
The table is set with all the books that inspired the menu for the luncheon.
THE 3rd ANNUAL NOVEL CUISINE LUNCHEON ’13
All the recipes were inspired by a book. Just One Day, by Gayle Forman, Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller (2 recipes), What the Moon Said by Gayle Rosengren, The Book of Broken Hearts by Sarah Ockler, Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg, The Distance Between Us by Kasie West, Reclaimed by Sarah Guillory, Wait for You, Trust in Me by Jennifer Armentrout, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black.

Heidi prepping for the party.
The awesome Heidi from YA Bibliophile came over on Saturday. After we spent several hours in the living room reading, we headed out to see THE HOBBIT II, and then we spent the rest of the night and into the early morning laughing and cooking and talking. We discovered that we’re cooking soul mates and dubbed “Modified Marthas.” Many of the things we made, were a first for us. Empanadas, Bubble Tea, Pastitsio, Galaktoboureko. All the recipes except for two were found on the Internet. The exceptions were Elizabeth Eulberg’s mom’s Cheese Ball from BETTER OFF FRIENDS – YUMMMMMMMM!!!!! and chocolate walnut cookies from WAIT FOR YOU and TRUST IN ME by Jennifer Armentrout. That’s a recipe I ended up creating based on several different recipes that I found on the net. Since Cam said that these cookies were better than sex, Heidi and I brainstormed names and came up with Cam’s Better Than Sex Chocolate Walnut Cookies.

HUGE THANKS TO:
Wisconsin born and raised author Elizabeth Eulberg: Twitter, Blog, Goodreads for supporting this event. Her publisher, Scholastic, provided ARCs of latest YA novel BETTER OFF FRIENDS. Her Wisconsin event for BETTER OFF FRIENDS will be held at Boswell Books on February 25th!

Wisconsin author Gayle Rosengren: Twitter, Blog, Goodreads for attending the event. Her publisher G. P. Putnam’s Sons provided ARCs of her MG novel, WHAT THE MOON SAID!
One lucky winner will receive an ARC of each of these novels.
(See Rafflecopter below.)
RECIPES:
Elizabeth Eulberg’s mom’s Cheese Ball recipe as found in BETTER OFF FRIENDS

Cheese Ball


Cam’s Better Than Sex Chocolate Walnut Cookies, inspired from WAIT FOR YOU by Jennifer Armentrout
Cam’s Better Than Sex Chocolate Walnut Cookies inspired from Wait for You by Jennifer Armentrout:
I adapted one recipe to create this one:
5 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate – I used Scharffen Berger Brand
1/2 stick butter
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup 100% cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup chocolate chips
30 whole walnuts, lightly toasted in the oven at 300 degrees – approximately 5 minutes.
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Melt the chocolate and butter in a microwave safe container at 1/2 power. Stir until smooth. Mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Beat together eggs and sugar, then add melted chocolate/butter mix and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients. Add chocolate chips, stir in with a spoon. Put the dough in the refrigerator for an hour. It will firm up! Take a tablespoon of dough and flatten in a circle in the palm of your hand. Add toasted whole walnut and fold over chocolate dough. Roll into a ball, completely covering the whole walnut. Cover the entire ball in powdered sugar. Place dough on greased cookie pan. Bake cookies at 350 for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes gently use a fork to flatten the dough to a 1/2 inch thick. Bake for another 2 minutes, then cool cookies on a cooling rack.

Bubble Tea
Bubble Tea inspired by THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN by
Holly Black: Here’s the recipe we used: Drinks Mixer
Potato Pancakes with Raspberry Jam (use any quality brand) inspired by WHAT THE MOON SAID by Gayle Rosengren
4 cups shredded potatoes

Fondue, cornbread, crepes, and potato pancakes
2 eggs
1/8 cup flour
1 diced small onion (I didn’t use it for this meal, but I do recommend including it for flavor)
Mix all ingredients together. Spray a cookie pan with vegetable oil. Spoon out a 1/4 cup of potato mixture. Flatten to about 1/4 inch thick. Bake at 425 degrees until the top is brown – about 10 minutes. Flip over with a spatula and brown the other side.
Crepes au Citron inspired by JUST ONE DAY by Gayle Forman
Recipe used: Martha Stewart
Vegetarian Empanadas inspired by THE BOOK OF BROKEN HEARTS by Sarah Ockler
Recipe adapted from Vegetarian Empanadas
Vegetarian Pastitsio inspired by WHERE THE STARS STILL
SHINE by Trish Doller

Pastitsio
Recipe used: Food.com
Creamy Custard Pie (Galaktompoureko) inspired by WHERE THE STARS STILL SHINE by Trish Doller
Recipe used: Greek Recipes.TV
Hot chocolate inspired by THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US by Kasie West – I used Omanhene Brand

Cornbread inspired by RECLAIMED by Sarah Guillory
Cheese Fondue as found in Ann Mah’s MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH EATING: Check out Ann Mah’s Blog. Here’s the recipe straight from Ann’s book:


Giving Back:
One of the suggestions that Heidi had was for us to collect books and donate them to a school in need. I found about Hmong American Peace Academy, a school in Milwaukee desperate for books and in the middle of a library campaign. The school services over 1200 students in K-4 through 12th grade. Over seventy-five books are already in the hands of students.
More photos:
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Lining up for the buffet.
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Our table!
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Leftover Galaktompoureko from WHERE THE STARS STILL SHINE
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Cornbread from RECLAIMED
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Crepes from JUST ONE DAY by Gayle Forman
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Some of the books donated to the Hmong American Peace Academy
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Gayle Rosengren and Amanda Coppedge Bosky
Book Talk:
We utilized
Jamie from Perpetual Page Turner’s end-of-the-year survey:
Click here: Jamie’s 2013 End of Year Book Survey
Q: Best book you read in 2013:
Daughter of Smoke & Bone, In Darkness, The One and Only Ivan, The Testing, The Burning Sky, Sea of Tranquility, Reclaimed, Second Chance Summer, Crown of Midnight, This Song Will Save Your Life, Defy, Things I Can’t Forget, If I Find Me, Tell The Wolves I’m Home, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, Where the Stars Still Shine, The Winner’s Curse, Covet, Hopeless, Goodbye Rebel Blue, This Journal Belongs to Ratchet, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Q: Most surprising (in a good way) book of 2013:
Etiquette & Espionnage, Easy, Dear Cassie, Strands of Bronze and Gold, Six Months Later, Reclaimed, The Absolute True Diary of a Part-time Indian, Tangled, Alice in Zombieland, Uninvited, Unearthly, Stir Me Up, Ruby Red, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Q: Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2013:
Code Name Verity, The Book Thief, Allegiant, Champion, If He Had Been With Me, Second Chance Summer, This Song Will Save Your Life, Things I Can’t Forget, Sea of Tranquility, The Fault in Our Stars, Me Before You, If I Stay
Q: Books you are most anticipating in 2014, non-debut:
The Worlds We Make, No Surrender Soldier, Dreams of Gods and Monsters, Landline, Ruin & Rising, Panic, Isla and the Happily Ever After, On the Fence, Ignite Me, Split Second, Into the Still Blue, Dissonance
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