Cook Naked: Oh Canada! French Toast!

Ah, bonjour, mes amis, I want to thank all of you who are helping with the search for Nara. I know everyone is anxious to see the winner of today’s drawing for their choice of a $10 gift card from Amazon or Barnes and Noble. But first, we need to feed the search parties and Kelly Jamieson, who is desperate to get her crit partner back, joins me today to help support your efforts.

I don’t know if you knew, Kelly is from Canada. She’s a hockey fanatic too and she shares her love of country and hockey in her newest erotic romance, Face Off, out tomorrow from Ellora’s Cave.  To celebrate the release of Face Off,  Nara had scheduled us to do a Cook Naked blog together. And let me just say, mes amis, Canadians do French toast better than the French. I look at the list for ingredients, and my mouth waters.

1 dozen eggs

½ cup cream

½ tsp vanilla

Zest of one orange

2 tbsp Grand Marnier

1 loaf of French bread, sliced 1 “ thick

Bond:  Kelly, tell me about Face Off while I locate the ingredients for this recipe.

Kelly:  Faceoff is a quick little read and features Tag Heller. You might recognize his name – he’s the oldest brother of Jase Heller from my book Breakaway. The Heller family has four hockey playing brothers and this is Tag’s story.  Tag is back in his home town because the NHL team he plays for has been sold and moved back to Canada. As the returning “home town hockey hero” he has a lot of pressure on him to put positive spin on this move. When his family convinces him to take a week off and spend it at the lake cottage, he meets up with Kyla MacIntosh. They grew up together because their parents were best friends. She was like a little sister to him…but she’s not any more. Now they’re both all grown up and ready for a hot week at the lake.

Bond:  This makes Kyla the love that got away, n’est-ce pas?  Obviously, Tag was not going to let the perfect woman be lost to him. Neither would I. We don’t give up around here, mes amis. We don’t allow stale to take over. And that’s what pain perdu, the lost bread, or French toast as you say here, is about. Recovering what is lost.

It could be about wooing back the love that got away, or maybe your love life needs a little spark, something to make that passion fresh again. You make this Canadian French Toast,  serve it as breakfast in bed for your lover and the sparks will fly, flames will crackle.

And of course, Kelly would bring us a recipe that requires using the whip. We all have our little fetishes. *winks at Kelly* Who do you wish to wield the whip Kelly, vous ou moi?

Kelly:  Oh vous, Bond, s’il vous plait –  I like watching you yield the whip. Please, whip it good. Tag, in Faceoff, has a bag of toys he brought to the lake with him (apparently he wanted to be prepared for anything during that little holiday). He doesn’t have a whip but he does have a few other fun things that he and Kyla make good use of. Because they’re there with their families, they end up spending most nights together in a tent Tag sets up. Have you ever had sex in a tent, Bond?  ___ How about in a boat?

Bond:  Non, not in a boat or a tent. A boat? This is true? I have to read this book.

It is hot in here and we haven’t even preheated the oven. Set it to 375, cherie.

Kelly will slice a loaf of french bread while I do the whipping. I just use the wire whip, no need for fancy mixers or blenders. There is something so satisfying about the steady beat of the whip and churning up the froth.  We start by mixing the base ingredients for the recipe. And I don’t mean base the way you think, mes amis. Always you take my comments and you think sex. I mean the foundation of the recipe. Eggs, cream, and vanilla. Get the finest quality for this. To rescue something you let get away you need quality ingredients. Isn’t this so, Kelly?

Kelly:  Yes that is so. Tag and Kyla were friends a long time ago. She always wanted to be one of the guys and followed them around everywhere, but she was never really one of the guys and as she got older Tag started noticing her as a woman. But Kyla has two older brothers and Tag knew if he ever laid a hand on her, they’d probably beat him up. So he left town for his pro hockey career. Now he has another chance to be with her and this time he’s going to take it.
Bond:  Tag sounds like a man with dominant leanings. Letting a lover know  she is what you want, is so sexy. A little lover’s game of take what you want, is a nice spice to the love life now and then too.  Once the foundation is prepared, then we add spice, the unique flavor that grabs attention. Orange zest brings spark to these base flavors, but the Grand Marnier breathes it to life.

Kelly:   I love the way you say Grand Marnier with that sexy French accent. *sigh*

Bond: Ah, you tempt me, Kelly. Now like any romantic endeavor, foreplay is key. You put the lost bread in a low sided pan or dish and drizzle the mixture over. Okay, you don’t have to drizzle, you can pour, but drizzling is sexier, gets your mind thinking of slowly immersing your lover in something delicious, giving her time to soak up the pleasure. We give this dish an all night soak, so I put a tray in last night to have ready this morning.

Kelly:   I’ve made this recipe many times but never thought of it as foreplay. You’re right…it’s a long slow build up to the finish.

In the morning, take the slices and place them on a well-greased cookie sheet. They will have soaked up all the luscious liquid. Then bake them at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. During that time you can return to bed for a little snuggling before breakfast. When it’s done, it’s amazing how it becomes a little crisp, the inside of the bread creamy and delicious.

Bond:  *Grabbing towel, mopping forehead.* The only thing hotter than cooking with Kelly, is reading her books. I’m sure her husband can add more items to the Kelly hot list. Sex in a boat? You researched this, cherie?

Kelly: Let’s stick to cooking, Bond.

This is wonderful served with strawberries (or other fruit) and of course because it’s Canadian French toast, you must serve maple syrup, which is sticky and sweet. Be careful if you’re eating in bed. On the other hand, if some gets spilled, licking syrup off each other could be fun…

Bond:  Licking, now there is my favorite sport. Enjoy French toast Canadian, mes amis.

Until next time, go stir up something different. Don’t forget to grab Kelly’s new book, Face Off,  when it releases tomorrow.

~Bond

Oh, oh, almost forgot. The drawing. I put the names in a hat and Jolie pulled one out. The winner is…….. Cara Micheals!  Congrats to you, cherie. Please leave in the comments your choice of Amazon or Barnes and Noble.  Next week’s prize is a $15 gift card and we only have one player with enough points to get in that drawing. Get clicking, mes amis. You only need two hundred points. If you do the extra credit challenges for yesterday(comment on my interview with Siobhan Muir and follow her blog) and today(comment here and subscribe this blog), you’ll be halfway there. It’s not too late to join the hunt for Nara. As you can see, I’m generous with ways to earn points, and we have 5 more weeks of adventure and prizes to go. The grand prize, a Nook Color, is both an e-reader and a small tablet computer. Looks to me like your chances of winning are superb.