Deathly Hallows, and ME, in London

Finally! The day Harry Potter fans have waited for for years! The release of the last book of the quest of the Boy Who Lived in his battle against He Who Must Not Be Named.

I cannot express what it means to me to be able to be here in London, at ground zero, in the middle of this once in a lifetime excitement.

So, since a picture paints a thousand words, I'll share a few (or more likely, enough to make my server crash!).

These are taken earlier in the day on July 20, of the crowds gathering hours in advance in front of the Waterstone's in Picadilly:





The evening of the release:



A luscious Lucius to die for!



Give it up for the Gryffindor Quidditch team:



A mini Harry and Draco start a street duel:



Trying to see over the crowds. Couldn't they just use a levicorpus spell?



And finally, the front of the line:

The Delights of the British Museum

I'm here! In London! On my trip to present a couple of workshops (Writing with Magic (for Muggles) and Seeking Egyptian Myths in Harry Potter) at the Harry Potter Sectus Conference. To be here, in London, for the release of the final Harry Potter book, Deathly Hallows, is just unimaginably exciting. But my first excitement was a fabulous tour of the British Museum.

I admit it. I'm such a nerd. Or would that be geek? Seeing the Egyptian gallery almost blew my nervous anticipation of my presentations and the excitement of the big book release totally out of my mind. I truly had tingles race up and down my spine when I saw the Rosetta Stone, below. After spending so much time studying Egyptian myths and legends to help unlock the secrets of Harry Potter, I just ate up this whole Egyptian exhibit.



And I didn't even have to go to Turkey to see this amazing Turkish treasure. Actually, the Nereid Monument from Xanthos predates the Turks (but to be truthful, the Turks are a mix of the locals who were there and the Turks who invaded), but I bet they'd like to have this back in Anatolia rather than in the British Museum.



Then I turned a corner, entered a new hall, and there, much to my surprise, was this:


The Queen of the Night. I'd seen her online and been struck by this ancient image of female power, but somehow hadn't connected that she was housed right there in the British Museum. Seeing her upfront, in the flesh, so to speak, was definitely a highlight of the trip.

Cold Cucumber Soup -- Cacik

This is a fabulous summer soup. Served cold, it's refreshing on a hot day.


Ingredients:

• 3 medium cucumbers (400 g)
• 3 cups yogurt (plain, good quality) (770 g)
• 2 cloves garlic (6 g)
• 2 teaspoons sea salt (12 g)
• 1 cup water (250 g)
• 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil (20 g)
• 3-4 sprigs dill (10 g)

Directions:

Combine finely chopped or shredded cucumber with yogurt. Mix thoroughly. Add crushed garlic. Season with sea salt. Dilute with cold water. Mix well.

Pour into individual serving bowls. Sprinkle with olive oil. Garnish with coarsely chopped dill.

Chill and serve.


Cultural Notes:
This soup is a popular way of serving cucumbers and yogurt all over the country. Served with meat dishes, pilafs or boreks. In winter, lettuce or shredded carrot is used instead of cucumbers. dried mint is substituted for dill.

This recipe is from Samples from Turkish Cuisine by Ayse Baysal.