News from the Cruise

I was going to write about the food- but until tonight I was disappointed. tonight's dinner was very good. We've been busy taking some classes- Dad did golf and I'm doing ceramics. We went snorkeling in St Thomas today- we were the only two on the excursion. It was a little cloudy but that meant it wasn't too hot. We kayaked out to two different spots in a beautiful bay. After that we were dropped off in town and did some shopping - my favorite thing. Tomorrow is formal night so we will have a special dinner. Tonight I bought their cookbook. We've also done some dance classes. Everymoring we're having breakfast on our balcony and on port days we stand out there for sail away. Tomorrw is another day at sea- I'm getting a manicure and a makeover. Hope you'll leave me some comments. Oh yes, I was so seasick on the first night I couldn't eat dinner!

It Begins Here

I never thought I'd become a cookbook author. I always thought I'd be in the background testing recipes. Over a period of several years and many ups and downs, my first cookbook, Baking Basics and Beyond, was created. It started with a recipe to a friend that was submitted to a community cookbook. After that cookbook was published, the editors contacted me and I became a part of the team. Our efforts resulted in Breakfast in Cairo, Dinner in Rome for the International School of Minnesota. This book was the Midwest regional winner for the Tabasco Community Cookbook Awards in 2000.

Unfortunately this was the only cookbook we created together but it opened new horizons for me. After working on a large recipe project on baking I had and idea for a basic baking cookbook focusing on techniques. This was just the beginning- it takes a long time and a lot of effort to go from an idea to a proposal to a publisher to a cookbook but I did it!

Now I'm starting a new career as an author and a food writer.