Tag Archives: cookbook

Cookbooks for a Cook?

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Home cooks and foodies ask me what cook books Mark has. He has so many I made him throw lots out before our last move, and he still has boxes of them. But here are two that my sister Carole gave him for his birthday. One about old-school cocktails, natch. And somehow she got her hands on Pearl Bailey’s cook book.

Raise your hand if you remember Pearl Bailey. It’s great because it is written exactly how she use to speak. The recipes are not written out like a cookbook normally is. She just tells you how Pearl does it.

The Book Signing

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Monday night was the first book signing for Mark’s cookbook. It was for food press and some key ringers. My family, the doctor who delivered my babies, you know, the usual. I asked for a mic to be there, and I introduced Mark and he introduced his co-writer Martha Rose Shulman.

It was a lot of work for about two years, so it was nice to have a cocktail and celebrate. Or three. But they were tiny cocktails. It was very fun, and I wore one of my new dresses from my previously written about $500 shopping spree at the Trina Turk sale (‘Cause I was tired of wearing maternity).  My daughter also wore pink. And here she is wisely eating the yummy apps that were straight out of the cookbook.

Note the savory tart on the table. I don’t know if I have mentioned it, but

I’M OBSESSED WITH SAVORY TARTS. They are my favorite food.

They don’t serve them at Campanile, but pretty sure they will at the bar Mark is working on, or there will be marriage counseling in our future. There is a recipe for the one here, and it was GOOD. Slices of potato, carmelized onions, bacon. Nuff said.

People were very kind, and many people bought 2 to 5 books planning ahead for Christmas.

I was a little fried the next day since Rex woke us up quite a bit, but there was some nice press and none better than this.  It’s like I wrote it.

Mark has a couple more book signings scheduled in LA. October 20th at Borders in Century City and the 26th at Campanile. If he travels out of town, it’s on our dime, so not sure about other places. If it does well, we might go somewhere where we have friends so it makes sense, like the Bay Area.

The night and the Grubstreet article were amazing considering when we were in the dark days of late December ’08 I said to Mark, “2009 will be your year.” He had to buck me up more than I him. But being human, having millions stolen and having to sell your home can take a little spring out of your step. Even the sunniest of people can need a pep talk. I said, I can feel it, it’s going to come together for you. The book will come out, the restaurant will endure, the bar you are working on will come together, and I’m getting you on Top Chef!  I might have said:

“As god as my witness!”

So, maybe the lesson is, in dark moments hide the hard drugs and visualize the good stuff, work towards your goals, and they just might kick in. I hope.

And Now for Some Good News…

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(Sound of trumpet!) Yesterday we received a copy of Mark’s new cook book, “New Classic Family Dinners.”

It will come out in October. But it is already available for order on Amazon, and Borders and is going to carry it as well. Hard to sell books these days, so this is all great news. This is the first we have seen of it. It was VERY EXCITING. As many of you probably know it takes a LONG time to write a cook book (See my video about Kate Gosselin’s cookbook). A REAL cook book. Then once the lengthy part is done (he and his collaborator writing the book for over a year), it’s in production for quite a while.

For all those moments when nothing happens, when a day blurs into the other, it’s nice to have a day where one finally sees the fruits of ones labor. When we first started talking about this book, I was pregnant with Vivien and it was two homes ago. What a journey!

When it comes out, I have to have some kind of virtual book signing party on Cool Mom. Uncork the champagne and play “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now.”

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Yesterday I was a last-minute guest on “Show Biz Tonight” on CNN Headline. Making jokes about Michele Obama wearing short shorts. Lemme say I was in the zone. I had so many one liners. The producer said, “I’ve been interviewing you for years, and you’ve never been this funny.”

Hmm, what did I say??

“Baby’s got back.”

“Why shouldn’t she wear shorts?  What are mom’s suppose to wear, dumpy mom jeans? No, her husband can do that.” (call back to baseball incident)

“Her shorts are in protest to the GOP’s opposition to the public option. The more they protest, the shorter the shorts will get.”

“Shorts-gate is such a big deal, Woodward and Bernstein are getting back together and…” (Can’t remember the joke. I work in the moment and don’t write it down, but I think that one was funny.)

I think it helped I did a double espresso beforehand. And I had already had an audition for a mom makeover show. First time auditioning in almost two years. More about that if anything comes of it…