Pie in Provo

I've been having so much fun with these author interviews (oodles more to come) that I've been neglectful of the occasional "book of a thousand days comes out in less than two weeks" squeal. So, if I may...squeal! Thank you. I got my box of author copies. So fun to see them. I love the cover. The colors are luscious. I also have up a book of a thousand days section on my site now.

Usually book releases are full of trepidation as well as excitement for me, because my baby is going out into the world and I'm afraid of the imminent mud slinging that will sully the poor dear. But this book...I just love this book. I feel so happy about this book. I'm not going to let fears blacken this one's birth. Just a week from Saturday is the book release party at The King's English here in Salt Lake. There will be good times had by all--period. No karaoke, but how does a live bluegrass band sound? Oh yeah, it's gonna be good times.

We went down to Provo to have dinner with Nathan Hale (the Rapunzel artist) and family. Mindy was making dinner, so I offered to bring a dessert. Dean suggested we bring a stack of ho-ho's. I'm sure it had nothing to do with his opinion of my cooking ability.
Me: I want to make something.
Dean: I think we should just pick something up.
Me: No, I'd like to cook something.
Dean: You could still be involved in some arrangements, such as stacking the Hostess pies in an attractive pile.

I made something. It was an upside-down lemon meringue pie, so the crust was meringue. I think that meringue, both raw and cooked, is among the coolest substances on earth. I think there should be five states of matter: gas, solid, liquid, plasma, and meringue. I wonder who I should talk to about this. Despite the fact that the pie basically had only four ingredients (cream, sugar, eggs, lemons), it was a bit more intense than usual for my brand of cooking, requiring such intricacies as Zesting and Double Boilers.

How'd it turn out? I'm going to ask Nate to comment here. Nate, no pressure, just tell us what you really thought about the pie. Dean, you too. Don't be shy. Just lay it out.

(By the way, Mindy's dinner was phenomenal, about on par with how incredible Nate's art work is, but more edible. If you ever have a chance to do a book with Nate and then are invited to dinner cooked by his wife, take it.)

Comments

[The Husband]

As I've recently discovered that meringue is actually a type of plasma, you needn't worry your delicious brain over the science. If you had just called it a lemon *plasma* pie, I would have dropped all the Hostess pimping.

The pie was delicious, though. The only thing that would have made it better was a Hostess Fruit Pie (also filled with delicious plasma) chaser.

[The Husband]

I love the word "plasma!"
Plasma, plasma, plasma.
So much more accessible than that stuffy "meringue" word. Who ever knows if you're spelling it right? Having to live with that shadowy dread of a spelling error every time you make a pie? Ugh. It just isn't worth it.

[Melissa]

I found someone that let me read their ARC copy of Book of a Thousand Days. Shannon the book is awesome! I cannot wait to buy a copy of it!

At least you know that you have one fan that loved it!

[shannon hale]

He's such a liar, he hated the pie. But a sweet liar. Nate, where are you?

[shannon hale]

K, quick before it changes, go to the wikipedia entry on merigue:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meringue
(I did not do it)

[Heather]

Hahahaha! I so agree with "The Husband" verdict!
A). Plasma is one of the top twenty most awesome words to say (thanks Dean, now you've got me saying it like a madwoman)
B). A Hostess fruit pie sounds absolutely. . . intriguing (I have to lean more towards you on this one Shannon)
C). Pies should never be muddled by such dreary things as spelling. They are far too wonderful for that.

You're pie looks wonderful and I applaud your efforts at the double broiler (though zesting with any type of citrus is heavenly). I'm so excited for you and your new baby to come out. It will be a hit, I can guarantee it. And bluegrass sounds awesome.

[Felicity]

Meringue is a type of dessert plasma

^That's what it says! Heh heh heh!!!

I really enjoyed this post. I even showed it to my dearest mother (who seemed to enjoy it) as my grandfather has always was a bit obsessive about Lemon Meringue Pie. Though I don't like LMP (yes I shortened it), I'm sure that I would have liked your pie.

Hmm.... I'm learning about Plasma in science. I totally don't understand it. Something about Ions charging the electrons or something... wait I have my science book. Here goes...
"Plasma is a fourth state of matter consisting of charged particles- the nuclei, or ions, which have a positive electric charge fuse with electrons, which have a negative charge."

Whew. And there's another three paragraphs about it. I have a test on Plasma tomorrow. I will write on my test tomorrow that there is a fifth state of matter; meringue. ;)

[Felicity]

Oh... I forgot to say something about Hostess. I've never had anything by hostess... not ho hos, or twinkies... or anything. But now I might have to try one.

[australiangirl]

That pie looks so good! Maybe your next book should include the recipe for Shannon's Lemon Plasma Pie. And if anyone dares to mud-sling one of your books in my hearing.....well we won't go there. :D

[Enna Isilee]

I just let out a loud "ha."

Dean, have you been messing with Wikipedia? For shame.

Mmm. Lemon. Good stuff Maynard.

[Calliope1of9]

This blog entry is so cute; it made me smile. Wish I could eat some pie right about now. I'm supposed to be doing English homework.
Can't wait for B1000!!!
:)

[Calliope1of9]

And yeah, I think Dean has been messing with Wikipedia. But no one will notice. There's about a billion other articles to police. :)

[Dante]

Sounds delicious. I also like using a custard sleeve to squeeze the sugared egg whites into puffy dome shapes, like whipped cream or spun sugar. You can also add cocoa powder to make it chocolate if you wish, or add chocolate chips. The cocoa powder, however, does make them look like dried out turds. All the better, one might say.

Also, how can you have just zest, cream, sugar, and eggs for ingredients? It's not a pie unless it has CRUST. Using Pillsbury frozen rollup crust is CHEATING.

[Jane]

I was under the delusion that Book of a Thousand Days came out on the sixth of September, told all my reader-friends, went to the bookstore on the tenth (it was the soonest I could possibly go) and---woe!
Shocked and dismayed to see it was not at Borders! So crushed that I had to buy two books by Eva Ibbotson and a vanilla latte to comfort myself.

I may never recover.

;)

[hwalk]

Now I want that pie.

[Faith #2]

Hey, I just made a cherry pie. no, I cheated. I went, bought store made pie crust, store-bough cherry filling, tossed it together, and into the oven it went.
Anyway, your pie sounds awesome, and plasma is a very cool word, but I still prefer Plasma Lime Pie.

[Kailana]

How interesting that Book of a Thousand Days is not supposed to be out yet... *looks at shelf*. Not only is it out here, but I bought it. I was looking for another book and there it was. I feel special now...

[Q]

*gasp* I WANT ONE! Where is there, Kailana? Just a general area.

Your pie looks delicious. Make pie and serve it at your King's English party.

[Faith #2]

seriously, kailana? Did you find it on Ebay or something? If it's an ARC that wasn't supposed to happen. You're not supposed to sell ARCs.
not that that'd stop me from buying one of shannon's books, of course.

[Sarah Miller]

Squeal indeed! I want-want-want. And I've already read the arc!

[Laura]

Zesting and Double Boilers? Wow. I'm impressed. That's serious kitchen stuff. I've just been searching for a recipe for ratatouille; my kids have requested it for dinner. No, they don't even know what it is (and I'm afraid the youngest might be expecting rodent), but fortunately the recipe doesn't appear to involve anything more complicated than slicing and dicing, and most of the ingredients are growing in my garden.

Mmmmm, I bet ratatouille would go well with plasma pie...

[Marcus Aurelius]

I dunno. Nate's art is pretty darned edible. I had a whole heaping helping last time I was by, and I gotta say: Mmmm-mmm-mmm-MMMM-mmmm.

And hooray for the King's English! I shall be there, with bells on.

The jingly kind.

[Liesolotte]

I adore Lemon Meringue pie but I have to say I've always liked the lemon better than the Meringue. I'm just not an egg-white person, and it takes so darn long to whip by hand.
(Then again, I eat lemons plain. I mean by themselves. The Actual lemon.)

[Faith #2]

I do that too. I eat slices of lemon. But with sugar on them. so it doesn't count.

Nathan hale did a lot of illustrating for my favorite Magazine Cricket. It was really good art.

[Nathan Hale]

Hey Hey!

Shannon! WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!? You BULLY me into commenting on your blog and you KNOW I'm going to raft The Grand Canyon TODAY!

Do you have ANY idea how many sketches I've had to crank out in the last 48 hours? I'm trying to fake out my Art Directors and Editors (they can't know I'm leaving for a week) including our own Bloomsbury folks. They don't read this do they? DO THEY?

Here's my solution. I will draw you a fantastic COMIC about the pie. See the pie is like this gateway to a parrallel universe and we all get sucked into it, and we discover that Dean is THE CHOSEN ONE, who has to defeat the DARK LORD OF THE PIE UNIVERSE (who is made of caramel) and we all escape and it's TOTALLY AWESOME!

But I can't do it now--right now I'm burning final discs of RAPUNZEL (covers and all) I'm revising sketches for a dinosaur book for Chronicle (finals are due in 5 weeks YIKES!) and I still need to revise some cover sketches for the Bailey School Kids books "Unicorns Don't Pull Sleds" and "The Bride of Frankenstein Doesn't Bake Cookies" they said my Bride of Frankenstein looked like something from MARS ATTACKS. Gotta fix that...

And I haven't packed yet and I'm leaving in like, an hour and 19 minutes!

BULLYING! I call Bullying on YOU Shannon!

[Nathan Hale]

Oh, and the pie was delicious.

[Nathan Hale]

Oh and Faith #2 thanks for the CRICKET mention.

They were my first ever publisher. I had a lot of fun working with them over the years--I was even runner up to doing the Cricket and Ladybug cartoon that runs along the bottom of the page.

Good times.

[Nathan Hale]

What am I doing? I'VE GOT TO GO!

[elizabeth]

mmmmm...pie.
i love cooking. but when i'm baking, you baetter stay outta the the kitchen, or i'll bite your head off!
seriously, and it's just cause making a cheesecake crust is sooo frustrating!
i can't wait for book of a thousand days!!!!! eeek! i'm so excited!

[B]

Did you know that there is beef fat in hostess?
Anyway, the pie did look really good. especially after the kind of day I've had.

[Katee]

"Did you know that there is beef fat in hostess?"

Ugh, now I'll never be able to eat another Hostess again.

[Kailana]

I live in Nova Scotia (that's in Canada). I did not get it off ebay, no worries, I walked into the bookstore and I was looking for another young adult book and I happened to see Book of a Thousand Days. If it isn't supposed to be out, it is their fault, not mine. :)

[Enna Isilee]

I hope you made it Mr. Hale (Or Nathan if you prefer. As there are two Mr. Hales) And you will share that [sure to be] amazing comic with us right? And I think maybe Dean should be "DARK LORD OF THE PIE UNIVERSE." Much more fitting than "THE CHOSEN ONE."

Actually... what exactly is he "chosen" for? Defeating the DLotPU or eating him? That my change my decision.

;-)

[Kate]

Ha! Thank you, Shannon. That's hilarious. Desert plasma! I've never made a Lemon Plasma pie. Maybe I will now. Your pie looked very nice.
Urg! I thought B1000 was out already! Dag! Two more weeks? Can I take it? Well... I was going to say something witty and hilarious, but I can't think of anything. I don't think you'd understand that, because you're about the funniest person in the world. There SHOULD be a Shannon Hale Day.

[Enna Isilee]

Two more weeks? B1000 comes out in 5 days.

[Gretchen]

"If when you die you get a choice between pie heaven and regular heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick but if not mmmboy..." -Jack Handey

I may have quoted that once before on Dean's site, but it seemed appropriate here.
So stoked for B1000! I just placed my order on Amazon, along with the new KT Tunstall cd. That will be an awesome day once that package arrives!

[Anidori-Isilee]

This is quite an amusing blog post and with many amusing comments.

I never had lemon meringue pie. No wait. I had "pretend" lemon meringue pie in elementary school, only somehow I managed to spill my portion onto the floor and they wouldn't give me more. I'm still traumatized. ;)

B1000 is so amazingly awesome. My favorite book of all time. :D

[Jill Rogers (Tauna's Niece)]

WHAT?! A Bryner sister and there's no karaoke involved?! I can't believe Jessica would let you get away with that! My mom (Tauna's sister) is trying to set Jessica up with some guy named Forest from Arizona. You'll have to send my apologies to Jessica! Hope your sweet girl is feeling better and I can't wait to read the book! I loved Goose Girl!

[Susan]

This blog entry is by far the most enjoyable I've ever read, Shannon--it takes the cake...or pie. Ba-dum-ching. Okay, enough of my puns.

And, for the record, Shannon, your pie looks delicious. Why, I can tell it tastes delicious, too, just by looking at it. 'Tis a work of art! ;o)

[Q]

*cries* NOVA SCOTIA?? Why, oh WHY not near me??

My grandma used to make lemon meringue pie with fresh lemon from a tree outside her house. It was excellent, but it would have been even more excellent if she had called it lemon plasma pie.

[Ronda Hinrichsen]

Wow! A great writer AND a baker. How would it be to have sooo many talents?

[Enna Isilee]

Jill I have no idea who Tauna is but it sounds like you have connections. I know someone named Forest Green (no joke). *sigh*

Gretchen! I LOVE KT Tunstall! (When she doesn't swear that is. Which isn't too often.)

[Gretchen]

Forest Green? That's awesome. My mom knew a Rainy Beach.
I'm with you on the swearing, Enna Isilee! But it really isn't all that frequent and she sings in my range, making for the perfect driving and singing music.

[Faith #2]

Mr Hale- my favorite was the one of the two girls with the cats. Sort of ancient Pyramid style. I think I lost it, though.

And Shannon, I posted a little sentence on my blog about Lemon Plasma Pie. :)

[Mads]

Wow, that pie looks yummy.

What a fun discussion we have going on here. :o)

Let me just say Shannon, that B1000 is awesome. Just to let you know. :o)

[Bohae]

OK, first of all:
I will simply explode into a million pieces and bury myself in a cave in the Himalayas if I never get to read Book of a Thousand Days.

Number 2 on the list:
That pie looks awesome! I'm sure it tasted wonderful :) Now I want some dessert or something plasma-ish...

Number 3:
Heheh... I have a confession to make. I was watching a cooking show, and the cook was making (guess what?) lemon meringue pie. And I thought the meringue looked very appetizing. So (guess what again?) I decided to make meringue. Just meringue. My steps of making this: a) crack one (1) egg b) decide the egg white of one egg looks too little to make enough *meringue*. Add another egg c) add one more egg, just in case d) beat the egg whites e) add vanilla, lots of vanilla f) broil in the oven for a minute g) be so surprised on how much *meringue* could come of three (3) egg whites.

And it was Disgusting. My experimental cooking skills aren't that great. I need a cook book, pronto.

[Heather]

Ha! That is so wonderful! I want to try that - just for fun. It even seems worth the mess!

[maribeth_kayla]

Yum. I want pie. Haha. Oh my gosh. Only 3 more days. Of torture. Horray for allergy shots. :)

Wowza, I used waaaay to many periods. Oh well.

[Q]

Oh, wow, it really IS only three days! *squee*

[Calliope1of9]

I love how Nathan Hale commented not just once, but four times. And his comments were awesome. Got your wish, Shannon.

I'm so excited for B1000! Just three more days!