Take out.
The dining room table has seen far more action than the kitchen counter this week. Last night my Dad dropped off the free lasagna he got from spending $250 at the Superstore, which takes up too much freezer space and he and my Mom wouldn’t eat anyway, and Mike put it in the oven while I took over traffic reporting on the Homestretch. Tonight, right now in fact, we’re eating the muhammara with pita wedges and salty grilled cheese sandwiches made with olives, feta and that salty, stringy cheese Mike picked up from Aida’s for us to eat with our hands while we edit.
That’s Cathryn up there, spending yet another evening rearranging text and aligning ingredient lists. This project could not have happened without her. An art director for almost 20 years, she this year became a casualty of the crumbling print media industry, and so poured her recently acquired extra time into this project. Lucky us. To be honest, I’ll miss our late nights working together.
(In case I haven’t put it out there before, if anyone is looking for a wonderfully creative, open-minded, generous, personable, not-at-all-ego-driven designer of anything, I cannot recommend her highly enough.)
SO yes, the book is together. It’s done. I need to come up with something for the intro page, and comb through it once more time, and double check the index. And then tomorrow morning Cath and I are meeting for coffee and an upload, at which point it will FINALLY BE DONE AND AVAILABLE. And I am looking forward to a mighty long nap. I’m worn out, and I sound like a sort of sultry Marge Simpson. And I want me some W time. And I need to get back into the kitchen.
P.S. I almost forgot! I’m feeling badly about all of you who so generously offered your editing eyeballs – because the direction has shifted to a POD (print-on-demand) system, we a) have to get the book finished and uploaded quickly, because the system can’t queue orders so we can’t pre-sell like we thought we could, and b) it’s all on one pdf file, which is 18MB, and so it’s not like I can email it to anyone either. At this point, the point at which I thought I’d call in some backup, I suddenly don’t have time to burn CDs or transfer files to get it into anyone’s hands. Also, Blurb is processing orders and taking care of shipping, which is great, but it means there won’t be a need for our tentatively planned envelope stuffing party. On the upside, I’m hoping it means a larger reach and more book sales worldwide.
And in terms of getting a visit in, there are still 9 spaces at the table for the Farm table dinner on February 24th!
February 02 2010 10:41 pm | leftovers
Amber on 02 Feb 2010 at 10:55 pm #
So excited to see the book, after all your hard work. You deserve a rest! I’m also thrilled that our donations get tripled, at least I think that was what you posted earlier. We are so lucky to have people like you, that don’t just wonder what they can do to help but go out there and do it!! Gold stars for you:)
Avery on 02 Feb 2010 at 10:56 pm #
Congratulations! We can’t wait. Well done, Julie (and everyone who helped)!! How fulfilling.
Erica B. on 02 Feb 2010 at 11:46 pm #
Congratulations to all involved! Both you & Cathryn have earned a well deserved rest.
I’m booked for Forage the 24th – can’t wait to put more faces to names
Alicen on 03 Feb 2010 at 5:56 am #
Julie and Cathryn, you should both be very proud, along with everyone who contributed time and recipes, as well as Mike and W for their patience with busy Mama!
I can’t wait to see a link to the finished product so I can get my very own copy!
Kelley on 03 Feb 2010 at 6:26 am #
Congratulations! Can’t wait to see it!
Lana in South Mountain (ON) on 03 Feb 2010 at 9:00 am #
SO exciting. I am proud of you both and look forward to stockpiling a few of these babies for myself and for gifts.
xo
Jan (Family Bites) on 03 Feb 2010 at 9:07 am #
Congrats again…so very exciting!
Sue (London, ON) on 03 Feb 2010 at 9:34 am #
I actually just checked WestJet to see if they were having some amazingly cheap seat sale so I could come to dinner on Feb 24!! No such luck.
Can’t wait to order the cookbook. I’m going to post a link on my Facebook page when its ready. Excellent work to all who were involved.
Beverley M on 03 Feb 2010 at 10:40 am #
Wow, so amazingly fast from idea to ready!
I’ll be posting it on my Facebook too!
LisaGee on 03 Feb 2010 at 11:40 am #
Wonderful work! I can’t wait to get my copies!
Laurie in Burnaby BC on 03 Feb 2010 at 12:10 pm #
ERica B, give Julie and Cath an extra hug from me because I can’t be there in person. Congratulations on a great achievement, ladies!
Dandy on 03 Feb 2010 at 12:19 pm #
I’m just finding your blog thru tartlette and I cannot get over how quickly you’ve gotten this cookbook together!
I will definitely be buying one!
my spatula on 03 Feb 2010 at 3:48 pm #
so excited to see the book after so much effort has obviously been put into it. congrats!
Kathy on 03 Feb 2010 at 4:06 pm #
wow, totally awesome.
Denise on 03 Feb 2010 at 4:36 pm #
Wish I could attend the dinner but a trip from New Brunswick would probably take awhile. Hope you have a great time with friendship and lots of laughter!
Erica B. on 03 Feb 2010 at 4:43 pm #
Will do Laurie
Kayla on 03 Feb 2010 at 5:20 pm #
Very exiting! Can’t wait to order a copy or two.
margo on 03 Feb 2010 at 10:01 pm #
Julie, I was promoting the book at Curves, and they said if there is a poster, we could put it up… is there anything downloadable / printable? If not, I will just make one with the information.
ajdoula on 04 Feb 2010 at 9:46 am #
Super article about the book and your spectacular effort in the Herald this morning, Julie – the word just keeps spreading and spreading…
Thanks for the update about Farm dinner – I’ll call today!
Donna on 04 Feb 2010 at 7:44 pm #
I just ordered my copies tonight.
If I can navigate the site to order, anyone can.
Great job Julie!