Amanda Usen's Blog, page 15

On Happy Birthdays, Lovely Hobbits, Rabbit Holes, Recriminations, Validation, Balance, and Bullshit

I love my birthday with the intensity of a Russian tortoise on a romaine rampage.

I told myself I would never write a book while teaching my intermediate pastry arts course at night ever again. The last time I did that this happened. It wasn’t pretty.

However…when I didn’t hit my wordcount for my WIP, I decided I would finish it during the ten-day spring break I’d have in the middle of my course. Because that’s what normal people do, right? Decide to write a book in ten days? Life never gets in the way.

Riiiiiiiight! But I still wanted to finish and polish the book by May 1st, so I had no choice but to keep writing while I was teaching – but that’s not the silly part.

Truth: Arthur Dimmesdale has nothing on me. I am harder on myself than anyone else would dare to be. I’ve been beating myself up for most of April because I didn’t get that book done fast enough. Clearly, I lack disciple.

I call bullshit.

When sexy Hollywood bad-boy Teague “T-Rex” Reynolds comes to this quiet Southern town, he needs a fake girlfriend to hide the secret that brought him there. School nurse Kate Riley takes the job, but she won’t fall for a movie star, no ma’am. That’s fine with Teague. He hung a closed sign on his heart years ago.
Convincing the press they’re in love is one thing. Fooling each other they’re not is getting harder each day…

At my Western New York Romance Writers meeting last Saturday, Lisa Scott inspired the heck out of us by sharing her writing journey and offering great tips for weathering the tough road. She was awesome – witty, smart, approachable, savvy, gorgeous – and I am going to buy all of her books. In fact, I’m going to buy No Foolin’ TODAY because it is the Kindle Daily Deal, and it sounds like a fun read. However, one of the tips she suggested to increase productivity was this: write down everything you do during each 15 minute increment of one day to see how much time is wasted on Internet/telephone/navel gazing. Something deep inside me screamed HELL NO! AND I’M NOT GOING TO WRITE DOWN EVERYTHING I EAT, EITHER. But I thought it was my guilty lack of discipline speaking. On the way home, my rock’n'roll womens fiction-writing pal Jessica Topper mentioned she loved the idea of keeping track of time because she falls down rabbit holes on the Internet and doesn’t surface for hours. I told her those rabbit holes she explores are essential to her writing, my writing (she sends me links to extraordinary shit I would never find on my own), and her psyche. I have another writer friend, the sometimes inspirational always romantic and suspenseful Alison Stone, who also feels guilty about time spent clicking links…but I know news stories inspire book ideas for her.

Yes, the work must get done. We can’t spend all our time screwing around. There must be balance. Balance is my vision quest. I seek it daily, nearly every minute. In fact, I revere it so much I got a big ole tree tattooed on my left shoulder blade as a birthday present to myself – roots and branches, family and work, grounded and reaching for the sky. It’s a little bit tribal, a little bit floral, and a little bit Celtic, but don’t tell my mom because I plan to show it to her at Lori Foster’s Reader & Author Get Together in June.

But I don’t lack discipline, damn it. I bet you don’t lack whatever it is you self-flagellate for, either. Maybe it’s our process, a part of us. Maybe it’s just what we do, and we would be happier people if we accepted it, perhaps even celebrated it. Know yourself. Celebrate your weaknesses as well as your strengths. In fact, one method of figuring out a character’s flaw is to exacerbate his or her greatest strength until it BECOMES a weakness. Take a superpower and turn it into kryptonite. I did this in my WIP – Jenna is passionate. She never quits. She always has an angle, an idea, a new way to get what she wants. Therefore, she digs herself deeper and deeper into a mess until she learns when to call it quits. However, her passion, enthusiasm and creative thinking are still huge strengths.

My class is finished. My book is done. My birthday happened in the middle of all that craziness. I love my birthday and usually celebrate for a month, so let’s party! In true Hobbit style, I want to GIVE a present on my birthday. Let’s celebrate our superpowers AND the kryptonite that balances out all that awesomeness and makes us tolerable to be around. I fell in love with a book last week – SULTRY WITH A TWIST – by Macy Beckett. She has a great voice – funny and smart. Her characters are unique, loveable, hilarious, sexy. She gives vivid descriptions that drop you right into the scene. It’s REAL. So I want to give it to somebody who might love it, too.

Do you have a superpower that becomes your kryptonite? To enter my contest for an E-COPY of SULTRY WITH A TWIST, leave me a comment. Any old thing will do if you don’t want to search your soul for your superpower. Or tweet me at @AmandaUsen with the hashtag #balance. Or like my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/amandausen. Entry constitutes proof that you are 18 and old enough to read about true love and life-changing sex by a lake. Winner will be chosen on April 28th and contacted by me!

Sultry With A Twist:

Nine years after June Augustine hightailed it out of Sultry Springs with her heart in pieces, one thing stands between her and her dream of opening an upscale martini bar: a bogus warrant from her tiny Texas hometown. Now she’s stuck in the sticks for a month of community service under the supervision of the devilishly sexy Luke Gallagher, her first love and ex-best friend.

If Texas wasn’t already hot enough, working side-by-side with June would make any man melt. Luke wants nothing more than to strip her down and throw her in the lake-the same lake where they were found buck naked and guilty as sin all those years ago. In their heads, they’re older and wise. But their hearts tell a different story…

If you’re like me, and you want it right now it’s ON SALE for 1.99 for a few more days on KINDLE and NOOK

So happy birthday to me and all April birthdays! I hope you’ll take a minute to enter my contest, check out NO FOOLIN’ and SULTRY WITH A TWIST, and celebrate something about yourself that makes you YOU! Happy day to YOU!

The Next Big Thing and Other Carrots

All giveaways run through April 5th, so get in there!

I’m supposed to be working on Book Two for Entangled right now…but it’s a great month for food-loving romance readers, so I wanted to broadcast a few things.

First of all, I’m on Stella Ex-Libris site today coming clean about why I write culinary romance. Confession is good for the soul! And if you haven’t read

OR

Enter Stella’s Scrumptious or Luscious giveaway! It’s her 3-year Blogoversary, and she’s featuring her favorite authors and books (with more giveaways!) all month long. I am flattered to be among them. Thanks, Stella! Happy birthday!

A baker turned chocolatier hero? Just YES!

Secondly, a few weeks ago, Christi Barth tagged me in a “Next Big Thing” blog post, and I’ve been pondering ever since. Who wouldn’t want to be the next big thing? Uh…pretty much nobody, I’m guessing! But as much as I would love to be able to take the family on a restaurant rampage that would satisfy their gluttonous little souls, I need a more immediate, attainable carrot. Because I use the stick liberally while I seek my goals and, let’s face it, it’s damn hard to make a zillion dollars writing these days. So what’s my carrot? The writing zone. Joy in the process. The pleasure of making fantastic friends while pursuing the dream. I met Christi at a conference several years ago, and we’ve kept track of each other. Now I get to crow about her books when they come out – and I get to read them. Delicious carrots!

Broody cop rubs up against saucy chef? Oh, baby!

Lastly, I met Kimberly Kincaid at a writer’s conference, too. It was a little bit like being hit with a gorgeous whirlwind of foodie romance fervor, and by the next conference, she had sold her culinary romances to Kensington. Kensington is doing that fast-release thing in 2014, but her novella LOVE ON THE LINE is available now. It’s fun, fast, and inexpensive – a splendid carrot!

Now that I have gotten all that off my chest, I better get to work. May your March be filled with lions and lambs…and LOVE! (As it surely will be if you gobble up these tasty romances.)

Aphrodisiac Recipes For Love

Are you a FOOL FOR LOVE? I am! That’s why I’m posting an Aphrodisiac Menu For Love on the Fools For Luv blog on February 6th, 2013! I’ll also post the recipes on my site before Valentine’s Day, so if you want to get hot with your honey…head for the kitchen!

But you don’t have to wait for Valentine’s Day for sweetness! Steph from Fangs, Wands and Fairydust and Dana from Readaholics Anonymous are hosting a blog hop from February 1st to the 14th. Visit their site for great posts and giveaways each day AND hop along for the chance to win MORE great prizes and giveaways!

Since I’m a glutton for LUV, I’m participating in the hop, too. My giveaway is ONE of these flavored finishing salts:

Taha’a Vanilla Sea Salt, 1.2 ounces, small jar

Fleur de Hell – Sea salt meets ghost pepper, one of the world’s hottest peppers, 1.7 ounces, small jar

Click the pics the find out more about the salts. Basically, they are flavored finishing salts, a little something you sprinkle on at the end of cooking to make it extra special. I chose them because they are both aphrodisiacs in their own way. Vanilla is so evocative that one whiff makes you go, “Ahhh…” Chili peppers make you hot and sweaty, just like *giggle* you know what I’m talking about!

To enter the giveaway, leave me a comment and tell me whether you like it sweet (vanilla) or hot (chili pepper). We’re talking about salt, of course. I would never ask you such a personal question in public!

You must also leave me some way to contact you if you win the salt, whether it is your e-mail address (separated by spam-foiling spaces) or your Twitter handle.

The Rules: Giveaway is International. Contest runs until midnight on February 14th. You must be 18 to enter. Incorrect or incomplete entry voids entry. Winner will be chosen by Random.org and will be contacted within 2 days after the contest ends. Winner has two days to return my e-mail to discuss delivery. If salt is shipped by the manufacturer, I am not responsible for fulfillment. If salt is shipped by me, then I am not responsible for fulfillment once I ship it. Entry constitutes agreement to the rules and confirms age and that you will not hold me responsible for the heat of the chili pepper salt! Whew!

Now on to the Hop…click the little love bug below to see all the great sites participating in this celebration of LUV! Enter to win great prizes!

A big thank you to Steph and Dana for organizing the Hop. You guys really know how to share the LUV!

See you there!

Chocolate Valentine Ecstasy

Looking for the perfect Valentine’s Day cake? Actually, this is a fabulous Any Day cake! It’s quick and easy if you aren’t afraid to whip egg whites. If you are afraid to whip egg whites, this cake is worth overcoming your fear. It’s fluffy, yet intense. Rich. Dreamy. Utterly satisfying. My favorite chocolate experience.

My kids were psyched when I made the cake just so I could take this picture!

Chocolate Valentine Ecstasy

Oven temperature: 350

Baking time: 35-40 minutes

Pan: 9” Springform, lined with parchment circle,

spray parchment only with pan spray.

I may have gotten carried away with the whipped cream…

8 ounces chocolate

1 stick of butter

1 cup of sugar, divided

6 large eggs, divided

1 teaspoon vanilla

For topping:

1 cup heavy cream whipped with 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar

A good-quality chocolate bar, to make a large pile of chocolate curls or mini chocolate chips or cocoa powder

Melt chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler over simmering water.


Separate 4 eggs. Reserve the whites in a clean, dry bowl.


Combine the 4 yolks with 2 more whole eggs and ½ cup sugar. Whisk until combined.


Stir the melted chocolate and butter mixture into the egg yolk and sugar mixture just until combined. Set aside
In a squeaky clean bowl with a squeaky clean whip, whip egg whites. When they begin to form peaks, slowly add the remaining ½ cup sugar, just a tablespoon at a time, until the peaks become stiff. The idea is that you want them whipped enough to add body, but not so stiff that they won’t combine smoothly with your other ingredients. Better under than over with this recipe.
Fold the whites into the chocolate egg mixture just until the streaks of white disappear. Don’t deflate your whites with too much folding. Pour into your prepared pan and smooth gently.
Bake for exactly 35 minutes at 350 Farenheit. Give the pan a jiggle. If it seems set, it’s perfect! Otherwise give it 3-5 more minutes and then take it out. Let cool completely.
Cover with a swooping blanket of whipped cream, chocolate curls, chips or a dusting of cocoa powder. Serve with berries if you want to impress your date or your family. Hoard the leftovers and have them for breakfast…in bed!

Sale! Score! Soar!

Once upon a time, a writer had a glass of wine with her agent in Anaheim, CA, at the Romance Writers of America National Conference, and her agent said, “I think you should write a super-sexy contemporary that I can submit to Entangled’s Brazen line.”

And the writer said yes. And she wrote the book.

And the agent submitted the book. And Entangled bought the book. And two more books.

And the writer was happy freaking thrilled, over the moon, joyous, jubilant, elated and psyched!

I love a story with a happy ending. *squeak* And I love my agent. And I love my new book and my new editors and my new publisher and my life and chocolate and wine and YOU because you are reading this and sharing my glee! Thank you for tuning in. Lila and Jack’s story is slated for June, and I had the best time writing it. I can’t wait to share more details with you.

Speaking of sales, SCRUMPTIOUS is .99 for Kindle at this very moment, so get it while it’s cheap! And buy it for your friends! And your mom! And your dad! And your dog! My dog loved it!

Joe Rafferty is just as mouthwatering as the food he cooks. But if he thinks he’s going to waltz in and take over her kitchen, he’s denser than a thick slice of chocolate ripple cheesecake. Marly has invested too much of her life in Chameleon to hand off the restaurant to someone else—especially a cocky–as–all–get–out superstar chef. But there’s no denying the man knows how to light her fire. Question is: Can she have the sizzle without feeling the burn?

“In the small but expanding niche of foodie romance, Usen’s debut rules the kitchen with lip-smacking prose and rowdy protagonists who put Iron Chef to shame.” – Publishers Weekly

I’m going to expand that niche a wee bit more, and keep my rowdy chefs cooking. Hooray!

Teddy Bear Bread

When I was little, my older sister used to bake a bread in the shape of a teddy bear with raisin eyes and a raisin belly button. She also used to sit on me and dangle saliva over my face in a long, thin, pendulous thread and suck it back up before it actually hit me. Most of the time, she sucked it back up. Once…it hit me, and I remember that, too. I suspect she made the teddy bear bread to make up for the horror.

In her defense, I probably deserved the torture. At least, I did if I was anything like my own children.

I treasure the memory of that teddy bear bread. We would try to wait for it to cool before we ripped it apart and slathered it with butter and honey. Usually, we failed because I have no memories of cold teddy bear bread. Just warm. Rich. And cute as a raisin button! She found the recipe the other day, and promised to make me one if I came down for the holidays. For the first time in a long time (people in the food business work holidays), visiting my family for Christmas was actually possible. Game on!

We warmed up with these:

We are still disputing whose idea it was to make gingerbread houses with our kids. We have six between us, and I swear it wasn’t my idea. I claimed that I don’t do that stuff unless someone is paying me, but I’m still getting blamed. Probably because she wanted to make one big house, and I insisted each kid have their own. I’ll take the rap for that. The thought of six kids swarming over one gingerbread house had me reaching for the bourbon at noon.

On Christmas Eve, we woke up bright and early and got out the mixing bowls. We listened to our favorite childhood album – Gideon by Kenny Rogers. While I kneaded the bears, my sister shot a blackmail video of me singing every word. Our children thought we had lost our ever-lovin’ minds! (We have, and it’s all their fault.)

Beary cute, right?! The recipe is here.

I treasure my sister and all the crazy memories we share. No one else on earth could have pulled this recipe out for Christmas and created instant nostalgia. No one else will sing every word to the Gideon album with me. No one else will ever be my sister. I love you, Bongo Buns! Thanks for having us for Christmas!

My Gingerbread Adventure!

I’m so proud of us! For the past month, I’ve been teaching classical pastry arts to culinary students. When the chance to enter a gingerbread house contest came up, I entered us as a class…in the professional division.

I couldn’t resist.

What a great opportunity to practice our skills by rolling dough, piping royal icing, sculpting fondant, shaping rice krispie treats, and just generally thinking outside the candy box. One of my students brought in an amazing gingerbread house book written by a pastry chef and an architect, Gingerbread Architect: Recipes and Blueprints for Twelve Classic American Homes. That book was pretty much the death of me for the past few weeks. I mean, why make a gingerbread box when you can make an asymmetrical Victorian farmhouse with stained-glass windows lit from within? And why just put icing on the roof when you can tile it with chocolate? And naturally, we needed Rudolph on that roof. And a pond – with koi fish. And a picnic table. And, and, and…

Each student took on a piece of the house, made a fondant snowman, and made a royal icing tree. A baker’s dozen of snowmen and trees!

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I wish I could have fit them all into the display, but, alas, space was limited. I already have ideas for next year’s gingerbread adventure, many of them inspired by my students. I won’t lie – the house was a bit of torture for most of us. However, one of my students thanked me for assigning the project. She was amazed by how well everything came together and glad to have been a part of the process. Me, too! Thanks for sticking with me, guys. Great job!

Just a few more:

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Luscious Pumpkin Creme Brulee

Just in time for Thanksgiving! In my culinary romance LUSCIOUS, the heroine gets her groove back by (in part) by making this dessert. I started recipe testing last spring, but (true to form) I didn’t write it down! Since I’m teaching pastry arts classes at Erie Community College this fall, too, I put my students to work. Our third try produced LUSCIOUS results. This pumpkin creme brulee is rich and velvety, laced with almond, Amaretto and star anise. If you want a twist on the traditional pie, give it a try! If you want a more traditional version, add a half-teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg and cloves to the mix. If you don’t want to mess with a propane torch, this custard would also be great sprinkled with granola or sugared almonds. Happy Pumpkins! *This recipe is gluten-free if you DO NOT put granola or anything containing gluten on top!

Olivia’s Luscious Pumpkin Creme Brulee

Makes 12 four-ounce brulees

24 ounces heavy cream

12 ounces pumpkin

1/2 cup sugar

a good pinch of salt

5 star anise

3 eggs

4 yolks (you can use the whites to make macaroon cookies!)

4 ounces of Amaretto

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 325. Find 12 ramekins or shallow bake-proof molds. Find a pan with sides. It must be large enough to hold the ramekins so you can make a water bath.
In a medium saucepan, whisk heavy cream, pumpkin, half of the sugar and the salt.
Add the star anise and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat, cover and let sit at least 15 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, yolks and the rest of the sugar.
Temper the hot mixture into the egg mixture by adding a cup of so of hot liquid to the bowl and whisking. Add remaining hot mixture to bowl. Whisk in Amaretto and almond extract.
Strain into a pitcher or something easy to pour out of – or strain it into anything big enough, and use a ladle to dip the mixture into the ramekins
Put ramekins into the high-sided pan. Fill ramekins with pumpkin brulee mixture. Put pan into oven. Then pour water into the pan so that it comes halfway up the outside of the ramekins. Bake until set. You will know the custards are done when you give the ramekin a gentle poke and the custard jiggles back and forth. You will know the custards are NOT done if you give the ramekin a gentle poke and the custard jiggles in concentric circles, as if a stone has been dropped in a puddle. Baking will take 30-45 minutes, but (as I always tell my students) bake until done, not until the recipe says stop. (Yes, they roll their eyes, too.)
When the custards are done baking, let them cool slightly. Then remove them from the water bath and let them cool the rest of the way. Put them in the fridge overnight to chill completely.
To brulee them, sprinkle an even 1/8 inch layer of sugar over the top and use a propane torch to melt the sugar. Add more sugar and torch again, if needed. Be careful not to hold the torch on one section of the custard too long or you will scramble it. Also – do not get any hot sugar on your hand! HOT! HOT! HOT!
Alternately, toss some sliced raw almonds with a little egg white and sugar and bake until toasty brown. Put that on top of the custard to add some delightful texture. Or put granola or streusel on top. Mmmmm. Pumpkin! *Recipe will not be gluten-free if you put granola or streusel on top!

Passionate Cooks

Are you a passionate cook? Me, too! All Romance e-books has created something especially for us – a free cookbook! It will be available for download during the month of October and will feature recipes from today’s hottest romance authors – including my Luscious Tiramisu!

Personally, I can’t wait to try the Char-grilled Oysters! Ever since my husband and I left New Orleans, we’ve reminisced about the oysters. For those of you who like it messy, there’s a recipe for Avocado Body Paint…just sayin’. For those of you in the harvest mood, there’s Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup. Actually, there’s a little bit of something for everybody in Passionate Cooks. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Morning, noon and night. Appetizers all the way through dessert. Two-hundred-fifty pages of deliciousness – all for you – all free!

WEBRING!

Don’t try to resist. Hasn’t it been scientifically proven that it’s impossible to lose weight during fall and winter anyway? Let’s eat, drink and be Passionate together! Wait, I didn’t mean that how it sounded…not that there’s anything wrong with that. Anyway…all of the Passionate Cooks authors are holding hands in a webring. If you want to learn a little bit more about us, click the icon to the left and hop from site to site. If you’d like to pre-order the Passionate Cooks e-book, click the Download Free icon. We’re looking forward to sharing our recipes with you!

Fangirl Friday: Jennifer Probst

Looks like fun, right?!

You know what I love more than almost anything else (as long as we exclude kids and the husband)?

A new book. A good book. An author who can deliver. My perfect day: a sure thing book and a delivery pizza…a chocolate cake, a massage, a nap, yoga, coffee, sex…but first there would be the book.

I am an unashamed squeeing fangirl and I wish more authors would hold still while I adore them. Jennifer Probst…hold still!!

I bought The Marriage Bargain because I heard it was making a bazillion dollars and Jennifer wrote a blog post about the experience on the Entangled blog. I thought Damn, good for her. Let’s see what she’s got. And then I spent an entire day while the kids were at school and I should have been working lolling on the giant beanbag with my Kindle. I should have ordered a pizza.

Click the pic to Pre-Order from Amazon! I’m sure B&N has it too, for all you Nook-ers!

I’m a sexual tension junkie and The Marriage Bargain delivers a marriage of convenience between two people whose fire for each other was started a long time ago. Hot. A great set-up. The banter is hilarious and the fights are super-sexy. The heroine has a great heart and the hero tries to break it, even though he’s got a great heart, too. It’s just buried under a shit-ton of childhood baggage.

Probst really gets into her character’s heads and emotions. As a writer, I admired her ability to have her hero and heroine misunderstand each others’ reactions and intentions in ways that ratchet up the tension and conflict for the reader. LOVE that, and it’s not easy to do. When I picked this book for my first Fangirl Friday post, I read it again – just to make sure it would hold up. It did! It totally did. And then I went to her website because she was clearly setting up a sequel and I discovered The Marriage Trap will be out on OCTOBER 4TH (or maybe the 2ND, according to Amazon). Yes! Score! This time I won’t forget the pizza.