Get Sauced!

This story was originally titled "Prego"—but so many people thought the story was about pregnant women that I gave the piece a new title. I originally wrote "Prego" for a collection called Tasting Him, and I learned from the very first spoonful that readers either loved or hated this one. I know authors aren’t supposed to admit something like that. We’re all supposed to pretend that every reader adores each word we put to paper. But Prego tends to strike a nerve.

Or perhaps a taste bud.

This review delighted me the most:

Okay, so I get the food part of the story, here’s where I get hung up: these people live in San Francisco. Presumably pretty close to North Beach. Why in the world are they using jarred pasta sauce for a dinner party?

Um, without the jarred sauce, there is no story. That's my cheap answer. My expensive answer is that I don't actually know how to make sauce from scratch, so the thought never entered my mind that serving jarred sauce at a dinner party would be in bad taste. I actually like sauce from a jar. (I can hear people uninviting themselves to my next culinary event.)

When I posted the above review on my blog, one reader urged me to learn how to make sauce from scratch. “Please learn before you die,” she said. “It’s fun.”

This gave me the idea to include actual recipes in my food-related short stories. (And I coined the phrase "a Recipe Romance.") Over the years, I’ve written a slew of erotica that relates to food, which is odd because I’m one of the worst chefs around. Luckily, I know one of the best chefs! Chef Saffron has graciously agreed to provide me (and you) with original recipes to enhance my foodie sex stories. Every meal she’s ever cooked for me has been beyond restaurant quality. She is to food what I am to smut.

The PDF is available now at All Romance. Kindle to come. Look for more Recipe Romances shortly.

XXX,
Alison