In FINDING FRASER, Emma Sheridan’s life is a mess. Her marriage has fallen apart, she’s lost her job and she’s teetering on the edge of 30 years old. So, in a fit of insanity, she casts caution to the wind, sells everything she owns and runs off to Scotland to see if she can find a real life version of her book boyfriend.
Things do Not Go Well.
On clearing out her apartment prior to running away from home:
I would have tried elevating my feet on the couch, but the guys from Goodwill had come and taken it away. The removal of the couch made it seem like everything was happening so fast, so I just thought ‘Fuck* it’ and drank the last of the Chablis in the fridge. It was early, I knew, but I’d have to clean out the fridge at some point, right? Good enough reason on its own. Besides, the wine was in a box. Juice comes in a box, and people drink juice at two in the afternoon all the time.
Right?
*feel free to substitute the word ‘forget’ if it works better for the ethos of the article! ~kc
Drinking wine from a box is soon only a bad memory. But on her way to Scotland, Emma meets with near-disaster in Philadelphia, and a good martini is the best antidote:
The Finding Fraser Filthy Fantasy Martini
In a cocktail shaker pour:
- 5 ounces of dry
- 5 ounces of vermouth
- Splash of olive brine
Fill with ice
Stir for a minute or less, then pour over at least two olives in an ice-cold cocktail glass.
Swirl, drink and enjoy!
In the end, Emma does arrive in Scotland. In Inverness she meets – and flees – a very persistent suitor. What better way to celebrate her escape than with a Rob Roy?
Rabbie Rowanby’s Rollicking Rob Roy
Put a cocktail glass in the freezer to chill for 15 minutes.
In a cocktail shaker, pour:
- 2 ounces of Famous Grouse Scotch.
- 3/4 ounce of Martini Rosso sweet red vermouth.
- 2 – 3 drops of Angostura bitters.
Half-fill the shaker with ice cubes, and stir – don’t shake – the contents.
Drop a twist of lemon into the chilled glass, and strain in the shaker’s contents.
And finally, it is sitting with a Scots farmer, Morag McGuinty, where Emma learns the value of drinking Scotch while making butter:
The pitcher turned out to be full of cream, freshly skimmed.
“Look,” Morag said, as she set it on the table. “I’ve a mind to make buttermilk scones for mah dinner. What say we whip up a bit o’ butter before you head over to the barn? It’ll take yer mind off things.”
I stared at her blankly. She looked heavenward and pulled a tall, slender ceramic jar out of a drawer. From the cupboard beneath the sink she removed a large bottle of scotch and slammed it on the table beside the jar.
“You use scotch to make butter?” I said. “Is it an old family recipe or something?”
Morag barked a laugh and pulled a teacup out of the dish drainer. She slid it toward me along the scrubbed-smooth top of the wooden table.
“Scotch makes anythin’ better,” she said, “but only a clot-heid would put it in the butter.”
Morag McGuinty’s Special Single Malt
In a teacup or any reasonable drinking vessel pour:
- 1 finger of any decent single-malt scotch or
- 2 fingers if it’s been a rough day
- add an ice cube if ye must
Enjoy – Slàinte mhath!
“Jamie Fraser would be Deeply Gratified at having inspired such a charmingly funny, poignant story—and so am I.”—Diana Gabaldon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Outlander series
Escape to Scotland with the delightful new novel that readers have fallen in love with—inspired by Diana Gabaldon’s #1 New York Times bestselling Outlander series.
I met Jamie Fraser when I was nineteen years old. He was tall, red-headed, and at our first meeting at least, a virgin. He was, in fact, the perfect man.
That he was fictional hardly entered into it…On the cusp of thirty, Emma Sheridan is desperately in need of a change. After a string of failed relationships, she can admit that no man has ever lived up to her idea of perfection: the Scottish fictional star of romantic fantasies the world over—James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser.
Her ideal man might be ripped from the pages of a book, but Emma hopes that by making one life-altering decision she might be able to turn fiction into fact. After selling all her worldly possessions, Emma takes off for Scotland with nothing but her burgeoning travel blog to confide in.
But as she scours the country’s rolling green hills and crumbling castles, Emma discovers that in searching for her own Jamie Fraser, she just might find herself.
