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There is nothing more uninspiring than the drugstore Valentine aisle. Forget Hallmark this year and impress your Valentine with a love letter from their favorite author tucked inside a paper mailbox — complete with a hinged door and quaint red mailbox flag.

For this DIY-Valentine you’ll need the following materials:

– 3 sheets of card stock
– double-sided tape
– single hole punch
– paper fasteners
– craft knife
– pen
– mini envelope and card
– craft scissors

Feel free to use this lovely template from her Craftacular Highness, Martha Stewart, if you’re artistically challenged like me or create your own version of the 3-D paper mailbox.

Once you’ve assembled your mailbox, inscribe a note with a short quote or passage from your Valentine’s favorite author, slip it inside a mini envelop and deliver it to your “mailbox.”

Hopefully, your beau’s favorite writer is someone romantic like poet, Pablo Neruda. You’ll have an easy time finding lovey-dovey quotes encapsulating your true feelings. But perhaps your Valentine is more into stark Russian prose. Not incredibly romantic but — fear not! Your letter will just be that much more unique.

I’ve chosen to use a quote from one of my guy’s favorite authors, Fyodor Dostoevsky, but you can borrow from any author that has meaning to you or your Valentine.

On the small note tucked inside the mailbox, I wrote:

We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at
first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken.

Works every time. You're welcome.

-FD

Short. Sweet. And completely unique. Your beau will appreciate your creativity and hey, you remembered their favorite author! Bonus points.

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A few weeks ago, Ajsa Zdravkovic, a graphic design student from Geneva, Switzerland, posted a stunning photo on our Facebook page and emailed Quirk’s associate publisher and creative director, Jason Rekulak. After forwarding her email around and sharing the image, everyone at the Quirk HQ was blown away. Why? She had shared a page from the inside of her doodled-in copy of Walls Notebook.

After asking her to share some more of her gorgeous creations, she sent over a couple more pages that really show off her artistic skills. Have a look at some more of her doodles below, and be sure to check her out on Tumblr and follow her on Twitter.

Thanks for sharing with us, Ajsa!

Last year, while I was busy doing blogger research for The Cookiepedia, I stumbled upon a lot of outrageous macaron recipes. There were plenty of wild flavor combinations, from the subtle like lavender and vanilla bean to the adventurous like pistachio with vanilla raspberry & rhubarb jam.

I felt bad for Quirk’s Margaret McGuire (editor) and Katie Hatz (designer) during this process, as I was filling their inboxes with link after link. So, here are my favorites from those days of assaulting their email accounts.

Read on to scope out the recipes, for a chance to share your favorites, and an opportunity to win a copy of The Cookiepedia! Oh and Margaret? Katie? I apologize for nothing.

In the Boston area? Want to meet one of our fabulous authors? Well next week, on February 7th, Theodora Goss will be reading from and signing copies of The Thorn and the Blossom at the Boston University Barnes and Noble in Kenmore Square.

After the reading, she'll host a Q&A and answer questions about the book, writing in general, etc.

She'll kick things off at 7pm and wrap up around 9pm. For more information (or to RSVP and let her know you're coming), Theodora's created a Facebook page. Go tell her you'll be there.

You Sweep Me Off My Feet (Right Click, Save As)

Happy February!

With Valentine's Day just two weeks away, we decided to whip up some cute (and slightly creepy) Valentine's Day cards using some of our favorite vintage photographs from Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

The Valentines all measure 640×875, making them the perfect size for printing out for whatever Valentine you choo-choo-choose. Or go ahead and save them to your desktop (right click, save as). Post them on your Tumblr, Tweet them at your friends, paste one on that special someone's Facebook wall, or pin them all on your Pinterest board. Attach one in an email and send it off to your book loving friends. Whatever you need to do to let that special someone know you care.

Check out the rest of the Valentines below. Have fun!

Don’t be like Wolverine. Drink responsibly.

Throughout history, mankind has always found reasons to add booze to everything, under the auspices of somehow making it classier. Eventually, people figured out how to use these seemingly tangential excuses for drink as a means of complementing and enhancing their experiences. Drinking wine? For shame! Wine and cheese? Perhaps a side of delicious red steak? Now we’re talking! Drinking in the morning? Forbidden! Orange juice in your cocktail at brunch? Fantastic and socially acceptable! Even in a recession, when people are cutting corners and forced to find new ways to be frugal – everyone still likes to drink.

The point is, drink pairings are classy. And in a world where comic books are finally seen as “cool,” why not add class it up some more? Comic books are an event, after all. I guess what I’m trying to say is this all just a clever ruse for me to combine two of my biggest passions into one delectable event. Comics and Beer – the perfect combination. But like wine and cheese, the real trick is in finding a brew that will somehow improve upon your comic book affair. One that accentuates the proper tones, and enriches the flavor – a beer that you can experience along with your comic book. A beer that betters your comic book, and a comic book that betters your beer, all at the same time.

Here’s a brief guide to pairing your Comics and Beer:

Captain America: Captain America is, well, American. That’s kind of the point. But not in that corporate, militant, bully nationalism-type way. Cap stands for the American ideal, something that everyone can agree with and get behind, that’s not colored by politics and money. That’s why you’ll want to go for a microbrewed American-style lager or pale ale. Something clean, palatable, and easy to drink, something that everyone can agree on but is still wholly American. I’d personally recommend Brooklyn Lager (after his home turf after all), or Sam Adams Lager, or something similar.

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear is, of course, blind, but the rest of his senses are heightened and more than compensate for this. India Pale Ales (IPA) are flavorful and aromatic, thanks to an abundance of hops (historically added to act as a preservative so that English ales might survive the long trip to India). As a result, they engage the senses more than the average beer, and will encourage you to rely on more than just sight, like Daredevil himself. IPAs are also known for their bitterness, and as anyone who’s ever read a Daredevil comic can attest, bitterness and aguish run rampant in the life of Matt Murdock. The higher alcohol content will make your head spin, much like the conspiracies and ninja smoke that Murdock faces himself. Recommended for the uninitiated: Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Mojo IPA, Harpoon IPA.

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