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Last month, Quirk Books held a Contest for Bookstore Cats. Bookstore felines of the world were invited to compete for the chance to jumpstart their Internet celebrity campaign.

Competitor Cats were asked to command someone with opposable thumbs to take a picture of them “reading” the Quirk title, How to Make Your Cat an Internet Celebrity by Patricia Carlin.

After much delipurration, a winner was chosen: Amelia of The Spiral Bookcase!

Dustin Fentermacher, the photographer of the book, also provided a couple quirky tips to help Amelia to seize her true celebrity potential: "Amelia's on the right path: cats plus books equal money. If she could do a series with this cat sitting on top of pages of books that make her look a part of the scene, that would would quickly skyrocket into the internet meme hall of fame."

Amelia's photo was also featured in today's Shelf Awareness. Thanks, you guys! 

Hey there, kids (and kids-masquerading-as-adults)! Have you ever pretended to be a spy? Don’t lie, of course you have. For one thing, spies have gadgets, and gadgets make you cool. I bet you didn’t know you could make your own secret agent devices at home, though!

In the Nick and Tesla series, “Science Bob” Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith combine creative inventions with thrilling adventure stories. The third book in the series, Nick and Tesla’s Secret Agent Gadget Battle, just released on May 6. And now you can try out your own snooping skills by making your own Fingerprint-Finder System! Read on to learn how, and to enter a giveaway to win the first three books!

(By the way, you can visit NickandTesla.com to learn more about the books, watch Science Bob in action, and submit your own gadget-making projects.)

Now that it’s summer, I can indulge in my favorite pastime: eating outside! Fire up the grill and get cooking while the sunshine lasts.

By far the simplest outdoor food is the humble hot dog. Just throw it on the grill and wait, right? But little did you know, this classic American favorite can easily become fine cuisine. Haute Dogs takes the traditional cookout to new foodie heights with recipes for dogs, buns, and condiments.

To get started on your summer pursuit for the perfect hot dog, try this recipe from Haute Dogs!

Texas BBQ Dog

Place of Origin: Southern United States  

Other Names: BBQ Dog, Loaded Dog

Consider yourself warned: this hot dog takes all day to make (though technically it is not the dog but the pulled pork topping that is so time consuming). But since you can make it all on the grill, this recipe is the perfect excuse to spend a long summer day outside. As for the precise pedigree of this loaded BBQ dog—who knows? But find me a hole-in-the-wall BBQ joint in the South that doesn’t serve something like this and I’d be surprised. For the style of barbecue, I took a cue from my home state, where the focus is always on the meat and never on the sauce or sides.

Pulled Pork

Texas BBQ Sauce

Baked beans

Classic bun

American beef sausage

Prep: Make pulled pork and Texas barbecue sauce, if using homemade. Make baked beans according to the package instructions and keep warm.

Assembly: Get out a classic bun. Grill an American beef sausage and toast the bun on the grill. Place the sausage in the bun and top with a heaping pile of pulled pork and a pile of baked beans. Serve with barbecue sauce.

Kitchen Notes: Pulled pork takes the better part of a day to cook, so plan ahead. Texas-style barbecue sauce is available at most grocery stores. American beef sausage, sometimes called farmer’s beef sausage, is heavily seasoned and often has a pungent garlic flavor that pairs well with pulled pork and barbecue sauce.

Mind Your Bs and Qs

Texas barbecue is all about the meat. Though Texans love beef, we’re not opposed to throwing in some pork, lamb, and chicken. Unless you’re serving up hot dogs, the sauce is always served on the side, not on the meat.

From Haute Dogs by Russell van Kraayenburg. For more information, check out quirkbooks.com/hautedogs. 

Via Inn at the Crossroads

Game of Thrones is baaaaaack! Season 4 premiered on Sunday and we’re all atwitter. Winter is coming, guys.

If you’ve read the books, you already know that some crazy stuff is gonna go down this season. Gather your friends (you’ll need emotional support handy in case your favorite character dies), scrounge up some edibles, and make a party of it! Because the only things better than watching GoT is eating while watching GoT.

When it comes to making Game of Thrones-inspired treats, the snack dragon has three heads. Choose your preferred approach to being a Westeros chef.

Let’s keep National Crafts Month going strong by making something pretty to combat this wretched winter weather. So obviously, I’m going to give you all something from Pom-Poms, because it contains ALL THE PRETTY THINGS.

The hardest part about being a girl in the depths of winter is you can’t wear any cute outfits because LAYERS. But even when you’re swathed in three sweaters, you can dress it up with a cute pair of pommy earrings. Enter Sara Goldschadt and the cute projects from Pom-Poms: 25 Awesomely Fluffy Projects. Get crafting!

National Craft Month continues with a truly intense craft: The Creepy Monkey from Creepy Cute Crochet: Zombies, Ninjas, Robots, and More! This is not a craft for beginners—it’s as tough and unforgiving as March. But if you’re a crafter, you’re not afraid of a challenge! And besides, this monkey is so darned cute I’ll leap at any opportunity to share it.

The world needs more of these sweet little monkeys. Make them!