she’s not writing, or driving her kids from activity to activity, you can find her blogging at Magical Musings, or online at Twitter and Facebook.

Website * Goodreads 

* I have to ask where the idea for the book came from? Why French cuisine?

I studied French at university and have a Masters degree in Translation. I love France, I've been there a number of times, and even lived with my French lecturer's family for a month just outside Paris. I had Reine Claude jam and brioche for breakfast almost every morning while I lived there. As anyone who reads the book can tell, that's stayed with me :). I love cooking and baking and other than reading, making something in the kitchen is my favorite hobby. A number of my friends have asked me through the years when I was going to write a book that had some cooking in it, as it is such a big part of my normal life. Banquet of Lies is that book. 

Oh, no way... I'm so jealous! Lol. It sounds so great in the book!!

* And I also have to ask about the cover.  :-D  My goodness!  

I'm so glad you like it! To begin with, we played around with a reverse of The Emperor's Conspiracy cover, to make the thread between the two books more apparent, but we couldn't get anything that really popped and worked as well as The Emperor's Conspiracy cover, so we went with something totally different instead, and I love what the art department at Simon & Schuster came up with.

* What kind of research did you do for the cooking? What comes from experience?

The recipes themselves are all from experience. I have made each dish, and readers can find the recipes on my website (http://www.michellediener.com/books/banquet-of-lies/recipes-from-banquet-of-lies/). But what did take research was the conditions in the kitchen, the layout and what equipment would have been available. I read up a lot about Antonin Carême  who was the first real celebrity chef, and worked for the Prince Regent around the time Banquet of Lies is set. I based the Duke of Wittaker's chef, Georges Bisset, partly on Carême, and studied his menus and his methods. British chef Heston Blumenthal has also 'walked' a little in Carême's footsteps, recreating some of his more outrageous recipes, and I give a link to his recreation of Carême's Cock's Testicles recipe on YouTube at the back of the book. Those who've read the book will recognise it as the inspiration for a threat Georges makes to Jonathan when he realizes Jonathan is romantically interested in Gigi.

Oh... wow. I'm so in over my head, but lovin' it!

* Which dish or scene is your favorite?

I love courgette and almond soup. So do my whole family. There is just something wonderful, almost mousse-like, about it. 

As for my favorite scene, that has to been the one after Gigi has escaped from the ball and Jonathan is waiting for her outside his house. I love the way they interact there. It is almost as delicious as Gigi's cooking.

Yes!!!  :-D  I love that one, too.

* Do you have a recipe from the book you can share?

I have them all! :) Readers can go here for a full list of all the recipes in the book: http://www.michellediener.com/books/banquet-of-lies/recipes-from-banquet-of-lies/

* What are you writing now?  :-D

I'm writing the book that comes after Banquet of Lies. The Duke of Wittaker just leapt off the page for me from the moment I started writing about him in Banquet of Lies, and so he's getting a turn next. 

How exciting!!  I had no idea you made these dishes when I was reading them... they sound so exquisite in the book, but you have RECIPES!!!  :-D  Yay!  And there's more story in this world!  DOUBLE-YAY!!! Thank you for the interview, Michelle, and please keep writing!!

I became an enthusiastic fan of Michelle Diener's books when I read The Emperor's Conspiracy... click on the covers to go to my posts on Colorimetry:

    

I'll spill a little secret, too... Prism Book Tours will be sharing a hot-off-the-press fantasy retelling by Michelle Diener after Christmas. Sign up to receive the email notification here!!

Grand Finale #RECIPE Tour-at-a-Glance: Emergence by Rachel E Fisher

Emergence 
Eden's Root Trilogy #3
by Rachel E Fisher
RELEASE DATE: APRIL 30, 2013

"I promise you, Sean. We're going to stop them."

The pieces on the board are in motion and with both sides gathering strength, each move will be critical. When the Truthers make a play for checkmate, the Seeders are forced to respond. Fi and her companions will face greater challenges and higher stakes than ever before, because this time if they fail, it's for keeps.

Amazon * Kindle * Barnes & Noble

Seeds of War

The mission of Eden must be fulfilled and Eden’s best Seekers are needed. Forming a new group they dub the Seeders, Fi, Asher, and Sean are joined by a new addition as they set out to bring hope and support to the Topsiders in the form of radios and heirloom seeds. Their experiences Topside prepare them for the threat from marauding gangs they call Lobos, but it is a different, less obvious sort of threat that takes them by surprise. As radio broadcasts begin to reconnect Eden and the Topsiders, the Seeders stumble upon mysterious broadcasts from unknown stations. When two of their own new radio stations go silent within days of each other, Fi and her companions realize that something is terribly wrong. Eden finds itself pitted against a growing and unknown force as their very mission lights the flames of war.

Eden's Root 

It is 2033, and the world hovers on the edge of explosion as unexplained crop deaths lead to severe global food shortages. In the United States, the Sickness is taking lives slowly, creeping its way into every family. Fi Kelly has already faced the Sickness in her own family, toughening her beyond her years. But a shocking confession from her dying father will push her toughness to its absolute limits. Saddled with an impossible secret and the mission of saving her little sister, Fi sets out to transform herself into the warrior that she must become to survive the coming collapse. Along the way, she will discover that evil can be accidental and that love can be intentional.

Rachel E Fisher

I am a wife and entrepreneur living and working in Florida. I am also a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, where I majored in Biology. It was always my assumption that I would end up making research my life. Though it did not work out that way in the end, my passion for Biology remains intact.

I have always loved biology-based science-fiction and the young adult genre. It is in this vein that I offer my work.

Blog *  @edensroot * Facebook * Tumblr * Pinterest * Goodreads * Sign up for FanMail!

In Rachel Fisher's dystopian world, natural grown food has turned to poison or died before it can produce fruit. This idea was partly inspired by her own life and the necessity of creating vegan and gluten-free meals.

Find your apron and roll up your sleeves... it's time to celebrate Emergence with...

The Emergence Recipe Tour

12 – Launch

13  - Howling Books and Design - Review

I’ve never thought I would be looking forward to the ending to a series as much as this one. This dystopian novel drew me in from the start with it’s believable story of how a world changed by just having a few changes done to food we grow.

-          tHe crooKed WorD - Review & Recipe

No one is safe in this book. Everyone suffers something, and since I love these characters as my own friends, it's hard.

Navy Bean "Alfredo Sauce"

14 – Livinga Goddess Life - Recipe

Here's a fantastically healthy and tasty recipe using Farro...

 

-          Mel’s Shelves - Recipe for Quinoa & Black Beans 

I enjoy eating healthy and have immersed myself into it slowly.

15 – Buried Under Books - Review

 Ah, it’s so  nice to re-connect in real life with the people we learn to love and appreciate and the same is true with the book series we read. Fi and Asher, Sara and Sean, and many of their friends have stuck in my mind and it was a real pleasure to see them again...  

For my earlier reviews of the first two books, Eden’s Root and Seeds of War, go here.

Recipe for Cinnamon & Chesnuts

16 – Indiscriminate Writes

For those of you who are not familiar with Rachel E. Fisher's 'Eden's Root' trilogy, well, what have you been doing? ;)

Review:

Fisher doesn’t hold back. She never has. That’s what makes the ‘Eden’s Root’ series great. But I will admit... I did have a rewarding smile on my lips as I read the final pages. 

17 – Mythical Books 

18 – Tiffyfit’s Reading Corner  - Recipes

Summer Chili * Sesame Nut Cookies
  

-          Mortal Moments

19 – MySeryniti  Emergence Review & Recipe
Peanut Butter Chocolate No Bake Cookies!

What a fabulous end to an Apocalyptic trilogy. This story is just so intense, it drags the emotion from you whether you like it or not!

-          Rose & Beps Blog 

20 – Fundinmental – Eden's Root Review

The storyline seems so real to me... I always wonder what is happening to us right now. How many times have we been told something is good, only to be told ten years later it causes cancer, or something else.

21 – Moosubi Reviews! 

22 – Christy’s Cozy Corner - Recipe

 
Fancy Ants on a Log

24 – Markedby Books – Review of Eden's Root

I also really enjoyed how Rachel Fisher looked at the way people can change when they really aren't given another choice if they want to survive, no matter who they started out as.

25 – LeeannaMe –  Review of Eden's Root

The thought that messing too much with our food, trying to feed more people with less, and that we’re using too much technology without thinking about it is kind of scary. The author develops this idea pretty well, giving easily understandable scientific explanations

-          Marked by Books – Review of Seeds of War

Man, this book was deep. It explored a lot of very prominent philosophical issues, like the nature of humanity, in a way that made it applicable not only to the events in Seeds of War, but also to our own world.

-          Diary of a Book Addict - Review of Emergence

First off I have to give a huge I mean HUGE Thank You to Rachel Fisher for giving us a great series. I have been reading this series since day one and this is a bitter sweet goodbye...

26 – LeeannaMe - Review of Seeds of War

In SEEDS OF WAR, we learn a bit more about how the Famine was engineered. Yeah, I said engineered. I won’t spoil the details for you, but I could see something like it happening in real life someday, which is also scary.

- Fundinmental Review of Seeds of War

 I read this slower than usual, devouring every word. It reads more like a history book than fiction, and my mind keeps reaching, trying to figure out what I would do in a situation like that or like that. These books will stick with me for a very long time.

-          Marked by Books - thoughts on cooking

My personal favorite recipe is actually not one of her copycat recipes, but something she came up with on her own. It's a deep-dish cookie pie. So what's the catch? IT'S MADE OUT OF CHICKPEAS!

27 – LeeannaMe Review of Emergence

The other thing I really liked about EMERGENCE was Fi’s character development. Fi has come a very long way from the girl she was in EDEN’S ROOT. Though she’s been kick ass throughout the trilogy, I did have trouble believing adults would listen to a fourteen-year-old. InEMERGENCE, Fi questions that herself, something I appreciated it. But even better was watching her crack, the strain of losing Eden and her family too much to bear after all the other hardships she’s suffered. Fi emerged from the “nothingness” (her term for depression) an even stronger character, and I liked seeing her vulnerable, because that made her even more kick ass and realistic to me.

Chocolate Protein Mousse

28 – TheBookish Daydreamer - Review of Eden's Root

The whole time while reading this novel, I worried. This extreme realism was terrifying and made me question everything.

29 – GreenMountain Couple

I also believe that this book hits home with me and our lifestyle because my husband and I are preppers. We prepare for the worst case senario, we have stored canned goods and even a bucket of food. We are working on saving heirloom seeds to plant again in garden next year.

I found this recipe on Pinterest. 

Ingredients
2 Large Bananas 
1 Cup of Quick Oats
Then add in things like Chocolate Chips, Shredded Coconut, Nuts, Dried Fruit... Anything you Heart Desires really. 

Bake @ 350 for 15 min! And your DONE!

30 – Grand Finale

Tour-Wide Giveaway:
August 12 - September 6

2 Winners each (international):
  - eBook of Eden's Root
  - eBook of Seeds of War
  - eBook of Emergence

2 Winners (international):
  - eBook of the trilogy - Eden's Root, Seeds of War & Emergence

1 Winner (US, Canada, UK)
  - signed print copy of Emergence


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Superbowl Crockpot BBQ Hot Wings

Superbowl is a big event at my house. None of our favorite teams are playing, but we got used to our disappointment over a month ago. Lol. Now we're lookin' forward to seeing the 49ers womp the Ravens... I mean, a competitive game with the best commercials of the year. *shrug* We can hope!!

I'm on a funky diet this year that is a balance between eating cheap & eating healthier. I should have confessed that earlier in January, but I'm with all the non-resolutionists - best to not blab too loudly if I have a resolution I actually hope to keep. *cough* Announcements seem to preclude failure anywheres within three feet of me. And I'm mobile. So, watch out.

I found these organic chicken wings on a great deal and I just happened to have an entire bottle of Tony Roma's BBQ, which... well... is worth drinking right out of the bottle. (That's not part of "healthy", the drinking of BBQ sauce, that's a part of cheap. For Tony Romas, it was a good deal.) (See my "balance"? Lol. Maybe some day I'll admit the parts I consider a "diet" but this probably isn't the right post.)

I looked up BBQ Chicken Wings in Crockpot on the internet and found this recipe repeated all over the place, like it's the best (only) one out there, so I'm giving it a try:

From About.Com Southern Food & Food.com. I deleted the other 4 mentions of the same recipe I pulled up, but I'd love to hear who came up with it first. If it's as delicious as it sounds like it might be.

Spicy chicken wings are cooked in the crockpot with honey and barbecue sauce, along with spicy seasonings.
Ingredients:

• 3 pounds chicken wings (16 wings)

• salt and pepper to taste

• 1 1/2 cups any variety barbecue sauce

• 1/4 cup honey

• 2 teaspoons prepared mustard or spicy mustard

• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

• Tabasco to taste, optional

Preparation:
Rinse chicken wings; pat dry. Cut off and discard wing tips then cut each wing at the joint to make two sections. Sprinkle wing pieces with salt and pepper; place wings on an lightly oiled broiler pan. Broil about 4 inches from the heat for 10 minutes on each side, or until chicken wings are nicely browned. Transfer chicken wings to crockpot.
In a bowl, combine barbecue sauce, honey, spicy mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco. Pour sauce over chicken wings. Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours or on High 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Serve directly from slow cooker, keeping temperature on LOW. Makes about 30 chicken wings.

So..... since I never look up recipes before purchasing ingredients, I had half as many wings as called for, but some thighs lying around, so I cut out the bone and labeled 'em "boneless chicken wings". We'll see if the kids buy it. Why not?

I also don't have Tabasco, which is weird. I have this vague memory of a Tabasco sauce sitting in the door of the fridge for year, but I think I read the expiration date on it a few years back and tossed it out. I think they're good for up to 5 years past the expiration, but 8's pushin' it. I guess we don't use Tabasco much. Don't worry (I can see you're concerned). I have relatives in Mexico and I know how to heat things up. Ever heard of Chiltipins? I have lots. I'd love to dare someone to eat one of the lil' pea-sized dried peppers straight. That'd be fun to watch. I also have it ground... so I tossed in a half teaspoon. This will require taste-testing to see if I got it slightly hot or what?  It's never a good idea to guess too much on the Chiltipins. (If you pronounce that with your best Spanish accent emphacizing the final "i", you'll be saying Chiltipins all day. Must come from Aztec, or something. What's that language that shoves "lt" together all the time? Beautiful.)

Um... I don't have honey, either. The story behind that is, I'm trying to find a very local honey dealer who might have bees that live near me... 'cause I heard that's very good at fighting allergies. You'd think that living in the country, I'd find a honey producer near me quickly, but no... everything is miles away including shops that sell fresh honey, so... um... while attempting to hunt down the "right" honey, I have no honey. Messed up, I know. But... I am trying to be healthy and Agave is the newest, greatest sweetener of choice. Even on sale, it's stupid expensive. Why I can't get honey for $4 a tiny bottle but it's ok to get Agave for $4 a tiny bottle, I'm not sure. I didn't realize I was being so... silly... 'til this very moment. (Oh, the endless benefits of blogging!)

I think I've changed this recipe enough to almost call it a new recipe:

Burgandy Ice's Crockpot Awesome-Sauce Wings:
  

* 8 Chicken Wings  - discard tips, remove some skin, separate into two pieces
 * 4 Chicken Thighs - cut away two strips of chicken from each thigh approx the size of a wing = Boneless!
 * salt & pepper to taste - broil chicken pieces one side 10 mins, flip & broil 5 more mins 

(This step, the broiling step, is the winner to this recipe, I think. Those wings look yummy enough to eat after getting a little crispified.) 

Combine to make awesome-sauce: * 1 1/2 cu. Tony Roma's BBQ Sauce (or whichever sauce you LOVE.)
 * 2 tsp. spicy honey-sweetened mustard * 2 tsp. Worchester sauce * 1/2 tsp. Chiltipins (or to taste) 

Place the crispified delicious-lookin' wings in the crockpot and pour the awesome-sauce over the top. Cook on hi for 1 - 1 1/2 hrs or low for 4-ish hours. (If you leave it in there too long, the meat will melt off the bones, as you can imagine, and then it's more like awesome sauce with floating crispified chicken pieces and random bones. No doubt it's yummy, but part of the "experience" is holdin' yer wings and getting awesome-sauce all over yer face. So... plan ahead.)

I think.. the whole idea of Recipe Posts is to eat the deliciousness to share the Full Report. That makes sense. I mean... what if I just shared some hot wings that'll burn the stomach lining of all the masses rushing to make my version of this well-known Chicken Wing recipe?!  hahahahahahaha  I know, right? That's funny. *shakes head* "Masses". Chances are, you don't have Chiltipins, anyway. (Hey... if you want to just pop one and take pictures of your reaction for me, shoot me your address!! That'd be hilarious.)

No results 'til later then. I wonder what we'll have with these awesome wings? Hm..... What are you cookin' today to watch the Bowl with? (Or read during the bowl with. Lol.)

Snapshot - Apple Awesomesauce

Apples.

It's time. I have very organic apples at my house. Not the celebrated sort that ya pay $3/lb for, but the "organic" kind that worms taste test and give you the thumbs up before you get your hands on 'em.

My (incredibly awesome Romanian) neighbor assured me that negotiating with worms, etc, is nothing compared to all the pesticides in the pretty apples at the store. He said it like,

"I don't know what everyone's problem is, they think a pretty apple at the store is better than their own treasure in the back yard. It's crazy!"  

At which I had to stare at the sky intently trying not to visualize all the apples I purchased while letting so many fall and brown. I even nodded and agreed with him, "Mhmm... crazy."

It got me thinking, though... my terrible-looking apples are a "treasure"?

So I started tracking down recipes.

My first attempt at apple pie was... rather leathery. I cooked the pie too long, too... so it's leathery crust was filled with applesauce. The only bright side is, I get the whole thing to myself.

Some links I happened upon in my quest to "do something" with my apples:

Apple Cider (all sorts)
Freezing Apples for Pies - genius!
Autumn Apple Pie - great crust recipe & hints
Apple Butter (this takes all day... or all week, depending on schedule.)
Freezing Applesauce - EASY with helpful tips

Everyone said Applesauce is easy, so I started there, today. These pictures are my adventure in making applesauce.

First... my spotty apples:

A rare pear... kinda tiny and ugly, but delicious

My bounty:

Awesome Sauce:

The taste-testers at my house did NOT like my sauce, if you can believe that. Too tart, too something... I can add sugar, but I'm wondering what else?

I emailed my mom. Isn't that the solution to botched things? I'll share her answer since her sauce really is awesome:

Yep, I kinda quartered them, cutting off the bruise from bouncing on the ground when it fell, and the center where the worms or the core and seeds are.  My apples are sweet, so I add very little sugar.  In a gallon of sauce, I added about 1/2 cup of sugar, and I dump the cinnamon from one of those giant spice things, so it's not measured.  I stop dumping when I'm happy with the color and the flavor.  I'd guess that I use a quarter of a cup, more or less.  I put about a cup of water in the bottom of the pan and lid it tight so the apples steam for about 15 minutes.  Next I put them through the food mill, which blends the sauce and shoves it through the holes at the bottom, keeping the skins up topside for dumping into the garbage.  It's pretty thorough so I get about 1/4th cup of junk for the trash out of a gallon of sauce.  I can't imagine that blending them in a food processor or blender would make any diff from my method.  I have lots of apples all over the place, so come and get them.  I do believe that the flavor of my apple tree is the key secret to my sauce.  I've been a real stickler  that the half dead tree must survive, since it's incomparable and not replaceable.  My sauce is very thick, so it doesn't spill all over the plate like store-bought does.  It's not very sweet, so it can be eaten in large quantities without weight gain worry or "sweeting out" like other desert type of dishes do to ya.

The moral of this story is... use organic apples 'cause they're a treasure... and keep trying 'til you get it right. The house smells delicious every time, so... that's a bonus!!

Alyce @ At Home with Books hosts Saturday Snapshot. You've just survived a slice of real life in photos. Not so bad, hey?

Snapshot - Blackberries

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ At Home with Books. 

Blackberries!!

I grow a bumper crop all the way up my driveaway. I get away with it, 'cause the brambles are technically on my neighbor's property, not mine. It's their infestation problem... and my berry deliciousness!!

I get creative with blackberries:

Blackberry Crisp:

1. Pick some berries, gently rinse, layer in a baking dish.
2. Melt a stick of butter into 2 cu. oats + 1/2 cu flour + 1/2 cu raw sugar
3. Stir crumble top 'til... uh... crumbly and drop over berries
4. Bake in 350 degree oven for 1/2 hour (or 'til browning and bubbly and yummy)

Blackberry Freezer Jam:

1. 8 cu berries, rinse and smoosh to smitherines
2. Add two packets of freezer jam stuff from Pectin
3. Mixed with HALF THE SUGAR!!
4. Bottle, set, freeze!!

The "half the sugar" is a valuable tip, believe me. Those recipes on the jam packets are for all types of fruit incl frozen tart stuff. When you're picking ripe berries that fall into your bucket when you touch 'em, two whole cups of sugar to 8 cups of berries tastes like STRAIGHT SUGAR. Yuck.  If you wanna taste the berries, go easy on the sugar and taste test before adding more.  I learned this the hard way. Inedible!  Bleh!

Blackberry Open-Face Pie:

1. About 3cu of flour + a stick of melted butter + 1/4 cu sugar (like shortbread!!)
2. Bunch of blackberries - like 2 cu - with another 1/4 cu sugar + flour mixed
3. Mix just barely and press into baking dish
4. Bake 40 mins in 350 degrees or until it smells HEAVENLY

This is absolutely ADDICTIVE. Forget store-bought pie crust, forget the fancy-schmanzy top layer that screams "I'm an awesome pie-maker and you're not!" Just whip this out and you'll have to make it again. And again. And AGAIN!!  And then you'll cry when there's no more blackberries.

(The brownies in the background are made my my sis-in-law who is a renowned baker of great popularity. I don't compete with her. When I bake, I imagine myself more like the Swedish Chef with ingredients flying. I make that big of a mess, too.)

Original Something-or-Other Blackberry Thing:

(Yea, I know I need a real name. Bare with me.) So, you're out of oats and you're not sure about pie, but you have lots of graham crackers leftover from summer S'more's....

1. Crumble a couple packs of graham crackers to make about 3+ cups
2. Add 1/4 cu sugar and a stick of butter (yes, I like butter. REAL butter. So, what?!)
3. Pick a bunch of berries (2 cu?), rinse and layer in baking dish
4. Mix the basic graham cracker crust recipe and sprinkle it on top for fun
5. Bake at 350 degrees for awhile - 'til bubbly and browned and yummy

This turned out amazing. I mean, with these ingredients, you can't really go wrong, right? If I were in England, I'd whip out the Digestives. But they're hard to get here. So... I didn't.

[Speaking of.... My mom made something out of Digestives and chocolate that I still dream about and drool over... but she's forgotten how she made it and I can't duplicate it. Any ideas?!  Anyone?!  It's a layered thing. And the chocolate is soft and the crust is chewy/crumbly and I think I'm missing a key ingredient or four.  WHAT IS IT?!?!]

Did you do some fun stuff with blackberries this year?!