HUD: Asparagus & Ricotta Tart

-Swearing and political incorrectness ahead. So business as usual. Deal with it as I delete bitchy comments and emails.-

So yeah, this post has nothing to do with food except that - once again - I turn to it in order to sort of calm myself down because I'm screaming across the room like a cat with a dangly toy strapped to its neck.

We're in escrow for a home right now. At least we are on the date that I write this. We still have yet to undergo appraisals and inspections of all kinds so by the time this goes up in two weeks (yes, I write posts that far in advance so I have enough time to proof and edit... in theory) we may not be in escrow due to actually getting a set of keys, or because the inspector finds something like severe roof damage or the bodies of numerous missing hitchhikers dating back to the early nineties and therefore the place is not given the go-ahead by the loan people.

And yes, this is actually reason to not be granted the loan. I asked. Because I ask these sorts of things.

So let me tell you the epic tale of dealing with a HUD home (a home owned by the government) and how shit is perpetually flying fan-ward. Actually, not flying, but perhaps nervously humming around like a kamikaze shit-helicopter waiting to obliterate itself upon the blades and explode its stinky bits just oh-my-god everywhere.

Why Blog Writing Should Be Celebrated

So Saveur.com recently announced that nominations were open for Best Food Blog Awards 2013. I'm not much for these contests, I admit. I find them to be popularity contests more often than not.

(In full disclosure, though, I was a nominee for Best Food Writing in 2010, and Best Essay in 2011. I find this rather curious as more often than not I usually just purge onto my keyboard every week and it somehow comes out somewhat cohesive, so thanks to everyone who keeps coming back every Tuesday to see what hot mess I've spewn out.)

I am overjoyed to say that I was nominated with some pretty damn awesome people and the winners truly did earn their titles. I've also boasted my nominations here and there so I guess I can't knock on the Saveur nomination and voting process too much without being a bit of a hypocrite. Another post, perhaps.

This year, though, there was some category shuffling. Best Food Science, Best Kids' Blog, and Best New Blog were all added to the list and all very necessary categories than deserve recognition, a bit of fanfare, and an award in which the winner is showered in sexually loose groupies and a Parma ham.

Final Mac and Cheese Edits

No proper post this week because I'm in the crunch to finish final edits for my cookbook, Melt: The Art of Macaroni and Cheese. We're going through a paper copy of the book to catch any last edits and check on formatting and design. After that it goes off to print.

Below is a mini-preview of sorts. Hope you enjoy. (And don't judge too harshly as this is my first video.)

If you're a fan of this blog, of cheese, or macaroni, of macaroni and cheese together, or of little 'ol me then I encourage you to also head over to Amazon and please do two things:

1. "Like" the book on Amazon. Really, this helps immensely when it comes to marketing the book. It's shocking how much, in fact. Lots of liking demonstrates a book's popularity in the upcoming market and gets people to pay attention. (A note: sometimes the like button is there and sometimes it is not. No idea why.)

2. Pre-order. If a book has enough pre-orders it can tumble into a second printing before it even releases the first printing. This will also encourage possibilities of foreign language translations of the book and inspires more media outlets who see the numbers to publicize the book, thus encouraging more people to pick the book up and dive into the melty goodness. 

Plus, pre-ordering means you'll own a copy! Yayness!

Okee dokee, I'm off to play with my red pen. 

Garrett out.

JunkLovin': Book Review of "Classic Snacks Made From Scratch"

-Heart stopping goodness.-

My original major in college before I switched to English and Sociology was actually Genetics, and one of the perks to this major was having access to a well-stocked chemistry lab.

One Spring we came across a website that detailed the resilience of peeps when placed in extreme conditions. When frozen in liquid nitrogen they would shatter, and when placed in a vacuum they would puff up before collapsing in on themselves and looking like a neon raisin. The most shocking was the acid test where the peeps - horrifyingly - survived.

We decided to try this out ourselves. We filled a glass beaker with sulfuric acid, which when measured at the same molarity (a measure of concentration of a substance) is about twice as acidic as hydrochloric acid (the acid found in your stomach). We dropped a Peep in and... nothing happened.

At all.