Awww... Yeah -- You Know What Time it is....

Time to get-it-on with the Absolutely Shameless Self Promotion Post! At the risk of being a total hubris-riddled doucher, here's some friendly, pretty-please-with-sugar-on-top suggestions over some reading material to consider for the summer. And hey, one of these is a charity cookbook, so consider it your good deed of the month if you decide to purchase it! Let the Wasabi Prime Me-Show.... commence!

I fell in-to a burning ring of fire... and it was delicious - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Cocktails are good. Cocktails in a giant bowl-sized glass set on fire is exponentially good. My latest assignment for 425 Magazine's summer July/August issue was to track down some favorite summery cocktails, and I had to include Chantanee's menu of Tiki drink options. Bar manager, Evan Martin, was kind enough to set up a great cocktailian pastoral en fuego, to show off a classic Mai Tai and one of his own signature, award-winning creations, the Death in the Pacific, with the Brock Samson super-sized Tiki drinks served in giant punchbowls which are also available to order. Quite honestly, this is one of the only places I'll go to get a tropical frosty beverage; most places make their drinks with sugary syrups and fake fruit flavored liquors, but Chantanee literally takes the South Pacific and squeezes it into a glass. They're not the only place I list as having some really outstanding, refreshing cocktails, there's plenty more, but I won't spoil it; you're just gonna have to pick up the magazine to see what else made the cut. I think you'll find something that will wet yer whistle during the on-again/off-again days of sun we're getting in this funky Pacific Northwest summer.

Have your boozecake and eat it, too! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

What's more American than apple pie? Well, bourbon, of course. The latest issue of Drink Me magazine is out, aptly celebrating Americana. Just because we already celebrated Independence Day and nary a fighter-piloting Will Smith trying to get jiggy with aliens can be seen in sight, we can still have our apple corn cake with a whiskey caramel sauce and eat it, too. This was probably one of my favorite recipes I've developed for Drink Me so far, but probably one of the most re-worked ones. I originally started this as a skillet cake, sort of a cornmeal-based apple tartine. It was all right, but the cornmeal definitely adds weight to a baked good and I wanted it lighter, more spongey. I changed up the dry ingredients, added more wheat flour and leavening ingredients, and made mini-cakes, with an apple caramel-whiskey sauce on top. They're similar to a tartine in that the fruit and sauce topping are on the bottom of the baking container, the batter poured over, and once it's baked, you invert it so the good stuff is now the topping. Give it a whirl and pick up the latest issue or go online to see a digital copy.

This is as naked as it gets for Wasabi - check out my ample monitors! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I've of course been a promotion-storm over the newest blogger-contributed, independent-published cookbook, The Nudie Foodies, originally conceived by Seattle's own fabulous Salty Seattle. While I'm not in the book, I did have a hand in helping to bring the book to life as the designer of the book's overall look and layout. Proceeds from the book goes to AmeriCares, a charity providing humanitarian aid to those who needed it, most notably Japan, after the terrible disaster in March of this year. I realize the world is full of misfortune and bad things, and there's no shortage of need, which is exactly why even months after tragedy, the need for help is that much greater. While the news crews have moved on to other pressing issues, the people who are left in the aftermath of destruction still require aid. In the wake of sadness, The Nudie Foodies cookbook is the bright, shining, nude backside of a rainbow offering help with a cheeky smile. Tons of recipes, tons of artfully-covered famous bloggers -- what more could you ask for? And just think, for the culinary person in your life who has everything, why not give them a nude cookbook? It really is the gift that keeps on giving, so get yourself a copy or twelve on Blurb, the publisher of Nudie Foodies.

So, once again, many Wasabi Thanks for your gracious patience over yet another annoying edition of Why I'm so Freakin' Awesome. I of course don't really think I'm So Freakin' Awesome. Just grateful to be able to say I'm keeping busy and as Elvis Presley says: TKOB (Taking Care of Business).