Two Small Announcements and One Really Big Announcement

So I've totally fallen off the face of the earth the past few months. I figured it was worth sharing why.

First small announcement - I have not forgotten about this blog. I have not forgotten how to cook or bake (though sometimes I feel a little rusty). I do plan on getting back into the swing of things as soon as possible, but it's all related to the second small announcement.

Second small announcement - Half the reason I haven't posted or even cooked much is because most of my gadgets and kitchen paraphernalia is packed in boxes. Because we moved (!) to North Carolina (!!) in April (!!!). While I have a decent kitchen in our rental, I have about half the counter space and, as I just mentioned, a lot of my stuff isn't even unpacked.

Plus, you know, increasingly mobile baby.

The Really Big Announcement, though, is probably the main reason I haven't done much with this blog.

Ready?

*ahem*

I'm going to be a published author.

What's that you say?

I'M GOING TO BE A PUBLISHED AUTHOR!

*happy dances and squees*

Of course, that comes with a lot of prep work and editing and stuff that takes up a lot of extra time, which (increasingly mobile baby who also sometimes doesn't like to nap still) I don't have much of.

You can catch the details and updates as I get them over on my author blog, J. Lynn Rowan: Acts of Literature.

The fun part for readers of "Teacher, Baker, Gourmet Meal Maker" is that the first book in my chick lit series (yeah, you read that right) is baking related. So I'm planning to do some cross-posting of featured recipes when the time comes.

In the meantime, keep cooking and baking!

Unplanned hiatus of sorts...

I realized the other day that I've only posted once since getting home from our fantabulous vacation earlier this month. And then I felt really bad, because one of my long standing blogger goals is to post at least four recipes a month. Of course, if you look at the archives, 2013 hasn't gone much in that direction. Geez, I even missed Julia Child's birthday!

So what's the deal with my unplanned hiatus? Well, like I said, the hubs and I took a great vacation to New England, which involved the eating of lobsters and the watching of whales. And there's a place in Newport, Rhode Island, called Cold Fusion, which has the best gelato I've had on this side of the Atlantic. It's seriously up in the air whether or not the gelato I had in Italy was better because I was eating it in Italy.

Plus I'm moving to a new grade level this year. And a new building. So there's the prep for that. Plus lots of training on the new Common Core curricula for ELA and math. Busy, busy, busy.

I do have several recipes on the back burner, and though it sounds counter-intuitive, once school starts and I can get myself back into a regular routine, the tasty things will return. Promise.

In the meantime, I offer you this Buzzfeed article in which you can drool over lots of frosting being swiped, piped, drizzled, and poured over myriad confections.

Alas, poor Twinkie, I knew thee well...

The big news today is that Hostess, makers of the ubiquitous Twinkie, are liquidating their company and selling off their brands.

Including everyone's favorite cream-filled oblong cake.

Now, it's probably been at least five years since I last partook in Twinkie and Hostess Cupcake goodness.  Maybe longer. But the thought that I may soon not have access to these little bundles of yumminess (and whatever it is that keeps them fresh for, like, decades) makes me really want a Twinkie.

My guess is that some company out there will buy up the Twinkie brand, and probably a few other Hostess goodies as well.  Recall the case of Zingers - little chocolate cakes filled with cream, with a layer of fudge spread across the top.  I don't know what company originally owned Zingers, but Hostess bought them a while back.  I maintain that the original Zingers were better - probably because they were bigger.  But I therefore expect to see Twinkies remain on the shelves at stores, or at least return after a certain time period, made by another company.  

Will they be the same?  Maybe, maybe not.  

Will people buy them?

You bet your buttons!  Come on, have you met America?

Anyway, on the off chance that Twinkies do end up going the way of dinosaurs and Bonkers candy (remember Bonkers?), I think I may have to experiment with a homemade Twinkie recipe.  There's probably more than a few out there on the internet. But wouldn't that be a fun food experiment?

Versatile Blogger Award!

Hey, how's this for pretty cool?

The Parenting Patch nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award.

I'm going to pull out a word I haven't used since I was a sophomore in high school. Spiffy!  Thanks so much to the folks over at The Parenting Patch for the nod!  :)

In return for being recognized as a blog-worth-reading, I am nominating some of my favorite blogs for the same honor.

Here are the rules:

Each Nominee Should

1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award
2. Add an image of the Versatile Blogger Award
3. Thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link to their site
4. Share seven completely random facts about yourself
5. Include this set of rules
6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination

Random Facts

1. When I was a kid, I wanted to become a paleontologist.
2. My favorite way to eat cake is to flip it upside down and eat the cake first, leaving the frosting on the plate, which I scrape up later.  A little bit of "cake film" clings to the frosting and it's decidedly splendid.
3. When I submitted my first novel manuscript to a publishing house (at age 18), I received a personalized rejection letter which pointed out both my manuscript's good points as well as things to work on.
4. I am freakishly afraid of spiders.
5. Gone With The Wind is my favorite book, and I have read it upwards of 15 times.
6. Although my husband and I did sort of meet at church, we were officially matched on eHarmony.  He brought me three bars of chocolate from Switzerland on the first date, and the rest is history.
7. Corduroy gives me the heebie-jeebies.

I Nominate

1. Katie Jacobs
2. A Connecticut Mom in King Todd's Court
3. Adorkable Gal
4. Bake or Buy?
5. Peanut Butter and Jargon
6. The Food Evangelist
7. So Tasty, So Yummy
8. Diminishing Lucy
9. Dream of Cakes
10. A Bear in the Kitchen
11. Closet Cooking
12. Turbo AMANDA
13. A Guy, A Girl, Pellet Guns, & Pigtails
14. Jasquatch
    
15. not martha

Check them out and pay it forward!  :)

Still here, just covered in spackle and paint....

I realized yesterday that I haven't posted anything for almost three weeks.  I have good reasons for it.

First, the hubby went away on a business trip during the last week of January/first week of February.  So I didn't cook much of anything for myself that week.

Second, we're in the middle of our final indoor home improvement project.  It's been difficult to cook when every surface in the house is covered with spackle dust.  For the past week, we've basically been living on pizza, Chinese food, and my mother's willingness to provide a home-cooked meal.

And since we've had to sort of disassemble our desktop computer, where I store most of my pictures, it's been difficult to post anything.

Things are looking good, though, for my house to be put back into working order within a day or so.  I've got a great recipe to share for Valentine's Day, so I've got my fingers crossed that I'll be able to post it within the next day or so.