On Fire - SpicySexySultry Songs, Stories, Sustenance and more

Welcome. So glad you could join us on this Spicy Summer Sunday. (I apologize to anyone who has trouble loading this - I went a bit happy with the embedding - also, I'm having a hell of a time with fonts - it must be because it's well after midnight). I've got lots of hot songs for you to watch, hot stories to go read, hot (and cold) food to salivate over, and plenty to discuss. Feel free to wander out into the garden to pick some strawberries to nibble on while feasting your eyes. And whenever you arrive, you're right on time!

And here is a not-blurred longer (9:15) video - fast forward to about 1:23 to get to the "good" part.

Grab a beverage - there's margaritas and sangria and plenty of Pacifico in the barrel of ice on the deck. Take a seat. Suddenly feeling a bit horny? Sorry, haha, couldn't resist! I was hoping to find tube socks printed with chili peppers to hand out to the guys, but had no luck. I did find these though! 

Oh, there's snacks set out - some of Trader Joe's Chili Spiced Dried Mango and ike & sam's kickin' cayenne kettlecorn. A Brooklyn friend turned me on to this highly addictive snack food which luckily I haven't seen in my local store (oh, they have other varieties, but not the spicy).

Today we're gonna get hot. With hot chili powder. Also sometimes spelled "chile" - I promise you I'm not going to go into a dissertation on the many varieties of chili peppers. If you want, you can go read about them here. Chili powder, a blend of spices, can be bought or mixed up in your kitchen. We (Mr. Erobintica & I) prefer the hot variety and our kids have grown up with that. Mild? Not around here. If you want to read an interesting piece - Sex and Chiles.

While the BBQ is heating up, how about some hot songs to get us in a summery mood. Here's some of my favorites, songs that get me hot - songs that I crank up when I go pseudo-topless (sunroof open and windows down). I'll embed a few, click on the links to view the others -

also, Sheryl Crow's Steve McQueen, vintage John Mellencamp with Hurts So Good, and of course ZZ Top's Gimme All Your Lovin'. And one more - Bruce Springsteen's I'm On Fire.

Ah, the food's just about ready. I love skewered foods, don't you? ;-)

Grilled Chili Chicken and Fruit Skewers

boneless chicken breasts, cut in 1 inch chunks
pineapple chunks
mango chunks
strawberries

grated rind of 2 limes
2 rounded tsp of hot chili powder
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
tsp of ground Wrath

¼ cup olive oil
juice of the 2 limes
splash of triple sec


Mix together spice mixture. Mix olive oil mixture. Thread chicken chunks on skewers and fruit (alternating strawberries, mango and pineapple) on separate skewers. Brush all with the olive oil mixture. Heat BBQ. When ready, grill the skewers, turning the fruit carefully (may need to use 2 tongs since the fruit wants to slip off). Once skewers have been turned, sprinkle some of the spice mixture on them - more liberally on the chicken.
Carefully remove the fruit skewers to a plate once there are char marks and the strawberries are soft. Sprinkle with a little bit more spice mixture and leave to cool. Turn the chicken again and sprinkle the 2nd side with spices. Use all the spice mixture. When chicken is done, remove to a plate. Serve with a salad and warm, crusty bread. Instead of chicken you can try scallops or shrimp or even just veggies.

Now that I'm done cooking, I can join the conversation. Surprise surprise, this crowd is talking about erotica. Fancy that! ;-)  Always a juicy subject with us. I know we've talked about who we share our erotica with and last week Donna wondered how much we reveal or hide ourselves in our fiction, especially our sexuality. Pondering that discussion, I had a chicken or the egg question come into my head. As our writing evolves, do we find that our sexuality evolves? Writers are often counseled to "write what you know." But fiction writers often write what they don't know. Nobody really expects a murder mystery author to go out and off someone as "research."  But erotica is different. Yes, many of us like it because we can write about things that we'd never really do in real life. But I think most of us do explore subjects that we're drawn to (whether in actuality or fantasy). I've found that over the years (and yes, I've been writing erotica for many years, just not sharing it with anyone until recently), my writing has mirrored to some extent what my ... interests have been/are/will be. That comes as no surprise really. So, what comes first? The interest or the words?

Hope that's not too personal of a question. Come on, let's not be shy. ;-)

Okay before I get too wordy here, let's bring on the dessert and let the meltingly spicy richness of these truffles contrast nicely with the frozen smoothness of coconut and strawberry. Oh, and please, try some ice wine too. It was a lovely June evening a few years back when I was introduced to ice wine - luckily in blogland, price is no obstacle. It will help loosen our tongues.

Spicy Chocolate Chili Truffles

8 oz. chopped chocolate - preferably 62% cacao or higher
½ cup heavy cream
½ tsp red chili flakes
½ tsp chili powder (chilpotle or whatever your favorite is)
1 TBLS softened butter
cocoa powder for dusting mixed with ground Wrath

Heat cream to simmer. Remove from heat, add chili flakes and chili powder. Cover and steep for 15-20 minutes. Reheat briefly to simmer and pour through a strainer over chopped chocolate. Let sit a few minutes, then stir gently. Add softened butter and stir. Stir till cooled. Chill till firm, several hours. Shape cherry-sized balls and roll in cocoa mixture. Serve.

Coconut strawberry "ice cream"

One 14 oz. can coconut milk
1 TBLS agave syrup
20 drops liquid stevia
1 cup or so strawberries, cut in halves or quarters and smashed lightly with fork

Pour coconut milk into bowl and stir with whisk to incorporate any congealed coconut oil. Add agave syrup and stevia and stir with whisk to mix. Taste for sweetness. Pour into a small ice cream maker (the small size ice cream ball or Donvier ice cream maker.

Stir or churn or mix for a bit until the coconut milk is starting to thicken. Add smashed strawberries and proceed with whatever device until ice cream is ready. May serve soft out of maker or let sit in freezer.

Now that we're all sated (gustatorily that is), we can sit back and keep talking, or wander off and read some stories that I found particularly spicy this past week. Alison Tyler always has spicy stories for us - you can read and vote for group sex here or ditch the bedspread here. And over at Aphrodite's Table, Gina Marie (the smutter formerly known as Kirsten Monroe) has another thing coming for us - start here, then continues here. And if that's not enough, just click on any of the links over to the right - those are all smutters extraordinaire. 

Oh, and as if that's not enough! Here's a kinky video over at Agent Provocateur that makes me think of what these blog dinners might end up like some time!

Next Sunday we'll take over Neve Black's place. For the full summer line-up, go here. 

And sometime this week, I'll have an interview with Randy Lagana (whose artwork has graced this blog for awhile now) - and it is so weird that it worked out perfectly that each of those links goes to a blog post with one or more of his images - I didn't plan that! Here's his surreal Mango On A String.