DrabbleWriMo 29: Surprise

A last-minute (surprise!) change of plan; in order to reduce the 'disjointed' effect, we omit the entire episode of the fake escort which turns out to be a real one, and cut to the aftermath. Which means that Gaston only gets a single PoV chapter overall, I think (Absent). Again, probably symptomatic of the shifted focus throughout -- the vast majority of the chapters are either de Brencourt or Valentine.

It does work well with my expressed desire to do more of de Brencourt's PoV for the bits the author only implies in retrospect and in passing, though. I'm pretty pleased with how much of the latter I've managed to cover, as things have turned out; it brings the result closer to actual fan-fiction rather than an exercise in summary/retelling.

( Read more... )

I'm sorry to have left out so much of Roland; from a genuine fan-fiction point of view, I can't help wondering where he did go on that final morning, when we learn only that he is out and fails to return before the end of the novel, and more importantly what on earth his reactions must have been when he did arrive back to discover that his world has fallen about his ears in his absence (and to learn it at the hands of the Comte de Brencourt, when there has never been much liking lost between them)...

( Hyde de Neuville )

Rainbow Pie

I managed to make a successful Rainbow Pie -- even if my version wasn't at all vegan! It would have had cheese in as well as the beef dripping and the beaten egg I used to help set the vegetable juices (just as well, since I forgot to season between the layers as directed), but I forgot to add it, since I was cooking from 7pm to midnight in the intervals of doing other things -- under the circumstances I didn't wait as directed for the pie to cool before eating, but it was tasty anyway.

It didn't come out neat enough to photograph in its assorted colours (and to be honest it was such a pain to roast and prepare all the vegetables separately that I shan't do it again), but it did produce the required effect.
Layers: roast beetroot (purple), red pepper (red), sweet potato (orange) with cumin and mashed roast garlic, and onion (yellow), with potato slices poached with leek and celery (white), fresh peas and cooked Brussels sprouts (green), the poaching liquor being beaten up with a couple of eggs and poured over, and a shortcrust lid of pastry made with butter, dripping and grated potato glazed with egg :-)