ha ha ha! E. C. Ambrose, COZY?? In honor of April Fool's Day, I thought I'd shift my mindset and reimagine my newsletter, Tomb Reader, as it might be if wrote something a little nicer...maybe the kind of books my mother always pictured me writing. Cozy authors often incorporate join-the-fun elements like recipes and craft projects related to the themes of the books. So, the cozy version of The Mongol's Coffin (first in my Bone Guard series) might look something like this...
Hi, Everyone!
Welcome to my little adventure nook. Today we'll be exploring Mongolian culture, so you can really get a "taste" of what the Bone Guard team might experience while they're out racing the Chinese army to locate the legendary lost tomb of Genghis Khan. Oh, hey, and did I mention that the book is free right now? Yes, indeed! This would be a great time to grab it for yourself, and share it with a friend.
So, get your marmot and camel, and follow along! Thanks so much for reading,
E. C.
Recipe: Mongolian-style Marmot
- Ingredients:
- 1 Marmot, cleaned, but not skinned
Start a nice, warming fire. Place a few appropriately sized stones in it to warm up.
When you've got it down to a good bed of coals, remove a couple of the warm stones. Don't touch them with your bare hands, please, the ambulance in Mongolia is hours away!
Place the hot stone(s) inside of the marmot.
Shift the hot coals. In the fire pit, dig a hole large enough to contain the marmot.
Replace the coals on top. Wait until the hair falls off--that's how you'll know it's roasted to crispy perfection!
Oh, dear... that recipe doesn't sound entirely like something one could bake at home. Besides, marmots are awfully cute, aren't they? I mean, they were likely responsible for the Black Death spreading from this region to much of Asia and Europe, but still!
You know what, maybe I should've let Nigel Rowe handle this newsletter! Sadly, he's not available. Nigel's still recovering from his recent adventures in Bloody Baja.
Mongolian Culture Craft: Make Your Own Ger!
The Mongolian Ger, similar to the Turkish Yurt (the term commonly applied to these structures) is a felted wool tent with a collapsible lattice structure inside to support the walls. A pair of highly decorated long poles hold the spoked round smoke opening at the top of the traditional version. When a new couple get married, the ger they'll live in often incorporates a section of "mother felt" taken from the ger of the woman's family.
To make your ger, you'll need the fleeces of about sixty to a hundred and ninety sheep, depending on the size of the sheep and the ger you're trying to make. The wool should be clean and free of twigs, grass, etc. Lay it out to pattern about 50% larger than the finished ger wall and roof panels need to be to account for shrinkage. You'll make thin layers of wool first in one direction, then the other until you've reached the desired thickness.
Wet down the whole thing and rub it all over to set the fibers, then roll it up in a tarp and tow it behind your camel to the next grazing site. (A motorcycle will do, in a pinch!) By the time you arrive, the rough, uneven ground should have agitated the wet wool enough to felt it into a thick, warm layer to insulate your home for the winter! If you'd like complete instructions, here's one resource!
Don't have a camel? You can make this charming paper version, courtesy of the University of Indiana, which hosts the Mongolia Society, for the study of Mongolian culture, past and present.
In our next issue, we'll cover how to make a tourniquet!
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