Three months ago, I nearly lost my best friend while retrieving the first instrument of assassination. I also inadvertently released a rival who was definitely unhinged, way more powerful than me, and obsessed with harnessing the deadly power of the artifacts I’d been tasked by the guardian dragons to collect.
Add a sexy sentinel and a nearly immortal vampire to the mix, and what could possibly go wrong?
Knowing my luck, I was about to find out.
The ebook will be available THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015 on Amazon, Kobo, iTunes, B&N, and Smashwords. The paperback will follow about two weeks later.
At the beginning of Dowser 5 *spoiler alert* Drake eats three different cupcakes. Two are new creations of Jade’s, and the fledgling has previously tasted the third one.
The Cupcake Masterlist for the Dowser Series
As I was working through the third draft today, I thought it might be fun if readers of the Dowser Series decided on the ‘previously tasted’ cupcake.
To that end, I have embedded a poll below – which I seriously hope works – with five possibilities. All of the cupcakes on the poll were mentioned in Dowser 1, and therefore could have previously been consumed by Drake (which is the main criteria).
Pick one. Majority rules.
I promise to release the cupcake recipe a couple of weeks before I release Dowser 5. Yum!
Or, as Jade will undoubtedly refer to them in Dowser 5, ‘the holy trinity of chocolate bars,’ which will be terribly sacrilegious. However, we will probably excuse her because she’s had a really bad day. I know this because I’ve written the bad day part, but not the chocolate bar part.
Tested from right to left.
I teased my Facebook page that I was going to test all of these bars in a single afternoon, but then only managed to taste two. I lost track of the Venezuelan bar through the reconfiguring of my office and just happened upon it in my filing cabinet this afternoon, so I decided to crack it while I wrote about Jade and Warner … and Kett … somewhere high up in the mountains …
Valrhona rarely goes wrong with their delicious creations, and they went all sorts of right with these 64% cacoa limited editions.
I tested the Loma Sotavento from the Dominican Republic first, and funnily enough it was my least favourite of the trio.
Valrhona’s tasting notes declare the Loma to be balanced and chocolatey, with round and light ripe fruits that gently give way to a delicate touch of toasted almond.
I picked up the fruit notes right away … yellow plum, maybe (and yum!) I found the chocolate more sweet than balanced, though with the lovely smoothness that seems to accompany all of Valrhona’s chocolate. And yes, I totally picked up the toasted almond finish as well. It came with a lingering aftertaste of sweet almond, which stuck around a bit too long for my taste.
Side note: Interestingly, this was Michael’s favourite of the three. He said he got caramel from it, right off the top.
According to the notes printed on the back of the bar, Valrhona feels that the Gran Couva offers subtle aromas of dried mint and fresh spices.
I picked up the mint even when simply smelling the first square – lovely! Upon tasting, I found the chocolate smooth, creamy, and subtly sweet. Followed by exceedingly subtle hints of mint with a tiny taste of spice at the very back of my throat – almost like an aroma rather than a flavour. Very, very fun! A fresh aftertaste followed, but light and not the least bit mungy.
Last, but certainly not least, I tried the El Pedregal from Venezuela.
Valrhona’s tasting notes: subtle notes of honey and ripe fruit.
I thought the smell of this bar was divine. A rich, deep cocoa scent that filled my nasal cavities (which doesn’t sound very elegant but I enjoyed it nonetheless – ha!). The first square was smooth and very chocolatey. A consistent, well-balanced flavour. I picked up an exceeding subtle hint of honey on my third piece. Not too sweet, and not at all bitter. It finished with a slight lingering aftertaste, but light, not unpleasant. Very, very tasty chocolate!
I declare all three of these bars very enjoyable and worth ‘investing’ in! 😀
FYI – I purchased these bars from Xoxolat in Vancouver last September, but I waited a little too long to try them (the expiration date was 12/31/14). I didn’t notice any issues in this regard, other than the chocolate didn’t snap as cleanly as fine chocolate usually does. Perhaps the taste of each was diminished as well (?) but they tasted just fine to me!
There is too much story running around my head this morning … and last night all I could dream about was Jade and Warner and all the conversations they need to have or will have but there isn’t ever enough time for any or all of that because life is always happening … or the world is caving in.
Then there’s the new pieces haunting me … the snippets of a dream I had early this morning that my mind keeps trying to tidy up and make into a narrative, then make into a narrative that would fit into the universe of the Adept. Because otherwise I’m being a bad writer and allowing myself to get distracted from the work.
Yes, story is different than the work. The work – where my fingers should be curled around a shiny Parker fountain pen filled with green ink instead of tapping on my keyboard – is plotted out through Dowser 5, 6, and Oracle 2. The work is those three books, in which most of the story is pretty firmly set.
But the story – and my mind – is with Kandy in a side story I don’t have any time to write. And also it’s captured by this new idea …
Sigh.
The hot chocolate cooling beside me in my piggy travel mug might help bring focus.
And for you? While you patiently wait to see if anything coherent will issue forth from my direction in the nearish future?
For you, I insert a picture of chicks in a box.
These babies are now in their (much bigger) brooder in my laundry room. I’m trying to not constantly check on them, say every fifteen minutes or so. I have grave concerns that one will die from something I could have prevented, or they will eat each other.
Hmmm, this may be contributing to my lack of focus.
And I don’t like my office.
I might have to do something about that later … the office. For now I have simply moved into the dining room.
And the chicks will probably be just fine … if they don’t turn into cannibals the second I apply myself to the work…
ETA: these sweethearts are from Briarwood Poultry. We swooped over to Vancouver Island, had lunch with my Dad, and picked them up in Mill Bay. Five Swedish Flower Hens and six Wheaten Ameraucanas.
