Aw, Shucks

It’s here! The book, The Cassoulet Saved Our Marriage, is now available in stores near you. In it, you can read my essay about how my dad, who annoyed the hell out of me, taught me how to cook, how to be alive, I dare say, by witnessing his extraordinary passion for ordinary food.This is from the publishers, Lisa Catherine Harper and Caroline M. Grant:

The Cassoulet Saved Our Marriage is a collection of true stories about how we learn–and re-learn–to eat, and why family food matters in our lives, even beyond the table. From junk food to soul food, our writers bring you funny, thoughtful, and provocative stories that change the conversation. There are no mantras, no manifestos, no how-to’s, and no step-by-step guides to better eating here–though there are 28 delicious, original recipes. These stories show what food means in real families, and they’ll help you discover what it means in yours.

You can purchase a copy here, and then help spread the word!
Buy additional copies for friends and family members; it’s a great Mother’s or Father’s Day gift!
Suggest Cassoulet for your book club or reading group
Write a review on Amazon or Goodreads; they really do make a big difference in word of mouth and generating buzz.
Add Cassoulet to your Goodreads reading list.
Ask your local library and bookseller to carry the book.
Forward this email to a friend (or several) who might be interested in the book.
Mention the book on your blog, Twitter feed, Facebook, email list, at your next PTA meeting or your kid’s baseball game – word of mouth is a huge help.

Enjoy!

And this is from their website:

Contributor Spotlight: Bethany Saltman

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Bethany Saltman is a Buddhist, a writer, and a parent.  Her poetry and essays have been published in literary and popular journals (think Parents, Edible Hudson Valley, Nimrod), but I first found her writing through her popular column in Chronogram, Flowers Fall, which is one of my favorite columns about motherhood. Ever. It’s not just the steady grace of her prose, or her humble, funny voice or her refreshingly honest point of view. It’s that Bethany wrestles with issues surrounding parenting and spirituality with clarity, balance, and genuine insight.  I always feel two things after reading her writing: 1) a little bit of envy that I can’t be more like her and 2) refreshed.  Quite simply, she illuminates things.

When we approached her about a piece on mothering and mindful eating she wrote back that for her, “learning to eat mindfully is not so much about tasting each grain of rice, but learning to love eating, to enjoy this crazy life at the table, with others….it’s more a mindfulness of sensual, simple pleasure than what one might think of as “mindful.”  With that, we knew we’d found our writer.  “Food of the Gods” is about the not always easy task of being her father’s daughter, and how food—and time, and spirit—helped her come to terms with him.

After you’ve read “Food of the Gods” and followed her excellent notes for making Mystical Gravy, you can follow her on her blog, Is This My Chair?: Notes on Being.  I know you’ll want to.