The Luckiest

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I got to cook something wonderful last weekend. It was a loved one’s birthday, and my partner and I decided to surprise her at her home in Napa with dinner. I got into the lab and came up with a recipe for french onion soup tarts, which I’ll tell you more about once I’ve done some fine-tuning. The goal of the tarts was to put a perfect two bites of french onion soup into a phyllo crust. Sometimes, to pursue something sublime, transformation is required.

I also made a 26-layer cake. (I am not one hundred percent on the number of layers. Feel free to count if you want.) This involved several hours of making eight-inch tuiles, which are paper-thin and crispy. I stacked them up with alternating layers of chocolate mousse. It was my first time making either of these things, and then I went and made them into a cake. It came out perfect. Sometimes, you take a big risk, and find that you got it absolutely, miraculously, thrillingly right.

As a birthday gift to go with the feast, I made some toffee. The birthday target loves darkest dark chocolate and very very crunchy textures, so I made a semisweet chocolate crisp with puffed rice, cooled it into a single hard layer, and then put it over the cooling molten sugar. The result was very dark and very crunchy. Sometimes, the specific small details matter exactly as much as the whole picture.

The best part of the feast wasn’t the tarts, (although they were really good) or the cake (although it was really, really good), or the pomegranate-molasses-glazed kabocha over chili-sesame goat cheese, or the marinated lamb (although they were also, I am pleased to report: good). The best part was the surprise. Every little piece of the process, from the planning to the grocery shopping, to the prepping and packing, to the cooking and service, to the scheming and the sneaking, involved us getting to consider and care for this person who is important to us. And we got to do it together, which is even better.

Anyway, just thought I’d tell you all about some of the cooking I got to do this past weekend, alongside my favorite person in the whole world, who is amazing at pulling off detailed, thoughtful, emotionally resonant surprises; who thinks deeply about what is important and who is part of every event; who is brilliant and kind and caring. I’m the luckiest. 

Now, to the digest!

New Kickstarter: The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming: An Orchestrated Audiobook 

From the creators: 

The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming is an introspective fantasy duology written by award-winning author Sienna Tristen (hello!). It follows the cross-continental pilgrimage of one anxious scholar, Ronoah, and his possibly-more-than-human travel companion; together, they explore the strange and vibrant world of Shale, encountering new languages, customs, ruins, and people. Along the way, Ronoah has to face off against his own insecurities—doubt, self-criticism, shame—to prove to himself and his god that he is, in fact, worthy of the wondrous journey he’s on.

The first volume of the duology was published in 2018; since the series completed in 2022, readers have been requesting an audiobook version of the story. It’s always been my dream to narrate this tale in my own voice—and with your support, we’re finally going to make that dream come true.

This Kickstarter will fund the production of the audiobook for the first volume of the Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming duology, opening the way for an immersive audio experience unlike anything you’ve heard before. Click here for a sneak peek!

Currently Reading: Pretty Things by Janelle Brown

Nina once bought into the idea that her fancy liberal arts degree would lead to a fulfilling career. When that dream crashed, she turned to stealing from rich kids in L.A. alongside her wily Irish boyfriend, Lachlan. Nina learned from the best: Her mother was the original con artist, hustling to give her daughter a decent childhood despite their wayward life. But when her mom gets sick, Nina puts everything on the line to help her, even if it means running her most audacious, dangerous scam yet.

Vanessa is a privileged young heiress who wanted to make her mark in the world. Instead she becomes an Instagram influencer—traveling the globe, receiving free clothes and products, and posing for pictures in exotic locales. But behind the covetable façade is a life marked by tragedy. After a broken engagement, Vanessa retreats to her family’s sprawling mountain estate, Stonehaven: a mansion of dark secrets not just from Vanessa’s past, but from that of a lost and troubled girl named Nina.

Nina’s, Vanessa’s, and Lachlan’s paths collide here, on the cold shores of Lake Tahoe, where their intertwined lives give way to a winter of aspiration and desire, duplicity and revenge.

Barnes & Noble | Bad River Website | Local Library | Find an Indie Bookstore

Featured New Release Double Feature: 

The King Must Die by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

Fen’s world is crumbling. Newearth, a once-promising planet gifted by the all-powerful alien Makers, now suffers from failed terraforming, leaving its people on the brink of collapse. Fen has spent her life working as a mercenary bodyguard for a cunning magistrate, entangled in the politics of the empire that shattered her family. But then her fathers—her last remaining tether to hope—are executed by the ruthless Sovereign, who marks Fen for the same fate.

With nothing left to lose, Fen escapes with a single map and an old quarterstaff, embarking on a dangerous quest to seek out the last remnants of her parents’ rebellion. But the underground insurgents she finds may be even more dangerous than the Sovereign’s army. At the center of it all stands Alekhai, the Sovereign’s heir—a brutal, power-hungry force of destruction. Though he embodies everything Fen despises, his dangerous plans might be the empire’s last chance at survival…or the final push to its doom.

Barnes & Noble | Bad River Website | Local Library | Find an Indie Bookstore

Dead Hand Rule by Max Gladstone

The time until the end-times is ticking away. If the world has any hope of surviving, it must come together now.

The foundations of the world are quaking. Markets crash and cities burn as a new god struggles to be born. Ancient hunters skitter across space, eager and hungry. Dark forces conspire to undermine anything or anyone who could stand in their way. Divided, the world of the craft is certain to fall.

In Alt Coulomb, the great powers of the world gather in conference. Empires, divinities, and corporate concerns take seats at the table. Untold wealth and inexhaustible might is on offer, but coalition will not come easily. Can these forces come together to save the world? And if they do, what parts of it will they choose to save, and for whom?

Barnes & Noble | Bad River Website | Local Library | Find an Indie Bookstore

Oh, I forgot to add one little thing to the intro. The birthday feast was the start of a weekend-long vacation we took together. And it turns out, my partner was planning not just one, but two surprises that whole time.

Like I said. I’m the luckiest.

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In the meantime, remember: Do what you can. Care for yourself and the people around you. Believe that the world can be better than it is now. Never give up.

-gailey