posted by admin on Oct 2
Hey, all. Well, I had the drawing for a copy of my cookbook this evening. I had an impartial party draw a name from a hat (actually, it was a Corona bar tray that my brother brought back for me from Mexico 
). Anyway, I’m happy to announce that the winner is… SANDRA. Congratulations, Sandra. I hope you enjoy the book and will keep me posted on how the recipes turn out for you.
posted by admin on Sep 25
Hi, all. To celebrate the impending re-issue of What, No Meat? Traditional Italian Cooking the Vegetarian Way, I’m giving away a free copy. This is the original edition published at Booklocker, usually going for $22-24. Here’s the description:
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posted by admin on Sep 11
Hi, gang. Still working on getting that KHEN interview audio track up here. DJ Andi downloaded it to a CD for me, but when you take something off a CD, it’s a “cda” file, which nothing but a CD or DVD player can read. (I’m so not up on this audio technology stuff.) I can upload the file to the WordPress server, but it won’t recognize the file and I can’t seem to convert the file to something else. If anyone out there knows how I can get around this, I’d appreciate a suggestion from you.
posted by admin on Sep 4
Hey, gang. Looks like my cookbook, What, No Meat? Traditional Italian Cooking the Vegetarian Way, is being pushed to November. So, I have a couple of more months of sweating before it’s released. But I will definitely make an announcement. And for for those of you who have been trying to access my archived blogs, it seems there were some code shenanigans going on in the links. I apologize and it’s been fixed, so go ahead and gorge on my archived stuff—I know you’re just dying to!
posted by admin on Jun 12
Hi, gang. A lot going on for me right now so I’m spending some time catching up on stuff. The biggest news is this: My cookbook has been been picked up by a traditional publisher!! For those of you who don’t know the back story
, I self-published my cookbook early last year because every agent and publisher I hit up told me the same thing, which is that they really liked the book, I’m a good writer, the recipes sound delicious, yadda, yadda, yadda, BUT…I didn’t have a “platform.” So, everyone passed on it.
posted by admin on May 22
Hi, everyone. For those of you who listened in on my interview at KHEN, thanks so much. Because it was at an awkward time (5 to 7 Eastern), I think most people I know were not able to listen in. But I was expecting that, and that’s okay.
W
hat really sucked is that there were problems with the broadcast. It seems that someone (or some people) went up to the town’s tower and cut the cables. When I walked into the studio with my interviewer, DJ Andi, the station was off the air. It had been going on and off over the course of a couple of days while they were fixing the problem. So Andi kept announcing, “If you hear ‘ssssshhhhhh’, don’t panic, it’s temporary.” But on top of that, when we were on, the stream was really staticky and fuzzy. My friend Angela alerted me to this, so Andi knew to reboot the station’s server.
The broadcast was fine after that, but by this time, the first part of my interview was over. And I suspect that once people heard that the station was off the air and/or was staticky when it was on the air, they probably shut it off.
Ultimately, I don’t think too many people heard the show. Which sucks because I was hoping to get some decent promo from this. We were giving away a copy of my book to the first caller and no one was calling in. It struck me as odd because free stuff is free stuff, even if it is a crappy cookbook , and people will always make a call for something free. I was really getting bummed out that no one was calling in, but then I realized that the broadcast problems were probably to blame. Oh, well. Just my luck.
Finally, someone named Dominic called in for the book. So, Dominic, if you’re reading this, thanks for calling in and I hope you’re enjoying the book. And feel free to let me know how the recipes come out, if you make any.
Despite the technical difficulties, it was a fun interview. I was nervous and timid at first, but by the second part of the interview, I was getting into it. I really was worried that I’d say something stupid and make an ass out of myself, but I think I did pretty well. 
Andi helped keep me on track, too. There was one moment when she was adjusting my levels (because I were speaking so softly) and I had finished answering her question, and there was a few seconds of silence, which even I know is bad. I almost started to panic then, but Andi jumped back in with another question and I breathed a big sigh of relief.
On the plus side, Andi taped the interview and we’re going to do a podcast, which I’ll link on my blog. She also may run the interview again on a future show. I’ve had numerous people ask me if they could listen to the interview on KHEN’s archives. They don’t currently have that capability (although, I understand they are working on it), so I will post the podcast as soon as I get that together and will keep you updated on when the interview might run again on the live KHEN stream.
Thanks for coming back this week. I’ll leave you with a recipe from my book. Even though it’s almost Memorial Day, everyone around the U.S. has been suffering with lingering winter. It doesn’t seem to want to let go this year and is hanging on with sharp claws. So, for those of you who have been enduring rain, cold, and even (gasp!) snow, here’s a recipe for Zucchini-Corn Soup with Tubettini. Enjoy, warm up, and have a great Memorial Day weekend! 
[Radio tower photo:http://www.negrophonic.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/radio-tower-full.jpg]
posted by admin on Apr 10
The other day, I went into my local Chinese market. I love going in there because I can always find some new/unusual/hard-to-get product that I can try. Anyway, in the produce section there were these big containers of kumquats. I’d passed them up last week because I was in there for only a few specific items and my funds were limited. But when I saw them again, they just looked so beautiful and enticing, I couldn’t resist. 
Want to know what I did with them?
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posted by admin on Apr 3
For those of you who have considered writing a cookbook, I can tell you from experience that it is hard work. Don’t get me wrong, it is fun, challenging, and when all is said and done, very satisfying. But I’m one who believes in having all the facts before going into something. I believe in being prepared for a challenge.
Many people believe that writing a cookbook is a cinch. After all, what is there involved? Writing down some ingredients, scratching out a few instructions, and slapping it together neatly for a publisher, right? Wrong. Very, very wrong. Writing a cookbook is a very specific process.
What to find out more about it?
