Are you tired of drinking your tea out of those dainty little floral tea cups your grandmother bought you?  Is your hot chocolate bland and boring because you’re forced to drink it out of those drab white coffee mugs?  Are you like me and always knocking things over resulting in the slow smashing of all your hot liquid drinking vessels?

Well fear no more!  With the coming of the colder months we need to prepare for our hot drink rituals!

And Skeletal DropKick is here to help.

How can you not love these?  Dark and earthy enough to work in any dungeon based kitchen and yet not so in-your-face evil to shame your mother.  (Don’t take my word for it though, there’s not much that offends my mother.)  This is a mug that you can own as a simple conversation piece, give as a unique and original gift of art or collect a whole set of.

And did I mention they make teapots, bowls, wine chalices and more?  You could have a whole army of kitchen monsters!  Think of the possibilities!

Ingredients

1 ½ C Granulated Sugar

8 Tbls Cornstarch

1/2 Tsp Salt

1 3/4 C Water

4 egg yolks – Beaten1 Med. Grapefruit

2 Lemons

1 Lime

2 Tbls Butter

1 Pie Shell – Pre-baked

Instructions

1. Juice the Grapefruit, Lemon and Lime. Keep ¾ C of the juice.

2. Combine Sugar, Cornstartch, Salt and Water in a medium saucepan, stirring often over a medium heat until it boils. Simmer and whisk frequently for 2-3 more minutes until it starts to thicken. Remove from heat.

3. Add the beaten egg yolks into the sauce pan, whisking quickly to make sure it mixes evenly. Let mixture return to heat, boiling it gently to thicken it further for about another two minutes then remove from heat.

4. Add citrus juice and butter. Whisk until smooth and let cool just a little before pouring into the pie shell.

5. Chill until pie is set and firm.

Now when it comes down to being asked what my favorite monster is, the vampire wins every time.  Ask my boyfriend and, well, the zombie rules.  He has got a serious love for the games, the movies, the whole cult following really.  So what is a girl to do when it comes to finding unique gifts for a living dead fan who seems to already have it all?

You turn to Stuart Conover at BuyZombie.com!

Seriously, this was just too cool and it makes my shopping so much easier this year: I decided I wanted to get to know Stuart a little bit better.

1. You obviously spend a lot of time working on this site, is it a labor of love? Or are you just plain obsessed?

I honestly can’t say it’s one or the other. I’m actually a full time horror junkie in general it’s just zombies that I feel are the best part of horror. Besides the serial killer concept found in slasher flicks they are probably the greatest realistic threat we would face and one that would effect everyone!  Aside from that it’s been shown constantly as one of the sub-horror genres that seem to be an easy in for independent movie producers and new authors. One thing I’ve loved about running the site is how many newer published authors or directors I’ve had a chance to speak with as so many are attracted to the genre or find it easy to work with.

2. What’s your favorite non-zombie related movie?

I can’t break it down to just one I’m a huge fan of cinema in general. I can toss out some of my top picks though since narrowing it down to just one movie *shakes head* not possible! Trick ‘r Treat(saw the midwest premiere recently, amazing movie), Alien, Aliens, The Usual Suspects, Blade Runner, Gattaca, Let The Right One In, North by Northwest, Pulp Fiction, The Silence of the Lambs, The Shawshank Redemption, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Se7en, OK I need to stop here. I could probably go on for hours listing my ‘favorite’ movies! While I am a horror fanatic I’m pretty sure that small taste of movies I have enjoyed shows I’ve got a range to what I watch ;)

3. What prompted you to create BuyZombie.com?

The site initially started just as an online resource to find anything zombie related or themed online for sale. Over the past year I have switched over to an increase in posts of zombie news, movie trailers, reviews, etc. This started by posting occasional zombie ‘products’ done by the crafting and art communities online and quickly realized people wanted more and more zombies of any kind. I want it to be an all around zombie experience and not just what you can buy (though I of course list zombie items still as well!) Ever since I started the switch about a year ago there has been both a huge influx of new readers and opportunities for the site (which is causing us to expand soon to include a vampire site and general horror site.)

4. Quickly! We must rally the people for the oncoming Zombie Apocalypse! What should we pack in our Zombie Survival Kits?

Well this one won’t be quick! To start with a small amount of light reading: The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks and When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need To Survive When Disaster Strikes by Cody Lundin.  Both of these will help with any general survival questions on living and taking care of yourself after the outbreak occurs. A map of the area you are in and any you may wish to travel to. First aid kit for any cuts (if you’re bitten though you may as well give up now!) A Survival Fire Starter for having a way to start a fire if needed, can’t trust matches or lighters to not just run out. Mobile proximity alarms can be run on batteries and are light weight and pretty cheap to buy these days (as low as $10!) Speaking of batteries you’ll probably want a ‘few’ sets for any electronic gear you have with you. A set of night vision goggles. While you don’t want to be running around in the dark anything might happen and it’d be better to see what is in front of you as you’ll be wanting to avoid heavily lit areas. Rope and duct tape are always handy. Finally if you are comfortable and proficient with fire arms a pistol of some sort to both help defend against zombies as well as scare off anyone who might be trying to steal what you have on you for their own survival. (Food & Water are also bonuses, however, are both less easy to carry with you.)

5. How have you prepared for the zombie hordes?

I’m sorry but answering this one would make me sound like one of those crazy survivalist nuts that live in the hills and think the government is out to get us all! I’m not that crazy. Honest.

6. Where do you find all the stuff for your site? Is this a full time pursuit for you?

My day job is generally spent in front of a computer with 4-5 hours to spare on and off throughout the day. While originally I would have to comb websites nonstop with the invention and increasing popularity of social networking sites (primarily Facebook and Twitter) there is always an influx of new zombie information to be able to share with BuyZombie’s readers! On top of that as we have been gaining readers we get 5-40 submissions a week by e-mail on our contact page.

7. What’s your favorite kind of cookie and why?

Hands down homemade chocolate chip. When I was growing up my grandmother used to make me homemade chocolate chips and warm fresh ones out of the oven. Yum! (With a glass of milk!)

8. What’s your preference of Zombie? The classical voodoo style? Or the Biohazard/Infectious Disease based style?

I would have to go with the disease based zombies. Would it really surprise anyone that there was a black ops government group out there trying to bring back the dead as a weapon? Possibly a group just trying to create immortality or extend the average lifespan until one fatal day they unleash a plague upon us all while just trying to help out. Why did they try to help? *sighs* Why? WHY? Ahem.

9. Which would be worse? Zombie Pirates? Or Zombie Ninjas? Who would win in a fight?

The ninjas would clearly be worse! In shape and in the top of their health before being bitten by an overwhelming horde of zombies chasing them they would be quicker and take longer for the decomposition to kick in. Pirate zombies would be in horrible health to begin with and some are already rotting on the inside! Both being zombies they would no longer carry their centuries old grudge between one another (unless after time brief memories of their past lives begin to emerge as Romero’s zombies have been doing) and would instead combine their forces to better eat or infect us all.

10. In your opinion, which style of zombie films are the best between the classics like Dawn of the Dead and the modern versions such as 28 days later?

I’m going to nitpick here. 28 Days Later isn’t a “zombie” movie. There are no undead or flesh eaters involved at all and it’s just an infection movie shot like a zombie movie. Putting that aside it really depends. I love the fast pacing of the ‘new’ breed of zombies and they honestly just freak me out. How can you fight back against zombies that can outrun you since they won’t get worn out and will just keep coming? Realistically though the slow moving zombies in large numbers seem more feasible (not feeling pain aside the muscles would decompose with the flesh and running shouldn’t be possible, at least not for long.) The other bonus of the slower moving zombies was the increased gore factor. If your into gore, no one today does it how they used to.

11. Who’s your favorite character in Left for Dead?

Francis! It really had to be, how can anyone not love and be entertained by how much he hates.. everything.

12. What’s your favorite zombie based video game?

For realism, Resident Evil 1. Hard game to master, save points were few and far between, and it had a decent plot. For fun it would have to be Left 4 Dead or Dead Rising (I’ll admit I haven’t had a chance to pickup Resident Evil 5 yet so that may change.) Probably between the two I would pick Dead Rising though. While L4D is a lot of fun I have *looks embarrassed* other first person shooter games I enjoy more. As a bonus Plants Vs Zombies is both an incredibly addicting and cute game from PopCap Games available on the PC (soon 360, PS3, Mac, and iphone.)

13. Do you think zombies could ever co-exist peacefully like in the ending of the movie Shaun of the Dead?

If you go by the classic thought of zombies being undead I would have to go with no. It’s not possible as they will just keep trying to eat us. However, there has been an increase in the thought of ‘advanced’ zombies over the past few years. From Romero’s zombies progressively getting smarter in movies (Day of the dead- “Bub” is able to learn how to use a gun and do simple tasks, Land of the Dead- zombies are doing basic tasks that they appear to have done prior to being turned) to books (Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament by S. G. Browne, great author and good person, has shown that zombies are not just mindless beings but can love and hate… past loving our tasty flesh!) Even with this increase of intelligence among the undead I fear that it can only drive them further away from any chance of a peaceful co-existence. Let’s be honest here- as a living person, huge horror tolerances/obsessions/fetishes aside, the smell of rotting flesh is going to get to the majority of people after awhile ;)

Now this is just so cool. If I had any room left in the studio at all I’d seriously looking into this for myself. It’s spooky; It’s practical; and, it’s a damn cool conversation piece! It is a Coffin Couch! And i i’s not just a fun shaped couch, it actually folds up into the coffin! How cool is that?

You can purchase one of these at VonErickson’s Laboratory.

I’m taking a moment to promo a website very dear to my heart and a place I think you all should visit and become hardcore fans of.  Pretty-Scary is a website “For Women In Horror – By Women In Horror” and to steal a bit of their bio directly from their website:

“Pretty/Scary was created in July 2004 and is edited and owned by Heidi Martinuzzi.

Pretty/Scary is the first website of its kind. Pretty/Scary celebrates creative, innovative, intelligent, and awesome images of women in horror, sci-fi & fantasy films, literature, and art. The site was created by women in horror, for women who love horror, but also for men who love women in horror.”

(Okay, so I could have written up something like that myself instead of pulling it right off the page like that, but I’m so super crazy sick again tonight and the meds that I’m on would only lend to my incoherence. )

This website isn’t you average horror review/promo site.  It is an amazing horde of information and a true labour of love for those involved.  It connects the average everyday horror fan with those behind the scenes and there is something new and wonderful each day.  Personally, I like to think it’s an educational goldmine, I have gotten to hear about super cool new movies and books that would have otherwise slipped right past me if it wasn’t for this place.  It’s also where I really got my start.  Sure, I started the Domestic Gothess Blog on Blogger way back in the day, but it wasn’t until someone from Pretty Scary showed interest in letting me submit articles to them that I really got started.  It has taken me a while still - because of school and all and I’m a bit errant at times in my production of articles for Pretty Scary now – , but thank G** they’re so patient with me.

I’m proud to belong to a community like theirs and always a little intimidated too.  This website isn’t run by just fans of horror, it’s run by industry members and people who don’t just get to see behind the scenes – they are actually the people behind them and they are not snobs about it. The community is super welcoming and just plain awesome all around.

Suffice to say, if you’re a fan of mine you’ll be a fan of Pretty-Scary too.  What is not to love?  It’s girls and gore, the perfect way to kill an afternoon – or maybe a whole weekend.  (Who am I kidding?  I’m there everyday.)

This post will be rather short and sweet.

I’m sick today.

Okay, so maybe not so sweet and just short.  However, the medicine that I’m making is delicious!  See below!

Grandma Hatchet’s Cure All Miracle Potion

Ingredients:

8 C Homemade Chicken Stock

1/2 C Forbidden Rice (Also known as Black Milled Rice.)

2-3 Chicken Breasts – Cubed

1/4 C Loosely Packed Fresh Dill

3/4 C Sliced Carrots

1 C Egg Noodles

1 Tbls Cayan Powder (Optional)

Instructions:

- Put chicken stock into a large pot and heat until boiling.

- Once Stock is boiling, add Forbidden Rice, Chicken Cubes, Dill, Carrot and Cayan Powder if you would like the soup to be a little more spicy.  (The Forbidden Rice has a fairly cool effect on anything you cook it with – it dyes food a dark indigo or burgundy.  It’s also pretty healthy for you when it comes to Iron and Vitamins.)

- Simmer the mixture for about 30 mins before adding the Egg Noodles.  Cook until the noodles are soft and then you’re done!

Pretty easy, wasn’t it?

I make a big pot of this once in a while when I’m under the weather and then freeze the soup in portion sized containers for a quick and easy dinner when I don’t have time to cook or pack a lunch!