Cinnamon and Gunpowder

This tempting novel was discovered by our own Scoundrel, Magdalena Kamenev. I couldn't wait to share the adventure and deliciousness onward to you!



Buy the Indie Book, "Cinnamon and Gunpowder"

A gripping adventure, a seaborne romance, and a twist on the tale of Scheherazade—with the best food ever served aboard a pirate’s ship

The year is 1819, and the renowned chef Owen Wedgwood has been kidnapped by the ruthless pirate Mad Hannah Mabbot. He will be spared, she tells him, as long as he puts exquisite food in front of her every Sunday without fail.

To appease the red-haired captain, Wedgwood gets cracking with the meager supplies on board. His first triumph at sea is actual bread, made from a sourdough starter that he leavens in a tin under his shirt throughout a roaring battle, as men are cutlassed all around him. Soon he’s making tea-smoked eel and brewing pineapple-banana cider.

But Mabbot—who exerts a curious draw on the chef—is under siege. Hunted by a deadly privateer and plagued by a saboteur hidden on her ship, she pushes her crew past exhaustion in her search for the notorious Brass Fox. As Wedgwood begins to sense a method to Mabbot’s madness, he must rely on the bizarre crewmembers he once feared: Mr. Apples, the fearsome giant who loves to knit; Feng and Bai, martial arts masters sworn to defend their captain; and Joshua, the deaf cabin boy who becomes the son Wedgwood never had.

Cinnamon and Gunpowder is a swashbuckling epicure’s adventure simmered over a surprisingly touching love story—with a dash of the strangest, most delightful cookbook never written. Eli Brown has crafted a uniquely entertaining novel full of adventure: the Scheherazade story turned on its head, at sea, with food.

Arrrrrrr-yum!

I like me breakfast like I like me captured ships.

Over easy.

Guac the Plank!

A wonderful treasure, found by Scoundrel Qwis Greenwood.

Today's t-shirt at ShirtWoot! is cleverly titled "Guac The Plank"

 You just have to pinch a wallet with $12 bucks in it, and it can be yours! 

Here is the shirt description from the website:

Other sailors would recoil from the S.S. Avocado when the ship went zipping by on the search for El Dorado.

Somewhere off the coast of Tortuga they gathered, in the back room of a small Mexican restaurant named El Chalupa. They entered shamelessly, parking as they wished, with no regard for the soccer moms and bachelorette parties who had long-standing reservations. They were pirates, and they took what they wished. And what they wished today was the "green gold" of the South: guacamole.

Dread Paul used the free chips and laughed as he finished the bowl. Lady Mary Keelhaul spread it across her burrito but waved her cutlass at any man who asked her for a bite. Sir Leslie Windsor took tiny spoonfuls and smiled across his Letter of Marque while Freeman Seaman lit candles with his beard and cried YOUR HOTTEST SALSA IS WEAK LIKE A GOVERNOR'S DAUGHTER!

The bill was reasonable. And they helped themselves to the mints next to the register as they left.

Soup: Not For The Timid

Our intrepid Scoundrel, Kimika Ying, discovered the above comic while on a recipe raiding mission. Well done, Kimika!

Credit for the comic itself goes to the brilliantly strange mind behind Qoana.  Go, be amused by the many other comics he's somehow warped into existence.

Pirate or Crab?

• Did you know that a crab's teeth are in their stomachs? Just like a pirate, after a good fist fight.

• A crab is one quarter meat, and three quarters crusty exterior. Just like yer Captain, arrrr.

• Crabs walk sideways, and so do pirates (the really drunk ones).

•  Crabs tend to be aggressive towards each another and males often fight to gain access to females. Need I point out the obvious correlation?

• Crabs can live on land as long as they can keep their gills moist with sea water. Pirates can live on land as long as they keep their livers moist with rum.

• Crabs are talkative. They 'speak' by drumming their claws or flapping their pincers. This is very much like the body language of a pirate telling an adventure story in a pub.

• Crabs are omnivorous, meaning they eat plants as well as animals. Really, they'll eat just about anything. Pirates ain't too picky either, just look at previous entries in this blog, fer example!

• On rocky beaches, crabs will often fight over crevices in the rocks to use for hiding places. Pirates fight over hammocks, coils of rope, rowboats, or any other place useful for sleeping off the rum.

A pirate walks in to a restaurant and says,
“Do you serve crabs here?”

The hostess replies,
“We serve everyone.  Have a seat.”

January 17th is National Hot Buttered Rum Day

And if January 17th is National Hot Buttered Rum Day, then for the Scoundrel Fleet every day of the year must be January 17th.

Did you know this snuggly drink first appeared in New England in the 1650's?  Toddies and Nogs were already popular, but as distilleries started to spring up, colonists started splashing some rum into their hot drinks, and the rest is warm, spicy, boozy history.

You can make your own hot buttered rum batter quite easily!  I like this recipe, myself.  Yum yum. 

Everything Octopus!

I stumbled across this delightful blog tonight and just wanted to share.

Everything Octopus

Enjoy!