Random Updates

Today I'm going to do a general update. It's a little more on the personal side but you can get a glimpse into life which is always fun. 


Travel and life
We'll be heading back to Nashville at the end of the month for my mom's wedding! We're super excited to get back and see everyone. It really will be kind of shocking for me. After living there my whole life, the place almost seems like a dream. I feel like I've lived in Washington for years now and it'll have only been 7 months by the time we get in the plane. On the other hand, it also feels like we moved here last month... strange how that happens huh? So, we'll be in Cashville for 4 days at the end of the month. Hope to see everyone!

Books and Work
As book stuff goes, there's not a lot more to report since my last update a few days ago. I'm chipping away at new projects while editing Thomas Riley 2. I can give you a fun hint and tell you that I did find a Day of The Dead book I'm excited to read as research for Tribes. ;) Also, as I may have mentioned before, Liz and I have been approached to write for a really awesome steampunk RPG game. Stoked!

Animals
Skye and Ghoulia are doing awesome. Skye is crazy as ever but slowly learning the rules around here. The key word in that last sentence is "slowly". She's a sweetie but also note that she's earned the nicknames: Snacks, Crack Head, Corneus, Torpedo, Woo Woo and Tornado since her sort of short time with us. I've never had a big dog and never anything close to a seventy pound one year old Siberian Husky before.

TV
As you know we like our shows. So far, we're knee deep in Project Runway (Go Chris! well, and Dimitri!), The new season of Castle is one of the best so far. We're really hoping to have another Halloween episode as they are our favorites. Face Off is another Tuesday night staple. We're routing for the dude in the cowboy hat. And of course we love our House marathons! There's some really good stuff to come too! American Horror Story is starting up like next week along with The Walking Dead and new Top Chef in November which is in Seattle! Awesome!

So that's sort of a quick personal cross section of fun going on in the Valentino house right now.

Drinks!

Today we're going to take a quick break from wonderful authors, music, and steampunk culture to talk about drinks. Homemade drinks at that! Lizzie and I are always on the search for wonderful and powerful new adult beverages that have yet to be discovered or have been sadly forgotten in the past. When we lived in Nashville one of our favorite places to go was the famous Patterson House which is a speak easy style place that serves drinks from the prohibition era along with seasonal offerings that you're not going to find at most other places.

So we've stumbled upon a few of our own really great and easy to make drinks that we'd like to share.

The Nikki Heat
Named after a fictional character in the show Castle, The Nikki Heat is a slight variation of a drink I tasted from John "Ichabod" Anderson at Dragon Con a few years ago. It's spicy, sweet and tastes like Christmas!
1.5 oz. Fireball Whiskey
3 oz. Cream Soda
.5 oz Grenadine
Serve over ice and enjoy.

The Valentino
Named after our surname, Lizzie constructed this drink that's smooth, a little sweet and can transport you to your favorite beach in one sip. Warning, you can probably drink ten of these if you're not careful.
2 oz. Coconut Rum
4 oz. Pomegranite/Cranberry Juice
1 sliver of lime
Serve over ice and enjoy.

Orange Hook
The Orange Hook (which I just named because we couldn't think of a great name before) was discovered by Lizzie when she had a beer in one hand yet was craving orange juice. With the beer flavor still in her mouth she took a sip of orange juice and wow... genius struck. It sounds gross but it's amazing! Think of a more robust mimosa. The measurements for this drink vary as you can drink a lot so it depends on the glass you're using.
1/3 glass of Copper Hook Beer (from the redhook brewing company)
2/3 Non pulp orange juice.
Serve cold (No ice) and enjoy and enjoy and enjoy.