Jaci Burton's Blog, page 37

Totally Random

First, thank you so much to everyone who emailed, Tweeted, and Facebooked me about Changing The Game. Writing a book is awesome, of course. Hearing from so many of you who read the book is the big payoff for me. Feedback is gold to an author and I love you all for letting me know how you felt about Gavin and Liz's story. Thank you all so much!

It rained here Saturday night for about an hour. I almost got teary-eyed, since I think the last time we saw rain here was late May. Yeah, we're having a drought. Please send more rain. And speaking of weather, it might not hit 100 degrees today. Considering it hit 113 here last week, and we've had something like 35 days of temps over 100+, I might do a happy dance if it stays in the 90′s today. (I'm so over this hideous summer.)

One of the dogs has kennel cough. It hurts me to hear Lucy cough, though my daughter who works at the vet's office assures me she'll be fine. We have her on antibiotics and cough meds now. But oh, the cough is dreadful. Poor baby. And yes all the dogs get the bordatella vaccine, but they can still get kennel cough when we board them. *sigh*

Is anyone watching Bachelor Pad? Admittedly, I'm a big suckerfan and watch Bachelor and Bachelorette, but Bachelor Pad? Epic trainwreck. Last night was definitely the Vienna and Jake show, and I don't know which one of them is more psychotic. Should be a fun season.

Right now I'm working on finishing up Killer Decision, book two in my Killer romantic suspense series. Fun stuff!

What's going on in your world?

A Look Inside CHANGING THE GAME

I love to cook. I don't always have time to cook, what with deadlines and all, but I do love to cook. Two of my favorite things to eat are seafood and pasta.

If you've read my books, you'll notice my characters are usually eating. Hey, I like to eat. My characters should eat too, right? There's usually always a kitchen or cooking scene in my books somewhere, or maybe a restaurant scene. I dig food.

One of the things I came up with while writing Changing the Game was that Gavin is a cook. Not just a cook, but a great cook. I found this recipe for Pan Seared Salmon Pasta with Spinach, and not only did I want to fix it, I wanted Gavin to fix it for Liz. So he did. Step by step. Liz loved it. In fact, it gave Liz a lightbulb moment and an idea Gavin wasn't too fond of. You'll have to read the book to find out what happens.

In the meantime, here's the recipe. If you make this dish, let me know what you think!

This recipe is a permanent fixture on my website, in the Look Inside The Book feature. The link is here.

Pan-Seared Salmon Pasta with Spinach

(adapted from the Paupered Chef)

Note: The Paupered Chef site has nice step by step photos of the prep and cooking process for this dish. Really awesome!

Ingredients:

8 oz salmon fillet – The size depends on how many you're feeding. If this is a romantic meal for two, about 8 oz will do.

Fresh spinach (not the frozen boxed stuff)

1 cup heavy cream

Small handful of parsley

3 tablespoons of butter

1/2 pound of pasta (or more if you're cooking for more people…you be the judge.

Zest of one lemon

Salt and Pepper to taste

Again, this recipe serves 2, but can be adapted for more

Fill a large pot with water and turn it on high for the pasta so you'll be ready to cook the pasta. This meal cooks fast and you don't want to sit around and wait for the pasta to cook. Add salt. If the water boils before you're ready to put in the pasta, turn the heat down.

Melt the butter in a pan set on medium-high. Once the butter has completely melted, foams, and begins to turn a little brown, take the fish and place it in the pan flesh side down.

Sauté the fish for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the skin has nice coloring. Cook for another 3 to 4 minutes until the middle has lost much of its redness. Don't worry about cooking it until completely done, since the fish will be placed into the sauce later in the recipe and will finish cooking if need be. You're developing a nice crust in this stage. When ready, remove the fish and place it on a cutting board.

Remove the zest from one lemon. You can use a grate or microplane to do this. Vegetable peelers work, too–make sure to use only the yellow skin and not the bitter white layer beneath it. Finely chop a handful of parsley.

Place a little more butter in the same pan as you cooked the fish, and throw in the spinach. It will seem like a ton of spinach, but it will dramatically shrink in a few minutes.

Once the spinach has condensed by half, throw in the lemon zest. Now is a good time to check the pot of boiling water, as the rest of the recipe will be done in 10 minutes. If ready, throw in the pasta.

Once the spinach looks wilted, pour the heavy cream into the pan and let it reduce for a few minutes, depending on how far along your pasta is.

Meanwhile, remove the skin from the back of the salmon (if the salmon you bought has skin on the back). It is easy to remove once it has been cooked. You can use a fork or a knife, but it's pretty easy to do it with your fingers. Be sure to get all the skin off.

Flake the fish into bite sized chunks.

Place the salmon back into the pan, then toss in a handful of parsley.

Drain the cooked pasta, and dump it into the pan. Toss it with a pair of tongs and serve right away.

I like this recipe with warm bread and a side salad. Delicious!

Changing The Game Release Day!

It's finally here! CHANGING THE GAME has released! I'm so excited about this book.

CHANGING THE GAME is available in both print and digital, and you can buy it online or at your favorite bookstore (and if you favorite bookstore doesn't have it, ask them to order it for you).

All the online order links for both print and digital are here

Excerpt here

I hope you love the book as much as I loved writing it. As always, I love feedback, so let me know what you think of Gavin and Liz.

Edited To Add:

I'm also guest blogging at The Book Pushers today. Come visit me and see my Q&A and you could win a copy of the Perfect Play.

Also, Katidom reviewed Changing the Game and is giving away both books in the Play by Play series, so head on over to read her review and enter for a chance to win!

Goin' To The Chapel…

#1 son is getting married on Friday. To say I'm ecstatic is an understatement. He and his girl have been together for a very long time. They've had their share of epic ups and downs, but they've always remained fully committed, very much in love, and I know I'll shed a few(okay, likely a lot) of tears when they finally say their I Do's.

Aren't they adorable?

So we're headed out to California for the wedding. Both my sons live out there, and my grandkids. I'm excited to see them. I miss them all.

I'll be back on Monday to gear up for the Tuesday release of CHANGING THE GAME!

And I'm sure I'll be loaded down with wedding photos.

A Review and Contest!

There's an awesome review of Changing the Game (Thank you, Lea!) and a giveaway of two copies of The Perfect Play over at Book Lovers, Inc. today! Check it out and enter to win!

Postcards!!!

Remember the gorgeous oversized postcards I gave away for THE PERFECT PLAY? If you don't, you missed out because they were awesome. If you do remember them, I had some made for CHANGING THE GAME, and I'm giving them away to anyone who wants them.

They're epic and beautiful and will make you want to lick Gavin's abs. And yes, the postcards are roughly THIS big:

If you'd like a postcard, send an email to Fatin AT novelsidekick DOT com with your name and mailing address and "Changing The Game Postcard" in the subject title and she'll whisk one out to you.

And yes, we do mail internationally.

Enjoy!

Cover Love and a Contest!

My awesome friend Lea is talking about the Play-by-Play cover art over at the Desert Island Keepers blog today, and offering up winner's choice of The Perfect Play or Changing The Game! Head on over and participate in the discussion for a chance to win! (Thank you, Lea!!)

Changing The Game releases two weeks from today, y'all! I'm so excited! (As if you couldn't tell from the number of exclamation points in this blog post)

Guest Blogging!

I'm guesting today over at Marie Force's Book Club blog. Everyone's discussing THE PERFECT PLAY. Come see me. I'm giving away a book!

Changing the Game ARC Winner!

Thank you all SO much for entering to win the ARC of Changing the Game! I loved reading your fantasy vacation spots. Y'all drove me drooling crazy with your picks for your ideal getaway. Makes me want to book a flight and get the hell out of here, like right now!

Unfortunately, I have work to do so I'll have to stay put for now. Plus, I have an ARC to give away.

I used random.org to select the winner, who is:

ErinW (crazycommamomma)!! Congrats, Erin, I'll be contacting you shortly.

And thanks again, all. Don't forget that CHANGING THE GAME will release on August 2nd. That's only like 2 1/2 weeks away! You can read an excerpt and find preorder links here.

Changing The Game ARC Giveaway

I have an ARC of CHANGING THE GAME to give away, so let's get to it!

To be entered to win, tell me what's your fantasy summer getaway destination? (Thanks to the always awesome Angela James for this question). It's hellishly hot here in landlocked Oklahoma this summer. I need a cool ocean breeze and some lapping waves at my feet. I'd love to be in Hawaii right now. Where would you like to be?

I'll draw a winner on Wednesday!

Rules:

Contest open internationally

Must be 18 years or older to enter

Void where prohibited.