dollops and pinches, oh my!

I arrived home and the cookbooks were here!!!
WOW! Most impressive! I do have them in time for Christmas!

Her inscription in my cookbook reads:
To Faustina -
the only you in the world -
Dea
Isn't that lovely?
As is her handwriting, too
- very nice cursive.

The cookbooks are fabulous! Full of recipes, sure, but also stories about the recipes, and suggested menus for "special events". Oh, like anniversaries and birthdays and such? Oh, my, no!!! We're looking at "A Night in Paris", "Tastings of the Titanic", "St. Paddy's Night". Sure, there's a "Sweetheart Dinner" and that could be for an anniversary...but a menu for those occasions when you might be on a sinking ship? You won't find that anywhere else!
I'm serious about that menu for the Titanic diners. Dea Irby traditionally serves that dinner in April, near the 14th, to commemorate that sad day in shipping history.
Definitely different!
If your appetite is whetted, you can have your own copy of the book, here.
Bon appetit, mon freres!

Celebration in the Garden

Why id I became involved with this kickstarter project?
I had been searching for local projects to support, in particular, projects in Georgia. This one caught my heart, promising to delight both my palate and my soul with tales which connect daughters to their mothers and the recipes of their younger days.
What a beautiful concept!
Stories of love through the generations, with a family recipe to add to the warmth of a mother's touch.
I know my mother would have very much approved of this use of her money.
I just wish she could share the Julia Glenn Carter's finished book with me.

a dollop and a pinch wants to get cooking

Well, well, well! My first project in the publishing category of kickstarter! Why this one and not some other? Well, in keeping with my desire to "buy local', Dea Irby promised just that. Located in Georgia, she was the one-time owner of a tea room called The Baron York. After seven years, she decided to close up shop, only to find herself beset upon by folks clamoring for her recipes.
Enter kickstarter. Here, she could ask the recipe-seekers to put their money - and that of others - where their craving mouths were. Truthfully, I joined the project late, after it had already garnered all of its funding, but still had four days to go until the deadline. I jumped on the bandwagon anyway.
Say what? They allow folks to do that?
Yes, they do.
So why did I?
Well, November of 2009, I found myself having Thanksgiving dinner in Augusta at the home of one of my cousins. She is a long-lost cousin on my father's side, pushed to the wayside when her mom and my mom, once best friends, had a falling out with each other. That was around Christmas of 1967 or 1968, as I recall. By a chance meeting with her best friend from high school at a festival in Jekyll Island, Beverly and I had been reunited and I had made the trip to visit her for the first time in almost forty years.
She is a very fine cook. She does a bit of catering and loves to throw dinner parties, too.
She is the reason I signed on to back this cookbook.
You see, for the paltry sum of $59 dollars, or just a little more than my cellphone bill, I will be granted two autographed copies of the cookbook. One for me, one for Beverly.
What a priceless Christmas gift for both of us!