ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Completing an acknowledgment section is nearly as impossible as winning the Hunger Games. After all, I’ll inevitably forget to thank someone who deserves thanking. So let me begin this long note of thanks with a note of apology: If I forget to mention you, I apologize, and by the time you are reading this I’ve realized your name isn’t in this list and feel terrible. Thus, to all my friends, family, coworkers past and present—thank you.

Special thanks to agent extraordinaire Danielle Chiotti of Upstart Crow Literary for making this possible and helping me come to terms with the importance of high-quality chocolate. A hug to Andrea Hakanson, Katie Corcoran Lytle, and all the folks at Adams Media who helped put this cookbook together.

Love and thanks to my grandmother Marlene Boles for the baking genes, my mother Jenine for the unending love and encouragement, my father for the support both physical and mental, and my brother for the pats on the back.

Thanks to all my friends, near or far— I love you all dearly. Special thanks goes to Keagan Buchanan, the best best friend a girl could have, and his entire family for their love, encouragement, and for hosting the many dinner parties where I witnessed true culinary artistry. Intense gratitude to Spam Weishoff for keeping me sane and loving me no matter what, to Katie Weishoff for the great hugs and for being one of my original readers, and to my other reader, Dan, for the practical (and blunt) advice. Continued appreciation to everyone in the EEP crowd for helping me grow up while remaining young-spirited. A heartfelt hug to Vince Mateus.

Thank you Estella Soto, Kevin Biggers, Liza Kaplan, Ernie Duque, Sarah LaBrie, Joel Smith, and all the members of writing group. Without your wisdom I’d be an idiot with long sentences and poor grammar. Thank you Erin McCulloch, who has supported me no matter where I move or what I do. Erin, you will one day take over the world and I hope you’ll let me sit next to you. Thanks to Alice and Merry Kahn, for being not only fellow cat lovers but two of the original supporters of this cookbook. Love to Ollie Brooks, who is ten times the chef I will ever be, and to Mary Rotzien and Oakley Gillett for all the great recipe links and tips. Unending gratitude to Aimee Bender and Ron Carlson for the years of wisdom and advice. Thanks to Mr. Vaughn for telling me in ninth grade he’d shoot me if I became anything other than a writer.

Special appreciation goes to everyone at Sound Lounge and RadioFace, who patiently put up with my many baking mistakes and subsequent discoveries. Let us not forget Suzanne Collins. Thank you for writing The Hunger Games trilogy in the first place. Your talent for storytelling still astounds me.

Last but certainly not least, a large thank you to Nicholas Stefanovich. I love you. Thank you for making sure I woke up early to work on this. Thank you for loving me. You are the wisest—and wittiest—man I know.