One thing I am so confused about with Little Fingers speech – the part where he describes a wealthy patron who "transformed" her. To use her in "ways that never occurred to most men".
I understand he was threatening her, but my mind can't work out what the flip he meant by the "transformation"?
Ahh I feel so dumb!
If anyone can answer me, that would be greatly appreciated. 🙂

Nice recipe! Much better than my White Dragon: this actually sounds drinkable.

One of the reasons I'm finding it easy to discuss the show without discussing the books is that I read the first four books VERY quickly, in about two weeks, as soon as the show ended. I honestly don't remember a lot of what happens, and what I DO remember is all muddled and out of sequence. I remember major character deaths, for the most part, and some major events, but I don't remember when they happen or in what order.

All of which is to say, I'm sure you're right about Tyrion, but I don't remember why. (And please don't explain: I promised to keep the comments spoiler-free, and I'm keen to re-discover it fresh.)

I have to say—and I've already admitted my shallow, negligent read of the books—that the show remains my first love. (We can talk offline about why, but suffice to say I feel like there's at least two books worth of padding in those five books. I'm sure I'd feel differently if I'd read them years apart instead of days apart, but by Book Three I was SO frustrated and impatient and tired of delayed gratification.)

SPOILERS FOR BOOKS TWO AND THREE, I GUESS.

One of the many great things about "A Clash of Kings" is seeing how badly Tyrion overlooks Littlefinger, choosing to focus instead on Cersei, Varys and Grand Maester Pycelle(!). As readers of Book 1, we know how dangerous Littlefinger is, and it's excruciating to see Tyrion consistently ignore him. And this turns out about as badly for him as you'd expect.

So, I guess in the interest of giving Gillan something to do this season, the writers keep adding scenes with him that to my mind do nothing but cement him as more of a moustache-twirling type than he is in the books. Not a critical misrepresentation, but I imagine it'll suck some of the surprise out of later events.

Having said all that, I'm crazy in love with the books and with this show. I'll even be buying that cookbook.

The Golden Crown
1 oz. Campari
1 oz. Goldschlager
1 oz. sweet vermouth
Stir with ice in a rocks grass. Garnish with a lemon twist, optionally flamed. If necessary, it is perfectly appropriate to dump this drink over someone's head.

Thanks for reading, Lars, and for taking the time to comment. Hope to see you back here.

I don't know…Are there recipes for Horse Heart Tartare? Or Pulled Bloodrider Tongue?

And I feel there should be cocktail recipes: the White Dragon (white wine capped with hot Goldschlager); the Bloody Marri Maz Durr (served flambe); the Lysatini (warm milk, with a strong dash of crazy).

Have you seen The Inn at the Crossroads website? Fantastic. There's even a recipe for jellied calf brains.
http://www.innatthecrossroads.com/