The Cornbread Dilemma

which is not a culinary mystery but totally should be.

Instead the dilemma is this: Lou Jane Temple's The Cornbread Killer has the most perfect recipe for cornbread I've ever come across, even substituting plain old milk for the buttermilk. And yet the book itself? Four attempts and I've never yet gotten past chapter two. I should probably give it another shot, though, if I'm going to make this recipe YET AGAIN.

Pumpkin creme brulee and the romantic heroine:

via author Penny Watson's blog:

Lucy was somewhat mortified that her hands shook each time she waited on him. When she leaned over the table to serve him her pumpkin crème brulée, his delicious scent hit her like a steam engine...smoky rum and dark spices. Rough callused hands gripped the shaking dish, and saved her the embarrassment of dropping the dessert in his lap. Horrified by her clumsiness, and totally unnerved by her reaction to him, she fled. But not before she noticed him peeking down her blouse. The look of hunger in his eyes had nothing to do with her crème brulée.

--Penny Watson, Sweet Inspiration

Very very tempting... (also, blog post contains the recipe for pumpkin creme brulee and now I am stuck at work thinking yummy thoughts and having to be content with a Clif Bar wah)