Daily Archives: December 18, 2012

So I borrowed from daytime television games. Heck, I’ve been borrowing Mr Hot for three days now! We’re coming down to the wire on the fabulous grand prize Secret Santa Blog Hop.  Don’t forget to check out Blog Central for more entries in the drawing for a Kindle Fire.  And don’t forget to be VERY sure your entries are acknowledged!

On with the final steps for vanilla extract.  We left off with the sliced and cut vanilla beans in their containers, waiting for the Piece de Resistance:  The vodka.

I generally pour with my right hand but I needed that hand to click the camera button (are there any left handed cameras???)  You want to fill up those containers so you cover the beans.  Seal up the container, give it a shake, then put it away in a dark place for at least a month.  Pull it out from time to time to give it another shake.  Soon you’ll have rich yummy pure vanilla extract.

You might wonder if this really works, or am I just spinning another fable.  Here’s proof: after less than 24 hours the vodka has begun to pull color (and flavor!) from the vanilla beans.  Sure wish my stories would work that fast!

If you go into a spate of cooking, or use it up in some other fashion, just add more vodka, rum, cognac, whatever,shake and let it set again for about a week.  In maybe six months you’ll want to pour off the liquid into another container, let the vanilla pods dry, cut them up, and add them to a canister of sugar, for vanilla sugar.  Now doesn’t that sounds just sooo gourmet???

So, for the final QUESTION:  Hmmm, what could it be??? Ah, here you go: In My Killer My Love what was the name of the Overlords who tried to control Mykhael and Kendra?

Just so you know, no one has gotten yesterday’s question right yet. Oops.  Everyone got Baron’s name right!

Since it is the season, and I’m really want to spread the love, if you haven’t read one or either of my books, I’m going to do an e-book gift, in addition to the gift card. Just let me know if you’re interested in being part of that drawing.  You can send a private message to tsent@ix.netcom.com

Don’t forget to hit Blog Hop Central to gather up lots of chances for those prizes, and that’s here: http://www.tabithablake.blogspot.com From Tabitha’s blog you can hop out to the other participants, for even more chances.  Just one more day!

Tomorrow (Thursday December 19) I’m going to do another “Next Big Thing,” this time an erotic novella sequel to My Killer My Love.  Stop by and let me know how it’s sounding to you.

Back again for Day Two of the huge blog hop/vanilla extract fun time. And yeah that hot guy is back again.  We get to share him for these three days. And I’ll repeat the ways you can really rack up entries for a chance at that Kindle Fire, once we get to the next step of the Vanilla Extract. I’m going to share the quick way to make extract. If you want to really get into it, you can follow Instructables directions which also include a lot of in depth information along with the intense directions.

Mine’s a bit easier. Now, extract isn’t usable right away, but once Christmas baking is over with no one does much for a month or so anyway, and it will be ready for Valentine’s day. Some people keep it around to flavor drinks also, if you’re so minded.  You got your glass bottles, right?

Vanilla beans can be found for a ridiculous price in health food and gourmet stores.  Or you can buy them in bulk on line.  These came from Saffron Imports and are much more reasonably priced. Bit of trivia, the vanilla is a pretty vine, related to orchids, and does best in a jungle atmosphere.  Not so great in New Mexico!

Directions call for a very sharp knife.  For me that means an Xacto knife, especially since we have them in excess since Tom used them to cut mats.  Carefully slice lengthwise.  Don’t go all the way through since you want to expose the middle but don’t want to split the bean.  Cut horizontally in two to three places on the bean.  I’m using three beans for each small container since I want to make a nice dark extract…plus I have a LOT of vanilla.  I’m folding the beans into the glass bottles, so there will be room for the lid to close tight once the vodka is added.  You can also use cognac or pretty much any sort of alcohol for an extract. If you use water, you make an infusion, or a really strong tea.

Now, for the Secret Santa part of the blog.  Remember, there are THREE WAYS to get more entries for the drawing. One for following my blog. One for leaving a comment and another for answering my question.

For that special chance, here is tonight’s QUESTION: In My Killer My Love what relationship was Gabriel to Mykhael?

You’ll want to link back to Blog Hop Central to gather up lots of chances for those prizes, and that’s here: http://www.tabithablake.blogspot.com From Tabitha’s blog you can hop out to the other participants, for even more chances. There are over forty great writers involved in this hop…I’m finding a lot of new books to read!

I’m going to be drawing a name from those who enter through this blog for a gift card of your choice, whether Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Black Opal Books.  See you tomorrow for the finishing touches on the vanilla extract.