Greetings, dear meows!

I know this is a major shift from my usual food posts, but still cooking related… In a very unique way. My daughter Nia is on the autism spectrum and as any family with neurodivergent members will tell you, life is lived in a very unconventional manor. I’m far from normal anyways, and embrace that part of myself as fully as I do with my child. She’s taught me so much about a great many things, and she’s one of the most extraordinary humans I know. And I’m proud to be her mother and the chosen teacher, protecter, and guide she needs.

I started writing a series of books about her when she was 5. Inspired by her foray into eating different foods and how she always managed to make it work for her by turning every single ingredient on her little plate into a character. Autistic children take food to the enth degree. Smells, textures, taste and looks all play a part in how and what they eat. And food is very much a part of how my daughter self regulates emotions.

Nia would always lead with a spooky element to the way she ate. (Still does… 😛) Jelly blob monsters, spaghetti snakes… I thought it was a trip to watch and became something that compelled me to write stories about it. From an autistic child’s point of view.

Then of course, life happens and things change. I was in a creative funk for a while, but something kept telling me to re-visit the books. After much contemplation I realized that yes, I was definitely on to something, but so much had changed about our life. We were in a different place in every way and both of us had grown and evolved so much from when I began writing about us.

Towards the tail end of 2023 I decided to start over. I had to ask myself why I was writing this. What did I want to say. And how I could incorporate everything about us, including my lifetime of culinary experience and my own belief in magick in a way that was geared towards children her age and the young at heart. While absolutely celebrating Nia’s autism as a superpower that is uniquely her own, and the way we live our life together.

Told through magick, the macabre, cooking, and whimsy, The Creepy Culinary Adventures of Nia Luna is a story about an 11 year old autistic girl with a keen eye for detail—and a mind that works a little differently—She discovers a haunted cookbook hidden in the depths of an abandoned haunted restaurant deep in the woods of Phantom Pines where she lives with her mother, Chef Nikki Meow… A culinary sorceress who’s teaching her daughter how to capture and use her own magick.

The cookbook whispers recipes that feel alive, and soon Nia finds herself facing forgotten ingredients that bite back, ghostly kitchen spirits, and a sinister Chef with a hunger for power. But Nia’s way of seeing the world—the same things that make her feel different—might just be the key to unlocking secrets and saving everyone from becoming tomorrow’s leftovers.

Here are two of the teaser videos I made to promote the book. I’m excited to be close to taking this thing out of the oven… it’s almost ready! I appreciate all of your support while I take this chance at something I’ve never attempted before. At least not like this. I can’t wait for you meows to read it, but for now… A taste.

The book will be available worldwide on Amazon and any place else I can put it, so keep your eyes peeled! Thank you meows so much from the bottom of my black little heart. Until we eat again… Bone appetite. 💀

Cheers, hugs, and meows!

Xo~Nikki ✨🖤😻🔮