LA LA IN THE LIBRARY: BUMBERSHOOT'S WITCHERY COOKERY & MAGICAL HOMES AND GARDENS

JULY 2019 EDITION

This is a monthly sister blog feature for my popular Facebook page BUMBERSHOOT'S WITCHERY COOKERY & MAGICAL HOMES AND GARDENS. My followers asked for it, and so it was granted! Jump on your broomstick and fly on over to Facebook and join in on all the fun we have; especially during the fall and winter holidays.

You all know how I love hanging out at The Lost Dog Cafe, but there is another place I pop into every once in a while. It looks like a quaint little used book store, but...

Recite the incantation correctly, tap your wand on the empty sign and let the magic begin...

Dragon fruit and elderberry gin cocktails, anyone?

REED'S FLYING CAULDRON BUTTERSCOTCH CREAM SODA

Someone told me they had come across a butterscotch soda in a Cracker Barrel restaurant gift shop, and when I Googled to see if I could find out if our local Cracker Barrel had it, I realized it was Flying Cauldron; a drink touted as having a close taste to the Wizarding World theme park Butterbeer. I have been seeing it around the magical blogosphere for ages. It also popped up as available at my favorite grocery store, Wegmans! I had never entertained the notion to order it online because not only was the cyber price of the soda a wallet horror story, the shipping and handling brought it up to around $24-$26 for a four pack! In Wegmans it was only $5.29. I was surprised how close the two recipes I tried for Harry Potter Book Night came to this soda. I have a new found inspiration to hunker down and put my potion making skills to the test combining the two recipes and getting proper ingredient measurements. Next up is trying to figure out the theme park's drink topping which has been described by Michelle from IN LIBRIS VERITAS and Jolene from JO'S BOOK BLOG as frothy marshmallow. I am going to experiment with marshmallow fluff (creame), first. There are a lot of recipes for homemade "fluff"; I wonder if I can find one with vegan ingredients? World Market also carries Flying Cauldron in singles for around $1.50 a bottle.

Where I get ripped-off so you don't have to. Ha ha!

I don't have photos of this yet because I ordered the extension pack, so Baz and I can play as Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. This game only has Gryffindor and Slytherin. I'll be doing a special post about it after I receive the additional cards. I bought this because it looks like something a witch or wizard would own, so it fits in perfectly with an authentic immersion aesthetic. Also, do not purchase this from Amazon even though you get free shipping! On the product page it says it's from the Universal Wizarding World shop, but it's supplied by another vendor who charges $20 more than the Wizarding World online shop. Shipping is $6.95 from Universal, but that's still more than $13 cheaper in total. It's cheaper still if you order other things. I had the ceramic Chocolate Frog trinket box in this Amazon order, too, and thank goodness my Google search for the Quidditch extension pack took me to the Universal site, and I was able to cancel the trinket box before they shipped it. I didn't know there was a Universal Wizarding World online shop.

I finally received the Hogwarts shadow box "lamp" I ordered, more than a month and a half ago, as a single overstock item from Enchanted Book Box subscription boxes. I was relieved because right after I ordered it she posted to Instagram that she was going out of business, and there were tons of complaint comments that she wasn't answering any DMs about refunds and past unreceived orders. I still feel ripped off, AGAIN, because it's made of balsa wood so thin it might as well be cardboard, and it's not a lamp... it doesn't plug in. It has a tiny plastic LED insert with an encapsulated battery, which means once the battery is dead, it's useless. Everyone on her IG was raving about it and what good quality it was. It's not worth $20 that's for sure, maybe $10; and I was charged $6 for shipping and it only cost her $1.81 to mail because it came unassembled in an envelope.

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*note to self, from now on only buy directly from Etsy shops, The Noble Collection, and the Universal online Wizarding World shop for collectables.

ETSY

Way too pricey for this budget minded witch at $210, but it certainly is fashion inspiration! Maybe to make in felt?

I know there are a lot of Potterheads out there, like me, who might only be able to afford to go to a Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park, or the Warner Brother's Studio Tour once in a lifetime; or maybe they live so far away from these attractions that it may never happen. However, let's face it... one of the biggest reasons die-hard Potterheads like me go to these places are the photo opportunities! This is a big area where authentic immersion lifestyle can come into play. Beyond your own home life cooking witchy foods and decorating in an authentic wizarding world aesthetic, we can seek out the magical places in our own cities, towns and backyards. Every month I have been leading off Bumbershoot's with a magical looking place in my area. Seek them out where you are. Take photos of yourself in your witchy wear, or just hang out with a fit-for-a-wizard snack and read a magical book. I am going to be doing a post about why my city is a magical place. If you do one or take photos, let me know and I'll link them in mine!

In keeping with my Be a Good Influence motto, here is a DYI, from Lovegood's BathPotions, for for Harry Potter sneakers. You all know the problem I had/have with the insane prices of the new Vans line of Potter shoes and clothing, as well as Pottery Barn's collection. I know Joanne's Fabrics carries HP themed cloth, and The Store That Must Not Be Named... Voldy Mart has Potter prints, too. SPOONFLOWER online has wonderful Harry Potter themed fabrics.

Because of the on going snafu with my Better World Books orders freezing on the shipping address page there is only one book this month.

I was lucky to reconnect with Melissa Anelli, the founder of The Leaky Cauldron.org website, in a Facebook group celebrating the tenth anniversary of her book Harry, a History. At one time there was a social site connected to TLC called MyLeaky, and in its heyday there were about 20,000+ logins a week where we could hang in our common rooms, RP in different groups, discuss canon, or play games like Fortunately, Unfortunately There Will Be Dragons; we even had a book club. In its last feeble days, about two years after the premiere of Deathly Hallows Part Two, there were only about 20 of us left hanging on to the crumbs of the site and we all got to know Web Mistress Melissa pretty well. When I joined the anniversary group she remembered me and decided to send me one of the first author copies of her book she still had. It's old and tatty and I love it. She also gave me a two day pass to LeakyCon in Boston, but because of health reasons I cannot attend this year and I have transferred my pass to The Potter Collector. And now if you didn't know it before, you know my real name, heh heh.