Aimee Parkinson's Guide to Books & Books

 

Time to grab a book and get tipsy!!!

Books & Booze challenges participating authors to make up their own drinks, name and all, or create a drink list for their characters and/or readers using drinks that already exist. 

Today we have Aimee Parkison on the blog, sharing a few drinks influenced by her book Sister Séance. Aimee is the author of six books, including Refrigerated Music for a Gleaming Woman, winner of the FC2 Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize.  Parkison is Professor of English at Oklahoma State University and serves on the FC2 Board of Directors. More information about Parkison’s writing is available at www.aimeparkison.com

Blue Séance and Red Séance  

(Cocktail Recipes and Nonalcoholic Options) 

When researching my historical novel, Sister Séance, at the American Antiquarian Society Library, I read accounts of people who had attended séances during the 1800s.  Many of these accounts alleged evidence of a spirit encounter through the sense of smell.  In particular, a floral scent often announced the presence of a ghost or spirit during a séance.

Taking inspiration from the floral scent of spirits at historical seances, I’ve created two colorful cocktails with cold-brewed floral tea. 

 

To get started, cold brew your flower teas:

•  Cold-Brew Hibiscus Tea (for Red Séance): Place 1-3 tablespoons of pure dried hibiscus petal tea into a large glass jar (3-4 cup size) and fill with cold water.  Place lid on jar, shake gently to agitate, and then refrigerate for 1-2 days.  Then, strain.  You should end up with a lovely, tart scarlet tea.
• Cold-Brew Butterfly Pea Flower Tea (for Blue Séance): 1-3 tablespoons of pure dried butterfly pea flower petal tea into a large glass jar (3-4 cup size) and fill with cold water.  Place lid on jar, shake gently to agitate, and then refrigerate for 1-2 days.  Then, strain.  You should end up with a lovely, delicately flavored blue tea.

Either one of the teas above can be served iced as is for a nonalcoholic cocktail (Red or Blue Séance).  (Optional: a dash of lime juice and simple syrup or ecoStick sweetener, if desired.)

 

For boozy options, which are much like blue or red margaritas:

• Blue Séance Cocktail: Combine 1 cup cold-brewed butterfly pea flower tea with 1.5 shots tequila and 1 shot triple sec in a cocktail shaker filled with ice.  (Optional: Add lime juice and sweeten with simple syrup or ecoStick).  Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass, and serve at your next séance.
•  Red Séance Cocktail: Combine 1 cup cold-brewed hibiscus tea with 1.5 shots tequila and 1 shot triple sec in a cocktail shaker filled with ice.  (Optional: Add lime juice and sweeten with simple syrup or ecoStick).  Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass, and serve at your next séance.

 

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Description of Novel:

Sister Séance is set in Concord, Massachusetts, just after the Civil War. Spiritualism is sweeping the nation when a Halloween celebration calls for a traditional “dumb supper,” a dinner party where no guest may speak but must convey needs and desires through nonverbal communication. After the dumb supper, mysterious intruders shock the guests into confronting their pasts, uniting abolitionists, freed people, former slaveholders, a matchmaker, the single women who are her boarders, wounded Civil War veterans, and a female photographer pregnant with the child of her former slave.

This project was supported by an American Antiquarian Society William Randolph Hearst Creative Artist Fellowship.

 

Publisher Website: Sister Séance by Aimee Parkison (kernpunktpress.com)