Thank you, everyone, for your encouraging comments about my Death Cookbook video! As you may know, I write books about Japanese pop culture and food, and I’ve been toying around with cooking show format that fits me. Why not an Death Note spoof & Japanese Gothic Lolita twist on the Food Network… with a kawaii-meets-kowai INFLATABLE bear??

Here are the Death Cookbook instructions and the black sesame seed ice cream recipe.

“Hello. I am Kojin, the Japanese Kitchen God. You can see me because you touched the Death Cookbook.”

HOW TO USE…
Write down the name of a recipe and close the book. When you open the book, a recipe from the realm of the gods will appear.

THERE ARE 3 CATCHES…
† One, only those who touch the cookbook can see Kojin and use the cookbook.
† Two, you can only make one entry in the cookbook every 24 hours.
† Three, once a recipe appears, you have 24 hours to gather the ingredients and successfully make it. If you don’t, you will turn into a hungry ghost.

BLACK SESAME SEED ICE CREAM RECIPE
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup organic honey
3/4 cup 2% organic milk
3 tablespoons kuro goma (black sesame seeds)

† Roast the sesame seeds in a pan. Let cool and then coarsely grind.
† Heat the milk in a saucepan until it almost boils. Reduce heat to low.
† Stir together the egg yolks and honey. Add one tablespoon of the milk to the egg mixture to temper it (warm the mixture up to the same temperature as the milk so that the eggs dont scramble).
† Add the egg mixture and sesame seeds to the milk. Cook on low heat until it is slightly thickened and coats the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes.
† Transfer to a large container and let cool.
† Lightly whip the cream and add it to the sesame-milk mixture. Refrigerate for a few hours.
† Place the container in the freezer. Every few hours, remove the mixture and stir it vigorously with a wooden spoon to break up the ice crystals. Return the mixture to the freezer and repeat until smooth and frozen.

Basil Farrow and I had far too much fun making the video (please subscribe!). We can’t wait to film more episodes. What would you like to see happen next? Any recipe suggestions or plot ideas?

Don’t forget to enter this week’s contest to win TWELVE prizes – including Victorian mourning clothing from Gloomth and Gothic Lolita makeup from Aromaleigh! Details below…

Song of the Day #75: Death Note anime theme!

† † † † † † †
† HOW TO WIN
Each person can enter up to three times. You receive…
– 1 entry if you embed my new video in a blog post or forum, or link to it via Facebook, Twitter, Stumble or any other social network.
– 1 point if you promote the contest in a blog post or forum, or link to it via Facebook, Twitter, Stumble or any other social network. (You can promote it at the same time as the video.)
– 1 point if you comment here and tell me your favorite Gloomth/Aromaleigh product and why.

† TO ENTER
Simply comment here or in the previous 2 posts with a link to where you spread the word. If your comment doesn’t show up, don’t worry – I will check my Spam regularly and approve your entries. Click here for the fine print.

What better way to cure the Monday blues… than with a new VIDEO feature and grand Gothic prize giveaway? ^__^

One of the most frequent requests I receive is to put up more videos on my YouTube channel. Fabulous news – I got a proper digital camcorder, and I’m launching a Goth Cooking Show… inspired by Death Note! Introducing DEATH COOKBOOK, a dark and absurd twist on the Food Network. In each episode, Kojin (the kawaii meets kowai Japanese kitchen god) guides me through a devilishly delicious recipe. Of course, Basil Farrow co-stars and steals the show.

I’ve posted the first episode – a Black Sesame Ice Cream recipe demo – on my YouTube channel (please subscribe!). The complete recipe and song info are in the More Info section. Hope it makes you laugh!

To celebrate La Carmina’s foray into video, I’m presenting my biggest giveaway yet. I’ve teamed up with two of my favorite Goth indie companies – Aromaleigh makeup and Gloomth handmade apparel – to give away 12 prizes. That’s hundreds of dollars worth of freebies!

† WIN ONE OF 12 PRIZES…
From Gloomth:
– 1 first prize: a $75 gift certificate.
– 2 second prizes: $25 gift certificates. These can be used on gloomth.com; valid once, one per person, and not applicable to shipping.
From Aromaleigh:
– 1 first prize: a complete set of the Gothic Lolita Eyeshadows.
– 3 second prizes: each winner receives a Lolita Sweetheart gift set.
– 5 third prizes: each winner picks 3 Gothic Lolita eyeshadows.

† HOW TO WIN
Each person can enter up to three times. You receive…
– 1 entry if you embed my new video in a blog post or forum, or link to it via Facebook, Twitter, Stumble or any other social network.
– 1 point if you promote the contest in a blog post or forum, or link to it via Facebook, Twitter, Stumble or any other social network. (You can promote it at the same time as the video.)
– 1 point if you comment here and tell me your favorite Gloomth/Aromaleigh product and why.

† TO ENTER
Simply comment here with a link to where you spread the word. If your comment doesn’t show up, don’t worry – I will check my Spam regularly and approve your entries.

YouTube comments are welcome too. I hope you like the video – I had so much fun making it!

Song of the Day #73: Malice Mizer – Illuminati and Rurouni Kenshin (the soundtracks of my video)

††PS – I may be having problems with my commenting system. If so, email me at gothiccarmina[at]gmail[dotcom] or comment on my Myspace – sorry about the temporary inconvenience!