Novel Bakery

There’s this tender scene in Red, White and Royal Blue where Alex escapes DC for a bit and goes back home to Texas to visit his dad. It’s quiet. It’s a break from his normal life. And it’s a time for Alex to reflect on his relationship with Henry while spending time with his family. Alex prepares ribs in the kitchen while his dad prepares etole then the family and Henry sit down at the table together.

They eat later that evening, big piles of elotes, pork tamales with salsa verde, a clay pot of frijoles charros, ribs. Henry gamely piles his plate with some of each and eyeballs it as if waiting for it to reveal its secrets to him, and Alex realizes Henry has never eaten barbecue with his hands before. 

Alex demonstrates and watches with poorly concealed glee as Henry gingerly picks up a rib with his fingertips and considers his approach, cheering as Henry dives in face-first and rips a hunk of meat off with his teeth.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuinston

Red, White & Royal Blue is a rom com about Alex, First Son of the United States, who falls for his sworn enemy Henry, the Prince of England. Alex doesn’t want to create any drama for his mother who is running for re-election, while Henry is firmly in the closet. Because they’re an ocean away from each other, a lot of their relationship takes place over the most tender, sweet, romantic emails.

I recommend RWRB if you enjoy a romance with quippy dialogue, slow-build, enemies to lovers, and just sheer adorableness. 

To recreate the Texas meal, I followed this ribs recipe. I don’t particularly like ribs, but this recipe was pretty good. Brice, who does like ribs, loved the recipe.

Don’t tell anyone, but the tamales are from Costco.

The frijoles charros were delicious and I’ll definitely be making the dish again. It was like a thinner chilli. For staging, I used these adorable clay bowls. They’d be excellent for a dinner party with a soup appetizer!

I added a splash of the fresh salsa verde to my bowl of frijoles charros and it was excellent.

Also, I’d never tried etoles before this meal. I’ve always wanted to, but just never got around to it! I can now say that etoles live up to all the hype and will be on regular rotation in our home.

Also, because I can’t help myself, I made jaffa cakes for Prince Henry. They were his go-to stress eating food and I couldn’t leave him with a rack of ribs when, like me, he has a sweet tooth.

Check out my Instagram Reel for Red, White & Royal Blue!