When you spend 13-plus years at any one thing (which happens to a lot of us eventually), it’s difficult at best to imagine doing anything different than that. And when you do, the novelty can be so enthralling, you wish that it would never end.
Such is the case for me with book promotion. The majority of my professional life was spent in a dark edit suite, generally with the same people – fun and funny people, but the same ones, nonetheless. This is in direct contrast to my adventures out in the world, meeting people at bookstores and the like.
Books on the Square in Providence, RI hosted my first book signing, and I was thrilled that Melissa from Shoestring and The Swapaholics made the trek down from Boston to visit. The night very much had the feel of a chat in the living room, the only difference being that I had the Masterpiece Theater chair, and everyone else had slightly less regal seating. Friends of my gardening neighbors (mentioned frequently on this here blog and in the book as well) were in attendance, and we talked turkey. Specifically, turkey-in-a-hole-in-the-ground, among other, more garden-related topics (such as JR’s pride, the asparagus patch). Many books were signed, and just before the doors were locked at 9pm, a woman named Kate, who rushed over to the store after tennis, came in to get a book. Now, that’s dedication. Both to tennis and to getting a book that night.
When I arrived at A Novel Idea in Bristol, RI last Saturday, the owner, Sue, had set up a table at the front of the shop, stacks of the book piled four and five-deep over the surface. Behind them, near the chair where I would sit, was an envelope, addressed to me at the store.
“Oh, you have mail,” Sue said.
“What?”
“Yes, you have mail. The postman came in the other day and asked, ‘is there an Amy McCoy here?’” (Sue used her skeptical-slash-confused voice to imitate the postman.)
I slid my thumbnail under the seal of the envelope, tore it open, and found this:
A handwritten note with a fail-safe al dente pasta-cooking tip. Bring the water to the boil, remove it from the heat, and let it sit for 20 minutes. “Viola,” she wrote, “it’s a success each and every time.”
The tip alone was pretty cool; I had never even heard of that technique. But then the first of two real zingers. “How’s that from a 94-year old? Ok?” (I think she and I will get along quite famously, given the use of the incredulous “Ok?” – as if the cooking tip wasn’t enough.)
And, on a separate piece of note paper, this: “This may be of interest to you as an author. My first job many years ago in Indiana (Indpls) was working for ‘Bobbs Merrill’ who published Irma Rombauer‘s Joy of Cooking!” Um, yeah, that IS of interest to me. Holy wow! So, the scrapbook has been started.
I haven’t yet tested this pasta-cooking trick, but my mother has. With orzo. I expected that for certain the orzo would be mush, but my mother reports that it was, as advertised, perfectly al dente.
This week, I’ll be at Baker Books in Dartmouth, MA at 7pm on Thursday, June 10th. Come out a little earlier and sample some dishes from the book at the Not Your Average Joe’s next door to Baker Books. They’ll be making the Spicy Carrot Ginger Soup (a favorite of my brother-in-law), Southwestern-Style Cobb Salad, and Almond-Crusted Chicken Breasts with Cherry-Red Wine Reduction Sauce. I think I’ll be having the chicken breasts, myself.
I’ll also be at Tatnuck Booksellers in Westborough, MA at 10am on Saturday, June 12th. I’ll have some treats with me, including cookies, and probably a banana muffin or two, given the morning start time.
If you’re in the mood for chili, come visit at the First Annual Kosher Chili Cook-off in Providence on Sunday, June 13th, where I’ll be a judge. I may have to fast starting right after the muffins and cookies at Tatnuck Booksellers, though I’m sure it will all be worth it.
Also be on the listen-out for a segment that I recorded with Radio Boston on WBUR last week. We shopped, we cooked, we chatted, we saved money, and we had a blast doing it. Later this month, on June 24, I’ll be doing an event with Slow Food Boston and Public Radio Kitchen (also WBUR) called Slow Food on No Dough. Boy, don’t I know it. Be on the look-out for those details coming soon; I’d love to see you there.
Dinner tonight: Roasted Goat Cheese-stuffed Chicken Legs with Peach-Lavender glaze and Greens from the Garden. Estimated cost for two: $7.28. The impetus for this dish was the arrival of a shipment of jams from Sunchowder’s Emporia yesterday. I “met” Wendy, the jam-master, on Twitter this week (@sunchowder. If you’re looking for me, I’m (shocker) @poorgirlgourmet), and checked out her site. Two minutes after seeing the zucchini-ginger jam and the peach-lavender jam, my order had been placed. At $4.00 for 4 ounces, homemade, with such interesting flavors, and then – added bonus once they arrived – packaged as adorably as they are, they’re a good value and incredibly delicious. JR and I couldn’t wait all the way until this morning to have the peach-lavender jam at breakfast, so we slathered it on some country bread for dessert last night. “You should be sitting outside at a French cafe when you eat this,” Mr. Infinitely Quotable (that’s JR) said. I could not agree more. So I’m going to stuff some Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value goat cheese under the skin of the chicken legs, season them with salt, pepper, and thyme (from the garden), then glaze the legs with the peach-ginger jam at the end of the cooking time. I’m making four, so the bonus is that we each get one for lunch tomorrow. I’ll probably use the entire 4 ounces of goat cheese, and that costs $3.99. The chicken legs were not my usual buy-’em-from-the-pre-packaged-case at Whole Foods, so I spent a little more than normal (they’re generally a bit less expensive in the pre-pacakged case than at the counter, but I was chatting with the butcher, and I’ve saved money by using greens grown from seed as the side, so it all balances out. Or at least that’s how I’m looking at it). They were $2.59 per pound, and the four legs cost $6.86. I expect I’ll use around 2 ounces of jam as well, so that’s $2.00 at cost, but $3.25 including shipping (which we should do, as they were shipped here. I will be working on my local merchants to carry the jam, though, of that, I can assure you). The greens will be a mix of spinach, Swiss chard, rouge d’hiver lettuce, romaine lettuce, green leaf lettuce, mizuna, and pea shoots, all of which cost a couple of cents per seed, so let’s figure that I spent 15-cents on those, even with picking enough for tomorrow’s lunch. I’ll drizzle a little fancy olive oil over the greens (fancy, yet on sale, so $9.99 for 1 liter), and that will add around 30-cents, figuring 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of oil per serving and with the bottle yielding 67 tablespoons (3 teaspoons equals 1 tablespoon). We’re looking at $14.55 for 4 legs and the greens with a drizzle of olive oil. so $7.28 for two.