I had a great bit of news this week--my cookbook memoir, mentioned much earlier on this blog, will be published by State House Press, publisher of the line of children's biographies of Texans that I do. The cookbook has a long history--I started to write it with a friend, but she bowed out and told me I had enough to write on my own, which I found I did. (You'll have to buy the book to read the really funny story behind our collaboration and how it fell apart--we are still friends though!) I decided my life fell into four "cooking" periods: the very British meat-and-potatoes house in which I grew up; the two new cuisines I encountered when I married a Jewish man and moved to Texas; the "casserole years" of being a single parent; and the current stage of my life when I count cooking as my hobby and enjoy fixing semi-gourmet meals for friends and family. In fact, that's the title of the book: The Faux Gourmet. Writing it was pure fun, for I found memories tumbled one after another as I wrote. My kids contributed with, "Remember when you used to fix . . . ." But the manuscript languished for way too long in the hands of a prospective publisher--that little episode was the subject of a blog which earned me a lengthy rebuke from the publisher involved and made me think of Dorothy Parker's line: "If you be innocent, don't trouble to deny; But if you be guilty, then weep and wail and swear they lie."
Last fall I asked my editor at State House about it, and she said they would like to see it, had been wanting to do a cookbook. But, she cautioned, everything they do has to be historical because they are supported by a historical non-profit foundation. I assured her I'm old enough that my memories and recipes are historical.
The Faux Gourmet probably won't be published until the Spring of 2009, which leaves me lots of time to add the new recipes I've discovered since I first wrote it, like the chicken/tomatillo enchiladas that I'm itching to make. And it gives me another project in the works, always a welcome thing. And I'm collecting pictures for it--I have cute pictures of my children, very young, intently bent over the kitchen table making cookies. And now pictures of the grandchildren, like Morgan stirring a bowl of what looks like cake or cookie batter--she also has it all over her face.
Meantime, I'm busy working on that"small" book about Texas women, trying to highlight some of the lesser knowns. Who knows who Pamelia Mann was and what she did? Betty Graham? Texas has nourished a lot of strong women who dared to live beyond convention and generally, we've been good about honoring them.
Had a delightful weekend going with Jordan, Christian and Jacob to the second annual Chinese New Year's Party at Jamie and Mel's. Jamie brings decorations from Hong Kong, orders food from P.F.Chang's, and invites the neighborhood, including about fifty kids of all ages. It was fun but poor Jacob was a bit overwhelmed by all the people and noise. Jamie sent new pictures to my computer-driven rotating picture display but I can't display them on my blog. But here are new pictures of Sawyer and Ford, Morgan after a trip to the zoo, and Jacob with his oldest girl cousins, who certainly did love on him.
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