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Monday 12 April 2010

A feast of fairy tales...

There are so many delicious looking fairy tale treats to feast on this week. The new issue of Goblin Fruit, the fantastical poetry zine, is up. And to celebrate their fourth birthday they're giving away lovely icons, like the one to the left, for you to peruse and use (the icons have been created by Deborah J. Brannon, using Oliver Hunter's gorgeous artwork).

The second issue of Enchanted Conversation has also gone live. It's dedicated to Beauty and the Beast and is packed with retellings, reimaginings and reviews of the tale. I can't wait to dig in!

And, if you're still not full up from all that fairy tale goodness, tomorrow night Heston's Fairytale Feast will air on Channel 4 at 9pm. The pudding sounds good: 'the guests make their way through a wooded glade to find a Hansel and Gretel house made entirely of sweets'. But I'm not so sure about some of the other recipes, which, according to the Radio Times, include 'Snow White-style apples, made from blown sugar piped full of boar mousse' and 'chicken testicles done in the style of jelly beans (with a squid-ink coating).'

Hmmm I think I'll stick to reading the tales...

Addition to post: Here's the programme on YouTube if you didn't catch it. Thanks to redridingtweets for the link.

14 comments:

  1. Um, EW. I don't even know what to say about that last one.

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  2. You are a queen of fairy tale news! I'll be sure to check out Goblin Fruit. Thanks for the blurb!
    Kate

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  3. Wait a second! Is that the actual menu?

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  4. Beautiful blog! Found you via the blog catalog and I'm very excited! I'm a huge fairy tale fan and you have so much of interest going on here!

    Anyway, I'm looking forward to Heston tonight! Should be interesting.

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  5. Thanks all for your comments. Yes it is the real menu! I know, it sounds horrible. I probably should have put up a bit more explanation about the chef for anyone outside the UK, he's called Heston Blumenthal and he has a reputation for doing very peculiar things with food. For example here is his recipe for Chicken with Hay(!) http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/chickeninasaltcrustw_80465.shtml

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  6. Thanks for this -- I wasn't yet aware of Enchanted Conversation. Looks like a great place to read and submit work!! :)

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  7. PS: Just read your piece there at EC -- it's beautiful!!

    http://www.enchantedconversation.org/2009/12/sleeping-beauty-by-claire-massey.html

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  8. Thanks anonymous (and I promise that wasn't my Mum posting a link to my poem in the first issue of EC, at least I don't think it was).

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  9. Anonymous (not your Mum :)16 April 2010 at 04:14

    LOL it's not your Mum, just a blogless fellow writer! :)

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  10. thank you for all the wonderful links. i so enjoyed hestons programmes, especially the one where he recreated charlie & the chocolate factory foods! that man has the most amazing imagination.

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  11. I must say that menu certainly sounds -- unusual. Not having seen the show, I'll give Heston benefit of the doubt, and assume that he had a fairytale connection to -- that -- somehow.

    Snow White style apples? I get first bite and pass it to the person on my right, yes?

    It reminds me of a banquet Tolkien attended in his honor, in the Netherlands, I think. The chef had taken particular pride in a mushroom dish he ingenuously called 'Maggot Soup.'

    He was mortified to learn why Tolkien was laughing.

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  12. Hello there! Have a blog award:

    http://subtlemelodrama.blogspot.com/2010/04/daytime-television-and-some-awards.html

    It's well-deserved!

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  13. Thanks Bethany! That's really lovely of you (and sorry for the delayed reply, I've had my head buried in submissions to New Fairy Tales).

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