I am twelve years old but look like I’m about fourteen because I’m five foot seven. I absolutely loved your books!!!!! The off season well it made me cry. I was up until 11:30 reading practically praying that Brian and D.J. got back together I was practically jumping. Then when he called her on thanksgiving day I was about to wet myself! Then they didn’t get back together I cried so hard and I was so mad I had to sleep in my parents bed and I school I was crying and I would say it was because of a book and then people would ask me what happened and I would start to cry all over again. I was so mad and then I found out there was another one coming out! I was so happy I started crying for the millionth time today!!!!! I just can’t wait till it comes out and especially because it is supposed to come out on my BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just wanted to thank u cause all day I was thinking about how things never happen the way there supposed to and that’s why I love books and movies because they just give me hopes. So thank u.

-Maddy

All my favorite recipes

other favorites . . . >>

Cuthbert en croûte >>

Pumpkin Breakfast Pudding >>

World’s Best Waffles

Adapted from The Cook’s Bible

The millet, whole wheat and cornmeal add amazing texture; trust me, once you try these you’ll never go back.

4 T butter, melted

< 2 c buttermilk

2 eggs

2 c white flour or white/whole wheat/cornmeal in combination

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1.4 c T millet (optional)

Add buttermilk to melted butter to make two cups total. Separate 2 eggs, whisking the yolks into the buttermilk and beating the egg whites to soft peaks.

Turn on the waffle iron.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flours with the baking soda, salt and millet. Stir well. With a rubber spatula, stir in the buttermilk-butter-yolk batter until barely mixed. Do not overmix! Lumps are okay. Fold in the egg whites.

Bake until medium or dark brown. Or bake to golden brown, cool on a cookie rack, and toast later.

Paella

I make traditional Spanish dish this four or five times a year on our charcoal grill – that’s me and Thanksgiving dinner in the photo top left. The dish is absolutely amazing, and surprisingly easy if you chop everything ahead of time and don’t lose your cool. Don’t even think about cooking paella on a kitchen stove. It makes a huge mess and no residential stove has a flame wide enough to heat a paellera, the traditional shallow pan in which paella is cooked and served (available at The Spanish Table.) Use hardwood charcoal if you possibly can. It burns hotter and longer, and smells better. If you’re really keen on authenticity, set the paellera on a tripod over a campfire.

This recipe serves 18, and I make it in a 50 cm paellera (which fits perfectly on our Weber), though you can also probably use a 40 cm. The recipe can easily be doubled or tripled, but increase the paellera size as well or you’ll be swimming in food!

1 tsp saffron

1 bay leaf

5 cups homemade chicken and/or fish broth, or canned diluted with water

1 tsp Spanish smoked paprika

salt

fresh ground pepper

3 pounds chicken drumsticks and thighs

1/3 cup olive oil

1 pound chorizo (if available), sliced

2 pounds sweet and/or hot Italian sausage, in 2-inch pieces

1/4 pound cured Spanish ham or prosciutto, cubed

1 large onion, chopped coarsely

2 large peppers, chopped coarsely

1/4 cup parsley, minced

4 cloves garlic, diced

2 cups arborio or other short-grain rice

1 pound shrimp, peeling optional, salted

1-2 pounds soft white fish such as tilapia, cubed

15-20 clams and/or mussels, well scrubbed

2 cups fresh or frozen peas

1 lemon cut in thin wedges

1 roasted red pepper (pimiento) cut in thin strips

light the grill with one chimney of hardwood charcoal.

Add saffron and bay leaf to the broth and warm to a simmer on the stove.

Trim the chicken of extra fat and season with paprika, salt and pepper.

When the coals are hot — the top level of coals in the chimney just tinged with gray ash —spread them evenly. Heat the paellera on the grill for a minute or two.

Add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and brown the chicken, chorizo, sausage, and ham. Remove meat from paellera with tongs and a slotted spoon; set aside.

Add more olive oil if necessary. Sauté the onions for 2-3 minutes. Add the chopped pepper, parsley and garlic and sauté until the onions are clear. Add the rice and stir until the rice is coated with oil.

Pour in the hot broth. Nestle the browned meat in the simmering broth-rice mixture. Do not stir the paella again! The crust that forms on the pan bottom is considered a delicacy. I find it best to walk away from the grill or I’m tempted to fuss.

After 10-12 minutes of simmering, tuck the shrimp and fish into the swelling rice. Push the clams and/or mussels hinge-side down deep into the rice. Timing the seafood is the most delicate step in a paella. Add it too early and the shrimp is overcooked and leathery; too late and it’s raw. Use your own judgement and preferences, and bear in mind that the paella will sit for a few minutes once removed from the heat, so the food will keep cooking.

Sprinkle the peas on top. If the broth is absorbed but the rice not quite cooked, add a cup or two more of broth or water. Garnish with lemon and pimiento slices. Cover the pan with tinfoil.

When the rice is cooked, about five more minutes, remove the paellera from the grill. Let it sit five minutes before serving. Traditionally paella is consumed at a round table, with everyone given a fork, a napkin and not much else. But you’re welcome to use plates. Serve with sangria and a spinach-orange salad. No one will eat the salad.