Cui Bono? We Bono!

Bad, bad pun in the subject line, but I've just run across two squee-worthy bits of Ciceronia so I am quite pleased.

Google Video Player has "Murder in Rome," a 45 minute dramatization of the trial of Sextus Roscius, which made Cicero's reputation in his early career. The advocate himself is played by a handsome and utterly captivating Paul Rhys (they know how to grow men in Wales), and Sextus is played by Mark McGann. I've been trying to find this for a year or so and this just made my night, along with the next exiting bit of news!

The second part to Robert Harris' Cicero trilogy has a title and release date! Titan will come out sometime in October of this year, and based on the timeline (Cicero was just elected consul at the end of the first book, Imperium), it should hit the Catalinian conspiracy and possibly his exile. If you haven't read the first book, definitely give it a try!

And it's a culinary draw!

Occasional, I am a bit anal - it's not often, but it seems to happen during opportune times. Like tonight, when I decided "you know, I may want to give these honey cake recipes a test run...."

The first recipe - well, it made a honey cake. A honey pancake. It was very dense, with the texture of a sproingy bread pudding, but if you drizzled honey on a wedge and ate it, it was damn good. Yet not a honey cake!

So I sought out a recipe that had more ingredient volume and eggs. But when it came time to pour, the batter was no longer pourable, and had to be goaded into filling out my cake pan. The top wasn't flat, but looked rather like the surface of the moon. When it was done, however, and I 'tested' a piece, it was quite lovely! Texture much like a dense bread, sprinkled through with almonds, and a slightly sweet taste (the only sweeteners are four tsps of honey and a quarter cup of sweet wine). But once you drizzle it with honey - wow! Very tasty, but I disagree with Brutus. It could use a touch more cinnamon!

Recipe here, for those wishing to try their hand at it! If your dough is too floury, add milk until just moistened. For my wine, I used Madeira, which worked quite well.