Cornflakes ‘Booktail’ for ‘Headshot’

Make a milk wash for a nonalcoholic beverage to consume while reading Rita Bullwinkel’s beautiful boxing novel, the California Book Club’s March selection.

In Rita Bullwinkel’s novel, Headshot, eight young women compete in a two-day Daughters of America boxing tournament. While judges, a local reporter, and a small cluster of parents look on, these athletes calculate and conjure power in their bodies, their limbs turning, metaphorically, to water, rose vines, and weapons. Each fights for her own reason, but all fight “like they are assassins.” The narrative knows what the boxers don’t: The futures unfurling from this moment will turn them into a wedding planner, a gym owner, an actor, and a private investigator—fates that are at once predictable and unexpected.

A meditation on coming-of-age in a competitive and gendered culture of haves and have-nots, Headshot is a poetic, introspective work of rare beauty.

This mocktail recipe calls for a milk wash, also known as the clarified-drink technique, which requires a bit of precision and discipline, though the steps themselves are easy enough. Note: The mixture will look unappetizing at first. Straining the mixture is necessary to achieve a smooth, semitranslucent result, free of bitterness and impurities. The milk (good for young bones) is infused with cereal for a jab to the nose that feels “like cornflakes.” The dairy reacts to the acid in the orange juice, a fortifying snack, and grapefruit juice, a nod to a postfight bruised head. Ginger adds punch and vigor, while lemon juice and simple syrup provide balance. The result is smooth, citrusy, proteinaceous, and vitamin-rich. Best enjoyed over ice, with a grapefruit or lemon twist.•

Join us on March 20 at 5 p.m. Pacific time, when Rita Bullwinkel will sit down with CBC host John Freeman and special guest Lucy Corin to discuss the California Book Club’s March selection, Headshot. Register for the Zoom conversation here.

cornflakes milk (see recipe)

simple syrup (see recipe) or agave

pink grapefruit juice–about 1 juicy grapefruit, strained of pulp

orange juice–about 1 juicy orange, strained of pulp

lemon, juiced

ginger paste or 1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger

Grapefruit or lemon twist

milk

frosted cornflakes cereal

water

sugar

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