Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge By Paul Krueger
One and a half egg rating
Last Call at The Nightshade Lounge
By Paul Krueger
Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Krueger, is classed as an urban thriller, who knew that was a genre?
Certainly not me when I chose it for the book for Aprils Foodie Book Club.
Set in Chicago, a group of bartenders use specially mixed old lore versions of well known cocktails to give them super powers, enabling them to fight the ever growing demon population.
Vodka for super strength, whiskey grants telekinesis and rum lets whoever drinks the magical mixture blast fire.
That’s it in a nutshell.
Zane, Bailey and the rest of the crew of alcohol inspired superhero’s, have a certain but limited depth to them, which to hold my attention longer, would have meant spending more time filling out the characters’ making them more dimensional. The characters are written about without judgment of race or sexuality which I found very refreshing.
It’s a fun book to read, if a little insubstantial and I wasn’t sure if I had chosen a book from the wrong age bracket.
It felt much more of a teenage read than an adult, but once I’d reconciled myself to that, I began to just have fun with it, especially enjoying the cocktail descriptions and recipes at the end of each chapter.
Not a cocktail maker myself, unless it involves diet coke, there were a couple of occasions when I wanted to get the shaker out (shaken and not stirred) and begin a new hobby with the hope of maybe becoming a monster fighting superhero myself.
I’m aware that this review is very short, but adding to it doesn’t seem necessary.
Would I recommend this book to someone else? I would recommend it to teenagers who like books such as the Hunger Games trilogy or Vampire Diaries, also to adults wanting a quick read with a view to learning how to make the odd cocktail or two.
It was quite fun to read, but because the characters were quite shallow, it became a little bit of a challenge to stay with it.
What would I rate this book? I’d give it 1 ½ eggs.
The Book for May Foodie Book Club is a classic:
The Cider House Rules by John Irving
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What of the food item in the title?
I think I chose the book because I was intrigued by the nightshade in the title.
Nightshade is a family of foods, occasionally poisonous as with deadly nightshade , but most commonly encompasses food most of us use on a daily basis.
Potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and aubergines are all nightshade vegetables, giving everyone a wide variety of tasty treats to make for their potluck sharing dishes. Even the sweet ones
I chose to make oven dried tomatoes, something I make a lot, something myself and Mr G love and use for many things.
Once put into sterile jars, we use them in sandwiches, add the little packs of flavour to bolognese sauce, in salads and more.
Not only easy to make but easy to eat too
This is a free recipe which means it’s very flexible about weights of ingredients.
Use as many tomatoes as you want, and adapt the amount of the other ingredients accordingly.
See the Tip Box for tips on cooking and amounts etc.
Enjoy Your Sweet Life
Oven Dried Tomatoes
Perfect pops of intense flavour to use with everything
What You Need
Small tomatoes – See Tip Box
Chilli Flakes – Optional
Maldon sea salt – See Tip Box
Black pepper
Dried thyme
Turmeric
Extra Virgin Olive oil – See Tip Box
Ready for the sterile jar. Don’t waste any of the juice, scrape it all into the jars with the extra virgin olive oil.
How It’s Done
Turn the oven on high and let it heat up
Cut all the tomatoes in half and lay them out in a single layer, cut side up.
Sprinkle extra virgin olive oil over the tomatoes, making sure that each one has a few drops on them – don’t drown the tomatoes – See Tip Box
Sprinkle over all of the herbs, salt and pepper – Make sure each tomato has some of the seasoning
Place the tray or trays in the hot oven and cook on high for 10 minutes.
Reduce the heat to 120c and cook for another 20 – 40 minutes – Until the tomatoes have halved in size - See Tip Box
Remove from the oven and allow to cool
Once cooled, place them into a sterile jar.
Pour some extra virgin olive oil into the jar, coming up to about a ¼ way up the jar. – See Tip Box
Close the lid and store in the fridge until needed.
Mmmmmm
Tip Box
Tomatoes – Use as many small tomatoes as you want to. Use a mixture of colours to add different taste. Oven drying is a fantastic way to use up other vegetables - shallots, peppers, radish etc.
Maldon Sea Salt – Maldon is a flavour not just a salt. I always have this for cooking.
Olive oil – This dish is all about the taste, so use extra virgin olive oil instead of regular oil. For extra taste, use basil oil, chilli oil, etc.
Drizzling the oil – Drizzle the oil lightly but make sure all the tomatoes has at least a drop or two on them.
Herbs & Spices – Don’t limit yourself to the flavour profile (herbs and spices) that I’ve used. Print off the downloadable sheet showing flavour profiles to give you an idea of some combinations.
Oven– All ovens vary so adjust cooking times accordingly
Cooking – Reducing the oven temperature for the majority of the cooking, means that the tomatoes oven dry rather than cooking. Keep an eye on them, they are done when they have reduced in size by approximately half. As they get smaller, the more intense the flavour.
Filling the sterile jar – Make sure you only use a sterile jar to store your oven dried tomatoes. Once filled store the jar in the fridge.
Adding a little unflavoured extra virgin olive oil, means the tomatoes will flavour the oil as they sit there, making the oil flavoursome too.
Using the tomatoes – Each time you want to use the tomatoes, make sure you use a clean utensil so as not to contaminate the tomatoes.
Tomatoes oiled and seasoned ready for the oven
