In which your intrepid authorbeast explores MORE nibbles in Bangkok, Chang Mai, and Krabi

Before we start, a weird version of a disclaimer:

1. I’m an adventurous eater. I will try anything 3x, on the theory that if I didn’t enjoy it, it wasn’t prepared properly the first 2 times.
2. I’m able to tolerate (and enjoy) spicy food. Yes, Thai spicy. But I don’t have anything to prove, this isn’t a competition. (I also have no sensitivity to texture.)
3. I’m always looking to eat foods that are unknown to me first, particularly wild/game meats, fruits, vegetables, and chips. I will go back for favorites, but my first priority is to try something new.
4. Thai food is eaten with a spoon in your dominant hand and a fork in the other (to help load up the spoon). This is a sauce heavy cuisine and this method maximizes sauce in mouth. It is bloody brilliant. NOM.

I eat a lot of Thai food. It’s my favorite cuisine and that says a lot from a foodie like me. This was my second time traveling to Thailand with my dear friend Piper (who is Thai). This visit the hunt was on for things and flavors I’ve never even heard of before. Thus Chang Mai had to be on the docket. This region not only has it’s own unique Thai flavors, but has been influenced by the local Shan population into some remarkable foodways.

And now, let’s tuck in.

10 More Amazing Dishes You Should Try When You Visit Thailand

That you probably won’t find on other people’s lists.

Quick checklist of my favorites this trip

1. Sakoo Sai Moo – tapioca dumplings
2. Jok – specifically the pork meatball version
3. Khao Yum – rainbow rice
4. Pla Meuk Phad Kai Kem – squid in salted egg sauce
5. Gaeng Som Cha-Om Goong – tamarind soup with omelette and shrimp
6. Nam Ngiao – it’s complicated
7. Tea Rice – rice made with tea leaves cooked with it (Burmese)
8. Tamarind Leaf Salad – the sour joy (Shan)
9. Pea Tofu Salad – an unusual tofu eaten in an unusual way (Shan)
10. Goat-filled griddle cake – yes GOAT

Recommended sweets

1. Kahnom krok – gooey coconut mini pancakes
2. Tup tim krob – jellied water chestnuts (made with rice or tapioca flour) in coconut milk
3. Pumpkin custard
4. Khanom mo kaeng – coconut custard
5. Kluai tap – flattened grilled baby banana
6. Traditional hawthorn tanghulu
7. Thai white pomelo (if in season)
8. Meyong chit aka Marian plums (season = February)
9. Honey crisp kumquat
10. New versions of the Portuguese custard tart

1 Sakoo Sai Moo

These are steamed tapioca dumplings. Meatball-sized street food made of a translucent chewy tapioca wrapper with a savory-sweet filling of minced pork or chicken with sweet pickled radish and roasted peanuts. They are served with fresh lettuce, fresh herbs, chilis, and sometimes fried garlic.

Thoughts? 

As one of Piper’s all time favorite street foods these had to top my list. (Also the name is really fun to say, I may have to give it to a pet character in a book some day.) If you like sweet+savory combos like me, these are a must try. And you can find them. Most markets and street fairs will have these on offer. They don’t look like much but they taste amazing. The exterior is chewy but the interior is crunchy, meaty, and nutty. Delightful little creatures.

2 Jok

Jok and congee are the same idea. (Archaeologist hat on: there are very few agrarian cultures throughout time and space that do not have a savory porridge of some kind.) But if you are accustomed to congee, you will find jok a bit different.

Jok is almost always made with broth (congee is traditionally water-based) and it is thicker and silkier than most congee I’ve had. (Piper’s secret trick is to use not just left-over rice, but cooked rice that has been frozen first, it breaks down easier.)

Thoughts? 

I love jok. I love it so much it was the last meal I asked to eat before I left Thailand. (It’s gentle on the tummy thus a great “before you fly” food.) I also make at home for myself all the time now. It’s so easy and comforting.

It’s also very very inexpensive. As a street food in Thailand it hangs out in the “late night bars just closed hangover breakfast” camp. My favorite to order in Thailand is the simple pork broth with pork meatballs. My favorite at home version is chicken-broth jok with century egg, pork floss, and scallions on top. But honestly, dress it however you want.

While I was in Bangkok this last time, MickyD had a jok on their menu (with chicken nuggets and scallions). Of course I ordered it. It was actually pretty darn good. (I also tried the KFC’s larb seasoned fried chicken, very nice.) I enjoy trying out fast food chain’s “local” offerings.

3 Khao Yum – rainbow rice salad

This was one of the things I ordered and ate at the hospital a lot. Piper’s mom introduced it to me. It is a southern Thai dish. The rice in the middle is usually colored blue/purple with butterfly pea flowers. Around it are some cooked and raw offerings that can include any/all of the following: cucumber, chopped long beans, green papaya, scrambled egg, chilis, stewed pork belly (moo hong), crispy shrimp, etc…

Thoughts?

This is now a stalwart order for me when in Thailand. With lots of vegetables, a wide variety of flavors and textures, this light but filling dish is my favorite way to eat. It basically contains little bits of things I adore, in many forms, and mixed to personal preference. What is not to love?

This is a pretty darn unique experience and like crispy rice salad (nam khao tod) well worth trying if you ever encounter it in the wild.

4 Pla Meuk Phad Kai Kem

Squid in salted egg sauce is a really rare dish. Difficult to find even in Thailand. I had it at a higher end restaurant that catered to locals (not tourists).

Because of its similarity to some Malaysian and Singaporean dishes, I think this one may be from the south. Unlike those island versions, this dish is not made with crispy fried squid, but stir fried squid in a thick yellow creamy salty sauce. It’s also not spicy, or at least the one I had wasn’t. I think it’s most similar to this recipe. Sometimes that salted egg is duck egg.

Thoughts?

The sauce is creamy like hollandaise but also not at all like it, the squid is tender and not fishy or rubbery, the onion adds just the right crunch. There is something magically unique about this dish. Honestly, if you are even a little intrigued and you spot it on a menu, do give it a try. Simply put: I have never eaten anything else like it. And that is saying a lot.

5 Gaeng Som Cha-Om Goong

Piper Mommy and I called these “leaves from the side of the road” those are acacia leaves and pods at the top. Before you ask, not much flavor to them, just interesting texture.

This is the one I bet you really have never heard of and is the most interesting and unique IMHO. Probably my favorite new discovery as a Thai dish. It falls into the “sour soup” family that I love so very very much!

Anyway, this a lovely sour sweet spicy umami tamarind based soup broth with poached shrimp and sliced omelette – yes, inside the soup!

The omelette is made with acacia leaves* but also sometimes Thai morning glory. This gives the omelette an open spongy texture so it absorb the broth in a very satisfying manner.

I’m now obsessed with the idea of putting omelette in soup.

Thoughts?

How do I describe the experience of this soup? It’s an incredible broth with heft too it, almost like thin gravy, and a stunning deep orange color. This remarkably complex flavor that hits every part of the mouth, delicately poached large prawns with a snap to them, and then the wedges of spongy omelette absorbing all that heavenly broth. It’s so simple, yet so complex in flavor and texture, a real delight for the mouth. Just typing about it makes me want to eat it again.

* I ate some raw acacia in Thailand and then the archaeologist in me got obsessed. The tree I grew up with is big with adorable puffy yellow flowers that make you sneeze. I knew Acacia was used in tanning but did not know there were edible varietals. Turns out the smaller bush-like thorny climbing shrub Acacia pennata (aka climbing wattle) is oft consumed in Southeast Asia – the tips of the leaves and pods can be eaten fresh or cooked.

AND NOW, LET US TRAVEL NORTH!

6 Nam Ngiao

This was one of those I specifically wanted to track down. We found at at the foot of the famous Golden Temple in Chang Mai.

Nam Ngiao is a northern noodle dish made with a tomato-based long-simmered broth and traditionally served with congealed blood.

Thoughts?

This was yummy, and worth trying because it’s so unusual, but it didn’t wow me. I’m glad I had it, and would suggest trying it, but I personally won’t go out of my way to find it again in the future.

That said, this was the best blood I have ever had, very silky and flavorful. (And yes, I have had many versions of blood many times.) Normally, I’m fine with blood, it’s just not my favorite and I would slide it over to Piper because she loved it so much. This time, I ate it all.

So I would say, if you want to try blood, this is one of the best dishes to try it in.

7 Tea Rice (Burmese)

Technically this is a Burmese dish. I have had fermented tea leaves in Burmese food before, but I never had “tea rice” until Chang Mai. (As distinct from ochazuke, which is Japanese dish made by pouring green tea over plain rice).

Basically the tea leaf is picked, left whole, tenderized through fermentation or pickling and then either cooked with, or mixed into, white rice.

That rice is then served warm, covered with a peanut and minced meat savory topping, a fried egg, and aromatics to taste.

Thoughts?

I enjoyed this a whole lot and have since experimented with popping tea into my rice. (I use dried oolong since it’s the one I have with the largest leaves.) It’s not wildly successful but gimme time. (I can successfully make good lime rice now. Ask me nicely and I’ll tell you the secret. I also learned to make yaksik, big fan.)

It’s a delightful range of flavors and textures and the egg only adds to the joy. Would definitely order again, if I ever encounter it.

I’m familiar with Burmese food but my travel companions were not, so I dragged them out to get some favorites like tea leaf salad first, then encountered new to me dishes along the way. When we returned to Bangkok we ended up ordering even more. It was so much fun!

(Just FYI the primary ethnic group and dominant culture of Myanmar are usually referred to as Burmese and speak a Sino-Tibetan language related to Chinese. The Shan are the largest ethnic minority in Myanmar, concentrated in the Shan State speaking a Kra-Dai language closer to Thai or Lao. There is a large Shan population in Northern Thailand, particularly Chang Mai.)

8 Tamarind Leaf Salad (Shan)

This felt like a true herbaceous size salad, like something always meant to be eaten with other dishes. The way I feel about tabbouleh is the way I feel about this dish. Another one where we are eating tree leaves (also in the legume family), only the tender tips are picked to make this salad and they are left fresh along with other herbs, spices, delicate greens, and chili.

Thoughts? 

All the sour in this salad comes from those little leaves. If one were to make a dish out of sour grass flowers, it might taste a little like this. (Yes, I am a picker and eater of sour grass.) So if you like sour things, you will enjoy this salad. If you don’t, you won’t.

I can imagine this paired with almost any savory dish, from BBQ to stew (like a dry salsa). To me this could easily be considered one of life’s great condiments. I am so glad I got to taste it. (Took us 3 tries, it is highly seasonal and hard to find, apparently.)

9 Pea Tofu Salad (Shan)

If you have heard of pea tofu you probably know of the porridge version, tofu nway. (The Yunnan Chinese call their version xidoufen.) While it’s often made from chickpea flour, the version at Chang Mai street markets is usually made with yellow split peas. It’s also oft served over noodles and topped with chili oil, fresh herbs, crushed peanuts, and fried shallots or garlic,

I like both the warm porridge and the cold salad version. But I prefer the salad, and it feels particularly special to me.

It tastes like what it’s called, a tofu made from dried split peas rather than fermented soy beans. The one I had was topped with a tangy dressing that was likely tamarind, soy sauce, sugar, chili oil. Maybe some lime too. It was then sprinkled with fried garlic, fried shallots, roasted peanuts, chilis, and fresh herbs (cilantro and spring onion).

Thoughts?

I am a huge fan of tofu in most of its forms, but this was quite special… spectacular actually. It might be my most favorite version of all tofu. So silky smooth, like soft tofu in slip but firmer in texture. Contrasted to the sour dressing, the nutty crunch, those bright herbs, and the spices? A high protein delight, especially on a hot day.

I liked this tofu so much I looked up how to make it. I think I may try. (And I hate making stuff from scratch. I like to cook, but I’m not one of those “makes her own bread” type humans. Mad props to you, but if I can buy a passing good version already, I’d rather do that.) Still, this seems easy to do if you can find the correct pea powder. Wish me luck?

10 Goat filled griddle cake

This was my favorite savory bite of the entire trip.

Must be eaten hot off the grill.

Okay, so, after researching I’m pretty convinced that this was a take on yángròu xiàn bǐng (羊肉馅饼) which is a Northern Chinese fried stuffed flatbread. Traditionally made with lamb or beef and flavored with cumin, ginger, soy sauce, and Sichuan aromatics.

This one was goat and the spices were utterly different, mostly garlic, onion, spring onion, garlic chives, maybe a touch of oyster sauce. Very simple.

Thoughts? 

I love goat and this basically showcased it in a very simple but truly spectacular form. I’m used to goat curries and other dishes that somewhat mask the “goaty” flavor with long cook times and layers of spices. This was the opposite: a simply prepared fatty mince with herbs and spices that highlighted goat’s gaminess, stuffed into a chewy crispy flatbread. It was greasy, juicy, and utterly delicious.

I loved it so much.

I still think about it sometimes.

Shout out to Sai Krok Isan

Northeastern Thai fermented pork sausage, sai krok Isan, which I’d had before, became a staple snack food this trip. I really fell deeply in love with it. With a distinct sour tang and strong notes of garlic and lemongrass, I like the version that has cooked glass noodles mixed into the meat. These cubby little sausages have a chewy, bouncy texture, and are so juicy. It’s a street food, usually served on a stick with raw cabbage, fresh (or pickled) ginger, and chilies. I adore it.

We also pilgrimaged to Khao Soi Mae Manee (a famous khao soi spot in Chang Mai) and ate a classic execution with chicken drumsticks. The curry leaned red with nice chunky pickled mustard greens and fresh shallots. But what struck me most was the homemade hermit (lersi) drink which is a lotus and jasmine infusion, lightly sweet and very refreshing (in the barley-water family of starchy beverages, e.g. Korean corn silk tea). I’d never had anything quite like it before. Would recommend.

I am indebted to this travel YouTuber for many of the tips on things to track down and eat in Chang Mai. That corn salad is still on my list.

The Sweets Report – Khanom!!

Having tucked into Thai sweets in a big way last trip to Thailand, I was mostly looking for old favorites and entirely new to me opportunities.

Here’s a short list (favorites at the top).

1. Kahnom krok – ubiquitous little half moon pancakes with gooey coconut filling and various toppings (I prefer them plain). I think I come by my love of these through DNA, since the popster was Danish, aebleskiver is in my bones. This is Thai aebleskiver, or maybe aebleskiver is apple kahnom krok? (Yeah yeah they never met, but I like to pretend they might have. Kahnom krok would be lovely with a little chopped apple in the middle. And aebleskiver would be great made out of coconut milk.)
2. Tup tim krob – jellied water chestnuts (made with rice or tapioca flour) in coconut milk. I had a few variations of this: one with boiled rice/tapioca balls and taro. Another with syrup and look tarn (sugar palm fruit). Falls into the category of sweets I like to call “Asian dessert soups.” I LOVE THEM. Now that we live in an age where bubble tea is ubiquitous, it’s time for dessert soup to become a sensation in the west. Gimme dessert soup over ice cream any day.
3. Sangkaya Faktong aka pumpkin custard – I tried this last time I visited but I learned to truly love it this trip. It is a jelly silky egg custard made with coconut milk that is cooked and served inside a small kabocha pumpkin.
4. Khanom Mo Kaeng – a stiff egg custard made with coconut milk, often sprinkled with fried shallots on the top (yes but they work, trust me) it’s either served in little trays or made stiff enough to slice into squares
5. Kluai Tap – flattened grilled baby banana. My perennial favorite and one of the first things I ate off the plane. If you have access to platano dominicos in your area, you can do this at your next bbq!

Other sweets I tried:

The pastéis de nata craze hit Thailand hard, I am guessing by way of Taiwan. (Who took that little custard cup of joy and bliss and ran with it.) I am not mad about it. All of which is to say, there were some really delightful and unique flavors to be had. And I had them.

• Dubai Chocolate Portuguese Custard Tart (the definition of fusion food!) – I liked this so much I tracked down the vendor everytime we were at the airport. I’m not lying when I say, this is one of the best chocolate deserts I have ever eaten. All the best textures rolled into one place. (And I prefer my chocolate cut with fruit as a rule.) It was a layer of chocolate ganache, then a layer of the pistachio Dubai filling, and then creamy custard all in a flakey cup (I think they used phyllo).
• Thailand flavors in a Portuguese Custard Tart – pandan coconut custard with fresh young coconut chunks on top, I loved this too and it was much easier to find

Candied fruit on a stick

I’ve been looking for the traditional hawthorn variety of tanghulu for over a decade (since I saw it in the 2016 Chinese drama Addicted.) But it’s hard to find fresh.

This trip, however, I happened to be in Chinatown for New Year and tanghulu happened to be there skulking behind more popular fruits on sticks, like grapes and strawberries.

The one I got came wrapped in edible rice paper. These hawthorns were smaller than I’ve seen in Cdramas, but tasted the way people say it should. A sharp concentrated apple flavor, slightly mushy and dense. I found it absolutely delicious.

(I do like the modern strawberry version too, but there is something to be said for the original. Yes, I have had hawthorn in other forms, including the candy version of this treat. But the texture of the tanghulu can’t be beat.)

Fruit!

I love love love fruit. It started me on my adventurous foodie journey. Since Piper was ill, we tried to eat very healthy and thus ended up consuming a lot of fresh fruit. Also I was there long enough (at 3 months) to hit a few different fruit seasons too.

Thai white pomelo – make no mistake pomelos in Asia hit different. They are way less like some grapefruit hybrid and way more their own creature entirely. Super sweet with a hint of grape and pineapple, impossibly juicy and almost crisp in texture. They come in multiple different types, and colors, but the white one? THE WHITE ONE. I, who love citrus with the unholy passion of she who adores sour stuff, would call this particular variant my favorite citrus of all time. You can find them cut and cleaned at night markets and supermarkets when in season (beginning of the year) and they are fantastic.

Meyong chit aka Marian plums – came into season just before I left (February) and they are the BEST. Imagine a large-egg-shaped tree fruit with the consistency of juicy sweet flesh meets sour skin of a plum but the flavor of the world’s best mango. That is meyong chit. (Oddly enough neither a mango nor a plum.) It is my precious baby delicious favoritest creature evah! No mango fibers to stick in your teeth. Portable and pocket sized. Available in a Seven near you. (So long as you are in Thailand at exactly the right time of year.) EAT ONE. Skin on. It needs the sour note. Gah. I miss them already.

Seedless honey crisp kumquat 因其通常无核 – this is a large seedless Kumquat and NOT the meiwa kumquat. It took me a lot of time to figure out what it was because descriptions only seem to exist in Chinese. I believe what I ate was an engineered fruit. But yeah, I got to eat one! Cool no? It was delicious. Like many kumquats it is eaten with the sweet rind. This was much sweeter than your ordinary kumquat, but still also sour, with lots of tropical notes.

I have now tried everything on this Thai fruit hit list  except gac and santol. (I hope to try santol my next trip since it should be in season next visit).

Favorite Snacks & Junkfood

These were the two snacks/meals from Seven that I ate the most. The first one for breakfast (usually with meat on a stick) and the second for lunch (usually with a salad or some fruit). 

• The one on the left is khao tom mat, a semi sweet coconut-infused sticky rice with black beans, wrapped around a ripe banana, bundled into banana leaves and steamed. It reheats beautifully in a microwave and is a near perfect breakfast. They usually use kluai nam wa (aka platano dominico aka dwarf plantains) inside, which are short chubby little bananas with a semi-firm starchy-sweet texture and more tang than a Cavendish (although not as much as my favorite, the apple banana). I have successfully managed to replicate these because I live in California where platano dominico are relatively common and about the same price as Cavendish. Yay!
• The one on the right is what it looks like, onigiri. I like the spicy salmon one. So yummy.

Other Seven favorites this trip included pandan chiffon cake and Dubai chocolate brownie.

I’m over here just living my weird chip life

• Top left, spicy squid potato chips = yummy with a good amount of heat
• Top right, Lobster bisque seaweed snacks = tasted exactly like the label, weird & delightful. I bought extras to bring home.
• Bottom middle, Thai puffs = teeny tiny hand pies stuffed with one of Thailand‘s ubiquitous shrimp pastes, good when fresh, but went stale fast.

Still on the Thai food hit list:

• Jian Bing – Chinese crepe adapted to Thai taste
• Tam Khao Pod Kai Kem – salted duck egg corn salad
• Khao Jee – scorched rice Thai style, sticky rice coated with egg then grilled on a stick (possibly mythical at this point)
• Santol (kra-thon) – yellow and looks like mangosteen when cut, but not actually in the same family. Sometimes called cotton candy fruit, I imagine the texture is a little like that of an ice cream bean (which fascinated me).

Because Piper couldn’t get out much, and delivery is very inexpensive in Bangkok, we ordered in a lot using the Grab App. Here are some of the more hilarious English translations of menu items from that app.

Meanwhile, I have finally written a book partly set in Thailand! Okay it starts in Myanmar and then moves down into Thailand. (The characters move around at lot.)

Yours (my epitaph will read: she only wanted to taste it),

Miss Gail 

A note on spelling: The Thai language is so different from English that direct translation is challenging, so the spelling of these foods in English is non-standardized. I used the most common one I could find so if you want to google recipes, you can. But please know nothing has to be spelled the way I spell it. 

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I was on a writing retreat with a dear friend recently who doesn’t travel as frequently as I do (who does?). She asked my advice on packing for an upcoming trip and I was like, GIRL, I’ve got a lifetime of knowledge. (So much I had to do 60+ episodes of a podcast on the subject.)

Anyway, I thought it’d be a lot easier if I posted a kits breakdown here for posterity.

Thus, below you will find a visual record of my best packing advice. Of course, the particulars of content are germane to you and your preferences/lifestyle. These are intended to be guides… outlines, if you will. I tried to describe each in such a way that will help you know what to pack and why, depending on your personality, needs, and destination.

My kits are generally designed for 4 to 14 day stays. Anything longer than that and a whole new set of protocols kicks in. Most of my kits live permanently in my under-seat tote, effectively turning that tote into my go-bag in cases of emergency (when I have to evacuate, deal with a family crisis, etc…) This is one reason I have a policy of refilling kits upon return home (rather than before my next trip), that way they are always ready to go. Updating kits is part of my unpacking process.

As a general rule?

Always bring at least 2 extra days of the important stuff, like medication and socks, in case you get delayed or trapped somewhere. More backups, if your life depends on that medication (or clean socks) or if you are going into a high risk area at a difficult time of year (snow storms, hurricanes, holidays, etc…)

Bedside Kit

Probably my most vital kit. This one lives on the bedside table at my destination, hence its name. It travels with me in my tote on overnight flights. Basically this is a micro version of the things I use every single day/night regardless of location. What’s inside it?

From top left:

• fuzzy socks with rubber grippers (my feet get cold, hotel carpets are icky, and floors/stairs in rentals can be slippery)
• eye mask (this is the one I like, silk with thin adjustable double straps, otherwise I get a headache)
• daily medication (including prescriptions)
• back-up tea (black, green, herbal)
• lip balm
• cuticle balm/hand cream stick
• nail files
• pen (you’ll notice pens a lot on this list, I am an author who never seems to have a pen, so I stash them all over)
• earplugs (I recommend Macs, they aren’t the most effective but they are the most comfortable IMHO)
• eye drops (I put no other liquids in this kit)
• perfume sample (I like to smell something nice before sleep)
• tiny medical/first-aid kit (see next)
• tissues

This is my most important kit, since it is the things that help me sleep, acclimatize, and relax. When planning this kit, think about everything you use every morning/night as part of your routine that is not a liquid/toiletry/bathroom item.

Medical Kit

I always travel with a small first-aid kit that lives inside my bedside kit.

• bandaids of various sizes/types (including blister coverings, I wear silly shoes)
• a printed-out record of my prescriptions (my doctor’s ‘script and/or pharmacy sticker with my name on it)
• painkillers
• alcohol wipes (you’d be shocked how often these come in handy, I use them to disinfect things beyond wounds)
• anti-itch cream packets
• antibiotic ointment packets
• 3 kinds of stomach relief products (I eat some weird stuff)
• allergy medication

Before you ask, in general, my policy is to have 4 of everything for illness or injury, because that is about how long it takes me to recover/heal. If you have a delicate constitution or are going for a long time, increase quantities accordingly.

1. If you are going to a part of the world your body is not acclimatized to, please consult with a travel clinic about immunizations and vaccinations. Do this six months before your trip (in case you need a booster).
2. Make certain your regular jabs are up to date.
3. A month before you leave, double check your prescriptions and see if you need to order extra.

Travel Tech

I almost always travel with the following instead of my work computer.

• iPad (in an old beat up light-colored case, plus a zipper pouch that does not look like it contains technology, these are designed to make it less appealing to thieves)
• bluetooth keyboard for iPad
• Flight Flap (up for replacement)
• ebook reader (in a pouch that as been modified so it can also be used as an evening bag)

I want cases/containers for anything I use in flight to be LIGHT colored. This makes it a whole lot harder to forget them in that mesh seat-back pocket because they are visible. Also it makes them easier to spot inside bags. Bonus if they can be used for other things at my destination (like a purse).

Tech Kit

This kit rolls out and has a clip so it can be attached to things on planes or tucked into a seat back pocket. The contents will, of course, depend on what tech you travel with. I always travel with my iPad, iPhone, and earbuds, plus a backup battery. Right now I require all three forms of charger (USB-C, Lightning, Micro-USB) plus a USB-A/C adapter (so I can charge from my laptop).

From top left:

• backup corded earbuds
• dongle adapter
• charger (USB-C) & power cord for laptop (only if I am traveling with my computer)
• lens wipes
• long multi plug charging cable (sometimes plugs in hotels are really far away behind beds and such)
  • this one packs smallest (pictured)
  • this one is my favorite
  • this one is the most reliable
  • Try to get lighter colored cords, if you can, harder to leave behind
• multifunction short cord (can charge multiple devices at once, short & colorful is easy to spot/use in hotels)
• 2 prong wall plug charger with 2 USB-A ports (best for weird hotel table plugs, airplane seat plugs, etc…)
• small backup battery with built-in cables (transfers to my purse at destination, rated safe for planes) the one pictured was an emergency pickup at an airport, overpriced, the one I prefer is actually here
• noise cancelling earbuds (transfers to my purse at destination)

Amazon puts a lot of travel tech on sale during Prime Day and Black Friday deal runs, so I stock up (and update) then, unless it’s an emergency replacement.

Purse Kit

This small kit moves between purses with me, and is exactly like the one I use in everyday life. Thus this contains everything I need on the go in daily life out-and-about away from a hotel.

• painkillers
• blister bandaid (remember, stupid shoe habit)
• lens wipes
• individually wrapped toothpicks
• alcohol wipes
• anti bacterial wipes (I prefer Wet Ones)
• tea (I find it’s good to have a tea bag at all times, if nothing else, you can usually get hot water)
• business cards
• eye drops
• binder clip
• tiny floss
• lip balm
• lipstick (Mac Ruby Woo mini)
• stain remover pen
• pen (you will need one for filling in customs cards and such)

Travel Purse

When I am in places like Thailand I will use a cross body bag but the rest of the time it’s a teapot purse.

From top left:

• Nano backpack (transferred from from tote pocket to purse at destination)
• pen (nash)
• tissues (always! these are invaluable as toilet paper or napkins)
• reading glasses
• phone case wallet combo (this isn’t ideal, as you flash your cards when you pull out your phone, but it’s good enough for most trips for me. Allows me to carry my 2 travel credit cards, ID, global pre-check card, insurance travel card, some cash, and a few other necessities. It’s intentionally white so I can find it in bags and spot it easily in seat backs. (Reoccurring theme.)
• purse kit (see above)
• small charger (from tech kit)
• earbuds (from tech kit)
• sunglasses
• stick sunscreen
• clean empty plastic bag (for leftovers & snack trash on the go)

Snack Kit (not pictured)

This is a small mesh baggie that usually accompanies any meal I’m bringing with, like a burrito. It is designed for in-flight use.

• alcohol wipes (I use these to clean the tops of bottles/cans before drinking)
• antibacterial wipes for my hands, as well as the tray table, etc.
• in flight tea and snacks
• travel chopsticks (I have screw-together ones but I am eyeing these telescoping ones)
• napkins
• I pack any food in a large zip-lock zipper-style plastic baggie
• I usually also have a second, clean baggie (for leftovers etc.. this transfers to my purse)
• an empty sandwich sized baggie (for trash and dirty items).

Under-Seat Tote (my personal item)

Everything you need that is truly important (from tech to medication to travel documents to cash) MUST be in your personal item. Remember, your carry-on can be taken away from you, and if you put something vital in there, it’s guaranteed that it will be taken away and checked.) I always pack as if I have to survive for 48 hours with only this tote. Because I have done exactly that. (For many of you this will be a backpack.)

My under seat tote has a small front pocket into which most of this goes for easy access.

• wet ones
• face mask
• business card + home address (I have these laminated, one for each luggage piece I have with me so tote and carry-on rolly, and then checked if I’m doing that)
• small kit of emergency backup supplies like medical, painkillers, etc.
• Nano backpack (I’m brand loyal to Nano, they really do make the best smallest most packable bags. This is their 16 L day pack and I love it. I use it when grocery shopping, on a hike, to hold books at cons), this moves into my purse at destination

I encourage you to put some kind of collapsible bag in your “personal item” as this will allow you to explode all your stuff in flight and then quickly gather it all up again without having to fit it back in your carry-on. They count your number of bags when you board, but not when you disembark.)

The main compartment of my tote usually has:

• travel purse
• tech kit
• snack kit
• filter water bottle
• back-up reading glasses
• burrito or other meal/snacks
• one pair each of clean socks & undies
• a large very light sarong/scarf (can be used for warmth on plane or tied into a sling bag shape, but can also be turned into a wrap for a pool, or even a skirt/dress/shirt if needed)

Anything else that I may need during flight is in this tote, like bedside kit, neck pillow, computer, hat, depending on whether it is a redeye, writing retreat, etc.

Toiletry Kit

This is my 3-1-1 toiletry bag.

As you can see, it’s pretty tailored down, although both the makeup and the bathroom subunit kits (see below) also fit into this bag.

The biggest weight and size item is usually my deodorant (they don’t make travel size anymore and I love that stuff)

Most of my liquids are moisturizers, sunscreens, and toners and the bottles are the exact amounts I require for a 14 day trip. I mostly travel with snap top liquid containers. Nothing else seals properly. And even these fail occasionally. I get mine from Daiso.

You may value shampoo or body wash higher (I just use my face wash or what the hotel provides). I do like this powder clarifying shampoo when I know I will be staying for a long time in a place with hard water.

• If you don’t know how much product you go through, take travel containers into your shower with you, for the length of time of your stay.
• Every time you use a product in everyday life, squirt the same amount into its travel container. 2 weeks, a month, whatever it is. You will then have exactly the amount you need.
• However, if you are going into a different climate (like dryer or more humid), this method may not work perfectly.

Toiletry – bathroom subunit

This kit contains all the things that actually require a sink/shower. (So if I’m sharing a bathroom, or have a sink with no counter space – nash – this smaller kit can go in and out of the bathroom with me.)

This will include things like toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, face wash, and denture cleaning tablets (also good for cleaning a tea thermos, by the way).

Toiletry – make-up subunit

Basically this has anything I want for daily makeup on a trip. It changes depending on my mood, workload, events, activities, and the climate at destination.

This small makeup kit does not contain enough liquids to have to be in a 3-1-1 and can be separated for long trips (which require more/larger bottles of liquids to be in the 3-1-1)

• that’s my current travel liquid foundation (I prefer Missha these days but I need to use this one up)
• that cute cat thing is a magnification compact
• that’s a tiny Korean eyeshadow palette (love it)
• that white thing (in the lower right of the photo) is a travel eyelash curler (I get asked about it a lot)

Sometimes I will need to do my makeup upon landing or at a layover, in which case this kit can come out and be popped into my tote.

You can check out more of my favorite makeup and routine here, if you’re interested.

Redeye kit (not pictured)

Basically, this kit contains everything I need to do one full ablution in flight or at an airport layover. It’s a micro version of my toiletry kit, although everything is in solid, sample, and non-liquid form.

Additional useful items (not pictured)

These are things that often go into my tote depending on the length of flight I’m in for.

• memory foam neck pillow (yes this is my preferred travel pillow by a landslide, I have tried all the options)
• sleeping bag liner (European & Asian countries in particular refuse the flat sheet, and I am a big fan, so I will often travel with this as substitute. It also works on the plane for extra warmth and as a scarf. Mine is silk but it’s also over 20 years old.)
• travel hat
• yoga paws (I have an older version)

Computer Set Up

From top left:

• travel power extension cord includes both USB A & C ports (this has come in surprisingly useful so I take it on most long stays and writing retreats now)
• roost computer stand (very light weight & easy to pack, mine is version 1)
• wired keyboard (these are lighter & easier for travel as they do not require a battery or dongle)
• laptop computer and case that is also a mouse pad
• wired mouse (see keyboard above)
• wrist braces (I type & sleep in these if necessary)
• notebook (I like water resistant grid field notebooks, for hot tub reasons)
• large wall-plug charger (for remote cabins and difficult locations) – this one is not plane safe so I should replace but I use it so rarely these days I may not bother to pack anymore

Specialist Tech Kits

Rental car kit – car adaptor and charging cables for phone GPS

Presentation kit – clicker for power point plus a flash drive (which will have my presentation on it, in case I have to transfer to someone else’s computer)

International Kit

• Passport (special zipper bag that can be strapped to bra)
• RFID protective wallet/change purse – for longer stays in places with cash/coin dependency, like Thailand
• Universal travel power adapter

Tea Kit (not pictured)

• tea (black, green, oolog, decaffeinated, herbal)
• water boil coil
• antibacterial wipes
• snacks & nibbles
• extra plastic zipper baggies
• travel tea thermos (Zojirushi, accept no substitutes)
• spare travel chopsticks

My hotel tea set up is discussed at length in this post all about tea, and demonstrated in this video.

AUTHOR SPECIFIC

Gail Kit

• website QR code
• sewing kit (I put together my own)
• lens wipes
• binder clips, large safety pin, heavy earth magnets (remarkably helpful for everything from chip clips to holding curtains closed to holding posters and tablecloths on)
• 3 pen necklaces
• 2 kinds of badge holder
• anti-stain pen
• sharpie, pen, highlighter

Author Event Kit

• Cover art standies:
  • my first most popular book
  • my most recent release
• name tents
• QR codes
• newsletter sign-up sheet
• signing pens
• large safety pins and binder clips (will hold up QR codes)
• post-it notes (for signing line)
• business cards for fiction, non-fiction, special giveaway (see Going Hybrid for why these travel with me)
• bookmarks:

1. most recent release, list of most recommended books by other authors on the back
2. all my covers rainbow, full checklist of everything I’ve ever written on the back
3. non-fiction + schematic, list of nonfic resources on the back
4. first 2 books in my most popular traditionally published series (this bookmark only for events where I am completely unknown)

Before you ask: I take about 20 of each bookmark with me and about 30 of each business card. I have run out, but only a couple times.

Yours (destined to be killed by a tumbling TBR pile),

Miss Gail 

Miss Gail’s Tea Party

Tisane of Nifty 

It’s an old article but I just found out about ancient cheese found in Egypt. It’s 3,200 years old. Deadly, delicious, or both?

Author Nibble 

Quote to Sip 

Find my books 

Direct | Amazon | Kobo | Bookshop.org | B&N | Apple | Foyles | Angus Robertson

Here’s a printable Downloadable Checklist of ALL my stories!

Did you miss my latest release?

Want more sneak peeks, free goodies, gossip, behind the scenes info?

This goes to my Chirrup members, because I love them bestest. Sign up here:

Subscribe

Not into newsletters? Get only new releases by following Gail on Goodreads, Amazon or BookBub!

BOOK DE JOUR!

The Dratsie Dilemma: San Andras Shifters #4

PICK YOUR VENDOR!

Direct from Gail

Trick, the otter shifter (and everyone’s favorite barista), is running from a past he can’t forget, and has accidentally landed in the surprisingly warm embrace of the local werewolf pack. Everything is going swimmingly, until the merfolk show up. Mermaids en masse are a problem for everyone. This particular pod is guarded by one very powerful, very sexy merman – which mean’s Trick’s past has finally caught up to him. That past is grumpy, slippery and has been looking for Trick for over a decade.

A Harrowing (Yet Classic) Mum Story

Setting the Scene:

The Mum, telling me a story over the phone about driving back from one of her partner’s hospital visits. FYI 19th is one of the main cross-streets through San Francisco. 

M: So I’m stuck in traffic on 19th & I hear this hissing noise from the boot. I panic because I think I have a flat tire. How am I going to deal with that on 19th?

G: You turn off onto a side street.

M (dramatic voice): But then I will never make it back again. 

G: To the major artery through the city? Okay mom, do go on. What happened with the flat?

M: Well! I realized that it is just the oxygen tank in the trunk leaking.

G (losing tiny mind): You’re driving around with an OXYGEN TANK in the TRUNK of your car?

M (ignoring my hysteria): At first I rolled down the windows (G relaxes slightly), but then I thought “it’s only oxygen, we can breathe that” so I rolled them back up again.

G: Except for the part where oxygen can cause things too, you know, explode!

M: I’ve never heard that.

G (heavy breathing): Mum, what exactly do we take away from fire to stop it from burning?

M: Nobody told me.

G: They didn’t warn you when they gave you the tank?

M: Tanks. And no. Don’t be silly, darling.

G (icy fear): Exactly how many oxygen tanks do you have?

M: 3. No. 4.

G: And all of them are in the car?!

M: Don’t be silly darling, 3 of them are in the house.

G (DOOM voice): Where exactly?

M (blithely): Oh I put them in the kitchen.

G: Next to the GAS stove?

M: Well, yes, darling, where else would I put them?

G: Mum I love you, but listen to me very carefully. Take all the oxygen tanks and put them outside in the storage shed. Away from all electric and gas appliances and outlets.

M (dismissive): Yes yes.

G: And go out to the car immediately and take the tank out of it.

M: But it’s dark.

G: NOW.

Next Scene:

Gail telling this story later to R with much flailing of hands. 

R: I see she just ignored those massive warning stickers on the oxygen tanks.

G: OMG I forgot about those.

R: I love your mother, but it’s a miracle she’s still alive.

G: Just imagine what my childhood was like.

End Scene

Before you ask, yes both Rue and Alexia are, at least a little bit, based on my very esoteric mother.

Yours (staying away from those oxygen tanks),

Miss Gail 

You can listen to my mum help narrate the first Chapter of Soulless here.

More on my personal like outside of fiction here.

Find my books 

Direct | Amazon | Kobo | Bookshop.org | B&N | Apple | Foyles | Angus Robertson

Here’s a printable Downloadable Checklist of ALL my stories!

Did you miss my latest release?

Want more sneak peeks, free goodies, gossip, behind the scenes info?

This goes to my Chirrup members, because I love them bestest. Sign up here:

Subscribe

Not into newsletters? Get only new releases by following Gail on Goodreads, Amazon or BookBub!

BOOK DE JOUR!

Soulless manga complete omnibus

Asian Move Pulse says:

“…cheekiness and intelligence are even more evident in the dialogue, which remains consistently witty throughout. The playful exchanges, which often appear unexpectedly, significantly enhance the entertainment value of the omnibus.”

Anime UK News says:

“Soulless is a fun manga omnibus that is full of action, romance, thrills and humour; a satisfying read from start to end.”

Miss Gail’s Tea Party

Tisane of Nifty 

Some fun articles on octopuses:

• What Scientists Know About Consciousness In Octopuses, Which Have 9 Brains
• Octopuses use microbes to “taste” their surroundings with their arms
• Analysis of underwater videos shows octopuses are ‘incredible multitaskers’

Author Nibble 

Quote to Sip 

Please skip it and protect yourself if necessary.

On May 18, 2026 in New York, one of my very favorite humans, the author Piper J Drake (Lalana Dararutana), died. She was not yet 50.

She leaves behind an amazing husband (Matthew), wonderful parents and siblings, a large and delightful family of foodies, thousands of devoted readers, and countless friends who loved her, one of whom was me.

Piper fought cancer incredibly hard, at great expense in all ways, to stay alive as long as she could. It was only when she was told she wouldn’t be able to eat the foods she loved that she decided enough was enough. Fair cop, if you ask me.

This last winter I was away in Thailand, a place I truly love, spending time with people I adore. But it was not a vacation, it was a pre-reminiscence. Piper and I were foreshadowing the fact that we would not get to be crotchety little old ladies complaining together about the lack of good spice profiles in our nursing home’s kitchen.

Instead, we spent several months co-authoring experiences and hoarding memories, mostly mine – because we knew she wasn’t going to get to keep them for herself. We got out and about (me learning to push a wheelchair… badly) visiting food markets, gardens, and temples. We even did a little shopping, terrorizing vendors with our infectious enthusiasm.

I’m sure we were horribly embarrassing for everyone around us and I will miss her.

I spent three months with her and we never ran out of conversation. If any of you have listened to us on our podcast, 20 Minute Delay, or a panel, or at tea, you know we can talk all four legs off a goat and then discuss what the best goat curry tastes like without pause for breath.

One of my most beloved Piper memories is us at a fancy restaurant in Seattle squealing over a yummy appetizer, Matthew smiling at us with a kind of indulgent wonder. (I’m sure we were a lot.) Piper prepared the “perfect bite” off her own plate and fed it to me, just because she wanted to see my delighted face. Both of us have cultural heritage, from very different parts of the world, that believe food is love.

That bite was one of the purest acts of love I have ever received in my whole life.

And I will miss her.

She came into my life like a tiny whirling dervish full of creepy voices, mismatched socks, sharp insights, and sudden bursts of fragility.

She introduced me to one of my favorite teas (Taiwanese milk oolong), and teapots (Japanese), and countless new-to-me Thai dishes (especially khanom).

No one else I have ever met so exactly shared my taste in both food and travel, and those are two of my most favourite things ever. Bonus, we were both writers! No wonder she so quickly became one of mine.

When I asked what her favorite parts were to write, she said “movement, whether fighting or intimacy.” This makes perfect sense if you knew her or read her books. She was strong and graceful and still discussing story structure right up until the end. I am gutted we got less than ten years. It wasn’t enough time.

It just wasn’t. 

She left, without question, too soon. And I know, without a doubt, that I am not the only one who will miss her.

I’ve always liked the concept of the red thread connecting souls through multiple lifetimes. Not just one thread of romantic love but multiple threads for all forms of love, from family to friendship and beyond.

If this is the case, and love is a many-stranded means of connection, then Piper wove a beautiful crimson tapestry. I was so very lucky to be part of that weave.

I hope in our next life that our thread will tug us together again and that I’m lucky enough to get to be her friend once more.

Piper requested donations to charities be made in her honor, in lieu of other forms of condolences:

• Writing the Other 
• Coral Gardeners
• Clarion West

But, her medical expenses were exorbitant, leaving Matthew struggling not just with grief, if you have the means to contribute to her GoFundMe, that would really be appreciated.

Piper truly loved writing and releasing her books into the world, please read them and share them with others who might enjoy them?

Since you are readers of my stuff, the 3 I’d recommend the most are:

The Ink That Bleeds

A cozy paranormal mystery set in the greater Seattle area that I had the honor of brainstorming with her.

Wings Once Cursed And Bound

A romantic contemporary fantasy series (of linked stand-alones) that uses little known mythology, including Thai.

An Idol With Luv

If you enjoyed Divinity 36 or The 5th Gender this one might work for you. 

Please take care of yourselves out there and tell the people you love that you love them.

If Piper taught me nothing else it was to write when you can, take pictures of your food, and seize every opportunity to enjoy yourself.

So, please eat something tasty for us and remember:

Travel smart, pack the snacks.

Miss G

Here’s an old school update on my life this past year, taken mainly from the Chirrup in case, for some reason, you aren’t able to get it (and you still wanna know what’s going on).

Gail Carriger’s Horrible No Good Very Bad Year

January 2025 – Crisis

I started off the year dealing with an epic crisis with the Popster (rolled over from 2023). A

After relocating him (while concussed – me, not him), settling him into a new home (grumpy – both of us), he was diagnosed with kidney failure. At 91 with all his wits about him, he elected not to pursue further treatment so was released from hospital into hospice care at his new abode. I had already essentially relocated to be with him at that point. You can read a bit more about the Popster here.

I had help, the hospice team was amazing, and my friends rallied ’round. But it impacted… well, everything. I struggled to get any work done at all at his place (let alone fiction writing), and the driving back and forth was increasingly taxing. I didn’t make you any promises on deadlines for 2025, and frankly that was one of my better choices of the whole hellish year.

Right around the same time my stepdad and one of my best friends were also diagnosed terminal.

This was on the heels of having lost my beloved cat and ending a 15 year relationship.

Starting out on a low means things can only get better, right?

February 2025 – Death

1. The popster died, not unexpectedly.
2. It was not peaceful. I should have known he would “not go gentle into that good night.” (Shakes tiny fist at Dylan Thomas.)
3. His death resulted in drama that I can’t go into.
4. My friends got so worried, they assigned me a security detail. Locks were changed. Wild times.
5. I am trustee, only child, yadda yadda. There was stuff. So much stuff. Not to mention things. So many things. All of which became My Problem.
6. I got called to Jury Duty.
7. Facebook jumped from obfuscated evil to outright evil.
8. There was an error in chapter 11 of The Dratsie Dilemma audiobook. (I have the patch but I can’t upload to Amazon/Audible because they don’t let you edit audio that is live. I never got around to fighting with them about it.) The audiobook on Gumroad is good though!
9. Then Gumroad shut down my account! They decided The Dratsie Dilemma (of all my books) violated their “decency” standards. (As a corporation, I don’t think Gumroad has any decency, so this is rather rich coming from them.)
10. They also declined to pay me.
11. It all got fixed but then…
12. My website went down.
13. Good times. February. Good times. Thanks for that.

On the side of dark humor: The Popster’s last meal (as it turned out) was ½ a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food ice cream and a glass of nigori sake. Excellent choices all round, if you ask me.

Speaking of grief:

Me: Buys 3 new pairs of boots.

Niece (10 years old) awed: “You can just do that as an adult? Buy 3 pairs of boots? All at once?”

A pause.

Exchanges glances with her mother.

Niece suddenly serious, “Oh! She’s sad.”

The emotional intelligence of this kid! I tell ya. Amazing.

Incidentally, in that picture above from WorldCon I am wearing one of the pairs of new boots. Aren’t they fun? They make me feel powerful. And tall. I love them very much.

Bright Note: Real Life Found Family

So I write found family narratives because it’s something I strongly believe in. I found my family in high school (and have added to it ever since). The thing that has given me the most comfort during this time with the Popster has been this found family of mine.

I am delighted to report to you that this narrative I have foisted upon you (would we say proselytized?) for well over 30 books now… is true.

My 2025 from hell highlighted found family as the absolute winner. The support my friends have given me these last two years has been truly incredible and amazing.

You see, I tend to be the guardian caretaker hostess boss of my social group. I like that role, it suits me. But this time around they were the ones coming to my rescue. Friends who I think of as soft sweethearts, who have always needed me to defend them against the world, who are kind-hearted and gentle, they took up proverbial arms on my behalf.

It was like having a rabid pack of vicious Pomeranians defending me.

I may need to put werepomeranians into my next book.

Here’s me doing a deep dive into the Found Family trope with Madame Askew and the Grand Arbiter at CONPossible (YouTube). It’s a blast, enjoy! And best of all… it’s true.

The Aftermath

Chirrup subscribers and online friends sent me kind words of comfort, not to mention adorable pet pictures. I read and looked at all of them. I felt very loved and taken care of.

What a complicated thing death can be. Initially, I found the stuff & things most challenging. Too many objects niggle at me. I get overwhelmed easily by abundance, so I tackled stuff first. (I’m not a minimalist but I make no case for it.)

• Surplus medical supplies etc… went to an aged care charity I’m posting about it here because I didn’t know these existed and now I do, I want to spread the word. You might have one near you.
• I donated larger stuff to non-profit organizations.
• The Popster’s 1960s literary archive went to The Beat Museum. My dad was a completely unknown but very embedded beat poet.
• I found artists and woodworkers in need of tools and supplies.
• And friends in need of furniture.

It was actually quite rewarding. I’m not sentimental around objects (I wonder if this comes from having been an archaeologist) but it was nice to see things go to good homes.

In the middle of all this I left the country briefly (Mexico, a baby writing retreat) and attended a truly lovely steampunk event in Atlanta.

That combination brought me more peace than I expected. Travel is a balm for me. I had not been able to travel out of the country since Thailand in October of 2023. That’s a long time for me.

I had grand ambitions to write fiction, but wasn’t able to do much, instead focusing on my new non-fiction book. I did manage to complete a rough draft of that.

Divinity 36 got a BookBub Featured Deal. I haven’t had a BFD in a decade, and I was thrilled to score one for this particular book. I’m still so proud of the Tinkered Starsong series. I ran the numbers after and I am not sure how effective it was at getting new readers, but hopefully at least a few people gave it a chance who otherwise might not.

Bright note: A Valentines Mandolin

I am a survivor of a Great Mandolin Crisis. Let me explain.

On a whim I bought myself a cheap $5 mandolin a few years ago. I’m aware of the Great Danger in such an tool. Many close to me have sliced off fingertips. Yet I am stubborn. I prevailed despite the risk. And I LOVED my mandolin. I am a big fan of a cucumber (Dimity notwithstanding) and this mandolin did one thing and one thing beautifully – it sliced cucumbers perfectly. Plus it was small enough to fit into my only kitchen utility drawer.

We had a torrid and devout love affair of some three months, the mandolin and I. And then… oh and then… I took it to my mother’s house.

In my defense, I had become quite reliant on it and I was planning to cook a meal for her with lots of sliced things. Well, naturally, I left it behind at the mum’s. I called mum in a panic and she “put it in a safe place” to return to me.

Yes, my darlings, the mandolin was lost.

Lost, I thought, perhaps forever.

Thus began an epic hunt for a new one. But since I bought the original at a “shop where objects go to die” AKA Homegoods, I could not find another exactly like it. Apparently, the world felt that mandolin technology needed to “be improved upon.” They made them so one could change the width of the slice (no thank you) or have fancy handles (doesn’t fit in the drawer) or “safety features” which stick up and mess with dexterity (I’ll take the risk).

And then on Valentine’s Day 2025, I got a package from the Mum.

Guess what was inside?

She found my original mandolin!

Best Valentine’s Day present EVAH!

March – An Actual Book Release

You’d Think I Was An Author or Something

A New Special Subterranean edition was announced = the printed version of the Dear Lord Akeldama compendium.

It was delayed for months because of tariffs and issues with printing presses and paper shortages, but eventually it all got sorted out.

This book is the only place this content will ever be in print, if I have my way.

I’m not ruling out a paperback version, but it would be offered as an exclusive to my Chirrup subscribers only. And it will be years in the future. As I type this a few of the fancy cloth-bound ones are still available. I would jump on it if you want one.

Bright note: Hobbiting About

My high school friends and I are Very Silly Folk so we gathered together for a hobbit day.

I missed the memo that we were to dress up as hobbits and so accidentally wore all black and was dubbed the baby nazgûl. We put on LOTR but mostly just MST3Ked it and ate way too much food. We had :

• a vast elaborate charcuterie board
• roasted potatoes
• roasted mushrooms & thyme
• deviled eggs
• smoked salmon & fixings
• stuffed mushrooms
• rosemary roasted lamb
• smoked Cornish hen
• green beans
• roasted cauliflower
• chard
• shepherd’s pie
• roasted root veg
• 2 kinds of salad
• apple crisp
• cherry pie
• pear cider & beer
• copious amounts of tea

It was pretty darn epic.

April – Ramping up Events Again

Come Spring I started doing lots of events, travel, and social stuff. Not necessarily a wise choice for an introvert. Why yes, I was trying to escape my life and shake myself up. How did you guess? I’d never had this kind of stacked loss to deal with before (relationship, cat, dad, friend, family), thus I had no coping mechanisms for it. (Not sure I have them now, either.)

I know, I know, but it’s me. I would like a Gantt chart for loss, a template for grief, and a color-coded spreadsheet for estate management. Please and thank you?

Barring that, I traveled away from my life and responsibilities. I decided if I couldn’t write (fiction remained a major struggle) to Be Busy and distract the brain. Maybe with the brain focused on new sensory input my muse would resurface.

Emotions are hard.

Grand Arbiter, Gail Carriger, Madame Askew at CONPossible 

Other 2025 Gail Events ended up including…

• Atlanta, GA – CONpossible
• Dulles, VA – All-Star Book Marketing Retreat

• Bruguières, France – Echos & Merveilles 2025
• Berkeley, CA – Bay Area Book Festival
• San Francisco, CA – SFinSF
• Oakland, CA – 2025 Locus Awards
• Hanover, VA – CJ’s Flutteryby Tea
• Chicago, IL – Q&A + Book Signing at Volumes
• Seattle, WA – Worldcon 83
• Belmont, CA – Indie Author Fest
• Aurora, CO – MileHiCon 57
• Tucson, AZ – TusCon 52
• Santa Clara, CA – Love & Tech Book Fest

Online stuffs included

• Sierra Writers Conference 2025
• Worldbuilding Con

All of which is to say, after being trapped in one place for much of 2024 and then smothered in a gravy made of freedom and grief, I basically said yes to everything and thus spent most of 2025 flying all over the place like a madcap ferret in a vintage hat, cursing past me’s decisions.

Which is not to say I didn’t enjoy the traveling, I have a podcast about it after all, but I might have pushed it a bit. I hope to pull back in 2026.

May 2025 – I Managed to Write a Little

Off to a small picturesque Pacific Northwest island to officiate a wedding ceremony. I was honored to be asked and it was a lovely day – with copious amounts of cheese.

I finally managed to scribble down new words of fiction. The beginnings of a new Parasolverse story coded HTCAK. I went on a writing retreat and it worked. I got about 12k down over one weekend – a solid start on the next Claw & Courtship book.

After struggling so much to write fiction this felt like a small miracle to me. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to sustain it.

As I type this in December of 2025, it’s been 8 months working on this book and it’s still not finished. Normally it takes me about 6 months to write a fiction book. And while this one is running long, this is still behind for me.

Although, in retrospect, it’s not as bad as I thought.

Meanwhile, the Gail Carriger Discord server managed to start and maintain a book group. Probably because I’m not in charge. If you want to join the Discord and are having issues with the link please drop us a line and Kelly will make it happen.

This is not the book I’m writing, but everyone got very excited about it. So maybe in the future.

June-Sept 2025 – Midyear Slump & Lots of Travel

I managed to mostly wrap up the Popster’s estate. Challenging as various professionals whose help I required kept ghosting me. (I’m aware of the irony in using that term.)

As I type list there it still one lingering Thing, but it’s almost done.

Computer Crisis

So there I was in Chicago, gracelessly weathering a heatwave, eating yummy food, and hanging with the high school besties. (One of us has emigrated to the Greater Chicago Area and is struggling to adapt, so we went in force as a show of solidarity.)

I brought my computer because I intended to work. In fact, I did work-like stuff on the plane. And then.

Oh and then.

I upended an entire glass of water on said computer.

I did all the things. I dried what I could. But the Blinky Blinky Light of Doom did break.

And thus I was without my main computer for a while.

• I returned home with Blinky in tow.
• It was whisked away to see if it could be saved by Apple. No.
• Could the data be saved. No.
• And so I scraped some funds together for a new one.

Don’t worry, I always back up my computer the day before I travel. Always. So I only lost work done on the flight over. Still, it’s a touch disheartening. And an evident hassle, as one might expect when one’s entire life is essentially on one piece of tech.

October-November 2025 – Calm before more travel

I finished out the last events of my year and hunkered down trying to get everything sorted before my big trip to Thailand. Not only my own paperwork and shut down procedures, but also the very last of the Popster’s estate, plus some necessary family and friends maintenance.

Why back to Thailand?

So, as I started out this year of woe, right around when my Dad died, one of my best friends got diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Since she lives in Thailand and I was already planning a visit, I extended those plans to ensure additional quality time. I’d also be taking on primary care for a while as her partner needed to leave for visa reasons.

December 2025 – Back in Thailand

So my loves, I’m now back in Thailand. For up-to-date info on my doings, please do join the Chirrup. These long form posts from me seem to happen only once or twice a year now.

My defacto stepdad is also quite ill, so there is a chance I might have to emergency come home as well. I’m telling you, 2025 has not been kind to me or the people I love. I am very happy to see the back of it.

Hopefully this is more than enough update for now. And hopefully you had a better 2025 than I did.

Yours, hanging in there,

Miss Gail 

Miss Gail’s Tea Party

Tisane of Nifty 

Author Nibble 

Quote to Sip 

Find my books 

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BOOK DE JOUR!

Heroine’s Journey got a release in Korean!

여자는 우주를 혼자 여행하지 않는다 | 게일 캐리거 – 교보문고 

English Version:

PICK YOUR VENDOR! or Direct from Gail

Multiple New York Times bestselling author Gail Carriger presents a clear concise analysis of the heroine’s journey, how it differs from the hero’s journey, and how you can use it to improve your writing and your life.

I’ve made no secret in the Chirrup that 2025 has been a very rough year for me. However, I’ve been less verbose about it here on the blog. Partly because a blog is public-facing, and partly because I don’t want to be a downer. But as a result, the blog has languished for a while.

For which I apologize.

So I went back over the year and tried to pull and curate some of the good things that I did, found, said, loved, and enjoyed for your reading enjoyment. I hope this makes up for my neglect, at least a little bit.

Frankly, it is to remind both of us that 2025 wasn’t all bad.

Beloved life hacks I discovered in 2025

• I posted a photo of Dratsie sitting on an Ikea table and everyone wanted to know about that table’s tentacles. They are wall decals that used to be up in my old office. I put them on the table to transport them safely, but I liked them there so much, I left them on it.
• I have a swanky vacuum cleaner but 90% of the time I whip out this cute crumb sucker instead. It’s just so easy to use and it USB charges. Been living in Thailand for a month now and it’s one of the amenities from home that I really miss.
• Pyrex measuring cups are awful, so thick they dribble. Me, the ex-scientist, was all “we have beaker technology, why must we suffer drips when nice, thin-walled, heat-shock resistant borosilicate exists?” And lo, someone was already on it. I cannot tell you how much I love my borosilicate measuring cup. Nary a dribble in sight.
• Fleece lined tights. The older I get, the more I’m cold all the time. These allow me to still wear cute dresses. (I’m 5’7” size 8 and I wear the Medium-Large.)
• Magnetic shelves! I live in a tiny apartment (I just don’t need or enjoy a lot of space) but it is inside an old Vic with plaster walls which makes shelving challenging. I got these for my fridge (and fuse box) for holding tea and they are GREAT! Perfect size.
• Silver cleaning wipes. OMG stuff I didn’t even know was tarnished is now… not tarnished. I also used an ultrasonic cleaner + my trusty tea stain remover tablets (aka denture tablets) to clean the non-silver half of my jewelry.

Extra tip moment? I live a pretty clutter-free existence. Here is someone who did a YouTube video of all the hacks I use that I didn’t even know to voice.

What I watched in 2025

• I did, indeed, watch the world’s first ever live-action Omegaverse BL out of China, ABO Desire. It was bonkers. There were CEO billionaires, scent markings, heats, ruts, mating bites, and mpreg. I do not know what to do about any of it. Is this a sign of the end of days? I assume so. Do I recommend it? Only as a fever dream meets social experiment. It’s on Viki and Gagaoolala. But if you want an idea of the madness, here is the trailer. (It doesn’t even begin to cover it.)
• I also watched Thai BL drama ThamePo (on YouTube as of the date of this post). Yes, yes I know. Probably not your thing but it is mine. This is a very sweet romance between an idol (singer) and a ordinary boy. It’s lovely. Much tamer than Desire.
• For writer and language junkies: Dr of Linguistics talking about coda words it was totes adorbs (YouTube).
• For my readers: 6 Types of Tea – Different Tea Types Explained (YouTube)
• For the foodies: The Real Story of Pasta: China, Italy, and How Noodles Took Over the World (YouTube)
• I also mainlined the recent season of Great British Bake Off.

Things I enjoyed listening to in 2025

• Mid year I went on a Jeff Satur bender. I’m into his creepy circus vibe. Bonus FEATHERS! (I should wear more feathers, it’s just… they shed.)
• Sungjae of BTOB singing The Ghost.
• GOT7 dropped a new song (it’s been a while) and it was fun.
• Park Jeup’s song Movie, He is one of the singers I thought about when coming up with the role of high cantor for the Tinkered Starsong books. Once asked “how far does your range go?” one admirer responded for him “to outer space.”
• N.Flying’s bop, Oh Really, earwormed itself into my brain (the MV is delightfully silly and this is such a cheerful song).
• Young K (Day6) covering Older by Sasha Alex Sloan. I love cross dressing vocals (or whatever we wanna call it). For example here’s Eunkwang (BTOB) covering Golden from KPop Demon Hunters (and yes that’s his head voice.)
• Junhee’s Umbrella is a lovely winter song.

If you’re not into Kpop/music recommendations, I also enjoyed this podcast episode from Stay Tuned with Preet – The Formula for Happiness. I found it a very reassuring interview.

Books I read (or reread) in 2025

• Reread Cherry Wilder’s A Princess of the Chameln. Hello, way back machine. You see, all the discourse around romantasy as a “new genre” made me remember books from my teen years that were high fantasy with strong romantic elements. So I revisited this one. It holds up. Not sure I would call it romantasy but that horse racing scene is still one of the best ever written.
• Reread Grace Draven’s Radiance. Basically an arranged marriage trope, but he’s a kind of dark elf and she’s very much human. They manage to grow into understanding and loving each other. A heart-warming romance coupled with good world building and fun culture conflict. Also, potatoes play a key role. As they should.
• Read contemporary YA Once Upon a Kpop Prom by Kat Cho. It was cute, well paced, and easy to gobble down but not groundbreaking. If you like Kpop, soft het romances, and coming of age narratives this will likely work for you.
• Read N.R. Walker’s Lacuna. I don’t know what caused me to pick this up, it’s been in my TBR for years. I enjoyed it, belongs to a genre I learned to call techno fantasy. Although I’m not sure if the term is used anymore.
• I reread Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. Honestly, I wasn’t wild about it the first time around and I have no idea why my brain decided it wanted a reread. It’s an important genre piece in countless ways, but I never warmed to it. Although… I have the original (fan translated) version. It’s possible the official translation is better.
• Then everyone said one of Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’s other works was better suited to my taste, so I’ve started but not finished Heaven Official’s Blessing.

New trusted resource for steampunk readers: Steampunk Authors from The Steampunk Explorer

Tasty nibbles & new food discoveries

I did some fun experimentation with food this year. Living entirely on my own since February with no ones pallet to please but mine meant I went a little wild experimenting with new recipes. Some of which were successful and others of which were very much not.

• I cribbed a one-pot rice cooker Hainan Chicken Rice recipe from this YouTuber and it’s perfect “feeling poorly” food. Game changer. Same concept as Chicken Noodle Soup just… not soup and I like it better. (I included the recipe in the Chirrup. You see why you need to join?)
• I tried banana passion fruit for the first time. Banana is for the shape not the taste, which was similar to a regular passionfruit only less slimy and more floral and green. Would eat again, but I prefer spherical passion fruits.
• If you haven’t used the frozen tofu hack, you have no idea what magic tofu can reap! Truly a game changer in my life. I’m not a vegetarian but I make no case for it.
• I cooked a lot of Ipomoea aquatica, my favorite vegetable of all time. AKA water spinach, river spinach, water morning glory, water convolvulus, Chinese spinach, Chinese watercress, swamp cabbage, or kangkung/kankon. It’s you-sai in Japanese, kōngxīncài in Mandarin, ong choy in Cantonese, rau muong in Vietnamese, cancon in Portuguese, and of course, pak boong (ผักบุ้ง) in my beloved Thai. Here’s the recipe for the version I eat the most. But honestly? You can treat the leaves like spinach and the stems like green beens.
• I took to making apple pie guts from the backyard apple trees during harvest season. I’m a pie over cake girlie but not big on crust. And this, well, best of all worlds. I did get experimental once when I ran out of vanilla. I tried making it with ube extract instead. This resulted in very pretty purple apples but also them tasting like pears for some reason.
• Also been trying to perfect the perfect crustless pumpkin pie, coconut sticky rice, and Portuguese rice pudding (arroz doce BUT in a rice cooker, I’m a monster). All are works in progress and once (if) I feel like I have a good recipe I’ll report in the Chirrup.

Tea!

Started trying to drink less black tea and more green (it’s supposed to be better for you). I rediscovered this gem in the afternoon: Brew La La Organic Passionfruit Green tea. I like it iced. But be careful not to over-brew.

This is my preferred regular chai. But I also discovered a decaf chai to drink in the evenings! Look, decaf black tea always tastes faintly of fish to me. (I love fish but not in my tea.) I’ve always felt that decaf chai would be the perfect solution to this issue, since all those spices would cover over the fishiness. Finally someone made it for me! And it is yummy!

These glass Teabloom Teacups. They are perfect for oolongs and I also really like them for juice shots or sake. (I have a marked preference for cute small round things in my life.)

Also, here is The Perfume Guy talking about tea-scented fragrances (YouTube)!

In the category of… pretties

Around Halloween I got myself this lovely spooky ring. I love jewelry that is both elegant and a little creepy. This one is made from a Victorian doll’s glass eye. (It turns out to be the exact same color and shape as my niece’s actual eyes, which delighted us both.)

Please excuse my lack of manicure. I’ve neither the time not the funds to get myself regular manicures anymore. Also my nails (previously a strong point, literally and figuratively) are becoming dry and brittle in my old age. I just don’t think it’s wise to put gel on them as frequently as I once did. (And I don’t bother with non-gels, not worth my time.)

I got this tiny smug cat storage jar (read: sugar bowl) because it was so adorable and it reminded me of a dear friend’s very dumb but sweet white cat. It is so darn charming I can’t stand it. Makes me happy every time I look at it.

Hot air balloon paper lanterns. I actually use these as lanterns with an old Ikea lamp, but they would be fun just hung for a party.

I got myself this Studio Ghibli-esk soot sprite bag charm (see Spirited Away) and it’s adorable. I use it with a black bag so it kinda disappears unless you’re really looking.

Dollskill put my favorite teapot purse on sale in two of the colors I don’t have: black with skulls and blue with snowflakes. I was very tempted (and still am) but so far I’ve resisted.

ALSO my much admired black teapot (actually kettle) purse is available in silver and gold again (it’s been years) so if you’ve been coveting that one it’s $35 on the Zon.

Makeup, Skincare, and Such Pamperings

I conducted an experiment with tubing mascara and determined that it pretty much acts like all other mascara on me (yes, even at removal). I have decent lashes that rarely battle mascara, so I think tubing may be solving for a problem I don’t have. Conclusion = not for me.

• However, this was the year I discovered Japanese mascara. If all you want from mascara is for it to not go anywhere, like, FOR DAYS, this is the winner. I can wear this to fly for 27 hours (and counting) and by the end of that trip it looks as good as when I applied it. (Yes, I slept in it. With a face mask.) It is remarkable… but you are never getting it off. It’s all I care about, but yeah… like woah, what sorcery is this?
• Anytime I travel and someone spots this travel eyelash curler they get very confused and then excited. Which is to say it’s clever, cute, and useful. Basically my favorite combo.
• Beauty of Joseon Revive Snail Mucin Ginseng Serum. I know it sounds like a crazy product, but me and my terribly dry skin love it. I use it after my beloved Laneige Cream Skin Toner & Moisturizer and usually don’t need a “real” moisturizer anymore. I know, but that is wild for my skin. Which is drier than some scones I’ve eaten.
• Mixsoon Bean Essence. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. It’s the oddest consistency, sticky as honey but only to itself, on the skin it spreads and absorbs like a dream. It’s the vegan alternative to snail mucin and it might be even more effective. I use this in the morning before sunscreen.
• My new favorite eye cream by Mary & May. Honestly, I’m not convinced one needs a separate eye cream, but if you’re bougie like moi, this one is lovely. And a very generous amount for the price.

And that’s all for today!

Yours, getting happiness from the small things,

Miss Gail 

Miss Gail’s Tea Party

Tisane of Nifty 

Author Nibble 

Quote to Sip 

Find my books 

Direct | Amazon | Kobo | Bookshop.org | B&N | Apple | Foyles | Angus Robertson

Here’s a printable Downloadable Checklist of ALL my stories!

Did you miss my latest release?

Want more sneak peeks, free goodies, gossip, behind the scenes info?

This goes to my Chirrup members, because I love them bestest. Sign up here:

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Find my books 

Direct | Amazon | Kobo | Bookshop.org | B&N | Apple | Foyles | Angus Robertson

Here’s a printable Downloadable Checklist of ALL my stories!

Did you miss my latest release?

Want more sneak peeks, free goodies, gossip, behind the scenes info?

This goes to my Chirrup members, because I love them bestest. Sign up here:

Subscribe

Not into newsletters? Get only new releases by following Gail on Goodreads, Amazon or BookBub!

There is a new story afoot (apaw?) set in the Claw & Courtship line of Parasolverse books. (If you want hints as to who it’s about and when/where it’s set, you simply must belong to my charming newsletter, the Chirrup.) I will say that this book spans a significant amount of time (one of the reasons it’s running long).

In a 2025 Chirrup, I asked for characters you wanted see to get cameos in my current WIP. I took the 10 most popular replies from that newsletter, and now they are up here for the vote!

No promises.

I’m not necessarily going be able to fit in your favorite (the character might not be in the right place at the right time for this story).

Still, I am so curious to see who will win. 

Here is what the FB Group had to say on the subject:

You can leave a comment with further thoughts (for a while, comments eventually close down after a few weeks, for spam reasons). But the only option for getting a character into this poll for consideration was via the Chirrup.

Yours (destined to be killed by her own creations),

Miss Gail 

Miss Gail’s Tea Party

Tisane of Nifty 

Special Golden Dragon Kit Kat for Golden Week (orange flavor)

Author Nibble 

The Soulless Manga Vol. 1-3 is getting a rerelease as an all-3-in-1 omnibus! Learn why it happened in the most recent Chirrup. Here’s some backstory on the manga. 

Quote to Sip 

Find my books 

Direct | Amazon | Kobo | Bookshop.org | B&N | Apple | Foyles | Angus Robertson

Here’s a printable Downloadable Checklist of ALL my books!

Did you miss my latest release?

Want more sneak peeks, free goodies, gossip, behind the scenes info?

This goes to my Chirrup members, because I love them bestest. Sign up here:

Subscribe

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BOOK DE JOUR!

How to Marry a Werewolf

PICK YOUR VENDOR!

Direct from Gail

Guilty of an indiscretion? Time to marry a werewolf.

The monsters left Faith ruined in the eyes of society, so now they’re her only option. Faith crosses the Atlantic, looking for a marriage of convenience and revenge. But things are done differently in London…

Werewolves are civilized. At least they pretend to be.

10 Tiny Life Hack Gadgets That I Use Constantly & Joyfully

1 Rechargeable House Necessities

Apparently while I was busy writing 30 odd novels the world invented adorable rechargeable electric lighters. OMG, so cool. I have this one for candles and pilot lights (I have a gas stove and wall wart). I love it so much and use it constantly.

I don’t have many outlets in my apartment. I also don’t like the look of cords dangling everywhere. These little lamps solve both problems for me. They come in many different styles, I just happen to like the deco meets European cafe look.

They also now make rechargeable lightbulbs that work the same way and so you crafty types can turn any vase into a lamp and not have to drill a hole.

Table is decorated with octopus wall decals, brass cordless table lamp, and a copy of Dear Lord Akeldama special edition. 

2 MOAR Plugs

As mentioned before I have very few outlets in my Victorian apartment (two or fewer 2 prongs in each room). So investing in several of these flat extension cords with ALL the plugs has been a life saver for me.

3 Mini Speaker

I got myself the cutest tiny speaker so I can bop around the kitchen to Kpop doing dishes, making tea, and cooking. I’m a dork… but I’m your dork.

It’s the tiny dark blue thing on the top shelf, left side in that image there —>

4 Crumb Catcher Vacuum

Brigii Mini Vacuum Cleaner is small, black, cute, and rechargeable. I use it more than my regular vacuum. It’s just so EASY and it’s right there. To me this if worth it for cleaning out the toaster oven alone… but also that time I spilled chai powder everywhere.

(Yes it does still smell faintly of chai every time I use it.)

5 Magnetic Everything

Speaking of living in an old apartment. I have paster walls (not dry wall) and balloon framing (few studs) so I can’t really hang anything on my walls. This means I rely on magnets a lot.

• I use magnetic shelves on my fridge, fuse boxes, and the infamous wall wart (yes, I know, it gets hot, so I am careful what goes on the shelves). Above you can see them in use as a tea caddy.
• I use heavy duty magnets magnetic hooks for things like hanging purses off my hallway coatrack or keeping the cover tight over my window AC unit during winter winds.

I love a wall decal or stencil since it’s much easier to decorate with than a picture in a frame. I’ve used them to decorate things that can’t be painted (because I’m a renter) like closet doors and on furniture I don’t want to permanently alter.

I posted this photo of Dratsie sitting on an old Ikea table and everyone wanted to know about the “table tentacles.

Those are decals that used to be in my old office (see above).

I put them on the table to transport them safely when moving out, but I liked them there so much, I left them on it. It gets loads of compliments. (To be fair they are front and center in my living room and quite noticeable.)

Anyway, if you are looking to liven up an old table, consider decals. I like these because the matte texture and art style makes them pretty scratch resistant, but I’m gentle with my stuff and use place-mats.

I’m not sure if this hack works on tables that get rough use (so to speak). 

6 Kitchen Helpers

Speaking of magnetic, I can’t get over how great these magnetic double-sided measuring spoons are. Seriously, where have these been my whole life? My kitchen drawer stays tidy, they’re so cute, they stick together nicely, and they work really well as measuring spoons. Clever design all round.

The more I type and the older I get the less my hands work properly. I was deeply suspicious but decided to try these Jar Opener Gripper Pads made of silicon and OMG they actually really do work. Yes it still takes some strength but they make life so much easier on my poor hands.

OMG please just have a good sharp pair of kitchen shears in your life.

• Me: Mum you need new actual kitchen shears, these are for paper.
• The Mum: Oh stop fussing. They’re fine, darling.
• Me *brings the mum a new pair next visit whether she likes it or not*
• The Mum: Oh these are good!

Parents.

7 Thermos as a Teapot

Don’t tell, but my daily tea routine no longer involves a teapot. I’ve fallen in love with the Kinto Travel Tumbler, basically an elegant thermos that’s wider and more stable than my travel baby (which I still use on the go), and I have been using it for my morning tea routine of a teapot since it keeps everything hot for longer without having to grub about for a cozy. It’s a lazy-person’s teapot. But… it works!

8 Double Walled Insulated Teacups

These little cups are so cute and they work for various kinds of tea as well as sake and other alcohol. I’m just happy every time I use them and I use them all the time.

(So much so I recently broke one, and when I break another I intend to rebuy so I have 6 total.

I always seem to host at a max of 6 people. No idea why that happens, I think it’s the small size of my place. Like koi my social group only grows to fill the space?

9 No Actually the Best Bouillon

No it’s not the one Test Kitchen loves in that jar. No it’s not a box liquid. If you can’t do homemade bone broth then it has to be Lee Kum Kee Chicken Bouillon Powder. This has the best pure chicken flavor so it can be used as a base for any cuisine. Also the powder is so easy to sprinkle on things and use in sauces etc…

10 Cleaning Hacks

• I use denture tablets to remove tea stains on said thermos. I also use these for mugs, teacups, and teapots. (I’ve been known to use them on jewelry and vases as well. The material scientist in me hopes it goes without saying that these are for hard inert materials like ceramics and glass, not plastics, soft stones, or soft metals.)
• There is a product called Goo Gone that will actually get price sticker residue off plastic, wood, etc…
• I also use the Pink Stuff both the liquid for surfaces/floor and the gritty putty for everything else. I’m not sure if it actually works better than other cleaners but I love the smell, and that’s reason enough for me since it means I am more likely to use it.

I actually took time to research and source the best laundry stain removers too.

• For grease stains IMHO nothing beats a good liquid dish detergent.
• For food it’s still Zout, although their nozzle sucks.
• For ink & makeup it has to be Amodex.
• And if absolutely nothing else is working I reach for Clorox 2 (but be wary this one cannot be left to sit on fabric, use it right before the wash only).

Incidentally, since I mostly wear vintage, natural fabrics, and delicate clothing I wash my clothes on cold, delicate cycle (using Woolite Dark) and then line dry.

Bonus?

Carpet Tape

This one might not help everyone, which is why it’s not in the main list.

But I live with wall-to-wall carpeting and I want to put my own rugs down on top without them constantly wrinkling on me. I have tried a million solutions and this carpet tape is actually the only thing that has ever worked. I put it all around the edge of the rug that lies on top and that’s it, SO far so good. It’s been 2 years.

Weak hands?

These jar opener gripper pads are described as “for Seniors with Weak Hands.” I feel very called out by that listing. But they sure do work well. 

Yours (destined to be hunt for the perfect hack forever),

Miss Gail 

More like this? Here I am talking all about the things I love that go on sale regularly.

10+ Prime Day Recommendations from Miss Gail – Stuff I Genuinely Love, On Sale

Find my books 

Direct | Amazon | Kobo | Bookshop.org | B&N | Apple | Foyles | Angus Robertson

Here’s a printable Downloadable Checklist of ALL my books!

Did you miss my latest release?

Want more sneak peeks, free goodies, gossip, behind the scenes info?

This goes to my Chirrup members, because I love them bestest. Sign up here:

Subscribe

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BOOK DE JOUR!

The Dratsie Dilemma: San Andras Shifters #4

PICK YOUR VENDOR!

Direct from Gail

Trick, the otter shifter (and everyone’s favorite barista), is running from a past he can’t forget, and has accidentally landed in the surprisingly warm embrace of the local werewolf pack. Everything is going swimmingly, until the merfolk show up. Mermaids en masse are a problem for everyone. This particular pod is guarded by one very powerful, very sexy merman – which mean’s Trick’s past has finally caught up to him. That past is grumpy, slippery and has been looking for Trick for over a decade.

Miss Gail’s Tea Party

Tisane of Nifty 

6 Types of Tea – Different Tea Types Explained (YouTube) 

Author Nibble 

Quote to Sip 

Despite drama, crisis, politics, and more shakeups than my hips in a belly-dancing class, I keep going back to WorldCon because, quite frankly, I enjoy it. It’s a good mix of meeting up with my beloved readers, also my beloved author friends, and my own favorite authors.

The very first day I ran into Madame Askew, the Grand Arbiter, and T.M. Kuta – three of my very favorite magical beings. Madame Askew and The Grand Arbiter come to me from my early steampunk convention days but this was their very first WorldCon and they had tons of panels. (Madame Askew would go on to WIN the masquerade, we are all very chuffed.) They were, if I do say so myself (and I very much do) quite popular with the WorldCon peeps. Since I was the major instigator behind their attending, I’m pleased they were well received.

T.M. is infamous in my universe for being one of my first young fans, 15 at the time, who accosted me (with an overabundance of frenetic enthusiasm) and took me to the basement of a hotel where there was an abandoned 1960s diner. Yes, that’s really how we met. We continued our association over Tumblr and now T.M. is the Power Behind the Parasolverse Discord.

• I’m wearing an eShakti (RIP) maxi dress (yes it has pockets) which I also use for my steampunk Star Trek looks.
• For WorldCon I paired it with black flats decorated with red fuzzy shoe puffs that make most shoes look more retro.
• That massive red teapot purse is from a vendor who used to be on Etsy but is no longer. It is responsible for my only viral TikTok clip, which is me giggling like crazy when opening it because it is so much bigger than I expected.
• The gloves are vintage leather ones and the head wrap is no longer available.

Other Outfits?

I would say my most popular one was this little number, which I dubbed Cupcake Galaxy Gail.

• That is another eShakti dress (all customized by me, and yes, pockets).
• The head wrap is from the Zon, These are my current favorite brand. They are the softest and the most comfortable. They are the ones I sent to Piper for chemo which should tell you how much faith I have in them.
• The necklace is from Etsy (and convention) vendor Hibernacula.
• Gloves are vintage.
• Stompy boots were a last winter find on the Zon, no longer around.
• That is the infamous binder clip purse I get asked about all the time. The vendor I bought from seems to no longer exist, but there are plenty of dupes of the bag around.

Normally this purse only goes to teaching conferences with me, it’s my grown up Gail bag. Teapots are for conventions. But because I was packing the big red one and my bog boots I decided to check a suitcase and bring this one along. (It’s hard to travel with carry-on only.)

This was not my final outfit, but it was the last one I remembered to snap a pic of. (I am a terrible fashion blogger, it’s one of the reasons I stopped. I rarely remember to get outfit shots.)

• That is another eShakti dress (yes, pockets).
• The head wrap is the same as before, only in navy, from the Zon,
• Vintage gloves.
• 20 year old gold heels. (Held together these days by superglue and pure will.)
• The binder clip bag again.

I miss eShakti a lot. Although these days I rarely buy dresses new anymore. I’ve been so disappointed in the quality. I’m back to simply thrifting & tailoring, or (rarely) vintage.

The Panels (with notes)

I had a lot of fun panels this WorldCon.

About half of them were business of writing related, mostly the kind of thing that will show up in my next non-fiction book, Going Hybrid.

WorldCon 2025 Seattle “Direct Sales” Panel  photo by Oriana Leckert. L-R Jessie Kwak, Cassie Alexander, self, Oriana Leckert, Amy Wolf (and my stupid-big teapot purse)

Links from some of the panels I was on

Boarding Schools in Genre 

• My series that takes place in a boarding school is The Finishing School series.
• But Tinkered Starsong utilizes many of the same tricks, especially in the first book Divinity 36.
• The unpublished one I mentioned on the panel, that uses boarding school tropes and archetypes, only the school is a university where students fight natural disasters is only talked about in the Chirrup. You can read the prequel via a private link and code in that newsletter. I’m not sure whether to publish it because it needs a rewrite and is very dark.

Found Family: The New Social Paradigm

• The Kdramas I love and talked about as great examples of Found Family are all mentioned in this post.
• Almost all Heroine’s Journey narratives are found family.
• Pretty much all of my books are found family but the most intentionally activated used of this trope are in The Custard Protocol and Tinkered Starsong series.

Food In History  

• I don’t have a ton of resources for this one since it was mostly me talking with the hat on of my pervious life as an archaeologist. But you can read all about that in this post here.

Direct Sales Strategies 

• I mentioned the recent Shopify Bot Attack Leaving Indie Authors with Financial Losses and here is someone who knows talking about defensive strategies.
• I talked about how important it is to know exactly how much your time is worth. Here is a Value Of Time Calculator.
• Here’s a blog on 30 Habits That Have Improved My Author Life

Newsletter Stuff 

• I use MailerLite for all my newsletters. It’s fine.
• I talk about how I track and gather data (so I can decide where to best spend my time) in this whopper of a YouTube interview on Data Analytics.

Being Hybrid 

• There are a ton of resources for this already provided on the Going Hybrid book landing page.

I also did a ton of socialization. Met some really lovely readers at both a table-talk and meet-up.

Ran into many of my longest running author friends (still writing), one I meet at that first WorldCon over 20 years ago! Others, I have known through all 15+ years of my writing career. Since Soulless debuted.

Since we are mostly around the same age, at lot of us are going through major life changes, with parents and relationships passing away. Also big changes in our respective careers. So it was a pretty emotional con as well. But very necessary to get all caught up.

I’m lucky enough to have collected some pretty awesome friends around me at home, but there are some things that only my fellow authors truly understand. If I were to give one survival tip to my fellow authors just starting out on this madcap journey, it is… make author friends.

Yours (destined to be killed by a tumbling TBR pile),

Miss Gail 

Miss Gail’s Tea Party

Tisane of Nifty 

Author Nibble 

Quote to Sip 

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BOOK DE JOUR!

The Dratsie Dilemma: San Andras Shifters #4

PICK YOUR VENDOR!

Direct from Gail

Trick, the otter shifter (and everyone’s favorite barista), is running from a past he can’t forget, and has accidentally landed in the surprisingly warm embrace of the local werewolf pack. Everything is going swimmingly, until the merfolk show up. Mermaids en masse are a problem for everyone. This particular pod is guarded by one very powerful, very sexy merman – which mean’s Trick’s past has finally caught up to him. That past is grumpy, slippery and has been looking for Trick for over a decade. 

It has been a while but I thought I might provide you with an update outside of the Chirrup at least once this year. I know I know.

Fun Book Releases

Dear Lord Akeldama and the Parasolverse Ephemera got a limited run cloth bound gilt inlay special edition from Subterranean. As of typing this there are about 100 left. As always with these editions there is only the one shot at them.

This compilation may be released in print in another form (or not, knowing me) but this style and fancy hard cover version will never exist again. It’s now or never.

My lovely author friend Lin Lustig drew the cutest Lord Akeldama chibi as a pirate that I am charmed by.

Lin writes fun silly queer uplifting pirate fantasy. If Lord A were a pirate, he would likely be in her books. The most recent one is Our Ship Must Sail. She describes it as “a cozy sapphic fantasy series about sky pirates.”

The Heroine’s Journey sold into Korean translation last year. I never announce these kinds of things, because even if they buy the right one never knows if the translation will happen.

This one did!

Isn’t it lovely?

The Heroine’s Journey in Korean!
여자는 우주를 혼자 여행하지 않는다 | 게일 캐리거 – 교보문고

3 Kdrama’s that made me think of this narrative arc?

The Uncanny Counter | Hospital Playlist | W

This is my first Korean translation for any of my work. Some of you may know I am a big Kdrama and Kpop fan so this was a real delight for me to have happen. I do talk a bit about story structure and use of this narrative in Kdramas in this post:

10 Best K-Dramas for Romance Lovers: My Favorite Kdramas Using The Heroine’s Journey from Gail Carriger

Plus I think the Korean script is so stunning looking, kind of modern and mathematical. I adore the precision of it. It’s very tidy looking.

Where has Gail BEEN?

Mexico

I went to Mexico on a tiny writing retreat just after the Popster died. It was to try to get my head back in the game, not a resounding success. Still, it was nice to see a part of the world I haven’t ever before (in this case La Paz, I’ve been to Mexico proper quite a few times back in my Archaeology days).

As you can see, La Paz is a boat kinda place full of boat kinda people. The Popster was just such, and so I found it a tad challenging since my feels around boats and his relationships to them (my string of inanimate siblings that all signs point to him loving more than me) are complicated, to say the least.

CONpossible

After that is was off to a steampunk event where I got to see some of my dearest friends.

Grand Arbiter, Gail Carriger, Madame Askew at CONPossible 2025 in purple matching outfits

These two were the best last good thing to happen to me before the hell year began.

Hell Year

Hell year = car total, concussion, moving Popster, caretaking Popster, terminal diagnose 1 & 2 of 3 (not me, people I love), breakup/divorce-ish (15 years counts, right?), Lilliput death, Popster death, terminal diagnose 3 of 3 (please world stop now) and so forth.

So seeing them again made me hope I had come full circle and the hell would stop.

A girl can dream right?

Atlanta Love (Matcha Shade)

I also got to spend a little time in Atlanta for the first time in my life, and I have to say I liked it a lot.

Mad respect for the size of your H-Mart (I wish we had one close SO BAD), the epic food scene, and general goodwill and kindness of the peeps.

Ube & Pandan Soft Serve + Custard Filled Taiyaki

I enjoyed the place, the food and the company. Can’t ask for more, can you? Shout out to the fact that multiple times the green thing I encountered was pandan flavored. I ADORE pandan and it’s really difficult to find. Green things tend to be macha flavored these days, and I am sad to say I am not a fan of the grassy side of tea.

New Book in Progress!

After that I had yet another writing retreat, I really was trying to get back into being able to write fiction after a year of crisis management.

This time it helped a bit and I got started on a new book. Code HTCAK it’s is in the How to Marry a Werewolf line and you can follow it’s progress in the Chirrup. I’m loving it so far, we are deep in (what was called then) Burma just after the Napoleonic Wars at the very edge of the British Empire, but I’m making no promises these days on deadlines because life has been so chaotic. I’m to scared to tell you a thing will be done when I may get derailed all over again my incommodious circumstances…

There were parasols in the sky at this retreat, which I took as a good sign, and for some reason I keep running into this style art installation (more to come on that).

Look, here’s the thing, after the Popster died I went a little stir crash and I said to Kelly, said I, Assistant please just say yes to stuff, I need to get away.

And so-eth, she doth say yes, and I might have bitten off a bit more than I could chew for the rest of this year as a result.

It’s been necessary, I think, but a LOT of travel.

Distractions are good, but also, perhaps, escaping one problems should not be undertaken in quite such a literal manner? Just Gail from the future talking to Gail in the past for when this happens again. Because that looks more and more likely.

France & Spain

She brought me an egg!!

After that is was off to France where I had an… interesting time. It was really nice to meet my French readers and see my translator again, but it was an odd not-bookish event.

One of them brought me hard boiled eggs, which was very very exciting to this weary traveler who had picked up a bit of a tummy bug. I love an egg on the road.

Mad egg love from this girl. Possibly my favorite protein of all. 

I bought some lovely jewelry and was reminded of my long gone days working the Ren Faire. But a book event it was… not.

I got to see my new French books covers and was pleased the Parasol Protectorate is still getting some love. But I suspect I should be getting more of my books translated into French in order to keep those readers happy, and it’s just very complicated and wicked expensive when I do not speak the language myself.

Speaking of speaking, I do have a little Spanish so after France I visited Barcelona.

This was a trip I had planned with my ex pre-covid, Also this is a place I visited and fell in love with in my 20s. I was great to be back, and I didn’t feel any of the anti-tourist sentiment.

First I didn’t stay or spend much time in the tourist parts of the city (they haven’t changed much since I was last there) and second I dress and act (and walk) like a local. This is a part of the world where it is relatively easy for me to blend in.

It was odd for me. I could see myself visiting again for a writing retreat, but I’m not sure I enjoy traveling to this part of the world alone. There’s a lot of things, like dining out, that are really long social activities and it felt surreal to do this by myself.

All that said, Barcelona’s filled croissant game is ON POINT.

Summer Fun

Back home and then off to a charity tea in Virginia. Another event that was in process for before the pandy and managed to reboot itself.

Because I wore a new cute thrifted dress I did a whole blog post of that event here. No need to rehash. Super chuffed to say someone on the socials said I looked like a teacup myself, and that is exactly the look I was going for so… yay!!!

Some of my best friends from high school and I went on a little trip to visit one of our number who recently relocated to the Chicago area.

I tapped the lovely Volumes Bookstore & Cafe to host an impromptu gathering.

So many of you turned out for that, I was quite touched. I haven’t done an event in Chicago in 9 years so it was so nice to be remembered. Many people drove many hours to come, and there were a ton of new faces as well.

Truly honored to those who made the effort to drive into (and PARK) in the city, I know it’s such a hassle.

Wore one of my favorite new vintage acquisitions this lavender 1940s organza dress with a cool neckline. I’m getting into these sorts of colors as I get older and also this one packs like a dream. I also had it on the France trip.

Someone made me these little dolls of Conall and Alexia.

Aren’t they fun?

Chicago was the next place I meet the parasols in the sky!

Lots more this time around.

Lately I have been to WorldCon in Seattle but that was such a bumper of an event I likely will do a whole other blog post on it. Outfit rounds ups and some notes from the panels and other exciting projects that have resulted.

Right now I am home(ish) for a few months. Still settling the last of Popster’s estate, it just goes on forever. I have a few more events in October and November, but I am looking forward to being in place for the next month or so.

Maybe I will even get some writing done?

Except…

One Should Not Bathe One’s Computer

Revelation, I know!

So during the Chicago trip I upended an entire glass of water on my main laptop. 

I did all the things. I dried what I could. But the blinky blinky light of doom doth break. So I am down for the count while we see what can be salvaged. 

Don’t worry about the work!

I write in Scrivener which does a cloud backup via dropbox, and I edit in gdocs which is in the cloud already.

I also back up my whole computer regularly, and always the day before a big trip. So the only bits I lost were what I did on the plane on the flight there, which wasn’t a whole lot.

So I’m ending this blog post with a reminder to run a backup, just in case.

Oh and don’t bathe your computer.

Yours (destined to run herself ragged),

Miss Gail 

BOOK DE JOUR!

The Dratsie Dilemma: San Andras Shifters #4

PICK YOUR VENDOR!

Direct from Gail

Trick, the otter shifter (and everyone’s favorite barista), is running from a past he can’t forget, and has accidentally landed in the surprisingly warm embrace of the local werewolf pack. Everything is going swimmingly, until the merfolk show up. Mermaids en masse are a problem for everyone. This particular pod is guarded by one very powerful, very sexy merman – which mean’s Trick’s past has finally caught up to him. That past is grumpy, slippery and has been looking for Trick for over a decade.

Find my books 

Direct | Amazon | Kobo | Bookshop.org | B&N | Apple | Foyles | Angus Robertson

Here’s a printable Downloadable Checklist of ALL my books!

Did you miss my latest release?

Want more sneak peeks, free goodies, gossip, behind the scenes info?

This goes to my Chirrup members, because I love them bestest. Sign up here:

Subscribe

Not into newsletters? Get only new releases by following Gail on Goodreads, Amazon or BookBub!

Miss Gail’s Tea Party

Tisane of Nifty 

One of my favorite teacups. Purple pansies remind me of my grandmama for some reason.

Author Nibble 

Quote to Sip