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Distractions  by GamgeeFest 6 Review(s)
AntaneReviewed Chapter: 9 on 5/7/2009
I love Middle-eastern food, esp. chicken kabobs and baba ganougj or however you spell that - I'm sure I'm slaughtering it. The best part is Frodo feeling overjoyed at Sam's enjoyment of the music and them holding hands during the worst and best parts of it. Always there for each other...

Namarie, God bless, Antane :)

Author Reply: I am going to have to try some after writing this. All the dishes sounded delicious and the pictures I found were mouth-watering. Frodo and Sam are so strongly connected, they don't even need words. They simply know when the other needs them. :)

AndreaReviewed Chapter: 9 on 5/6/2009
Wow! What a performance! I actually held my breath while reading it. That's how the hobbits and many others must have felt.

Those dishes sounded really delicious, although the only word I recognised was "kebab", like in "Döner Kebab", a Turkish dish which is very popular in Germany.

I wonder if Aragorn's plan for the next day will work!

Merry, he decided, could find out about them when they woke him at six to go up to the Citadel.

*Grins* Merry won't be amused ;-)

Author Reply: They certainly know how to captivate their audience! This is performance the whole city will hear about the following day and be talking about for much longer.

It was interesting researching all the Persian food. I might actually try some it some day, when I'm feeling Tookish like Pippin. ;)

Frodo is devious, but then, so is Merry. ;) Aragorn is getting in on the act, but he's no hobbit. heh!

AltheaReviewed Chapter: 9 on 5/6/2009
I very much enjoyed reading your detailed descriptions of the dress, music, and food. I'm glad that Pippin was brave enough to sample the food first so that the other Hobbits would experience the pleasure of its tastes. I do hope that the woman server is not going to be in trouble. Merry is certainly going to be for an unpleasant surprise in the morning.

Author Reply: Pippin was just being Tookish - curious and adventerous. Besides, it was food! ;P The woman server should resurface before the end. Merry is Frodo's cousin, let's not forget. He's just as devious as Frodo, so it's anyone's guess who will be surprised in the morning. ;)

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 9 on 5/6/2009
I printed this chapter out to read at bedtime last night, so I had to remind myself to make sure and review this morning!

I really enjoyed your exploration of Haradric cuisine and entertainment. Using Persia as a model was a nice touch.

I got a real kick out of how everyone at the table used Pippin as a guinea pig: if the food looked at all strange or "iffy" they waited until *he* took a bite! LOL! Delightfully in character-- I can't imagine Pippin ever being a picky eater as long as he's in good health! He'd be just as Tookish about trying new food as anything else!

The descriptions of the food, music and dancing were very stirring. I came to appreciate some Middle-eastern music and dance in the SCA. It is very different to our ears, and takes some getting used to, but it is very primal, as you describe it!

And I look forward to the resumption of the prank war!


Author Reply: Harad and Khan would be in the Turkey/Persia area, I think. It was interesting researching the food, and of course I had researched the music when writing BWB. Some of the cuisine sounds really good! And of course Pippin would be the guinea pig. As you said, he's far too Tookish to pass up the chance to try new food!

Their music is very strange to us, and in listening to some of it, I could only describe it by associating it to nature, so primal it is. I'm glad you found the descriptions appropriate!

shireboundReviewed Chapter: 9 on 5/6/2009
I just love the description of the music celebrating the Dark Lord's fall, and the hobbits' reactions to it.

Author Reply: The hobbits, and everyone else, need to know that the darkness was not only in Gondor during those days, and that their enemies were not necessarily so by choice. Hope is universal. :)

Grey WondererReviewed Chapter: 9 on 5/5/2009
Very colorful descriptions and I got rather hungry during the afters portion of the meal.
I wonder if that hook is real...is it too late to get in on the wagering?

Another great chapter. I love the fact that Frodo is going to allow Merry to be taken by surprise by the early morning work. That's one small way to get even.

Author Reply: Wager away. It will be revealed in another couple of chapters if it is real or not, so there's still time. ;)

Frodo is just devious that way. Merry is devious too, though. ;)

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