I have to say foremost, thank you to everyone who attended the CIJ's Garden Gala! It was a great pleasure to be your hostess for near three days' time and watch you all enjoy yourselves with the gifts, food, drinks, and entertainment provided by us here at the CIJ. I want to give a special thank you to Lii, Skye, Elyra, Kii, Shirszae, Rhydian, Tilia, and Evastiana for creating such delicious food and drink for us to offer up to all of you who attended. There is a lot of moving parts that need to come together to make an event work and you all pulled through in your own ways to help make this month happen...even if the Divine Calendar kept changing its mind about WHEN it was suppose to happen. But I digress...

You are all reading this because you want to see the winning entries for the Recipes for Surviving the Achaean Landscape contest that was revealed during the Gala. And without further delay! Here they are!


Fourth Place:

A Swirl of Crows by Exivus

A drink for family meetings...

Ingredients: 4 Crow talons, 1 Gold Dragon Scale, 1 Atavian Feather, 1 Clover leaf, 1 Fir branch, Whiskey

Instructions: Add scale, feather , leaf and branch into cold water. Bring up to a simmer then let it cool to infuse flavors. Pour through a sifter, then mix thoroughly with Whiskey. Freeze crow talons in ice, carve into rough spheres, add to Whiskey.

Optional: Toast some cactus weed, put under drink and cover to let the smoke infuse, discretion is advised.



Third Place:

The Confusing Evening by Saelily

Mix heavy and equal pours of brandy and gin, shake sassily and pour over cherry juice. Splash with diving pool water. If you're not at the Brass Lantern, muddy river water or any nearby scummy puddle may be used instead.



Second Place:

The All Nighter by Marron

Need help staying awake during boring conversations, or whilst reading the millions of books required to do anything in those less fun-inclined Houses? Say no more! Grab yourself an All Nighter, and you'll be bouncing around faster than you can read those manuscripts.

The Recipe is simple: Add equal amounts of cream to some vodka, and then grind you up some kola and cohosh, equal parts.

Don't forget to add some sugar and a dash of rum, sprinkle the herbs into the container and give it a good shake, and then you've got yourself a drink that'll keep you up WAY past your bedtime.



First Place:

A llama-shaped bowl of drama popcorn by Laedha

Ingredients: dried corn kernels, refined vitri-oil, a ceramic llama-shaped bowl

Directions: When drama starts to heat up at your city's crossing, place corn and oil in the ceramic llama and heat with the ambient heat from fiery glares and raging anger. If one party begins to cool down or threatens to leave before the argument reaches high heat and the popcorn is fully prepared, be sure to send them catty tells to rile them up until the snack is ready. Season with salty tears and peppery gossip and pass around to other gleeful onlookers.


Please be on the look out for Recipes for Surviving the Achaean Landscape Vol.1 in your local library within the next decade. I really had fun doing this and, of course, there will be another contest for Volume 2 when the time is right. Until then...

Peace, Love, and Cheesecake!

Penned by my hand on the 12th of Daedalan, in the year 832 AF.