September 26

"We dined at 'Jack Straw's Castle' along with a little crowd of bicyclists and others who were genially noisy." - Jack Seward (pg. 215)

Jack Straw's Castle? Yeah I think I know the place...


My baby and I had tiny hamburgers or tiny fish sandwiches with fries or onion petals. Afterwards we went to the adjacent Merlin's Rest for a pint. East Lake Street: Get to Know it. At both of these fine establishments we were the only or among the few bicyclists to be gathered. Dr. Seward would have absolutely no complaints about our behavior, which was especially good.

September 25

"Now you must eat. You are over-wrought and perhaps over-anxious." - Abraham Van Helsing (pg. 203)

Wise words from the professor. I was feeling all of those unpleasant emotions and many more before I had my lunch.

There was much ado about the lunch that Mina and Van Helsing were to enjoy together whilst the latter interviewed Mina to further develop his vampire theory. Once again we know very little about the lunch except that from the sound of things both Mina and her servants spent time preparing it. For lunch I had Duck Confit with Beef Short Ribs and Israeli Couscous with Green Beans. I feel like with the exception of the couscous this may have been comparable to what our friends had.....but we'll never know.

September 24

"I hadn't the heart to write last night; that terrible record of Jonathan's upset me so." - Mina Harker (pg. 196)

And with good cause Mrs. Harker. Why bother writing at all if you can't even mention what you had for supper on September the 24th.

September 23

"He will be away all day till late, for he said he could not lunch at home." - Mina Harker (pg. 196)

Indeed! I was out until 4 in the morning to be sure. The close of my evening can be seen in this photograph taken in my friend Nick's former living room.Much like Dracula himself I stay up extremely late and have naturally red eyes.

The lunch that I could not have at home was a vegetable pizza made from scratch by my friend Andrew. We enjoyed the pizzas alongside a bottle of 2005 Graziano Coro.

September 22

"'Why, Mina, have I been alseep? Oh, do forgive me for being so rude. Come, and we'll have a cup of tea somewhere.'" - Jonathan Harker (pg. 190)


While I do believe that Jonathan had intended to bring Mina OUT for tea, I found it appropriate for me to take my tea IN given that we have currently, a supply of tea that should last a grown man an entire winter.

Minnesota winter mind you.

I did; however, make the effort of trying to get my wife to have tea with me even though she was very tired. She doesn't like her photos to be posted on the internet, but agreed with this compromise:
I'm sure that Jonathan and Mina had some kind of fantastic tea that was only available in 19th century England....but the book failed to specify what kind of tea they had, if they even made it to the tea house. I find it likely that Jonathan's disturbed mind probably led him to forget he had even proposed the two stop to take tea in the first place. Regardless we both had Stash Licorice Spice tea.

ABOUT DINING WITH DRACULA

If I were to go through the personal and psychological history that led to the creation of this blog we would both be here all night!!!! Here's the short version:

I've always been into vampires...since I was a little kid. I was a total goth kid in high school. I got my BFA in studio art and most of my work deals with the documentation, obsession with, and visual representation of daily events. I'm also really into food and wine. A series of cultural influences, personal events, and the nocturnal lifestyle that results from working in restaurants have together given me a renewed interest in vampires.

When I first read "Dracula" as an 18 year old I was interested in the representation of good, evil, religion, and love. I always found it boring when Jonathan Harker would drone on about the boring details of his supper that evening. Now that I am 26 and a man of this world, I see things differently. All I crave is more details about WHAT KIND of cakes Mina had with her afternoon tea and which varietal of wine Van Helsing sent the boys to drink to calm their nerves.

I don't plan on making a bunch of fascist rules about exactly how I have to perform these recreations, but will try my best to enjoy something along the lines of whatever I believe they may have enjoyed in "Dracula." Enjoy!