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I invented a new recipe! Sort of.

When I was growing up, my mom and I would design dresses together, then we would go to the fabric store and find patterns that matched our vision. Frequently, we would end up with 3 patterns, and would piece those together to fit my dream dress. Lately, I’ve started doing that with my cooking.

I started twice baked potatoes today, then realized I wanted something else. Like…shepherd’s pie. But I wanted twice baked potatoes, too. Then it hit me. I could make both! Twice baked potato shepherd’s pie. And you know what? It is delicious! Here’s how you do it.

• 4 large baking potatoes
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pounds ground beef
• 1/2 cup sliced carrots
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup beef stock or broth
• 2 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire, eyeball it
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Bake potatoes in preheated oven for 1 hour.
3. When potatoes are done allow them to cool for 10 minutes.
4. While your potatoes are cooling, add oil to hot pan with beef. Season meat with salt and pepper. Brown and crumble meat for 3 or 4 minutes. Add chopped carrot and onion to the meat. Cook veggies with meat 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
5. While your meat is cooking, slice potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop the flesh into a large bowl; save skins. To the potato flesh add milk, butter, salt, pepper. Smash until well blended and creamy. (To save your skins, use a knife to cut around the flesh of the potato. That will help you scoop it out. Leave a strip of flesh inside the skin, so the skin holds together.)
6. In a second small skillet over medium heat cook butter and flour together 2 minutes–stir constantly so that it doesn’t stick. Whisk in broth and Worcestershire sauce. Thicken gravy 1 minute. Add gravy to meat and vegetables and cook for a minute.
7. Prep your skins in a casserole dish, then spoon the meat and gravy mixture into the potato skins, filling them to level–don’t overfill. Top each one with the desired amount/height of mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with paprika, then broil until the potatoes are browned.
8. Serve hot!

Personal smells are very personal, non? I am one of those people who is fastidious about not having an odor at all. I rarely wear perfume, having grown up around people who are extremely sensitive to (and sometimes also extremely obnoxious about) smells, and one of my worst fears is that I will be somewhere, get a whiff of onion, and realize it is me. Since I dealt with foot-stank growing up (Karen can tell you all about how my feet smelled like Fritos) I am hyper-sensitive to being as olfactorily inoffensive as possible.

Spring is here, and that means the Texas summer will be upon us in about 3 hours, so I am listing below some of my tips and tricks for staying stink-free in the hot weather.

1. You have to bathe regularly. That’s a given, yes? I love the Dr. Bronner’s liquid soaps, especially the Peppermint. Thor loves this soap, too. You put some on a bath-pouf and lather up, and your skin gets all kinds of wonderful tingly and fresh feeling. I also really like the eucalyptas and tea tree flavors, but they have softer scents like citrus, lavendar, and rose, too.

One of the major pluses to a tingly soap like this is that you can tell exactly what’s been washed and what hasn’t. So, if you’ve missed a spot, a nook, or a cranny, you’ll know it. And there is always my personal bath motto of: Lift it, shift it, scrub it. It’s the only way to be sure you aren’t funky.

2. Pre-emptive deodorizing. I like to use unscented, or very lightly scented anti-perspirants. I prefer a stick solid. I know that some people feel like these are silent killers, but I would argue that Stank is also a silent killer.

Deodorant crystals do not work. The only people who think these work are the people who use them, and the only people who agree with those people, are also using them.

If I’m wearing a skirt or shorts, since nothing on my body is concave, I usually stripe a couple of swipes of deodorant onto my inner thighs. This keeps my legs from getting slick and sweaty, reduces the chance of getting heat rash, and also adds some stank protection. When Thor was a baby, I would use the Aquaphor Healing Ointment I put on his bottom to prevent diaper rash. That stuff was fantastic! But since I am never in the baby aisle anymore, and since my Dove Ultimate Go Fresh Cool Essentials does the trick, I just use that.

I also like powder. Powder is my friend! My favorite is Gold Bond Cornstarch and Baby Powder. I sploof some of that under my arms after I put on deodorant, and whuff a generous amount of it into my undergarments. Keeps things nice and comfortable, and reduces the chance of getting whiffy during the day.

3. Protect & clean your garments. If you’re a sweat-er, then you know for pit stains. And pit stains can mean stank. When I’ve worked under kleig lights, I’ve put panty liners in the pits of my garments to keep them dry. These also wick away moisture from your pits. If you get the deodorizing kind, they offer another layer of stank protection–although, I think those fragrances stink worse than funk when they are warmed up.

And, especially in the summertime, if an article of clothing has been rubbing against your pit, foot, or crotchal regions for more than 12 hours, it’s time to wash it.

I think the best advice is this: If you think it might stink, wash it, dry it, and powder it. And carry baby wipes.

I am pretty sure I’ve posted before that the experience and process of being published has taught me to never mock another author’s work. There is a world of difference between saying, “This isn’t my thing,” and “This is stupid.”

Since this has come up in all three interviews we have done so far, and since the genre of our book makes it likely that it will come up again, I want to be sure I have said this in a public forum: I have never read any of the Twilight series or seen any of the movies, so I can’t offer an educated opinion on them at all. What I can tell you is that I would never [again] knock the author’s hard work. As Elspeth has so sagely put it, it is very difficult to complete one book (boy howdy!), let alone to complete four. And to write four books that have captured YA and Adult adiences alike is quite a feat.

I don’t plan to read the series or see the movies because Laurell K. Hamilton ruined vampires for me after Narcissus in Chains (p.s., I LOVE the first 4 Anita Blake novels. They are original and witty, and make for awesome Girl Powered Mickey Spillane reads.) but that doesn’t take anything away from Stephanie Meyer’s accomplishments.

My personal preference is a more Dracula based vampire, but that’s just because I like when they sizzle in the sunlight. I’ll bet they smell like bacon. Mmm. Bacon.

So, to recap: Lane has not read Twilight, but respects the work Stephanie Meyer did and how it captured the minds and hearts of millions. Lane should be so lucky.

In other news, our book is finally available for purchase. Pre-orders should be filled shortly. It will take a few days for the book to pop up on the retail sites outside of our publisher’s store , but it will be there. Keep checking.

If you’re an eBook reader, The Order of the Blood will be available to you in another matter of days.

We’re very excited and proud to bring you what we think is an original, interesting story of romance, intrigue, and double crossing. Our narrative just happens to have fangs, so the story can sink its teeth into you.

We had a great time on the Francy & Friends blogtalk radio show tonight. If you’d like to hear us talking about our methods and madness, click the link below. We come in around the 14 minute mark.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf

June and her friend Jennifer have launched Note Worthy, their blog through June Bijou jewelry. It’s brand spanking new, but I happen to know some of the things they have in store for their readers, so I wanted to pass the information along to you. This is one blog you will want to bookmark, subscribe to, put on your RSS feeds, and read every day.

So excited for this! And also very excited for June to speak at the April 16, Women Worth Knowing event!