Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Rhys Celebrates Pub Day of ABOVE THE BAY OF ANGELS


LUCY BURDETTE: Do we like anything better than a Red book launch? No we do not! And today it's our own dear Rhys with her new historical standalone!

RHYS BOWENToday I am celebrating the release of ABOVE THE BAY OF ANGELS, my new stand-alone novel. Actually I have to confess that I cheated a little. I have already had a launch party at the Poisoned Pen bookstore, but this is the official pub day.


            The launch party was wonderful. So many people came from distant places…

We served champagne and appropriate goodies: macarons because it takes place in France and Queen Victoria’s favorite cookies, the recipe taken from her chef’s cook book, because the book is about Queen Victoria. Actually it’s about a young woman of good family who has fallen upon hard times and has to work as a servant. A miraculous chance means she is hired to work in Queen Victoria’s kitchen and then to accompany the queen to the South of France, where she spent every winter in her final years. Of course there is scandal, intrigue and even a murder.

For the launch party I wanted an authentic dish from her chef’s cook book (which you can access online!)
It was a challenge to find a recipe that I could actually make and serve to people. Most of the 1400 recipes  were so complicated, or so disgusting that it was hard to find something I could tackle.

How about Haunch and Neck of Red Deer at la Marie Stuart,
Or A la Glengarry
But the best one is a la St. Andrew.
You poach the necks then surround with a fine financiere sauce, surround with quenelles of grouse and at each end place a croustalle of bread baked in the shape of a vase filled with truffles and on each flank of the dish a large crayfish.

Here are some other delicious recipes. Do you fancy Giblet pie?


And how do you serve partridges at home? Not like this?

How about blackbird pie? Lark pie?


And after this, a dessert... I'll just whip one up for you!



Finally I settled upon ginger biscuits that were among her favorites (and simple to bake for someone like me who is NOT a baker)

And finally take a look at a menu. No wonder Queen Victoria became so fat!

So there is a lot of food in the book, especially when our heroine learns of the delights of French cuisine:
We have:
A young woman struggling against all odds to survive
Queen Victoria
The French riviera and French cuisine
A touch of danger and intrigue
A hint of romance
What better recipe for a book!





47 comments:

  1. Happy Book Birthday, Rhys!

    Those recipes make me laugh . . . they do seem quite complicated. It’s a good thing we don’t eat like that today!
    But your book recipe sounds perfect, and I am looking forward to reading “Above the Bay of Angels” . . . .

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  2. Despite my last name, I'm really not a baker. Or a cook. So all of that is well beyond me. Glad you found a recipe. And congrats on the new book launch!

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    1. That's funny, Mark!

      Our last name, Maslowski, means "butter maker". I can assure you, no one in my husband's family has ever made butter!

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  3. A Happy Book Birthday to you, Rhys! I'll be looking for Above the Bay of Angels in my mailbox today. I think you chose wisely with the ginger biscuits.

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  4. Enjoy your official book birthday! Those recipes are absolutely over the top. I’m leaning toward a modern interpretation, maybe Easter Peeps sitting in a pie shell.

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  5. Happy book birthday, Rhys. Wow, glad I wasn't a Victorian cook. Haunch of red deer! Was there a recipe for peacock as well? I will have to look. I understand they are quite tasty. You definitely made the right choice with the ginger biscuits.

    I'm looking forward to reading Above the Bay of Angels. It will be an education. I never knew Queen Victoria regularly traveled outside of the British Isles. When I think of her travels, it's to Scotland. Did Mr. Brown go with her?

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    1. Kait, I think Mr. Brown went, but he mostly stayed in Scotland. I know when she went to France she took an Indian manservant (she was quite proud of her title "Empress of India"), which was nearly as scandalous to some.

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    2. And swan! Only the Queen is allowed to eat swan

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  6. Those recipes are over the top, wow, but ginger biscuits are always perfect. Happy book birthday, Rhys!

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  7. I can't wait to read this. Agree about 19th century recipes. The few times I tried make something from a cookbook from my fictional midwife's era, the results were awful. The quantities are either enormous or the flavorings insipid. I stuck with sugar cookies for a launch party, too!

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  8. Congrats on the new book!

    I remember reading in her biography that Queen Victoria loved to eat. Looking at the recipes above, I can believe it!

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  9. Congratulations Rhys! I loved the new book and I know our red readers will too!

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  10. Happy book birthday Rhys ! Downloading it now.

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  11. So excited for you, Rhys! And of course excited for us the readers who have been eagerly anticipating.
    Those recipes are hilarious. I thought my mother's and my grandmother's recipes were ridiculous when they say "bake until done" plus give no settings for the oven temperature.

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  12. Congratulations on your new release! Contemplating a new Great British Baking Show using 19th c. recipes? I remember finding an old copy of Mrs. Beeton's Cookbook to use for a school project. We "tweaked" Mrs. B's recipe for Hot Cross Buns with modern dry yeast.

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    1. Remember the original Mrs Beeton’s oxtail soup? “ first slaughter your ox “?

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  13. Happy book launch! The recipes sound so over-the-top--hard to comprehend sitting down to meals like that! I do simple--never complicated!

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  14. Happy Book Birthday! Those recipes would probably help me lose weight, not gain.

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  15. Calling in from vacation! Yaaaaaay Rhys!! Xxxxxxx

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  16. Congratulations, Rhys! After looking at these recipes I am now wondering what sort of food is prepared for Queen Elizabeth. For instance what might she eat for Sunday supper? Or breakfast?

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    1. She likes very simple food and has always struggled with her weight. So boiled egg for breakfast. She has had to eat so many meals at functions

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    2. No onions or garlic, I believe.

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  17. Congratulations, Rhys! The book is fascinating with its unique setting "behind the scenes" at the palace, and Isabella is a charming heroine.

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  18. Happy Book Release Day, Rhys! Mine arrived on my Kindle this morning. It feels like Christmas! It's next on my to-be-read list. :)

    Regarding that menu. I think that even if I ate only one bite of each course, I would be fat. Ug.

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  19. Congrats, Rhys! What fun to browse old cookbooks for fun (and strange) recipes! I love doing that too.

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  20. Congratulations on yet another book birthday, Rhys. Julie is ecstatic! I had the date wrong, thought it was yesterday, and she may not forgive me for getting the date wrong. She had arranged her reading to be ready for ABOVE THE BAY OF ANGELS the moment it appeared on her Kindle! But today she will be delighted.

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    1. Oh I will. We can read books at the same time but prefer not to. It can get messed up when reading on our Kindles.

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    2. Julie has been deep in the book all day and reports that it is very good. It inspired her to do a mise en place before I cook dinner tonight.

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  21. Happy book birthday, Rhys, and (selfishly) wishing you many, many more!

    Our ancestors certainly ate differently from us. I doubt that today's royals use the recipes from their great grandmother's chef.

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  22. Can't WAIT to read this!! As a major league foodie, fan of British monarchy stories, and Rhys Bowen groupie, I"M IN!

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  23. Congratulations! I love reading old cookbooks, and the recipes you shared boggle the mind! I look forward to reading Above the Bay of Angels ~

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  24. What a gastronomically enlightening post! Absolutely fascinating! Thanks so much for sharing. I’m quite thrilled to just be making lasagna tonight! Congratulations on the release of ABOVE THE BAY OF ANGELS! I read an ARC and loved it!

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  25. I found my book in my Kindle this morning and I'm ready to go. Reading these recipes and thinking about all those proteins in one dish. Truly amazing. A meal must have taken forever with so many courses. Enjoy your book birthday.

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  26. It's a great day for Rhys Bowen fans!

    The research for this must have made you hungry. Or not. Some of those "recipes" sound a little sketchy, not to mention overly fiddly. And here I thought all those cake-creating shows were over the top. It's true: there is nothing new under the sun.

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  27. Happy Book Birthday, Rhys! I can't wait to read ABOVE THE BAY OF ANGELS. And those recipes! I've seen similar -I have a copy of the White House Cookbook from, I think, 1890-something, and it's also filled with 57-step recipes that deliver at least 500 calories per bite. How much protein did they think people needed back then?

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    1. I suppose houses were cold and drafty and most people walked a lot (Queen Victoria didn't. in the end she couldn't walk at all) . You burn more calories. But this was just the very rich. Ordinary people probably had what I grew up eating after the war when meat was still rationed: lots of suet pudding with a sliver of meat in it.

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  28. Rhys, happy book birthday! I look forward to reading Above the Bay of the Angels!

    Speaking of fans from distant places, I remember when I went to your event at Book Passage that some of your fans came from the South Bay and farther south (central California).

    Diana

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    1. I had a fan come from New Orleans to Houston and two fans from Portland OR to Scottsdale! Amazing

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  29. Rhys's new book is something to celebrate. But maybe not like the Victorians did? Fun reading though.

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  30. Waiting to download my Kindle version now. Happy Day!

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  31. Happy Book Birthday! I'm looking forward to reading this.

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  32. Rhys, I loved the food in this book! Not to eat--ugh--but it was fascinating to read about. So interesting to actually read those recipes. Did they eat the bones of the larks and blackbirds in the pies?

    Congratulations on another great success!

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    1. No, the recipe called for 40 boned larks! Imagine. Poor little birds!

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  33. Book arrived in the mail today. Can't wait to get lost in it tonight!

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