The little cookbook, "Grandma's Home Bakery" is done!

It is out there seeking its audience.  You can following this link to find it.  I would appreciate your comments!

www.grandmashomebakery.com

New Developments!

Since my last post I have been wandering back and forth from the children's book project to some version of the cookbook project and not making much progress on either until the last month.  I suddenly realized that the cookbook project was too large and all encompassing.  It would never be completed in that format, at least not by me.  I began to think more clearly in terms of the audience for this book as I described in earlier posts and pages.  I really want to create a volume that teaches young people to bake as my grandmother taught me in my early childhood.  She was an excellent teacher in the kitchen and much of what I have done since as a professional chef has been based on her early teaching and ability to create interest and confidence.  Passing on her method, her ability to teach, along with her recipes - some 200+ years old is the best way for me to honor her memory and her gift to me.  I have been working away on the project, a slim volume entitled "Grandma's Home Bakery" for the last 3-4 weeks.  I have tested the recipes for the umpteenth time, photographed the method and finished product, and offered my modern updates and adaptations.  It has become a very personal project and one that will actually be completed!  I expect to self publish the book through blurb.com in early June.  When it is available I will post a link to the preview page.  You might even wish to purchase a copy.  Who knows?  It certainly feels good to have a worthy project so near completion.  I am convinced that the writing becomes easy once a clear goal is discovered.  Thank you for your patience.  As always, your comments are most welcome.

Finally writing!

I have been blocked for so long with the cookbook project.  I have been stuck at square one because I want so much to make this perfect and I know that it can never be.  So hard to get past this.

I have been reading again the childhood favorites that made me love reading from an early age.  As I have reread these classics I have been dreaming about my father's much loved cat, George.  So many stories exist within the family about George's adventures that a book about them would be easy to write.

I have begun to write his memoires with the young cat lover as the intended audience.  It is such a pleasure to write his story that I have even begun to use the Writer's Blocks software and find it so helpful.  I am hoping that by writing George's story I can unblock the cookbook project and complete both.

Bread Chapter

When I was a young cook, learning to bake from my Grandmother, I was very careful to follow her recipes and technique.  I was confident that the recipe would never let me down if I followed it exactly.  Now that I am less fearful of failure and with the benefit of my chef training a the New England Culinary Institute behind me, I can approach the recipes differently.  I find that the heart of her recipes is the technique and there can be freedom in the selection of ingredients.  The Bread Chapter will start with her tried and true recipe for White Bread handed down through generations of her family.  Once that list of ingredients and the techique have been mastered to produce the perfect loaf, we can be adventurous in the manipulation of ingredients to create a wide variety of yeast-based bread products.  The first example is the photo posted below of the Cinnamon Sticky Rolls.  I will post more photos as I work through all the manipulations of this classic bread recipe.

Evidence of Baking

 

Cinnamon Rolls:  Beautiful and Delicious!

Recipe Testing

Writing is hard work, this is fun!  I have started revisiting my Grandmother's recipes starting with the bread, which is where we began so many years ago.  This time I am approaching it with an eye to adapt the recipes to my uses and see additional uses.  This afternoon I made a two loaf batch of her white bread.  If I was being faithful to the recipe I would have used all bread flour and added a few tablespoons of yellow corn meal and shaped two loaves.  This time I used half bread and half AP flour and skipped the corn meal.  The softer dough made one gorgeous loaf and 9 cinnamon sticky buns!  Yum.  The original recipe and the adaptations will all be in the book.

Return to writing

Thank you for your patience!  It has taken quite some time for me to return to the discipline of writing.  The new page entitled "Family" is my latest effort to define the project and why I must pursue it.  I am deeply grateful to all those who have expressed their interest and support for this project and I hope to reward us all with more rapid progress.  Strangely enough, I find the process of transcribing and refining the recipes that I hope to include the most difficult part of the project.  I would have thought that would be easy!  But it demands my full attention on a regular basis to plow through it.  Not something that comes naturally.  I will persist.

Weird!

Had the TV on as usual while doing laundry, etc. hear that '80s TV star Linda Evans has just published a book of her memoires with recipes entitled "Recipes for Life."  If you haven't been following this blog, check my post below about book titles. 

I guess I will be looking for a better title.  I know my recipes are better!  Like I said, Weird!

Back in focus

I lost my focus last Spring.  The upheaval of a job that doesn't suit me at all, combined with the continuing need to earn a paycheck and the horrendous job market, conspired to drag my attention away from all that really interests me.  I have made a temporary peace with the job and I am getting back on track.  One of the things I really have struggled with on this project is my own inability to organize and provide structure to this piece.  I write little pieces but they are almost unrelated and out of order.  I have decided to seek help.  I purchased a software package for authors called Writer's Blocks 4.  It allows you to write the things that bubble to the surface, in whatever order they come, and then rearrange them to find the relationships and structure that will tie the pieces into a whole.  I should have it by the end of the week.  I hope to be a quick study in how to make the most of it.  I have another weekend away planned for November (before the holiday) and hope to feel that progress is actually being made.  I want to give myself a goal/deadline of next spring for a complete first draft.

Updated page

I have added the parallel segment written by my grandma about her own grandparent's home.  The similarities are startling.  This project is taking me places I never expected to go. 

Taking a risk

Two weeks ago, on my long weekend, I wrote something about the loss of my mother and her loss of her mother.  It seemed almost too personal to share so I didn't post it here right away.  Thinking it over during the intervening weeks, I came to the conclusion that this book I am trying to write had better be personal or it will have no hope of being worth writing or reading.  So I have added the new page and hope you will understand why I had to write it.

I always look forward to your comments.

Writing

I pick up a pen and the words come.  I try to write it all without editing, without judging whether it belongs as a part of this book.  It is there in the pen and needs to flow out onto the paper so I let it.

My hope is that once it is all out I will still have a clear vision of the book and can provide the editing and structure that will allow me to put aside the words that do not belong.

This is a much bigger project than I realized but I am enjoying the process so far.

Yes, the silence has been deafening.

I have been doing the necessary things of life and now I am rewarding myself with a four-day weekend!  I have been thinking alot about where I want to go next with this project.  I found myself thinking about chapter titles on the way to work this morning.  The first two will be "Food and Family" and "Talent and Personality."  That should keep me busy between naps!

Possible Title

The books I have been reading about the preparation of a book proposal recommend the selection of a strong title early in the development of the project.  I found this a little puzzling as I always assumed that the title would come out of the writing, probably after most of it was done.  Being a dutiful student I have been wrestling with the problem, mostly while driving to and from work.  Most of these thoughts aren't worth repeating and I have spent the greater part of these drives laughing hysterically and rethinking the project altogether.  Tonight, however, a simple title suggested itself and I find that I like it, at least for the time being.

What do you think of Recipe for Life?

Where did this strange idea come from?

The past year contained at least one life-changing event.  I lost my mother.  I had the privilege to live with her and take care of her up to the final days of her life.  Caring for her had become such an all-consuming effort that I had no time to think about anything, not even the significance of what was happening.  In the months since, as I have recovered through rest and reflection, I have begun to realize that I have lost an important connection with my own past.  As I considered this fact I began to realize how many strong personalities influenced my life.  These personalities were embodied by the unusual women on both sides of my family.  As the saying goes, "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone"  and it is now too late for me to tell them how much they have meant to me, but I can honor their memory by telling the story of how their influence has helped to create my life.  It will be a labor of love and joy and might even be worth reading.  I hope to do them justice.

Reading in preparation . . .

I am currently reading Bulletproof Book Proposals by Pam Brodowsky and Eric Neuhaus and Fast-Track Course on How to Write a Nonfiction Book Proposal by Stephen Blake Mettee. Both offer practical advice on how to approach publishers and literary agents and the preparation and materials you must have completed before you do. I will soon start working my way through the exercises laid out in the first book.

Since it looks like hard work and misery loves company, I will undoubtedly share the experience with you.

Welcome to my New Blog!

I have begun exploring the possibility of writing a book. The thought itself is earth-shattering and one I had never contemplated before. I am trying to learn as much as I can about how one prepares to write a book and bring it to the attention of potential publishers. I have no idea if the book I want to write will be of interest to anyone other than myself, but I am certain no study or creative effort is ever wasted. If, at the end of this process I have a book that no one wants to publish, I can always self-publish for my family and friends. It is the process that will be the focus of this blog and I will welcome comments and input from anyone who is interested and hope to hear from many who have pursued similar projects.

Okay, let's get started . . .