Finishing the Book!

I am so close to finishing my book about Marcelle Bienvenu to the point where I can send it to the editor. (I know that this is just the beginning of the next phase.) But if all goes well I will finish this part of the book by Monday. I am really looking forward to it. My writing is beginning to feel stale and I need a professional reader to tell me what it needs. Plus, I need a break from it. I know that once it goes to the published it will be a few weeks before I get it back.

But in addition to all the personal staleness, I am looking forward to putting the book out there. I look forward to a new challenge. I need another ball in the air. And I need to set up a time to work with Marcelle to make sure that I am accurate. I do not want to misrepresent anything or put words in her mouth.

I plan to illustrate each chapter with a few of her recipes or interesting passages. We have to select those. They will be recipes or passages that reflect her personality, and when written with someone else, that other person too. But this won’t be a cookbook, just a biography with recipes. I am just blown away by all that she has accomplished while managing to have a real life.

Today I recorded a podcast with Jessica Merchant of the blog How Sweet Eats.She has written her fourth cookbook, which will be available in the middle of April - so just around the corner. We had a delightful conversation, which still needs to be edited. But regardless of editing, we talked about having dressings, and sauces and such at the ready. That makes it possible to pull a meal together in much less than a normal time.

I usually spend some time each week making sauces and other things like hummus or baba ghanoush. So I thought that I would share some of my sauces. Besides all of the pestos and such that I make with leafy vegetables and herbs, I like to have some kind of other spread for spreading on bread. And I like to make bread on the week-ends. I often let it rise overnight in the refrigerator.