The Sarah Addison Allen Challenge

True confession.  I have a girl-crush on Sarah Addison Allen.  She writes about the most magical places and she writes them so well that I feel I’ve been transported to her worlds.  They’re great places to be-lush gardens which have a mind of their own; quaint ski towns rich in history; small villages where the scent of a freshly baked Hummingbird Cake can work its own magic and make you believe in love again.

And talk about  Julia’s Hummingbird Cake (Girl Who Chased the Moon)-Sarah Addison Allen makes food magical too.  Claire (Garden Spells) makes Rose Petal Scones (roses to encourage love) and Dandelion Quiche (dandelion to ensure faithfulness).  Chloe (The Sugar Queen) makes a grilled tomato and three cheese sandwich to die for-one that fills you body and soul.  And Rachel (The Peach Keeper) makes coffee snacks, not just coffee cake, but mouthwatering treats made from coffee and love.

Have I made you hungry?  Good!  Because this challenge involves two of my favorite things: books and good food.  I challenge you to read any one of Sarah Addison Allen’s four books (all pictured here) and then make a recipe inspired by the story.  Trust me you’ll have no trouble finding inspiration.  Sarah Addison Allen doesn’t kid around when it comes to the kind of food that fills your heart as well as your stomach.  You may use your own recipe OR hie yourself at once to Ms. Allen’s website and make one (or more!) of the many recipes she has graciously provided.

Once you have both read the book and made your culinary creation, write a post detailing your experience.  Pictures are most welcome as are mouth-watering descriptions of your heart-and-soul-food!  Then come back here and link us to your post on the SAA challenge review page so we can vicariously partake! The challenge starts on March 21, 2012 and ends on June 20, 2012.

Now my quirky girls know me.  I am known as Izzybella, aka, She-Who-Does-Not-Cook.  But I’m gonna.  Oh yes, I will.  Because part of Sarah Addison Allen’s magic is making me believe that magic lives in me too.  And if that magic is real, then it seems a disservice not to at least try.

I hope you will all join me.  If you love a book that makes you feel lighter after you’ve read it, you won’t be sorry.  I’ll leave you with a paragraph from an essay Ms. Allen has on her website:

Remember that pale yellow book you read when you were sixteen?  It changed your world, that book.  It changed your dreams.  You carried it around until it was old and thin and sparkles no longer rose from the pages and filled the air when you opened it, like it did when it was new.  You should know that it still thinks of you.  It would like to get together sometime, maybe over coffee next month, so you can see how much you’ve both changed.      

See, someone who understands book-love like that?  That is a person I can love.  And even cook for…

To enter the challenge, leave a comment below.

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